Infinity

by Charles E. Borjas

  “Welcome back, Captain,” speaks Infinity in her pleasant and calm female voice. “No damage has been done to any part of me, but the six Ergaddi pirate vessels have been destroyed, one thousand and twenty four of our troops killed, as well as three hundred Ergaddi pirates.”

  “How did that come about?” Cruise turns to Glorainne.

  “He...uh...First Officer Geyruk that is...just appeared here on the control deck.” Glorainne wipes her brow with a disposable towel and throws it in the waste disintegrator. “Ah...that feels better. Anyway, he ordered Infinity to fire on the pirate vessels overriding all other controls and then...” she rolls her eyes and looks up at the ceiling, “he pulled his blaster and killed communications officer Jera. He then laughed and said he was going to do the same to you when you finally got here.”

  “So he knew I was coming, but just didn’t know when,” said Cruise.

  “Yes, Captain,” replies Glorainne.

  Cruise sits down in the captain’s chair. “Teleport the remainder of our crewmembers still on the planet’s surface back here now, Infinity. Also...teleport the Ergaddi pirate prisoners to the extra large secure holding cells.”

  “It’s done, Captain,” responds Infinity. Cruise had her choose a team of six people, the best choice, to go back down to the surface with him. Teleporting back down to the same coordinates, the team appears in front of the Queen again as the feast seems to have broken up by intruders.

  “I wondered what happened, Captain,” Says the Queen. “You left so fast” In her eyes was a look of longing and endearment as she grabbed Cruise’s forearms and rubbed them with a slow and gentle up and down motion. “We had intruders, but my security guards were able to catch them. Shockingly, it was Commodore Selrahc.” Cruise listened. “He was the one responsible for your first officer’s behavior.”

  “So he has some kind of manipulating drug or chemical that poisons the mind?” replies Cruise.

  “Oh, you know about such things?” Millennia looked surprised.

  “Your Highness, I’m Cruise Liberty; Sovereign Prince of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster,” he replies. “It’s my job to know everything.”

  Tears well up in Millennia’s eyes. “Then you are more than a prince, my love. You are like a deity.”

  “To tell the truth, I never actually thought of it quite like that before,” Chuckled Cruise. “But I do know that a serious crime has been committed, and according to our laws, the guilty must be punished.” Cruise then commenced to explain the law of quick judgement, and that the guilty must be brought to trial immediately. The Queen had no choice but to listen and comply. But she did it with enthusiasm for Cruise and the Twelve Galaxies Cluster. Because of the heinous nature and magnitude of the mass murder, both the Commodore, now striped of his title, and Geyruk, because he allowed himself to be weak and doubtful and was thus subject to dark powers, were brought to trial.

  Cruise met and talked with the magistrate who would try the case. The witnesses were brought in and testified. The death sentence was carried out on Dekkonia, but only in the case of a mass murder or series of murders. The magistrate sentenced their former Commodore and all of his accomplices to death.

  The Dekkonian law stated that they must suffer the same manner of death as their victims did. The Magistrate, with the Queen’s intervention, declared Geyruk to be sentenced by his Captain, the Prince of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster. Cruise sentenced Geyruk to be banished from the Kingdom of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster and sent to the Yuhenia Star System as Dvora was.

  Cruise had not yet heard about his stepmother’s and stepsister’s severe crime and punishment. It was 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. It would be survival of the strongest. No one had ever escaped from that prison planet before. Its name was Shakalah, meaning gravestone.

  Cruise summoned the rest of his fleet. After forty-five earth minutes of Super Hyper Drive, they appear in the sky. The three pink suns reflect off of the mirror-like Platainium, the hardest and most beautiful element in the known universe, to reveal the armada of one hundred space vessels. The vessels, with their oval shape, glitter like majestic diamonds in the sky as they lock into orbit around Dekkonia. The largest and brightest of the vessels was Infinity, which had uncloaked and was now visible. Its shape appeared to be saucer-like as seen by the naked eye. From the surface of the planet, Infinity looked like a small sun or yellowish-pink star, even in the brightness of their three suns. Its reflection of the triple suns’ light covered the whole color spectrum.

  The view was so splendid, that even the Queen was awed by the ornamental array of space vehicles now parked at her very doorstep. “I have never seen such a display of beauty and power all at once, and in one place. And that large one looks like a Quasar.”

  “It’s Infinity, my vessel,” Cruise said proudly. “The size is three times larger than your great city.”

  “Oh...I...cannot even imagine a vessel that size,” replied the Queen, still mesmerised by the sight, “let alone how powerful it must be to have travelled here.”

  “We will talk more of this, and what happened here today over the evening meal perhaps?” Cruise says with all the graciousness and elegance of the prince that he was. He was obligated to take care of the business at hand first. That was to assign one of his vessels to transport Geyruk to Shakalah.

  That evening after the three suns had set, Queen Millennia had one of her maiden helpers show Cruise to the dining area lit up by Munariege perpetual candles. The colors were in contrast to each other unlike Cruise had ever seen.

  “I thought we had everything in the Twelve Galaxies Cluster,” he commented while sipping the wine of the Firtu Grapes, only native to Dekkonia. “You didn’t put any of that mind altering poison in my wine now did you?” He chuckled.

  “If I did you would have already known it,” she laughed. “I need no such persuasive chemicals. Either I am obeyed or I’m not.”

  “Either you’re loved or you’re not,” he mimicked.

  “My extra sensory perception tells me that you are on a mission; a quest,” the Queen said. “Please divulge to me this quest and I will help you to accomplish it.”

  “You have the power to do that?” Cruise was impressed.

  “I have the power to do more, actually,” she replies. “I could easily read all that is in your mind, but I prefer it if you told me yourself.”

  “All right, I’ll tell you, but I doubt if you can be much help to me in fulfilling it.”

  “If I can,” she followed, “Will you become my soul mate?”

  “Tell me what that is and I’ll tell you if I can become it or not,” Cruise laughed.

  “It is not unlike the shallow marriage vows a man and woman take. Except it is even more meaningful and binding.” Millennia told Cruise of the ancient tradition. A man and woman make a promise to love and honor each other and they are bound together by the chords of Aleilda, the everlasting angel and spirit of love. Nothing could ever break those chords, for they are bound to each other in the unity and bond of love. The ceremony is simple, and is presided over by the Pure Priestess of the White Citadel.

  “Okay,” was Cruise’s answer. “Even if I search forever, I doubt very much that I could find a soul mate as...lovely, gracious and perfect as you.”

  Millennia was overjoyed. “I knew you were the one the first time I saw you. Now you must tell me your quest.”

  “My quest is twofold. I search for Earth, the planet of my ancients. I wish to recover the relic that was either lost or stolen. It contains a pure book of truth that was called “The Pure Scriptures”. I believe it expresses the very voice of God, the creator of everything.”

  “And the other? You said there are two.”

  “I also search for my brother. Though half brother he is, still we share the same father and so we’re brothers. He disappeared into a worm hole on h
is way to search for Earth.”

  To Cruise’s surprise, the Queen discloses that she is also part Earthling. The Dekkonians were all part Earthling. Only her grandfather was human and her grandmother a native Dekkonian.

  She was also about to begin her quest for the scriptures of truth, for her people, but was told by the Pure Priestess of the White Citadel to wait until the divine one appears in the sky with a vehicle of such radiance that one could not look directly at it without being blinded.

  “You are noble and brave. You love your brother and love cannot be defeated. When I saw your vessels shining so brightly, and then yours, as big as three of our cities, I had to turn away my face, as to look upon such a bright sight for too long would have harmed my eyes. That’s when I was positive that you were the one who was sent.”

  The mood as well as the wine was quite intoxicating for Cruise and Millennia both. Cruise was usually a good judge of character, and from what he had seen and heard from Millennia, he was convinced of her truthfulness and sincerity and her love, which they consummated that night. He decided to take her with him, on his vessel. The Dekkonians had spacecraft, but they were not very powerful, nor could they travel the distance or speed required to reach Earth.

  It was all set. Cruise would leave behind a security force of five warships to protect the planet from anymore of The Subjugator’s pirates, and she would leave the ruling of Dekkonia to her three siblings; two brothers and a sister.

  Cruise ordered two of the vessels back to Cassiopeia. One reason was it was too far now to communicate a message seeing as they were out of the quadrant, and when the vessels did get within communication range, they could send a message to the king explaining the situation and asking for more vessels to be sent. They may run into more planets that need their help on the way to Earth.

  Koupiton Hoxenyth, who was the Daxu Korth in the Quewythian language, or “Liberating King”, received his son’s message as soon as the two vessels he sent were within communication range.

  “My son is noble and righteous. He veers from his quest to help the race of another planet. Surely I will help him and send even more vessels than he asked.”

  Communication within the Twelve Galaxies Cluster was instantaneous by Quantum Cyber Connection. The Quantum Matrix technology had been set up eons before and had only gotten better with time. The Interstellar, as they called it, was quantum cyber space. Friends and relatives communicated with each other and even socialized, sent images, audial and video, not to mention key letters. This is the system the vessels Cruise sent used. As soon as they were within range of the Quantum Matrix, they sent their message from Cruise. The signal wasn’t as strong as it was when they got closer, but by the time they reached the borders of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster, the spacecrafts that Cruise had asked for were well on their way.

  Daxu Korth requested one hundred vessels from each galaxy bringing the total to one thousand two hundred. Seven hundred and fifty crewmembers would be on each spacecraft. All vessels were made of the same metal as Cruise’s vessels, Platainium.

  Platainium was a metal so precious that pirates had been seeking it for eons. They could never get their dirty hands on it because it was only mined within the well-guarded Twelve Galaxies Cluster. Some pirates had tried in the past, including The Subjugator, but were either destroyed trying to obtain it, captured and sent to a prison planet, or escaped with nothing in hand but their lives.

  When it is mined, the ore is ninety eight percent pure. A minimum of refining is needed and the “full of life” metal is ready. It takes a certain process to prepare the metal for forging and shaping into vessels and weaponry, which is what the metal is used exclusively for. Only the scientists of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster know the process and are avowed never to disclose the secret under pain of a fate worse than death. Fortunately for the Twelve Galaxies, the secret of the processing has been kept for ages.

  The vessels that Cruise sent did not need to land on Cassiopeia. As soon as they were close enough to be certain that their message was received they did a U-turn. Rendezvousing with the vessels Daxu Korth sent, that were already closest to the border, they headed back to join their fellow citizens of the kingdom.

  Needless to say, the Quantum Cyber Interstellar caught wind of the story and it was transmitted to every planet in the Twelve Galaxies Cluster. One particularly interested party is sitting alone in a tavern on the edge of the kingdom on the far-flung planet of Eniam 22.

  Lem Nesbig is a racketeer. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants. Not overly successful, he has had his good days too. He calls his girl Shorene, and is looking to team up with a few infamous characters. His bloodshot blue eyes dart back and forth, up and down as he reads the news on his quantum tablet. “I just wonder,” he ponders, “if pay day is not just around the corner.”

  Chapter 7 The Shadowy Princess

  Wathesan-Fla-Fla was the leader of Planet Eniam 22; a world where merchants came to trade and space criminals came to roost. The law was bought and paid for, to keep order and to protect Wathesan-Fla-Fla. Every morning he slicked down his black hair with pomade, waxed his handlebar moustache with facial hair wax, and had his beard trimmed short. He ran his rounded beady eyes over the news flashes on his hand screen and caught the headlines of the latest news in the Twelve Galaxies Cluster.

  “Huh,” he grunted to his sweetheart Ladledee, “So the prince has flown the coup eh?”

  “Oh...news, news, news...that’s all it is. They want to sell subscriptions that’s all,” responds an indifferent Ladledee, moving her eyes around his face from his thick greyish hair that was combed straight back but stood up in the middle. It was short enough so as not to cover his pointed ears, which stuck out on both sides. His eyebrows were slightly bushy. He had a tough, bully’s type of nose and his mouth was turned down in a perpetual frown to match his moustache and the lines on his face. It seemed his forehead was always wrinkled up in worry. The magenta morning sun came through the window turning his normally light purple face an eerie red.

  “There must be a way to cash in on this. It says Dekkonia is a mining planet with all kinds of precious ore,” replies Wathesan-Fla-Fla.

  “Dumb...very dumb I think,” says Ladledee. “You don’t really wanna actually go to a hellish place like that do you? Look at the bags under your eyes.”

  “Not to do the mining, my dear, but to steal the ore; as much as we can,” snickers the gleeful leader. “We just need a few powerful allies, and we can go halfizees. Uh...I need more sleep.”

  “Look, my bulbous he-man,” says Ladledee. “It says The Subjugator’s pirates were killed. The rest were taken to a prison planet and dropped off there by Prince Cruise Liberty. You do not wanna mess around with him, dearie.”

  “But he’s only a man and can die,” contradicts Wathesan-Fla-Fla.

  “I know you’re crazy, big boy,” replies Ladledee, “but he’s not just a man. You can’t kill him.”

  “We’ll see...we’ll see.”

  Wathesan-Fla-Fla calls up some characters that owe him favours; Lem Nesbig is one of them, Trag-Yurphma is another. Then he calls the infamous and slimy Niv-Yecaps and Nam Nitsud, who are partners in crime. They all gather for a meeting at a nightclub called The Black Hole owned by Trag-Yurphma and plan to gather their cronies together to form a mob. At the meeting they agree to recruit some of the planet’s strongest prize fighters and mercenaries. The Marshal and Chief of the Law Squad want their share too.

  “If you don’t cut us in, you get no protection,” dictates Bor Mukim, the head of the law keeping squad on Planet Eniam 22. “After all we need some incentive to keep the bounty hunters off you.” The lawman glowered at the leader, thinning his black eyes as he half sneered, half snickered, part of his very thin lip raised on one side.

  Trag looked up at Bor, his thick brownish-purple eyebrows raised. His long jaw fell open as he held his narrow head up in his hand with his elbow on the table.

  “It’s been a long ni
ght, Bor. “You’ll get your cut. Just like the rest of us. Just don’t try anything funny.”

  Bor turned his head down towards Trag. “Just gotta make sure I don’t get double crossed. It ain’t very nice to be double crossed.”

  “Oh for the love of starlight,” blurts Niv-Yecaps, his orb shaped eyes half closed. “Let’s not destroy a good thing even before it gets started now.”

  “Gentlemen,” speaks up Wathesan-Fla-Fla, “Are we here for business? Or are we here to fight? If you like a good fight, there’s one tonight at the Nova Arena. Good fighters too. My money will be on The Nailati Noillats himself.”

  “You mean Boa Skcory?” Nam Nitsud jumps in. “You gotta be kiddin’ me. He almost killed the other sucker in his last fight.”

  The bloody fight did take place that night, which attracted quite a crowd of betters. Boa Skcory went up against the “Magnificence of the Arena” Nach Eikaj. Boa was bigger and stronger, but Nach was faster and better skilled. The match turned out to be a draw, and everybody was angry. The crowd started attacking the fighters and they had to fight off as many as they could before a vehicle pulled up to take them away. It was Trag the mobster club owner.

  “Got a proposition for you two,” he said. “Wanna hear it?”

  Boa looked at Nach and made a long-faced puffy-lipped smug face tottering his head back and forth. “Well, why not?”

  Nach, smaller and stocky, slits for eyes, tightened them even more and smiled with all of his fifty teeth and moved his round head in a circular motion, causing his long ponytail to shimmy. “I see...I see...no, I don’t see. What proposition?”

  “You join us for a real job. We’ll cut you in on a share,” replied Trag. “I’ll explain later. We just gotta know you two are with us on this deal.” Trag twirled his Gufu Cigar and put it in his teeth and smiled, with one eyebrow up and one down. He pulled his collar up closer to his neck, and left the meeting for his office, all the while looking back and smiling.