by Saxon Andrew
“We’ve scanned it thoroughly and it is more advanced than any species we’ve ever encountered but it is no match to our ships.”
“I notice you had to move in close to hit it.”
“That is true, Mosan.”
“And the weapon it used?”
“The polarity of our ship’s force field easily blocked it.”
The Mosan looked at the other chosen leaders and said, “Does anyone have something to offer?”
An even larger Grelk stood up. Its top two work arms were huge and even the smaller two detail arms located under the top pair were larger than those sitting around him. This seven foot tall creature was incredibly powerful. “Great Mosan, that intruder sent a stream of communications away from our domain toward the western unknown space. Are we sending vessels to explore what might lie along that path?”
The Mosan looked to his right, “Does that ship represent a danger to us?”
The small being with four delicate arms raised them indicating a negative response, “No.”
The Mosan looked back at the standing massive leader, “One of our ships went out on that line for fifteen thousand light years and found nothing. We will not expand further than we can support our forces.”
The giant lowered its head and said, “Yes Father.” He sat down and everyone in the room saw the Mosan’s pride in his son.
“Have we found a planet that meets our needs?”
Another burgundy colored being stood, “No. All we found are the blinding planets in habitation zones.”
“Continue to destroy them.” He paused and looked out at the assembly, “We have been advancing away from the high energy core of the galaxy. Perhaps we should start searching for suitable planets in that direction?” He looked at his son, “That would start us moving in the direction of where those communications were sent.”
“Do you want us to continue the advance away from the central bar?”
“How do you feel about this decision?”
A large older being stood and raised his two detail arms indicating frustration, “We’ve been moving in that direction for hundreds of years and have not found a planet to meet our needs. If we’re going to take another path, I vote to put all our efforts there.”
The Mosan nodded slowly and said, “All who agree with Begran, please stand.” The entire assembly stood. The Mosan nodded, “Recall our forces from the southern advance and have them start searching across the central bar.” The Mosan stood and left the room. The other leaders remained and discussed what this new decision meant.
• • •
Steve sent a message to Pam and she responded within ten minutes, “Why do you ask, Admiral?”
“If you’re going to continue to build colony ships to move some of our population to Andromeda, I thought it might be a good idea to use the Eyes to go and scout out what’s there before we send them out.”
“I think that is an excellent idea and when you find the time to do it, I will be going with you on the initial trip.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to know what’s in that galaxy. It’s larger than the Milky Way and if there are dangerous species here, the odds are there are some there as well. It may be that we have to choose another galaxy to send our colony ships.”
“I will notify you when, and if, I find the time to go and see.”
“Make sure you do, Admiral.”
“Yes Sir.” Connor saw the screen go dark and he leaned back in his chair. He was bored almost to tears. Waiting for the pulse communication equipment to be installed left him with nothing to do and he hated it. He contacted Admiral Hudson and as soon as he appeared on the display he said, “NO! WE’RE NOT DONE YET!”
“I’m sorry, Charlie. I’m just bored out of my mind.”
“Steve, working on this monster is too dangerous to do it fast. Today a steel support bar fell from the ceiling and hit the edge of the ship.”
“What happened?”
“The damn ship cut it into two pieces. I’ll be ecstatic when I can get that thing out of my hangar.”
“How thick was the support bar?”
“Five feet.” Steve’s eyes narrowed and Charlie said, “What are you thinking?”
“I was wondering what would happen if the Eyes hit another ship.”
“I wouldn’t want to be on the ship it hit. I need to get back to work.” Steve nodded and the display went dark. He leaned back and thought about the shape of the eyes. It looked like a huge Frisbee with a smooth bulge in the center where the bridge and living quarters were located.
It was built that way for any light or energy waves to slide across and it and to continue on the other side. He pulled up an image of the ship and brought the view in close on the outer edge of the small vessel. The ship did not have a curved edge like a Frisbee. It was incredibly thin.
He pressed his console again and Charlie appeared, “I JUST TOLD YOU…”
“Charlie, did the support bar dent the edge of the ship?”
Charlie stopped yelling and his eyes narrowed, “I don’t know.”
“Could you go take a look and let me know?”
“I’ll call you right back.”
Steve waited and ten minutes later the incoming button illuminated on his panel. He pressed it and saw Charlie, “I was wrong about the bar being cut into two pieces.”
“What happened?”
“That support bar weighed more than twenty thousand pounds. I had the two pieces measured and it appears the entire section that actually made contact with the ship disappeared.”
“What?”
“I know, that’s really amazing. I had an engineer check the storage batteries and they went from one third to nine tenths capacity. Where the hull was hit does not show any imperfection. It looks like the hull instantly converted the metal from the bar into electrical energy and stored it.” Steve leaned back in his chair and Charlie shook his head, “I know what you’re thinking.”
“What is that?”
“What would happen to that energy if the storage batteries were at full capacity?”
Steve shook his head and then nodded, “What do you think would happen, Charlie?”
“I’m having the batteries disconnected. I believe the steel in that arm would have still been converted to energy and radiated out from the ship.”
“Wouldn’t that allow it to be detected?”
“How would I know? However, even if it were detected, when the radiated energy was viewed by the one scanning for the ship it would not see the source of it. It would look like it came from beyond the ship.” Charlie shook his head, “Remember I said I wouldn’t want to be on a ship that was hit by this monster?” Steve nodded. “That goes double now. That beast would blow it apart and leave nothing but a deadly radiation cloud behind.”
“Thanks, Charlie. I’ll leave you alone; however, I wouldn’t disconnect those batteries. I’d install several more in line with them.”
Charlie stared at him and suddenly, his eyes went wide, “Oh my aching hemorrhoids, you’re right! Gotta go!”
Steve could see Charlie calling a halt to all work on the Eyes until some new batteries could be installed. If something accidently hit the ship again without a place to store the resulting energy, the entire hangar could be filled with a radiation cloud. He began to understand how eight hundred Bosrean had died building that thing.
Chapter Six
Steve finally decided to go to London and personally check on the ship’s progress. His mother kissed him on the cheek and smiled, “I didn’t ever think I’d look forward to your leaving but I must confess I’m glad you are.” Steve started laughing and Molly shook her head and blew out a quick breath, “You live for your children to leave and go out and make a life for themselves and then you miss them the entire time they’re gone. I’m at the stage of wanting you to have a life. We want to get back to our normal routine.”
“I understand, Mom. I’m not offended.”
“I know you’re family and all that but it does disrupt our routine. Please don’t take this as an excuse to stay away.”
“I won’t. By the way, is Dad going to do the surgery on his knee?”
“I don’t think so. The risks are too high. You would think that we’re able to fly around the universe in no time at all but the medical profession still has problems handling infections.”
Steve nodded, “They’re concerned the mersa infection could still be in his bones.”
“They are. The damage was done when he was forced to leave the Navy. He’s too old to go back now. Quite frankly, I’m really happy to have him at home with me.”
“Where is he?”
“That damn knee doesn’t stop him from golfing four days a week.”
“I thought he only went twice a week.”
“That’s because you’re here. He’ll be fine with you leaving. His Tuesday and Saturday golf buddies will be glad to see him again.”
“Tell him I love him and I’ll try to get back before too much time has passed.”
Molly reached up and straightened his collar, “See that you do.” Steve kissed her on the cheek and walked out to the shuttle sitting in the middle of the street blocking traffic. “The neighbors have asked me numerous times how much longer you’re going to be here. I think they’re also looking forward to your leaving.” Steve laughed and boarded the shuttle.
• • •
The flight to England was uneventful and he arrived at the hangar where the Prophet’s Eyes was being worked on and presented his ID to the marine at the gate. He was wearing civilian clothes and the Marine looked at the card and came to attention, “Sorry Sir, I didn’t realize you were a Flag Officer.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m out of uniform.”
The Marine opened the gate and Steve walked in. He saw Charlie screaming at a technician, “Johnson, do you want to die?”
“No Sir.”
“Then don’t go skipping up the ramp like some sort of ditzy flower girl. Stay in the middle of the ramp!”
“Yes Sir.”
Charlie turned around and saw Steve, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m going to use the helmet to look at what’s in the ship’s computer.”
“Are you that bored?”
“You have no idea.”
“Well, be careful…”
“Going up the ramp.” Charlie nodded and waved him toward the ship. All he saw was the ramp extending out of the port. The ship was pretty much invisible. He carefully walked up the ramp and turned right toward the bridge. He walked through the door and stopped in his tracks. Lieutenant Halekia was sitting in a chair inside a large mechanical structure. She saw him at the same moment and both of them said at the same time, “What are you doing here?”
Lani quickly said, “Excuse me, Sir. You surprised me. I’m the ship’s Communications Officer.”
“No kidding.”
“Yes Sir. I appear to have won some kind of competition on the new communication technology and was promoted to Captain. I’ve been told I’ll be given my own ship when I come back from this mission. Why are you here, Sir?”
“I’m the one that will be piloting the ship.”
Lani’s smile was instant, “They’ve not told me anything about who was flying the ship. They’ve been so closed mouth about this project that I wonder why they haven’t all starved to death.”
Steve laughed, “They’re being fed by IVs.”
Lani laughed, “This makes the mission much more palatable, Sir. I wasn’t looking forward to being sent away from the fleet where all my friends are.”
“I can see if someone else could take your place.”
“Forget it. Everyone in the fleet would kill to be able to serve with you again. I’m fine with it now, Sir. I’ve been praying whoever was in command wouldn’t be a stuffed shirt full of themselves.”
Steve chuckled, “I think I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
“It is, Sir.”
“What can you tell me about the communications device?”
“It’s a bear to handle. It would be so much easier to use a stardrive field to send the pulses but this ship prevents that from happening.” She pointed at a large black globe beside the chair she was sitting in, “I have to use a miniature stardrive inside the globe to put a field around the transmitting and receiving elements. It’s really not easy to get it correctly sized but after doing it hundreds of times, it’s almost second nature now.”
Steve stared at her, “Would it be possible to fly the ship and operate the device?”
“Only if you’re willing to stop flying it long enough to establish the field in the globe.”
“So the field isn’t always active?”
“No, it has to be established whenever you want to communicate.”
Steve sighed and tilted his head, “Admiral Malone was right. It does require a second person on board to handle communications.”
“It doesn’t if an external field is around the ship. This is probably the only ship in fleet that will require a fulltime operator.”
Steve nodded and sat down in the command chair, “What do you think about the living arrangements?”
“They cleaned out a storage area and remodeled it to another sleeping quarters. It’s large enough to be comfortable. It does appear that we will be eating condensed food for the duration of the mission.”
“What about water?”
“The holding tank is big enough to keep us supplied for about six months if showers are not taken once a day.”
Steve nodded, “Well, welcome aboard, Captain and congratulations on your promotion. You deserve it.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Do you know how much longer before the work is done on your system?”
“I think it’s pretty much completed now. Admiral Hudson wants to have a final check out tomorrow when I’ll contact the ships holding station outside of Andromeda. If that works, I suspect we’ll be given the ok to take the ship out.”
“Well, go about your business. I’m going to take a look at the ship’s database.”
“Yes Sir.”
Lani turned back to her console and smiled. This mission was going to be fun with Admiral Connor in command. She also stopped worrying about surviving. She trusted him with her life and knew he wouldn’t do anything stupid to put her in needless danger. A few minutes later, Steve turned around, “Captain?”
“Yes Sir.”
“How are you going to send the images from the scanner?”
“That’s what’s taken so much time getting the ship ready, Sir. The scientists have installed a wireless transmitter to the display screen that will send the images to my panel. I’ll send them out from my console.”
Steve nodded, “We really do have an excellent design team.”
“Yes Sir. But three technicians have died during the construction. This ship can kill incredibly fast.”
Steve nodded and turned back to his console. He thought for a moment and said, “Query. What is the safest way to avoid being harmed by contact with the hull?”
Suddenly, a face appeared on his display. He stared at it and then recognized it was his great-grandfather. “I see that one of my children has opened the box with the helmet. This computer does not require you to say ‘query’ every time you want to use it. Just say what you want and the computer will respond appropriately. You should also be aware that I’ve hidden four suits on board that will insulate you from the hull. Now before you get upset and indignant about not revealing that to any one before, you should think about the consequences of what that revelation might cause. If there were a way to build another ship like this without the danger associated with building it, would others be built?” The image paused and Steve knew other ships would be built. “The Prophet told me when I took him back to his home world that there should only be one of these ships and that the use of it should be highly restricted to only t
hose that could be absolutely trusted. The knowledge of the suits’ existence would cause more ships to be created. I hope you understand that piece of knowledge must be hidden. If they become known, they must be destroyed. Those suits are made of a material that is immune to any beam weapon. No species should ever possess technology that would make it invincible. That includes mankind. The Prophet knew our history and wisely decided that this was too much power for any species. The Bosrean did not realize the implications of what these suits represented because they have always been a peaceful society. Humans would figure it out in no time at all. This ship is only to be used to uncover things you must know to survive. Death Prophecy Seven, Only Knowledge Can Save You and Prophecy Eight, Never Shy Away From Doing the Right Thing, are the reasons the Prophet entrusted this ship into my care. He also wanted a way for me to escape and save my family should Earth be threatened with destruction. That did not happen during my life, so I packed this helmet away and I expect you to only use it for its intended purpose. Do not disappoint me. I expect you to do the right thing.”
The image stopped speaking and Steve stared at his ancestor. His father looked so much like him. He wondered if his great grandfather, James Connor, knew about the helmet. He had to have known about it. His father shared everything with him. But Earth was not in danger of destruction during his lifetime and he passed it on to his son. He suspected that his grandfather died of the heart attack before he could tell his son what was in the box and how it could be used. It was a sheer accident that it had been found during his visit home. He sighed and said, “Where are the suits?”
He heard in his helmet, “This message will only be said through the helmet. The suits are in a storage compartment in the back right corner of the entry port. They are under the floor and will only open by being touched by a living relative of Essay Connor.”
“Is there anything I should know before wearing the suit?”
“You must wear it on bare skin.”
Steve nodded and sat back in his chair. He sighed and said, “Why did so many Bosrean die if they had this suit?”
“The suit was difficult to make. It wasn’t completed until far into the ship’s construction. The Bosrean asked the Prophet if he wanted to take the suits with him and he told them yes. He also ordered that all the other suits be destroyed and no others made.”