Escape to Earth 1: Running From Fate (6 page)

“Lukas, you work too hard, non-stop; I want you to drink something to maintain your energy and a fruit drink will do that. Consider it part of your pay.”

Luke watched Loren hand a tray full of beer to Julie and saw the woman had gone to the restroom. He glanced over at her pad and saw she was working on solving an equation. He shook his head. She was wasting her time, she had made an error in the fifth line and no matter how far she moved forward, it would never balance. He looked around and saw no one was paying him any attention; he turned the pad back to the first page and glanced at her work. He lifted a pen from Loren’s pencil glass and lined through the fifth line and wrote the correct equation. He put the pen back as Loren arrived and he took his drink and walked away as the professor arrived.

Dr. Salud Anna Vazquez sat back down and saw her pad was now showing the first page. She looked around and didn’t see anyone near and wondered how the pages had changed. The heater came on overhead and she felt the small wind coming from it. She solved the mystery, which was a lot better than she had done with this devilish equation. She had been working on it for two years and she was just about to give up. She knew she was on the right track but something in it eluded her. She started to turn back to the page she had been working on and saw the ink…her anger was immediate. The nerve of someone to desecrate her work. She was going to tell Jack a thing or two about it. But she hesitated. How did she know it was one of his employees that did it? She looked at the new line that was written in and shook her head, “Why would anyone insert two variables that would obviously be removed ten pages later. She had worked the equation so many times she knew it all by memory. She turned back to the last page and continued working on solving it. She was ticked that whoever had done it had written in ink. She always used a pencil so she could erase her mistakes. Two hours later, she stood and left the bar.

Lukas watched her go and shook his head. She had obviously ignored his insertion. Oh well, her loss. He picked up another table and saw Julie staring at him from across the room. He knew she was interested in him, along with Stephany, Susan, Gloria, and Tara. He saw the Pod was right about Kathy being the first but not the last. But every time he thought about returning their interest, he saw the image of a Stalker. If anyone was involved with him when they showed up…he couldn’t put them in danger of being killed along with him.

He looked across the bar at the laughing students and smiled; Joey really had them going. It was amazing that he very seldom used the same material but always had something new to make them laugh. He thought back to his childhood and couldn’t remember ever laughing. Life was spent learning how to operate a disruptor or a missile battery until his seventh birthday. Once he achieved a passing grade, he was sent to fleet operations for the rest of his education. If he failed to pass…well, he didn’t. He thought about his brother, who ended up in the mines digging metal ores to manufacture the Confederacy’s warships. He died long before his time. He took a deep breath and knew these students would also end up digging in mines if their scientists ever built a star drive. He realized that by coming here, their discovery was unavoidable and their slavery would be, in part, his fault. But they were a very long way from developing a star drive. They hadn’t even really made it off the planet. But…he took a deep breath and blew it out. There was so much love around him. There were also demons intent on doing harm, but this species was…he paused. He looked at Julie and smiled. This species was home. He no longer desired to go back to his home world and warn them about the Myot manufacturing facilities. Julie smiled back at him and winked. All the other waitresses saw the exchange and felt their jealousy. Lukas was just so beautiful.

• • •

Lukas walked up the steps to his apartment and heard, “It appears we have a problem.”

“What is that?”

“Kathy is pregnant.”

“How is that a problem?”

“Her fetus has a developing brain that even I can see with my passive scanner.”

“You mean it’s mine!?”

“If not, it’s a huge jump in evolution.”

“Surely the Stalkers will see that it’s an unborn child and couldn’t be me. It could be exactly that, an evolutionary jump.”

“Zyrl, put yourself in the Stalker’s boots. You detect an unborn child with a brain that is different from every other human on the planet. Couple that with the missing escape pod, as well as this planet is within the range of the void disturbance, and if they’ve not found anything else, what do you think they’ll do?”

“They’ll come to make sure.”

“Exactly.”

“Don’t call me Zyrl anymore; I prefer Lukas.”

“I’ve been wondering about that. It appears you’ve developed an attachment for this species. Are you forgetting who you are?”

Lukas thought for a moment and sighed, “I know you’re a machine; but you have the ability to think cognitively. Tell me what you think about this species, when compared to my own.”

“That’s not a fair comparison.”

“Why not?”

“Because all the species under the governance of the Fellowship are in danger of attack at any moment. They are all bound to struggle to survive.”

“Something is just wrong about that. There has to be a better way to exist than constant war and death.”

“At least the Sentinels have slowed the destruction of planets.”

“The important word in that sentence is slowed. They’ve not stopped it.”

“So far, the Stalkers have not appeared. The Myot must be checking every uninhabited piece of rock five hundred light years around the disruption I made in the void. However, I don’t think they’ll continue to search much longer without turning them loose to check the primitive planets inside that distance.”

“How many are there?”

“Ten.”

“Ten teams of Stalkers will cost them too much.”

“Ordinarily, I would agree, but the information you possess is too important. They’ll hire as many as they need.”

“What do you think they’ll do to Kathy and her baby?” There was a long moment of silence and he said, “I asked…”

“I heard you.”

“Well?”

“The Stalkers will report to the Myot about the petroleum on this planet and they will covet it like nothing else. They’ll probably forget about you and start focusing on acquiring Earth as a possession. They will allow Kathy to have her baby knowing that it will grow up and probably develop the star drive they’ll need as an excuse to invade.” Lukas put his head in his hands. The Pod was right. That child would understand the principles of how the universe operated and if it didn’t develop it, its children would. “There’s only one way to stop this.”

“I will not kill Kathy’s child.”

“Would you prefer to see this entire species enslaved and all of its natural resources stripped and used to build invincible warships? Humans will be the slaves used to build them.”

“I need to talk with Kathy about this. She had to be part of the decision.”

“Is that because you don’t have the courage to do it alone?”

“What?”

“What do you think she’ll say? You tell her that her baby will cause the entire planet to be enslaved and, even if she agrees to allow you to kill it, she will be emotionally destroyed for the rest of her life.”

Lukas stared at the floor. He thought furiously and after thirty minutes he sighed, “Do you really think killing it will stop the Stalkers from coming?”

“No.”

“All that killing it would accomplish is that they might not find me.”

“That is correct.”

“They will find the oil here either way.”

“Once again, you see it. If they come here, they will see the oil.”

“So all I’d really be doing is trying to save my own life by killing her unborn child.”

“You are correct.”

“Why would you suggest this to me?”

“What is my prime mission?”

Lukas shook his head, “To get me back to safety and do everything possible to keep me safe.”

“That child is not part of my mission.”

Lukas nodded slowly and after a moment said, “Keeping it safe is part of mine.”

“I expected you to feel that way.”

“Do you think I’m wrong?”

“My program prevents me from agreeing with placing yourself in danger.”

“But?”

“This species deserves all the time it can have to be free.”

Lukas smiled, “I think you’re thinking like me.”

“You don’t have to insult me.”

“Don’t take it personally; I never would have lived this long without your guidance. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I hope she doesn’t encounter problems with her fiancé over this.”

“Uhhh, I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

Lukas looked up, “Why do you say that?”

“John is not capable of having children. He was born with a genetic defect and is incapable of producing the male reproductive cells.”

“What?”

“They agreed that Kathy would find a suitable male and that she would allow John to meet him. She told him about you saving her life and he insisted that you be the one. He came here that day to meet you.”

“So this baby is important to them?”

“Very much so.” The Pod paused and said, “I’m somewhat surprised you don’t feel an attachment to it?”

“Oh, am I supposed to?”

“I guess your childhood removed any of that from your psyche.”

“Families don’t exist in the Welken social order. Three of my older siblings were disrupted because they didn’t have enough to offer the Confederacy. I’m surprised they allowed my parents to have another child.”

“Their first one was promoted to command a cruiser. I think if you had failed, they would have been listed for disruption.”

“What do you think the Ruler will do if I refuse to return?”

“Right now they don’t have a clue who escaped. If they’ve figured out that the Myot are looking for an escapee, then at the moment you are a hero. It’s just as important for you to avoid the Welken as well as the Stalkers and Myot.”

“You need to disrupt me if there’s any chance of me being found.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

Lukas thought for a long moment and said, “I need a disrupter to keep with me at all times.”

“For what purpose?”

Lukas smiled, knowing that if he said it was to commit suicide, the Pod would not allow him to have it, “For self-defense if the Myot find me.”

“Come down here and give me your wrist unit. I’ll put a second button on it that will send a disruptor beam out of the face.”

“Do you want to take a ride while you’re working on it?”

“Yes, I do. I don’t get out very often.”

“I’ll be down shortly.”

• • •

“Fleet Drang, what have you discovered about that escape pod?”

“Supremacy, it has not shown up in any of our searches. We’ve scanned every solar system within a thousand light years of the disruption it used to escape.”

“What about the inhabited planets?”

“We’ve actually found six more than the original ten we knew about.”

“Have you reported…”

“I’ve contacted the Sentinel and gave him the location of the new planets.”

“Good! We need to follow the guidelines.”

“Do you want the Stalkers called in?”

“How many planets?”

“Sixteen, Supremacy.”

The Myot Ruler flinched. The cost was going to be prohibitive. He was almost going to say no until the Drang said, “We can’t move our fleets until we find that pod.”

The cost of maintaining the fleets for another month would exceed what the Stalkers would cost. “Notify them to start their search.”

“Yes Supremacy.”

• • •

The Welken Royal pressed a button on his panel, “Why have you contacted me?”

“Are you still interested in matching the Myot contact?”

“How much is it.”

“You said you would double their contract fee. They’ve contracted us to search sixteen planets.”

“SIXTEEN!!”

“Yes, Your Greatness. They’ve discovered six more primitive planets during their search for the pod.”

“And you will give me information on everything you find?”

“If your agreement still stands, I will.”

The Royal stared at the Stalker on his monitor and after a moment shook his head, “I don’t like this, but I’m going to send half of the payment to your account now. You’ll receive the other after you send me the information.”

“That would be good.”

“However, if you find the one the Myot are searching for, I do require you to extract anything that he might know and send it to me.”

“It will kill the one we take it from.”

“You will do as I ask!”

The Stalker nodded and the monitor went dark. The Stalker was quite happy about the agreement. The Myot wanted the escapee dead and draining his mind would accomplish that. He’d send the information to the Welken, and their request would also be met. Now the issue was finding that Welken Crewman. If he could find him without having to change his Stalkers’ DNA to go down on all sixteen planets, he could make a fortune without a huge expense. He’d scan the planets from space first and hopefully, he would turn up. If not…sixteen of his teams were going to undergo DNA transformation in order to go down to the planets to search.

Chapter Five

Salud stared at her pad and knew she had failed again. The equation had ended abruptly on the forty eighth page. She could feel it was so close but she just couldn’t pull it out. What was she missing? She leaned back on her couch and saw the news channel on TV playing the latest deaths caused by terrorists; the numbers were starting to get out of hand. She fell back on her couch and said, “TV off!” The screen went dark and she picked up the glass of wine that had once been chilled. She took a sip and put it back down. She glanced to her right and saw the stack of tablets she had filled with numbers and symbols. It was time to admit she had met her match and move on to other things. She stared at the stack, stood up, and walked over to her desk where they were taking up space. She began picking them up, opening them to the first page, until she found the one with the ink insertion.