Slave Empire - Prophecy

by T C Southwell

Tallyn studied the holograms scrolling up in front of his lieutenant, trying to ignore Rawn’s glare. He could not deny that what the Council had ordered was wrong. The humans should have at least been told what had been done to them. The fact that Atlantean children were fitted without being consulted did not mean alien adults should be treated the same way.

  After a short silence, Rawn asked, “What’s this ‘time delay’ you were talking about earlier?”

  “The beacon gives off a normal microwave signal,” Tallyn explained. “It only travels at the speed of light. The ship on which Rayne travelled was moving much faster than light, so the signals were left behind, like bread crumbs on a path. The time delay is how long the signal had been travelling when we picked it up.”

  “Two days?”

  “Well, that’s almost how long she’s been missing, so we’re still following the track of her second abductor, the one who took her from Gergonia. Unfortunately, it took us a long time to pick up her trail from Atlan. But now that we’re on the right track, it’s only a matter of time before we catch up.”

  Rawn grunted and gazed across the bridge, wishing it was not taking quite so long. Every passing hour increased his worry. Their progress was slow, for in order to detect the signals, Vengeance had to decelerate and shed the energy shell. Even though they knew which direction the signals were heading in, they could not risk overshooting their destination and being forced to double back, perhaps losing the trail forever when the signals dispersed.