by Saxon Andrew
Twig went into Danielle’s mind and after forty seconds she leaned forward, “You are so wise. That is exactly what we should be doing.” She turned and bowed to Trey, “We will have your ship ready in ninety days.”
“Please rise, Twig; thank you for your support.”
“We are sworn to you by our oath to the Realm. Your commands will be followed, Your Majesty.”
Trey turned to Jake and Valerie and said, “We should go and power your ship. We need to select the ships that will provide the computers to assist you first.”
Jake looked excited, “I know one of them. Al and Fly Girl’s son, Junior will be one of them. He can select his partner.”
Danielle said, “Where is Junior?”
“He’s with Al and Fly Girl in another universe.”
“Perhaps his parents might want another go at the Demons?”
“That is a great suggestion. I’ll ask them.”
Valerie saw Jake coming alive. He was needed again and he was starting to get excited. Then she heard Cassandra say something that caught her attention, “I need to make a short trip with Tim.”
Trey and Danielle looked at her and she said, “I need to go back to the Captor’s former home world.”
Danielle asked, “Why do you need to do that?”
“I need to remember when I was most alive and that is where it was. I want to feel it again.”
Danielle looked at Trey as she said said, “Take your journey. I hope it’s all you think it is.”
Trey looked at Cassie and she said, “We also need to go.”
“I know.”
Danielle thought to Tag, “Let’s go home.” Tag nodded and reached for her hand.
Valerie thought to Trey, “We are also making a trip.”
“Where?”
“It’ll be a surprise.”
Jake smiled, “I bet it will.”
• • •
Valerie sat in the Pilot’s chair on the small white ship and Jake smiled, “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to where it all started.”
“What started?”
“Your view of life. You need to take another look.”
Jake’s expression turned serious as Valerie hit the teleport board. An instant later they were looking down on a beautiful green and blue planet. Jake started to say something to Valerie but saw the world hanging in space and could say nothing.
“That’s right, Jake; Gambia. This is where you learned to hate.”
Jake listened but didn’t take his eyes of the display. Finally he said softly, “It was never this beautiful before. The huge ghettos and black smoke from heavy industry made the world look brown when I was a child.”
Jake took the controls and moved the ship into the atmosphere. Valerie watched the planet grow closer and asked, “Where are you going?”
“Home.”
Valerie watched his expression and thought, “Good.”
• • •
Jake landed the ship outside the ruins of a large city. Everything was overgrown with plant life and the streets had been eroded by thousands of years of rain and seasonal change. He walked from the ship toward a bridge that had fallen into the river. The river was clear and flowing quickly out to the ocean ten miles away. Jake walked down to the bank and put his hands in the water. He looked across the river to the far shore and said in a still, quiet, voice, “This is where I pulled Robby out of the river. I didn’t get here in time to save him and he drowned about a hundred yards out. I know his pain was unbearable and he knew he was a burden on the family feeding him.” Jake looked up at Valerie, “I caused his death.” Valerie started to disagree but Jake held up his hand and put it over her mouth, “I know; it was my latent psychic power that really caused it, but it happened to protect me.” Jake looked out at the river again and said, “My anger at his death is what drove me. I hated the upper class merchants that spoiled our lives and now I can see our planet as well.”
Jake looked up at Valerie, “Why has no one ever come back and settled on this planet after the Keepers destroyed the population?”
“Everyone thought it was bad luck.”
“Why?”
“You never came back. They followed your lead.”
“It is a beautiful world now.”
“Yes it is, but you need to understand something.”
Jake looked up at Valerie, “What?”
“Gambia is a microcosm of what is happening in Creation. There are trillions of Robbys that are being killed every day by the aggressive, evil civilizations that are destroying planets. They are bombing them and often beaming them out of existence. You never came back here and made the ones that killed Robby pay for their crime. You were happy that the Keepers did it for you.”
Jake looked down at the ground and Valerie said, “And when the millions of innocent died with the evil merchants, you were still happy. How many Robbys died that day, Jake? You only cared about those in your family. The other millions were not your concern.”
Jake said, “We fought each other every day just to get something to eat.”
“And it was not their fault; they were forced to do it to survive. We are going out to save Creation and you are going to have to see that there are so many innocent beings that we have to care about and be willing to die to save them. Can you do that?”
Jake closed his eyes and remembered wrestling with Robby on the filthy cardboard that was the floor of their one room house. He and Robby ended up laughing so hard that they couldn’t breathe. He realized that it wasn’t the poverty that made him sad; it was the loss of his brother and family. He was struck with the realization that he was happy even in the filth and starvation of Gambia. He found joy in his family. It also broke into his consciousness that the millions of the poor, starving, lower class citizens were also happy and had lives that they made the most of. He slowly started nodding and said, “I owe it to Robby…I owe it to Gambia.” He looked up at Valerie and took a deep breath, “We should have come here long ago.”
“We’re here now and that’s all we have to work with. Are you ready?”
Jake stood and Valerie saw the determination in his eyes, “Please announce to the Realm that we will be moving here when we retire.”
Valerie smiled, “When will we build a home?”
“They’ll start tomorrow.” Valerie hugged Jake and he held her close. She realized that with that announcement, there would be a rush of settlers coming back to this quarantined planet. It was going to live again.
He looked back at the river and thought, “I’ll make it up to you, Robby, I promise.”
• • •
Trey and Cassie were in the Robbins looking down on the devastated remains of Bristone. The cracks in the surface had finally hardened and the streams of lava had abated. There was still a minimal atmosphere, but not enough to support animal life. As they looked at the surface they saw small areas of green. Cassie said, “Bristone will live again in the far future.”
Trey nodded and thought about the night his family had died. He would always have that vision burned into his memory, but the pain of it was slowly ebbing. He knew that it had to happen in order for the subsequent events to take place. He took a deep breath and said, “Let’s go to El Prado.”
AK said, “On our way.”
The Robbins arrived and made orbit above the former site of the Cainth and Human Communities at an hour before twilight. Everything had been taken by the huge Ging Trees, except the clearing that had once been the site of the community fire. The huge Ging Tree roots had taken different routes decades ago and new growths only occurred at the end of their long runners. The clearing had brush that had grown up but was still accessible.
Trey looked at Cassie and nodded. They disappeared from the Robbin’s Bridge and appeared on the edge of the clearing. Cassie moved under his arm and they stared at the place where so much history of the Empire had been made. Trey activated his armor and used his beam to burn t
he brush in the clearing down to the dirt. He walked over and picked up some dead branches that had fallen and walked into the flames and put the branches in a pile. The brush went up quickly and revealed the old Ging Trunks that had originally surrounded the fire. They were so hard the fire, did not affect them. The branches he piled in the middle of the clearing caught fire and he went and picked up several large ones to put on top of the fire. He walked back to Cassie and they watched the fire start burning.
Trey looked behind them and said, “Follow me and keep your armor activated.”
Trey took Cassie’s hand and led her along a large Ging root away from the settlement. After a short walk, they arrived at a slope that was starting to show signs of plant life. Trey went to a large Ging Root on the edge of the slope, sat down, and leaned back against the log. Cassie looked around and then sat down with him.
“You know we’re being watched?”
“Yes, I sensed them as soon as we arrived.”
“I wonder why they haven’t attacked.”
“They’ve called for help. They saw me burn the clearing and that made them pause. I sense they remember the last contact with the communities.”
Night was falling fast and Trey looked up at the stars starting to shine above the clearing. He deactivated his helmet and placed his weapons on manual control. “Is that a good idea, Trey?”
“I want to see the stars like my family did. Looking at them through the helmet is not what I need; besides, I can see them without my scanners.”
Cassie closed her eyes for a moment and said, “They’re waiting on the pride leader to arrive. He’s about an hour away.” Cassie deactivated her helmet and looked up at the stars. The sun had fallen behind the horizon of the wastelands and the number of stars appearing was an incredible vision. First the bright stars shone through the falling light and then thousands of others started appearing. After fifteen minutes the sky was bathed in a breathtaking panorama of billions of stars stretching from horizon to horizon.
“You’re right, Trey. This is beautiful beyond words.”
They lay in silence and after a moment they heard the music. Trey smiled and said, “This is where Creation gave my grandfather his vision. This is where he asked Julie to marry him. This is where he found balance when he was troubled.”
“What does creation want us to do, Trey?”
“You really don’t know?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Just lay here with me and feel the moment, Cassie. There is still love here that can be felt.” Cassie leaned back and stared at the stars and listened to them sing to her.
• • •
The pride leader had sprinted more than forty miles toward the glow on the horizon. The small two legged creatures had returned to his domain and he felt an equal measure of anger and fear. He knew he could die this night but was left no choice but to defend his territory. Failing to do so would lead to him being replaced by the pride. The thousand warriors following him felt his emotions and worried. They were too young to remember the burning of the scouts, but they had heard the legends. The burning beings had come back. The bright fire growing in size in front of them was done by one of them. Ordinarily they feared no creature, but the leader was fearful. His bravery was without question and if he was worried…they felt it as well.
The thousand cats arrived and joined the six hundred waiting for them. They spread out and moved into the forest toward the clearing. They would have it surrounded in just a few more moments. The Northern Mountain Cats were longer than two hundred feet but they moved through the forest silently and arrived just outside the clearing.
• • •
Trey stood up and faced the forest. The approaching line of cats froze and stopped their advance. Trey looked directly at the place where the Pride Leader was standing in the brush and thought, “You and your warriors will die if you come any closer and I really don’t want to see that happen.”
Trey extended his arm toward a Giant Ging Tree more than two hundred yards away that was sloping slightly down the hill. He fired an intense white beam and the giant tree was cut eight feet off the ground and the eight hundred foot tall tree crashed down into the clearing.
“I can use this weapon to burn every one of you faster than you can move. Do you understand?”
The pride leader watched the beam cut the Giant Ging and saw that it burned through the trunk with no resistance. He did not doubt the creature could probably do what he said but he could not allow this invasion. He looked at his warriors and saw so many of his kittens and family members waiting for his orders. He struggled with what to do. Then he heard the being say something that stopped him in his tracks.
“I am here to bring you a gift. I’ve been brought here to help you achieve your destiny and now is the time for you to become what you are created to be.”
The Leaders rudimentary intelligence understood the message but couldn’t grasp it. The Leader looked at his senior warriors and they were also confused. He looked back at the two beings and saw the hide they were wearing disappear. Before he could think about what that meant, he saw the two beings grab each other as a blue flash rushed out and enveloped him. Every cat on the entire planet fell to the ground unconscious.
Cassie remained in Trey’s arms and saw the Cats lying on the ground. “What just happened?”
“Something remarkable, my love; give them a moment.”
The pride leader felt consciousness return and after several tries, stumbled to his feet. He looked around and saw his warriors struggling to stand and looked at the two small creatures in the clearing. It wondered what happened.
“You have been released. Your minds are now clear and your intelligence has been increased as a result of the barriers being removed.”
The pride leader heard the thought and understood it. He looked around and could hear the thoughts of his warriors clearly. He looked back at the small being and said, “I’m not sure what you’re trying to communicate.”
“You are a creature made by the Creative Force that made all life. You are a special species and have a role in our destiny. Your minds have been deliberately stunted and your intelligence limited. You and your families needed to be released, so that your minds could reach their full capabilities. You are now telepathic and can communicate with your thoughts; you will learn how to use this gift in time.”
“Why did you do this?”
“I didn’t know I had come here for this purpose until I arrived. I was drawn here without knowing why. However, I will be leaving in a moment but I will return to discuss this with you at a later time.”
The pride leader stared at the two small beings and they disappeared. He looked at his advisors and one of them said, “They have a way to move through space.”
The huge cat looked up at the stars and heard music. The other cats around the planet all looked up together at the sky and heard the message. They slowly lowered their bodies to the ground and began purring. Even the young kittens understood what was being said.
Chapter Seventeen
The Juliette Robbins arrived in Earths solar system and Cassandra contacted the President of the Central Government. “Good Morning, Madam President.”
“Good morning, Cassandra, what brings you here?”
“I have a couple of tourists that want to visit for a few days. I wanted to clear it through you before I send them down in a shuttle.”
“Do I need to provide security?”
“Please put this on a private channel?”
President Karen Coronado leaned over and looked back at her display, “Our conversation is now private.”
“I have two members of the Royal Family that desire to visit without being announced. They will not be recognized but this is an unofficial visit and I would appreciate you not letting the word get out they’re here.”
“Anyone I know, Cassandra?”
“Probably, but can you help us with this?”
Karen smiled
at the display and said, “Where would they like to land?”
“They’ll be arriving in a small speeder and will come in over Central City’s space port. They’ll probably land somewhere in the city after they pass the control tower.”
Karen looked over and then said, “Set their transponder to the code I just sent you. The Port will sign them in as they pass. What name will they be using?”
“Anglo Ashford.”
Karen smiled again and said, “Done. Tell them I hope they enjoy their visit.”
“Will do.”
Cassandra looked at Tag and Danielle and shook her head, “I don’t know how anyone will recognize you. With that dirty blonde hair with black roots and those yellow stained teeth, you certainly won’t be taken for the Queen.”
Danielle laughed, “I’ve done this before.”
“Tag, that fake belly is amazing. With your short hair, and beard stubble, you should also be fine.”
“Like she said, we’ve had practice.”
“Well, good luck. Do you need us to come back for you?”
“No, the speeder has teleportation capability. We’ll just leave from here. Where are you going?”
Cassandra got a far-away-look and said, “Back to the past.”
Danielle smiled, “So are we. Good luck to you as well.”
Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Tag and Danielle teleported to the landing bay and boarded the speeder. They moved out and the Juliette Robbins disappeared.
• • •
Tag and Danielle looked down on Mars and the vast settlements. Earth had been moved to another solar system during the war with the Captors, but the last request of Misty Nicole had been to move it back to its original solar system. The realm had even been able to find a moon in another galaxy that was almost a twin of the one that had been destroyed. Misty had said, “We just don’t feel right without the planets we know. We want to go home.”
Danielle said, “Misty was a remarkable woman.”
Tag smiled, “Indeed she was. Where do you want to go first?”
“Central City; let’s see if where I met you is still there.”
