They ran out and the hillside exploded, sending debris down the canyon. Boulders fell on the Talokian structure, but didn’t damage it one bit. Riona laughed wildly, watching the cavern caved in. He believed he achieved a great accomplishment, but in reality, he achieved nothing. The Talokians no longer needed their teacher to survive, only Jeff to merge with the new computer in the complex one more time.
Meanwhile inside the complex, Jeff awoke from his undisturbed sleep, and was greeted by Jalok. He slept through until the next morning.
“I hope that you had a good night’s sleep,” he said. “It appears that your foe has stumbled onto us. He has just destroyed Varmoth.”
“Aren’t you in danger now?” Jeff asked.
“On the contrary,” Jalok stated. “The teacher has served its purpose, and after tomorrow, you will have served yours here. There is no way they can get in this complex.”
“You don’t know him very well,” Jeff laughed. “He may use his death ray on this planet.”
“His death ray is inoperative at the moment, and even if it wasn’t, he cannot penetrate our planetary force field. We have exactly two hours before the storm subsides. It will take him at least a day to repair his ship. By then, you’ll be safely off the planet.”
“I hope you’re right,” Jeff sighed. “Is my ship ready yet?”
“It will be, and we will assist you with your efforts. Barva and a small crew will escort you to the council of the Republic.”
“I told Barva I don’t know where it is,” Jeff said. “Even if I did, you can’t get there without entering the other universe.”
“We have read your nemesis’ mind to extract the information that
you seek. He is determined to stop you, but once again he will fail. The Galactic Republic no longer trusts him, for he has broken several of their treaties already.”
“Is that where Zarcon is heading?”
“I don’t know, but I would surmise that is the case.”
“What about this place?”
“I will remain here as leader of our race with some of our people. The rest will travel later to join you in battle.”
“Is that wise? There aren’t many of you to begin with.”
“We are a prolific surviving race,” Jalok said. “Only a handful of us are needed to rejuvenate the species. Riona is of no threat to us. We have telepathic abilities of our own, and he cannot harm us.”
Jeff wondered if Riona wasn’t somehow distantly linked to this race. It wouldn’t seem impossible, being ancestors of some hybrid race, their survivors disbanded across the universe. The tyrant never did disclose his point of origin, and he was unlike any being he came across in the past. He also wondered if the human in the Tolarion records was indeed Riona and was involved in an accident, or some kind of transformation.
“Come let me show you to your new craft,” Jalok said, as Jeff rose from the bed. “You’ll find it much more advanced then your old one.”
“Does it have one of those fancy dimensional transporters?” Jeff asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Jalok said, as he directed Jeff down the hallway. “You will have to disable one of Riona’s ships, board it, and steal the device onboard. Barva knows how to do this. You will then be able to cross over into the other universe. Our fleet will have to do the same as we don’t have the technology to make the devices soon enough. Perhaps when the Tolarions ships come, we will be able to disable some of them as well.”
They entered a gigantic room that was in the center of the complex, which contained several spaceships being built. They were shaped like the Tolarions’ only flatter and more aerodynamic. They were silver colored, about one hundred and seventy feet in length, and very similar to the flying saucers that were spoken of in the old days when space travel was in its infancy. Jeff could only guess what propulsion system was in them; he felt awed and amazed at how far they came in just one day. Perhaps the Republic and the Tolarions had a lot to learn from these survivors of a lost race.
As he approached one of the ships, Jalok placed his hand upon his
shoulder. “Tomorrow will be a new era,” he lectured. “An era of benevolence; an era where civilizations can cooperate towards a common goal. We will need you one more time to merge with the new computer in this complex. It will take about two of your hours to complete; you can rest for the remainder of the day and tonight, and leave in the morning.”
“What about Riona?”
“We will deal with him in our own way.”
“If he fixes his weapon before tomorrow, he will destroy you.”
“Then we must make sure he doesn’t repair it before tomorrow. We better get you to the transformation chamber. The storm is beginning to subside, and Riona’s men are working on their controls. You don’t have much time.”
He was shown the way to the chamber and the process of transferring a copy of the man’s DNA into the complex’s memory banks began. After the best night of sleep he had in years, he followed Barva and Jalok down to the hangar bay. They approached his craft, Barva boarded, and Jalok addressed Jeff.
“Barva will instruct you on how the vessel works, and any other questions you might have,” he said. “Good luck, Mr. Walker.”
“Thanks,” Jeff answered as he shook his hand. “I’m going to need it.”
He nodded, and Jalok helped him into the craft. He was greeted by Barva, who was sitting in a large chair at the helm. “Hello, again, Mr. Walker.”
He nodded, grabbed a helmet and placed it on his head. “How does this ship work?” he asked.
“It’s telepathically operated. It responds much in the same way Varmoth does, to the stimuli around it. You command it with your mind.”
“Isn’t that risky? What if something goes wrong?”
“If anything does, you will press this.” He pointed to a blue button on the console. “It will transfer the ship to the computer’s control, handling life support systems, plasma based weapons defense and offense, and navigational control.”
“What if the ship is about to be attacked by a fleet of ships?”
“It has a self destruct sequence, just as yours did. You have exactly three minutes to evacuate the ship using the ejection chamber.”
“And you say this ship is fast?”
“We’ll be able to reach the council in three days, which is only a
third of the time of your Rigil Four, once we can cross over to the other universe.”
“Well, we better get started then. How many ships are going to meet us at the rendezvous point?”
“We’ll have a fleet of twenty ships in about four weeks. It will take your enemy awhile to find us.”
“I hope you’re right,” Jeff answered. “I’m counting on that time to escape.”
They prepared for liftoff, and the ceiling of the gigantic room opened, as the spaceship slowly began to rise. Riona, who was outside all night trying to find a way in, watched in disbelief as the ship exited the structure.
“Blast that human!” he cursed, as his thought transmissions locked onto him. “He’s going to the council! Back to the ship!” He watched the sky, which was now clearer, but still raining lightly. He ran quickly through the jungle, his men followed, and watched the ship ascend into the sky.
“Lieutenant Zaroz, come in,” he said into his communication device.
“Lieutenant Zaroz here,” his subordinate answered.
“The human is escaping!” Riona yelled. “Notify the fleet immediately! Don’t let them pass!”
The Talokian ship entered the atmosphere, and it was apparently clear that Riona was no match for this new technology. Barva placed a tractor beam on one of the drifting Republic ships, and approached it to dock. When it docked, Barva left the helm, and another Talokian took over. “Stay here,” he told Jeff. “We are professionals at this. We will be back in ten minutes.”
Barva left the craft with two of the ten men crew and entered the drifting craft. A human onboard tried to fire his laser, but wh
en Jalok waved his arm, the gun fell to the floor. He then touched him on the forehead and caused him to fall asleep. Two more men attacked, and the two other Talokians mimicked his actions. When the rest of the crew attacked, the Talokians picked up the lasers and fired at them, wounding them, but not killing them. They went to work on dismantling the dimensional transporter device, and brought it back to the other ship within minutes.
“Get us out of here, Navigator,” Barva told the helmsman as they reentered the Talokian craft.
The ship then flew by the fleet so quick that they barely registered
on their scanners, which just became active again. This infuriated Riona, who just got back to his own ship, which was beginning to sink in the mud. “They’ve escaped, Sir,” Zaroz reported.
“What do you mean they’ve escaped?” Riona yelled, pushing his Lieutenant against the wall. “You were supposed to tell the fleet!”
“I did,” he answered. “The fleet did not detect them until it was too late. “They have a spaceship faster than we’ve ever seen.”
“Indeed,” Riona envied, as he released the insect.
“There’s something else, Sir.”
“Yes?”
“They’ve hijacked one of our ships and stole the dimensional transporter device.”
“They are an advanced race, and at the moment it appears they’re assisting our human friend,” Riona said, a little more calm now. “Well that’s just fine. When we get the ship to maximum range, we’ll activate the fusion ray and destroy this puny little planet, and maybe then he’ll surrender.”
“Sir, surely you don’t mean that?” the Belorion Sergeant pleaded.
“You’re damn right I do! Do you think I care about some ancient alien race? I’m more concerned about finding the renegades and ending this once and for all!”
His men began to question his sanity. This whole fiasco had become his own personal vendetta against the human and Zarcon, and placed all their lives in jeopardy. He no longer cared about peace or the republic, and although they knew he had always been demanding, they never knew him to become obsessed with power beyond reason. Nonetheless, most of them would never question his orders, for fear they would be executed. Riona had several conflicts in the past with Zarcon the Belorion, but it was never any more than an exchange of violent words. They resolved their disputes in a civilized manner in past discussions. All the crew knew of the incident on Belor was that Zarcon was wanted for treason and was to be captured at any costs. They didn’t know those were Riona’s orders, not the Republic’s.
Their leader began to reassemble his damaged fleet of ships, and realized at one point he would have to go on alone. If word got back that he disobeyed orders, he would lose command, and would no longer be trusted. He was powerful, but not enough to defeat the whole crew. He still had the ‘planet destroyer’, however, and as long as this was the case, there was nothing in either universe that could stop him.
The long, menacing weapon’s nozzle pointed out of its new
resting place towards the earth-like world. Its sinister owner peered at the main viewing screen, contemplating whether or not to attack. He decided not to hesitate, and pressed the firing button. The ray didn’t hit the surface upon firing; there was a force field around the planet. “Curses,” he hissed. “It appears I’ve underestimated these aliens. Any sign of the human’s ship, Lieutenant?”
“No Sir,” the Belorion answered. “They’re completely out of range.”
“Very well. Set a course for Sentros.”
“Yes, Sir,” Zaroz said, and instructed the computer to command navigational controls, prepare for wormhole generation, and lock in the proper coordinates.
“We’ll find the human and Zarcon first,” Riona snarled. “Then we’ll destroy this insignificant world!”
“Why don’t you just leave them be?” Zaroz asked. “They’ve done nothing to you.”
“Nothing yet,” suggested Riona. “They did allow the renegades to escape, however.”
“Your renegades!” Zaroz boldly defied him. “The federation only seeks Zarcon for questioning concerning the Zelorion incident. The others have done nothing!”
“Silence!” the humanoid roared. “Are you forgetting who the superior officer is?”
“Not anymore,” Zaroz said. “I’ve checked with Dr. Valoria, and he is in full agreement with me. You are suffering from some kind of mental illness that has driven you mad. You are to be relieved of command.” The doctor nodded, who was an alien with reddish brown skin and humanoid, with bumps on his forehead, blue eyes and rather large ears.
“Relieved of command,” the tyrant laughed. “You must be joking?”
“No, Sir,” Zaroz answered. “We have notified the Republic of your behavior. You are to be relieved of command, and placed into custody until we reach Sentros.”
“The Republic is giving me orders? I am the president of the council!”
“It appears that you longer are. They will no longer succumb to your threats.”
“The only threats around here are those renegades! They’re the cause of this!”
“They didn’t start this, Sir, you did.”
“You think you’re clever, don’t you? How clever will you be if I left you to die on some lifeless world? If you want my command, Lieutenant, why don’t you take it from me?”
“Please do not force me to make that decision.”
“You can’t force me to give up command,” Riona reasoned. “You have no special powers to defeat me.”
“I do have orders from the council,” he said, pulling out his laser. “You as a Galactic Republic officer should respect those orders. And as you know as an officer, I am confident in following those orders through.”
“Perhaps you might reconsider?” Riona suggested.
“I don’t think so.” Zaroz held his laser firm even though he was completely terrified of him.
“Very well,” his commander said, as his subordinate lost control of his right lower claw, and pointed the weapon back towards himself. He tried to fight it, but couldn’t, and found himself slowing pulling the trigger with his left lower claw. Riona laughed as his men watched in disbelief, and the laser burned through the Belorion’s chest, and left him dead on the floor. Riona turned to his terrified crew who grew intensely quiet. “Are there any more defectors?”
It remained quiet, as he read each and every one of their minds, and sensed their fear. “Very well,” he said. “You will no longer question my orders. If you do, I will kill you. If you don’t follow them, I will kill you. If you think about any type of escape, or notify the Republic, you will be killed. Sergeant, activate all tracking systems. I want the renegades found!”
Riona checked the scanners and the reluctant Belorion followed his orders. The humanoid lifted his head, addressing the computer. “Lock the fusion weapon on all ships in the vicinity except this one.”
“Sir,” the sergeant pleaded. “You can’t do this!”
“Silence!” growled the tyrant. “Unless you want to join your fellow Belorion.” They were all stunned at his behavior, and realized the lieutenant was right about his sanity.
“Awaiting fusion ray sequence,” the computer answered.
“Sequence 89786756.3., Commander Riona speaking.
“Sequence initiated,” the computer answered. “Will begin countdown on your order.”
“Begin countdown. Activate engines to full power.”
The computer began its countdown, and the lone Republic ship
ventured into the darkness. While his men watched the viewing screen, the fleet disappeared from their range. All that remained after the explosions was a brightness, which looked like a small exploding star as the fleet was incinerated and faded into the blackness. They didn’t know where the tyrant was taking them, or what his sinister plot was. They just knew Riona savagely murdered their lieutenant and fellow soldiers. An officer they once admired had lost his mind, and with the doomsday weapon, it
made him all the more dangerous.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Rigil Four floated silently through space, and its crew remained just as quiet. There wasn’t much to be said; it just wasn’t the same without Jeff. Even Milgic, who was usually quite talkative, was at a loss for words.
They were three days away from their arrival to Sentros, and had activated the distress signal. They just entered into the Republic’s range and were waiting for a scout ship to find them. Zarcon decided it would be imprudent to use the ship’s name or his own name until they were within visual range. The Republic would see it as a threat and attack.
He wondered if Jeff was even still alive. He knew the human was badly hurt, and left with the reptiles, but nothing else. If Riona captured him, he probably wouldn’t kill him right away because he needed him, just as he needed Zarcon for his complex game of control. He didn’t know why the Republic would go along with his plan; it just didn’t seem logical to him.
As they approached Sentros, Zarcon recollected a time when matters were much simpler. There was a time when the Tolarions were allies of the Republic, and assisted them in forming all kinds of governments on far away planets. Although both societies relied heavily upon their military’s strength, they were partners with one another. After that, both governments began to deteriorate. They began raiding each other’s colonies, and building stronger weapons to use
against one another. Riona, who was already in power at the time, was more of a diplomat than a dictator. His mental power had somehow corrupted his judgment. Zarcon warned the council of his recent behavior, but they dismissed it as being overzealous about the Tolarion threat.
They would soon realize his maniacal tendencies caused him to break several peace treaties. They could no longer look the other way on this, for it meant fighting a war of unseen devastation. The Tolarions were a militant society, but they used to believe in some peaceful virtues; the worlds who considered trade with them or information they could use were the worlds they respected treaties with, and Republic outposts were usually off limits to them, unless hostility was provoked.
Dimension Lapse (Dimension Lapse Series Book 1) Page 12