Annihilation: Love Conquers All

by Andrew, Saxon;Chiodo, Derek

  Eric said, “Wow! You were right, Tag. These people don’t mess around. They have absolutely no sense of humor. Heck, you would think they could go out and buy one, but it would probably get them fired if they smiled. Oh, hi Danielle. Have you thought about my offer? I’m a great tour guide.”

  “I’m so sorry, Eric. I’ve just hired a tour guide for Friday and Saturday night.”

  “Who’s the lucky tour guide?” Eric asked.

  Danielle looked at Tag, and he slowly raised his hand and said, “That would be me.”

  “Outstanding,” Eric said. “Now let me warn you, Miss Danielle, that you better not hurt my good friend here or you’ll have it out with me. Believe me, I can talk a long time and make one minute seem like it will never end. No one should endure that punishment. So you better just watch yourself, Ducky.”

  Danielle and Tag laughed and she said, “I’ll do my best.”

  Eric winked at Tag and left for his next session.

  “Danielle, I want to try and relax before my interrogation if you don’t mind.”

  “No, not at all. Go ahead.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you in class later about this weekend.” Then he put his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

  Tag sensed the truth field and let his mind get in step with its fluctuations. He thought, “Red!” The field turned red. Tag kept the thought of red in his mind and the field did not change but stayed red. Then Tag thought, “Blue!” And the field turned blue. “That’s enough,” he thought.

  The door opened and the interrogator stepped out and raised his com. Another technician came running down the hall and entered the room with a small tool bag. The student that was being interrogated stepped out and was told to wait. She stood next to Danielle.

  “What happened?” Danielle asked.

  “I don’t know. Evidently, every answer I gave was not true, including my name and birthday,” the student said.

  “That’s odd,” Danielle thought. “Could Tag be doing this or is it just a malfunction?”

  The technician came out and the interrogator called the student back in.

  Tag then sat up and started humming.

  “If he’s Superman, he doesn’t feel any pressure. He’s relaxed. This is not acting. Could I have been so wrong about him being our suspect? Or does the truth field no longer scare him?”

  Then it was Tag’s turn. The interrogator came out pointed at him and said, “Come in, please.”

  Tag stood up, smiled at Danielle, and followed the interrogator into the interrogation room.

  “Mr. Gardner, please sit in this chair. I am going to ask you a series of questions. I want you to answer them with either yes or no. The first four questions I want you to answer honestly. The second four, I want you to answer dishonestly. Do you understand, Mr. Gardner?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Okay, let’s begin. Is your name Thomas Gardner?”

  “Yes,” he said, while he thought, “Blue field.”

  “Are you nineteen years of age?”

  “No.” He again thought, “Blue field.”

  “Is your birthday in January?”

  “Yes.” He thought of a blue field.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?”

  “No.” He imagined a fluctuating blue field.

  “Do you live south of the school?”

  “Yes.” This time he thought, “Red field.”

  “Have you ever failed a class?”

  “Yes.” He thought of a fluctuating red field.

  “Are your parents separated?”

  “Yes,” he said as he thought, “Red field.”

  “Have you ever hated anyone?”

  “Yes.” He thought of a red field.

  “From this point on, Mr. Gardner, only truthful answers,” the security interrogator said. “Do you know anything about a missing test booklet?”

  Tag thought blue and said, “No.”

  “Do you know anything about a fight where four men lost their lives?”

  Tag thought blue and again said, “No.”

  “Do you know Leila Barber?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did she talk with you about her poor test results on her first test?”

  Tag thought blue while he said, “No.”

  “Are you able to avoid cameras?”

  Tag thought of a fluctuating blue and said, “No.”

  “Okay, Mr. Gardner. That will be all.”

  Tag got up and left the room. He gave Danielle his com number on his way to class.

  The interrogator called Danielle in for the next session.

  “How did it go?” Danielle asked.

  “He doesn’t know anything. Here, take a look at his results.”

  Danielle looked at the results and asked, “Why is there so little fluctuation in his responses?”

  “I was surprised about that. Usually most students are very nervous; he wasn’t. The field said he only gave honest answers.”

  “Is there any way someone could tamper with the field?”

  “No! Well, no.”

  “Why did you hesitate?”

  “There was one person we questioned ten years ago that lied, but the field said they were telling the truth.”

  “How did that happen?”

  “This person had a high psychic reading. He could tell you what cards were going to come up on a shuffled deck of cards. He got quite rich at several casinos’ expense before security arrested him and had him tested.”

  “Can you test for psychic ability?” Danielle asked.

  “Yes, but it takes multiple measures over a sixty-day period.”

  “Does the person have to know they’re being tested?”

  “Well, I guess you could just have them walk through a portal sixty straight days to get your measures. There is a chance if this person has strong psychic skills he will detect the test.”

  “Does that matter?”

  “Theoretically, no. Psychic power just doesn’t turn itself on and off normally.”

  “Okay, I’ll talk with Inspector Connor about this; I guess you should finish the rest of the top thirty in this class.”

  “Okay.”

  She got up and left the room with mixed emotions. Tag passed. But it didn’t feel right. Well, maybe this weekend she would get a better feel for who he was. She felt something inside of her that something was wrong with Tag’s interrogation. “Can he control the truth field?” she wondered. “If he can,” she decided, “then he really is Superman.”

  Chapter 14

  Grand Admiral Dorg talked with the commander of the two Glod dreadnoughts. “Are you clear on the plan?”

  “Yes, Admiral.”

  “Just to be sure, explain your role in the coming attack.”

  “I and my fellow commander of the dreadnought Weapons Loaded will enter normal space and maneuver to get the Earth ship between us and your two ships. Then all four of us will open fire on the Earth ship.”

  “What if they try to escape?”

  “We will have them boxed in. They will have to flee close to one of our ships to escape. It should be close enough to saturate their defenses and destroy them. Especially since this is a destroyer class vessel.”

  “Anything else?” Dorg asked.

  “No missiles.”

  “Very good! I have a ship powered down again and it should draw the Earth ship in when it passes on patrol. Even if they don’t approach, my ship will transmit the Earth ship’s coordinates and then start a ten-dreg countdown when all four dreadnoughts will jump to their assigned coordinates and begin the attack.”

  “I look forward to working with you, Admiral. Maybe we can do this again.”

  “Let’s get this done first, commander,” Admiral Dorg said as he signed off.

  The Glod commander thought about four dreadnoughts attacking a small destroyer. The warrior in him detested the action as cowardly. A dreadnought is more than a hundred times bigger than a destroyer with fort
y times more tonnage; it also out guns it more than 800 percent. The commander would obey his orders; however, this was one action he would not brag about to other Glod commanders. He sat in his command chair and waited for the expected transmission.

  The Earth destroyer Moscow moved silently though the sector where it had previously been attacked. Commodore Kosiev worried about his small ship. It had been his home for three years and it fit him like a pair of old slippers. He knew every nuance of its systems and knew its capabilities. He also knew that military intelligence was probably right about another attack, and that overwhelming force would be used this time. His patrol schedule had been changed and varied such that knowing exactly when Moscow would pass the sector where the first attack took place was not possible. He knew that in order to trap Moscow, a ship would have to be present to notify the attackers of his arrival. Hopefully, it would be detected before it could transmit; that would at least allow the destroyer to go to general quarters. It had been decided that the destroyer would not have any help, nor would it be allowed to fire upon any ship attacking it. It would have to escape by using its speed. It would not be allowed to reveal its weapons capability.

  Moscow’s screen was out six hundred thousand kilometers and tuned to report anything containing metal. Then, just like before, Lieutenant Mikado said, “Sir, we have a return one hundred eighty thousand kilometers off our starboard side.”

  “Analysis, Lieutenant?” Kosiev asked.

  “High-strength alloys, sir.”

  “Sound general quarters, all hands to battle stations; pull the screen in to one thousand meters and bring reactors two, three, and four on line. Ensign, open all channels of communication,” Kosiev commanded.

  “Commodore, I have four star drives breaking into normal space close to our position,” Mikado said.

  “Show them on our tactical screen, Lieutenant,” Kosiev said. He saw that the trap was well planned. Moscow was at the center of four ships entering normal space in a box formation. She would have to come close to two of them to escape. “Turn toward the ship at ten o’clock, helmsman,” he ordered. The destroyer turned and picked up speed.

  “Sir, the four ships are in normal space and they’re all dreadnoughts,” Mikado said with an edge to his voice. “One of them has begun hitting our screen with a beam to prevent our being able to jump away.”

  “By the creator, this is taking revenge too far,” Kosiev said. “These ships were all more than three thousand feet long.” He looked at Ensign Kelley and said, “Open all communication channels.”

  “To the four dreadnoughts entering Directorate sector delta, this is the Directorate ship Moscow on patrol enforcing Alliance codes. We are not hostile and we will leave immediately. Do you require assistance?”

  “No we don’t.”

  “May we leave peacefully?”

  “No!”

  “What are your intentions?”

  Suddenly, all four dreadnoughts simultaneously opened fire on the Earth ship with their energy weapons. The beams joined the low-power beam impacting the screen that prevented Moscow from using its star drive to escape, and the screen began to change color. A star drive cannot resonate when being hit by an energy weapon. The destroyer’s screen changed from white to yellow to red. “Screen status, Lieutenant?” Kosiev asked.

  Mikado looked at his display and said, “Holding sir, but the four ships are moving closer, boxing us in, and the energy on our screen is going up.”

  “How long until screen failure?”

  “Less than 120 seconds sir.”

  “Sir, all power is going into the screen and we can’t use our star drive.”

  “Open communication channels,” Kosiev said. Then he faced his communications screen and said, “Stop your attack. We will not defend ourselves. We are no danger to you.” The attack continued. Suddenly Moscow turned and accelerated toward the gap between two attackers. Both dreadnoughts opened fire with two hundred primary lasers each and the Earth ship exploded.

  “That didn’t take long,” the Cainth commander thought. Then he broadcast to the two Glod ships, “Is there anything left to analyze?”

  “No. Our sensors show absolutely nothing remains larger that a pebble.”

  “This action is over; return to your bases.”

  The Glod did not respond but activated their star drives and disappeared. “This was too easy,” the Cainth commander thought. “Set star drive to return to Cainth. Notify the unpowered ship to return to base.” After a moment, both of the huge ships disappeared and the Cainth cruiser powered up its systems and left after the dreadnoughts.

  Nothing was left to indicate that a battle had taken place, just empty space.

  “Did you get all of that, Mikado?” Kosiev said.

  “Yes, sir, we even got their ship-to-ship communications recorded.”

  “Have the escorts power up and then leave for star base. We’ll join them momentarily.” The three escort destroyers powered up their systems, then activated their star drives and left.

  Kosiev looked out at the space where Moscow had been destroyed. “Turn off the remote control link,” he ordered. Moscow had been controlled during the battle from the bridge of the Earth cruiser Largo. A small hole in the Coronado screen allowed Moscow to receive commands from the controller onboard Largo. Even the communications were electronically sent through the link. There was no one on board the destroyer when it blew up. Largo and its three escorts were spread out along the sector where the attack was expected with all of their systems powered down. Military intelligence surmised that the Cainth could not detect unpowered ships. They learned that from their tactics during the first attack. Moscow had also been remotely detonated by having its entire skin of Coronado cells overloaded at the same time. At the time of the detonation her screens were holding, but it was felt that by destroying the ship quickly it would give false information about its capabilities.

  “Lieutenant Mikado, copy all of the recorded information and send it on a secure channel to Directorate military intelligence. I thought the part about how we would not attack them was a nice touch. When our ambassador plays this for the Alliance assembly, things should get real interesting for our Cainth playmates.” Commodore Kosiev looked out where his ship had been destroyed. “I’m going to miss you, old girl,” he thought. “Just like last time, I think you bought us some time. Someone is going to pay for this.” Then he said, “Set the Douglas drive for star base and let’s go home.”

  Grand Admiral Dorg stood at attention in front of the fifteen clan leaders that made up the clan’s central chamber. He had entered the huge, towering wooden structure eight drags earlier and had been marched into the central chamber and ordered to wait for the clan leaders. The Central Clan Assembly Hall was built on top of one of Cainth’s mountains and was more than 1,500 feet tall. It was made of wood from the stone trees that grew in the forests, and its wood was actually harder than most modern alloys. It was somewhat dark inside, and the torches used to light it were only barely up to the task. He sat on a bench looking up at the balcony where the clan leaders would arrive and waited for them, wondering what was going on. Once they arrived, he spent one third of a rotation explaining why he felt it necessary to attack an Earth ship. The clan leaders showed him the recording of the attack that the Earth ambassador had taken to the Alliance general assembly. He was stunned. Not only did the recording capture the four huge warships attacking the destroyer, but it also recorded all of the communications that took place during and after the attack. There was no way to pretend that this was an accident.

  So he stood at attention and waited for his fate to be determined. “Admiral, do you realize that the Alliance has voted to remove us as the custodians over the humans? Further, no one from our civilization may enter their twenty-light-year limit for five years. Further, reparations also have to be paid to the families of the crew that you killed,” his clan leader said.

  Dorg had tried to get them to see the danger repre
sented by the humans, but they were just not listening. Then Terl, the top clan chief, stood up and silence reigned. “Admiral, you are hereby stripped of your rank and are sentenced to five years in prison or until such time as the Alliance ends its restrictions concerning the humans. Consider yourself fortunate that more severe actions are not taken.”