S prig and Twig were in the library absorbing material from Sten’s world about how the Kosiev came into existence. When they had finished Twig thought, “I don’t see any way to replicate her hull; do you?”
Sprig thought back, “No, I don’t.”
Twig thought a moment and then thought to Sprig, “I have been considering the suggestion that Tommy made to us about absorbing each other.”
“So have I.”
“I do not want to die but this is a chance to significantly increase our learning. We are expendable; that’s why we are made like we are. We take dangerous risks because we are driven by our hunger for knowledge. I think that if we had not downloaded so much we might be forced to do what he asked.”
“I have come to the same conclusion,” Sprig thought. “I do not feel pressured to do it but I can’t help but feel that we should to help our new friends. I cannot answer for you but I am willing to take the risk and if I lose myself or die, then at least I do so learning.”
Twig looked at Sprig and felt admiration for his bravery. She did not want to lose him; he had become more than just a seed. She made her decision, “We will do it. If one of us survives, then the human’s chances are better than with both of us at our current level of learning.”
“Are you sure?”
Twig looked at Sprig and entered his mind. Sprig entered Twig’s mind and just before they began absorbing each other’s knowledge Sprig gave Twig a mental embrace, “Good luck, Twig.” Twig saw deeply into Sprigs inner thoughts and said, “I didn’t know you felt like this about me.” Sprig felt embarrassed and then they started. Twig still feeling Sprig’s embrace, began absorbing all that was Sprig into her learning center.
Cassandra thought, “Tommy, meet me in the library. Something is happening to the adolescents.”
Tommy jumped up from the control board he was learning and ran to the library. He entered the room and found Cassandra and Wes standing next to the Algeans that were standing in the middle of the room with their limbs intertwined. Cassandra said, “Wes missed seeing Sprig yesterday and when he didn’t see him today he came here looking for him.”
“They were both standing still like this. They are not attached to their readers so they can’t be learning.” Wes looked extremely concerned. Since the bad beginning, Wes and Sprig had become good friends.
Tommy looked into the minds of the Algeans and quickly withdrew. “They are doing what I suggested. They are absorbing each other.”
Cassandra said, “Didn’t they say that it was dangerous for them to do that?”
Tommy looked at Cassandra and Wes and said, “Yes they did. I just looked in their mind and the transfer rate and it is enormous. I had to get out.”
Wes looked at his friend and said, “What are you going to do?”
Tommy shook his head and said, “We must allow the process to complete. I feel that if we interrupt them then we will do them great harm. We have to wait.”
Cassandra walked up to the two Algeans and then she had a thought, “Tommy, do you remember that Sprig and Twig both said that while we were touching each other…”
“They found they could process their information much more effectively,” Tommy completed. “We cannot touch each other for long.” Cassandra walked up to Tommy and put her arms around his neck ignoring the shock and kissed him hard.”
Wes watched the Algean adolescents grow to their full height and start swaying gently back and forth. “Ok you two, back off.”
Tommy and Cassandra reluctantly stepped back and saw the adolescents swaying. Cassandra said, “This must be a good sign. Let’s wait for them to complete whatever it is they are doing.”
Wes said, “Permission to stay, Captain.”
Cassandra looked at her sensor officer and thought about how far Wes’ relationship with Sprig had come. Cassandra keyed her com and said, “Lt. Ortiz.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“I’m placing Lt. McAnn on a temporary assignment. Please assign a replacement until further notice.” Cassandra said to Wes, “Let me know if anything changes.”
Wes sat down on the floor in front of the two Algeans and said, “Yes Sir.”
Five days later, an exhausted Wes and Linda Kay were sitting in front of the Adolescents. Linda Kay had brought Wes a dinner because he refused to leave his friend. Linda Kay sat next to her husband and laid her head on his shoulder. Wes tilted his head against her and said, “Thank you for being patient with me; I love you.” Linda Kay closed her eyes and sighed feeling her happiness.
Then they heard behind them, “He should be thankful, you have to have a lot of patience to put up with him.”
Wes and Linda Kay jumped up and Sprig and Twig were leaning over looking at them. “Thank the creator you’re alright.”
Sprig said, “I’m not completely sure about that but we felt you here watching us. We thank you, Wes.”
Wes heard a lot that was not said in Sprigs thought. He said, “Me, too, Sprig.”
Tommy came running into the room with Cassandra not far behind. Tommy thought, “Hello you two. We’ve been worried about you coming out of your little project.”
Twig said, “It was close that we were going to lose ourselves but we received a strengthening of our psyche during the critical moment and it allowed us to keep our own identity.”
“What did you learn from the experience,” Wes asked?
The two Algeans were quiet and then Sprig said, “I think we have found a way to move Earths population quickly and safely.”
Tommy raised his eyebrows and said, “How are you going to do that?”
Twig said, “We need some time in Sten’s lab but we think we have found a way to teleport without using a screen.”
Tommy thought a moment and asked, “How will that help us?”
“Picture a doorway on the planet’s surface that when you step through a door you arrive on a planet on the other side of the galaxy. You could make the doorway wide enough that more than a thousand could walk through together.”
Cassandra said, “What you’re describing is that the population will not have to be transported in ships. They can drive their floater through the portal carrying all their belongings with them.”
Then Tommy saw it. “We can put a portal on a major highway and evacuate a major city through the portal.”
Sprig said, “I was thinking that every door on the planet could be set up for teleporting those that were in the room behind the door. Press a button and step through the door. You could evacuate the whole planet in less than an hour.”
“How would you convert a normal door to a teleporter?” Wes asked.
“If our ideas work, all you need do is place a mat on the door that is preset to a location on the target planet. Press a button and the mat activates. Then you step through. After five minutes the mat turns off and will not operate without someone on the other end turning it on. This would prevent the enemy following.
“Won’t they just read the coordinates of where they went?”
“There won’t be anything to read. They can’t be followed. Teleporting bypasses null space.”
Tommy asked, “Is it possible to teleport a moving ship?”
Sprig said, “That is what started us working on this. We believe we can project a field in front of the ship and teleport away. The field will disappear after the ship passes through.”
Twig added, “If we can go to the Kosiev and do some work of the front emitters, we might be able to trial it.”
“Then by all means go and work on it. The crew should be completing their training in four days and a shakedown cruise is needed to make sure everyone knows their assigned tasks,” Tommy said. “By the way, it’s good to have both of you back.”
“Thanks,” Sprig said as they rushed from the library to take a shuttle to the Kosiev.
“Atlas,” Tommy thought.
“Yes, Tommy.”
“Do you use teleportation is your drive systems?”
“No, I do not. I’m curious about what they’re talking about. All of my systems use travel through null space.”
Tommy looked at the door the Algeans had just left through and thought, “We’ll know shortly. I hope they came through the mental transfer ok and this is not a wasted effort.”
“There is a difference in them. They seem to know what the other is thinking before they say it. I don’t think this is going to be wasted effort.”
“We’ll see,” said Tommy.
The crew of the Kosiev was aboard ship preparing for their shakedown cruise. Cassandra was sitting in her command chair letting her mind roam the various systems of the ship feeling peace from the contact. The ship was feeling like a cat purring in her lap. The adolescents were in the nose of the giant ship connecting the device that they had built in Sten’s lab making sure all the connections were secure.
“Tommy!”
“What, Rose?”
“A giant red ship has just come out of star drive just outside the orbit of Jupiter. The ship is almost two thousand miles wide.”
“Rose, ground all ships and stop any in system traffic immediately. What is it doing?”
“It appears to be just firing a beam into Jupiter’s atmosphere.”
Tommy looked at Cassie and said, “We have no choice, I’m jumping into the Captor’s system immediately. If it causes a warning to all ships, perhaps that one will leave and go home to help defend the home world.”
“Tommy, you’ll be killed,” Rose wailed!
“I don’t know if we can out run them or not but if that ship turns its attention on Earth, it will totally destroy the planet.” Tommy keyed his command circuit on the Kosiev and said, “Battle stations, all hands to battle stations; this is not a drill.”
“What’s going on?” Cassandra asked.
“A Captor ship had just entered Earth’s solar system and is firing a beam into Jupiter’s atmosphere. I suspect it is taking readings but when it finishes it will probably turn its attention on Earth. Our shakedown cruise has just been canceled. We are jumping into the Captor’s home system close to the planet, fire a full salvo of penetrators at the Captor’s structure, and then jump away. I’ve entered the jump coordinates into your board, Cassie. We must divert that ships attention away from our solar system.”
Everyone on the bridge prepared for battle but felt the real fear of facing this enemy. Cassandra thought to Tommy, “We aren’t ready. We need more time.”
“That’s something we don’t have. Prepare to jump Captain Dodd.”
Cassie looked into Tommy’s eyes and was frightened that she was going to lose the love of her life in moments. If Tgon-Gee had been there he would have seen the aura around her expand outward faster than the eye could follow. Cassie keyed her command circuit and said, “Jump in fifteen seconds. Penetrator crews will launch their full inventory at the planet and we will jump out and start our escape. Jump in 5,4,3,2,1, execute.”
The Kosiev broke into normal space one thousand miles from the huge planet and launched four thousand of the short range high speed penetrators and then jumped away.”
The penetrators flew almost faster than the sensors could track but every one of them were exploded by beams from the constructs surface before they had flew three hundred miles. The construct looked like a huge explosion of red fire erupting from its surface as millions of Captor ships lifted off at high speed.
Rose watched the giant ship as it quit firing its beam at Jupiter and then begin moving in system. Suddenly, it blinked out of existence. “Tommy,” she thought, “the ship has vanished from our system. Get out of there.”
“Already on our way, Sis, but I think we have drawn a crowd.”
The Kosiev jumped out into the empty space between the Captor’s planet and the next star system. “Full speed ahead, Cassandra ordered.” The Kosiev jumped forward at an amazing speed in normal space. Right behind the Kosiev as it entered normal space thousands of Captor ships appeared. Wes announced, “Ships are jumping in around us and ahead of us. One is firing weapons.”
A giant red ship appeared next to the Kosiev and fired its main beam. The Kosiev absorbed the beam and continued running. “Jumping now,” Cassandra said over the ship intercom. The Kosiev disappeared and reappeared in normal space in a distance galaxy. Immediately the red ships began appearing around them again.
Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “I’m going to use my push on the Kosiev.” Cassandra nodded. Tommy focused and thought, “Move forward, now.”
The Captor ships were closing in on the strange white ship when suddenly it flew out from among them so fast that their sensors didn’t register it leaving. The First Male who was leading the attack was shocked. “Where did that ship go?” All the Captor ships saw was the energy trail of the strange white ship disappearing in the distance.
A warrior that had arrived behind the main group said, “An object just passed me in normal space traveling more than a thousand times the speed of light.”
The First Male said, “That is impossible. Show me the line they were on.”
The main group saw the line and jumped in front of where the strange ship should be if it was traveling at that speed. The Captor fleet arrived and the First Male watched his sensors as an object passed by him so fast that he had no time to do anything but watch it pass. “Get in front of that ship and block its line of travel,” the first male ordered. More than a million of the red ships jumped forward on the line of the escaping enemy.
Wes looked at his screen and said, “They’re jumping ahead of us into our line.”
Tommy thought, “Move upward.”
The Captor ships watched as the object approached their positions and then changed direction and move ninety degrees away from their position.”
Cassie keyed her com and said, “Sprig, Twig, if that device of yours works we need it now.”
“Captain, we have not done a field trial on it yet.”
“I don’t care, set it up now!”
The two Algeans looked at each other and began adjusting the front field emitter on the ship. The ship jumped once and continued its high speed run. After five minutes Twig announced, “Where do you want us to take the ship, if this works?”
Cassandra said, “Pick empty space between two galaxies far from here.”
Suddenly a giant red blurry sphere appeared on Wes’ sensors, “Brace for impact!’ he yelled over the speakers. There was a huge bump in the ship’s flight path and then Twig said, “Engaging device in 3,2,1, now!”
The Captor ships were doing everything possible to kill the strange ship but it was traveling too fast. Finally, the First Male saw one of his warriors jump directly in front of the speeding white ship. The strange ship flew right through the middle of the fifteen hundred mile wide warrior and left a hole more than three hundred miles wide. The warrior hung is space for three seconds and then exploded into millions of pieces. The strange ship then disappeared from his sensors. “All Warriors, where did the ship go?”
More than a thousand warriors gathered around the spot where the ship disappeared and the oldest warrior at the site said, “There is no reading for us to track. There is nothing that we can see that indicates they were here at all. The residue of their flight ends at this spot.”
The First Male looked at the trail of energy that the fleeing ship had left behind. The Captors could see that trail even through null space and that is what they used to track their enemies. The trail extended all the way back to the home world and ended here. This was impossible. If energy was used in the universe, they could see it if they had the signature of the ship that caused it. “Did anyone get a signature reading on that ship?”
Silence ruled. “All ships go back to the home world. I want layers of ships to the outer planets. Go now.” The giant red ships jumped back to their home world.”
The First Male said, “Mother, I am not going to allow you to leave until I am sure of your safety. We will prepare the new nest when I find that ship and eliminate it. It killed one of our warriors and I am not risking you.”
The Mother answered, “I will yield to your caution. However, my sister may not let me stay long.”
The First Male said, “She will allow it as long as we need it. We can always grow another sister; there is only one First Mother. We will begin our search immediately. Warriors of the blue, black, yellow, and orange cells, find that ship. Find it and direct us to it before you try to destroy it alone. Go now.”
Two million red ships jumped away in two million different directions. “That ship withstood two of our beams. Nothing has done that in two hundred million cycles. Did that ship come from another universe? Nothing I have seen in this one can do what that ship has just demonstrated.” Three of his brothers had died recently. This was not something that had ever happened before. “Scientists, please determine if this ship is from this universe or another.”
The section of the construct that housed the scientists began radiating a bright red glow into space. “I want some answers,” the First Male thought, “and I want them quickly.”
The Kosiev erupted into normal space and continued to fly at extreme speed. Wes watched his sensors and after two minutes said, “There are no enemy ships on my sensors.”
Tommy looked at Cassandra and saw her nod. He focused and thought, “Slow down,” and after a minute the ship entered normal space where light looked normal. “Stop,” he thought and the Kosiev stopped and hung in space.
“Rose, has the ship returned?”
“No, it has not. Tommy, we need the teleporting process to start moving Earth’s population.”
“Sprig, Twig, I need you to get your teleport device to Earth to begin moving population.”
Sprig thought, “We will just step through a screen right here on the Kosiev and take a working model of the device. We do need to take a reading of the floor in the Kosievs’ library in order to return.”
“Take your reading; we are not going to move for a while. Captain Dodd and I need to examine the readings we took in the Captor’s system so you should be able to come back here. We will try not to move while you are gone.”
“Duke Gardner, you may go wherever you choose. Once we read the floor, you can be going faster than the speed of light and we will be able to teleport right to that spot.”
Tommy and Cassandra were stunned. “Are you going to explain to us how this device works?”
“Certainly, when we return.”
Ensign Ahn said over the intercom, “One of the Algeans has returned from taking their readings. They just walked into a silver energy field and disappeared, Captain.”
Tommy said, “Well, that certainly wasn’t wasted effort.”
Gerald Nelson sat with the two adolescents in Wade McAllister’s lab going over the device that they had brought from the Kosiev. He was shaking his head and even Cade was confused about what the device did. “I don’t understand how this works. Can you possibly explain it in simpler terms?”
Sprig gave the equivalent of a mental sigh and said, “The math is more complicated than I can express to you and unfortunately your computers are not at a level where they can process the equations in less than four hundred years. We had to take a huge risk to be able to see it visually in our minds; however, I will attempt to explain what it does and forego the science behind it.” Gerald and Wade nodded and Sprig continued, “You are aware that every place in the universe has a resonance that is unique. We currently use a screen surrounding a ship that resonates at the frequency of the place we want to jump. Once the screen resonates at that frequency, the ship goes out of normal space through null space and reemerges at the location of the frequency the screen had matched. Are we together so far?”
Gerald said, “We understand that process.”
Twig then said, “What we discovered was that it wasn’t necessary to match that frequency to go to the desired location.”
The two scientists looked blank. Sprig then said, “We thought about instead of matching the frequency of the place you wanted to go, why not bring the place to you.”
The two Algeans watched the two humans and gave them time to process the information. After several minutes Gerald said, “So you take the frequency of the place just as if you were there using a reader to see it and form a field with that exact frequency at that place.”
“Exactly, and just like the frequency is not limited to light speed but exists in real time everywhere in the universe, once the field is established all you do is step through it and you’re there.”
“But the field is at the location where the reading is being taken, not where you are,” Wade said with a furrowed brow.
Twig said, “Of course, but once that field is made, it’s also everywhere else in the universe. It’s not just limited to the location of the frequency. Remember, the space that contains all of the universe’s location frequencies is smaller than the smallest atom. If it exists, it exists everywhere. So if the field is made somewhere other than the exact location, it still exists at the location of the frequency and everywhere else.”
“So, even if you make the field in another galaxy, the field with the desired location will exist at the exact location you want to go,” Gerald said with wide eyes.
The Algeans smiled mentally and Twig said, “Now you understand.”
Gerald continued, “So you don’t need null space because you don’t go through it; you go directly to the location of the field frequency.”
Cade looked at Gerald and said, “Do you understand this?”
Gerald nodded and continued to talk with the Algeans, “This is an advance that is amazing. You can literally step through your front door on Ross and go right to Glod, or anywhere else in the universe.” Gerald looked at Wade and said, “This is revolutionary. Have the two of you thought about turning this field horizontal and transporting cities to another planet?”
The Algeans looked puzzled for a moment and then they saw it, too. “No, we haven’t but you’re right. Create a big enough field and drop it over a city and it will go to another location.”
The Algeans looked at each other and it was like a bomb went off mentally. Sprig said, “Why limit it to a city. If we can move a city, why not move a planet?”
Cade looked at them and said, “Is that possible?”
The Algeans were not answering; they had locked their limbs together and were thinking furiously. Neither Gerald nor Cade could break into their attention.
The officers of the Kosiev were meeting in the Kosievs’ conference room after the escape from the Captors. Everyone was on edge expecting the Captors to jump in on them while they were away from their posts. Tommy and Cassandra entered the room and everyone jumped to attention. Tommy said, “At ease, and I do mean at ease. I can sense your nervousness but I can tell you that my sense of danger is telling me that they do not know where we are; that means that they did not get a reading on our ship. I’m forced to believe that if they did not get a reading of us when we came that close to their home world, then they probably can’t. However, they have demonstrated for me that once they see us, then their sensor systems can track us on whatever route we take to escape.” Tommy lowered the big display from the ceiling and said, “I’m going to replay the sensor records from our brush with the Captors and I want you to tell me what you see that might hold interest for us.” Tommy started the recording showing the huge planet surrounded by the construct that the red ships were parked on.
Wes’ said, “Stop the recording.” Tommy froze the picture of the planet. Wes said, “I’ve examined this picture very closely since the attack and I’ve seen some things that I want you to see if I’m wrong in what my conclusions are.” Wes took a laser pointer and said, “I want you to notice that every cell on this construct has a ship on it. I am going to assume that the other side of the planet looks just like this side. That means there is no room for any ships unless a ship leaves the construct.”
Everyone looked closely at the picture and finally Tommy said, “Ok, I agree. Does anyone else think differently?” No one disagreed.
Wes continued, “Now before we leave this picture, look up here at the top right of the construct. Wes pressed a button and the section he was indicating grew larger. Look at this ship right here.” The pointer rested on a ship that was significantly larger than the other ships around it. “That ship is four thousand miles in diameter and has a deep purple band around its center. I believe that this is the queen of this colony if they really are like bees. It looks like this colony is full.” Wes then moved the pointer to the lower corner and the view grew larger. Then everyone saw it; in a small cell was a small ship with a purple band around the center. “I have scanned this picture with the computer and these are the only two ships in the picture with purple bands. If these creatures are like bees, there can only be one queen in a hive. One of these will have to leave and probably soon.”
Everyone looked at the photo and felt the fear of what that meant. Wes then said, “I want you to pay close attention to what happened when the ships detected us and left the planet. I’m going to play it at normal speed and then I’ll slow it down.” The recording started and the planet looked like it exploded with a red wave exploding upward. Wes said, “Now I’m going to slow it down to super slow motion. I want you to pay attention to the location of the two queens.” The recording began and once again the officers saw the giant red ships explode off the construct but now at slow motion they could see thousands of the red ships move over the top of the two queens and form a wall around them. At normal speed with millions of ships lifting it was not possible to see the move to protect the two queens. The recording ended as the Kosiev jumped away.
Tommy took a deep breath and said, “I must agree with Wes; that is another queen on the construct and her small size seems to indicate she’s rather young. We need to take this into account as we make our plans. I think we also have determined that the Captors are looking at Earth’s solar system as a new nest. What do we now know after our first contact with these captors?”
John Ortiz said, “We know we can survive their beams.”
Janet Jackson said, “We are faster than they are.”
James Roswell said, “We know we can kill them if we hit them with our ship.”
Wes said, “We were only hit by one beam at a time. We don’t know if we will survive more than one. We are faster than they are in normal space but we could not escape them without using the adolescent’s device. We were traveling more than one thousand times the speed of light when we hit that ship. It’s hard to aim at a target at that speed. We don’t know what would happen at normal speed. We do not possess a weapon that would be effective against them.”
Cassandra said, “We still don’t know enough.”
Wes said, “I recorded one other thing.” Everyone looked at him, “I had my sensors set to look for one of those nerve centers that the adolescents talked about. My sensors showed one out about three hundred thousand miles from the planet. I took a quick picture before we left. Here it is.” A picture of a bright blue light with a huge red ship holding station more than five thousand miles away. “I believe that what we see here is the very thing the Adolescents described. This is where the Captors get their universal sensors. Notice that the Captor ship is away from the nerve center because of the heat. I’m not certain that we could have avoided them if they had access to that center.”
Tommy said, “More good news.”
Cassandra said, “There is something else. I have developed a feel for the Kosiev and I sense something that might be important.” Tommy looked at her and nodded to go ahead. “It is my understanding that when this skin was formed on the Kosiev that it was due to eight small black holes falling from the burned out reactors that were blown into the power cells by multiple anti-matter hits. I sense that inside the Kosievs’ skin that those black holes have formed into one black hole that is now larger than the one at the center of our galaxy.”
Tommy said, “What are you saying?”
Cassandra said, “It’s still growing and I sense that this black hole is made of negative matter. I don’t know how this works but I know what I sense is accurate. I believe that the Captors can’t hurt us with an energy beam but I don’t know what other weapons they have to use.”
Tommy shook his head and said, “We need to find something to use against them. Rose has contacted me and she senses trouble for Earth and I’m getting the same sensation. We have to keep pressure on the Captors to keep them from swarming and buy some time to move our population. Ensign Ahn, did the adolescents show you how to use their device?”
“Yes sir, they did.”
“We have got to go back to their world and make another attack. Even if our weapons do not affect them, we must maintain their attention. I want you to set their device to teleport us in to their system then change the setting to bring us back to this place. I’m hoping that they can’t track us using our new device.”
Cassandra said, “Prepare for jump in two hours. Reload the penetrators and plan to fire a full salvo from a range of 300 yards from the construct’s surface. We will then run through normal space and see if they can stop us; any questions? No; report to your posts.”
Cassandra keyed her com and announced, “Battle stations, all hands to battle stations; we will be jumping back into the Captor’s system in two hours. Make sure your stations are ready.”
The twelve hundred crew members of the Kosiev ran to their stations and began preparing for the jump. Tommy and Cassandra stayed in the conference room. “Cassie, my sense of danger to Earth has jumped tremendously. I want all of our penetrators targeted toward that new queen. I don’t expect us to break through their screens but we must make an effort.”
“Tommy, surprise was on our side last time; I suspect they will be waiting for us.”
Tommy shook his head and said, “Let us hope the Kosievs’ skin can handle the hits. I wish you were somewhere else, Cassie. I can’t bear the pain of losing you if we don’t make it.”
“Tommy, I wouldn’t want to make it if you were not with me. We are exactly where we should be.” She stood and kissed him and left to prepare the ship.
Tommy thought, “Atlas, if we don’t make it, don’t give up; we haven’t even tried to hit the matrix holding your brothers but I have not forgotten them.”
“Perhaps it’s better that you haven’t tried. I suspect that if the Captors thought there was a relationship between your attacks and them, then they would destroy them all.”
“You’re probably right, Atlas. Make sure you get the information from the adolescents if we are destroyed. I just wish we had some kind of weapon that would work against them. We’re totally defensive.”
“I want to go with you, Tommy. However, it would not be wise to have all of us eliminated at one time. I will be waiting for you here and hoping for the best.”
Tommy smiled and left the conference room for his post on the bridge.
Two hours later Captain Dodd announced over the ships intercom, “I’ve given the target coordinates to all of our penetrator crews. I want all of our primary beams targeted on the same spot and fired immediately on emergence into normal space. Penetrators will also fire at the same moment. We will begin our run as soon as we see if our weapons have any effect on the target. Jump in 5,4,3,2,1, execute.”
The Kosiev appeared in normal space so close to the Captor’s construct that it seemed it had landed on its surface. The Kosiev disappeared in a blinding flash of beams and penetrators leaving for the construct that seemed to hit instantaneously. Cassandra watched her display and saw all of the beams and penetrators stopped and exploded a hundred yards above the construct. Cassie thought angrily, “kill that queen!”
Something left the skin of the Kosiev and hit the construct. A huge blast erupted and a huge section of the construct disintegrated leaving a gaping hole in the surface. Cassie was stunned but then she heard Wes shout, “Run, now.”
Cassie hit the button on her console and the Kosiev sped away from the Captor’s planet. Tommy thought, “Move fast now.”
The Kosiev hit light speed so fast that the Captors surrounding and firing at the ship once again did not record its exit on their sensors. The Kosiev was traveling at one thousand times the speed of light and the giant red ships were jumping into its projected path. Cassie thought. “We have to go faster!” The Kosiev leaped forward and went to five thousand times the speed of light.”
Wes looking at his sensors said, “I don’t know what you did but we are now traveling at five thousand times the speed of light. My sensors cannot see anything at this speed.”
Cassandra said, “I’m taking control.” She pressed a button on her console and closed her eyes. She could see everything around the ship. She saw where the red ships were jumping into normal space to cut them off and she turned the ship away from them. She saw a star directly in front of them and banked the ship away.
Wes announced, “We are now traveling two light years every second and still accelerating.”
Tommy looked at Cassie and knew that he had not caused the jump in speed. He closed his eyes and linked his mind with Cassie and saw what she was doing. Cassie was flying the Kosiev like it had no mass. She made ninety degree turns instantly and even reversed the ship on its course so quickly that it defied the laws of physics. The Captors were unable to stay with the ship. Tommy keyed his com and said, “Ensign, Ahn, now would be a good time.”
The Kosiev disappeared from normal space. Tommy thought to Cassie, “Slow us down. Just focus and think about slowing down.”
Cassie was lost in the Kosiev and loving every moment of it. She was the ship and the ship was her. She heard Tommy but she didn’t want to stop. She finally focused on what he was saying and jerked her attention back into the present and forced herself to think, “Slow down, slowly, now.”
Wes announced, “Ten light years per second, four, one, ten thousand times light speed, five thousand, one thousand, five hundred, fifty, one half light speed.”
Cassandra thought, “Stop, now!” The Kosiev came to a stop.
Everyone on the bridge looked at each other; Wes said, “What happened back there?”
Tommy said, “Wes, replay what happened.”
The main display on the bridge came on and showed the launch of the penetrators and beams. They were all stopped before they hit the construct; then the display showed more than a thousand of the giant red ships rush in and fire their beams at the Kosiev. The display then showed something leave the skin of the Kosiev and strike the construct and blow a giant hole in it. “What was that,” Tommy asked?”
Wes said, “I have no idea.”
Tommy looked at Cassandra and saw she had a look on her face that showed disbelief. “Captain Dodd, do you know what that was that struck the construct?”
Cassie looked at Tommy and said, “I think I somehow ejected a small piece of the black hole through the skin of the Kosiev at the construct where that queen was located.”
The bridge crew looked at the display and Wes rewound the video. He brought the view in closer to the point of impact and slowed it down. Whatever left the Kosiev was pitch-black and moving so fast that even at super slow motion it moved too fast to be seen. One thing was certain. The piece of the construct that had the small queen on it was disintegrated.
Tommy said, “Looks like we have found a weapon.”
Cassie just sat there wondering how she had made it happen.