Escape to Earth-Living Legends (18 page)

“Yes. It finally dawned on me that seeing you in those pajamas is what made the difference. I just wanted to let you know.”

Shelia’s smile was huge as she ran across the bridge and lept into his lap. She kissed him hard and he wrapped her up in his arms. She broke the kiss and she said, “I’ve been watching you for so long hoping you would speak to me when we landed our ships.”

Omny smiled, “You no longer have to worry about that.” Shelia jumped up and headed toward the port. “Hey, where are you going?”

Shelia turned and smiled before she disappeared, “I need to get some PJs.”

Omny smiled and shook his head as he heard. “Should I be blushing?”

“You’re not capable of doing it, Granny. I think I can do it enough for both of us.”

• • •

Averel rolled over and woke Hengel up. She knew she shouldn’t be so nosey but she liked this pilot and his ship. She also liked the woman that had cared about him from a distance for so long; she had never told him. She wrapped her arms around Hengel and he said, “What?” That was the last word he was able to say for a while.

• • •

Omny sat in the conference room at Fleet Operations on Earth. This was the first time he had returned to Earth since his family was killed by the invaders. Shelia sat beside him holding his hand. He requested that she be allowed to go with him and Admiral Greenwall approved it.

“Omny, are you all right?”

“I guess. It seems like centuries ago…I lost most of the memory that year I spent in the hospital.”

“That had to be tough on you.”

Omny shrugged, “Actually, what the pilots did wasn’t anywhere near what I endured in that place. However, I don’t remember most of it. My mind was gone.”

“What brought you back?”

“One day I was sitting outside and heard a construction converter operating outside the walls. I’ve always been a builder and that sound led me out of the fog. Within a few weeks, I was normal enough to go to work.” He looked at Shelia, “But I was not the same person that went in. I’m serious when I say that Scott died with his family. This life I’m living now started after the insane asylum.”

Shelia slowly nodded and softly said, “I’m thankful you’ve let me be a part of it.”

“Shelia, I really don’t deserve you. I mean look at you! You’re so beautiful and…young.”

“Omny, beauty is highly overrated. At best it’s transient and age robs everyone of it eventually. It’s what’s inside the person that makes them worth being with. You are more than I could ever hope for, Omny.”

Omny nodded as Michael and the Leadership Team entered the conference room. Omny and Shelia came to attention and Michael said, “AS YOU WERE! We want to keep this meeting informal as possible so sit down and relax.” Omny and Shelia sat down and Michael said, “I think you already know Luke Axel, Earth’s chosen leader and Admiral Greenwall. This is Admiral Audrey Stone, my half-sister, and Admiral Joshua Stone, my half-brother. I believe you also know Laney.”

“Sir, I think we know about everyone in this room. All of Earth’s Warriors know about your team.”

Michael smiled, “Well, the three you see sitting at the end of the table are my personal escorts and bodyguards. The handsome one is Jay Martin and the two lovely ladies with him are Josey Bartolo and Jan Keller.”

Omny looked at Jan, “You’re the one the Monster was chasing?” Jan smiled and nodded.

Michael pointed to the left and said, “The two sitting next to Laney are…”

Shelia said, “The Blaine Twins.” Michael smiled and saw the twins were surprised that she knew them. “All of us owe them so much for the things they’ve developed to defend us. It’s a real pleasure to finally meet you.”

Nudge nudged Budge and he stood up, “Thank you. It’s good to hear we’re appreciated.”

Omny nodded, “Oh you’re much more than appreciated. The Legends are not the only Living Legends.”

Budge turned red and Nudge laughed, “Now that’s creative, Lieutenant.”

Michael sat down and said, “The reason we’re here is to determine what we’re going to do about this new ship the Legends are using. We’ve seen that it is faster than anything they’ve ever built and to say it’s more powerful would be an understatement. We actually only have two options. The first is to go to the galaxy where they are being manufactured and blow the living hell out of the ships as well as their facilities.” Michael paused and looked at Jan, “Why don’t you tell us what we’d run in to if we chose that option?”

“What caused that giant warship to see us and give chase was that my ship had to find the mind of that ship’s navigator and see the coordinates of the galaxy that it was headed toward.”

Omny’s eyes narrowed, “What do you mean, look at the navigator’s mind?”

Michael said, “All of our ships are telepathic. There is a module that the Silver Ships gave my father that would enable it to hear and broadcast telepathically.”

Omny and Shelia shook their heads as Michael looked at Jan and nodded. “The Monster was commanded by a being that was also telepathic and it detected Langley focusing on their crew member. The Monster sent a device into the barrier and it ignited an explosion that disrupted the barrier and my ship was thrown out of it. I immediately went to full speed in the void but that ship was just as fast.”

Omny tilted his head, “What did you find out?”

“Before that happened, about two weeks earlier, Langley, my computer, was able to determine that the Monster was headed toward the Bullet Cluster. We decided to ditch following it and went directly there. You did see that giant galaxy off in the distance, didn’t you?” Omny and Shelia nodded. “We stayed in the barrier out in intergalactic space and Langley was overwhelmed with the massive volume of thoughts he heard emanating from there. All of the thoughts were being made by Legends.”

Omny looked from Jan to Michael and he nodded, “It appears only the Legends in the Pandora Cluster live in isolation with one per galaxy.”

Jan nodded and said, “Before Langley had time to try and focus on the thoughts, we heard a thought that almost mentally deafened us. It was so powerful I heard it through my thought blocker and I’m not telepathic. It demanded to know who we were.”

Omny’s eyes narrowed, “And you were in the barrier?”

“We were. It saw us at an extreme distance from that galaxy. Langley told it that we were scientists that wanted to see what two galaxies looked like that had merged. The being actually allowed us to take a scan of the galaxy and told us to leave and not return.”

Michael looked at Averel, “Tell them what we think that being is.”

The Goran looked at them and smiled, “Let me say that I really like the two of you, especially together.” Omny and Shelia smiled. Michael shook his head. Everyone liked Averel. She was just so unpretentious and direct. She was the nosiest being he ever met but somehow she pulled it off without generating resentment. “My species is telepathic. We will occasionally all link our minds to determine important decisions that affect all of us. When we chose Michael’s father to lead us, all of us were linked to make the decision.” Averel paused and said, “This is difficult to describe to someone that is not telepathic so stop me if I lose you.” She paused and then said, “Imagine your brain and how it works. It’s made from millions of cells that are all interconnected and that structure produces thoughts. Can you see that?” Everyone nodded. “Now each individual brain cell doesn’t produce a thought on its own. You as an individual are a product of all of them working together.”

Averel looked around and said, “Now imagine millions, no, billions of telepaths that are all linked mentally together. They all hear the same thing, see the same thing, and during that linkage, the entire species takes on the aspects of a single intelligent organism. Unlike your brain, each of the telepaths do actually produce their own thoughts. However, that overall entity that is made by the linkage operates independently of all the individuals. It’s like a single living life form.”

Omny nodded, “You’re of the opinion that the one that saw Commodore Keller was that type of entity. It was created by all the Legends’ minds in that galaxy?”

Averel nodded, “Very good Commodore.”

“Uhhh, I’m not a Commodore.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Michael chuckled and said, “So if we choose option one and go after those ships in that galaxy, which rivals M-87 in size, we will be seen long before we arrive and we won’t just be facing the ones building those ships but every ship those billions of Legends possess.”

Omny looked at Shelia and she said, “Option one sounds like suicide.”

Michael looked at her, “Why do you say that?”

“At the current level of technology we’re using, we’re only able to prevail against the Legends’ Main Warships by using the barrier. It appears that is no longer an option. We’d also have to fight our way through God knows how many warships of unknown technology to find where those ships are being built.”

Audrey nodded, “It’s a lot worse than that.”

Omny looked at her, “How could it be worse?”

“Averel and her leaders are of the opinion that the being that saw Jan is capable of attacking ships and killing the crews.”

“How is that possible?”

“You’re aware the Sentinels are capable of doing it, aren’t you?” Both nodded. “This being would have similar capabilities. We’d have to fight our way through it as well.”

Omny stared at Audrey and then clapped his hands, “Well alright. Let’s hear it for option number two!” The depressing silence was immediately broken by laughter. Michael shook his head and smiled, “You catch on pretty quick.”

“Hey, it doesn’t take a genius to see that’s a nut we can’t crack…yet.”

Michael’s head tilted, “What do you mean, ‘yet’?”

“Forty years ago, we were planet bound and didn’t even have a colony outside of Earth. Now look at where we’ve come. I think with scientists like the Blaines and Ambroses, we’ll work on that issue like a giant worry stone and keep rubbing it until we find an answer to it. By-the-way, what’s option two?”

Luke said, “We come up with a way to take on those Monster Ships.”

Omny looked at him and sighed, “That’s why I’m here?”

Luke nodded, “It is.”

J
an leaned back in her chair and watched the back and forth in the meeting and saw Josey staring at Michael. She knew that look. Josey was going after him and Josey never missed anyone she set her sights on. She looked at Omny and was impressed. He had a quick mind and a humorous way of defusing pressure situations. She always saw herself as an observer watching events around her and learning from them. That was part of the reason for her previous appearance. No one noticed her doing it. She saw that she had lost that camouflage. Pretty much everyone in the meeting would look at her often enough that she had to be careful focusing too closely on any one of them. In the past, Josey commanded that attention and she could fly under the radar. She thought about dyeing her hair again and going back undercover. She saw Omny move toward the giant monitor on the wall with an electronic pointer and she put those thoughts aside and focused on him.

Omny looked at Admiral Jekins and said, “Sir, can you bring the view of that ship in closer where the lines of disruptors can be seen.”

Michael said, “We are dispensing with military honorifics for the remainder of this meeting and feel free to use first names.”

Omny looked at him and smiled, “Sir…Uhhh… that has been almost bludgeoned in us from day one. I’ll try but forgive me if I fail.” He turned to the monitor and saw the hull of the giant black warship was filling the screen. “I noticed something about this ship’s disruptors while making a turn to move back in. I think we can all see that there are two lines of forty disruptors moving along the hull parallel to each other. There’s about three hundred yards between the two lines, which is plenty of room for a Battle Pod to fly in. I want you to also notice that at the end of the two lines, the next two lines of disruptors are slightly staggered so that they begin in the middle of the first two lines.”

“They overlap.”

Omny looked at Katy and smiled, “Yes Sir. Uhhh, yes they do.”

“Come on Omny, call me Katy.”

“Yes…Katy.” Omny turned back to the monitor and said, Admiral, Jekins…”

“Call me Jinks.”

Omny smiled, “Just like your father. Ok, Jinks, orient the view of the ship so we’re looking down a row of disruptors so that the horizon beyond the ship is in the view.” The view changed and the gathering saw the tall disruptor towers running across the hull with empty space beyond them as the ship’s hull disappeared below the horizon.

“Jinks, do you have a recording of the disruptors being fired from this angle that can be played in slow motion.” The image on the monitor changed and they saw the disruptors start firing and everyone shook their heads at the massive beams. “Just a little bit faster so that there’s about half a second between each shot.”

“What are we looking for, Omny?”

“Katy, I saw a pattern to how they were firing. Wait until the first disruptor fires and then watch what happens.” Everyone suddenly saw the first of the forty disruptors in the line fire and was immediately followed by the second, then the third, the fourth and all the way down to half way down the line before it repeated. “Now, look at the second twenty in the line and notice that when the first one is firing, the tenth one in the second twenty disruptors is firing.”

Jinks nodded, “They are programmed to fire in sequence.”

“That’s what I saw. When the twentieth disruptor fires, the first disruptor in the second twenty fires.”

Jay said, “What did you do with this information?”

“I determined that that sequence didn’t change. I had Granny, my ship’s computer.” That comment bought laughter from the group and Omny smiled. “The name sort of goes with Old Man. Anyway, she analyzed the pattern and at no time did a disruptor fire behind the others until its time in the sequence. I decided that I might be able to fly in at high speed while firing all disruptors ahead of me to break through the force field and fly in between the two lines and move down them as the disruptors fired just ahead of me.”