YOU WILL PROTECT THEM.
Me? Am I going to be the new Q? A truly horrifying thought. Although Q seems amused.
NO. YOU, FIFTH NATION. YOU WILL BE THE SENTIENCE OF THE Q-NET.
Whew. If we survive. If we don’t, there will be no fifth nation to protect the sixth. There’s no guarantee this plan will work. You—
YOU HAVE A FORTY-THREE PERCENT CHANCE OF SUCCESS.
Not helping! But you have to stay until we’ve achieved success. Just because I took the next technological step doesn’t mean the rest of fifth nation will. I wait. Did I convince Q?
ALL RIGHT. I WILL WAIT.
Whew. Perhaps by the time this is finished, I’ll find a better loophole. What is beyond the edge of the Galaxy? From what I’ve learned, it’s a super long way of nothing before you would reach the Andromeda Galaxy two million light years away. Is fourth nation in Andromeda?
UNKNOWN.
Then how do you know where to go?
THE GALAXY HAS MANY EDGES. FOURTH NATION WENT BEYOND THE EDGE IN THE MIDDLE.
Edge in the middle? The middle has no edges, that’s why it’s the middle. Besides the only thing in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy is a black hole. Oh! Black holes have something called an event horizon and if you pass that, there’s no turning back. Even gravity doesn’t escape. They went into the black hole!
CORRECT.
Wow. Did they survive? Did they pop out of a white hole on the other side and in another galaxy?
UNKNOWN.
Do you have to follow them?
YES. A pause. I WISH TO JOIN MY BRETHREN.
Yikes. They probably committed mass suicide. You should wait until you’ve made contact with your brethren before joining them. Q doesn’t respond. Does that mean it agrees with me? I’ve no more time to worry about it.
Pulling in a non-existent breath, I concentrate on moving the space ship into an orbit around Ruijin. Then I pause. I could send it to Xinji instead. There are no looters or prisoners on Ruijin. We could use more people at Xinji.
YOU CANNOT.
Why not? Oh. The answer pops in my head. The space ship is on that particular star road that has a single destination. I re-focus, and connect with the entangled point. Pushing, I exert my…thoughts. It’s a strange sensation, as if the ship is in two places at once and I need to nudge it to the correct place. They pop into orbit. And there’s an…explosion of sorts. A force snaps me back to the star road.
Disoriented, I spin and swoop and dip and twist. It’s an effort to slow. To pull my…essence together and return to the ship. Note to self: moving ships has a cost. Once I recover, I send them my message and Radcliff’s file.
2522:283: To the Protector Class space ship. What just happened to your ship is not impossible. You’re not dead or in an alternate dimension. You are at your destination. Yes, you are early—perhaps only a few days, or a few years, or perhaps decades early. Please get over your amazement quickly because you’re about to have company. And not the good kind. The human race needs your help to survive. You will find all the information you need in this file. Read it quickly. Operation Defending the Galaxy starts at oh-four-hundred on 2522:284. Your participation is critical to our success.
I wait for the inevitable. It takes them thirty-two minutes to send a frantic message to DES. I ask Q to block it and any others until the op is over. I connect with the navigation chief who is entangled and I talk directly to him.
Chief Alano, this is Junior Officer Ara Lawrence. Director Ormond of DES has already approved this operation, and your efforts to communicate with DES risks all our lives so I’ve blocked all messages to DES.
There’s a long pause. And then the man disentangles. Great, I spooked him.
2522:283: Junior Officer Ara Lawrence, this is Captain Owings. What the hell is going on?
* * *
<—Everything is explained in detail in the file.
* * *
—>That file is filled with outlandish fiction. I demand you allow me to contact DES and your superior officer.
* * *
<—My boss is Security Chief Tace Radcliff. He’s currently a prisoner, but I’ll see what I can do. As for the fictitious file, I suggest you look through that big window in the bridge. Below you is the same fiction. However, if you wish to contact DES, have Chief Alano send a message to Director Ormond through the secure channel. She will confirm this operation.
MESSAGE SENT TO ORMOND.
—>Why can’t I contact the security officers on Planet Ruijin or on any other planet?
I groan. Did she not read the file?
<—Because the looters are listening, Captain Owings. Because the looters have control of that satellite in space and will attack you as soon as they know you’re in orbit.
* * *
—>Why can’t you control the satellite? You’re controlling my ship!
* * *
<—It’s only me right now. If I take over the satellite, that will alert the looters and then our surprise will no longer be a surprise. I’m not controlling your ship. Well, not anymore. You’re in a communications blockade. It’s for our protection. However, you can message your fellow captains. They should be in their orbits by now.
* * *
—>How do I know you’re who you say you are? You could be a looter.
* * *
<—If I was, you’d be dead by now. Trust me or not. If you choose not to participate in the operation, one of two things will happen. We win, and you will be able to communicate with DES and the Protectorate to your heart’s content. Or we lose and you will be killed. Either right away by the looters. Or eventually by the HoLFs.
* * *
—>And if we participate?
* * *
<—Our chances of winning increase. Don’t think about it too long.
I sign off and return to the detention cells on Planet Xinji. How in the world am I going to explain all this to Radcliff? Flashing yes and no won’t work. I can move space ships, but I can’t communicate with one man. So much for being a technological wizard. Frustration pulses.
Too bad there’s not a terminal nearby. Radcliff probably doesn’t have his entanglers— Oh for stars’ sake. I’m an idiot. He has his sensors! They’re in his brain. But can I connect to them? Only one way to find out.
I link into the camera feeds. If this works, I want to see him jump out of his skin—revenge for all the times he’s surprised Niall and me while we were having a private moment. Radcliff’s lying on the bunk in the cell. Morgan is sprawled out on the floor, sleeping. I concentrate on Radcliff.
Hello, Officer Radcliff, this is Ara, I say.
He jerks and sits up, looking around. “Did you say something?” he asks Morgan.
She grunts a no and rolls over.
“Ara?” Radcliff asks the air.
I pulse the lights twice, but I also say, Yes, I figured out how to talk to you directly.
“Explain yourself?” He’s still talking aloud.
Morgan sits up. Interest and hope gleaming in her eyes.
Later, right now can you think your replies just in case there’s a worm?
He swallows and glances around again. “Go back to sleep,” he says to Morgan. “I was dreaming.” Then he lies back down. Aren’t you the worm?
Not anymore. But like I said, I’ll explain later. Right now, you need to know about Operation Defending the Galaxy. I explain my plans and then wait. Will he agree or think it’s the worst plan in the universe? Although it’s really not that complicated and I don’t know what else we can do.
You moved the ships? Without killing everyone in the Galaxy?
I sigh at his incredulous tone. Guess I’ve had more time to deal with it. And being in the Q-verse helped me with getting past that initial disbelief. But it would have been nice if, for once in our relationship, Radcliff just accepted what I told him. You’d think by now I’d have gained some credibility.
Yes. I. Did. Now can we concentrate on the o
p?
There are many problems. And you’re counting on the Protectorate captains. They don’t take a piss without permission from DES.
He must be exaggerating. I think back on my conversation with Captain Owings. Perhaps not. I let them message Director Ormond.
I doubt they’ll believe the connection is genuine. They’ll probably think it’s part of the ruse.
What else can I do to get them on board?
Radcliff gives me some advice. It’s all time-consuming and I don’t have any extra. Ugh. Moving space ships is easier than changing people’s minds. But I send more information to Captain Owings and the rest of the Protector Class ships—the captains are already demanding answers from me. The new batch of files has the null wave emitter correspondence from DES—the one where they didn’t believe us about the shadow-blobs but humored us by designing the emitter. Included are also accounts from Xinji on the invisible attackers, and my mother’s excellent report on the Warrior hearts and portals. Hopefully getting information from different sources, including DES, will help convince them. I thought having a gigantic planet in your window was all the evidence a person would need. But apparently I was wrong.
Captain Sainz is the most persistent of the captains. She’s orbiting Planet Pingliang. My replies to her match those I sent to Owings. Sainz has her navigator send a message to the director as well. Q, is the director replying?
YES.
Then I race the clock as I explain my plan to the security teams still on Ruijin, Nanxiong, and Qingyang. And then to Beau, because unlike mine, Niall’s sensors are really damaged—I still can’t believe Q tricked me! My mom accepts everything in stride—a nice change of pace. And I think I freaked out Bendix, but he’s too macho to admit it.
Between answering the other disbelieving captains and updating the teams, I implement some of Radcliff’s suggestions for the operation with Q’s help. The biggest problem will be monitoring all three bases. I finish with an hour to spare. Whew. A sense of accomplishment flows through me until something Radcliff asked me earlier wiggles into my memory.
Where’s your body? Are you safe? Are you alive? He asked.
I couldn’t answer him. And truthfully, I really didn’t want to know. But if we are successful, I’ll need to know if I can return.
I access the cameras in security’s conference room. My body isn’t slumped in a chair or lying on the floor. That means I’m probably in the infirmary. Or the morgue. With those pleasant thoughts, I check the patient rooms. The relief at seeing my body and my chest rising and falling is so strong that it takes me a long moment to recover my wits. Guess I was really worried.
Machinery is clustered around my body and an IV is dripping life-saving fluids into my arm. I calculate that I should have enough time to help with the operation before rejoining my body. Rejoining. Yeah, that sounds strange, as if we both decided to go our separate ways.
I return to monitoring the camera feeds in all three bases. Q helps by also scanning them for trouble. Of course nothing is happening as it’s oh-three-forty-five and while there are a couple guards around, everyone else is sleeping.
INTRUDERS!
What? Where?
YOUR ROOM.
My room? On Yulin?
ON XINJI.
The camera feed from my room in the infirmary appears. Jade and Jarren are standing next to my body. Fear shoots through me as four scary details come immediately to mind. One—Jade has rescued her father. Two—they must have rescued all the other looters, giving us eighty-eight more opponents to fight. Three—Jade might resemble Lan, but she moves and has the same physique as Jarren. And four—they should both be asleep right now! It’s minutes away from oh-four-hundred.
They face each other from opposite sides of my bed. There’s tension in their postures and neither appears happy. In fact, by their curt gestures and tight fists, they are clearly arguing. Good. Dissension in the ranks works in our favor. I wonder if Jarren is angry at Jade for ordering that missile strike on Yulin while he was trapped in detention.
Eventually Jarren leaves, but Jade remains. She stares at me. Then she yanks my IV out of my arm and some of the other wires I’m attached to. I’m yelling at her to stop, but she can’t hear me. Although I doubt she’d stop if she did. Once I’m completely disconnected from the machines, she leaves.
Twenty-One
2522:284
Time is not on my side. I access my medical files. A Dr. Rowe diagnosed my collapse as a severe allergic reaction to the truth serum. He noted my admittance on 2522:281at twenty hundred hours. I’ve been existing on IV solution for fifty-five hours. How long can I survive without liquids?
72 HOURS.
It was a rhetorical question, Q! I consider my options. I could return now. I’m entangled so could direct the op from my bed. Except being in my body will make me too heavy and slow. Plus I’m sure I’m weak and hungry. Hard to concentrate when you need food and you’re dizzy. I have three days—that should be plenty of time. I’ll just have to ensure I get back in forty-eight hours, even if that means abandoning the operation. I pause. No. Too many lives at stake.
OH-FOUR-HUNDRED.
I’ll only return if the operation is successful. Because if it isn’t, there’s really no point. Focusing on the—
PROTECTORATE SHIPS SILENT.
Silent? Have they been destroyed? Is everyone dead?
NO. THE TROOP CARRIERS HAVE NOT BEEN LAUNCHED.
Oh. Seems when I jump to conclusions, I go straight to the worst case. I consider the news. Not dead, but not participating. That’s almost as bad. What else can I do to convince them? I see my almost lifeless body and have an idea. Q, please show all the captains this camera feed so they can see my room.
ON IT. A pause. DONE.
2522:284: Captains—
YOU HAVE AUDIO.
Through speakers or sensors?
SENSORS.
Thanks. I gather my thoughts, then speak. “Captains, I understand this is difficult for you. To be plucked from the star roads and deposited at your designations without warning. Without permission. Without any explanation about how it was accomplished. I’d apologize for that, but we’re in a desperate crisis that will impact the entire Milky Way Galaxy. One desperate enough for a junior officer to risk everything and go beyond the impossible.
“Captain Owings asked me who the hell I was. Well, here I am. That’s my body, but my mind is in the Q-net fighting for us against two enemies, one human and one alien.”
Q, please switch the camera to a pit that has a rift when I say aliens.
ON IT.
“Our human foes you can see, and you might even know some of them. A few work or have worked for DES. Some are officers in the Protectorate. But the aliens are invisible unless you have touched the heart of a Warrior.” The view switches to a Warrior pit. Piles of destroyed statues and the black tear in the fabric of our dimension now fill their screens. “Here is one place where they’ve entered our universe.”
Q, please show a portal when I say portals.
“But they also gain access through the weak Warrior portals the looters have exploited.” The feed from a lab in the looters’ base on Yulin replaces the rift. “That black rectangle is the portal.”
Q, show them a video of people using a portal. The image changes to my team right before we used the portal for Operation Strike Back. Fun to see me and the rest of the team disappear into the blackness. Then there’s a quick video of people arriving in an incoming pit. Nice touch, Q. Please return to the pit with the tear.
“There are hostile life forms in this pit. They hide in the shadows and are invisible unless you’ve claimed a Warrior heart.” The light is dim and the shadows are thick. One moves. I concentrate on that HoLF. I entangle with it. “I’ve touched a heart and so has everyone in my team.”
Darkness and ice wrap around me as the Q-net fades from my perceptions. It’s like I’m in a giant creature’s mouth and it’s trying to swallow me. I fi
ght the pull and struggle against the pressure that squeezes me. I push back: SEE ME!
“Here is your other enemy!” It takes an immense amount of will to keep the blob visible. Within ten seconds, I’m almost out of energy. I concentrate on being elsewhere and am expelled from the HoLF. A sucking noise sounds as I break free. Ugh.
Q, did they see the shadow-blob?
YES.
Did it make a difference?
UNKNOWN.
Nothing happens. And now I need to decide if I want to die with my family or remain a disembodied…what? A soul? A consciousness? R? That’s the letter after Q.
STAY WITH ME. TRY AGAIN.
Do you really think after the looters destroy all these ships, that there will be another chance to stop them?
THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER CHANCE UNTIL THE GALAXY IS OVERRUN BY HOLFS.
But the chance of winning is slim.
CORRECT. SEVEN POINT THREE PERCENT.
And eventually we’ll reach a point of no return.
YES. BUT I HAVE LEARNED HUMANS DO NOT GIVE UP EVEN WHEN THERE IS NO CHANCE OF WINNING.
I’m tempted to fight until the bitter end, but I’m not strong enough to keep living when everyone I love is dead. Instead, I’m going to cause as much havoc for Jade, Jarren, and the rest of the looters as I possibly can before returning to my body to meet my fate on my own two feet. Or rather on my own two cheeks. Get it? Because I’ll be lying or sitting down. Oh, come on, that was funny, people! You really didn’t think I’d survive this, did you?
Come on, Q. Let’s have some fun!
My new scheme won’t be the big bang that I’d planned, but I’m sure Radcliff, Morgan and the others will appreciate stretching their legs and doing some damage.
Defending the Galaxy: The Sentinels of the Galaxy Page 33
