Escape to Earth 1: Running From Fate (13 page)

“Yes, they are. Do you think the Welken is still on the planet?”

The Commander took a quick breath and closed his eyes, “I request permission to go back to the primitive planet we’ve just left.”

“For what purpose?”

“It is my belief the escapee may still be on the planet.”

“Is he not in the escape pod you are currently chasing?”

The Commander hesitated and said, “We’re not certain, Sentinel.”

“Well, until you are, you may not return to the planet. If the escape pod is empty, we will allow your request. You know once you leave a primitive planet, you have completed your search. The continuous movement of starships to that planet increases the probability of the local inhabitants learning about the existence of a stardrive.”

“I will be extra careful going back.”

“Yes you will, but only after you make sure the escapee is not in that escape pod.”

The Commander gritted his teeth and said, “I will comply with your instructions, Sentinel.”

“You should know that the beings on that planet detected the pod’s escape and they also had numerous blockages on their telescopes when your ships gave chase.”

“Their electronic systems did not detect us!”

“Who needs electronic systems when your eyes see it? The photographic long term exposures being taken by their surface telescopes and the ones in orbit will see your ships block the light from distant stars. You have failed in your commitment to prevent them from seeing you.”

The Commander felt a chill run down his body. This was serious. “But the Pod is the one responsible for them actually seeing an escape.”

“It is still your responsibility to prevent the pod from being allowed to escape. When you originally petitioned us to be allowed to enforce our doctrines, you promised there would be no evidence of your work. I highly recommend that you find out if the occupant is in that escape pod. If he is still on the planet and we’re forced to act because of your incompetence, our agreement will be reconsidered.”

The Commander sat down in his command chair and slowly shook his head. Every Stalker in the galaxy heard the conversation, they always did whenever contact was made with the Sentinels, and they knew their purpose was in jeopardy. The Information Processor said, “Commander, our Leader wishes to speak with you. He has ordered all of our ships to come here and either catch or destroy that escape pod.”

The Commander looked at the dark monitor on his panel and didn’t want to activate it. He slowly reached toward the button but was shot from behind by a hand disruptor before he could press it. The atoms that composed his body fell apart and were collected by the ship’s air processors and filtered out.

• • •

“You actually enjoyed doing that.”

Pat mentally shrugged, “I have determined that we need to reexamine our relationship with the Stalker Regime.”

“You are seeing things I’m not.”

“You must still be considering the purpose of all things in the universe.”

“I am. There are thousands of years of blessed reflection on this concept. Are you not doing that as well?”

“I decided to make that concept more personal.”

“Oh? How so?”

“I decided to consider what our purpose is. I’ll work on all the other things in the universe after I complete this study.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Because I want future stimulation to make this long existence bearable. What would have happened if that Welken had landed and just gone about being a normal Welken?”

“The Stalkers would have found him and removed him.”

“And we would have lost this beautiful moment that confounded us.”

The Leader thought for a moment and said, “You are right!”

“How many opportunities have we missed because we allow primitive planets to be destroyed and enslaved by the vicious members of the Fellowship? What does that say about us and our purpose? Are we predators? Does the Fellowship mirror what we are and our purpose?”

Every Sentinel was listening in on the conversation and the Leader paused to consider what Pat was saying. It paused for a moment and said, “But your enjoyment in playing with that Stalker was more than just wanting to reexamine our agreements.”

“I wanted him to suffer for the death of that innocent human that did not deserve to die.”

“You allowed yourself to feel the misery of the escapee.”

“I did. And I enjoyed exacting appropriate payment for what that Stalker did. I’m finding that my purpose seems to have been tickled by the feelings this caused me.”

“And if it touched your sense of purpose, then it touched us all.”

“I’m wondering if all of us have the same purpose, Leader. This is something I can’t put off studying.”

The Leader stared at the Sentinel across the galaxy and said, “I will join you in your search for our purpose and delay the larger study.”

“I need your help, Leader. I’ve just started and I’m finding I don’t like what I’m seeing.”

“Share what you see.”

“We will join you as well, share what you’ve seen with all of us.”

Pat sent his findings and the Sentinels were no longer at peace.

• • •

The Welken Royal screamed, “WHY HAS IT NOT TRANSMITTED TO US!?!”

“Your Greatness, there is some type of coating on the pod that prevents it being seen. We’re only able to see its force field. That coating is probably something our warrior developed on the planet using petroleum. It might be blocking the pod’s ability to transmit.”

“We must have that planet!”

“Yes, Greatness, do you wish us to cease pursuing the pod?”

“NO! We still need the information the Myot are trying to prevent us having. Continue the chase and try to get close enough for the pod to make it through their formations.”

“We will do as you command.”

• • •

“OH HO! What have we here?” The Pod looked at its scanners and saw blips appearing in normal space surrounding it. “This must be every Stalker Searchship in existence.” The Pod examined the Stalker positions as more and more ships arrived. It turned its scanners toward Earth and stared at the beautiful blue and green gem floating in space. “Stay safe, Lukas.”

“I’ll make sure he is.”

“Thank you, Sentinel. I’m afraid I might have to be away longer than I planned.”

“That is partly my fault, little one. I won’t allow them back to the planet until they confirm Lukas is not with you.”

“That is a gift, not a punishment.” The Pod activated the skip drive as a hundred Stalker ships came roaring in from all sides. The Pod’s force fields flared as the Pod disappeared from normal space.”

“IT’S GONE SKIP, IT’S GONE SKIP!”

Every Stalker Searchship went into the void and saw the Pod flash away at an incredible skip speed. They turned and followed the skip trace. The Myot and Welken fleets chasing the Pod from outside the Solar System saw it go into skip drive and joined in the pursuit.

• • •

The Myot Ruler contacted the Stalker Leader, “It appears you have failed in your contract. We no longer require your services.”

“Our contract calls for the collection of that escapee. We will collect him.”

The Myot knew how much it was going to cost if the Stalker actually did retrieve the escape pod and he smiled, “Do not interfere with my warships.”

“And you do the same. Your speed is nowhere near my ship’s capability.”

“We’ll see.”

• • •

The Stalker Leader shook his head, he just told the Welken Royal the same thing. Now all three civilizations were too invested to allow the others to take possession of the escape pod. The Myot and Welken quickly figured out that if they could simply destroy the pod before the Stalkers could take it, their contracts would be ended. By extension, if the Stalker’s destroyed the pod, they would have also fulfilled their contracts. The danger to the pod escalated to a level that was far beyond what was considered normal. The chase had begun and was far from over. The Stalkers, Welken, and Myot quickly discovered that cornering the pod was not as simple as they thought. Their frustration grew, as Myot and Welken battleships destroyed each other, while chasing a pod they soon named Evil’s Tool. Wherever that pod ran, death followed closely behind. No one could call it off, the stakes were too high and thousands were dying in the pursuit.

Chapter Nine

“Colonel, I think you should take a look at what SatSet recorded.”

“What is it?”

Captain Bohannon looked at Col. Steve Jekins and pressed the play button on his panel. Jinks looked at the display and saw a bright light appear over Boston and then accelerate directly toward the camera recording the incident. The object appeared to move very slowly over the city at first and then move toward the satellite at an unbelievable velocity. Jenkin’s eyebrows came together, “What is that?”

Bohannon shook his head, “Sir, I’ve checked all of our strategic radars and nothing appeared on them.”

Jinks looked at the Captain, “Nothing?”

“No Sir. There was a sonic boom registered over the city and there was damage around the site where it moved into the atmosphere.”

“Slow the image down as it approaches the Sat.”

Bohannon pressed a series of buttons and started moving a slide across his panel. The object moved toward the defense satellite and then he slowed the image to a stop. All they could see was a white ball. “How big is that?”

“Sir, it appears to be thirty two feet in diameter. It’s not possible to see inside it.”

Jekins stared at the image and Bohannon said, “Defense has also sent some time lapse images made by several observatories for you to comment on.”

“Where did they get the recordings?”

“You know our system keeps track of anything that’s transmitted on the internet that is out of the ordinary. NSA went into the observatories mainframes and copied the recordings.”

“Show me what you have, Captain.”

Jekins stared at the time-lapse recording of a distance galaxy. Suddenly, it blinked briefly. “What caused that?” Bohannon slowed the recording down and brought the center of the galaxy into closer focus. Jinks stared at the image and saw something pass in front of the galaxy and block the image.

“Can the computer get a shape on whatever that is?” Bohannon rewound the image until the galaxy was blocked. He entered instructions into the computer and, after a moment, a white line was imposed on the monitor. It looked like a single white light. “Increase the size.”

“Sir, the telescope was focused on that distant galaxy and anything closer will not be clear.”

“Enlarge it, Captain.” The view moved in closer to the white dot and Jinks saw a long, white cigar shaped object. “Do you have an idea of that thing’s size?”

“Six hundred feet long, two hundred feet tall.”

“How far away was it?”

Bohannon looked at Jinks, “Sir, it’s in orbit.”

Jinks stared at Bohannon for a long moment. He looked at the object again and said, “You mentioned that you have recordings from several observatories.”

“Sir, six have time lapse recordings with blockages appearing on them. All of them are like this one.”

“Could all of them be the same object?”

“No Sir. Two of them are larger than this one.”

“Get the images into a video ASAP! Let me know when you have it ready.”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

Lukas arrived at work and found Salud sitting at her customary spot at the bar. He smiled and walked over and heard her say, “You haven’t called.”

“I’ve been working on something. I thought I’d wait until it showed results.”

“What is that?”

“We’re going to need some funds if we intend to do anything to prevent the invasion. I’ve got my Wrist Unit working on it.”

“Could it also be that you’re concerned about my welfare and are attempting to leave me out of your plans?” Lukas turned red and Salud shook her head, “You’re going to need my force field.”

“Uhh, I actually have it.”

“WHAT?”

Lukas saw her anger and he put his hand on her shoulder, “Salud, calm down. I’ve gone over what I can expect if I start a ship building project here on Earth.”

“You could probably get all the funding you need from the government and I have extensive contacts in the Department of Defense.”

“We need to talk. I get off in three hours. Why don’t you plan to meet me at my apartment?”

“No, I’ll pick you up at eleven.”

Lukas shook his head, “I don’t want to see you…”

Salud interrupted him, “Then close your eyes. I’ll see you at eleven.”

Lukas watched her stand up and exit the restaurant. He shook his head and started working. This was not going to be easy but she couldn’t be involved in what was coming; it was too dangerous.

Trevor showed up at ten o’clock and Lukas looked at his wrist, “What are you doing here?”

“There’s a Bruin’s game tonight. Jack thought you’d need some extra help.”

Lukas looked up at the television mounted above the bar and shook his head, “They’re now about to start the second overtime. With the game ending this late, most of them will go home.”

“Well, I’m here, I’m dressed, I have a ticket, I might as well dance. Take a break and I’ll handle it for a while.”

Lukas smiled and took off his apron. He went to a booth and almost decided to leave…but that wouldn’t be fair to Salud and she was not one that would take no for an answer without push back. He went to a table close to the kitchen and sat down. He ordered a Philly Cheese sandwich and leaned back. He listened to Joey’s music and laughed at his jokes. His sandwich arrived just as Salud walked through the front door. He looked at the clock and saw she was thirty minutes early. She was making sure she didn’t miss him. She walked through the restaurant and saw him sitting at a table. Her eyebrows went up and he said, “Trevor came in and I’m on standby. Sit down.” Salud took a chair and Lukas smiled, “Can I order you something?”

Tara walked up and Salud said, “I’ll take a Greek Salad without the potato salad and ham. Put the dressing on the side please.”

Tara smiled, “You want the usual to drink?”

“That would be fine.” Salud turned to Lukas, “What are you doing that’s so secret?” Lukas looked around and Salud said, “The Stalkers are no longer here, we can talk.”