Then the driver came into the camera’s view, having got out of the car, and leaned over to help the man who had dropped to his knees.
You fool. They heard the driver shout. I could have killed you.
They could see the man grab the driver’s hand tightly, and then slowly speak to him, clearly having difficulty in enunciating his words.
Captain Traven’s crew watched and listened intently to the conversation.
Are you… Cedrick Tomas Ervin? They heard him ask, his voice sounding croaky.
Yes, but how do you know my name?
No time to explain…, memory is going, he almost stuttered, as he tightly squeezed the man named Cedrick’s hand.
Remember what I tell you, your life, and the future of the human race, depends on it, he had added, his voice sounding stronger.
They saw this man Cedrick nod acceptance, and the other man continued. In Earth year 2303, the human race will encounter an alien race.
Then they heard Cedrick speak, saying. You are from the future, aren’t you? I can see a glow about you, but it seems to be diminishing rapidly.
Yes, Cedrick. You can call me Micky…, he had replied, his voice sounding weaker again.
Go on, Cedrick had urged him
Cedrick, when the glow has gone from around me, my memory will also be gone…and before that happens… I must tell you something that is crucial to the survival of the human race…, this Micky said. Then paused to get his breath back.
Listen carefully… My deluded brother, Axon, found a way to come back to this time… A time that is critical to Earth’s future…
He has come back purely to delay the Acarea’s actual, departure date of the 16th December 2108.
The real time, Cedrick. Not the scheduled time. It’s crucial that you remember this,” he’d added then paused again.
He believes that, if he can delay the actual launch, this will be enough to ensure that the humans do not encounter a particular alien race… At a time, that would be critical for both races.
The man paused again, then continued. His voice sounding weaker as he spoke.
He also believes that just this small change in the actual timeline would ensure that certain events, critical to this alien race, could not happen.
Then these aliens would be supreme and could do as they wished with Earth and its inhabitants. The man paused yet again, trying to find the energy to continue.
So, to ensure that humanity survives, you must first make sure that the Acarea’s launch is brought forward to its actual timeline date of 16th December 2108.
It is imperative that the launch is earlier than the scheduled date of April 7th, 2109, he again urgently repeated.
Secondly, and just as important, the Acarea must not be allowed to go to Procyon. It must go instead to Delta Pavonis, the man added, and paused to take a breath.
I am not sure which of these two events will happen naturally. Nevertheless, if you do not launch the Acarea at this earlier date, and you go on the 7th April 2109 instead. Then, this would certainly be a deviation. And, exactly what Axon needs.
Then they saw the man named Micky slump down further, and the crew watching the hologram could see that the glow that had been surrounding him was almost gone.
Cedrick, you must help me to find Axon, and help me stop him… Promise me. Micky again urged.
I promise… I’ll help you. Cedrick replied, and they saw him nodding in agreement.
When? Where? At SEID? They heard him ask.
Yes, Cedrick replied sounding astonished. You seem to know an awful lot about us. How?
Some. Not important how. But, I’m in your hands Cedrick… In your hands. The man had stuttered, his voice sounding weak.
Come, you are coming back to my estate. Cedrick had replied, tapping him gently on the shoulder.
Cedrick, you must remember this, Mickey then said and paused his voice sounding weaker again.
No one else must know I am from the future, or it will cause the same deviation I have come to prevent.
Understood. Cedrick was heard to say while nodding his head again.
The picture in the mind, Cedrick.
What? What are you saying?
Remember. ‘Picture in the mind.’
Uh…OK. Will do, Cedrick then replied, sounding slightly mystified.
Then, the crew watching the projection saw Cedrick help Micky up. With both of them gradually going out of the camera’s range as they moved towards the car door.
The Holoprojection then ended.
“Captain. It sounds as if you’re going to ask us to go against Earth’s directive,” Nick Tanner accused him.
“Maybe. But, what Micky said does make sense,” Paul Jansen replied.
“Who ordered us to go to Procyon anyway?”
“Good question. After all, nine years ago Central reckoned there was virtually no chance that any habitable planets were orbiting Procyon,” Trisha pointed out. “But, here we are, still going there.”
“Quiet everyone. Just a moment,” Traven said. Then touched another pad on the projector, and a 3D image of Axon’s particle beam weapon showed on the screen, appearing to rotate slowly in space.
“This came from Axon, Micky Sanderson’s brother. As you can see, it’s definitely not of our time.”
“Yep sure looks futuristic,” Jeff Jackson, agreed.
“Is that what was secured in that settler’s stasis chamber, Trisha?” Tony Mears asked.
“Yes. And with that extra security code, we entered on her chamber’s panel; I’m the only one able to open it.”
“What if you die?”
“Then Susie will, unfortunately, die as well.”
“But what will happen to the weapon? Is it likely to be a danger to us?”
“Nothing will happen, the weapon’s dead now. Its core is exhausted. What is important is in getting it back to where it belongs. In the future,” she finished.
“Shouldn’t we get to grip with what we really need to do now?” Nick interjected. “After all, we’ve already launched on the date that this Micky guy wanted us to, and not on the official date.”
“Yea, but we’re still on route to Procyon. Where there’s no chance of survival, by the looks of it,” Tommy Waters snapped back. “And we know there are planets around the Delta Pavonis star,” he added.
“Captain, Delta Pavonis is 19.9 light years away. So that would double our time in transit,” Henry Bernstein pointed out.
“You’re right. Paul, can you update us on our current speed?”
“Well, we're not sure why, but my last check indicated that we’re doing nearly 0.4 light.”
“Right. In that case, we might get there in just over fifty years,” Tommy said. “Instead of the fifty-four to sixty we initially catered for to get us to Procyon.”
“Correct,” Paul agreed, and then cautioned them. “But, we could still take sixty years in total. There are too many variables to be dead sure at this stage.”
“Either way, it’s a no-brainer to me,” Joe stated.
“And, either way, Paul, it’s not going to double the timescale,” Traven pointed out.
He thought for a while and then said. “Ok, men. Those for changing our destination, raise a hand.”
They all did, and he breathed a sigh of relief, as everyone looked excitedly at each other
Traven, more relaxed now, started to outline his plan to them.
“After my meeting with Michael, I spent a lot of time working out how we could leave on the earlier date, and we’ve achieved that goal.
Now. We have to work out, between us, how we can change our course without Earth control realising it.”
“We won’t be able to. They’ll see us change course and be able to track us.”
“That’s not strictly correct, Jeff. They’ll only be able to track us if we let them.”
“It’s simple. We just disable the transponder,” Henry suggested. “That’s the only connection between Acar
ea and Earth.”
“Yes. The transponder is our only weak link,” Traven agreed.
“So then, optically, they wouldn’t see our blackened pusher plate against the black background of space.”
“That’s right, Captain,” Henry agreed. “And, as far as Earth’s radio telescopes, or any of the other satellite devices they’ve sent up, are concerned, our footprint will soon be too small for them to track anyway.”
“How sure are we that changing course will keep us in the correct timeline?” Tony asked.
“We aren’t. But I really feel that it’s the right thing to do,” Traven answered
“So, are we all agreed that we go along with Michael and Micky’s wishes?” He asked, and they all nodded agreement.
“Alright, Paul, Tommy, plot a course change for Delta Pavonis.”
“It’s going to take a couple of days, to make the predictive calculations that we need,” Tommy complained.
“Then, we’re going to have to virtually swing the Acarea right around to head in the right direction, for Pavonis.”
“And we’ll have to swing her in an arc while trying to minimise our forward inertia loss,” Henry said.
“Let alone assessing how much fuel we’ll need for the extra work the manoeuvring jets will have to do,” Tommy told them.
“I reckon this could all add a year or two to the overall transit time,” Paul said.
“No matter,” Traven replied, showing his irritation once again. “We’ll work around the problems as they come up. But, as far as anyone on Earth is concerned, we’re on course to Procyon, and we’ve still got time to burn.”
“Let’s hope we can slow down as fast as we accelerated,” Joe gloomily remarked.
“I’m with you, on that, Joe.”
“Tommy, are we still going straight?”
“Close, Captain. My readout tells me that the pusher plate twisted about three degrees at detonation point 59. Therefore, we have some deviation.
But I’ll be able to factor that in, with the recalculations for Delta Pavonis.”
“Excellent.”
“I’ll say that for Cebro’s delivery system,” Joe added. “The nukes all detonated very close to their optimum points.”
“Agreed. God knows where we’d be heading if the nukes had exploded off-centre,” Paul remarked
“Tony. Once we’ve got some spin on, we’ll make any changes that may be needed to the control recovery times for our crew members in stasis,” Traven added.
“I’m glad you said when we’ve got some gravity. The floors in those stasis cabins have too little metal, for my liking.”
Trisha laughed. “Yea but the ceiling’s got plenty of metal, so make sure you don’t jump up and down so much, Tony.”
“I know. The top of my head feels like a damn punch ball.”
“OK, that’s enough Do what you can to keep your minds concentrated on what we need to do. Oh, and, remember. It’s vital that nobody tries to contact Earth.”
Everyone groaned on hearing this. It went against the grain, for then not to be able to contact their friends on Earth.
“I’m sorry, but I need to be able to control the timing of when we actually tell them that we have a problem with our communications,” Traven explained.
“Captain. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just take the ‘Send’ transponder section offline now?” Henry asked.
“Of course. Cut the return link now, Henry. You can restore it later when we need it again.”
Captain Traven relaxed as his crew returned to their own workplaces. He wished he could have changed course before starting the nuclear pulse drive. However, that would have been impossible, as Earth would have seen the Acarea lighting up, then going the wrong way.
That would indeed have changed the future, but not in the way, that Micky wanted.
Chapter 11
Aftermath
The News Flash came up on public information panels across the world.
Humanity takes the plunge.
Acarea has successfully commenced its long voyage to Procyon. A distance of 11.4 light years.
The journey will take around sixty Earth years to transit.
We will keep you updated on Acarea’s progress.
Bon voyage Acarea.
From Acarea control.
The news flash repeated every thirty minutes, for the first twelve hours.
Judith Morante was in her office on the twentieth floor of the government office building. She was standing at the window looking down on the crowds congregating around a big public information panel far below her.
She wore a pale cream coloured top with a V-shaped plunging neckline that almost ran down to the top of her skirt. The V shape just managing to support her firm breasts, while leaving virtually nothing to the imagination.
The over-tight skirt she was wearing looked as if it would split open at any moment. Her shoes were in a colour that matched her blue-green eyes. With her short coppery coloured hair almost matching the colour of her perfectly painted fingernails, and her full lips completing her female armoury.
At times like this, she usually took an alcoholic beverage to steady her nerves. However, this time, she had settled for a glass of Oka: a drink similar to the original Coke that was still popular after more than a hundred and fifty years.
It had taken her longer than she had expected to get what she wanted from Tex. Nevertheless, it had been time well spent, as she had been able to find out, where his safe was located. Which keys she needed. And, of course, how the thumbprint scanner worked. However, she hadn’t been able to find out just where his poison-gas controller was located.
These days, protection of one’s property was left to the owner. Therefore, it had become the norm for property owners to try to defend themselves. Usually by gassing anyone who attempted to break in.
However, she was relaxed about this, knowing that, as Tex had called her, being gassed wouldn’t be an issue this time.
The only negative fact was that, as usual, she would be at his command to do with as he wished.
“But, not for long,” she said to herself while relishing the thought of what she planned to do.
Judith had been constrained by the fact that she could only get into his office when he actually called for her. As, his security system was extremely efficient, and she knew that she would almost certainly have been gassed, long before she could reach his safe, let alone, open it.
“Judith,” a man’s voice bellowed from the office across the corridor. She deliberately took longer to finish her drink.
Then waited for her so-called Boss to yell at her again. “Coming,” she finally answered using the sexiest voice she could muster.
Although she had needed to put up with this creep. Judith hated him. He was a bully, a lecher and an asshole all in one. Moreover, even though she was supposedly protected from all sexually transmitted diseases, she was taking a risk with what she was doing, as, in reality; nothing was ever a hundred percent safe.
She made sure that the tablet was still in the small pocket of her blouse. Then picking up her handbag slowly sauntered into his office.
“Close the door,” he snapped as she entered.
“What do you want, Tex?” she drawled, as she ignored his request to close it.
“If you want to keep your job. Close the damn door, and lock it,” he ordered, almost yelling.
She didn’t really care about her job, or even about anything else, after today. Nevertheless, she reluctantly closed the door and locked it. Then placed her handbag nearby.
Her boss was scruffy for a CO. His body odour and greasy black hair made her shudder. All in all, he was thoroughly unpleasant.
“Geeze is this degrading act worth sixty thousand dollars?” she asked, finally unable to resist the chance to annoy him.
His demeanour changed.
“Here, on the desk. You know the drill,” he snarled.
True enough, she thought to herself. Afte
r all, he’d had his version of intercourse with her on a daily basis for over a week now. It wasn’t as if it was memorable, but it was part of her plan.
She’d been surprised, though, that this job hadn’t been cancelled, now that the Acarea had departed.
The more she thought about it, as she laid back on the edge of the desk, with her feet almost touching the floor, the more she hated him.
She cringed with pain as he pulled at her breasts.
“Do you have to do that?” She snapped. “It hurts.”
“Don’t be such a baby,” he said as his hands moved to lift her skirt. “No panties again I see,” he snickered while stimulating himself. Then, she closed her eyes as she felt him enter her. A few thrusts and it was all over. The thought of him inside her, as usual, had filled her with disgust. Then he slowly withdrew out of her. She had to admit that she almost liked this part…It felt more sensual than anything else he did.
“I bet you liked that,” he said, leering at her. While feeling proud that, at sixty-two years of age, his manhood was still fully functional.
She noticed that his breathing was erratic like it always was afterwards.
Now’s the time, she thought.
“Do it to me again,” she urged. “But longer this time.”
“I’m not sure…”
Quickly taking a tablet from her blouse pocket, she handed it to him.
“This will help. Put it under your tongue.”
He looked at her body; it was alluring, beckoning him to perform again.
He took it and did as prompted. The tablet must be working, he thought, as his desire, began to mount again.
Meanwhile, Judith, not wanting to waste time, sat up and took her blouse off, placing it well away from them. “Come on, make me squirm,” she encouraged him as she swung herself around and lay back on the table as before.
Almost before she knew it, he was on top of her and thrusting for all his worth. It’s just work, she consoled herself, putting up with his performance, while waiting for signs that the tablet had worked.
Acarea. A Triumph or Disaster? (SpaceFed StarShips Series Book 5): A Novel by Gerry A. Saunders (SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy) Page 8
