A week had passed as Linda Kay and Twig waited in the conference room. Twig had almost stopped the process as the temperature of the nerve center continued to rise. Just before she halted them the temperature quit rising and leveled off. She continued to monitor the center but it did not change. Linda Kay was worried. Tommy and Cassandra did not move and their breathing was very shallow. They seemed to be in a coma. Wes would come in and watch his two friends and leave as duties demanded. Linda Kay looked at Twig and said, “How are they doing?”
“I can’t tell. They are so deep in each other’s minds that I can’t reach them. Even Sprig is lost to me. I don’t know if I can bring them out even if I want to do so.”
Linda Kay continued to watch and worry. Twig had an idea and thought to Tgon-Gee, “Tgon-Gee, do you have a moment.”
“Who is this?”
“I am called Twig, Tgon-Gee. I am one of the adolescents on board the Kosiev.”
“I know you. What do you need?”
“Would you look at Tommy and Cassandra’s auras and tell me what you see?”
“Send me a visual,”
Twig turned the com toward them and sent it to Tgon-Gee.”
“By the creator, what are they doing?”
“Why, what’s wrong,” Twig asked?
“Neither one of them have an aura. What have they done?”
“I’m not certain. I just wanted to know what you saw.”
Tgon-Gee thought, “Rose, answer me.”
“Hello, Tgon-Gee. What do you need?”
“Tommy and Cassandra no longer have an aura.”
“What!” Rose turned her attention to her brother and saw them in a trance. “What have they done,” she asked Linda Kay?
Twig said, “Allow me, Ensign Johns.” Twig then explained what was happening.
Rose said, “Give me your coordinates right now! I’m on my way.”
Tommy thought to his sister, “That won’t be necessary.”
Linda Kay and Twig jumped up and started hugging the three that had been locked in a trance.
Rose said, “What have you done? Tgon-Gee tells me that you and Cassandra do not have an aura.”
“Really, that’s interesting.”
Rose said, “Duke Gardner, explain to me what you’ve done.”
Tommy said, “Alright, Alright. We have just had a tune up?”
Rose was speechless. Tommy saw Tgon-Gee on the com and said, “I’ve learned about auras during this melding. An aura is released from a person with psychic skill when their powers are not functioning at full efficiency. It’s like one of the old combustion engines that released smoke from their exhaust when they weren’t operating efficiently. If your psychic skills are efficient, then the aura is not seen easily.”
Tommy got up and walked closer to the com monitor, “Look now Tgon-Gee.”
Tgon-Gee looked at his screen and as Tommy got closer to the monitor he could see right up against Tommy’s skin was an aura that was darker than any he had ever seen. “I see it now. May I see Captain Dodd’s?”
Cassandra walked over and stood next to the monitor. “I don’t see an aura around her. Have you lost your psychic ability?”
Cassandra gave a rueful smile and said, “No, the inside of my aura is clear. The outer edge of my psychic sense is where the coloring is located.”
Rose and Tgon-Gee waited for the other to ask the question. Finally Rose asked, “uh, where is the outer edge?”
Tommy answered, “The last we saw of it, it had passed the outer edge of this universe.”
Twig looked at Sprig and he nodded to her.
“Tommy, whatever you and Cassandra did; did it help?”
“Rose, you have no idea. I’ll discuss this with you but we are going to talk to the Captors about changing their ways. I’ll keep you up to date but we have not had anything to eat for,” he looked at Linda Kay, and she held up her fingers, Tommy’s eyes opened and he mouthed, “Really,” Linda Kay nodded and Tommy said, “seven days.”
Rose sighed and said, “I’ll talk with you later,” and broke the connection.
Tgon-Gee said, “Good luck and make sure you come back safely.”
Tommy nodded and turned off the com. He then looked at Linda Kay and said, “Were we really here for seven days?”
Twig said, “Yes you were.”
Twig entered Sprigs mind and was shocked. Sprig thought to her, “Yes, I’ve been changed by this process. You can look around if you like.”
Twig was amazed at his mind. It had a depth and clarity she had not seen before. Perhaps we should absorb each other again,” she said.
Sprig gave her a mental smile and thought, “Maybe we should.”
Wes came running in and hugged Tommy then grabbed Sprig and hugged him, too. “Welcome back; I’ve missed you two.”
Cassandra looked at Wes and said, “Wes will you and Linda Kay come here for a moment?”
Wes and Linda Kay walked up to Cassandra and she told them, “I want each of you to hold the other’s hand and then take one of mine.” Wes and Linda Kay looked at each other then did as she asked. Cassandra said, “Close your eyes and think about how much you mean to each other.”
Wes and Linda Kay closed their eyes and just holding hands reminded them how much they had missed each other for the last seven days. As they thought about it, Wes could hear Linda Kay telling him how much she loved him. Wes said, “Linda Kay, she told us to think about it, not say it.”
“I was just thinking about it; I didn’t say anything.”
“But I heard you.”
“And I heard you.”
Cassandra released their hands and said, “I have learned during the last week that if you truly love someone, it is easy to make a mental connection. From this day forward you can hear each other’s thoughts no matter where you are.”
Wes looked at his wife and thought, “Can this be true.”
Linda Kay started and thought back, “I hear you.”
Wes reached for her and held her close. Tommy looked at his best friend and his wife and keyed his com, “Effective immediately, Captain Cassandra Dodd is resuming her duties as the commanding officer of the Kosiev. We will be jumping into the Captors galaxy in six hours. Please make sure your stations are ready for possible hostile action.” Tommy turned his com off. Then he looked at Cassandra and said, “Let’s go get something to eat where we can talk.
Cassandra smiled and said, “I thought you’d never ask.” He took her hand and noticed that there was not a shock as they left the conference room. Sprig was wrapped up in Twig’s limbs and didn’t notice when they left.
Tommy and Cassandra sat at a table eating a meal big enough for three other people. As they ate, Tommy thought to her, “Now I understand. I couldn’t see the turmoil your new skills were causing you. I was the trigger that you were waiting for to release you.”
“Yes you are. I think we would have stayed apart except for the Captors. I think that your sense of them is what drove us together before our time. We could have been killed and my primary function would have terminated. Now that you have come into me completely, I feel at peace. My anger at the Captors was due to our not being able to be together so my skills were looking for a means to remove them.”
“Cassie, I have never seen such a gentle heart, except in my mother. I thought you were an uncontrolled warrior with a hardened heart. I can also see that all you did in the academy caused you many sleepless nights.”
Cassie stopped eating and looked at Tommy, “I could not understand why I was deliberately hurting you. After each time I was so mean, I hated myself for doing it but then as soon as I saw you I would do it again.”
“We know that it was to protect us and our universe. If we had made contact back then, the particle in energy space would have exploded.”
Cassie looked at Tommy and said, “I felt something when you were in my mind.” Tommy tilted his head and stopped eating. “I think my main reason for existing is to do exactly that, explode that particle. I think your parents were brought together to have you so that this process could happen.”
“I didn’t see that, Cassie. What do you mean?”
Cassandra shook her head to clear it and said, “I think our universe was started by someone just like me in another universe. They deliberately exploded that particle and our universe started. I can feel the particle calling to me. It is ready to start a new one. I had to have you in order for my psychic power to develop. Like us, I think that particle is ready.”
“Cassie, that would destroy our universe; you can’t allow that to happen.”
“I’m not feeling that, Tommy. I think that it would start a different universe from ours. I’m not ready to actually do it, but I think that when the time comes, I will know what to do.”
Tommy paused, “So there is a creator that made our universe.”
“No, not like that; the creator created a system that provides the means to recreate itself. That creator is much larger than I can encompass in my mind. Someone like me is made to start the process as each universe matures but I couldn’t do it until I found the trigger to release my psychic skills. Only after that trigger and I reach equilibrium can the process start. I can sense that it is a very difficult thing to make happen. The first and probably the most important step we just accomplished with our melding. Do you feel differently now.”
“Yes, Cassie; I love you with my heart and mind. It is no longer driven by physical impulses alone.”
Cassie looked at Tommy for a moment and said, “I hope the physical impulses are in good working order. I’m fighting hard not to jump you right now.”
Tommy smiled and said, “It’s good to have impulses. However, we have a ship to prepare to go talk with a bee. Have you thought about how we want to do that?”
“Yes I have but we’re going to have to go interrupt the kids. I want to talk with the Captors on an electronic frequency and not telepathically.”
“Why do you want to do it that way?”
“It will allow us to see if the Captors are trustworthy.” She lifted her com and said, “Ensign Johns, how many sensor buoys are there on the Kosiev.”
“Just a moment,” Linda Kay said. “We have ninety six.”
Cassie looked at Tommy and said, we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can make contact. Will you ask Mikado to bring us a shipment of five hundred more sensors immediately? When he’s ready to deliver them, we’ll give him our coordinates.”
“What are you planning?”
“A rather large shell game,” Cassie answered.
Tommy immediately understood what she was going to do, “I think we might have a few dizzy bees before this is over.”
Cassie smiled, “You think.”
Lt. Edward Jones was standing in the landing bay surrounded by ninety six sensor buoys. He was listening to Captain Dodd explain what she wanted done. The two Algean adolescents were listening attentively. I thought we would just take the Kosiev to all of the sites for these buoys but you can teleport them right from this landing bay can’t you, Sprig.”
“Sure, if you have the coordinates you want to send them.”
“Each of these buoys has a specific transmission frequency. Mr. Jones, I want you to number each one of these buoys from one to ninety six and I want a list of their operating frequencies put on a list matching their designated number. Call your crew in and get busy.”
“Aye, aye, Sir,” and Ed turned and began issuing orders to his team.
“Sprig and Twig, I want to teleport each of these buoys directly opposite of each other in relation to the Captors planet. Picture their planet in the middle of a large box. Send the first buoy to the bottom right corner of the box as far away as possible from the planet but still in range of transmissions. Send the second buoy to the top left hand corner. Send the third to the bottom left hand corner and the fourth to the top right hand corner.”
Twig said, “You’re trying to make sure no two consecutive buoys are anywhere near each other.”
“Exactly, and we want as much distance as possible from the planet. Go to the longest distance our sensors can transmit to the Captors planet. If they destroy one buoy then the next buoy will be on the other side of the galaxy from them.”
“Well, actually we can put them in different star systems or out in empty space outside their galaxy,” Sprig said.
“Now you’re getting it,” Cassandra said.
“Ok, we’ve got the coordinates for the buoys,” Twig said.
Cassandra started and said, “That fast.”
Twig said, “Captain, don’t be sarcastic. We took four seconds. We’re sorry it took so long but we thought about putting one of them inside the atmosphere of that gas giant. We think that they won’t see us do it because they won’t be looking there and the storms will mask the buoy.”
“What a great idea; see if it works. If the Captors see it and destroy it, we will take it off the list and skip it in our transmissions,” Cassandra then said loudly to everyone in the landing bay, “Oh, and one more thing.” Edward and the adolescents looked at her and Cassandra said, “Admiral Mikado is delivering five hundred more in an hour. Please do the same with them.”
Ed’s team moaned at having to move so many buoys; Twig said, “I’ve got your coordinates, Captain.” Cassandra laughed out loud.
“Twig looked at Sprig and thought, “What’s so funny?”
Sprig shrugged and thought, “Lt. Jones must have made her laugh.”
The bridge of the Kosiev was almost crowded. The two adolescents were standing beside Tommy’s chair which was slightly above and to the left of Cassandra’s command chair. Tommy said, I think we are ready; are the buoys all placed and checked out?”
Wes said, “Yes, Your Majesty, we’ve sent a beam to each and they all responded.”
Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “Are you comfortable transmitting from them telepathically?”
“I learned how to do it from Atlas. He does it electronically but it isn’t that much harder to just do it with my mind. I’m certain that they cannot track telepathy. Wes, I want you to record all of our transmissions. I am going to say out loud what I’m thinking to the buoys. I’m ready if you are, Duke Gardner.”
Tommy thought to her, Oh, so now you’re calling me formal names. You didn’t do that when you were hugging me thirty minutes ago.”
Cassandra couldn’t help herself and smiled at the thought, “We must maintain the discipline of titles on board ship, especially for one as important as you.”
“I’d be careful if I were you; you’ll soon be a duchess yourself.”
Cassandra took a quick breath. She turned around and looked at Tommy and he was smiling at her. She turned back around and faced her display with a red face but felt her heart was singing. “He wants to marry me,” she thought. “He wants to marry me.”
“I was thinking about doing one more thing, Captain Dodd.”
Cassandra turned around and looked at him quizzically.
“Do you think we could mask the ship like you did with Earth?”
“Sure, a ship is easier,” she said.
“Then I want you to jump in to these coordinates once you start transmitting.”
Cassandra looked at the coordinates and smiled. “You do have a way of making a point, Your Majesty.”
Cassandra closed her eyes and outside the viewport of the Kosiev a dark mist began to form; suddenly, the Kosiev disappeared. She handed the coordinates to Twig and said, “Teleport the ship to this location when I raise my hand.”
Twig looked at the location and said, “Standing by, Captain.”
Cassandra leaned forward and triggered the first buoy then closed her eyes and began speaking her transmissions.
The First Male was checking the status of the nexus to see if a watcher could use it when he heard an electronic transmission, “I would like to talk with the leader of the red ships.”
The First Male sent a message to five hundred ships and ordered them to follow the trail of the transmission to its source and destroy it. The five hundred ships began jumping out from the planet on the line of the transmission separating themselves by one light year between each of them. The transmission then said, “You may know me as the one who killed five of your ships at the planet in the new system you are moving to occupy.”
The First Male turned angry and said, “Have you found it?”
“Yes, we have it is just a primitive electronic buoy hanging in space.”
“Track it back from where it came,” the First Male ordered.
“There are no tracks, First Male.” One of the ships destroyed the buoy.
Cassandra keyed the next buoy. “I’m going to offer you one chance to talk with me and if you refuse then we will assume that it is destruction you intend for us and we will respond accordingly.”
Now the First Male saw the track coming from a different direction opposite of the first one. He ordered five hundred more ships to go. He decided to give them time by communicating with whoever was speaking. He sent a message on the same frequency, “Who are you.”
Tommy tilted his head and shrugged at Cassandra. “We are the race that lived on the planet you destroyed when you moved to our fifth planet.”
“Obviously, we didn’t get all of you.” The second buoy stopped broadcasting.
Cassandra keyed the third, “No, however you were coldblooded when you systematically killed every settlement in the system.”
The First Male dispatched five hundred more ships. “They were close to our home.”
“That system was our home and you destroyed it with no attempt to see if we represented any danger to you.” The third buoy stopped and Cassandra keyed the fourth.
The First Male said, “It doesn’t matter, it was now our home and you were too close.”
The conversation continued as the Captors destroyed the buoys and Cassandra keyed a new one after each buoy’s destruction. “It sounds like you do not regard anyone as having the right to live except yourselves.”
“The First Male said, “You can survive as much as you want as long as you don’t intrude on us.”
“But you can intrude on us and that is fine in your view.”
“Certainly, it can be no other way.”
“What if we decided to destroy you for intruding on our space?”
“If you could do it you would have already done it.” Buoy two hundred stopped transmitting and Cassandra raised her hand and Twig threw the switch.
Suddenly the First Male saw the transmission coming directly from the planet under him. He sped down into the atmosphere and destroyed the buoy. He came back up to the construct and felt his first touch of fear. How did they get that buoy close to the planet without being seen?
“Perhaps there are races that are more tolerant than your own. I want you to think about what would have happened if that buoy you destroyed happened to be a black hole instead.”
With that the First Male jumped off the construct and began flying around the planet in attack mode. Finally he slowed down and said, “We will totally destroy you and everyone associated with you.”
“If you could do it you would have already done it,” Cassandra said.
The First Male was furious. His warriors were now attacking the broadcasting buoys without having to be ordered; buoy number three hundred and three stopped.
“How many races have you destroyed in your long history,” Cassandra asked.
“More than a million.”
“And you feel no remorse for that?”
“No, the eight legs would have killed all of them, we just did it first.”
Cassandra looked at Tommy and then said, “Eight legs?”
“They harvest this universe for intelligent life then move on to another universe. No civilization will live past them.”
Cassandra said, “You did.”
“Yes, but they can’t see us. Every other race is just food for them. Destroying other races means nothing; they would be killed any way eventually.”
Buoy four hundred and seventy nine stopped broadcasting. “There is one thing you have not considered in your point of view.”
The First Male said, “What is that?”
“We can see you.”
The five hundred and ninety sixth buoy was destroyed. The first male broadcast, “So what.”
Suddenly, the strange white ship materialized next to the construct and he heard in his mind, “This is your last warning. If you want peace, we will discuss it, however, if you attack us, we will move to destroy you.”
Ten thousand ships rushed toward the intruder and the First Male saw black balls fly from the hull of the ship and start hitting the ships rushing in. The giant red ships that were hit by one of those balls stopped dead still and imploded into nothingness. All ten thousand ships were vaporized into seconds, not even dust remained. Then he heard, you have the frequency to contact us. If it’s war you want, we are ready to bring it to you. You have one revolution of the planet below you to contact us.” The intruder disappeared from the planet as a million ships rushed at it.
The First Male did not know if they left out of fear of that many ships or because of their agreement. The uncertainty of which one it was unnerved him. Then he could not help himself, his instinct drove him to fly around looking for the intruder. How stupid of the strange ship, they must think that he had a choice about attacking. That action was reflex; he could not do anything else. It was ingrained into his genes over millions of years of selective breeding. Anyone or thing that came near or even knew about the nest must be destroyed. That ship must be found and eliminated.
Tommy looked over at Wes and said, “Did you record both ends of the conversation?”
“Yes Sir, I did.”
“Sprig, what do you think about Captain Dodd’s idea of dropping a black hole on their planet?”
“It’s a great idea. How are you going to do it?”
Tommy looked at him and said, “Just like you dropped the buoy; teleport it in.”
Sprig leaned forward to show his discomfort and then said, “I’m afraid we can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because sending a black hole big enough to cause any damage to the planet would disrupt the field before it could go through. The gravity from it would cause the field to collapse.”
“Well, it was a good idea while it lasted. When do you and Twig want to start working on converting a megaship?”
“Where are the ships,” Twig asked?”
“They are waiting for you at the learning facility.”
“We’re on our way,” and they adolescents left the bridge.
The conference was a large one. All the major leaders were present and many of the Realm’s elected officials were present. This one was being done in person and the conference room at the Government Center on Ross was full. Only the ones on the raised dais were allowed to speak during the conference but many of the assembled crowd didn’t care. This was history being made.
Tommy had just completed playing the recording of the conversation with the first male and the room was silent. Rose said, “Did they answer?”
Cassandra said, “We have received no transmission.”
“I wish I could be certain of their answer,” Rose said.
Tommy said, “That’s easy enough to find out.” Rose and all the other attendees looked at him. Tommy lifted his com and said, Lt. McAnn, please transport the buoy now.” Tommy looked back at rose and said, “I’ve just teleported a buoy five light years from their home world. Captain Dodd, if you will ask for their answer.”
Cassandra talked as she thought to the buoy. “I am trying to speak with the leader of the red ships. We have not received an answer from you.” Almost immediately the buoy stopped transmitting.
“Well, that didn’t take long, they found that buoy in less than a minute,” Tommy said.
Rose said, “Then its war to the death. Unfortunately, the only weapon we have to use is the Kosiev.”
“Perhaps,” Tommy said, “however the adolescents think that they can produce more ships like the Kosiev and I’ve learned not to bet against their hunches.”
Danielle said, “What are these so called “eight legs” the Captor spoke about?”
Cassandra said, “I was listening to him telepathically and I saw a picture in his mind of huge clouds of planet sized green ships flying through a galaxy like a plague of locusts. I don’t know if it was real or just a metaphor but I do believe he was being truthful.”
“Do any of you feel any danger when you think about what he said,” Rose asked the group at the center table.” All of the gathered psychics shook their heads. “Well, if he was truthful, they are not a danger to us in the near future. Let’s deal with one crisis at a time. Does anyone have a suggestion about what our first course of action should be?”
Misty Nicole said, “I want to kick them out of our solar system. They killed more than half a million people and they should pay a price for their actions.”
Rose looked at Tommy and said, “What do you think; the home world or Earth first?”
“Earth should be first. I don’t want to run the risk of Atlas’ kin being destroyed if we fail in our first attack. Captain Dodd, do you agree?”
Cassandra closed her eyes and said, “Yes, Earth should be first. I need some space to flex my strength.”
Rose, Tgon-Gee, Tag, Danielle, and Tommy all worried about her remark. Everyone knew that her strength was an unknown quantity but they all suspected it was massive.
“Then Earth it is.”
“As the conference continued Cassandra thought to Tommy, “We need to go look in on the adolescent’s efforts.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and take the Kosiev. I’ll join you with Atlas later.”
“Don’t be long, I miss you already.”
Tommy smiled and thought, “You just made my day. Keep me informed.”
Cassandra got up and left the conference. On the way to the shuttle she commed Wes, “Prepare the ship for a jump to the learning center; I’m on my way.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,”
The Kosiev came out of null space and its battle alarms went off a full blast. The crew scurried to their stations while Wes read the ship’s sensors. “We have a megaship on fire off the port bow, Captain”
Cassandra looked at her view screen and saw a megaship totally burning. The bright glow was coming from its covering of Coronado power cells. The Kosievs’ intercom came on with Sprig saying, “Everything is ok, we just made a mistake and as you can see, the results were somewhat dramatic.”
Wes said under his breath, “Not as dramatic as the deck three toilet.”
Cassandra smiled and said, “Yes, but these are in 3D.”
The entire bridge crew laughed and Wes turned bright red. Linda Kay thought to him, “Now that we can share our thoughts, I want you to show me what happened on deck three.”
Wes thought back, “Never happen.”
Linda Kay thought back, “Oh, I think I can get you to talk.” Wes smiled and knew she was right.
Cassandra thought, “Sprig, why don’t you and Twig come over and tell me what you’re attempting to accomplish?”
Cassandra waited a moment and the two Algeans materialized on the bridge of the Kosiev. Cassandra said, “You have got to give me that device.”
Twig said, “I’ll make one for you this evening and show you how to use it.”
“Tell me what went wrong,” Cassandra asked.
Twig looked at the view screen with the burning megaship and said, “We tried to drop some small black holes into the surface of the ship.”
“That has already been tried and it didn’t work,” Cassandra said.
“Yes, but they were doing it wrong. They were trying to blast the holes into the surface.”
Cassandra looked at Twig and said, “Bring me up to speed. What is it that they were doing wrong?”
“Do you have a recording of the destruction of the Moscow?”
Cassandra reached over and pressed a button on her console and entered a command. She waited a moment and said, “Here it is.”
“Play it on the main monitor, please.” Sprig said.
The main monitor showed the Moscow charging the Algean frequency ships with its nose bright white from the constant firing of its primary beams.” Twig said, “Notice that the Moscow is moving two times faster than any ship had ever traveled. She was able to do this by overloading their reactors. Please slow the video down to one thousandth speed, Captain, and watch the hull of the Moscow.”
Cassandra slowed the video and the entire bridge crew watched as the primary beams began to fail. They also saw the hull of the Moscow start to go from bright white to a dark color moving from the rear of the ship forward. This process continued until the dark color moved forward and covered the nose of the ship just as the primary beams failed.” The ship then launched all of its penetrators and the entire ship went dark.
The crew was in a somber mood. This was when one of humanity’s hero’s had perished. Admiral Kosiev and his entire crew died as the Moscow was hit by hundreds of anti-matter missiles. The ship exploded and the bridge crew saw a piece of it fly off the top of the ship into space.
“What am I looking for, Twig?”
“Every attempt to recreate the event that created that piece of the hull that later became the skin of this ship has failed. They failed because they misunderstood what they were seeing.”
Cassandra furrowed her brow and said, “I don’t understand.”
The skin of the Kosiev was formed not because of the blasts that destroyed the ship but because of the total lack of energy remaining in the Coronado power cells.”
Cassandra thought and reran the video. Sprig added, “Notice that the piece that flew off was directly over the black hole reactors. The skin had already absorbed those black holes before the missiles struck.”
Suddenly, she understood; it was a lack of energy that gave birth to the skin, not the blast from the missiles. “I think I understand. The power cells were totally depleted and the reactors had failed. There was no place for the cells to draw energy so they absorbed the black holes.”
“Exactly, Captain; we believe that the power cells are like a regular battery and develop a memory of the charge they hold. When that charge is absent, the cells look for another source and draw it to them.”
“So what went wrong here?”
Sprig said, “We don’t know. When we dropped the black holes on the hull after fully discharging the power cells the ship exploded and started burning.”
Cassandra said, “Well, we have three more ships; let’s try it again.”
The second megaship was moved out and the ship began constant firing of its primary beams and its screen was brought to full power. The process took more than four hours bur finally the screen and primary beams failed. “This is where we were last time,” Sprig said.
Cassandra closed her eyes and looked at the armored skin of the ship and said, “There is still power in the hull coating.”
Twig and Sprig looked at Cassandra and said, “Our instruments show zero power.”
“You instruments are wrong.” Cassandra closed her eyes and let her mind roam the megaship. I see you’ve disconnected the reactors from the hull.”
“Yes we did.”
“Are you aware that each of those reactors has a backup 18 volt battery to keep the display working in the event of power failure? There are also four more batteries on the bridge consoles. They are being drained as we speak.”
Sprig and Twig looked at each other and then said, “Let’s remove the batteries on the ship and see if that changes anything.”
Cassandra said. “I don’t think it will. That charge, even though it’s small must be discharged but the hull doesn’t have enough power to operate the discharge system. That little bit of power won’t allow any system to turn on to remove it.”
The adolescents thought a moment and Cassandra said, “The batteries will be drained completely in thirty minutes. We will then hit the skin of the ship with a weak beam until it has enough power to trip the primary beam circuit. Then we’ll take another reading.”
Thirty minutes late the Algeans read their instruments and said, “They still read zero. If there is energy in the hull the charge is too small to detect.”
Cassandra said, “Weapons, hit the megaship with a low power laser.” A laser stabbed out and hit the megaship.
“Sprig looked at his instruments and said, “The screen is now active, Captain.”
“Weapons, increase the power of the laser to three million watts.” The laser grew in intensity and hit the ship for three minutes. “Cease firing.”
The megaship hung in space and Twig pushed a button on her hand held instrument. The megaship fired its primary beam for two seconds and then went out. Cassandra closed her eyes and felt the ship. “There is still a charge. The ship is drawing power from the learning facility. We need to move further out into empty space.”
The megaship was towed away from the learning facility and the process was repeated. Cassie closed her eyes and said, “We’re drawing power from the star in this system.”
The Algeans were shocked. “Captain, lets charge the ships so we can jump it out into empty space between the galaxies.”
The laser was fired again and the power increased until the ship had enough power to operate. The two ships jumped out into empty space and the megaship was discharged again. Cassandra closed her eyes and said, “The ship is empty of any energy. However, I want to attempt something.”
The adolescents looked at her and Cassandra said. “The black holes that entered the skin the Kosiev were converted to negative matter when the hundreds of ant-matter missiles struck the Moscow. Instead of dropping black holes into the skin, I want to deposit some of the matter from the Kosiev and see if it takes it.”
The Kosiev stayed back from the megaship to prevent it from drawing any power. Cassandra looked at the Megaship and tried to think of a command that would make the transfer. Then a thought wormed its way into her mind; “Feed the ship” she thought. A long black tube shot from the Kosiev and entered the megaships outer plating. Nothing appeared to be happening until Wes said, “The megaship has just gone off our sensors.”
The Algeans looked at each other and jumped off the floor. “We did it!”
Cassandra looked at them and said, “We have one more task before it will be ready for combat. We need to move it to a system that is dead and drop it into the star.”
The bridge crew looked at her with mixed expressions. “The ship must have enough material to fight the Captors. A star should do the trick but first we need to put in the control systems. Lt. Ortiz, take a team of five and jump the ship to the learning center and I’ll contact Sten to begin the work. Leave now and Lt. McAnn, bring the last megaship here and let’s make the conversion.”
Two months later eleven megaships had been converted, had their control systems installed, and had been dropped into a star. Cassandra went to each ship and changed the penetrator launchers so that they were mounted inside the ship and the barrels stuck into the inside walls of the hull. She then melded the launchers to the negative matter inside the skin of the ship. Now when fired, the launchers would send a piece of negative matter at the target. The size of the matter was set for a medium size captor ship. It should destroy the largest but would leave wreckage. On a smaller ship, there would be negative matter left behind that would need to be reabsorbed into the skin of the ships. Tommy watched Cassandra fine tune the launchers and marveled at her mental control of the ships systems. “You’re remarkable, Cassie. I have no idea how you’ve made this work but these ships should give more than they get in a battle with the Captors.”
“This is easy; I’ve always had an affinity for machines. They talk to me now and I just tell them what I need them to do. Well, something like that.”
“You do that to me, too.”
“Yeah, but you don’t always listen.”
“That’s true, however the Royal Family has approved you for a medal and I’m here to present it.”
“I don’t deserve a medal. Everyone on the ship deserves one as much I do.”
Tommy moved in front of her and said, “That maybe true but there’s only one person on this ship that the metal will fit.”
Cassie tilted her head to the side obviously confused when Tommy opened a ring box and held it up to her and said, “Cassandra Dodd, will you marry me?”
Cassandra looked at the ring with a stone the size of a small planet on it and felt her heart swell ten times its size. She started crying and said, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.” She rushed forward and threw her arms around Tommy and held him tight.
“Hey, hey; don’t you want to see the ring?”
“Right now I want to see you as close as I can get to you.” She held him close and after a few moments stepped back and Tommy placed the ring on her finger. “After Jupiter we will have the wedding.” Tommy reached for Cassie and held her tight.”