Secret of the Crystal - Omnibus Edition Books 1-3 (Time Travel Adventure)

by Larson, Brian K.

  Jhahnahkan heard a faint voice that seemed to be off in the distance. He concentrated to listen to what it was saying.

  “We’re sorry the number you have reached is not in service.” The faint voice began.

  Jhahnahkan nearly lost his concentration on Kate when he was trying to figure out whose voice that he was hearing, “Who is that?”

  “What’s the matter ol’ friend, you need a hand?” the voice said as it slowly approached.

  “Rex?” Jhahnahkan exclaimed in disbelief.

  A figure came into view revealing that it was indeed Rex. “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He said with his usual smile, “You can thank your grandfather for this. He made it possible for me to manifest.”

  “I thought your mind was not advanced enough to communicate directly to us?” Jhahnahkan said while continuing to hold his son in his hands.

  “I don’t have much time though,” he said stepping over by Kate, “I’m already feeling tired. We must hurry.”

  “I understand” Jhahnahkan answered with a wavering tone. He could hardly contain himself seeing his friend.

  “No, I don’t think you do understand,” Rex said reaching to help Jhahnahkan flip the child, “We must talk; you need to understand that there is another factor going on.”

  “Tell me what you have learned my old friend.”

  The two began to manipulate the child from within the sphere while the doctor continued to monitor Kate and watched Jhahnahkan hold his crystal above Kate. The cone shaped energy swathed around Kate and the white colored beam illuminated and filled the entire room with its luster and glistening brilliance.

  “Doctor,” the computer reported, “It appears that the unborn child’s position is changing on its own.”

  The doctor looking at the monitor and then back at Jhahnahkan, “No computer, I don’t think it’s doing it on its own.”

  Rex and Jhahnahkan managed to turn the child and immediately Kate began to progress naturally.

  She opened her eyes while within the sphere and beheld Rex standing over her, “Am I dead and have gone to Heaven?” she asked.

  “No ma’am,” Rex said looking into her eyes, “We are within Jhahnahkan’s crystal sphere.

  “Uh, ok.” She answered hesitantly.

  “It’s ok my love, we are here helping you.” Jhahnahkan said now squeezing her transparent hand.

  “There isn’t time for this. I need to share with you something that I have learned.” Rex said with urgency.

  “Go on then man, tell us.”

  “It’s the time vortexes that have occurred,” Rex said as he began to fade, “More has happened and more continues to happen on their own.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Our Zelinite friends, pulled to this time by a vortex you did not create. There is another pulled to this time.”

  “Who? Who else? What has happened?”

  Before Rex could answer Jhahnahkan’s question he vanished and the medical bay at the palace replaced the crystal generated sphere within their minds. He opened his eyes and looked down at Kate and then over at the doctor.

  “Welcome back Jhahnahkan,” Sam said, “She is ready to push now. I don’t know what you just did or how, but the baby is now in the proper presentation.”

  Jhahnahkan looked over at Luanren and Ghaia. Sam noticed the expression on his face and knew he wondered what had taken place.

  “I’ll save you the trouble,” Sam said, “I had to sedate them to keep them from killing each other.”

  Sam motioned to Jhahnahkan on what to do next, “Ok Kate, the show is yours. Push! With all your might!”

  Jhahnahkan held Kate upright and she pushed and screamed out with pain. Jhahnahkan not knowing what to do next looked over at the doctor.

  “Don’t be alarmed Jhahnahkan, it’s perfectly normal.”

  “Normal?”

  “Yes. Now push again!”

  Kate screamed out in pain and pushed with all the strength she could muster.

  From down the hallway Qiaoshan, Uttarak, and the rest could hear the cries of a newborn baby.

  * * *

  Chapter 4

  The Accord

  Ackturrian Jungle

  Year: 2983.9

  Lanatek surveyed the repairs that had begun on the Leif. Ackturrians had begun to construct a perimeter fence to protect the workers from the perils of the Jungle. Support ships flew supplies to the crash site while other ships transported soldiers to protect the workers from the dangers of the jungle as they finished the fence. Flying earthmovers landed at the site and began clearing the jungle debris away from the ship and to dig out its nose.

  The Ackturrian workers were very efficient and had already begun erecting scaffoldings at critical sections of the ship for repair. One scaffolding surrounded the port engine and hull breach which had been deemed the most critical damaged section. The other main scaffolding was constructed around the nose and conning tower to check for stability and stress fractures before takeoff would be possible.

  Lanatek knew that if they couldn’t repair that damaged engine, there would be no replacement for at least a thousand years when Jhahnahkan designed and built these. He also had concerns about the reactor and if they could successfully perform a restart. This ship technology was more advanced yet so very wonderful. Finding an engineer that understood these engines was sure to be a challenge.

  He assigned the entire crew to rebuilding the interior and putting the bridge back together. Every inch of her hull had to be inspected for stress cracks in order to ensure she was space worthy once again, and he had his doubts after seeing the engine room.

  There was a huge tear in the outer hull where the port engine had sheared off and separated from the main hull. This would prove to be the most difficult repair as it also involved the intricate power connections to the reactor. Fortunately, the starboard engine was intact so they could duplicate the connections during its repairs.

  “These brackets are completely sheared off, ensign,” Lanatek said as he inspected the damage, “they can be fabricated in our factories, get on that right away.”

  The eager ensign took his measurements and scurried off to assign the specifications to one of the build teams.

  Pointing at the hull tear, Lanatek could see clear through to the damaged engine, “Do you think we can hover some shuttles here, and over there? Equip them with the largest laser autovice’s you can find. We can use the ionic levers from two other shuttles, which will give them the pulling power to realign the engine with the hull.”

  “We can do that sir,” his engineer chief said with confidence, “but I am worried about the additional stress on the remaining clamps, it could cause them to fracture as well if they are not pulled in the right way.”

  “Can those brackets be removed during the pull?” Lanatek said stroking his chin, “then realign clamps and they can be reattached with the new brackets from fabrication.”

  “I will get a crew on that right now,” the chief said looking at some of the clamps, “we will test them as well. If any show fatigue, we will go ahead and replace them now.”

  “Agreed.” Lanatek said placing his hands on his hips.

  “The engine can be realigned with relatively no major problems.” The chief said to Lanatek as they continued to inspect the damage, “fixing this gaping hole is going to be harder. We do not know what this metal is made of let alone if we have anything close to this to fabricate a patch.”

  “Once the engine is realigned and set back into place, you should be able to just mend the hole with your laser welder.” Lanatek answered, “We can apply our own material to cover the exterior and then perform a pressure test to see if it holds.”

  “If our lasers can weld this metal, we should be able to patch it.”

  “Great,” Lanatek said patting him on the back, “how soon do you think we can move the engine?”

  “We need to wait for fabrication to fly in our
parts; we will need them ready and in place so once the engine is pulled into place, we will want the brackets resting on the clamps so these eight inch pins can be pressed into place,” The chief said. “Fabrication will take about three days and another day to install.”

  “I will have the shuttles equipped with the laser vices and ionic levers.” The chief’s assistant offered.

  “Sir!” the com channel opened. It was Riideet, the perimeter security chief. “We have a situation out here.”

  “This is Lanatek,” he said speaking into his portable com device. “Go ahead.”

  “Sir, the perimeter is not complete. We have a gap in the field. Our soldiers are holding off several klendessa.”

  “Be careful out there mister.” Lanatek answered, “Watch for hatching eggs, that is most likely what they are after.”

  “Exactly sir,” Riideet responded, “we uncovered a huge nest near the hull breach. About twenty eggs in total.”

  “Were there any of them damaged by the crash?”

  “I do not think so, but they are starting to act like they are ready to pop, sir.”

  “We cannot have a bunch of loose baby klendessa running around; those mother beasts will kill everything in its way.” Lanatek surmised. “Better evacuate the outside perimeter and hold up that gap in the fence.”

  “Aye sir,”

  “Your last shipment of field generators will arrive within the hour.” Lanatek said, “Do you think you can have your men move those eggs outside the fence?”

  “We can try and hold them off, but whenever we get closer to the nest, they begin to advance again. Our laser rifles have held them off for now, but if we start messing with those eggs, they might become even more aggressive.”

  “Take your chances mister,” Lanatek ordered, “We must not let any of those babies hatch inside the perimeter, and it will be next to impossible to hold them out, even with the field generators. They would just keep hitting them until they broke through.”

  “Aye sir,” Riideet said nervously, “We will begin to move the eggs.”

  “Report back when you have moved them.”

  “Yes sir.” The chief said as he signed off. He stood outside his support vehicle on the surface of the clearing that the flying dozer had made for him and his team.

  He held a tesserbeam rifle as his men did, but he also had a sonic piercer attached to the base of his tesserbeam barrel. He knew the klendessa would back down with this weapon, but he didn’t want to kill them. He understood the laws of the Ackturrian jungle all too well for himself, they were just trying to protect what was theirs.

  A few years back he remembered being on a team training mission in the upper remote sections of the Jungle Mountains and running into smaller klendessa, but not these huge beasts that roam the lower reaches. He also understood their psychology and he thought they might just allow them to move their babies closer to them if it appeared that they weren’t being harmed.

  He quickly ordered two of his men to cut the roots off one egg that typically held them in place during its gestation period.

  The other soldiers held the line at the gap in the fence as one of the others held the egg firmly in place and cut its roots.

  The mother klendessa roared as the two men began their work on its egg. She stomped forward out of the edge of the jungle and into the clearing at a full charge.

  The soldiers fired their weapons at the charging beast making it stop momentarily at the weapons fire and then again charged closer.

  They fired again but this time it didn’t stop right away. Two other soldiers opened fire and added their fire power stopping the beast.

  “We are just making her mad!” the chief said, as he jumped over the front of his vehicle and ran to aid his men now carrying the egg to the fence opening.

  The men fired again and this time they pushed the klendessa back a few feet giving the others room to exit the fence. Riideet grabbed the egg from their grip and ran toward the beast.

  “Hold your fire!” he ordered his men.

  The klendessa roared once again and started to charge the men again. The soldiers fired on the beast causing her to fall to the ground making a huge thud which shook the ground.

  “I said hold your fire soldier!” he shouted in anger.

  Two more klendessa exited the edge of the jungle and into the clearing the dozers had made. They charged at full speed at the fallen klendessa and came to a stop just beyond Riideet’s reach.

  He held out the egg and offered it to them. One of the klendessa stepped closer to Riideet’s feet and his feet were shaking on the ground where he stood. He was not completely sure if this tactic he heard Jhahnahkan do, would work for him.

  The klendessa, which towered nearly twenty feet over them, slowly bent down and gently took the egg from Riideet with its short claw like hands.

  Riideet stood and stared at the beast in the eye and fell into a trance. He began to feel like he was in direct communication with the creature.

  Not so much as a language, more like an understanding between beast and man. He ordered the rest of the men to form a line to the nest and to pass each egg to him. In turn, each klendessa mother would slowly approach and take its egg. The ones that were ready to hatch were taken to another area in the jungle and placed on the ground. The eggs that were not quite ready to hatch were secured to the ground in the clearing on the outside of the fence area by the one he was in contact with.

  Just when the last egg was moved to outside the perimeter, the next set of shuttles arrived with the remaining supplies. They landed on the side of the ship that needed the generators. Normally the klendessa would run at the site of these loud flying machines, but instead remained and watched as the men landed their craft and others unloaded the supplies.

  The shuttle captain had great news for Lanatek as he was able to have fabrication create all of the broken engine brackets in record time.

  “Seems like we were a bit off on our fabrication schedule sir.” The engineer chief said smiling at Lanatek.

  “You did say days, it has only been hours.” Lanatek quizzed his chief.

  “Did I say days?”

  “Get those brackets installed at once. It is still at least a day and a half before the shuttles are equipped to pull the engine.” Lanatek said with concern.

  Riideet chimed in on his com link to Lanatek, “Sir, we have moved all the eggs. But you will not believe me when I tell you how that was done.”

  “Go ahead, I am listening.” Lanatek said, “but I have bigger problems to deal with, like coming up with a way to move this engine in place now that the brackets have arrived.”

  “We thought the plan was using the shuttles to pull it in place?” Riideet asked.

  “Not for two more days,” Lanatek answered, “That is the soonest we can get two of the largest laser autovice’s here and installed.”

  “Sir,” Riideet said over the com, “I have an idea.”

  * * *

  Delta Scorpii Twelve

  Year: 1983

  “Roth’stavous?” Jhahnahkan exclaimed.

  “The one and only,” the man replied.

  “Roth’stavous he is, alright.” Drakes added.

  “Yep, Roth’stavous in the flesh” Diyra finished.

  “So my son finally had children eh?” Roth’stavous asked as he gazed deep into Jhahnahkan’s eyes.

  “Yes, Qiaoshan and Luanren had me and I have a brother and sister.”

  “You do not share the same mother as your brother, do you,” Roth’stavous said.

  “No, Ghaia bore my brother Jhovahkan,” he answered, “but my sister and I share Luanren as our mother.”

  “Fortunately for you, Ghaia was not your mother.” Roth’stavous said, “I cannot stand that woman and I do not know what my son ever saw in her.”

  “You know Ghaia?” Jhahnahkan said with a puzzled look. “How long have you lived?”

  “That is not important,” Roth’stavous replied, “long
enough to have known Luanren and Ghaia. Your father was always attracted to Luanren as children, but Ghaia was always after him. She was relentless in pursuing your father. Sounds to me like she won him over after all.”

  “More like seduced him with a corrupted power crystal.”

  “Ah yes,” Roth’stavous said stroking his chin, “That is why I came here in the first place. The crystals were corrupted, so Helen and I left the council. Only we recognized the danger the Rune posed, but everyone else scoffed at us.”

  “How long have you lived here?” Jhahnahkan asked.

  “I have only been here a few months, so you must be from the future.” Roth’stavous surmised.

  “I am” he answered, “Helen sent me from Ackturra. In my timeline, there was never any Rune corruption. Something went wrong and the timeline has changed, but the paradox that has occurred had not reached my point in the timeline. This is why my sister chose that time to deposit Helen.”

  “What time did you come from?”

  “Ackturrian year 3989”

  “Amazing.” he said, “Over two thousand years from now.”

  “This is 1989?”

  “No,” Roth’stavous answered, “1983. Nearly 1984.”

  “I was sent here to give you this map.” he said as he removed it from his cloak. “You must tell me about Earth. I must return to my ship and plant the ship at the polar ice cap on Earth. It will be used by me when I travel through a vortex to Earth from a fractured timeline. This vessel will carry me from that time back to Ackturra.”

  “This all sounds complex.” Roth’stavous said. “But I understand. I must have planted my crystal in the catacombs below this city at some point in the timeline. You found it after we apparently abandoned this world. The internal program was triggered by your touch. That means you were here at some point so I could program it to activate the vortex with your touch.”

  “A reasonable theory” Jhahnahkan said as he stretched his hand and offered the map to his grandfather. “You must take this map. Put it in the care of Drakes and Diyra. You must give this to me on my third visit to the Delta Scorpii. This is my first encounter. I come a second time seeking you. It will be me from before the time fracture that occurs. I am sent by my father on a mission to help find allies to aid us in the war with the Zelinites; a war that we are beginning to lose.”