by Wells, Jack
“The praser was untested, but our combined fleets had to trust in the weapon’s success and couldn’t run until the University ships powered up the device. Unfortunately, the scientists’ first try failed when the praser’s power conduits melted under the stress of trying to generate enough force to effect all three stars. Our fleets continued to take tremendous losses. They stayed true to the mission and held the armada in place while the scientists hurried repairs.
“Then the fleet got the message from our scientists: they had fired the praser directly into the stars. It worked – energy levels were rapidly rising. It was time for the fleet to leave the Trinity as quickly as possible. Just nanoseconds before the massive energy flashed out from the stars, our ships turned and ran, hoping to avoid the armada’s fate. The armada was so engaged with what appeared to be a glorious victory in front of them that they never saw the three stars’ searing coronal energy lash out from behind. The armada’s vaporization was instant and complete.
“Only a handful of their ships escaped that wave of super-heated energy and survived to tell their story. Even with the warning, one third of our own ships were unable to escape the star’s rage as they fled. Those Warriors will always be remembered for their sacrifice on that fateful day. At first, the Chn-maa couldn’t believe that their invincible armada was destroyed. All that they once were was absorbed by the Consortium of Planets. They are the one species that remains despised even to this day because of their treachery. By law, they cannot hold positions of authority or even attend school. They may only do menial tasks that allow them to survive.”
Chapter Seven
Aydr’n finished his tale and looked at his Human captives for their reaction. Beth looked at Dean and waited for his lead. He saw her glance over and cleared his throat. “Well, mister alien, it’s a good thing that your praser worked at the eleventh hour or I guess Beth and I would be looking at Chn-maa right now.” They are afraid that we might challenge them in the future, like the Chn-maa, if we continue to develop.
He started to ask Aydr’n why they didn’t sterilize the Chn-maa and be done with them, but he realized that was pointless. Instead, he decided to bring them back to the present situation. “That’s an impressive story Captain, but I think we’ve already shown that we can defend ourselves against you by turning off your Moonbeam. We’ve passed your test, so you can go home now. We’ll let you know if we want to join your band of ‘merry marauders.’”
Aydr’n actually liked Dean’s directness but wasn’t amused by the humorous edge he tried to give the situation. With the future of hundreds of species – including his own – resting on each new species that was added to the Consortium, Aydr’n knew that there was simply too much at risk. More importantly, he couldn’t let these Humans affect his planned coup to put the military in control of the C.O.P. It was obvious to him that the chairman and Senate should be subservient to the Warrior Caste because they supported the terrible decision to place Warriors under the University’s authority.
Before Aydr’n could respond to Dean, Wystl entered and whispered something into his ear. He reacted with a slight nod of his dark head and disappeared out the nearest opening.
She turned to Dean. “Colonel, it only appears that what you call the Moonbeam has been turned off. You have given too much credit to your pilot. Only the illusion that was bright colors and flashes of light is gone. In order to get Earth’s attention, I designed the illusion with color to give it size and shape. It really has no sides or length, only a two-dimensional mouth that swallows whatever gets in its way. I determine its size, its strength, even its location. It does not emanate from my ship. It is only directed from here with my control pad. It was intended to let you see what you were fighting and give your test better meaning. The tactical black hole that I refer to is still active and continues to advance on the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. You are still being tested.”
Annoying beads of sweat clung precariously to Amy’s forehead and threatened to sting her eyes. Unfortunately, taking her helmet off while she stood unprotected on the lunar surface to wipe away the moisture wasn’t a good idea. The real problem was her oxygen gauge’s steady decline toward zero.
With time running out, she tried to think. She shook her head with exasperation when she realized her only source of oxygen was back at the fighter from which she had just escaped. Getting back would be risky. Was that hole I dropped into with all the aliens an illusion or real? If it was real, then her fighter might still be in that hole or depression, or close to it.
She had no choice and began looking for a round hole. While she scanned the rock-strewn crater bed, a debate raged in her head. What if the aliens are still watching, or worse, still in the hole that I’m trying to find? I’ll be completely out numbered, or would I? How many did I kill when I blasted them before? That must have evened the odds a little in my favor, right? She continued her train of thought, even though she knew she was getting carried away. Hell, they might even be slightly intimidated by the way I kicked their butts.
After that brief indulgence, she yelled at herself. “Amy, get a hold of yourself! The rest of those creeps are probably looking for you right now. Quit wasting time trying to figure out how many are left. You’ll just have to kill as many as you can. Keep moving and don’t become a target!”
With a slow three hundred-and-sixty-degree scan of the barren moonscape, Amy finally found the large hole she was looking for. Meandering toward her from the depression was a fissure in the surface the size of a small ravine. It stopped a few meters from her feet. It was just a big crack in the otherwise flat terrain, but it looked like it could provide decent cover from an alien attack. She smiled to herself when she saw that she only had to follow the ravine for about two hundred meters. Finally, some good news! She had found natural cover, and it was only a short distance to her fighter and a new air supply.
As Wystl had asked, Aydr’n left her with the strange Earth creatures in the control room and proceeded to the briefing room. He thought about the Humans as he approached his next duty and wondered if they could actually pass the Searcher’s test. Only a few hours ago, he had been convinced that they would fail and would probably have to be sterilized. Since then, the Humans had shown great promise. They had overcome Wystl’s illusions and deduced the true threat: the tactical black hole. They still had to overcome her Dimensional Shifter which controlled the black hole.
Once he rounded the hallway and entered the briefing room, his thoughts turned to his angry crew. A short time ago, the Human pilot had fired missiles and lasers into their ranks at close range. Even the best Consortium armor couldn’t completely insulate them at that range, but Wystl wanted him to control his Warriors and let the Test continue. He would do what he was told for now. Soon, the time would come when he would unleash his Warriors on her and the rest of the C.O.P. Then the Warrior Caste would be in control again.
A hush came over the room when he entered. Aydr’n saw the crew’s icy stare and knew immediately what they wanted. He wouldn’t give it to them, at least not yet. He would continue to do the Searcher’s bidding, but the Warrior Caste wasn’t like the Searchers: Warriors didn’t care about knowledge unless it made them more successful in battle. What Warriors did care about was taking revenge when their comrades were killed. That was what Wystl told him to have his crew put in check.
Aydr’n took a deep breath and held his arms up in a calming gesture. He kept his speech brief and began with a simple statement. “The Human pilot is nothing. Even though she killed two of us, she is only a pawn that you can’t kill until the Searcher or I say so. The deaths of our comrades do have meaning. Theirs deaths were part of an ongoing test of this species.”
Everyone in the room knew that dying in a test was not the same as dying in combat, which was how the Warriors preferred to be remembered. Aydr’n watched them shift uncomfortably and increased the projection of his voice to maintain their attention. “Your mission now is to go out
on the surface and bring her in alive!”
Someone in the rear asked, “And if she resists?”
Controlling his impulse to shoot the insubordinate Warrior on the spot, Aydr’n pretended not to know who asked the question. “Who said that?” The Warriors maintained their stoic posture and no one responded. After a brief pause, he added gently, “I will notify the families of our new heroes. You are dismissed.”
They sat motionless for a moment, then stood to leave. Their captain’s words had done nothing to ease their sense of loss. With anger still visible on their faces, they began to slowly file out of the room. Now they could unleash their anger on Amy. Personally, Aydr’n didn’t really care if she lived or died. He was just going through the motions to keep Wystl happy.
Amy kept her head low as she squirmed forward through the powdery lunar dust and followed the ravine that she prayed would lead to her fighter. She could hear her breathing become more labored the longer she crawled. Breathing in short gasps and sweating profusely, she had to pause. She was able to hold her head up just high enough to see over the ravine’s rocky side and check her position. Only a few short meters remained between her and the hole.
Off to the side, she could see what remained of the alien base after she had destroyed most of it. What she hadn’t destroyed caught her attention when it began to shimmer and waver like a mirage in the desert heat. At first, Amy thought she must be hallucinating because of her low oxygen supply. Suddenly, the unstable illusion completely disappeared and all that remained was a majestic starship that sat tall and round on the empty lunar plain about five hundred meters away.
There was only one reason the aliens would end the illusion: they didn’t need it anymore. Amy was out of time. Her adrenalin started pumping. Desperately, she got up and started to run as fast as she could toward the hole and her fighter, but it was too late – from the alien ship, she could see several dark figures moving quickly toward her. Within seconds, red beams flashed at her from the aliens. Their shots began throwing up dirt and rocks all around her. She dropped back into the ravine for cover.
When she raised her blaster to respond, blue light flashed past her shoulder and toward the approaching aliens. It was a Corps blaster! Amy kept her head down and rolled over to see who had come to her aid.
It was General Stranova who jumped into the ravine beside her.
“Captain, I can’t believe it’s you! I thought I was going to find Forge and Stone getting blasted!”
Amy wanted to hug her boss, but it took all of her strength to turn back and shoot at the advancing aliens. Her radio was still out and she had to imagine the sound of her general’s voice with its slight Russian accent. While she fired at the aliens, Amy tapped Sasha’s shoulder to get her attention. Sasha dropped two aliens before she could look at what Amy was trying to tell her. Amy tapped at the side of her helmet by her ear, frowned at Sasha through her visor, and shook her head. Sasha immediately realized that Amy couldn’t hear. Her radio was out. That’s why she hadn’t been calling or responding.
Amy continued to fire at the approaching aliens and watched her general do the same, but everything was beginning to move more slowly. Her oxygen was almost gone, but she couldn’t risk taking the time to pantomime that message to her boss – the aliens were too close now. Her eyes were so heavy that she couldn’t see her gallant general killing the enemy anymore. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to see at all.
No matter what happened, Amy knew the twinkling lights in the sky would always be there. She thought of a story that her mother once told her long ago. Or, was it only yesterday? She could hear her mother’s soothing voice again.
“Amy, each of those lights in the sky is a beautiful guardian angel that is peeking through a black velvet curtain that surrounds heaven.”
She prayed that her mother was right. She could feel her life slipping away with the last of her oxygen, and she would soon need an angel’s help.
Dean and Beth were only half-watching the fire fight as it played across every screen in the control room. Aliens dove for cover while pieces of their purple body armor, mixed with dirt and rocks, went flying. Sasha and Amy were doing a fairly good job of fighting for their lives, but they were obviously outnumbered.
Since entering the control room, Dean had kept an eye on the action outside, but his primary interest was learning how to use Wystl’s control pad. Beth had been looking for any weaknesses by observing how the aliens functioned and how they interacted with each other.
Sasha and Amy kept laying down fire, but the aliens were still able to work their way closer. There were just too many to repel. Sasha tapped Amy to tell her to retreat toward the hill that hid her fighter, but Amy didn’t move. Sasha rolled over Amy’s limp body and found a fogged visor instead of her face. On the lunar surface beside her head, Amy had scratched the word “air” in the dust before she passed out. Sasha knew the fight was over and raised her arms in surrender. Amy needed air now and Sasha wasn’t about to lose her a second time.
“No!” Dean and Beth yelled in unison as they watched Sasha give in to the advancing aliens.
Wystl ignored their cry and studied Sasha’s face on the monitor for a few moments. She nodded introspectively and punched her control pad twice. Then she snapped at Aydr’n. “The Humans have given up! Have your Warriors stand down and take them prisoner.”
The Warriors in the Control Room sat still at their desks. They waited for their captain’s response. He scowled back at them when they didn’t respond to Wystl. His normally greenish-gray face flushed pink and anger filled his voice. Wystl was still in command and discipline was always paramount. “You heard her, tell them to detain the Humans!”
Wystl stepped up to him and whispered in his ear. Once again, he left the room.
Since Aydr’n had arrived on this rock in the middle of nowhere, Wystl had assigned him to keep an eye on Jonathan Visen. With the Test progressing so quickly, she had ordered him to see what the chancellor was up to once again. When Aydr’n first started to watch Jonathan years ago, he felt that any Vistolian wart slug could have done such a menial task, but as the cycles wore on, he began to appreciate the chancellor’s thirst for power and glory. Aydr’n began to draw pleasure from watching how well the Human could control events and achieve his goals by whatever means necessary. It reminded Aydr’n of what the Warrior Caste once was and what it should be again. He would take advantage of the chancellor’s greed and use him as an ally when the time was right. Once Wystl had her “accident,” he could tell the University and the Senate whatever he wanted about Earth and whether or not it passed the Test.
Obviously distracted, Wystl set the control pad down on the arm of her chair and began ordering the remaining Warriors in their native tongue. Dean gave Beth a discreet nod. Even without words, she knew what he wanted and nodded back almost imperceptibly. With a quick glance, she checked Wystl and the other aliens. So as not to be noticed, she drifted slowly away from Dean to the other side of the room. She would remain “invisible” as long as Wystl’s focus was off Dean. If Wystl turned toward Dean, Beth planned to create a diversion and try to draw the alien’s attention.
The Warriors had stopped firing at Sasha and Amy and were cautiously moving toward the unpredictable Humans. They moved so slowly that Sasha decided that there was enough time to give them a little surprise, but she needed at least one of her raised hands to pull it off.
With exaggerated resignation meant for the aliens to see, she hung her head and lowered her hands. She wanted them to think that it was part of her surrender, and it seemed to be working. With one hand, she slowly reached into her pocket and felt for her fighter’s remote control. It would be too obvious if she pulled it out. She would have to leave it in her pocket and operate it from memory.
Dean took one step in the direction of the pad on Wystl’s chair and leaned toward its shiny metallic surface. He paused with uncertainty and frowned at the multitude of buttons with strange symbols etched in
to them. Beth watched Wystl’s body movements and prayed that Wystl wouldn’t notice what Dean was doing. The time was now! He couldn’t wait any longer and bent over. His nose pressed against one button twice and another button once. Then he flinched in cold anticipation.
Amazingly, the same tingling sensation that he felt when Wystl first took his arms began to return. His arms were back! He grabbed the pad and haphazardly punched in more commands. Wystl reacted to Dean’s sudden movement by turning toward him. Beth started jumping and shouting – she was still trying to get Wystl’s attention when she realized that her arms had returned as well.
Sasha’s hand was still in her pocket. She rubbed her index finger across the smooth metallic top of the remote. With as little obvious movement as possible, she felt down to the third row of plastic buttons that controlled the fighter’s weapons. The sequence of presses had to be correct. She pressed the far right button twice. As she moved her finger to the far left button, the remote shifted in her pocket. After a brief struggle to control the remote and to maintain her composure for the approaching aliens, she recovered her place and found the button she was looking for.
Wystl looked at Dean. “You had better make a decision, because General Stranova is about to fire one of Earth’s most powerful weapons at us. How will you deal with it? Will you try to stop it with the control pad in your hand? Or will you let me stop it because you know you have no idea how to use the pad? Will you let all of us die? What will you do?”
“You ask a lot of questions for an alien that’s supposed to be so smart.”
Wystl didn’t react to his obvious sarcasm. Dean already knew his chances of dying were pretty good and didn’t want the alien’s badgering questions to interfere with his decision-making process. The real question was: What would happen to the black hole approaching the asteroid belt? Without Wystl’s guidance, will it go out of control? If it remains on target a bunch of rocks will get sucked up, and that shouldn’t hurt anything, right?