Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four))

by Saxon Andrew

  Sprig pointed straight overhead with one of his branches and said, “It is directly above us.”

  Everyone looked at the ceiling and then at each other; finally Cassandra said, “Do you have a way to explain how this happened?”

  Twig and Sprig turned toward each other and both said simultaneously, “No.”

  Tommy looked at them and said, “Would you care to speculate how this happened?”

  Sprig looked at Twig and both of them said simultaneously, “No.”

  Rose said, “Why not?”

  Twig looked at Sprig again and after a long pause said, “We know that inanimate objects do not have intelligence. This purposeful movement by those cells opens possibilities that are quite disturbing. If they did what we’ve observed, then it tips all the laws of the universe out of whack.”

  Cassandra was silent while the group questioned the adolescents and after ten minutes she said, “Alexander Kosiev is in there.”

  The Adolescents were in mid argument with Tag and Danielle when Cassandra made her announcement. Everyone stopped and stared at her. “Those cells were not most comfortable in that place, Kosiev was.”

  Sprig and Twig stared at Cassandra and Twig said, “That would explain why they moved over the bridge; the bridge is where the Admiral was most at home.”

  Tag stood and said, “I think you’re right, Cassandra. His consciousness was locked in that hull and I suspect he wandered around until he found a place that felt best to him.”

  Cassandra said, “I have to tell you that I’ve thought this was all a wild escape into some kind of fantasy until I watched those power cells move through the other cells until they found the bridge. I agree that inanimate objects do not have intelligence; therefore, there had to be some kind of intelligence directing it.”

  Tag looked around and said, “Ok, how do we do this?”

  Cassandra looked at the bridge crew and said, “Everyone off the bridge. You are relieved of your duties until I issue other orders.”

  The bridge crew stared at her and then she said, “Right now, unless you want to see what the inside of the brig looks like.”

  The Crew rushed for the door and the three engineers standing by began removing the roof and insulation from the ceiling. Sprig said, “We should be ready to begin within the hour.”

  Tag looked at Danielle and thought to her, “I love you. No matter what happens, I’ve loved you from the moment I took you hand and I’ll love you until my life is over; and if the creator has a place for us after death, I’ll love you there, too.”

  Danielle said, “Shut up; you’re scaring me. You sound like this is the end; it’s not. I will not leave you in there. We will go together or not at all.” Tag embraced his wife and felt his love for her just as strong as it had always been.

  Tommy and Cassandra watched Tag and Danielle and felt what they were feeling. Cassandra thought to Tommy, “That is us, Tommy. See what we have to look forward to as we grow older.”

  “Tag, go slow when you go in; make sure you maintain contact with Danielle.”

  “Hi, Atlas, have you been listening in on what we’re doing,” Tag asked?

  “Yes, I have. I must say that I agreed with Cassandra about this until I saw those cells moving purposefully on the hull. Just be careful, old friend.”

  “Thanks, Atlas; I will.”

  Cassandra sat in the command chair and watched as the engineers removed the insulation from the ceiling. She could actually feel the materials as they were removed. “This ship is a part of me,” she thought. “And I am a part of this ship.” She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. Her mind could feel the space above the skin and she sensed how vast that space was. Then she knew what had to be done. She looked at the Gardners sitting and waiting for Tag to enter the skin and she said, “There is going to be a change in plans.”

  Everyone stopped what they were doing and Tag said, “What do you mean?”

  “You will not be going into the skin; I will.”

  Tag, Tommy, Danielle, and Rose all began speaking at once objecting to her idea. She waited for them to run down and finally Danielle asked, “Why do you think you have to go?”

  Cassandra looked up at the ceiling and said, “I know this ship like my own body. It is a part of me and I feel everything in this ship. I’ve just discovered that I can even feel things inside the skin. I can see where the negative matter is located and where the stars matter was stored when the ship absorbed it. I can feel all of the space inside the skin and it is vast beyond your wildest imagination. The section above us contains space larger than a galaxy and when someone enters that space it is probable that they could move a distance of more than a light year is less time than a micro second.” She then looked at Tag and said, “You have absolutely no chance of finding your way around in there.”

  Tag looked at Cassandra and the silence was deafening. “And you think you can.”

  “I am not going to look for him, Mr. Gardner. I am going to have him find me.”

  “How are you going to do that, Cassie,” Tommy asked?

  “By letting my thoughts find him and directing him to my location. That space has grown since you and Danielle entered the skin at the end of the Algean conflict. It is nothing like what you experienced and I’m certain that the gloves will not have the range to keep track of you.”

  Rose thought about what Cassandra was saying and said, “Then how are we going to keep track of you if you go in?”

  “Tommy will hold my hands with a set of gloves as I enter and will not let go of me while I’m in there. If he gets tired he will pull me out and rest until he can continue. I suspect that if this works, then it will happen immediately. Time doesn’t exist inside that skin and what may seem like weeks to me in there will be less than a second here in the control room. If I need to come out, I will pull myself out.” She looked at Tommy and saw his concern. “I want you anchored on this side of the wall so I don’t pull you in.”

  Tag interjected, “Cassandra, we can’t risk you; you’re too important to our fight against the Captors.”

  Cassandra smiled and said, “Then tell me how your plan is safer than mine and I’ll back off.”

  Tag struggled with what she was saying but after a minute said, “I guess I’m not the only one to ask difficult questions.”

  Cassandra looked at the engineers and said, “I want a chair elevated next to the ceiling and anchored to the floor. Tommy, I want you belted into the chair and I want our gloves locked together.”

  The engineers continued working on the ceiling while two of them left and returned with a high strength alloy pole and welded it to a chair and then to the floor. After forty five more minutes Rose handed Cassandra a pair of electronic gloves and a matching pair for Tommy. They looked at each other and Tommy embraced Cassandra and said, “You know I will never let go.”

  “I know, my love.” Cassandra put on her gloves and Tommy put his on with a small struggle with the left hand.

  Rose said, “Those are the same gloves that Mom and Dad wore. Maybe they will bring us good luck.”

  An engineer took a vial of silver liquid and said, “Join hands and try to get a comfortable grip.” Tommy and Cassandra joined hands and Tommy nodded at the engineer. He poured the liquid over their hands and the gloves melted into each other. “Try to pull apart,” the engineer said. Tommy and Cassandra leaned back and pulled against each other.

  Tommy shook his head and said, “Well Darling, looks like I’m stuck on you.”

  Cassandra smiled said, “Let’s get this over with.”

  Tommy and Cassandra stepped onto a lift and rose to the level of the chair that was suspended just below the ceiling. Tommy leaned backward and sat down in the chair and then an engineer reclined it and strapped him in. Cassandra followed him onto the chair on her knees and waited for the engineers to complete their task. The engineer nodded to Tommy and Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “Be home in time for supper.”


  Cassandra smiled and then stood up and jumped into the ceiling and disappeared. Tommy leaned back on the chair with his arms extended up into the ceiling watching and waiting for Cassandra to come back.

  Cassandra looked around and saw that everything was a uniform cream color. She immediately noticed that her sense of balance was off and she felt dizzy. She closed her eyes and focused on her closed eyelids. She noticed that she was not breathing and her heart felt like it was not beating; however she didn’t feel the need to breathe. She then turned her mind to the area around her and began letting her senses expand out ward. She then sent out a thought, “Admiral Kosiev, can you hear me?”

  She waited for an answer and then it occurred to her that since time did not exist, it might take longer than she thought for her question to move through that vast space. After what seemed to her to be a long time she thought again, “Admiral Kosiev, can you hear me?” She kept her eyes closed and relaxed. She waited for a response and after a while she fell asleep.

  She was jerked awake by a thought, “Who is calling me?”

  “My name is Cassandra Gardner and I’m trying to find you.”

  “Are you related to Thomas Gardner?”

  “I’m married to his son.”

  “I didn’t know he had a son. How long have I been in here?”

  “Almost twenty seven years, Sir.”

  There was a long pause and then Cassandra heard, “I just entered this space a few moments ago. Do you know what happened to my ship?”

  “It was destroyed, Sir. However, I’m here to try and get you out of here and back into normal space. Did any of your crew make in here with you?”

  “Yes, there are eight of us and we’ve managed to stay together.”

  Cassandra could actually see the thoughts as Kosiev thought them. She focused on the direction and the cream colored space moved away from the path the thoughts were traveling. “Sir, can you see the break in the surrounding mist?”

  There was a pause and she heard, “Yes, I can.”

  “Sir, I need you to move through the break in the mist and bring your crew members with you.”

  “We are moving now but it looks like the break in the mist extends a tremendous distance in front of us.”

  “Just start moving; time doesn’t exist in here and distance is another thing that gets wacky.”

  “We’re on our way.”

  Cassandra continued to focus her thoughts toward Kosiev. She knew that if she stopped the mist would close in and she would lose him. She continued to focus and wondered how much time was passing back in normal space.

  After what seemed like a month, Cassandra knew that her time was growing short. Kosiev was still too far away to be seen and she knew that she was going to grow too weary shortly to keep up the focus necessary to keep the mist parted. Then she had a thought, “I wonder if psychic skills still operate in here. She was able to move objects with her mind; could she do it here? She focused on Admiral Kosiev again and thought, “Move here now.” Suddenly, there he was along with the other seven crew members.

  Kosiev smiled at her and said, “Whatever you did; you moved us here pretty quickly.”

  “I wish I had done it sooner, Sir. I need each of you to come to me and grab my arms and push yourselves toward my hands.”

  Kosiev looked at her arms that appeared to disappear into a solid cream colored wall. “Well, Ensign Orton, you go first.” A young sailor moved forward and started to move with his head toward the wall.

  Cassandra said, “Go feet first. You’ll be coming out of the ceiling of a ship. There should be someone there to help you but I don’t want you to fall on your head.”

  Cassandra had just entered the ceiling when a pair of feet emerged and a body began following the feet through the ceiling. The engineers moved the lift under the emerging body and helped the young sailor onto the lift’s floor. Immediately another set of feet emerged and everyone in the room felt tremendous excitement. Tag looked at the sailor that had just emerged and asked, “Who are you, son.”

  “Ensign Orton, Sir, sensor officer SR Megaship Moscow.”

  Everyone in the room felt a shiver as they looked at one of the Stars Realm’s historic heroes. Here was one of the sailors that had given their life to save the fleet at the Pydres planet. Six other sailors emerged from the ceiling and then the eighth came through and Tag saw his friend that he had mourned for years. Alexander Kosiev looked exactly as he did those twenty seven years ago when he attacked the frequency ships to save the trapped Stars Realm Fleet. Kosiev turned and saw Tag and reached forward and hugged him.

  “I’ve missed you Alexander. I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”

  Kosiev smiled and said, “We have a lot to talk about. You look older than I do.” He then turned to Danielle and said, “It’s good to see you Your Majesty. I trust you’ve taken care of the Realm.”

  Danielle rushed forward and hugged Kosiev and said, “I haven’t been queen for more than twelve years. My daughter Rose is Queen now.”

  Rose walked up and smiled and said, “I’ve learned so much about you from our history books. It is a real delight to meet you.”

  Kosiev and the other Moscow crew members were stunned. Then Twig and Sprig entered the bridge and Tommy said as he helped Cassandra onto the lift, “Admiral, this is Sprig and Twig. They are two Algean adolescents that are responsible for us finding you.”

  Kosiev looked at the two plants with wide eyes and then said to Tag, “They don’t look anything like the Algeans I remember.”

  Tag smiled and said, “That war is over. The Algeans are our allies now.”

  Kosiev looked back at the two plants and said, “Do tell.”

  Tag pointed at Tommy and said, “Alex, this is my son Tommy and his wife whom you’ve already met. They are leading us in our current fight against the Captors.”

  Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “We’re in another war?”

  Tag smiled ruefully and said, “Yes, and some of the ships we’re fighting are more than three thousand miles in diameter.”

  Kosiev sat down and looked around the room. Then he said, “Will you take me to the library so I can see what I’ve missed. It feels like I’ve only been gone a few moments but obviously a lot has taken place. I hope I have a place in this new world.”

  Twig said, “If you don’t mind Admiral, I can transfer all the history files directly to your Mind and help you organize them. It should only take two days and you’ll be completely up to date.”

  Kosiev looked at the young Algean and then said to Tag, “Can she do that?”

  “Absolutely, Alex; I think you will be amazed at the things we can do now.”

  Sprig said, “Wait until he finds out that this ship bears his name along with the Fleet Academy.”

  Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “Say it isn’t so.”

  Tag started laughing and said, “Someone fetch us a bag of popcorn. Now it feels like home to me.”

  Cassandra and Tommy watched Tag and they could tell that a huge weight had been removed as soon as Admiral Kosiev emerged from the ceiling. They looked at each other and Cassandra thought to Tommy, “I like him.”

  “So do I, Cassie.”

  Rose added, “That makes three of us. Now, let’s repair this ship and let the Realm know that its greatest hero is alive.”

  Tag said, “First, Alex needs to make a call to another friend that misses him.” Kosiev looked at Tag with a furrowed brow and Tag said, “Fleet Admiral Len Mikado should get a call before anyone else.”

  Kosiev smiled and said, “Fleet Admiral Mikado; by all means let’s contact him.”

  Admiral Mikado was on board the Rising Sun when his communications office commed him, “Admiral, I have a fleet priority call for you that asks you to stop and make contact immediately.”

  Mikado jumped from his command chair and said, “Send it to the conference room immediately.” Len left the bridge and went to the conference room and punched the comm.,
“Mikado here, go ahead with your call.”

  The display on the com came on and a face he knew from the past said, “Admiral, I leave you in charge for a few moments and you have the Realm right back into another war. I expected better of you.”

  Len stared at the screen with his mouth open for a long moment and said, “Is this someone’s idea of a sick joke.”

  Kosiev looked at his former captain and said, “It’s no joke, Lin. I just got back and I wanted you to be one of the first to know. I’m proud of you and all you’ve accomplished. It’s good to see you again.”

  Mikado stared at the screen and Kosiev could see the emotions welling up in his face. “Is it really you, sir?”