by Greg Mutton
As he walked around his ship, Aaron was amazed at the skill displayed by the Reglaon engineers. He was joined by Hallak who gave him a complete rundown on the repairs. Several systems had been upgraded. Because the drive system was now completely different, a short test flight was essential. The results were far better than Aaron had ever expected. Before, Junior had only a maximum displacement factor of 15; now that had been increased to 28. The weapons systems had also been tuned and augmented; Aaron was impressed by the amount of work they had carried out in such a short period of time.
On their return to the dock Aaron and Petra thanked the engineering team for their amazing workmanship; then made themselves comfortable while they waited for Tocmal to arrange the necessary clearances for departure. As usual with bureaucratic formalities the process took much longer than Tocmal had anticipated. His mood was foul when he finally returned with the clearance. He was clicking and buzzing so furiously that no one even needed to translate.
Shortly after the 17th period they finally cleared the dock and headed for the outer mark of the Reglaon exosphere, a full two hours later than planned. As soon as the mark was reached, Petra programmed the displacement drive and they slipped quietly into their worm hole. Six hours later they reached the optimum location and prepared to jump to the Eleventh Realm.
Aaron was operating the sensor console when he noticed something wasn’t right. ‘Wait, don’t do anything yet! Tocmal, can you have a look at this?’ Tocmal joined him and together they poured over the readings.
‘It makes no sense… the Mother Queen told them what would happen. To so blatantly ignore her is unacceptable. Mondrac, please verify A-Bra-Ham’s readings.’
Aaron switched the sensor to the Bubble, something Tocmal hadn’t seen previously. The Bubble formed and the sensor readings converted into a holographic image.
Mondrac shook his head and a great sadness seemed to descend upon him. ‘I confirm your readings… those are indeed Galdoran vessels’.
‘Petra, raise shields and power up the weap…’ Aaron started to say.
‘Wait, A-Bra-Ham!’ cried Tocmal. ‘They have not seen us yet. If we suddenly increase the energy output, they will! As good as this vessel is I do not desire to tackle four to prove it! I suggest a slow build up, that way they will not be alerted to our presence.’
Aaron nodded and the process of slowly bringing the weapons and shields on line began.
‘Also, there is something else you need to know.’ Tocmal moved away from the sensor console and over to comms. ‘We discovered something incredible when we gave your ship our resin cover. When it bonded with the Acrilan base a strange phenomenon occurred. We found that the molecular bond actually diffused any sensors and, more importantly, reflected and refracted light. The result is that at this level the ship is invisible to our sensors and yours, as well as being very hard to detect visually onscreen.
‘If those Galdoran scum perform sensor sweeps, they will see nothing. Slowly building our power will help keep us undetected. I think we should move closer and have a look at what they are hiding… see what that thing is.’ He pointed to a large, indistinct object in the Bubble, approximately 500,000 kilometres away.
The four ships were positioned to form a defensive line around it. While he was speaking, Tocmal was working at the comms console. Once he completed his task, he looked up. ‘There, I have sent a short message to Reglaos, giving them the coordinates and disposition of our friends. It will take several hours before any assistance arrives, so we should be careful.’
Junior continued its advance, slowly increasing power to the weapons systems. Their goal was to discover what these four ships were protecting as they crept nearer, trusting their new capabilities would cover their sneaky approach. Their track was taking them closer to one of the sentry ships, passing within 20,000 kilometres of it. Their momentum had reached 50,000 KPH and Tocmal indicated that this should be enough. Petra reduced power to the drive and Junior now coasted towards their goal with Aaron keeping a discrete distance, weapons locked on the Galdoran vessel.
‘I’m getting some weird readings from that structure… massive radiation leakage from something.’ They crept closer still, the Galdoran sentry now falling behind.
‘A-Bra-Ham, what is the range of your visual scanner?’ Mondrac asked.
‘Good point, we should be able to get a reasonable look at this thing now.’
The view screen changed, beginning to focus on the point in space that the sensors indicated. The image was still slightly fuzzy as Aaron worked to enhance it. Then it appeared clearly on the screen.
‘What the!!…’
They were all staring at the large image before them.
It was a huge ring hanging in space. Part of it seemed to have been torn, or blown off, by some cataclysmic event, leaving less than half of it intact, but that was enough for him to identify it.
Suddenly an alarm started to scream; Aaron worked furiously at the sensor console.
‘Petra… all stop!’
She immediately complied and the ship decelerated to a standstill.
Aaron kept working at the console, ‘Bullshit,’ he exclaimed, ‘this can’t be right!’
‘What can’t be right?’ Petra asked.
‘The radiation…it’s Trisidic.’ He looked to both Tocmal and Mondrac, ‘Does anyone here use Trisidium as a power source?’
They both shook their heads and Mondrac replied, ‘No-one, A-Bra-Ham. We know all too well the dangers of that mineral. It is banned throughout the inner realms.’
‘We need to get out of here, the radiation level is increasing. Whatever happened here was massive. Petra, reverse course… now!’
Petra started to comply when Tocmal pointed to the Bubble. The main sensor feed was still directed to it and showed that two of the four sentry ships had left their posts and were heading toward Junior’s position. ‘Mondrac, can we jump here?’ she asked.
‘No, the optimum point is where that structure is… we need to go to the alternative.’ He consulted the nav system and sent the coordinates to Petra. ‘Unfortunately, that is where we must go.’
‘Crap,’ Petra swore under her breath. ‘That means we need to pass the sentry ships again.’
‘I do not believe they have detected us as yet… study their course,’ Tocmal said as he watched the Bubble. ‘A-Bra-Ham, can you enhance this sector?’ Aaron switched the scale of the Bubble. Now it displayed a much smaller range, giving them very good tracking of the sentry ships’ course.
‘Track them… but we can’t leave.’ Aaron began prepping a drone. ‘We need to get a closer look at that thing.’
‘Aaron, fire that probe and they’ll know where we are,’ Tocmal warned.
‘I know, but we have to,’ he replied as he launched the drone. ‘Petra… manual control… show us some of the fancy flying Kate saw. Mondrac, please man the sensor console and record all the data from the probe.’ Aaron was now in the command chair. ‘Petra, just keep flying… I’ll take a shot when I can. They’ll still be firing blind… the only time they’ll get a bead on us is when we fire.’
‘The other two have changed course,’ Tocmal added.
‘OK, time to even the odds. Petra new course, two-one-zero by one-one-seven… now!’
Petra threw the ship onto the new heading.
‘Increase power two thirds.’
Again Petra complied, Junior responded instantly, her speed increasing rapidly.
‘New course, two-two-five by zero-nine-zero.’
Again the small craft responded and as it assumed its new heading, Aaron fired two torpedos at the nearest sentry ship. Without waiting to see the result, Aaron called, ‘New course one-four-zero by one-one-four, power back to one third.’ Petra swung Junior to the new heading, reducing power at the same time.
Aaron fired another two torpedos at the second ship. Junior suddenly shuddered violently. ‘Looks like they found us… no damage, the absorption screen took the blow
.’ Aaron called. ‘Petra, give me control, I need you on the engineering station.’ She switched all ship control from the pilot chair to command, leaping to the engineering console a she did so.
Much better Aaron thought as he started to fly Junior. There were now only three ships searching for them, the only indication of the first sentry ship was a dissipating ball of energy. ‘Well, we got one, Mondrac. How’s the data coming?’
‘I am recording everything, but the drone is experiencing difficulties.’
“I thought it might… too much radiation. Tell me when it fails completely, and we’ll bug out.’ As he spoke, Aaron threw Junior into a very tight climbing turn to the left, dropping power to almost zero. Two enemy torpedos flew over Junior, barely missing her; Aaron despatched these with the lateral blasters. That gave the Galdorans another clue to their location. Two ships fired as one and Junior was slammed off course, spinning out of control.
Aaron fought the controls, desperate to regain command of his ship, alarms screamed and the main view screen blacked out. Petra’s hands flew over the engineering console, interrogating alarms and re-initialising systems. Slowly Junior started to respond.
‘Nasty bastards, let’s see if you like this!’ He threw the ship into a new heading, firing all four forward torpedos. The new course quickly brought his rear tubes to bear and again opened fire.
The Galdoran sentry ships tried desperately to dodge the torpedos, but this gave Aaron the chance he wanted. His forward disruptor bank was fully charged and he fired it as the first sentry zigged away from the torpedos. Big mistake… the blast from the disruptor slammed into the target tearing a huge portion of the hull away.
‘Two down… now things are a bit more even,’ Aaron yelled.
‘A-Bra-Ham, the drone has ceased operation,’ Mondrac’s voice, boomed over the bridge.
‘OK, let’s get out of here. Petra, what’s our status?’
“All systems green. Disruptors and blasters at full capacity but we only have six torpedos left.’ As she spoke, the Bubble flashed again, indicating that the third Galdoran ship had become another victim of the torpedos.
‘Only one left,’ Aaron mused as he searched for the last vessel. He found it, racing away at maximum acceleration. ‘Number one, take the con and set course for our next insertion point.’
Petra left the engineering console and resumed control of the ship. She changed course, brought Junior to the new heading and increased power to maximum cruise. Aaron was now at Mondrac’s side, pouring over the data the drone had sent back. He fed the data into the computer and started a modelling program.
‘This’ll take a while, but it should give us a good idea of what that was.’ He turned to Tocmal, ‘My friend, what you have done to my ship it’s amazing. They had no true indication of where we were; and the disruptors… they were at least twice as effective. What did your engineers do?’
‘Their job A-Bra-Ham, just their job.’
‘Well, they did a fantastic job. Thank you.’ Aaron replied, gratefully.
‘I have just sent another message to Reglaos notifying them of what we found; the radiation will be an issue for everyone. I think we can assume that structure was the source of the devastation caused to our planet. Damn the Galdorans!’ Tocmal was very angry; his eyes were beginning to glow again.
Fifteen minutes later, Junior reached the alternate insertion point for the jump to the Eleventh Realm. Petra initiated the drive, programmed the coordinates and they jumped out of the Tenth Realm.
***
The transit between the two realms would take an hour, the computer was still crunching data and, for the moment, there was little else to do. Aaron and Petra completed their check of the ship and found no damage, other than some loosely stored items that had now been flung around in various spaces.
They stopped at the lounge, brewed both coffee and tea before returning with these to the bridge. Mondrac and Tocmal were grateful for the refreshment and all sat, deep in their own thoughts while they drank.
The silence was broken by the chime from the computer, signalling that the modelling program had finished. Aaron moved the few steps to the console. He stood there, rigid, looking at what the system had compiled, disbelief showing in his expression.
‘This is not possible,’ he grumbled as he interrogated the system further. ‘It can’t be!’’ He continued to work the keyboard, trying to find an answer.
‘What’s up?’ Petra asked as she reached his side.
“Look at it… the simulation must be wrong… it just can’t be here.’
Petra watched as he kept working, Mondrac and Tocmal now standing with her. Aaron used the program to compare the model it had generated with any known objects in the data base. Petra checked the timer; they still had half an hour till reinsertion.
The computer chimed again. Aaron looked at the screen, shaking his head. ‘It must be wrong, there’s no other explanation.’
“A-Bra-Ham, what is troubling you?’ Tocmal asked.
‘The results from the data we collected.’ He transferred the images to the main screen. ‘This is what we saw, plus the additional data from the drone.’ An image of the severely damaged structure now appeared on the screen; Aaron worked his pad again, sending new commands to the computer. ‘This is the simulation the modelling program came up with. It has taken the data and recompiled it into what is the most probable object.’
The next image showed a completely circular construction, 3,000 metres in diameter. Attached to it were a number of other objects of varying sizes. The outer ring was solid, but inside this was a translucent ring and in the centre, nothing. It was a 2,500 metre hole.
‘Aaron, are you sure the data is correct?’ Petra asked.
Aaron nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve checked it three times. My friends what you are looking at is an old exodus gate, or something very much like it. What it’s doing here is anybody’s guess… it’s beyond me.’
Mondrac stood staring at the screen. ‘A-Bra-Ham what is the function of the structure?’
‘Back when we started to leave Earth, we used the gates to generate and focus a worm hole. In those days, our computing systems weren’t good enough to build a ship with displacement drive. The gates were used for a long time, until we perfected the bio/chemical systems. I just don’t understand… there is no need for it to be here. You have always had bio computers… you didn’t need things like this.’
‘Not for normal travel.’ Mondrac turned back to the group. ‘But consider this: to traverse the Eleventh is a very complex task, full of problematic areas. Even we Eldorans cannot move through the realms without traversing each… we cannot jump past a realm. But, what would happen if you had these “gates”, as you call them, one here and one in your realm, focused on each other. What would that do?’
Aaron saw where his thoughts were going and, although he didn’t like the possibility, he had a cold feeling in his gut that Mondrac was right. He set to work again with the modelling software. This time he delved deep into the navigation data the Eldorans had placed in his system. Finally he stood back.
‘Now we let it do its job. If I’m correct, the scenario should show where the sister unit will be located in the Twelfth.’
As they stood waiting, the reinsertion alarm sounded and Junior rematerialized in the Eleventh Realm. Petra activated the Eldoran navigation system and the ship changed course. While technically they could jump into the next realm now, it would result in them re-entering nowhere near where they needed to be. It was essential they navigate through this realm till they reached the optimum point to jump, and that was going to take nearly twenty hours.
The computer finished its work and Aaron sent the results to the main screen. Each gate constructed was unique; slight differences in design; small variances in construction — a myriad of things that made them all different.
The program identified this one as EG 132, currently designated as ‘functional but not operational’. It was
supposed to be in the Dogra system, attached to the Cordova Corporation for transporting the minerals being mined there. The information showed that the operation had ceased twenty years previously and the gate was put into care and maintenance.
‘This makes no sense. How did it get here?’ Aaron asked.
Mondrac replied, ‘A-Bra-Ham, if I may use your computer I may be able to devise a workable hypothesis. It will take time, so I suggest you and Man-Nix retire. Tocmal can monitor the ship while I work. We will wake you if anything changes.’
Aaron looked over to Petra. She did look tired and he too was feeling the effects of the last few days, but he still didn’t want to leave.
Petra solved his crisis. ‘Aaron, we still have eighteen hours before we jump for the Twelfth… the ship is on an automatic flight plan, so there is very little we can do. Let Mondrac work… we both need to rest.’ She was right, but he still didn’t like it.
‘OK, we’ll take a few hours… call me if anything changes,’ he said as they left the bridge.
Aaron’s quarters were very well appointed, as was the rest of the ship. They consisted of a lounge area, a dining area, bedroom, bathroom and a kitchen.
‘First a shower…then a meal and then bed,’ Petra groaned as she walked through the room.
‘You can have a shower, but I am hanging for a long soak.’
‘You have a tub?’
Aaron smiled as he opened the bathroom door. ‘You could call it that.’ He reached to a panel on the wall, entered a code and part of the floor started moving.
Petra moved past him and there before her eyes was a spa, large enough to hold two people. She turned and gave him an evil smile. ‘I bet this could tell some stories if it could talk.’
Aaron walked past her with a smirk, opened the control console and started filling the tub.
‘I can’t believe this! What about the water?’ Water, the most precious and essential commodity on a space ship was never wasted. To use so much to take a bath seemed extremely decadent, to her. ‘I’ve never heard of anything like this on any other ship. And you have one on your yacht?’
