The Search for Gram

by Chris Kennedy

  Steropes took up the story. “So, having ruled out what it wasn’t, we tried to determine the nature of the weapon to figure out what it was. What could cause a clean cut like we saw in the engine room? We ruled out explosives; they would have left the metal jagged, not smooth. Similarly, it couldn’t have been some sort of laser weapon, or the damage would have penetrated further into the ship and not been localized to a single spot. The weapon appears to have affected a spherical area; if you were within that area, you disappeared. If you were outside the area, you weren’t affected.”

  “So what the hell can do that?” asked Captain Sheppard.

  “Nothing we know of,” replied Steropes, “and if the engine room strike was all the evidence we had on the weapon’s performance, we would probably never have figured it out. However, we also had the effects of the weapon that hit Asp 01 to analyze, and that gave us the clues we needed.”

  “Well, how about telling us, then,” said Calvin. “I have no idea what happened, and I was there. I thought I was dead.”

  “Had it been a conventional warhead, you most certainly would have been,” agreed Steropes. “Even if it were just a solid piece of metal, you would have died from the impact. It was neither of those things, though; instead, it was a time bomb.”

  “A time bomb?” asked Captain Sheppard. “What the hell do you mean?”

  “I mean that when the weapon detonated, its effect was to send everything within its vicinity back to where it had been about 10 seconds prior; however, everything was thrown 10 seconds into the future from when the torpedo activated.”

  “I see why you said we wouldn’t believe it,” replied Sheppard. “A bomb that sends things back to where they were 10 seconds prior, but then into the future? I don’t see how that is possible.”

  “It’s actually about 10.37 seconds in both directions,” said Steropes. “The effect is impossible to measure more precisely than that.”

  Lieutenant Bradford took over. “We didn’t believe it, either, and would never have figured it out if we didn’t have the data from the weapon that struck Calv…I mean, Lieutenant Commander Hobb’s fighter.”

  “It does not seem possible, but the data indicates that when Lieutenant Commander Hobbs’ fighter detonated the weapon, the ship went back to where it was 10.37 seconds prior, although the fighter didn’t appear there until 10.37 seconds after the weapon detonated. Once we came up with the idea that the weapon generated some sort of time distortion, I looked back at where we were when the first weapon hit us, and then extrapolated back 10.37 seconds along our route of travel. There was a debris field there of the same mass as is currently missing from the Vella Gulf, along with the mass of the two fighters that were caught in the weapon’s area of effect. Despite the impossibility of its existence, I am all but certain the Vella Gulf and Lieutenant Commander Hobbs’ fighter were both hit by some sort of time bomb.”

  “If I survived the weapon, maybe the crews of Asps 11 and 12 did too,” exclaimed Calvin. “We’ve got to go back and get them!”

  “Even if the Jotunn allowed us to return,” said Lieutenant Bradford, “which doesn’t appear likely, I’m sorry, but there is no need. Both of the ships were cut in half by the weapon, right at the center of the cockpit; I’m positive both crews were also cut in half.”

  “So what you are saying,” said Captain Nightsong, “is there is no explosive, at all, on the weapon? It just creates a bubble wherein everything goes back in time 10 seconds?”

  “That it correct,” agreed Steropes. “It would not be an efficient weapon to use on small targets, like fighters, that would be completely caught in its field. But for destroyer-sized or larger spaceships–”

  “–its effect is fairly devastating,” finished Lieutenant Bradford, “as it takes a bite out of the ship nearly 300 feet in diameter. If the ship or target is moving, like it would be if it was in combat, the resulting hole will be open to space.”

  “Okay, say for a minute that I buy the fact their weapon is some kind of time bomb,” said Captain Sheppard. “How were they able to avoid our missiles? How were their ship and weapons able to disappear when our missiles should have hit them?”

  “Unfortunately, that is something I don’t have any information on,” replied Steropes. “It wasn’t a cloaking effect; that much we know. I analyzed the video from our fighters, and I can categorically state that their missiles went right through where the ship should have been. If it were only cloaked, the missiles would still have hit it.”

  “So what was it?”

  “I don’t know,” said Steropes. “I have only seen one other being able to disappear in the middle of a fight. It was a couple of missions ago when we fought the–”

  “Efreet,” said Calvin and Captain Nightsong simultaneously.

  Chapter 8

  CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, 14 Herculis System, June 15, 2021

  “Efreet?” asked Captain Sheppard. “You mean, like the ones you fought with Quetzalcoatl?”

  “Exactly,” replied Steropes. “The platoon fought them on Keppler 22 ‘b.’ They also appeared to shift in and out of our reality, although we were never able to determine where they went when they disappeared.”

  “You have fought the Efreet?” asked Captain Nightsong, his voice full of disbelief. “And you survived?”

  “Yes,” replied Calvin. “We fought them once, and they were very hard to kill. They kept disappearing when we tried to hit them.”

  “That is to be expected,” said Captain Nightsong; “they are not of our universe.”

  “Not of our universe?” asked Captain Sheppard. “What does that mean?”

  “Remember when I told you about Wayland and Beowulf? I only told you part of the story; I have never told the rest, not even to the Aesir, because I knew they would think I was crazy. If you have fought them, though, you may believe my story. The Efreet are a race of beings who live in a different universe that is parallel to ours, called the Jinn Universe. Unfortunately for life forms in our universe, many of the races in the Jinn Universe draw energy from creatures here, so they tend to congregate where life exists. As they draw most strongly from the psychic energy of sentient beings, most of the stronger types of Jinn live on planets that are the counterparts of inhabited planets in our universe. Some exist on the energy released at death, so cemeteries are also a common place to find them. As the energy released at death is random and chaotic, the cemetery Jinn also tend to be more chaotic in nature and are usually quite evil.”

  “I believe it,” said Calvin. “Our experience seems to support that. My only question is, how do you know that?”

  “I learned it from Wayland, who had more knowledge of them than anyone else I know. Remember Grendel and Grendel’s mother? Both were Shaitans, members of the Jinn Universe’s most powerful race. That is why they were so hard to kill. If you have fought them, then you can imagine how hard they would have been to fight at that time in your history. None of the warriors could hit them, and the monsters had free reign of the countryside.”

  Captain Nightsong paused, and then said, “In order to answer your question fully, I have to give you a little more information on Wayland, including some things you will not hear from any other Aesir. When he first came to your planet, he lived in the center of your largest land mass, and he was part of the court of a man named King Solomon. There was near-constant warfare in that area, which made it easy for him to find minor heroes for his experiments. While he was there, a number of Efreet came through from the universe in which they lived.”

  “How do you know the Efreet aren’t from our universe?” Captain Sheppard interrupted; “maybe they are just from another part of our universe, a long way away.”

  “All the evidence points to a parallel universe,” replied Captain Nightsong, “with planets in the same place as the ones in this universe; however, the conditions on those planets are sometimes very different. According to Wayland, their prisons use some sort of energy field that
somehow brings the two universes closer together and makes it easier for the Jinn to cross over from their universe to ours. Even though the Jinn can cross over, they still have to return to their universe periodically, or they will die.”

  “So, the crews of Asps 08 and 09 may still be alive...but trapped in the Jinn Universe, somewhere else, and unable to return?”

  “It is certainly possible that they were inadvertently transported with the alien vessel when it shifted back to its universe,” said Captain Nightsong. “If they then flew outside the range of the effect when the ship transported back into our universe, they would be trapped there, unable to cross back.”

  “We’ve got to get them back,” said Calvin. “How is this transport between universes accomplished?”

  “The Jinn have devices which allow them to move back and forth. It is usually in the shape of a small rod, but can sometimes be in the form of a ring. Both of these will transport two to three Jinn at a time. While Wayland was at the court of King Solomon, a high-ranking Efreeti named Asmodeus came over from the Jinn universe. Wayland was able to incapacitate Asmodeus and take his control ring. Knowing Solomon would grant him any number of favors for control of the Jinni, he gave the ring to Solomon.”

  “What did Solomon do with it?” asked Calvin.

  “The ring gave Solomon power over the Jinn. He would transport with Wayland, capture Jinn and bring them back to your world. They had to do what he said, or he would keep them on your planet until they died. Asmodeus ended up helping King Solomon understand much of the Jinn society. He wrote all this information down in a grimoire called the Lemegeton, or Lesser Key of Solomon, which contained the instructions for evoking the 72 Jinn he was able to capture and interrogate with the ring. That ring became known as the ‘Seal of Solomon.’”

  “Does it still exist?” asked Calvin. “Who has the ring now?”

  “No,” replied Captain Nightsong. “The ring was later lost when Asmodeus tricked Solomon into giving it to him, and Asmodeus threw it into the sea…but only after going back to his universe to get one of the Efreeti control rods, which he used to escape.”

  Calvin had seen Steropes use a ring which appeared to have power over two Jinn. He looked at the Psiclopes and raised an eyebrow, but Steropes shook his head, indicating he didn’t want to discuss it.

  Captain Nightsong didn’t see the glance and continued, “Wayland killed seven of the Jinn to infuse their spirits into swords he made especially for that purpose, hoping to create swords of great power.”

  “You’ve mentioned that before,” said Calvin. “How exactly did he capture a life essence and infuse it into a sword? Is this some sort of magic?”

  “There’s no magic involved,” replied Captain Nightsong; “it’s science. You are aware, of course, that there is an animating force inside every living being, correct? If you look into someone’s eyes as he or she dies, you can see the light go out of them. That is the spirit leaving the body. We have long known this happens; Wayland figured out a way to use magnetic containment to trap these spirits and then infuse them into a sword. He felt that by doing this, you could use the knowledge the spirits gained in life to help a sword-wielder fight better.”

  “Did it work?” asked Captain Sheppard.

  “I don’t know,” replied Captain Nightsong. “He said it did, but the infused spirit had to be of the same moral outlook as the sword wielder. That is why he tried to capture a variety of Jinn. It was, of course, illegal and immoral to bind a soul against its wishes, so I never used any of the swords and wouldn’t know whether it was true or not. For that matter, I do not know if he actually succeeded in doing so…although he claimed he did.”

  “Well, even if we had the ring or any of these swords,” Calvin said, “I don’t see how they would help us. We need something which will help us fight Jinn weapons and Jinn ships that can phase in and out of our universe. We need to figure out how to cross over and get my men back. And most importantly, we need to figure it out quickly, before we have to fight them again.” He stopped suddenly as an idea came to him. “You know what? I think I may know a couple of individuals who can help us.”

  “Who are they?” asked Captain Sheppard.

  “Some old friends of ours,” said Calvin. “They’re on Keppler-22 ‘b.’”

  “I’m unfamiliar with that planet,” said Captain Nightsong. “Who are these friends, and why do you think they’ll be able to help us?”

  Calvin smiled. “Their names are Sella and Trella,” he said; “they’re Jinn.”

  Asp 08, Unknown System, June 14, 2021

  The stars seemed to flash and jump as Lieutenant Pete ‘Rock’ Ayre pulled out of his firing run on the alien ship. “What the hell?” he asked. “Are we hit? My implants just died.”

  “I don’t know what happened,” replied his WSO, Lieutenant Dan ‘K-Mart’ Knaus, “but it isn’t your implants. It’s the network; the entire implant network just went down. Mine are out too. I don’t think we were hit, but the ship we were fighting must have exploded. It’s gone.”

  “I don’t know,” said Rock. “It kept disappearing; maybe it just did that again. We’ll set up a position here so we can pounce on it when it shows back up.”

  The radio came to life with a call. “Asp 08 this is Asp 09,” said its WSO, Lieutenant Mark ‘Chomper’ Melanson. “We’ve lost comms with the Gulf. Can you contact them?”

  “Stand by,” replied K-Mart. He tried several times with the faster-than-light communications system, but was unable to raise the ship. “That’s negative, 09, we don’t have comms with Mom either.” As the fighters were based on the Vella Gulf, it was their mother ship, or “Mom” for short.

  “They wouldn’t have gated out without us, would they?” asked Chomper, who was new to the squadron.

  “I don’t think so,” replied K-Mart. “Besides, the Gulf was hours from the stargate. They wouldn’t have made it to the gate yet. Stand by.”

  “This is strange,” said K-Mart. “The Vella Gulf wouldn’t have left without us. They wouldn’t. And even if they had to gate out, they would have at least said something.”

  “Do you think they were destroyed?” asked Rock.

  “No, I don’t think they were destroyed. The alien ship fired another one of those torpedo things, but I doubt the torpedo would have completely destroyed it. I can’t find the Gulf on any of my systems. Not radar, not radio, not even on the identification, friend or foe (IFF) system. Nothing. It’s as if they don’t exist anymore.”

  “What about the giants?” asked Rock. “Maybe they had a cloaked ship that appeared and destroyed the Gulf while we were fighting the alien ship.”

  “Maybe…” replied K-Mart, his voice betraying his skepticism. “Just a second; let me look and see what the Jotunn are doing.” He looked down at his instrumentation and changed the settings on his systems. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t find the giant ship…or anything else that had been in the system before the battle.

  “Oh…fuck,” he said as the realization hit him.

  “I don’t like the way you say that,” said Rock, with a tinge of concern in his voice. K-Mart was one of the few sailors he knew who didn’t curse like, well, like a sailor. To hear him swear was unusual; for him to drop an F-bomb meant something was really, really wrong. “What? Are the giants heading our way?”

  “No, they’re not. In fact, I can’t find them either.”

  “Do you suppose they cloaked? I didn’t know they could cloak a ship that big. Maybe they’re behind a planet or something?”

  “No, I don’t think that’s it.”

  “Well, where did they go then?”

  K-Mart turned in his seat so he could meet Rock’s eyes. “Remember how the alien ship kept disappearing, and we didn’t know where it went?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Remember how everything flashed while we were attacking the alien ship before it disappeared?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I think we got caug
ht up in whatever gadget or effect the ship used to disappear. Then, when it jumped back to our system, we were too far away to get caught in the effect again.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” asked Rock.

  “It means that if you want to know where the alien ship went when it disappeared, look around. Go ahead and get used to it too. Not only are we in some new star system, or universe, or something, we’ve got no way of going back home again!”

  Chapter 9

  Squadron CO’s Office, TSS Vella Gulf, 14 Herculis System, June 15, 2021

  “Okay, Steropes, give,” said Calvin. “What do you know that you aren’t telling?”

  Steropes looked uncomfortable. “I misunderstood the nature and purpose of the ring. I had heard the stories of King Solomon and thought the ring gave you power over the Jinn; that if you had the ring, you could make them do what you wanted. I guess you can, but only under certain circumstances. Hmmm…that is why it didn’t work on Keppler-22 ‘b.’”

  “Yeah, I understand that,” replied Calvin, “but that isn’t what you were worried about. Why did you really not want me to tell Captain Nightsong you had the ring?”

  “I don’t know,” replied Steropes. “I thought I had the Seal of Solomon, but now I wonder if it’s something different. Until I figure out what I have, I thought it was probably better if we kept it quiet.”

  “So you don’t know if you can go to the Jinn universe?” asked Calvin. “You never went there?”

  Steropes shook his head. “All the information I had only said the ring was used to control Jinn. It didn’t say how it worked or that there was another universe. I thought you only had to put it on your finger for it to work. When I fought Quetzalcoatl on Earth, he had one of the rings. He would command his two Efreet to do things, and they would go and do them.”

  “I wonder…”

  “What?”

  “I was wondering how they get their ship to cross over,” said Calvin. “If they have some sort of giant ring or rod they use. Why haven’t we seen them before? Why here? Why now?”