by Lee Watts
"Rone," Quace uttered the name in disgust. "I knew you were behind this. You're not smart enough to realize how much more you would get if you let me finish my research. You're a short-sighted fool."
"Smart enough to know you were going to try and pull a fast one, Old Man. You're not as clever as you think."
Rone stepped toward the doctor. Reaching inside Quace's vest pocket, he withdrew a ring.
"I think this is what I promised," the turncoat gloated. With the ring in the palm of his hand, Rone extended his arm to Sosimo.
"It's broken," the pirate noted. "There's a part missing. I've never seen one like that before."
"It's authentic, I swear," Rone affirmed.
"We'll know soon enough," Sosimo replied. He lifted his robotic appendage revealing his own map ring was now incorporated into his artificial hand. Sosimo had his entire robotic prosthetic designed around the device. Tapping his ring to the broken one caused both to illuminate a brilliant azure for a pair of heartbeats before returning to their normal appearance. Satisfied with the ring's authenticity, Sosimo picked it up and placed it in one of his own pockets.
"Broken or not, it still works," Sosimo announced. "Rone, I'll pay you what we agreed to. Get on the Fortune. Soon as we're done here, we'll drop you off at Midway Station."
"Midway Station! But The Hammer has people there. They're looking for me."
"Then I suggest you pay him off quick. The Hammer's not known for patience." Turning to Quace, Sosimo added, "Don't worry, Doctor, when I find The Vault, I'll make sure you get some recognition for aiding in my discovery."
In other passenger cabins, things were not nearly as cordial. Crimson stood centimeters from Tara. Slowly his gaze slid down her face and neck to the pendant at the end of her necklace. Leering at the top of her chest, he reached up a gloved hand and held the pendant in his palm. With a quick jerk, he snapped off the necklace, clutching the bauble.
"Please," Tara began, "That has been in my family for generations. It's of no value. It's only important to me," she pleaded.
"Wrong," Crimson shot back. "I like it, so it's important to me."
"You thief," she retorted and spat in his face.
"SHUT UP," he shouted while backhanding her. The blow sent the pregnant woman slamming into the nearby wall.
Immediately, Sev leaped forward to fend off his wife's attacker, but another of thug brought the barrel of a pistol to the back of the defender's head. The crushing strike swiftly sent the defenseless man to the floor. Aulani screamed. Afraid, angry, only a child, she didn't know how else to react. Her mother rushed back to the pirates who were mercilessly kicking her downed husband.
Shouting wildly, Tara reached for Crimson's face. Her clawing hands sent a finger penetrating deep into his left eye. He screamed in pain and with his full might punched the woman in the stomach. She fell to her knees then collapsed. Mouth gaping, she was in too much horror and agony to even make a sound, but the expression on her face portrayed her intense suffering and fear for her unborn child.
Crimson put his hands to his gravely wounded eye while staggering from the room and down the corridor, swearing all the way. He started back to the Fortune to treat the wound that would likely cost his eye. The other two pirates stopped their assault on Sev to follow Crimson back to their ship. Aulani's dark brown eyes streamed tears as she clutched both her injured parents who lay dying on the cabin floor.
***
Reaching the cargo hold, Sosimo and company noticed the pirates there were almost finished loading the sole shuttle with plunder. A small craft, the shuttle wasn't designed for large amounts of storage. The pirates would run out of room before they ran out of items to steal.
"We may have to make multiple trips," Sosimo chirped.
"It's a good haul, Cap'n," the pirate Byron laughed as they loaded goods. Passing by, he playfully slapped Telza's rear end. Reflexively, she grabbed his hair and pulled him backward. By extending her leg, it caused Byron to fall flat on his back. Embarrassed and angry, he scrambled up to charge the woman. Sosimo's robotic hand went to Byron's chest, stopping him.
"Calm it down," Sosimo ordered.
Fuming, Byron panted angrily but held his ground.
"Aye, Cap'n."
With a wink, Sosimo told him, "Son, never reach out and touch a woman without her liking… that's how I lost my hand. Now, keep loading."
A few minutes later the pillaging was interrupted by a beep from the communicator on Sosimo's belt. It was Lei reporting incoming patrol ships from the Entauri Cluster. Telza smiled at the victory of her drone getting the single out.
Though it was a successful raid, Sosimo was disappointed to leave such a prize prematurely.
"Boarding parties, this is the captain," he spoke into his communicator. "Party's over. Head back to the Fortune. Cluster ships are on the way. We're getting out before they arrive. If you're late, you're left."
Clipping the radio to his belt, he addressed the pirates in the bay.
"We're done here. Everybody, back to the ship."
Knowing Sosimo would be true to his word of leaving those who were late, the pirates wasted no time in rushing out of the bay and heading to the passage tube at the far end of the ship, but Mei hesitated.
"What about you, Captain?"
Limping to the shuttle, he answered, "With my injured leg, I can't get back to the ship fast enough. Besides, someone's got to get this stuff out of here. There's not enough time to dock. Tell Lei I took the shuttle and to meet me at the usual spot."
She nodded then hurried toward the passage tube. Telza also left the bay and headed toward the Morningstar's bridge. Because of his wounded eye, Crimson was already on the Fortune when the evacuation call came.
Sosimo keyed the shuttle's controls, powering up the countergravity generators. Slowly, the shuttle rose, and he eased the controls forward, gliding the craft into the great void. Needing to quickly distance himself, he immediately set course for the rendezvous point and jumped to lightspeed.
Byron entered the Fortune's bridge and was surprised to see Crimson in the command chair. The ill-tempered brute had a scarf tied as a makeshift bandage covering an injured eye.
"Where's the first mate?" Byron asked.
"Engine room," Crimson answered gruffly. "There was a malfunction. He's trying to repair it before those Cluster ships get here. Prepare to disengage the boarding tube."
"But Mei isn't on board yet," Byron protested.
"You heard the captain. If you're late, you're left."
As Mei rushed through the Morningstar, Crimson's oily voice came through the communicator at her waist.
"Mei, you got thirty seconds then we're outta here."
She didn't have time to grab the radio and respond. Mei knew Crimson would enjoy nothing more than leaving her there to be arrested. She raced through the lengthy transport ship. With the half minute nearly expired, she reached the hatch. Desperately, she started pulling her lean body along the zero-G tube.
"Time's up," Crimson glowered with pleasure. "Depressurize the tube and disconnect."
A crewman, who preferred Crimson's way of doing things to Sosimo's, hit the control that began bleeding off the passage tube's air. Wind rushed around Mei and pushed her back as the air vented. She was forced to double her efforts to keep moving. Her muscles burned under the strain, but she kept advancing.
"Power the weapons," Crimson ordered.
The pressure door of the Morningstar was already closed, and now the Fortune's started shutting. Mei couldn't go back, and the way forward was quickly closing. Realizing she wasn't going to make it, but determined not to let Crimson space her, she thought fast and drew her blasters. Turning her back to the shrinking opening of the Fortune, she extended her arms, flicked her weapons setting to fully automatic, and squeezed the triggers. In the weightless environment, the recoil from the blaster shots propelled her. Rapidly gaining speed, she turned her head to see where she was going. The hatch was all but close
d. With no room to spare, she twisted her lean body to make it through the narrow opening. The force of her flight sent her slamming against the bulkhead. The door fully closed before her body even had time to fall to the deck. She lay there gasping, gulping in the precious air.
"Tube depressurized," the crewman reported.
Crimson smiled. He wasn't sure if Mei had made it or not, but there was always hope she hadn't.
"Good," the one-eyed man replied. "Retract the tube and swing us wide. I want to teach these idiots some respect."
On the bridge of the Morningstar, a crewman reported to Captain Larson, "I'm reading a full weapons charge from that ship!"
Telza kicked herself for actually believing LaRouche's claim of no violence.
"Have you still got a vector on that energy distortion?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Best speed! We can't outfight them. Maybe we can outrun them."
The engines of the Morningstar flared to life as it raced for the distortion.
Still winded, but needing to get to the bridge, Mei forced herself to her feet and headed off while holstering her twin pistols.
Completing its arc, the Fortune aimed its well-used cannons and fired at the retreating transport ship. On the Morningstar, sparks shot out of panels and lights dimmed momentarily as it took its first hit. Two more bolts of cobalt energy came in rapid succession. One missed, but the other dealt a glancing blow. Larson's ship trembled with each strike, as did her crew and passengers. The transport's shields were only strong enough to deflect small particles of space debris it encountered in flight. Weaponless, the ship was no match for the Fortune.
"How long until we enter the distortion?" Telza shouted over the blaring alarms and straining engines.
"Ten seconds!"
The door to the Fortune's bridge opened and in stormed Mei, her emerald eyes shooting daggers.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" she demanded.
Crimson glared at Mei with his one good eye.
"Taking care of some unfinished business," he sneered.
Two more shots spat from the main cannon, one grazing the Morningstar the other dissipating into the energy distortion. The colonists' ship slipped into the unstable field of energy, effectively hiding it from the pirates. Engulfed with a thirst for revenge, Crimson went to follow the Morningstar into the distortion, but Mei rushed to the helm.
"We don't have time for a personal vendetta," she insisted while noting his injured eye. "Those Cluster ships will be here any second."
Some of the crew looked to Crimson to see if he was going to physically try to stop her from denying him his vengeance as the ship's first mate bolted onto the bridge.
"What's going on here?" Lei demanded. No one responded. "Get us out of here," he ordered while glowering.
"Course set," Mei acknowledged, and the Fortune veered away from the distortion, jumping to lightspeed.
"Best watch yourself, girl," Crimson whispered. "Daddy won't always be around to protect you."
She narrowed her elegant, slanted eyes at Crimson as he passed her father and headed to the medical bay. The first mate glanced at each person on the bridge, wondering how much longer he and Sosimo could control of the band of cutthroats they had picked up over the years.
In the distortion, the Morningstar had no way of knowing the Fortune was gone. Yellow light and violent bursts of energy danced around the colony ship, roughly buffeting it. Random and powerful gravity tides tossed and pulled the ship in such a way that their initial pull from lightspeed seemed gentle by comparison.
"I think the distortion's feeding on the engines," shouted Telza over the cacophony of sounds. "Cut power and go to thrusters!" Her conclusion was correct. With the engine's power down, the distortion's effects lessened, but a new, powerful, and sustained force started pulling the ship.
"Now what?" Larson asked.
The crewman read the information from his screen with rising panic in his voice.
"We're caught in the gravity well of a wormhole. It's dragging us in!"
For as great a gamble as it was to enter an energy distortion, there was no risk worth entering a wormhole. Those unstable anomalies were to be avoided at all costs.
The navigator, thinking he was doing the right thing, hit the controls.
Firing engines," he announced.
"NO," shouted Telza, but it was too late.
The power from the engines only served to feed the wormhole's pull, and so, all but instantly, the ship was swallowed. Blind, the Morningstar plunged and tumbled, uncontrolled through the tunnel of wild energy.
Thrown hundreds of lightyears off course to an unknown fate, the Morningstar was eventually listed as destroyed with the loss of all hands. The report was incorrect.
CHAPTER 4
"Not by words of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us..." - Titus 3:5
Alexander was certain there was a distortion in the space-time continuum. Somehow time had stopped inside the university, or at least in that classroom. The current lecture had gone on for at least one eternity if not two. This was supposed to be the final class of the day, and freedom awaited at the top of the hour, but there was that pesky matter of the time distortion.
While the students took notes, Alexander, the instructor's assistant, sat in the back of the room and distracted his mind by watching a bee on the wall. The tiny insect flicked its wings to take flight then tried to escape the room but rammed into a closed window.
I know how you feel, little guy, Alexander thought to himself. I'd love to get out of here too.
The bee crawled upon the pane then sprang to flight again. Dazed after hitting the window again, it fell and was quickly entangled into a spider's web. With each struggle, the bee more knotted itself in the lace-like trap of the eight-legged predator. Hungrily, the arachnid crawled toward its victim. Buzzing, in either fear or frustration, the prey thrashed in a futile struggle for freedom. Unwilling to merely watch as the bee was devoured, Alexander quietly rose from his seat and crossed to the window. Taking a keycard from his pocket, he used it to sever the web and pull the bee away from the trap. Twisting and shaking, the bee loosed itself from the remains of the web and leaped to flight. Alexander smiled as the bee landed on his arm. He thought perhaps it was the bug's way of expressing appreciation, but changed his mind when it stung him.
"OW," he exclaimed.
"Alexander, what is amiss?" questioned Professor Caedmon as everyone turned to the back of the room.
"Sorry, Master Caedmon."
Grimacing, the old man then turned back to his class and used the interruption as a reason to end the day's lesson. Relieved, the students hurried to the exit as Alexander approached the instructor.
"If there's nothing else you need from me, Master Caedmon, I'll be about my grounds keeping duties."
"What didst happen back there?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Thou didst shout for no reason?"
"No… see there was a bee caught in a web, and I freed it, but then instead of being grateful, it stung me."
"Alexander, sometimes those we help will turn and hurt us nonetheless. Dost thou regret showing mercy to the creature?"
Knowing the gray-haired man was right, Alexander unenthusiastically relented. "No," he said with a sigh.
"Alexander, bear in mind thou didst extend mercy to the bee, not justice. If something is deserved, then it wouldn't be called mercy. It is only by the mercy of the Elder do we have access to Paradise. The plan of redemption-" his words were cut off by the peeling of the monastery's sizeable central bell.
"They're here," Alexander said in excitement.
Visitors were rarely permitted at the monastery, but because of the recent discovery, it was deemed necessary. Coming up the mountain path was a motley group of outsiders each carrying advanced technology equipment.
"Remember Alexander, thou art forbidden to commune with the researchers."
"But I fo
und it. What harm can-"
"Harm comes in many forms, Alexander." Thou mayest observe the visitors, but that is all. Twill not be long before thou wilt be permitted to journey amongst the stars. Be patient, young one. Patience is faith lived. Your time will come, I assure thee."
Alexander nodded then Caedmon gave him a gentle smile and turned to walk back into one of the buildings. Alexander was fascinated by the visitors' varied skin colors, heights, clothing, and technological accouterment. Despite outward trappings, it was as Caedmon taught from the Holy Codex, all intelligent life in the galaxy was human. Though, there did seem to be a nearly infinite variety of that.
Realizing the students wouldn't be allowed to follow the researchers into the tunnels, Alexander went there ahead of time and found a secluded spot where he could hide to watch. After a long while, he heard voices as the monks led the aliens to the chamber.
"One of our students was recently exploring when he knocked down a sealed off portion of the catacombs and found this," the abbot announced as the research teams exited the passage and beheld a massive, bowl-shaped chamber. Center of the underground opening was a crystalline obelisk nearly three meters high. Though deep underground, no light was needed as the obelisk itself glowed, illuminating the room.
"Astounding," whispered one of the scientists. Various scanning devices were activated as the investigating began.
"How old are these catacombs?" asked a researcher.
"No one is quite sure," answered the abbot. "Our records go back nearly two thousand years, but there was a fire that destroyed the earlier chronicles."
"I don't recognize the language," one of the scientists stated about the markings on the obelisk. "Do you think it's pre-Cambian?"
"No, much older than that," answered another.
"Older? Eternal Empire era maybe?"
"No, based on these markings I'd say even older?"
Alexander didn't understand the implications of the statement, but it clearly had quite an impact on the scientists.
"There are no cobwebs around the device," noticed one scientist. "Were they cleared away, or is that the way it was found?"
