Gregor's Search-The Filament Makers: Stories from the Filaments

by Saxon Andrew

  “Go into the reverse flow and press the PC button on my panel.”

  “What does PC mean?” Gamgel asked.

  “Pressure chamber. I find it hard to believe that this ship can pressurize dark energy?”

  “Actually, it’s the tubes made out of Bellingham Metal that allows it to happen. Normally, it would be impossible but dark energy is traveling multiple times the speed of light in the filaments and it can be captured under-pressure in the intakes. You have a never-ending source of fuel in the filaments. The reactors will heat the dark energy and it will be forced out of the thrusters.”

  “How often will we have to refuel, Gamgel?”

  “I don’t know. You’re going to have to find that out.”

  “Gamgel, I noticed that the ship wasn’t resting on landing legs,” Elena commented.

  “We couldn’t break up the lines on the wings to put them on. The ship will automatically hover three-feet off any surface it lands on.”

  “Then why are there so many small thrusters on it?”

  Gamgel looked at Elena, “This ship can fly in any direction, including backwards. I like to call it a dragon-fly because of that feature.”

  Gregor nodded, “The dark energy is fed to more than a hundred-thrusters. I think it’ll be able to radically change directions.”

  “That is what we intended when we built it. Let me know what you find out.”

  “Gamgel, why do the wings look like they’ve been caught out in a hailstorm?”

  “Tell her, Gregor.”

  Gregor turned to her, “Those depressions will automatically change their orientation when a scanner’s beam hits them and deflect the beam away from the source.”

  “Very good, Gregor. The entire ship is covered with the indentations, Elena, not just the wings.”

  “But the ship can be seen?” Elena asked.

  “The indentations also have a surface that will cover them and reflect light as well. If that system is activated, the ship cannot be seen.”

  “Why wouldn’t it just be kept activated at all times?”

  “Elena, that would require power and that is not something to waste on a deep space voyage. Turn the system on if you require invisibility.”

  “And the indentations would still reflect scanner beams away?”

  “The cover is highly flexible and will match the surface of the indentation,” Gamgel answered.

  Elena looked up, “Computer, do you have control over these systems?”

  “I do.”

  “Then turn it on anytime we come near another vessel.”

  “Gregor?”

  “Do as she orders, computer. Keeping track of everything is going to be a handful and I’m going to need Elena to help me make critical decisions.”

  “I will do as you order, Elena Oliver.”

  Gamgel smiled, “You need to get moving toward the Insectoid Royal Planet.”

  “Gem will arrive several days ahead of us.”

  Gamgel smiled, “We’ll see. But you need to start moving there and getting familiar with your ship.”

  “What do you want me to do when I get there, Gamgel?”

  “Gregor, scare them a little. I left a present in the lower bay, leave it for them before you leave.”

  “Is it dangerous?”

  “It won’t harm them, I don’t want to start a war. But I do want them to retrieve it.”

  “Computer, you have the ship, get us moving as soon and Gamgel and his team leave.”

  Gamgel smiled and nodded to the four-engineers. They rushed off the bridge and went out of the port. They moved away, as the ship rose a few-feet and moved toward the door. If moved out of the building and instantly disappeared as the gravity-boosters kicked in. Gamgel almost wished he had gone with them…but, he didn’t want them dependent on his guidance. They needed to learn how to fly the ship by doing it.

  Gregor looked out of the viewport and his eyes flew wide open. The sky was filled with air-traffic and the ship was moving through the lanes at an incredible speed. “HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO MISS THEM!?!”

  “The computer replied, “It’s like Gamgel said, I can move instantly in any direction. Avoiding them is really simple.”

  Elena’s eyes were wide open as she said, “I want to learn how to fly like this!”

  Gregor shook his head, “You can learn how to do it slower. We can’t match the computer’s response time.”

  “I’d still like to try.”

  • • •

  The ship cleared atmosphere and went into subspace. It accelerated toward the filament and it began getting larger by the second. “Gregor, I’m flying faster on the gravity-boosters than I could in my former ship.”

  “I thought the dark energy boosters were considerably faster than the gravity boosters.”

  “If they are, then nothing in this sector is fast enough to catch us.”

  “This is exciting, Gregor!” Elena replied. “I’m looking forward to seeing what the Dragon Fly can do.”

  Gregor turned to her, “Dragon Fly?”

  “Can you think of a better name for her.”

  “For him, Elena.”

  “Ok, ok, him.”

  Gregor shrugged and smiled, “Dragon Fly it is.”

  • • •

  The Dragon Fly entered the filament and moved into the opposite flow. Gregor pressed the PC button on his panel and a large cover came off an opening on the front of the ship. The button turned green and Gregor pressed it again. The cover came down over the opening and the computer announced, “We’re at full tanks and I’m changing to the dark matter thrusters.”

  Gregor and Elena looked out of the front viewport, as the Dragon Fly moved into the outward flow of the filament and they gripped the arms of their chairs as the ship exploded forward. “HOW FAST!” Gregor shouted.

  “We’ll arrive at the intersection in another forty-five minutes.”

  Gregor shook his head as the small vessel blew by ships traveling the filament, “That’s normally a twenty-hour trip!”

  “I’m at one-third-power, Gregor. I’m going to half-speed.”

  Gregor gripped his chair arms as the small ship accelerated to an unbelievable speed. He managed to stop gripping the arms when they arrived at the intersection and blew through it.

  • • •

  All of the known universe was filled with filaments. They originated in stars and connected them to other stars with a misty white band that varied in size. The more powerful stars had wide filaments connecting them to other stars and smaller weaker stars had smaller filaments connecting them. The filaments existed outside normal space in subspace and they moved at super-light speed. A starship could enter the filament and be whisked away at faster-than-light speed. Each filament had a forward and reverse flow, almost like the stars were sharing energy. One flow could take you to a planetary system and the reverse flow could take you back where you started. The more powerful the star, the faster the flow in the filament. The filaments often crossed each other, in what was known as intersections. The Cartians had mapped the filaments in the known universe centuries earlier and the intersections were used to move among the various civilizations in all the known galaxies. They required that traffic-laws be followed, or the offending civilization would lose their right to travel the filaments. The Cartians welded immense power over the civilizations that traveled the filaments.

  The real monster filaments were those that originated in massive black holes. Those filaments were often wider than four-hundred-miles and they connected the galaxies to each other. You could actually travel from one galaxy to another faster than you could travel across a galaxy using the normal filaments and intersections.

  It was also possible to travel faster than the filament was flowing, if a ship chose to use its boosters. But fuel was expensive, and most civilizations chose not to waste it. The shape of a ship also affected its top speed. The sharper the edges of the ship’s shape, the faster it could fly. The Dragon Fly�
�s wings were sharp enough to cut off the arm of a careless worker. They were made from Bellingham Metal and no metal in the known universe was sharper. The ship had an inexhaustible supply of fuel, by using dark energy, and it was moving at speeds never approached.

  Elena looked up at Gregor, “If we go to full speed, we might arrive ahead of Gem.”

  “We’ll continue at this speed. I want to move in without them looking for the arrival of a ship.”

  Elena shrugged and looked at her panel. This ship was beyond anything she’d ever heard about. She hoped Gamgel was right about not being detected. They’d find out soon enough.

  Chapter Six

  The Dragon Fly blew through the intersection leading to the Insectoid sector and the Insectoid warships didn’t detect its passage. Elena gripped the arms of her chair as they flew through their formations and turned to Gregor, “Shouldn’t they be able to detect the ship through our viewports?”

  “The viewports are covered by the same substance as the rest of the ship, Elena,” The computer answered.

  “But it looks like I’m looking through glass.”

  “The outer hull transfer’s light through it to the inner clear pane. It only looked like glass.”

  “That’s incredible.”

  Gregor nodded, “Yes, it is.”

  “Gregor.”

  “Yes, Computer.”

  “I’m receiving Gem’s transmission to the Insectoid King.”

  “WHAT? WE’RE TOO FAR AWAY FOR YOU TO DO THAT!”

  “It appears the indentations collect any electronic transmissions and sends them to my processors. He’s just told the King what happened and that he was exiled from Romania. The King has made an appointment to meet him in the morning to discuss it.”

  “Slow down, Computer. I want to arrive when that meeting is taking place.”

  “Reducing power.”

  “How much have we used?”

  “Gregor, the tanks are showing full.”

  “What about the reactor-pellets?”

  “We’ve used less than one-tenth of one-percent on one of the pellets.”

  “This baby has some long legs!” Elena reacted.

  “He’s going to need them to go looking for the Filament Makers,” Gregor added. Elena nodded and watched the viewport, as the Dragon Fly visibly slowed down.

  • • •

  Gem entered the King’s Throne Room and saw him raise one of his legs and point to the chair next to his throne, “So, you say they uncovered the new missile you developed for us?”

  “Yes, they did, Majesty.”

  “And they told you they had the means to destroy my Kingdom.”

  “The scientist that uncovered the missile told me a ship was built that could destroy all of our planets and fleets.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “I find it hard to believe but he has never been deceptive in the past.”

  “I think he would be deceptive about this, especially because of this new missile.”

  Gem shrugged, “I guess you could be right about that. But you don’t intend to use the missile against the members of the Alliance, do you?”

  “They represent a clear threat to the Kingdom, Gem.”

  Gem stared at the King and suddenly saw the King turn to his panel. He pressed a button on his filament communicator and said, “Gregor, I’ve not heard from you for a long time.”

  “Can the pleasantries. I’m contacting you for business reasons.”

  “What business is that?”

  “It regards this new missile Gem developed for you. You’ve had a weapon developed that can penetrate the metal from Bellingham.”

  The King waved a leg, “It’s simply another tool to defend the Kingdom.”

  “It’s a lot more than that and you know it. I want to make sure you understand how we look at this new weapon.”

  “Go on.”

  “The metal from Bellingham is considered sacred by those of us that live on the planet. An attack on any ship coated in that metal will be considered an act of war by Bellingham and we will respond accordingly.”

  “Gregor, my forces have fought with the Alliance against the Tronan and we would not attack an Alliance Vessel.”

  “And an Alliance Warship will never attack one of your ships. With that being said, unfortunate accidents do occur, and I want you to understand that deliberate, or accidental, if one of those missiles is fired at a ship with the Bellingham coating, it will be an act of war.”

  “Just what are you saying, Gregor?”

  “All of your planets will be destroyed if that happens.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not going to happen, but you couldn’t pull that off.”

  “That’s why I’m delivering this message.” The King stared at his monitor in silence and Gregor continued, “Just to make sure there is no doubt about this, I came here to impress upon you how serious we take this.”

  “Came here?”

  “I’m currently directly above your Royal Residence.”

  The King looked at his Prime Advisor and he shook his head. “Gregor, you’ve never been deceitful in the past.”

  “I trust you have recorders on the roof of your residence.”

  “I do.”

  “I suggest you turn them on.” The King’s huge green, multi-faceted, eyes turned to the Prime Advisor and Gregor said, “Flash them, computer and drop the gift.”

  The Insectoid King suddenly saw a ship on the wall monitor directly above the building. It suddenly disappeared, and he stood up and roared, “DESTROY THAT SHIP!!”

  • • •

  Hundreds of Insectoid Warships came flashing in and began announcing they were not detecting anything around the Royal Residence. Soon, the entire planet was being scanned and nothing was showing up.

  • • •

  Gem watched the image and said to the King, “Something fell out of that ship on to the roof.”

  The King rushed to the elevator and motioned Gem to follow him. Gem entered the elevator and it rose to the top of the building in an instant. They stepped out and saw what had been dropped. They stared at it and Gem said, “That is the missile I developed.” The King turned to Gem, as he continued, “If they took the sliver of metal out of the center and replaced it with Trillium, this planet would be blasted down to the bedrock.”

  The King stared at the missile and turned to Gem, “It appears that scientist was right. Go back to the throne room and wait for me there.”

  Gem took the elevator down and walked over to his chair. He saw a flash on the seat and looked closer. Without the large King sitting on his throne casting a shadow on his chair, the clear film was easily seen. He took a small container out of his pocket and scrapped some of the film into it. The Prime Advisor was at his station communicating with the warships and didn’t see him take the film.

  He walked over to the Prime Advisor and listened in to what was happening. He wasn’t sitting in that chair again until he found out what the film was. He heard the King say, “Gregor, you just committed an act of war.”

  “You told me come and visit any time I chose.”

  “Don’t get smart with me.”

  “And don’t lie to me. You developed that missile to take on the Alliance and you know it! If you use that missile, you die along with every one of your planets. We can remain friends, but you need to know the consequences of your behavior. This was the only way to show you.”

  “Do you think you can escape.”

  “I already have. I’ll flash your fleets at the intersection as I go through.”

  • • •

  Five-minutes later, the King heard, “Majesty, a small ship suddenly appeared on our scanners and then disappeared.”

  The King was stunned. It was a fifteen-hour flight to the intersection. The King felt his fear increase and knew there was nothing he could do against this new technology he just witnessed.

  Gem heard over his communicator, “Gem, we’ll dis
cuss this tomorrow.”

  “Yes, Majesty.” Gem left the Royal Residence and returned to his ship. He took the container and emptied the contents into one of his machines in the lab. Ten-minutes later, his eyes narrowed.

  • • •

  The next morning, Gem contacted the King, “Majesty, I have a suggestion.”

  “What is that?”

  “Allow me to return to Romania and beg Ana to forgive me. I believe I can convince her to allow me to stay and I’ll find the technology used to build that ship.”

  “Do you think you can convince her?”

  “The only thing we lose by making the effort is time.”

  Gem saw the King’s head move side-to-side, “GO! Find this new technology!”

  “If you’ll send clearances for my ship, I’ll leave immediately.”

  The King looked to his Prime Advisor and saw him nod, “You’re clear. Stay in touch and let me know.”

  “I will, Majesty. This threat must be removed!”

  • • •

  Gregor sat in his chair and was furious. He contacted Gamgel on his filament communicator, “I delivered a message.”

  “Do you think he understood it.”

  “I do.”

  “Why are you so angry, Gregor.”

  “This is going to delay my plans to go looking for the Filament Makers.”

  “Why?”

  “I can’t leave. This ship is the only thing stopping the Insects from attacking.”

  “How do they know we don’t have more than that one ship?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Gem has no idea how many of the Dragon Fly ships we’ve constructed. They won’t do anything as long as they don’t know?”

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “Would you?”

  Gregor thought about it and Elena interrupted his thoughts, “They won’t do anything.”

  “I wish I could be sure.”

  “Easy way to find out.”

  “How?”

  Elena smiled, “Send about ten of our warships through their intersection and see how they’re treated.”

  “The insects attack warships in groups higher than five.”

  “Then you’ll have your answer if they do.”