“Terra, are you ready for the test?” asked Captain Griffin.
“I am ready to do my part correctly, just like the last time,” replied the AI. The snarky tone was still there, Captain Griffin noted.
“On my mark, then,” said Captain Griffin. “Standby, mark!”
There was a flash on the front screen, but otherwise everything remained exactly as it had been.
“Did it work?” asked Captain Griffin.
“The Efreeti freighter Spark has vanished,” said Terra. “Either we made the jump into the Jinn Universe or they did. I find it improbable that they jumped, much less that they picked exactly the same time as we fired our engines to do so. I find it greater than 99.9999 percent probable we have successfully jumped out of our universe although it will take my sensors some time to determine where we actually are.”
“Thank you,” said Captain Griffin. “That was well done, as expected.” She changed to her comm. “Engineering, CO, how’s everything looking down there?”
“Good, ma’am, I think. Everything here appears normal…although I don’t know what normal is supposed to be with these damn things. If nothing else, at least they didn’t blow up…or meltdown…or something.”
“Outstanding. Any reason not to go back?”
“Not that I’m aware of, ma’am.”
“Terra, please jump us back to our universe.” As she said it, Captain Griffin realized her error. They shouldn’t have jumped in a system without support. If they weren’t able to jump back, and she was anything but certain about the jump system at the moment, no one would know what happened to them. They might have enough fuel to make it home, but home was 12 light years away. Even at 0.99 the speed of light, it would still take them over 12 years, objectively, to get home…and they would still be in the wrong universe once they got there. It was probably the dumbest thing she’d ever done. She didn’t want to say anything and jinx it.
“Yes, ma’am,” said the AI. “Jumping in three, two, one, now.”
Once again the screen flashed, but nothing seemed to change.
“Is the freighter back where it is supposed to be?” Captain Griffin asked. Please be there, please be there, please be there…
“No,” replied Terra, “it is not.”
Captain Griffin’s heart sank. “Any idea what went wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing went wrong,” replied the AI. “We are back in our normal universe. The freighter isn’t where it was expected to be, though. It has moved further than it should have in the time we were in the Jinn Universe. It is most puzzling.”
“But we’re definitely back in our universe?”
“Yes, without a doubt.”
“Good,” said Captain Griffin, uncrossing her fingers. “In that case, let’s quit screwing around and get to where we’re supposed to be.”
Dendaran Valley, Wendar, Day 16 of the Second Akhet, 15th Dynasty, Year 14
Bordraab launched as darkness fell, her five passengers tied on with vines the Aesir had found. K-Mart watched them fly off until he couldn’t see them anymore. Wishing it could have been that easy for all of them, he turned to Captain Silvermoon and said, “Ready when you are.”
Captain Silvermoon nodded once and turned to seven Aesir standing in a small group. “Good hunting,” he said with another nod. Two Aesir threw their hands up in the air, and the entire group vanished.
K-Mart looked for them, using all the sensors in his suit, but couldn’t find them. “Where did they go?” he asked.
“Those are my Eco Warriors,” replied the Aesir. “They will clear a path for us.”
“But where did they go? I can’t find them, even with my suit’s sensors.”
“Technology is only as good as the race which built it,” replied Captain Silvermoon. He smiled. “It appears ours is better.” He turned, and all the Aesir started forward at the same time as if connected by an invisible rope. The Sila males and K-Mart were drawn along after them.
One of the planet’s moons was up, but it was only a small crescent that provided little light. The Aesir did not seem to have a problem seeing in the near total darkness, nor did K-Mart with the suit’s enhancers, but both the Sila males were stumbling over small objects within seconds. Two Aesir came to their aid, with each of them taking one of the Sila by the arm.
They walked for 15 minutes after they reached the valley floor without seeing any of the Efreet although campfires and lighted areas were all around. K-Mart could smell food cooking several times and wanted to stop and ask Captain Silvermoon how they were able to avoid all the enemy, but then he came upon several Efreet bodies. Apparently the Eco Warriors weren’t just avoiding the enemy, they were also silently neutralizing the Efreet when they needed to. Even with his suit’s audio sensors turned all the way up, K-Mart hadn’t heard a thing.
Without warning, Captain Silvermoon appeared in front of him, causing him to stop. “How are the local vehicles powered?” he whispered.
“They’re electric,” replied K-Mart. “They don’t have fossil fuels on this planet.”
“That will work,” a disembodied voice said.
Captain Silvermoon turned back to the direction of travel. “What will it work for?” asked K-Mart.
The Aesir shook his head and indicated K-Mart should be quiet. The journey continued.
Their passage was incredibly surreal, K-Mart thought. To be close enough to see the Efreet all around, and even a few of the Jotunn around campfires, but never come into contact with them seemed incredible.
“Crap…” said K-Mart as they stopped at what had been an Efreeti camp site. At least eight of the enemy were spread out around a fire. All were dead, and most were bristling with flechettes…almost as if they had suddenly decided to shoot each other.
Several of their vehicles stood nearby with their access panels open; he watched as parts flew from the vehicles and stacked themselves near the fire, while the visible Aesir added Efreeti ammunition to the pile. The entire process happened silently, and K-Mart realized the Aesir must have some sort of implant network like the Terrans. If not, their ability to do things without saying anything was creepy. Damned creepy.
Only a minute or two was spent at the camp, then one of the Aesir waved for K-Mart to follow her, and the rest of the group started forward again. Two minutes later, the sky brightened behind them. K-Mart turned to look, and his facemask darkened to save his night vision. A massive fireball engulfed the Efreeti camp, with smaller streamers and pyrotechnics leaping out from the central mass as the ammunition cooked off.
Yeah, the Sila would know they were coming all right. It would take a blind man to miss that.
Combat veterans, the Aesir didn’t stop to admire their handiwork. When K-Mart turned back to the Aesir, they were already moving toward the Sila lines, and he had to hurry to catch up. They raced forward into the darkness, and the commotion behind them faded quickly.
K-Mart had all his suit’s sensors on high enhancement although it didn’t help much. He wished he had one of the platoon’s combat suits rather than his aviator suit; his was optimized for survival in space, not ground combat.
The Aesir continued into the night. After another five minutes of travel, K-Mart’s suit began to pick up thermal images in front of him. He grabbed the closest Aesir and pointed in the direction of the heat sources, but the Aesir only nodded.
“You are almost to the friendly lines,” said Bordraab mentally. “I have alerted them to your presence.”
“Did you have any problems?” asked K-Mart.
“Not many…once they realized I wasn’t going to eat them. Having the women and children along to vouch for me helped.”
Within a minute, K-Mart was through the lines and welcomed by the Sila. He was safe.
Despite their enthusiasm for seeing his group, he could tell the defenders were tired, cold and dejected. K-Mart realized that even though he was safe, for now, he had put all of his effort into joining up with the forces who were losin
g the war.
He wasn’t safe, after all.
Chapter 43
Bridge, Golirion Orbit, HD 69830, August 7, 2021
“Welcome back,” said the Thor from the screen on the bridge. “Were you successful in finding the information you sought?”
“Yes, we were,” said Captain Griffin. “Lieutenant Commander Hobbs made it to the other universe and brought back the technology we need to jump our ship into it.”
“We never doubted his ability,” said the Thor. “After all, he is the hero; we would expect no less.”
“I appreciate your confidence,” said Calvin; “however, I didn’t do it by myself. I lost over half my platoon in the effort.”
“If you brought back the technology,” said the queen, moving into range of the camera’s pickup, “then their sacrifice was not in vain. What you do with their sacrifice will give meaning to it. I have lived several thousand years, and I have lost many friends along the way. Each life is precious. To give one’s life for a friend is a precious gift; one which must not be misspent. If their sacrifice prevents or shortens a war that would have cost millions, or even billions, of lives, their sacrifice was worthwhile. I know that doesn’t make their loss any easier, and I am not trying to make light of it. My people will treasure the gift they have given us, and I will commission a tribute in their name.”
“Thank you,” said Calvin, the two words all he could manage through the lump in his throat.
“We are ready to go back to where we saw the wreck of the Blue Forest,” said Captain Griffin. “Were you able to assemble any additional ships to aid us against the Jotunn ship in the system there?”
“You will find three battleships waiting for you in Gliese 221,” said the Thor. “With the addition of your ship, you should have no problems with the Jotunn vessel.”
“As long as they haven’t brought in reinforcements, their ship shouldn’t be a problem,” agreed Captain Griffin. “However, as I understand it, that was one of their smallest types. I would hate to gate into that system and find one of their dreadnoughts waiting for us.”
“Four battleships versus one of their dreadnoughts would be poor odds,” agreed the Thor. “Let us hope you do not find one waiting for you.”
“Let us also hope you find our sons and daughters,” said the queen. “If so, please bring them home as soon as you can.”
“We will,” promised Captain Griffin. “If there is any way to do so, we will bring them home. Terra out.” The screen went blank.
“Lieutenant Commander Hobbs?” asked a voice from behind Calvin.
Calvin turned to find Lieutenant Bradford, the combat systems engineer from Department X. It must be important, Calvin thought; he had never seen the engineer on the bridge before. “Yes?” Calvin asked.
“I just finished analyzing your sword, and it’s all very strange, sir.”
“Really?” asked Calvin. “You mean most swords don’t spontaneously burst into flame?”
“No, they don’t,” said Lieutenant Bradford, missing the sarcasm. “I’ve been trying to reconstruct what happened, based on the residue, and it looks like there were some really interesting processes going on. I wish I could have been there to see it; it must have been really cool.”
“I’m not sure fighting giant salamanders armed with flamethrowers is what I would call ‘cool,’” said Calvin. “I’m afraid I was a little too busy at the time to appreciate the coolness of it all.” He saw how excited the lieutenant was and relented. “Okay, what did you find that was so cool? Was there some sort of coating on it that caused the effect?”
“No, sir,” replied Bradford; “it wasn’t because of a coating. The answer is much more fascinating. It looks like there were at least two separate processes going on simultaneously. Either could have, and one of them probably should have, killed you. As it is, you probably did get irradiated, and you should get yourself checked out. The sword was still radioactive…although not too dangerously so. Still, you’re lucky to be alive.”
Calvin blinked; all kidding gone in an instant. “Killed me? What do you mean?” he asked, his attention focused on the engineer.
“The first process has to do with silver, which appears to be exceedingly unstable in the other universe. I found numerous traces of palladium on the blade where the silver was eaten away. All I can figure is that the silver was decaying into palladium. That actually makes sense now that I think about it.” He paused for a second, deep in thought. “Yes, that would do it. If the silver decayed into palladium, it would have emitted a positron, which would have further decayed into some sort of gamma radiation when it annihilated an electron, and that would have made your sword glow blue.” He nodded. “Hmm, that sort of fits the evidence. Positron decay. It seems like there’s more to it, though…something I’m missing….” He focused on Calvin again. “Regardless, there was a nuclear fusion reaction going on at the same time, which was even more dangerous to you. It looks like a light gas, probably helium, was being adsorbed into the silver. That process would probably make it glow and maybe even break into flame?”
Calvin nodded.
“What do you know about cold fusion, sir?” asked Lieutenant Bradford.
“Ummm…not a whole lot,” replied Calvin, thrown by the question. “Just what we got in the download when we got our implants.” He paused to process what he had downloaded. “The Psiclopes figured out how to get around the Coulomb barrier and fuse helium-3 at low temperatures about 2,000 years ago. The only high-energy by-product of the fusion process is a proton, which is contained within an electromagnetic field. The proton interacts with the containment field and results in electricity generation.”
“Correct,” said Lieutenant Bradford. “A similar fusion process appears to have taken place on your sword with the adsorption of the helium. Not only did you have a flaming sword, but you also had one that wouldn’t have run out of fuel any time soon, as only a tiny bit of nuclear conversion was necessary for the reaction. If you had let it keep going, the sword would have become brittle over time, but it would probably have taken centuries to use up even a fraction of the sword.” He smiled as if that explained everything.
“Okay, I think I kind of get it,” said Calvin. “There were two reactions going on, the fusion reaction and the…what did you call it? Positron decay?”
“Yes, for some reason, silver is unstable in the other universe, and it releases the positron as it decays into palladium. You should be glad it does.”
“Why’s that?” asked Calvin.
“Because the silver decay is competing with the fusion reaction. If the fusion reaction were allowed to run unchecked by the decay process, the nuclear conversion process would probably heat the sword beyond 800 degrees Celsius. That is the same as 1,472 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot enough to melt lead. Your sword would have glowed red and started fires on touch; it also would have been very hard to hold onto or store.”
“Yeah, I can see how that would have been difficult,” said Calvin.
“It works the other way, too,” said Lieutenant Bradford. “Having the fusion reaction kept the decay process from going out of control.”
Calvin raised an eyebrow. “Now you’ve lost me. What?”
“If the reaction got out of control, the gamma rays from positron-electron annihilation would have been on the order of several mega-electron volts. They wouldn’t have been able to scatter much in that small area, so the sword’s holder would have received an enormous dose of dangerous, ionizing radiation, aside from the danger of what was actually happening in the sword. You need to keep both of these processes in mind, sir. Holding a nuclear reactor in your hand is rarely going to be a good idea, no matter which universe you’re in.”
“Um, yeah. I’ll try to keep that in mind.”
Bridge, TSS Terra, Nu2 Lupi System, August 16, 2021
“When last we were here, the Jotunn ship Soaring Eagle was in orbit around a planet about 51 million miles from the star,” said C
aptain Griffin, “along with the remains of the Blue Forest. Our mission is to defeat the Soaring Eagle, recover the wreck of the Blue Forest and any remaining crew members, then the Terra will jump to the other universe to see if we can recover the fighters we lost. The Terra will lead the assault, as we are able to best deal with any Efreeti vessels we may find there.” I hope, she added silently. “We will be followed by the Shimmering Falls, then the Western Aurora and the Maroon Mountain.”
“It has been a couple of months since we were here, so it is possible the Jotunn or Efreet have brought in additional forces. The only way we’ll find out for sure is to go through the stargate. Remember, you cannot see the Efreeti ships when they are in their own universe, and you must be ready for them to pop in without notice. Keep your weapons stations manned at all times. Any questions?”
There were none. “Good luck then,” Captain Griffin said, “and good hunting.” The screens went blank.
Captain Griffin turned to address the bridge crew of the Terra. “Although most of us haven’t fought the Efreet, we have seen their freighter in action and know what to expect; we need to be ready at all times. The Terra wasn’t designed to carry fighters; I want them launched as soon as we enter the system so they don’t block our missile and laser ports. I know we only have four fighters, but the Efreet could appear anywhere, and I don’t want us handicapped. Any questions?”
There weren’t any questions from her crew either. Combat veterans, they knew their jobs and were focused on doing them.
“All right then,” she said. “Proceed to the stargate. Sound General Quarters.”
Bridge, TSS Terra, 14 Herculis System, August 16, 2021
“System entry,” said Steropes. “Launching probes.”
“Fighters launching,” said ‘Lights’ Brighton. She added under her breath, “What we have left, anyway.”
“Contact,” said Steropes. “I’ve got power spikes from the area of the first planet.”
The Search for Gram Page 28