* * * *
The first part of their journey went without a hitch. Jessie’s plan was to use one of the larger transport tubes that ran along the main axle. They first mounted a scouting mission to monitor the traffic through them, and to their pleasant surprise found a yellowed and brittle handwritten note taped to the control console… saying ‘out of service’... written in Kan-ji of course. The trip through the tube was uneventful, not to say it wasn’t difficult and stressful, but in the end they found themselves safely in the station of the rear ship section.
“Are we ready to make our move?” The question was rhetorical as Leland gave his signal to Jessie who stood next to the controls of a closed hanger door. Pushing a large orange button, the doors began sliding apart. She was back to the ship before they were fully open.
“Whew.” Leland whistled looking in awe at new ship section from their perch miles above the ground. The nighttime reminded Jessie of a mason jar filled with fireflies as lights of hundreds of Kan-ji air craft darted about.
“That’s a lot of activity. You wouldn’t think there would be so much during the night. I wonder if this is normal.” Leland said.
The ships floor wrapped around over their heads and was dotted with clusters of the twinkling lights of small towns. Headlights of ground vehicles could be seen moving between them. Jessie thought it looked beautiful.
“Hey, those look like outdoor movie theaters. Remember, like that old one outside of town we went to last year.” Sofie said pointing to large glowing bulbs of light sprouting out of the ground near many of the towns.
“No, they’re not.” Jessie answered flatly.
“What's wrong?”
“There's something else I haven't told you yet.” Jessie said hesitantly. “They have a kind of portal technology that gives them instantaneous travel across space.”
“Why didn't you tell us before?” Jade asked.
Jessie just shrugged. “I guess that there’s a lot I haven’t told you.” After a slight pause she added. “I really don’t know much about the portals. It’s like I know about them… and yet, don’t know about them at the same time.” She tried explaining. “I know about the power supplies and control panels that support them, but I know nothing about how the portals work.”
“If they have these portals, why would they need ships?” Sofie asked.
“They use them to transport goods and supplies.”
“What about people?” Sofie questioned.
Jessie thought on that, digging through her memories… then shocked, she answered. “They can transfer their ships. They can move them from Seeker ship to Seeker ship, or even from planets. It gives them a never ending supply of… well… weapons and people… armies.”
“You mean like for attacking Earth?” Phyllis asked. They all looked at her.
“Why would you say that?” Jade asked.
“I remember what Eugene said about Olivia getting the anti-gravity technology… he said something like ‘then she will make sure no one else gets it’.” Phyllis said. “I wondered what he meant by that.”
“If that’s the case, then we need to tell someone.” Sofie said. “We can call your mom.”
Jessie nodded but Jade cut in. “Didn’t she say they could track radio communications? I’m afraid we would put them in danger if we tried.”
“I agree. I think our only option is to get out of here as fast as we can… then we can warn everyone.” Leland said.
In spite of his statement about moving quickly, they didn’t. They just stared at the sparkling twilight in front of them.
“Well, it's obvious that the Kan-ji know how those portals works.” Leland broke the silence.
“I don't think so.“ Jessie replied thoughtfully. “It makes sense now. It's those priests. That cone they put over me, it sent me, or at least my thoughts to the other world. It's their secret.”
“What other world?” Sofie asked.
Jade stepped up and put her hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to say.”
Jessie looked at her then finally said. “Loomius, he is real. I thought he was their god. He has some kind of power over the Kan-ji. I thought it was a dream.” She shuddered.
“Those portals… is that how those suns work?” Jade changed the subject pointing up to the now dark globes 'hanging' from the center axis.
“Yes.” Jessie’s look became one of concern. “That’s how they power everything. Suns... that’s where they get their power. They somehow are able to transfer energy from suns using the portals.” The portals themselves didn’t impress her. Her dad’s theories explained how they could or might work, but transporting energy from suns, that was scary.
“Power everything?” Phyllis asked.
Jessie nodded. “Yes, their spacecraft… even this ship.”
“The rockets that power this ship use energy directly from a sun?” Leland asked.
“Well… in a way, there are special portals that are used like power generators. They can convert the raw energy to other kinds of power… like electricity or rockets. I know that the small suns of these ship sections are almost pure sun energy.”
“So they don't need fuel. They have all the fuel they need being pumped in through those portals.” Leland sounded impressed.
“They even power the portals themselves. It takes a lot of energy to open one, but once open, they only need a little to stay open.” Jessie gave them a lot to think about.
“So those movie screens down there are really just open portals?” Sofie sounded sad.
Jessie looked at the scene below. I did look serene. She could imagine families down there sitting in their cars watching outdoor movies. “That's how we're getting out of here.” she said. “Those portals are used to enter and exit the ship. They don't need doors and airlocks… they can fly right through them.”
“Why isn't the air leaking out?” Sofie pointed to one of the larger movie screens showing stars.
“I don't really know. I don’t know what makes the portals work.”
“Is there a portal at the other end?” Sofie asked.
“I'm not sure how it’s done, but I know that the controls give options of connecting to other portals. That implies another portal isn’t needed. I’m guessing that is how ships leave and enter the ship. That’s how we’re going to get out of here.”
“You don’t sound very sure.” Sofie said.
“The portals lock down the ends of a worm hole at a particular space and time. The end that creates the wormhole controls the wormhole.” Jessie responded.
“Controls it?” Jade piped in. “Up until now, I’ve half understood, now I’m really lost.”
“Well, I'm not sure if control is the right word... more like takes on the space-time properties where the portal is created ...”
“Wait... space-time? Now you're losing all of us.” Phyllis interrupted before Jessie could go any farther.
“What I mean is like gravity is part of space-time, and if the gravity is high, then the gravity is high inside the wormhole.” Jessie tried to explain. She wasn’t sure how she knew this. Her dad’s theories seemed to be melding with her new memories.
“So you’re saying there doesn't need to be two portal devices?” Sofie asked again not quite getting what Jessie was saying.
“I'm not sure. All I know is that you only need one portal. But if you create a wormhole between ships you would need two portals because both ends are moving relative to each other.” Jessie tried getting her point across.
“So the ships using the wormholes for power just tap into the sun?” Sofie was relentless with her questions.
“I know that there is one portal in a sun somewhere. I don't know how they’re all connected or how it survives inside a sun. It's a mystery to me.” Jessie put her hands up in surrender.
“So what's the plan?” Leland obviously didn’t want to hear any more about portals. He just wanted to know how they were getting out.
“Not all the portals are in use.” Jessie answered.
“Great, just point us in the right direction.” Leland settled in his pilot’s chair. “Let's get going before its light.”
“There's a control room in the back wall.” Jessie pointed. “It’s kind of confusing seeing things for real, I can see the plans in my head; I’m pretty sure it’s there.”
“Isn't there anything closer?” Leland looked at all the activity. “We'll stand out like a sore thumb.”
She thought of the ALEC’S DREAM’s shimmering skin. “Sorry... but the portals are controlled and powered through a master control room.” Jessie said. “And we’ll need to make a new wormhole.”
“Won't that control room be a little crowded?” Leland gave her a concerned look.
“No! We're not going to the control room. We’re going to a maintenance room that has its backup controls.” She gave him one of those 'duh' looks.
He growled, shook his head and flew the ALEC’S DREAM toward the opening. Jessie, along with everyone else, gasped and grabbed hold of whatever they could as he nosedived straight down, following the contour of the wall.
“I want to stay close to the wall to avoid any radar.” Leland grinned at everyone’s reaction. “Sorry, I should have warned you.” This time he couldn’t hold back a chuckle as he watched them slowly recover. “Oh, yea, and by the way, I turned on the artificial gravity.”
“You did that on purpose!” Sofie said crossing her arms. Leland laughed even harder.
“Jessie, can you try finding a way to monitor the Kan-ji communications? I want to know what they’re up to.” Leland asked.
Jessie gave a half salute and sat down at the communications console.
Sofie looked at him expectantly for her assignment. “Sofie, can you make some coffee?”
Daylight arrived just as they reached the ships floor. “We’re too exposed here.” Leland told them. Unlike the center section, this floor was a flat layer of packed sand and there were no trees or landscaping to use as cover.
Sofie handed him a fresh cup of coffee. “What’s over there?” She pointed to a group of buildings a short way up to the side.
“Jessie?” Leland asked.
“Huh?” She looked up from her work on the communications console. “Oh... those are just a bunch of warehouses. Why?”
“Never mind, you can go back to what you were doing.” Leland smiled.
“There doesn’t seem to be much activity going on over there.” Phyllis stood next to him. “Maybe we can find something in one of those warehouses to camouflage us. At least hide there until it gets dark.”
Leland flew low to the ground towards them. It turned out to be a small city of two and three story warehouses. Leland kept to the alleys and side streets until finding a building with dock doors big enough to fit the ALEC’S DREAM. As soon as he touched down Jade and Phyllis ran to the building. They were still dressed in their Kan-ji clothes… with swords in hand. Jessie thought they looked like a couple of invading pirates. They reached its side access door together and just as Jessie told them, it wasn’t locked. Jade pulled it open letting Phyllis slide in first. A tense minute later, one of the large dock doors rolled open exposing Phyllis who stood in its center waving them in.
“If we want to travel through this section, we’ll need to disguise the ship… somehow.” Leland said as they sat at the galley table eating breakfast.” We’ll search these store houses… maybe we can find some paint or something.”
Sofie sank in her seat.
“What’s wrong Sof?”Jessie noticed her mood change.
“I…I… uh, I just don’t want us to be split up again, I don’t want to be caught again.” There was a tremor in her voice.
“You and I will stay together in the ship. Jessie will go with Phyllis and Jade.” Leland said.
Sofie nodded despondently. “Sure.”
The warehouse was huge. It was filled with aisles of storage racks stretching to the ceiling. Jessie, along with Phyllis and Jade, wandered the aisles that seemed to go on for miles. “This isn’t going to work.” Jessie grumbled. The markings on the containers were just numbers without any descriptions. “We need to find an office. Maybe it’ll have some documents or a computer terminal.”
“I noticed stairs next to the access door we came in.” Jade replied shaking her head. “I should’ve thought of that earlier. Follow me.”
They did find an office, and it looked like they hit the jackpot. Its walls were lined with filing cabinets. Jessie headed straight for the desk sitting in front of a large window where she powered up its antique looking monitor. Her fingers attacked the old typewriter style keyboard where she entered pass codes and protocols to access the systems. Soon the buildings inventory lists were scrolling by.
“I can’t find any paint. Should I check out the other buildings?” The light from the monitor reflected off Jessie’s face in the darkened office.
“Can you find any coverings, like tarp?” Phyllis looked over Jessie’s shoulder at the screen filled with odd looking characters.
“Here’s some blankets… um… hey, how about some netting.” Jessie said while typing in different queries.
“Sure, where is it?” Phyllis straightened up looking at the aisles.
“I don’t know. All I have are these letters and numbers. They could be some kind of coordinate.” Jessie pointed at the text on the screen.
“I don’t see any symbols like the ones in the aisles.”
“Hey, look.” Jade said turning to the filing cabinets. On front of each drawer were stickers with pairs of characters similar to the ones Jessie was pointing to.
“I bet that’s it.” Jessie jumped out of her chair to study the drawer fronts… she soon held up a folder filled with papers. “There’s a location; aisle 52, rack 133, level 3.” she said squinting at the hand written form.
“Level 3, we’re going to need some kind of fork truck. Jessie, can you circle those numbers for us and write down the translation?” Phyllis asked.
Jessie rummaged through the desk drawers and found an odd looking slender pencil where she wrote the numbers on the front of the file folder.
“Jessie, I want you to get back to the ship. We’ll get the netting.” Phyllis said pointing to the ALEC’S DREAM parked on the loading docks.
Jessie followed them down the stairs where Phyllis and Jade jogged away towards the back of the warehouse. Jessie watched… and satisfied they were out of site, turned and ran up the stairs… back to the office.
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