Battle for Time

by Gerry A Saunders

  Frank sat quietly on his own and tried to go over the basic sequence of the coming operation, while at the back of his mind, he was still convinced that the Varons would be waiting for them at the insertion point. Why that feeling was so strong, he had no idea.

  He’d been heartened to have sensed that Ronin was following closely in their wake. Even better was the knowledge that, since all links between Carn and the Time ship had been severed, Ronin didn’t show up on the limited sensors available while traveling Uptime.

  Frank was also pleased that no one had noticed the one-meter disc, and vertical traveling scanner arm of the ‘dual transmit and assembler unit, that was hidden virtually out of sight at the far end of the recreation room.

  Frank knew that at the precise moment they re-entered the temporal event, the Time crystal would leave and go back to its original location.

  Carn had said that they must all be within 30 to 40 seconds flight time from the original Time shaft, because when the two time-crystals merged, there would only be four minutes to enter and move Downtime before the ‘Temporal event’ would wipe them all out again.

  Everyone except Frank felt that once they were in the Time shaft, it wouldn’t matter what happened further Uptime because everyone would be safe and traveling Downtime to their first adjustment point.

  No doubt that was true. But even though Frank had tried to alleviate that risk by using Ronin, he was still worried about Ronin’s effectiveness, and their own vulnerability to both the Varons and Delta’s security ships during those first two critical minutes.

  “Frank,” He heard Gerry's voice say, which startled him for a moment.

  “Eat,” Susanna prompted.

  “Sorry… I was far away,” Frank apologized, then got up and strolled across to the food replicator.

  After a few moments spent deciding on what to eat and drink, he selected his meal, and within seconds it materialized on a tray which he took, then sat down to eat with the rest of them.

  Susanna unexpectedly gave him a quick peck on the cheek and asked if he was alright.

  “Yes,” Frank absently replied while looking at the ship’s chronometer’s count down from seventeen hours.

  Eleven hours twenty-one minutes, to go, he noted.

  “Frank, by using the secondary search matrix, we’ve been able to plot out our first target point, in the Beta quadrant, sector 21, from way back in 2324,” Anton excitedly told him. “It seems that’s where the exploration vessel, named the Searcher, went missing.”

  “Yes, and in Varon territory, Frank,” Charlotte pointed out.

  “Okay, I see the connection… If the Varons prevented the Searcher from informing Galactic intelligence of its predicament….” Frank started to say, then let his words hang.

  “I know what you are trying to say, Frank, Then Earth’s intelligence agencies wouldn’t have been aware of the Varon’s presence,” Gerry agreed.

  Then Supreme Techno Vellore’s holographic image materialized again, well above the virtually solid holographic table.

  “If you can locate and intercept the exploration vessel, Searcher, you should be able to find out what happened to her, then inform Galactic intelligence why it went missing,” Vellore ventured. “And, you should also be able to locate the main Varon fleet.”

  Frank had forgotten that they were still linked to the Clan ships. Which reminded him that he’d have to be careful to mask his thoughts about Ronin. Because, as with all the Clan, Vellore’s mental ability, although lower than his, was still formidable.

  “If we’re lucky, with a bit of direction from us, a small battlegroup could create havoc and cause a delay in the Varons buildup. I know Earth would have to have access to Searcher’s warp capability. But a quick skirmish like that would go a long way to redress the timeline,” Frank put forward.

  “Wow,” Anton exclaimed while almost falling off his seat. “You won’t believe what I’ve just found. Searcher’s specs are in our Time ship’s memory bank.”

  “Well, I’d believe almost anything these days,” Cindy muttered while thinking how improbable Anton’s information was.

  Meanwhile, Gerry was taking the info seriously. “So, Vellore, can your Techs search back through the human timeline to see if Searcher’s destruction registered anywhere?” He asked.

  “No… But Anton’s matrix might be able to, once you have exited from the Time shaft, in 2324,” Vellore put forward.

  “That makes sense,” Anton agreed.

  “Maybe so, but we need to make more headway on where and how to stop the flood of enhanced brain cells,” Susanna interjected.

  “Yes, and I still want my children,” Charlotte firmly stated.

  “And me,” Susanna added.

  Frank said nothing. Knowing he’d do everything he could to save all five of them, even if he had to use Ronin.

  Then Frank felt a mind touch his.

  Supreme Techno, Vellore’s mind recoiled as Frank quickly raised a low-level mental block against any further intrusion. But he was too late.

  What have you done to Ronin, Frank?

  What I deemed necessary for us all to survive.

  Then is Ronin still with us?

  Yes. And out of our sensor detection.

  You were willing to risk us all?

  No… My mind says differently.

  I appreciate that you are known to have good intuition, Frank... But I must correct your error.

  I will destroy you if you attempt to interfere with Ronin. Frank warned... Open your mind, Vellore, and see what I see.

  Frank felt her reluctance at first. But then Vellore succumbed, and Frank’s concerns surrounding his prediction about the Varons, and his solutions to the problem, built in her mind.

  A few seconds later, and Supreme Techno Vellore’s world changed forever.

  Chapter 17

  The Event

  Supreme Techno Vellore’s holographic head was still floating above the table in the Holo Sphere.

  She was focused on Frank, with her eyes locked onto his. Vellore didn’t speak. Just stared at him.

  Seeing this, Susanna suddenly realized that Frank was in some sort of mental link with Vellore, which made her uneasy.

  What is it, Frank? Susanna’s mind cautiously queried but was immediately blocked.

  Moments later, Vellore’s head vanished from the Holo-sphere, and they were alone.

  Then Frank turned towards Susanna, and coldly said, “Let’s see how Vellore and her Clan react to my thoughts.”

  “Hmm… Perhaps it would be better to get back to trying to save our children, and the human race,” Charlotte asserted, trying to steer everyone away from Frank and Vellore’s apparent mental clash.

  “We could go back in time and try to get my husband out of the Garoden’s hands before you convinced him that we were all dead,” Susanna snapped, directing her stinging comment directly at Charlotte.

  “That doesn’t help, Sues,” Frank said.

  “Frank’s right, Susanna… I know I sort of tricked him, but he did enjoy me, no matter what he says.”

  “You think that I should condone that, Charlotte?”

  “He satisfied my needs at the time. Anyway, he is the father of Garth and Tarra. So, you can’t really expect me to kill them off, any more than I would expect you to kill off your brats?”

  “You b...”

  “Stop there, Susanna,” Gerry snapped. “You both want to save your children, so stop sniping at each other and find a solution.”

  “Charlotte’s already suggested that we don’t allow our children any more than the two brain-enhancing injections they’ve already had. The same number, in fact, that Charlotte stole from Delta’s labs,” Anton ventured, in an attempt to move everyone on instead of wasting time bickering.

  “Yes, and by doing that, Andromeda won’t need to manufacture anymore, and the Garoden war will still end in the same way,” Cindy pointed out.

  “Not quite, Cindy,” Gerry said. “We still
need an edge, or advantage, over any future attempts by the Varons to gain supremacy over the human race.”

  “Agreed,” Frank added, then looked at the countdown clock and was surprised to see it was reading just ten hours six minutes remaining.

  Time to wake Techno Vellore’s mob up, Frank thought and sent Vellore a mental prod to find out what the Clan’s reaction was to his predictions, and solutions, about the Varons.

  A few moments later, Carn’s face appeared in the Holo-sphere.

  “Supreme Techno Vellore is still in conference, Frank,” he informed.

  “As expected, Carn,” Frank acknowledged, while well aware that the rest of the Time-ship crew were watching him intently. “Have your Techs seen and mapped the relevant additions to my brain?”

  “Yes, and we’ve made massive progress, Frank… Do you wish to hear about our progress, verbally?”

  “Yes. We all need to know as much as possible… I don’t know how the Varon destroyer group’s Seer, Tarker, came to possess this knowledge.”

  “Very well. We have solved several of the mysteries posed by the additions to Frank’s brain,” Carn started to say.

  “Do you know how Frank pulled this information out of Tarker’s mind?” Charlotte queried, interrupting Carn.

  “It seems that Frank was performing a mental attack on Tarker’s mind when Ronin released a tactical weapon that produced a blinding flash of white light, disorienting the Seer enough for the information to be easily extracted.

  Charlotte nodded, she understood how easy it would have been for Frank to have done just that.

  Then Carn continued, “So, it seems that somehow, the Varons have generated a link between 2300 and 2725… We have no idea how this link is sustained. But this link explains how the Varons knew your location, and that the six of you needed to be exterminated before you were able to travel Uptime.

  “That explains why they were after us as soon as we left Earth,” Gerry interjected.

  “Exactly… When the Varons saved you from the Temporal quake, they certainly didn’t expect you to be able to nick the supposedly dead Time-crystal, and program the Time-ship to follow you to 2300,” Carn continued.

  “Yea, that must have been a shock for them,” Susanna put in.

  “Indeed,” Carn said, smiling at her. Then continued.

  “As yet we’re not sure whether Seer Tarker’s destroyer group came from some other time… We know that several Varon groups escaped the Supernova event. So, these Varons could be one of those groups, but with far superior technology than Tamar’s lot. Even so, they still see the Galactic Empire as a threat to the very existence of the whole of the Varon species.”

  “Carn, why is this worrying you, when we can change the past?” Gerry queried.

  Carn turned his head and conversed with someone out of vision. Then sighed as he turned back to face them.

  “It seems that Frank’s action with Ronin was well justified… Seer Tarker’s brain had a small purple-colored and unknown area attached to one of the four temporal lobes in his forebrain that Frank was able to map and identify.

  Our scientists believe this enabled the Seer to see into the future. I understand that Frank thinks that the Seer might only be able to see around six minutes into the future. But even seeing a few minutes ahead, could change the course of any battle.”

  “But Tamar’s group didn’t have this ability in 2330,” Gerry again argued.

  “That’s correct. And, as far as we know, not in 2725 either… Nevertheless, Frank’s mental contact with Tarker leads us to agree with him that there will be a ‘Picket ship’ monitoring the Varon time-link. This ship will know the precise moment that we reach the event and become visible. As a result, we will be vulnerable for at least two minutes,” Carn ended.

  Then Carn’s face disappeared from the Holo-sphere and, everyone turned to look at Frank.

  “What the hell have you done to Ronin? It’s my ship,” Gerry snapped at Frank.

  At which, Frank stood up. And, with an indignant expression on his face, said, “Well, actually Gerry, it isn’t anyone’s ship permanently because it came from another time.” Then looked around at everyone before continuing.

  “What’s more, since I had to risk my life and Ronin’s to save you all, Ronin and I have now come to a mutual understanding,” Frank added, looking directly down into Gerry’s eyes.

  Gerry backed off. He could see that Frank’s eyes had become a more vivid florescent color since he’d returned to the Time-ship.

  Gerry had also sensed irritation in Frank’s brain when he had mentally touched it, briefly. Gerry had felt like taking a proper peak but sensed something more potent in the man standing before him and decided not to try.

  “Good choice, Gerry,” Frank coldly stated as he sat down again.

  “Sorry, Frank,” Gerry apologized while wondering what the irritation was in Frank’s brain. For a brief moment, it had seemed as if Frank’s enhanced brain cells were building something near one of his temporal lobes, and duplicating brain cells to use as the building material.

  Just then, the holo image of Carn’s face came back, albeit looking a bit agitated.

  “Frank, you must protect the Time-ship. Our two ships will have to jump immediately and rejoin the rest of the Clan.

  We’ve calculated that, by using Ronin’s trans-assembler unit, you will have enough time to rejoin the Time-ship at least four seconds before it completes its entry into the Time-shaft.” Carn instructed him,

  Then added, If Ronin follows your instructions, then we can’t see any complications in the timeline that we wouldn’t be able to fix.”

  “Sounds good, Carn… What about the building going on in my head?” Frank asked.

  “We think that your brain cells are trying to mimic a gland in the small unidentified area attached to one of the four temporal lobes in Tarker’s forebrain, the area that you mentally marked as a purple section.

  But unless your cells manage to get the gland’s physical DNA, then the likelihood that your brain cells will succeed is infinitesimal.”

  “I suppose Tarker’s gland would probably only grow in Varon Seers.”

  “More than likely… May I suggest that, as time is running out, we all need rest to reinvigorate our energy to cope with the imminent action, which will be in…, six hours eighteen minutes. So, I’ll contact you again in six hours.”

  With that, Carn, and the Holo-sphere vanished.

  “So, Frank, is that shimmer over there Ronin’s ‘dual transmit and assembler’ unit?” Anton asked, pointing to the slight background distortion caused by the unit.

  Frank immediately mentally thought the stealth control on the unit to ‘Off,’ and the one-meter disc and vertical traveling scanner arm of the ‘transmit and assembler’ unit, came into full view for everyone to see.

  “Yes, and it has been programmed solely for me,” Frank stated. “Just in case the Varons try to use it. Apparently, they have a compatible system.

  Nobody commented.

  “Anton, can we get the ship’s replicator to produce some sort of unified lightweight, protective uniforms for when we’re not dressed in our full body armor suits,” Charlotte asked, trying to lighten the atmosphere. “We need to look more like the military, not like a bunch of scruffs.”

  “That’s a good idea and easy to do… Just stand under that disc, Charlotte,” Anton said, pointing at a small glass-like disc set in the ceiling, a meter in front of the replicator.

  “When the disc turns green, slowly turn around. When the disc turns blue, step off, and the replicator will have your measurement scans, and be ready for the next person, and so on.”

  “The clothes had better look good on us girls, Anton,” Susanna joked.

  “Don’t worry, the replicator will take into account all your curvy bits, bumps and all.”

  Five minutes later, and the measurement scans for their new off duty clothing had been completed.

  “They’ll be ready i
n two hours,” Anton told them. And we are also preparing new semi armored suits.

  “Good. Let’s take a five-hour break, Gerry suggested.

  “Agreed... Then, we’ll be fresh and ready for action. After all, when we get into the Time-shaft, we know what our first target will be,” Susanna said, trying to ease the inevitable tension.

  With that, all three couples retired for a good rest. Knowing that, in six hours, hell would be a reality for them.

  Chapter 18

  Devil’s hand

  Five hours later, after a reasonable rest, everyone ate, then got ready for the upcoming action. They put on their smart-looking lightweight, semi-armored suits. These suits had individual field generators built-in, to add to the wearer’s protection.

  The medium-power weapons lockers quickly emptied as each of them clipped one of the weapons to their white-colored suits.

  Now they were ready for action.

  Dead on time, Carn’s holo image finally materialized inside the Clan’s Holo-Sphere. With just eighteen minutes remaining before the Temporal event would be upon them.

  “I see you’re ready for action,” Carn commented, somewhat surprised to see their new attire.

  “Any change in the Time-ship’s lock, Anton?” Carn asked.

  For what seemed like the twentieth time, Anton checked, that the Time-ship was still locked in place four minutes below the Temporal event. Then he finished checking the Matrix’s status, knowing full well that the primary Matrix would be verifying its accuracy second by second, and micro-adjusting for any discrepancies caused by traveling outside the Time-shaft.