Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground (15 page)

“Their scanners were sending information to the planet.”

“So they can receive electronic signals?”

“It appears they can.”

“I want you to send another microprobe back to that planet that was attacked with the same information we’ve just uncovered. Tell them I’ll be coming back to discuss it with them later.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“Audrey, they’re going to be attacked just like Earth was. It appears they aren’t conquerors or their attackers would have seen ships coming and going. They deserve our help.”

“And if you’re wrong about them?”

“We now know they go out into interstellar space to collect Dark Energy. We’re going to use the microprobe to tell us when one of their ships leaves to collect it. I intend to follow it and see how they do it.”

Audrey nodded and climbed between the seats to go into the sleeping quarters, “I’m going to take a nap.” Chris nodded and she left the cockpit.

“She’s something special, isn’t she?” Chris nodded. “Are you feeling anything?”

“What do you mean, Willow?”

“You’re a twenty year old human, she’s a beautiful woman, and don’t you feel the juices flowing?”

Chris blew out a breath, “Willow, that is something better left for after I’ve completed my destiny. I don’t have time for…romance or anything else.”

“Just checking.”

“Now you know. Besides, she sees me as a ten year old. You know how revolting that would be for a woman to even consider.”

“I think she’s past that, Chris.”

“Oh?”

“She’s come to the conclusion that with your hybrid brain, you are something different all together. She’s probably more intimidated than revolted by you.”

“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

“Aren’t you sleepy?”

“I don’t need more than one or two hours of sleep a day. It’s been that way as long as I can remember. I can just close my eyes here in the chair and get what I need.”

“I’m launching the two probes. I’ll let you know if we hear back from Fleet.”

“Good, why don’t you head back toward that planet so we can follow their ships?”

“I’ll skip in above their planetary system so we can see one when it leaves.”

“That would be good.” Chris closed his eyes and kept them closed for three hours.

• • •

Jinks walked into Lukas’ office and said, “We’ve received a microprobe from Christopher.”

Lukas turned around in his chair, “What’s going on!?!”

“He’s found a war taking place between two civilizations and it appears one of them is a possible invader civilization in the making. The planet they’re attacking uses Dark Energy to power their force fields.”

“Dark Energy?”

“Yes, and they have a force field around their planet that is pretty powerful.”

“Now that is something we can use.”

“He doesn’t know if they’ll share it with us but he’s planning to follow one of their ships and see how they collect it. The new invaders are planning to attack that planet again in four months with nine fleets and attempt to overwhelm the defenders.”

“Send what you have to my console.”

Jinks handed Lukas a datacube, “It’s all on this. What do think we should do?”

“Let me take a look at this first. We’ll discuss it afterwards.” Jinks nodded and sat down.

• • •

Piper listened to the exchange and thought, “Elder, I think we need to get one of us out to the young human and keep track of what he’s doing.”

“Why do you think that?”

“He’s found a civilization using Dark Energy.”

“That is not good.”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“If they share what they discover with us, then we can trust them. We need to wait and see.”

“We’ve given you the authority to decide what we do about this species. I’m sending Cipher to watch him.”

• • •

“Chris.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve detected the presence of a Silver Ship.”

Chris sat up in his chair, “Where is it?”

“I can’t see it but I can sense its presence.”

“Is it Piper?”

“No, it feels different.”

Chris thought for a moment and thought, “Are you here to keep an eye on us?”

“Now just how did you know I was here!?”

“We can’t see you but we can feel your presence. Piper must have heard about what we found out here and suggested you come and take a look.”

“That’s exactly what happened.”

“I’m going to have my ship transmit everything we’ve found so far. If we discover anything else, I’ll send it to you.”

“Wait a moment.” Chris’s eyes narrowed and after a minute the Silver Ship thought, “Piper also just received a recording you sent back to your planet. Did you suggest that?”

“No but we promised to keep you informed on anything we might use to develop new weapons. So far we only have knowledge about this planet’s use of Dark Energy. We don’t know how to use it, yet. By the way, what’s your name?”

“Cipher.”

“I assume you know my name is Chris. My ship’s name is Willow and my friend here with us is Audrey.”

“Piper told me about your ship. I find that really extraordinary.”

“Thank you, Cipher.”

“I think I’m going to like this assignment. What are you planning to do?”

“We’re going to follow one of the ships from this planet and see if we can detect how they collect Dark Energy.”

“Do you mind if I tag along?”

“Would it matter if we did?”

“Not really, but it’s polite to ask.”

“Then do what you need to do. If you need to talk with us, feel free to do so.”

“I’ll try to stay out of your way.”

“That would be appreciated.”

• • •

Four hours later, Willow announced, “Thousands of ships have moved out of the planet’s force field and are accelerating toward the gravity limit. It appears they have deciphered what you sent them.”

“Why do you think that?”

“They must be sending their fleets to recharge their reactors in preparation for the coming attack. I’m moving into the void and deploying the cloud around us. Do not use your telepathy!”

“Which way are they headed?”

“Directly toward us.”

“Do they see us?”

“I don’t think so, this is the most direct route to open space.”

“Sound the buzzer and get Audrey up here.”

A minute later, Audrey climbed out of the sleeping quarters and said, “What’s going on?”

“The planet is sending ships out into open space. We’re following them.”

“They’re moving directly toward us.”

“But they’re not all converging this way. They’re taking the most direct route to interstellar space which is directly above Andromeda.” Audrey watched the glow of thousands of stardrives as they accelerated past them. Willow allowed them to get some distance and began following them. After two hours the ships entered normal space and Chris said, “Extend an antenna into normal space and use your passive scanner to watch them.”

“What are they doing, Willow?”

“The rear section on those ship’s hulls is moving out. It appears they are forming a scoop of some kind.”

“That must be how they collect Dark Energy.”

“I thought Dark Energy wasn’t in a form where it could be collected?”

Chris nodded and looked at Audrey, “Most scientists agree that between seventy eight and eighty six percent of the universe is composed of Dark Energy. All of the open space you see is made of Dark Energy.”

“But there’s nothing there! It’s just a vast emptiness.”

“Actually, it’s not. Open space would not exist if it was just nothing. If that were the case, every bit of matter would be pressed up against each other. It’s Dark Energy that is pushing those pieces of matter away from each other. That’s why the universe is still expanding. The particles that make up space are so small, they can’t be detected and they don’t do anything but exert a repulsive force on all the matter in the universe.”

“But…”

“Space is growing larger, Audrey. The galaxies are being pushed away from each other and the space between them is growing. That has to mean the particles that make Dark Energy are either growing or more are coming into existence all the time.”

“Chris, we’ve moved through normal space millions of time and have never detected any particles.”

“But our speed of travel in normal space is limited to the speed of light. It’s those particles that must be slowing us down so that we can’t exceed it.”

“How do you come up with that?”

“Space must be like water but in a different form. The faster you move through water, what happens?”

“It almost becomes a solid.”

“Exactly. And at the speed of light, Dark Energy must also take on the properties of a solid, which prevents anything from going faster. That must be how they collect it. They accelerate close to the speed of light and collect the particles with their scoops.” Chris said, “Willow, can you tell what those scoops are made of?”

“It appears to be the same substance as the hulls of the Silver Ships.”

Chris stared at the monitor for a moment and said, “Get us out of here.”

Audrey shook her head, “Why? We don’t have an answer to what it’s made of.”

“We aren’t going to find the answer to that out here. We have to go back to the planet.”

“What’s going on, Chris?”

“These ships already have their scoops. We have to find a ship leaving the planet that isn’t headed out to interstellar space. We need to get back now!!”

“I
don’t understand.”

“Audrey, the substance coating those scoops is not out in interstellar space. It’s located inside the galaxy. If the grey ships are anticipating another attack, they must have stepped up their construction of ships. That means they will have to take the panels that make those scoops to wherever they get the coating. We must follow them to that source.”

Audrey shook her head as she saw the small glow from stars in normal space go by them at an incredible speed. “I have a large ship leaving the planet and skipping out.”

“Don’t lose it, Willow.”

“It’s headed toward the central black hole.”

“Stay on it. Use three reactors on the gravity drive!”

“Switching now. Chris, the black cloud around us is starting to be affected by the gravity forces around the black hole.”

“Audrey, go back into the storage bay and start putting more magnets on the wall. Get moving.” Audrey jumped up and went between the seats toward the rear of the pod. “Hold your position here, Willow. Can you keep track of where they’re headed?”

“I still have them visually; they’ve slowed down considerably.”

“They must be fighting the tidal forces coming out of the singularity.”

“They’ve flipped the vessel around and are using the thrusters to push against it.”

The wall speaker said, “I have all of them on the walls and activated.”

“Willow?”

“The cloud is holding right up against the drive field.”

“Move us in and start recording what’s happening.” Audrey moved back into her chair and buckled herself in. “Willow, where did they go?”

“They entered normal space.”

“Turn us around and use the thrusters to keep us in position. Don’t enter normal space, extend an antenna and see what’s going on.”

“The small pod flipped and they heard the thrusters go to full power. Chris kept his eyes on the monitor and saw a flash before the antenna was ripped away. Get us out of here, Willow!!”

“I’m going to switch to full thrusters. Try to get comfortable and hold on; you’re going to feel the gravity.”

Chris leaned back in his chair and reached over and pushed Audrey back in hers a moment before they were pulled back with an incredible force. Chris’s arm snapped as the pod fought the incredible forces at work. After what seemed like hours, the unrelenting gravity began reducing in strength. Chris leaned forward and grabbed his shoulder. Audrey raised her head and saw his arm was dangling from his shoulder. Chris’s expression was pure torment and after a moment he closed his eyes and passed out.

“CHRIS!!”

“I have him unconscious while I use the DNA processor to repair his arm.”

“What happened?”

“He saw you weren’t fully back in your chair. If he hadn’t pushed you back you would have probable shattered your spine. I’m going to put you under as well and check you out.”

“But…” Audrey’s eyes closed and Willow continued to move away from the center of Andromeda.

• • •

Audrey heard a humming noise and she opened her eyes. She saw Chris was still inside a sparking cloud next to her and she said, “How is he?”

“It’s a massive task reworking his right arm and shoulder.”

“Is he going to be ok?”

“Yes. Lukas was hurt much more severely when I originally pushed him toward Earth.”

“I was so stupid.”

“You need to listen and react much faster. I’m surprised he managed to push you back in time.”

“I didn’t see his arm move. I guess he has his father’s speed.”

“He considers Stoney as his father, although he loves Lukas and Salud as well.”

“They’re his godparents.”

“He considers them much more than that. The love of a child is pure, Audrey.”

“But you said yourself that he is not a child.”

“His love is pure. He has no experience in what love is like for an adult. His mind is brilliant but he has much to learn about the higher emotions of humans.”

“Were you able to get anything before the antenna blew away?” The monitor illuminated and Audrey stared at it. She shook her head, “Is that what I think it is?”

“That is a white planet circling a star that is revolving around the black hole at an incredible speed.”

“It would have to be to avoid being sucked into it.”

“That planet appears to made of the same substance that coats the Silver Ships and the scoops used by the Grey Ships.”

Chris opened his eyes and said, “Could one of our battleships using all of its reactors on the gravity suppressors get close?”

“CHRIS!”

Chris winced and looked at Audrey, “I’m ok.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Things got out of hand too fast back there. Don’t blame yourself for what happened.”