by Saxon Andrew
“Why?”
George took a deep breath and looked at Meisa and she said, “Don’t look at me. I can’t explain it in terms they would understand.”
George reached under his desk drawer and pulled out a blue and orange beach ball that he held in his palm, “I’m going to try and do this in terms that everyone can understand. If I lose you, stop me, ok.”
Dolly smiled, “We’re all ears.”
“As all of you know, we are going to build the Main Battleships we’re going to use to defend our planet from those that mean to do us harm. Now let’s say that this beach ball represents the material we currently use to power the Jukebox Class of warships. In order to build a ship that can take on one of the Blue Giant Battleships we will need to be able to match their power. So if this is the power of a Jukebox, how big would the ball have to be to double the power?”
Chris said, “Twice as big.”
“Very good, and if we wanted to make it a thousand times more powerful?”
“A thousand times as big.”
“Again, an accurate answer. The measurements we took on the beam fired by that Blue Giant that our Captain here destroyed once it reached full power was 500,000 times stronger than the beam on the Jukebox Class. How big will the ball be now?” George waited as they figured it out in their heads and then said, “It will have to have a diameter of a hundred and eighty miles. “How long do you think it would take to build a ship that big, much less a fleet of thousands?”
George waited as the magnitude of the hypothetical ship’s size sunk in. “Our nuclear material is stronger than that used on the Blue Ships but now do you understand the need for their ships to be nine hundred miles in diameter?” George waited and added, “We know our material is stronger because the Jukebox Class ships can kill their Scouts that are three times larger.”
“George, are you saying we aren’t going to be able to build a ship to stand up to them?”
“Hang on just a moment.” George reached over and picked up a jar with sand and a small ship in it. He poured some sand into his palm and picked out one grain. He held it up between his fingers and said, “Now let’s say this grain of sand represents the power of a Jukebox Class Ship.” George saw everyone seeing where he was going, “If we use material that makes this much energy at its current level, the ship would only have to be three miles in diameter. This would allow us to build high numbers of these ships quite quickly.” George smiled, “Dolly, start the recording I sent you and I’m going to explain what’s happening.”
Dolly started the recording and George narrated, “What you see here is a Jenze Battleship attacking a Moet fleet at that planet you recorded Chris. Notice the color of the beam being fired at those ships.” George paused and continued, “Here you see the red beam being fired by the small Jenze Ship that was destroyed by the asteroid.”
Arvolo said, “The blue beam is much stronger.”
“Yes it is; give the Captain a Cuban Cigar. The beam on the small ship couldn’t be as strong because it couldn’t carry enough material due to its size. I measured the intensity of that blue beam used by the Jenze and it matches up to a power source that is equivalent to a grain of sand.”
Everyone looked at each other at the table in silence; then George dropped the bombshell, “However, if we can get a sample of that material and combine the elements in it with what we currently use, it would be a thousand times stronger than that grain of sand.”
The participants were struck silent. Finally Dolly said, “I don’t see how you reached that conclusion, George?”
“Does everyone remember what happened to our nuclear reactors when we used the materials from the Alliance; our power went up more than a hundred times. We then used the materials from the Jenze shoulder weapon and once more our power went up a hundred times. If we can get the elements from one of the reactors on a Jenze Battleship and combine it with what we have...”
Chris said, “Our ships would only have to be twice as large as a Jukebox Class ship.”
“Boy, you’re good. It would actually have to be three times larger due to the much larger reactors. If you wanted to double the power by having four reactors, it would end up being about 1,800 feet long.”
Chris looked at Jillian, “We have to go.” She nodded.
Dolly looked at George, “So what are you going to do in the meantime?”
“We are going to start building ships 1,800 feet long with space for the newer high powered reactors. If we don’t find the power source we’ll just have to attack each of the Blue Ships with a squadron of our new ships. We’ll just have to outnumber them in every confrontation and we know they have at least two million of the giant ships. There is no way we can build ships a hundred and twenty miles long.”
“We’ll leave shortly.”
Dolly said, “You will not be going alone.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You will have the Ninja updated with our new software and weapons. You will also take two Sailors with you to fly it.”
“No one else knows how to fly the Ninja!”
“Jillian, that’s exactly why I can’t allow you or Chris to take it into a dangerous situation. Don’t you realize that if we lost either one of you we would lose the technology that created the two ships that can view time? It would be like sending George out into danger. Would you do it?”
Chris looked at Jillian and slowly shook his head, “If we aren’t going to fly the Ninja, who is?”
Dolly looked at Arvolo, “The best pilot we have in the Navy. He will also have the best Weapons Officer in the Fleet with him.”
Arvolo said, “I thought we no longer needed Weapons Officers.”
“You might have to actually control the weapons manually to avoid damaging the very thing we need to find, Captain. We can’t just turn on automatic weapons and hope we don’t destroy that material.”
“Who is this Officer?”
Dolly picked up a sheet of paper and read, “Isadore Rosillo.”
Arvolo tilted his head, “Is she Cuban?”
“She was born in Cuba.”
Arvolo tilted his head, “Then she would have to be good.”
Dolly turned back to Chris and Jillian, “You will train the two of them on how to operate and fly the Ninja. If it has to be used, they will fly it. You will also start training a team of engineers on your inventions.”
Arnold said, “The President agrees with this and has issued direct orders that the two of you not place yourselves in harm’s way unless you have thoroughly trained someone else that can replace you and build another Ninja. Have either of you trained anyone else?”
“No Sir. We’ll abide by the orders.”
Dolly saw Jeff staring at her and she looked away quickly. Darn him. She said, “George start building your ships and we’ll go looking for a power source.”
* * *
The Messenger knew this would probably be his last trip to the Leader’s Chamber. He had only brought bad news and was amazed they had allowed him to live this long. Bad News Messengers were always eliminated. This was going to be the trip that ended his life. He accepted it and knew his long life had been good and he had few regrets. He entered the Chamber and the First Leader looked at him, “Tell me what you know.”
“The Battleship went to defend a Scout Ship and was destroyed before it could send a message. The Scouts that followed up on the site of the attack found it destroyed exactly like the first ship that was demolished.”
“Tell me Messenger, what do you think I’m going to do now?”
“You will take my life for all the bad news I’ve been bringing.”
“Normally that is exactly what I would do but you have not withheld any information no matter how bad. Your four predecessors did. They feared death more than honesty. If you were in my place, what would you do?”
“I would recall all of our ships from that Galaxy and not go back until I designed a much better ship.”
“That’s surprising. Why would you do that?”
“It has become clear that whoever is in that Galaxy killing our ships can do it at a speed that is astounding. Neither of those ships had an opportunity to tell us what was happening before they were destroyed. They also have a communications system that is more advanced than our own. It is not a huge leap to consider that they have ships we cannot defeat. There is a real possibility that if we sent our fleet we could lose a huge number of ships. If I were going to make a mistake I would make it on the side of caution. If they possibly know we are here, then they will be coming to our home and we must be ready. I would not do anything to weaken the defense of our home.”
“You don’t think we should overwhelm them with numbers now?”
“We’ve made the assumption that whoever it is killing our ships was in that Galaxy when we originally surveyed it. What if they are a new arrival from another Galaxy and have huge numbers of ships at their disposal? I just worry that we are diving into the unknown and it’s clear that we don’t know how deep it is or the price we’ll have to pay to find out.”
The First Leader stared at the Messenger and then looked at the other five Leaders who leaned forward. “You are no longer a Messenger. You will join us here at the table and be one of the Leaders. Your last duty will be to recall the Fleets.”
* * *
Aman Forester began eating his dinner and wondered what the Blue Giants were going to do after the destruction of the huge battleship. He poured a glass of grape juice and heard his alarm go off at full blast. He jumped up from the small table in the storage room and ran to the bridge and looked at his monitors. “On my God!” He saw more than a hundred thousand of the Blue Giant Scouts hanging in space with thousands more appearing every second. “Fleet, we have something major happening out here!”
“What do you see?”
Aman sent the video and waited. “We’ve notified the President and his advisors; please keep us informed on what happens.”
“Will do.” Aman looked at his display and saw more than one and a half million of the large ships had come out of Sierra Space and began organizing into formations. They continued to appear over the next two hours.
Dolly and Jeff watched the feed from the small attack craft and looked up as Chris and Jillian ran into the room, “What’s going on?”
“We don’t know. Take a look at this.”
They looked at Dolly’s display and Jillian said, “They’re leaving our galaxy and giving up the search for us.”
Chris, Jeff, and Dolly looked at her with doubt on their faces. “It’s obvious; where is the bow of those ships oriented?” Everyone looked and saw the ships were pointed towards the distant Andromeda Galaxy. “They’re going home and I’m sure the ships are organizing into fleets so that an orderly withdrawal can be done.”
Dolly hit her board and Gretchen Logan appeared on her display, “Gretch, are the Moet still evacuating?”
“Yes Sir, they are.”
Dolly looked at the three and said, “They’re frightened of us and the Moet are scared silly of them. We may be given more time to prepare than we ever thought possible.”
Jeff pulled his gaze from the display, “What makes you think that?”
“We can see the Blue Giant Scouts because of Chris’ scanner being able to detect their frequency. The Moet can’t and so they won’t know they’re withdrawing from our galaxy. They’ll evacuate and wait for word that their worlds are being attacked. That gives us time with the Moet. The Blue Giants withdrawal is to build a better ship. That could take an extremely long time; especially if they have to build enough to invade a galaxy. We’re lucky.”
They heard over the speaker, “Something’s happening.”
Dolly flipped the display back to the feed of the Blue Giant Scouts and saw the formations closest to the distant Andromeda Galaxy were disappearing. It looked like a giant eraser moved from the front of the gigantic formations to the rear. In less than a minute they were all gone.
Jeff reached forward and pressed the blue button on Dolly’s console, “Lt. Forester, your relief will be sent momentarily. You’ve done a great job and we look forward to debriefing you when you arrive home.”
“Thank you, Sir. I look forward to going home.”
“Chris, take all of the ships we have available and go scan as much of the Galaxy as possible.”
“You think they may be trying to fool us and hope we drop our guard?”
“That’s exactly what I think. If they didn’t leave any ships behind, that tells me that those beings were once invaded and destroyed in their past.”
Everyone looked at Dolly and she said, “They remember it. They’re invading to protect themselves from future invasions and now that they’ve discovered an advanced civilization is here; they won’t risk any further losses that would weaken them in defending their galaxy. If they had never been invaded, they would still be looking. They would have no fear.”
Jeff shook his head, “You are so amazing.”
Dolly leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and said with mock sorrow, “I know. It’s hard to be me.”
Jillian laughed out loud as Jeff pulled Dolly over on his lap, “No it’s not,” and proceeded to give her a huge kiss.
Jeff broke the kiss and Dolly smiled, “Show me again.”
Chris and Jillian left to give the two some privacy and to start organizing the fleet to scan the galaxy for a Blue Giant frequency.
* * *
Two weeks later Chris called in, “Dolly, we’ve done a pretty thorough scan and we’ve not detected one Blue Giant frequency in Sierra Space since their fleet left.”
“Chris, I don’t want to take any chances. I want a ship left on duty in each of the four quadrants of our galaxy on constant scan. We’ll continue our protocols on keeping our solar system hidden.”
“We’ll be coming back to start training on our search for the Jenze. Are you planning anything else in their absence?”
“Yes, I am. We’re going to load the colony ships up with more materials and population to move to Dundee and we’re bringing Admiral Anders back to set up the construction facilities here on Earth to expand the numbers of new ships being built. You’re also going to be given one of the new ships to start your mission. It will have enough room for three Ninja Class ships on board so it should be able to hold a Jenze reactor if you’re able to recover one. We’ve selected two new crews for them and you should start your training on your new ships. You will take the crew that has the best performance in training.”
“What’s the new ship’s name?”
“Any ship you Captain will be named the Jukebox. Your old ship will be renamed the Time Keeper.”
“That’s an appropriate name for the ole girl. What do you know about our new ship?”
“It has six reactors. It is also voice controlled and has thrusters that allow you to flip the ship and turn 180 degrees instantly. We need to get you started on your search so instead of coming back to Earth, just go straight to Dundee.”
Jillian reached over and said over Chris’s shoulder, “I wish we had more planets working on this than just Dundee.”
“Two more have had the initial colonists land and are getting set up to start construction within six months. We worry about having all our eggs in just two baskets as well.”
* * *
Arvolo looked at Dr. Levin and wondered how much longer this class was going to take. The other five students were taking notes at a copious rate and he was fighting falling asleep. He leaned forward and put his head on his hand and fought to stay awake.
“Are we boring you, Captain Arvolo?”
Arvolo didn’t even take his head off his hand, “You’re coming close to talking me unconscious.”
The other five students turned and looked at the big Cuban shaking their heads. Dr. Levin’s eyes narrowed and he said, “So you think you know everything about this control board?”
Arvolo sat u
p straight and sighed, “The board is self-explanatory; everything has a description under the knob, pad, or switch. I do see that you could have done a better job of organizing it.”
Levin was angry, “Oh, is that so!”
“You have the thruster control on the upper right corner and the engine power in the lower left corner of the board. If you had them together a pilot could vector thrust and control the power delivery with one hand. You’ve made it a two hand operation. A pilot might find that he needs to set the drive for Sierra Space while attempting to avoid being fired on. Your board only allows me control evasive maneuvers because it is a two handed operation.”
Levin looked at the display on the wall showing the control board and saw that Arvolo was right. He looked back and said, “Is there anything else, Captain?”
“As a matter of fact there is. We discovered in our first fight with the Blue Giant Scouts that they would crowd Sierra Space and bump us back into normal space whenever we tried to escape. There ought to be a button that can be enabled on the drive that would automatically apply thrust when a ship enters Sierra Space. There was always a moment before they could bump me into normal space and that’s all we’d have needed to escape if thrust was applied automatically. I’m just saying.”
“Captain, do not look at your board.” Arvolo continued to stare at Levin. “Now put your left hand on the sensor control and your right hand on the weapons select lever.”
Arvolo reached forward and Levin came around and looked. “Your right hand is not on the weapons select lever.”
“No, because before I could select a weapon, I would have to push the weapon slave control that would transfer weapons to my board.”
Levin saw his hand on the slave pad and stared at Arvolo. “Captain, how long did it take you to memorize that board?”
Arvolo shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe three seconds.”
Dr. Levin pushed his com, “Dr. Morrison, I’m sending Captain Arvolo to your location to make some changes on the Ninja’s control board. Try to do it quickly so we can start flight training in four days.” Levin looked at Arvolo, “Captain, do you know where Dr. Morrison is located?”
