“We’re going to have to try it, Snag, these shafts are not big enough,” Trudy answered as she followed Snaggletooth up the ladder.
Snaggletooth came to a halt on the top rung and looked above his head, “The maintenance hatch is closed. I’ll have to open it manually.”
Trudy braced herself on the wall she was leaning against, “Well, don’t take too long.”
Titus reached a hand to a control box and pulled the door open. Inside the box, he pulled the handle multiple times, ratcheting the above door open an inch with every pump.
“This is taking forever, Titus!”
“Sorry, Trudy, it is what it is,” Snaggle tooth smiled as he continued to crank the hatch open.
Trudy painfully watched the hatch inch open, “Come on, already, I’m starting to feel claustrophobic. Not to mention my foot’s cramping up.”
Snaggletooth switched arms and continued pumping, “Hang on, Trudy, it’s not that easy of a task.”
Several more slow and painful arm pumps later, the hatch opened enough for them to exit the first ladder.
Reaching down, Snaggletooth helped Trudy from the ladder to the deck above.
“These emergency lights are fading pretty fast, Snag.”
“Yeah, we’ll be in the dark in a few minutes down here. Let’s keep moving.”
Trudy followed Titus forward to the center of the ship and began climbing another ladder causeway.
“I did bring two light sticks,” Trudy added, “You know, just in case.”
“Good thing, cause these hatches,” Titus said, pumping the next lever, “Are… hard to… open…”
“I just hope the other teams in here aren’t having as much problems as we are.”
“Well, they… have it… easy…”
“Easy as long as all the munitions are on the lower decks.”
“Most… of them… are… the last… two… decks… below us…”
“There!” Titus exclaimed. “Finally, we’re on deck three. That’s where the accelerator is.”
Titus, again, helped Trudy by giving her a hand up to the listing deck. The wide corridor made it difficult to find their footing.
“According to Hargrove,” Trudy said, “it should be down the corridor and to the right.”
“Okay, hope you brought your climbing shoes. That door will be hard to reach.”
The two reached the crossway and leaned on the inside of the next bulkhead wall as they looked up at the hatch ten feet from their grab.
“I don’t know, Trudy, that’s going to be a pretty decent stretch.
“How tall are you?”
“I’m just over six foot, why?”
I think we can reach it. If you lie on the deck, I’ll climb up your back. You can take my feet and shove me closer to it. If I can reach the door, I can climb up to the inside.”
“Then find something in there to let me climb up, gotcha ya.”
Titus laid on the deck at the fifteen degrees incline as Trudy made her way up his back.
Standing on his shoulders, Titus took her by the feet and pushed her up the rest of the way. Grabbing the open door, she pulled herself up.
“I’m in! The accelerator is intact, Snag.”
“Find something for me to pull myself up with.”
“I’m on it. It’s easier maneuvering in this room. Lots of things to grab on to.”
Trudy made her way up the incline to a cabinet on the far side of the room. She cautiously opened the cabinet door and grabbed a fifty-foot, heavy duty, extension cord.
Tying off one end to a support beam, Trudy tossed the loop down toward Titus, “Best I’ve got, Snag! I’m sure this cord is strong enough, even for you.”
“Oh, gee thanks for the complement, Trudy.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, Snag. I meant you’re a guy. A tall guy that weighs more than I do.”
“Yeah, keep it up. Keep it up,” Titus chuckled as he wrapped the cord around his wrists and gave the cord a tug. “It feels good. I’m heading up.”
Titus pulled himself up with his muscle-bound arms, hand over hand until his feet were off the ground. Wrapping his ankle around the dangling cord, he inched himself up to the open door.
Trudy stretched her arm down and grabbed his free hand once he was in reach. Tugging and pulling, the two worked on bringing the large framed man through the door.
“That wasn’t real easy,” Titus nodded, “I don’t see how we’re going ta’ get that accelerator down without breaking the thing in the process.”
Trudy began making her way to another cabinet and, again, slowly opened the door. A large battery pack slid forward, but Trudy caught it in time before it fell to the other side of the room.
“I got us a power pack, Snag. Help me get it over to the machine. I think we’ll have to amp up before attempting anything.”
“Good idea, Trudy,” Titus grabbed the handle, taking the weight of the device off of her.
“You’re swinging that around like it’s nothing, Snag. That thing weighs a ton!”
“Try working out more,” Titus chuckled.
“Yeah, very funny, big guy.”
“Well, it’s what I do. I try doing a set everyday… at least I did before this all happened.”
Titus set the case down near the accelerator as Trudy braced her foot to keep the box from sliding away.
“Reach inside that compartment,” Trudy pointed to a door on the front of the machine, “There are several fiber cords in there we can use to amp up with.”
Trudy pulled the power cord from the bat-pack and clicked it into the alternate power connector. Flipping on the bat-pack caused the power lights of the box to illuminate.
“Good, this bat-pack is fully charged. Now to start the accelerator up.”
Titus slid out the hidden keyboard and flipped up the portable monitor. Pressing the power sequence, the accelerator buzzed to life.
“Okay, now, I’ll program us a two-minute amp charge. Get us connected to those cables and we’ll get this show on the road.”
“You got it,” Titus answered as he plugged one end of a cable into the accelerator connector.
Taking a multi-connect from one drawer, he placed the accelerator cable and the other two cables to the opposite side of the multi-connect. Then he reached for two wireless adapters. Titus slid one over Trudy’s neck and one for himself before inserting the two loose cords to the adapters.
“There! We’re all hooked and ready.”
Trudy reached for the transmit button and sent the accelerator charge down the cable, lighting up the fiber cable as they received the amp charge through the wireless adapters.
They each shut their eyes for the entire two-minute amp signal before the accelerator powered down, terminating the amp charge.
Trudy opened her eyes first and took the wireless adapter off her neck. Her green-glowing eyes lit up the room as Titus opened his, adding his green eyes to the room’s illumination.
“That’s much better,” Trudy smiled, “Now, Snag, let’s join our minds and come up a with solution to moving this machine, shall we?”
“Yes,” Titus answered, “I’m sure we’ll come up with an idea.”
The two joined hands, while Trudy continued to brace the bat-pack with her foot. A golden glow enveloped them as their two chips began communicating.
The two gazed into each other’s eyes and smiled before saying in unison, “Of course!”
Trudy smiled at Titus, “We have to right this ship first. We can assist this process with our amp charge and using the landing struts on the low side of the ship.”
“Then, when we get the ship level enough, we extend the opposite struts to hold our position,” Titus added.
“Using our amp strength will prevent the struts from overstressing their mechanisms.”
“We’ll have to go for a little longer amp session to complete this successfully,” Titus again added.
“Ten more minutes will do the trick,” Trudy nodded as she turn
ed to program the next session.
“I’ll contact the General and let him know to clear the area close to the ship.”
“Okay. I’m ready to send us the charge when you’re done informing the General.”
Titus tapped his earpiece, “General McKenzie, Titus, do you copy?”
“This is McKenzie I copy you, over,” Titus heard in his comm link.
“We have made it to the accelerator and have amped up using a portable bat-back. There is no way we’re moving this machine unless we right the ship first.”
“How are you going to do that, Snag?”
“We’re getting ready to amp up for a ten-minute charge. Clear the area closest to the ship and the ship’s landing struts. We’re going to actuate the struts and with our amp charge, we’ll move the ship upright. We’ll need the opposite side of the ship cleared as well. We’ll be holding the ship with those struts as well.”
“Good news! I’ll ensure the area is clear within that ten minutes.”
“Very good, General.”
“We have teams on board removing those fifty-caliber guns from the bow of the ship. Will they be affected?”
“Negative, General. Just have them stop any heavy lifting once the ship begins to right itself.”
“Ten-four, Snag. We’ll get word to them. McKenzie, over and out.”
Titus tapped his earpiece off and turned to Trudy, “Okay, they’re preparing now. You can begin the amp sequence.”
Trudy pressed the transmit sequence, sending the full amp charge down the fiber cables and into their chips.
The ten minutes seemed like ten seconds to them after the accelerator, once again, completed the cycle before powering down.
Trudy and Titus lifted the wireless adapters from their necks and returned them to the drawer.
Joining hands, the golden glow enveloped the two once again.
Titus tapped his headset again, “General McKenzie, Titus, we’re ready to start moving the ship.”
“We’ve cleared the area. You are good to go.”
“Roger that, General,” Titus answered, “I’ll keep this channel open.” He turned to Trudy and looked into her green eyes, “You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.”
The two took their free hand and laid it on the bulkhead of the ship. Concentrating, data patterns flowed from their chips, down their arms and into their hands. The light patterns of zeros and ones flooded the bulkheads, sending power to the systems they focused on.
The colored patterns flowed along the hull of the ship and actuated the struts. The ship groaned as it protested being moved. Their amp charge increased as the ship started to move. The ground around the massive ship quaked and the landing struts extended from the ship.
The struts pressed against the ground on the ship’s low side and began to push the vessel upright.
Their amp power drove through the ship creating a bubble of energy surrounding the hull. More groaning, creaking, snapping and popping sounded the more pressure the landing struts took. They continued to focus on moving the ship. Finally, the Saratoga began to slowly move, their amp energy rolling the hull and the landing struts continuing to extend.
The ground quaked and vibrated as the ship turned on the ground. The opposite landing struts began to extend to catch the ship when it became upright.
It only took five minutes of pushing and rolling before the Saratoga reached the zero-degree mark. The landing struts impacted the ground and held the ship steady as the amp power diminished, causing the ship to settle into its new position.
Trudy and Titus smiled at each other as the golden glow faded with their amp charge.
“We did it,” Trudy exclaimed.
“Yes, we did,” Titus nodded before tapping his headset, “General McKenzie, come in.”
The comm link echoed the General’s voice, “This is McKenzie. The ship is righted. Nice job!”
“Thank you, General,” Titus answered, “Now we can remove the machine and cart it down to a freight elevator. We’ll have this set up at the base camp in short order.”
“Well done, Titus and Trudy,” McKenzie praised, “Much appreciated. I think I’ll call you the T-n-T team. I’ll have the other squads resume their work. We should have the turrets set up guarding our perimeter in another hour.”
“Roger that, General. Titus out.”
Trudy looked over to Titus, “Well, Snag, if you can start disassembling this accelerator for transport, I can make my way to the freight elevator and connect a bat-pack and bring a flatbed over to transport.”
“Yeah,” Titus answered as he studied the machine, “It looks like it comes apart in three sections. I’ll grab my tools and get started. Shouldn’t take too long.”
Trudy opened the side bin, grabbing another two bat-packs, “I’ll need a couple of these daisy chained together to bring up more systems at that junction.”
“Okay,” Titus answered, holding a socket wrench and prybar, “It’ll take me about thirty minutes to tear this down. You sure you don’t want to top off our charge before I start taking it apart?”
“That ten-minute charge was sufficient. We should be good for another couple of hours.”
“Okay, I’ll see you back here with that cart shortly,” Titus said as he began unscrewing the securing machine bolts
Chapter 8
Saratoga Base Camp
January 17, 2068 13:30
General McKenzie, Bennie and Jenny walked toward a dark green army tent. The entry door flaps where rolled up and tied open. The foreboding sky darkened in the mid-afternoon.
Thunder clapped in the city and lightning lit up the dark sky over their heads.
“C’mon,” General McKenzie said with a wave of his hand, “Looks like it’s going to rain. Let’s get inside.”
Jenny lifted her hand, palm up, “Yes, I feel rain drops starting already.”
The three entered the tent and sat on camp stools situated around a rectangular table.
The General rested his palms on the table and looked over at Jenny and Ben, “We should have an accelerator set up within the hour, I’m told.”
“Yes,” Jenny answered before Ben.
Bennie took Jenny’s hand and held it tight as Jenny winced with pain, “How bad is it, Jen?”
“It’s pretty bad, Bennie. My body is changing so fast… Ahhh!”
Jenny doubled over with pain and grabbed her stomach with her free hand, moaning.
A tear fell down Bennie’s cheek, “I’m so sorry, Jen. I wish there was something I could do for you.”
“There is, Ben,” Jenny said, distress painted across her face.
“Anything… name it!”
“Never leave me, Bennie. Never… Ahhh… Owww, ohhhh man!”
Jenny’s distended and misshapen stomach told the story as it undulated before the General and Bennie.
A golden glow issued from Bennie’s hand as he closed his eyes. The self-amp energy enveloped Jenny and flowed into her chip. She closed her eyes and joined Bennie, taking the pain slowly away from the accelerated gestation of Jenny’s baby.
Bennie opened his eyes. The golden glow slowly faded.
“Feeling better, now, Jen,” Bennie asked, holding her hand tight.
“Y-yes,” Jenny answered, “A little. Thank you, Ben.”
“Do you know when this child will be coming?” McKenzie asked.
“Yes, General. I do. It’s coming in a few days. Eva says it’s the elevated growth enzyme from Bennie’s clone. That’s why the baby is growing so fast.”
“Days?” Bennie gulped.
“Maybe even hours,” Jenny added.
“How’s that possible,” McKenzie asked, “that this baby will be born in hours or days, when we first thought three months with this elevated growth programming?”
“I don’t know, General,” Jenny answered with apparent distress on her face.
“You said your baby has a message for us.”
> “Yes, yes she does, General.”
Jenny winced with pain once more as her stomach continued to extend, “Oh god! It’s happening again!”
Bennie closed his eyes and focused on another self-amp charge to comfort Jenny. There was no golden glow this time.
Jenny cried with pain as her stomach stretched out to seven months pregnant before settling over into Bennie’s shoulder. Bennie caught her as she passed out with pain in his arms.
“She needs to rest, General. This must be extremely painful!”
General McKenzie stood from the table and came around to the two, “Let’s get her to that cot,” he pointed as he helped Jenny, who was coming in and out of consciousness, to her feet.
Jenny slowly made her way to the cot with Bennie and the General on each side. Flopping loosely to the canvas bed, her arms slacked limp.
Bennie took her arms and rested them across her stomach as McKenzie set her feet on the end of the cot.
McKenzie grabbed the two camp stools and placed them next to Jenny. The two sat next to Jenny’s cot. Bennie rubbed her shoulder as she rested with her eyes closed.
Jenny’s head turned slightly toward the General as her eyes opened, “General?”
“You just rest now, Jen. Whatever you have to tell me can wait a while.”
“I am sorry, General McKenzie, but I am not Jenny who speaks.”
Bennie and McKenzie glanced at each other before returning their stare at Jenny.
“I am Eva. I am the one Jenny carries.”
“You’re talking through Jen?” Bennie asked.
“Yes, my Father. I am speaking through my mother. She is resting in her subconscious mind. I will tell you everything you need to know.”
“I’m listening, Eva,” McKenzie reluctantly answered.
“I know this seems very strange to you. You must accept who I am and what I mean for mankind.”
“Can you heal our planet?”
“No, General, I cannot heal planet Earth of the damage that has already occurred. However, I might be able to prevent any further damage our kind has caused. This is something that is not of a greater importance to discuss at this time.”
“What is, then?”
“General, you must not allow the ones from Sirius to take me.”
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