* * * *
“Jessie, you’re going to have to hide behind the seat.” Leland told her. It had taken them almost an hour to unload the truck, then another to secure and cover the ALEC’S DREAM on its trailer. It was daylight by the time they were ready to hit the road.
The truck’s cab was a two-seater. The girls were chosen to ride in the truck’s cab since they most resembled the Kan-ji’s almost feminine appearance. Besides, Jade grew up driving trucks for her dad. Jessie, being the only one who could read their language… and also being the skinniest, was stuffed behind the seat. That left Leland and Sofie to man the ALEC’S DREAM.
“Good luck.” Leland said before he slipped under the canvas covering where the ALEC’S DREAM was hidden. Jade put the truck in gear and slowly pulled out of the warehouse. The going wasn’t too bad… traffic thinned as they neared the far wall as most of the open portals were now behind them.
“Turn there.” Jessie said looking over Jade’s shoulder. “There, that’s where we want to go.” She pointed to a section of the wall between two large pipe-like structures. “There, between those elevator shafts.”
“I don’t believe it.” Jade grumbled slamming on the brakes just after making her turn. “A traffic jam... must be rush hour.” Before she could back up there was already another truck behind. “Damn, we’re stuck.”
“Sorry.” Jessie said. “I didn’t know.”
“Maybe it’ll clear up.” Phyllis hoped.
“I don’t think so.” Jade said after pulling her head back in from her window. “There’s guards checking each truck… we’re next.” The truck in front began moving away. Jade slowly drove forward, toward a guard standing in the middle of the road. He held his hand over his sword hanging from his belt.
Jade slowed to a stop. Another guard walked up to her window. She turned and smiled. The guard’s bored look turned into one of concern seeing her non Kan-ji like appearance. He reached for his sword, but before he could pull it out, the driver from the truck behind them came storming up yelling and waving his robed arms. The guard signaled them to stay put as he turned to meet him.
“That’s Yellow Teeth!” Jessie almost shouted while peeking over Jade’s shoulder.
“Not so loud... Who’s Yellow Teeth?” Phyllis tried looking casually past Jade.
“Remember the altar room... you know the guy I knee’d in the face.”
“I think you should reconsider his name, maybe Saw Tooth.” Jade giggled looking at his mouthful of broken teeth.
“Yea, I see that the guy’s nose is a little out of joint.” Phyllis added causing more giggles at the expense of his mangled face.
“Can you hear what he’s saying?” Jade asked.
“Yea, he says he’s in a hurry and wants us out of the way. He says he’s on a mission from God.” Jessie said.
“Wow, he sure is using a lot of words just to say that.” Jade said listening to his screaming and squawking for the last few minutes.
“Well, he’s saying a lot of words that can’t be translated.” Jessie blushed wondering where she learned them.
“Our luck is changing… they’re waving us on!” Jade smiled at the angry, red faced guard who was now stiffly waving them ahead.
“Hey, isn’t that the truck driver you knocked out?” Jessie pointed to a burly Kan-ji being held back by some of the guards behind them.
“Let’s just get out of here.” Phyllis told Jade. Jade nodded in agreement and sped ahead down the road.
A couple of more turns and it was clear sailing for their last mile. At the wall, the road intersected with another one running parallel to it. “OK, where do we go from here?” Jade asked.
Jessie leaned over the back of the driver’s seat. “We’re here, let me out.” she said trying to climb over Phyllis.
“Hold on, let me get out of your way.” Phyllis said opening the door. Jessie ran across the road to the wall where she slid aside a large panel exposing a set of controls. Even though she knew what was going to happen, the immensity of the wall sliding sideways was still awe inspiring. Jade didn’t need any prompting as the opening widened enough for her to drive through.
As soon as the truck disappeared into the opening’s darkness, Jessie flipped the switch, causing the door to slide back shut. Closing the panel, she slipped in a service door to her right where she followed a narrow staircase leading to a control room.
From her new vantage point she could see her friends two stories below huddled outside the truck looking around in the dark cavern-like space. Jessie reached underneath the control panel and pulled a large lever. A few moments later the cavern’s lights flickered on, giving them all a good look of the chamber. It was large and mostly empty. In its center was a large black stone bench, about 12 feet long and 3 feet wide and high. The chambers ceiling stretched farther than they could see. There were small rectangular shaped vehicles, not much larger that their truck’s cab lined against the back wall.
“Are you guys OK?” Jessie said into a large microphone attached to the console. She watched her friends looking around for her… until Sofie pointed up in her direction. “Hi Sof.”
“Hi Jessie, we’re all here!” Sofie yelled back.
“No need to yell, I can hear you loud and clear.” Jessie laughed. “Get the ship ready; I’ll open up a portal.”
“What about you?” A concerned Sofie yelled back.
“Don’t worry, once I get it opened, I’ll be right down.” Jessie responded.
“Where are you going to open the portal to?” Leland asked.
“Outside.” Jessie replied. “Why?”
“How close will we be from the other Kan-ji ships?” Leland asked.
“Oh, right. I’ll set it up a couple of hundred miles in front of the ship; all the other portals are at the back.” Jessie nodded to Leland and went right to work. Normally she would have been overwhelmed with the wall sized patch board behind her. But with the memories of the ships plans, it only took a matter of minutes to find the correct wire to cross giving her control of the portal-stone below. Turning back to the main control console, she entered what she hoped were the correct coordinates of their exit point using a set of thumbwheels.
“Stand away from that black stone.” she said into the microphone. She didn’t need to tell them as they were still scrambling around the truck pulling the canvas covering off the ALEC’S DREAM.
The black stone looked more like a stone bench than a piece of advanced technology… it sort of reminded her of that ancient chair in the hidden room. She activated the portal, and a loud hum reverberated through the chamber. Looking out the window, she saw blue shards of electric energy pulse along the long stone, moving inwards from its edges. The blue electrical pulses soon became a steady glow and a small black bubble filled with stars began forming at its center. It quickly grew to the size of a house.
Her friends scrambled into the ALEC’S DREAM and it soon floated up off the back of the truck bed. As Jessie turned to run down the stairs to join them, a movement caught her eye. She looked back to see the chamber’s entrance door spreading open.
She froze as trucks, armored vehicles along with a small army of Kan-ji solders poured in through the growing opening. She heard footsteps running up the stairs and without hesitation, she pulled open a small access panel behind the control console and silently slipped through it… closing it behind her just as the Kan-ji soldiers burst in. She hurried through the maintenance shaft to the main chamber where all she could do was watch through an air vent as an army of soldiers closed in on the ALEC’S DREAM.
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