* * * *
Seeing lights of an odd looking vehicle approach from between some aisles, Leland grabbed his sword. As it neared, he relaxed recognizing the drivers blond hair flowing behind. It was Phyllis.
“Where’s Jessie?” Leland asked as Phyllis backed the truck next to the ALEC’S DREAM.
“She’s not here? She was with us at the bottom of the stairs… she was to come back here.” She pointed to the stairs leading up to the warehouse office.
“Hmmm” Jade looked up at Jessie’s glowing face in the office window.
“I think we need to see what’s going on.” Leland said and by the time he arrived at the base of the stairs, Jessie was already running down to meet him, her face flushed.
“They’re going to attack Earth!” she said.
“What? Slow down, are you positive?”
“When I was looking up the inventories… I noticed this is normally one of the busiest warehouses. I was wondering why it’s so dead here.” she told him as they walked back to the ALEC’S DREAM. “I had to go back to find out why. I was worried they would come back… I didn’t want to be caught here.” Jessie caught her breath when they reached the ship where Phyllis, Jade and Sofie were pulling the netting over its shimmering hull.
Sofie, who was on top of the ship, looked down at Jessie. “Hey, you had us worried. Did Leland let you have it?” Jessie just grinned not wanting to upset her while she was balancing over their heads.
“OK, what makes you think they’re at war with Earth? Just because they’re not working at this warehouse doesn’t mean that they’re at war.” Leland said as they climbed back into the ship.
“The portals are used for receiving and transporting materials from other planets, and the inventory system lists all the portals. The only things being transported are ships, war type ships.” Jessie replied. “That made me dig farther where I found two plans, at least what looked like plans.”
“You mean files?” Leland asked.
“They really don’t use files; they group their data a little different.” Jessie continued. “As far as I could tell, one plan was for occupation, the other was for extermination. The extermination plan has been activated.”
“It looks like Eugene was right.” Leland said. “But I don’t understand. Can this Olivia have that much power to decide to start a war with a planet for the sake of exterminating it? Isn’t there some kind of chain of command?”
Jessie sat down, looking serious. “…you’re right… there is…”
Jade, Phyllis and Sofie joined them having finished up with the netting. Jessie caught them up with what she discovered. She then got back to Leland’s last question. “You see, somehow my mind was transferred to another planet.” Jessie said. “There was this creature, Loomius. I thought he was their god… but Eugene sure didn’t think so. Loomius kept asking me about Adam and Eve.” Jessie had to stop and gather herself… as memories of the pain returned. Sofie sat next to her and put her arm around her.
“He tried to… I don’t know… kill me? Or just overpower me with his mind. I think he was able to read everything inside my head.” Jessie shuddered.
“You don’t have to tell us.” Jade told her.
“No, I need to. You see, I could also see into his mind. I think that the Kan-ji has been searching for us… for Earth, for a long time. They have some kind of deep down hatred for us.”
“How can they know about us and not even know who we are?” Phyllis sat across from her.
“I can’t say why, it was just when Loomius was in my brain, there was so much hatred. He was looking for us. I was sure of it. It’s my fault. I let him know who we were.” Jessie trembled at the thought.
“You couldn’t help it.” Leland told her.
“Is this Loomius a Kan-ji?” Sofie asked.
“I don’t know. I think he’s an angel.” Jessie replied.
“He doesn’t sound like an angel to me.” Jade said.
“No, I mean a real angel... I saw visions in his mind.” Jessie shook her head. “Most of them were dark and horrible, but deep down there was goodness... visions of God.”
“Maybe you were dreaming?” Leland suggested.
Jessie, remembering how her dad treated her after telling him about the incident in the dark storeroom just nodded. “I guess…”
“I thought Eugene said Olivia took command by causing Loomius to mistrust the old commander of this ship.” Sofie wondered. “So who gave the orders to attack Earth, Olivia or Loomius?”
“That’s a very good question. I sense a double-cross.” Leland answered.
They sat silently for a while in the galley. Sofie got up and made some coffee. Jade made her some hot chocolate.
“Can you get any more information out of that terminal?” Leland asked Jessie.
“Sure. It’s connected to their mainframe. The computer doesn’t do a lot, but it stores a lot of data that’s pretty easy to get at. It’s kind of strange that they don’t have a lot of security.” Jessie said as she grabbed her cup and left for the office with Leland and Jade.
“Funny, I was just wondering where all their portals were…” Jessie had been staring at the monitor for the last twenty minutes. “When I ran across one that they’re planning on setting up outside our solar system.”
“How do you know it’s outside the solar system?” Leland asked.
“All the portals have coordinates. Most of them are different by just a decimal point since they’re all located in or near this ship. This one is different.”
“How do you know where it is?” Jade looked at the odd characters on the screen.
“I just know.” Jessie said with a look of amazement. “Wow... my dad had to make up a game for me to learn algebra coordinates. Now I actually understand spacial coordinates.”
“Can you find the reason for the portal?” Leland ran his hand through his shoulder length hair as Jessie just realized he had a crew cut before going into the Cheorgh healing chamber.
“To bring in ships… lots of them.” Jessie continued typing. “I found the orders. It’s to bring in all the fleets, even the other Seeker ships… ones like this one. Wow.” she said as characters kept scrolling by.
“Why put the portal outside of the solar system?” Jade asked. “Why not just put it near Earth? Is there some physical reason for that?”
“I don't understand either. As far as I know, they could open a portal anywhere. But according to these orders, ships have already been sent to open it.”
“We're going to need to get hold of Earth. Jessie, do you think you can contact your mom?” Leland asked as Jessie smiled and nodded. “I think we’ve found enough, let’s get back to the ship.”
“I can talk to my mom?” Sofie jumped up clapping her hands. Leland wanted to say no, but after what they’ve been through, he changed his mind.
“Just for a moment or two, remember we need to be quick before they track our radio transmissions.” Leland said as hope sprang into the kids faces.
“Do you know where they're setting up the portal?” Jade asked Jessie.
Jessie nodded. “I know where, but I need to figure out how to tell them the coordinates.”
“Can you disguise them?” Leland asked. “If your message is intercepted, they might change their location.”
“I’ll try.” Jessie furrowed her brows.
Alec's Dream Page 61