by T. R. Harris
“I heard you before. Now go!”
The two Humans ended up on the bridge, having passed by the common room and conjured up a couple of powerful drinks from the processor.
“I normally do not partake,” Riyad said as he gulped at the drink, “but that arrogant alien has me breaking my religious convictions…again.”
“Well there’s nothing in my religion that precludes me from getting shitfaced. Maybe with the binge and the hangover, time will pass a little quicker.”
“Did you do this?”
Sherri frowned as she pulled her glass from her lips. “Do what?”
“Leave a message. There’s an indicator light.”
“Wasn’t me. Check it out. That’s a priority signal.”
Riyad pressed the button and the gaunt image of Admiral Andy Tobias appeared on the main view screen between the two forward observation ports. “Contact me, dammit! I know you’re receiving my links. Answer me!” The video ended.
“I didn’t know he’d called,” Riyad explained.
“We haven’t been on the bridge for a couple of days. Should we call him? We’re still not sure he wasn’t behind the tracking device.”
“It couldn’t have been him. He’s the one who told me at the beginning that there would be forces out to stop me. He said not to trust anyone.”
“Himself included?”
“Do not go all paranoid on me, Sherri. Andy is our friend. We’ve been through a lot together.”
“So call him. He could have news about Adam.”
Riyad nodded, then punched in the security code for Andy Tobias, Admiral of the Fleet over all Union military forces. The signal was routed through the continuous wormhole comm center aboard the Najmah Fayd, before entering an intra-dimensional realm of compressed space and time. It found a matching relay close to Earth, and then established a stable and secure link with the station assigned the access code. They would have nearly an hour of continuous talk and video before the shifting of cosmic forces placed the comm slightly out of phase, requiring a new link.
Earth was located twenty-two thousand light-years away, yet the animated and red-faced image of Andy Tobias popped onto the screen instantly, glaring out at the two Humans seated on the bridge of the Mark IV-prototype starship.
“It’s about good goddamn time! I didn’t give you the most advanced starship in the galaxy just so you’d ignore my calls.”
“Sorry, Admiral, but we haven’t been on the bridge in a couple of days.”
“Where the hell have you been?”
Riyad hesitated answering. Then he said, “Just hanging out.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Andy’s thick Georgia accent became even more prominent when he was mad. “Where are y’all?”
Riyad looked at Sherri.
“Don’t look at her…look at me!”
“We’re with Panur—”
“Panur! I have a report sitting on my desk that says he was killed.”
“He can’t be—”
“Shut up! You know what I mean. So he survived, and is up and moving around?”
“Yessir.”
“Did the two of you have anything to do with that?”
“It’s what the mission is all about, Admiral,” Riyad barked back. “And we know we’ve been tracked, something that started at your end.”
Riyad saw the veins in the thin neck of the fleet admiral begin to pulse. His face was now the color of a firetruck.
“I’m not saying you knew of it,” Riyad amended quickly, before the boiling anger within his longtime friend caused him literally explode right before their eyes.
“You’re not? It sure sounds like you just did.”
“Then it had to be Arness,” Sherri offered, to Riyad’s surprise, knowing that Secretary Arness was Sherri’s friend.
“Don’t even start with me, young lady. I learned after the fact how you used Arness to manipulate your way aboard the Mark IV-prototype. And as far as that bumbling politician goes, he just signs papers. He doesn’t even know what’s in the documents. It wasn’t him.”
“Then who?”
“If I knew, I’d do something about it.” Andy’s blue eyes bore into his two long-distant subordinates. “Look, I’m glad the two of you are okay, but you can’t imagine the shitstorm you’ve caused for me back here on Earth. The Mark IV may have had a tracker aboard, but it’s my skinny ass who gave you the ship in the first place. Sure, the bad guys wanted me to so you’d lead them to Panur, but that puts my name right at the very top of the hit list when all this goes south. Now tell me, what’s going on with that mutant bastard? Is he going to help you cross over to the Sol-Kor universe or not?”
“That’s what he’s working right on now.”
“Good. Another TD portal?”
“In a way.”
Now the square jaw of Admiral Tobias became even more pronounced, appearing as if the bone were about to burst through the skin. “Are you intentionally trying to piss me off, Tarazi? If so, belay that bullshit. If y’all hadn’t noticed, we’re on the same side.”
“We are for now.”
“Meaning that what you have to tell me might change that?”
“That’s a possibility.”
Tobias turned his attention to Sherri. “Someone had better start giving me some straight talk. I control the whole got-dang military of the whole got-dang Union. Y’all don’t want to get me on your bad side.”
“It’s just that you may not believe it, Andy,” Sherri said. “It’s not that we don’t want to tell you.”
“I’ll give you until the count of three…two…”
“He’s converting the Najmah Fayd into a TD portal.”
“What the hell’s a Najmah Fayd?”
“It’s what Riyad calls the Mark IV,” Sherri explained.
“What the hell does it mean?”
“Star Panther,” Riyad answered.
“Cute. Now did I just hear right? Panur’s turning the Naja—the Mark IV—into a TD portal? What exactly does that mean?”
“It means that if he can do it, the ship will be able to slip between universes without the need of a master portal, or any outside assistance at all for that matter.”
The look on the admiral’s face was astonishing. One moment it was beet red, the next a sickly pale white. His mouth hung open slightly and he didn’t blink going on a full minute.
“Are you okay, Andy?” Sherri asked, wondering if the image on the screen might have frozen.
But then he blinked—once—while a prominent Adam’s apple pogo-sticked under the leather-like skin of his neck.
“I’m just a simple country boy,” Andy began, “but I see all kinds of trouble that something like that could cause.”
“Only if the Sol-Kor learn how it’s done,” Riyad defended quickly.
“If you hadn’t noticed, dipshit, they also have a genius of their own, who just happens to be sitting on the throne. Now you’re telling me Panur can make your ship into an individual transit portal, meaning that with that technology, any other ship comparably equipped could do the same? Have y’all even taken the time to think this through?”
“It’s the only way we can get to Adam in time.”
“If he’s still alive. And even if he is, the risk is too great.”
“It’s Adam we’re going after, Admiral,” Sherri said.
Tobias stared at the blonde. “I know that. And y’all also know Adam and I go back long before the two of you renegades came on the scene. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize a chance to rescue him…but not this way. You’d be just one ship in an entire universe of Sol-Kor. The odds of them not getting this technology is what’s astronomical.”
“If it comes down to that, we’ll self-destruct,” Riyad said defiantly.
“Just showing up will tip your hand to the technology, and then that alien bitch will figure out how it’s done. Riyad, you’re the one who told me personally what we’re up against. Don’t do it,
son. I can’t allow it.”
“Can’t allow it?” Now it was Riyad’s turn to get angry. “Dammit, Andy, this is our best chance to save Adam. He once risked his life to save me from the old queen—and with no help from the Union, I might add. I owe him the same effort. Besides, if there is a way of turning starships into TD portals, then that’s going to happen eventually, whether we hide our heads in the sand or not. It would be better if we have an invasion fleet ready before the SK’s can rig one of their own. This is going to happen, Admiral, whether you like it or not.”
Tobias stared at the two of them for several long, awkward moments. When he spoke again, his voice was low, calm. “So it’s come down to this? I didn’t want this to happen, but seeing that it has, I have nothing to lose.”
Riyad felt his ass tighten up.
“Yes, I was one of the people behind the tracker on the Mark IV.”
“What the fuck, Andy!” Sherri exclaimed.
“You backstabbing bastard!”
“Yell all you want. It won’t change the fact that I sent you out to find the mutant so we could eliminate his threat once and for all. We—the Union and the Expansion—have managed to isolate the Milky Way from the SK’s, and now you not only want to open the gate again, you want to knock down the whole damn wall! It would not be a wise tactic to allow that to happen. Riyad, Sherri, this is what we feared the most about Panur, that he’d create some new game-changing device or weapon and we’d be right back at square one. Dang, I hate always being right.”
“Well, you’re not right this time,” Sherri countered. “The Sol-Kor may get this technology, but they won’t get it from us. As Riyad said, we’re willing to sacrifice our lives to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Tobias smirked and shook his head. “Unfortunately, Ms. Valentine, so am I—I mean sacrifice your lives, not mine. The potential harm is too great for me to let personal feelings get in the way of my decision-making, unlike what y’all are doing.”
“Sorry you feel that way, Admiral, but there’s nothing you can do to stop us. Panur will be done with his conversion in a couple of days and then we’ll make the jump. We’ll let you know how things turn out—when we return safe and sound—with Adam.”
“Return to where?” Tobias asked, his voice as cold as ice. “To Worak-nin?”
“Eh…I don’t know what you mean?” Riyad stammered.
“You don’t? Let me be clearer: Worak-nin, a planet seventeen light-years past the Dinz Marker, Kidis Frontier. The place where your signal is originating.”
“How…you can’t—”
“It’s just one of the innovations built into the Mark IV. You may have found the tracker, but there was a secondary locater built into the CW comm.”
“Knowing where we are won’t help, Andy. We’ll be gone long before you can get here.”
Tobias looked off screen and then returned a moment later. “Let’s see, the Juireans are less than a day out from your location, and my fleet is just now blasting past some rock called Wokan, which doesn’t put them too far behind our mane-headed friends.”
“Fuck you, Andy!” Sherri cried out.
“You brought this upon yourself, Valentine. You can save yourselves by stopping Panur from completing his conversion. Seeing that y’all are the ones who said he still has a few days before it’s done, this looks like your only option. That, or just sit back and let my forces put you out of your traitorous misery.”
“We’re signing off now, Admiral,” Riyad said. “Let the games begin.”
“As you wi—”
Riyad cut the contact. Afterwards, Sherri and him sat in silence, drained of energy and disappointed to the core.
“I suppose now I should let you assist me.”
The two Humans spun around to find Panur standing in the entrance to the bridge.
“Come, we haven’t much time. I will have to do some creative workarounds to make the transit engine viable now without the help of Syrus Jacs.”
********
“Two fleets? I find that…exorbitant.” Benefis Na was outside the Najmah Fayd at the base of the cargo ramp. “And now you tell me the ship is unable to be flown.”
“It will remain so until the conversion is complete. I have no choice but to continue.”
“And no other starships on the entire planet?”
“None.”
“I’m sure I will still have time to find a cave wherein I can hide.”
“Or you could help!” Sherri stepped up to the seven-tall alien, all five-foot-four inches of her. She pointed her finger up at the huge, square-jawed head. “If you hadn’t kidnapped us back on Wokan, we would have been literally light-years ahead of the game. But now we have about seventeen hours to get this bucket of bolts back into space, and with the use of makeshift parts and baling wire.”
“What is baling wire?”
“That’s what I’m going to wrap your useless body in if you don’t stop talking and get to work helping us.”
“Is it even possible? Seventeen hours. The entire left side engine is spread out on the ground.”
“Not much of the conventional engine is going back in,” Panur explained. “The starboard side engine is converted. I just need this one put back together.”
“What is it you wish me to do?”
“I need some of that gold you have been gawking at since you arrived here. It makes excellent electrical contacts.”
“Just peel it off the walls?”
“Yes.”
“May I keep any extra?”
“Benefis!” Sherri cried out. “What good is it going to do if you’re dead?”
“That is a valid point. I will now take a cart and return promptly.”
“Lila,” Panur began, “I need this generator bearing lifted into the cradle.” Sherri could tell he was still in the doghouse with Lila by his tone.
Without a word, the voluptuous seven-year-old mutant grasped the two-meter-diameter iron disk by both hands, and then to Sherri’s amazement, lifted it effortlessly off the ground. Panur quickly adjusted the cradle and the bearing slipped in with a clank. The gravity of Panurland was close to Earth’s and Sherri knew for a fact that the bearing disk had to weigh a good five hundred pounds or more. Even as the self-proclaimed Supermen of the galaxy, Sherri knew the Humans were no match for the two mutants. She shuddered, thinking that Adam was dealing with his own super-strong mutant.
“Damn mutants,” she whispered.
“Did we do something to offend you?” Lila asked. Both mutants were looking at her with hurt looks.
“Nah, I was thinking about Adam’s mutant, not you guys. You’re cool mutants.”
“I appreciate that,” said Lila with a grin. Then she moved inside the ship, carrying both the bearing wheel and its cradle with hardly a grunt.
Panur slipped in next to Sherri. “Lila is still a child when it comes to interacting with Humans. I know you despise us, but there is no need to hide your feelings.”
Sherri grinned. “You’re not as smart as you think you are. I like Lila. It’s you I have a problem with. You and your creation, J’nae. And if you don’t wise up pretty quick, you’re going to lose Lila for good.”
“I thought you would prefer that?”
“On a personal level. But let’s face it, she wouldn’t fit into normal society, and for the moment you’re the closest thing she has to an equal.”
“But we are not equal.”
“Like I said, you ain’t as smart as you think you is. Now what else can I do? I feel the hairs on the back of my neck tingling. The Juireans are getting closer.”
********
Overlord Ranor D’inos had managed to call up nine Class-Fours for the assault on Worak-nin. After the initial attack on Panur’s starship, and the subsequent steering of his remains toward the nearest star, fourteen other vessels had been released for other assignments. The nine he had left would have to do, at least until the Humans arrived a day later.
Still
, there was something gnawing at his subconscious. He should have plenty of firepower to face down one Human prototype vessel, no matter how advanced the rumors indicated it to be. Yet there was Panur. He was the unknown. What could he have done to the ship that would cause trouble for Ranor and his squadron?
The Overlord also had to admit that this entire region of space was an irritant. The riots on Wokan had spread to other worlds, including Lasiter. The single Juirean base in the Frontier had been attacked by a poorly-prepared group of protesters. Little damage was caused, but it was evident that the population was upset and growing even more so. It was too soon since learning of his failure to neutralize Panur for him to turn his attention to the task of annexing the Kidis Frontier to the Expansion. The mutant had to be dealt with first, and Ranor had just learned of the even deadlier threat that Panur now posed.
Was it possible he could build a starship that, on its own, could transit dimensions? In normal times that would represent an incredible opportunity to expand living space for the Juireans, as well as all the other creatures of the galaxy. Yet these were not normal times, not with the Sol-Kor. He could imagine a time when fleets of beamships and harvesters would appear out of nowhere to subdue world after defenseless world before slipping away just as effortlessly as they had arrived. At that point, there would be no stopping them.
So now, more than even before, Panur had to be stopped. No quarter given. The world they were approaching would be ravaged, blanketed with plasma bombs and every nuclear device Ranor had in his tiny fleet. The Humans would have more; they still valued such devices as weapons of war.
“My Lord, we are approaching the outer comet field of the Worak-nin system. Time to planet: three hours, standard.”
Ranor acknowledged the report with a nod. But then the Guard commander was approached by an underling. The two whispered between themselves.
“Is there additional to report?” the Overlord queried.
“There appears to be additional traffic in the region, more than was to be expected.”
“Anything beyond one Human starship would be more than expected. Explain yourself.”
“A formation of ships is arriving from out-system.”
