Infinity

by Charles E. Borjas

  “The symptoms are subsiding,” announced the doctor in his native Quewythian, “due to the superior DNA and super metabolism of the king.”

  The guards still had Dvora, holding her by her arms. The chief prosecutor was waiting to see if the antidote was on time or not and sees that it had been successful. He immediately orders Dvora to be bound with wrist cuffs made of the second strongest metal in the Twelve Galaxies Cluster, Kraoleum.

  Kraoleum was what was used in the building of spacecrafts until Platainium was discovered. Platainium had not only strength, but was also light and seemed to have a living property about it.

  The Kraoleum wrist cuffs were augmented with a tracking device and electromagnetic locks impossible to break out of. The king had the strength of fifty men and even he could not break them. An electric current flowed through the cuffs, which paralyzed the hands, wrist and forearm. It was virtually painless, unless the wearer was to struggle trying to break free or should attempt an escape. Then the electric current automatic increased until someone shut it down. The greater or longer the struggle, the stronger the current became. It was not strong enough to kill, unless the prisoner kept struggling for more than an hour.

  The door opened and the head guard announced that they had apprehended Dvora’s daughters. They had also wrist-cuffed them, but the king did not want to see them. He knew they were only his stepdaughters and that they had no right to an inheritance of power or riches, not being his own offspring.

  Now that the king had recovered from his ordeal with Klinaberry, and realized that it had been added to his morning meal in his juice cup, he remembered the audial visual and Dvora’s words about the sorceress. “I want the sorceress Caratrah Shadowfire arrested and brought to the Hall of Justice right now.”

  The king then ordered his trusted house worker to playback the audial visual of the making of the morning meal and every step that took place in the process. It came to the part where the poison was added to the juice. The doctor, prosecutor, and the king saw whom it was that Dvora used to poison him.

  “Bring me the Chief Meal Preparer,” shouted the king. A few cycles later he appeared with a guard at each side. The meal preparer, Wutsam Tsupy, was trembling for fear.

  “Why...W...what an honor to be brought before the king,” he stammered. “What glorious event was it that prompted the king to summon his number one food preparer? A birth moon or solar anniversary?”

  The king glowered at Wutsam while at the same time gazing around the room. “I don’t need to be patronized. Just view this audial visual of the preparation of my morning meal.”

  Nothing more needed to be said. The two or three witnesses confirmed the truth and Wutsam Tsupy was also wrist cuffed and taken away to stand trial for attempted murder. The fact that the poison could not kill the king, just leave him as a vegetable until he wore away after ten more thousand years, was not enough to prevent the charge of high murder to be submitted by the prosecutor.

  Giving commands, Daxu Korth ordered Dvora and her daughters also to be brought to the Hall of Justice. The trial took place immediately, according to the law. Once accused criminals had been arrested and charges brought against them, their trial would be held at once, no matter what time of day or night.

  The king would not preside as magistrate according to the law, but the Supreme Magistrate Advocate would. Being a crime against the king, the Commodore and his advisors, the king’s advisors, the governor and mayor would be there as well as the chief Galactic Marshal. His deputies swiftly found the sorceress and arrested her, bringing her to the Hall of Justice.

  After all accusations were filed, the suspects were officially accused and all the evidence revealed to the Hall. The magistrate called for testimonies to be given by the defendants.

  “You all saw and heard. My husband has been secretly surveilling me for the past twenty years. Is anyone safe in this kingdom anymore?” Grumbled Dvora. “He has never been a father to my daughters.”

  The magistrate was forced to intervene. “Madame, may I remind you that it is you and not the king who is on trial here today? Do you have anything to say in your defence regarding the crime against the king?”

  She looked up again. “Is it a crime to talk with your daughters? It is obvious who is the guilty party here. The visual clearly shows it was Wutsam Tsupy who added the poison to my husband’s morning meal juice. He acted alone.”

  The prosecutor interrupted her. “Madame, the audial visual clearly reveals that you and your seven daughters were conspiring to poison the king. The very poison that was found in the cup—is the same exact poison you mentioned during your conspiring. I have no more questions, Lord Magistrate.”

  After calling the seven sisters, each one testifying that they had no recollection of ever talking with their mother about killing their father. They denied being involved in any conspiracy.

  “I see what’s happening here,” said the prosecuting counsellor to Dvora and her daughters. “You want the food preparer to take all the blame. Well, let’s hear from him shall we?”

  Wutsam Tsupy took the witness box and told his story. He admitted to adding the poison, but insisted he didn’t know it was poison. He told the magistrate that Dvora had told him to secretly add the mixture; that it was a special herb that would give her husband strength. Dvora denied that and publicly denounced Wutsam as a liar and killer. The sisters all shouted at him too and the Hall of Justice was in an uproar. The defence counsellor for Dvora and her sisters called for a mistrial. The magistrate, however, was determined to stick to the evidence. There was no jury as there had been in Earth cultures, and on some other planets.

  The magistrate had to make the final decision based on facts and real evidence. The last one to testify was the king himself; the one who had been the alleged victim.

  His testimony against Dvora and her daughters was strong; the magistrate could not deny that they were guilty. The magistrate released Wutsam Tsupy, but because of his involvement, and not having the food tested first as always, he was banished to another galaxy. Dvora and her daughters were all found guilty, as was the sorceress, who had been practicing her sorcery illegally. She was banished to the utmost planet called Ugoxuthia at the farthest end of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster to the Kreapis Empire. It was the most underdeveloped planet in the Twelve Galaxies Cluster where criminals were often sent. Since the Great Sorceress Caratrah Shadowfire’s crime was against the king, she was sentenced to slavery in the Xetronium Mines. Xetronium was an ore that fuelled all of the planets in the Twelve Galaxies Cluster kingdom. Mining it caused dust-like spores to fill the air. The constant breathing in of the spores caused infections inside the body that slowly destroyed a person’s health. It was a virtual death sentence, as after working in the mines for ten years, the lungs are eaten away by the Xetronium dust that is inhaled. The trip on the prisoner transporter could take a year and a half. Finally the magistrate handed down the severest sentence of them all to Dvora and her daughters, who stood their ground in defiance. Dvora was deemed the main instigator of the plot who influenced her daughters to turn rogue against their stepfather, and so she was to be banished from the kingdom of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster and sent to the Yuhenia Star System. It was considered the most heinous of all systems consisting of volcanic planets, icy cold planets, and barbaric planets with races of vampire-like creatures that were challenged in knowledge and only survived by their blood lust. Her daughters were doomed to become the mistresses of the leaders of another star system at the opposite end of the galaxies far away. The leaders watched the borders for intruders. Many strange goings on occurred here. Mobsters flourished. Crime was a daily way of life.

  The Xiattodians were brutal and slave drivers. The seven daughters would become slaves on one of their planets to obey every whim and wish of the planet’s leader, to do and obey without question whatever they told them to do under pain of death by torture.

  Daxu Korth, King of the Kingdom of Twelve Galaxies Cluste
r, had a strong premonition. He knew this was not the last he had seen of Devora and his stepdaughters.

  Chapter 4 Dekkonia

  Cruise’s armada had passed the end of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster border and was entering the Cymapucheia Nebula. The vessel that was with Arthos when he entered the warp was traveling aside Cruise. They had been traveling for almost an earth month when they came to a galaxy they did not know.

  Trying to navigate their way through it, Cruise’s communication officer picked up a signal coming from one of the solar systems right in their path. “Sir, it sounds like a distress signal coming from that sector I’m mapping now.”

  “Have you any idea what the nature of that solar system is?” Cruise inquired.

  Cruise’s science officer Caleo offers his opinion. “I think, Sir, that this region is a mining region. But it does not belong to our Twelve Galaxies Cluster.”

  “If it’s a mining region, the planets must have valuable ore so it may be a target for pirates,” responds Cruise.

  “You may be right, Captain,” replies the Caleo. His mother was an Earthling but father Southern, or “Zohdani” Quewythian.

  “Is there anyway to confirm if the messages are authentic or fake?” asks Cruise.

  “Yes, there is, Captain,” replies Caleo. Using Trinity’s Encoded Tele Biopsy Scanner

  I can send a tracer that picks up the heartbeats and pulse of the people sending the message. It will also translate it into how high their adrenaline output is and give a blood pressure reading too.”

  “What a day we live in, Caleo,” responds Cruise.

  “I can also get their breathing, if it’s normal or not.”

  “Okay, Caleo. Let’s do it.”

  Caleo scans the galaxy with the powerful device and picks up a location. “Based on the Twelve Galaxies Cluster Space Coordinate Locator, the distress signal is coming from a solar system we will now be able to view in 4 dimension at 20 million pixels.”

  The lights on the Drive Deck are turned down lower as an image of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster appear in relation to where the fleet is now and where the distress signal is coming from.

  “As you can see, Captain, the distress signal is coming from here.” Caleo points to a cluster of stars and by spreading the fingers of both hands magnifies the cluster dividing it into star systems. Fortunately, the particular galaxy they are viewing has only a few billion star systems, making it easier to spot where the signal is coming from. Caleo spreads his fingers again and the problem area is magnified even more.

  “Now we can see the planets of that solar system. As you can see there are three suns in fairly close proximity to each other,” explains Caleo. “I feel that we are receiving a signal from this particular planet here.” Caleo points to the fourth planet from its suns in a system of seven planets. “The surface is breathable, and the vegetation is much like the inhabited planets in the kingdom.”

  “What about the signal, Caleo. Is it a genuine call for help?” asks Cruise. “Or is it pirates trying to lure naive traveling vessels to their demise?”

  “I’m afraid the readings I’m receiving are quite genuine; very difficult or impossible to fake, Captain. Should we send a tracer signal asking for a visual of the situation down there?”

  “That will be Jera, the communications officer’s job.” Cruise turns to face Jera, who has already started keying in the introduction on her console. Jera is the daughter of Commodore Graven back on Cassiopeia and a full-blooded Northern Quewythian. Having the curly raven black hair, her skin was a little bit lighter that most Quewythians.

  “Hailing planet on Super Light Speed transmission,” says Jera. “Requesting a visual now, Captain.”

  “This is going to take some time to get through and get our answer,” says Cruise. “Engine room, this is the Captain. Prepare for Super Warp Drive five. Glorainne, take us closer. Caleo, how far away are we from that planet?”

  Caleo checks the 3-D hologram again and zooms out until the course is plotted and distance given. “According to these read outs, Captain, we’re approximately twenty five million tectors away.”

  “On this vessel we will use the same units of measurements as Earth does,” admonishes Cruise.

  “Oh, yes, I forgot, Sir, please forgive me. That would be equal to a million of Earth’s light years.”

  “In that case it’ll take us approximately forty five cycles in Super Warp Drive 5 to get there. Glorainne, take us to Planet X and lock into its orbit.” Cruise then informs the rest of the fleet of the change and instructs them to continue on their original course until further notice.

  Cruise’s vessel Infinity then leaves the formation of the one hundred-vessel fleet and accelerates to Super Warp Drive. It passes through the stages until it reaches Super Warp Drive 5. While in that state, they could not send or receive any communications. Cruise said that the transmission Jera sent would take time to get there. This was the first time they were using Super Warp Drive 5, which was a thousand times faster than anything they had travelled in before. They arrived even before the message Jera transmitted did.

  Glorainne locked Infinity into orbit around the planet they now knew was named Dekkonia. It had been too far to pick it up before, but now that they were in orbit around it, Jera was picking up audial visuals as well as a myriad of diverse frequencies. It was then when Cruise realized that he needed to act.

  Pirates had forced their way into the mines and according to the transmissions they were receiving, were forcing the miners to dig up the precious metal ores. Pirates had commandeered the whole planet. Jera and Caleo also detected fighting vessels on their way from two other planets. Obviously they were not even equipped with Hyper Drive and were moving slow.

  It was then that Caleo, using the 4-D Hologram Image Procreator, detected six pirate vessels on the other side of the planet also in orbit. He also detected that they had no form of transport technology other than shuttles, which they used to get to the surface.

  “We could blast them out of orbit and disintegrate them quicker than a bolt of lightning,” said Garza Suthax, the chief tactical officer.

  “We could at that, but the pirates on the surface would probably take hostages,” replied Cruise. “But we can jam their communications and throw force fields around their vessels so that they can’t fire their weapons and can’t leave or come back.”

  “True, Captain,” replied Garza. “Then the force fields will hold them until we decide what to do after we rescue the people on the planet.”

  “That’s just what I was thinking, Garza,” replies Cruise.

  Just as Cruise had ordered, six Electromagnetic Block Domination Barrier Pods were released. They consisted of small pods the size of a man’s head and went undetected by the Cloak-Zenith Veils installed several decades before. They went undetected as the camouflage launchers were activated when the pods were teleported around the planet to where the six pirate ships were locked in orbit. When Garza switched them on, they engulfed the six pirate vessels in invisible impenetrable auras of Hyper Flonium energy, which is harmless to life, but impossible to break or even scratch. The Electro Magnetic Impulse they sent out was limited to whatever they had a hold of.

  Unknown to the pirates on board, their vessels were now cut off from their comrades on the surface and no form of communication was possible. They had no control over their vessels, so surprised as they were, could take no action; only sit there and wait.

  On Cruise’s command, Glorainne maneuverers Infinity over to the other side of the planet where the pirate vessels are in orbit after using the Cloak Zenith Veil to render the vessel invisible. If the pirates had looked out of their portals at a fully visible Infinity, they would have panicked and tried to use their weapons against her. Their ammunition would have only rebounded off of the invisible shield and destroyed their own vessels. Cruise was not so sure he wanted to waste them all until he had a chance to talk to their commanders to find out where they hail from, if there are mo
re of them, and where their base of operations is.

  On the surface the pirates that had commandeered the planet were still in communication with each other, but none of them could contact their vessels.

  “This is a strange event,” grumbled Makuv, pirate leader of the ground assault, in his native tongue.

  His second in command, Hujikom, checked his communicator. “We may be in the middle of a sun storm. It might be interference from the solar winds. Remember, Commander, this planet has three suns.”

  “Our bad fortune,” replied the Commander. “But we should be finished here soon and then we will load all of the precious ore onto all of the spacecrafts and be on our way. We were ordered to leave an army here to ensure the stability of our efforts. This planet is now the property of The Subjugator.”

  Although the pirate ground crew could not communicate with their spacecrafts, that didn’t stop Jera from tuning in to their frequency so that their conversations could be heard by the whole crew and translated with the Universal Language Decipher Unit.

  “Why Captain,” spoke up Jera, “These pirates are Ergaddi.”

  “Cannibals, when the occasion calls for it,” responded Cruise.

  “Yes, Captain,” says Caleo. “Only in formal arrangements, as a rare delicacy such as weddings, and funerals. They’re not usually the partying kind.”

  “Well, I for one do not plan to be partying with them,” replies Cruise.

  “May I ask, Captain,” speaks up the First Officer Geyruk, “What is to be the next course of action?”

  Cruise wipes his forehead and turns to his first officer. “I want you and Caleo to locate every Ergaddi being on the planet. I want to know their exact coordinates.”

  Infinity’s Biological Organism Detector was activated and set to the Ergaddi race. The Ergaddis had a bone structure that included oversized shoulders and long webbed toes. That meant they were strong swimmers and somewhat frog-like.