Human Chronicles Part 2 Book 3: A Galaxy to Conquer
Page 29
“But I am. It is what you Humans call the Large Magellanic Cloud, a sister galaxy to our own, one-hundred sixty thousand light-years away.”
“But that would take ages to reach.”
“Not in the CA-starships. Once in open space, a journey could be made in just under a year.”
“And that’s where McCarthy went—to blaze the trail for you?”
“The Cloud is virgin territory for a being like me. I supplied McCarthy with three large ships; even gave him Human crews and over a dozen Human females for his entertainment—all volunteers I must add. And he has cargo holds full of every imaginable precious metal, anything the natives there may covet.
“There have been intrepid voyagers in the past who made the passage, and when a one-way journey took ten years or more. They returned with stories of races who have never heard of Sileans, or Juireans or Humans. There is no Expansion, no Klin plotting, no thousand-year-long conspiracies.”
“Sounds like paradise,” Adam said sarcastically. “And McCarthy is to set up your criminal network in the Cloud before you show up and take over.”
“That is the plan. Just think, Adam Cain, I will be gone forever, as will be Nigel McCarthy. We will never again set foot in this galaxy. Your mission will be complete; never again will we bring you concern.”
Adam had thought long and hard on that last statement ... before contacting Elder Wydor and turning the distraught Silean over to the Juireans.
And then the ex-Navy SEAL had stood on the surface of Formil and looked up into the night sky at the white smudge in the heavens, wider than the moon appeared from Earth.
The Large Magellanic Cloud–the LMC—named for the Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan, was one of two smaller satellite galaxies to the Milky Way. Looking up at the LMC from Formil made the journey look less intimidating, less daunting. Yet a year in space, alone and heading for a place that knew nothing of Humans, Juireans, Klin or Kracori....
Adam had only been half kidding when he told Kroekus the Cloud sounded like paradise. Yet that aside, it was where Nigel McCarthy was heading, supplied with ships and even a Human crew. If nothing else, Adam Cain owed the unsuspecting inhabitants of the Cloud some help against the approaching threat to their peaceful existence.
The Humans were coming, and Nigel McCarthy would be their ambassador. That was something Adam Cain simply couldn’t allow.
Chapter 52
Having just left the boundary of the Milky Way Galaxy and now heading into the unknown expanse of intergalactic space, Adam was determined that Focusing Ring Number Six get back into alignment. For the journey ahead he would need all systems operating nominally, and every little blip or glitch had to be addressed immediately.
He took the gripper tool in his hand and slithered down the access tube until he came to the ninety-degree bend where the cradle for the focusing ring was housed. He opened the gripper mouth, and then extended his arms to their max, feeling around the blind bend for the bracket that held the ring in place. Working on focusing rings while in port was actually a piece of cake. Yet here in space, light-years from the nearest planet, that was not the case.
His first two stabs at the bracket ended in failure, as the poorly-designed gripper unit slipped off the ring-housing, as it was prone to do—repeatedly. With the antiquated tool, the job was hard enough. Yet when the housing bracket wasn’t even visible from where he worked, he wondered if the architects of the Pegasus ever figured a person would need access to the focus rings while in space? How could they not?
Now, as the job stretched out far beyond what was reasonable, his frustration only grew. Finally it boiled over, and Adam Cain, twisted in the portside access tube like some Castorian string dancer, cursed the poor planning that had gone into the Pegasus, proclaiming loudly and with all the sincerity he could muster:
“Whoever designed this ship should be shot!”
The End
of
The Human Chronicles Saga
What’s next for Adam Cain?
Like all great warriors, Adam Cain doesn’t just fade away. He continues to kick-ass … in another galaxy far, far away!
His adventures continue within the Large Magellanic Cloud, chasing the elusive villain Nigel McCarthy in a Wild West land where Humans can once more show why they are the supermen of the galaxy—of any galaxy.
There’s a whole new set of aliens who must now be taught the lesson so many others have come to learn: Don’t Mess With The Humans!
Be looking for the next Adam Cain adventure
Christmas 2014.