Alec's Dream
Page 73
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It turned out that the control box the Kan-ji soldiers destroyed was not a control box at all; it was just the main power junction box. Luckily for Jessie, the light show it made when the guards shot it satisfied them enough to leave the rest of the panels alone. Like almost all the Kan-ji systems, there was always a backup, and with a simple flip of a switch, Jessie had the control panel powered up again and ready to work. Setting the controls, she waited for the portal to open… after a few moments she began growing suspicious.
“What?” A quick check of the inventory database on an antique terminal showed the active portals were now closed… all of them! Last time she looked there had to be at least three hundred open portals.
“Something is wrong…” She examined the controls making sure she did everything right. “…very wrong.” Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander through the schematics of the control circuitry. “Hmmm…” she groaned as she found a strange circuit. At first glance it seemed benign but a closer look showed it to be a small override circuit… buried deep inside one of the panels… the panel in the master control room.
She turned back to her console and tried a few other combinations to check out her theory. Satisfied, she closed her eyes again and examined the rest of the strange circuit. It took a while, since it was all analog and she had to trace each of the outputs to a different set of controls.
“Oh no!” She wanted to scream. The circuit opened a set of coordinates. It was a complex key requiring a combination of inputs and outputs to be activated in sequence with the final result being a set of coordinates. It was the same coordinates used for fueling their power plants and spacecraft… the center of a sun.
She checked the terminal again. “Someone’s trying to blow up the ship. I’ve got to get out of here now!” She abandoned the control room running in panic to the chamber below. “OK…. Relax… What do I do?” Jessie sat on the stone portal base. “I can manually supply power to the stone, but how do I control it?”
Stepping to a control cabinet near the wall she activated the power to the portal stone. It began humming, but no portal formed. “What next.” She was finding it harder and harder to keep from panicking. “How can I open a portal?” She said putting her head in her hands.
“It needs a key.” A voice said from behind her.
“Eugene!” she turned to see him standing holding a small black obelisk in his hand.
“You need to hurry. I can’t explain right now. You need to get into one of those pods.” Eugene told her.
She ran to him giving him a hug. “Someone’s opening a portal into a sun! We’ve got to get out of here.”
Eugene looked at her with astonishment. “How can you know?” Then shaking his head he said with more conviction. “It’s so very important that you escape… please… hurry.” He pushed her towards the back wall… to the escape pods.
“What about you?”
“Don’t worreee about me. I geet out.” Eugene answered… falling back to his old accent.
Jessie ran to the pod. There was room for two. She powered it up and looked out its small front window as Eugene placed the black obelisk into a slot in the side of the stone. He stepped back as blue lightning began pulsing the length of it. As the portal formed, he turned to her.
“Come on in Eugene.” she yelled out the pods open door. “No... I can control it from here!” she yelled again as he closed the door on her and began pushing the wheeled pod towards the portal.
“Come in!” she shouted knowing he couldn’t hear her. He smiled and waved at her through the front window. Without warning, the walls blew inwards with flames pouring in behind. “Eugene! No!” she cried as the flames surrounded them.