Escape to Earth-The Legacy of a Conqueror (21 page)

He looked at Allison as she pressed her panel. She quietly said, “Fleet. Destroy all our probes in M-87 immediately. This is a Red Flag Priority.” She turned off her panel and looked at the giant ship in orbit above the planet. After a moment, she started breathing again. She looked at Chris and he nodded. She was right to do it.

• • •

Jinks rushed into Lukas’s office, “We’ve received a message from Chris to destroy all our probes in M-87! It was a Red Flag!”

“JINKS DO IT NOW!”

Jinks nodded and ran out of his office talking loudly on his wrist unit.

• • •

“LORD, WE HAVE REPORTS OF THOUSANDS OF PROBES EXPLODING ALL OVER THE GALAXY!”

“THEY ARE WATCHING YOU! FIND THEM!”

Chris turned the bow away from the planet and pressed the right pedal to the floor. The Pod flew out of the giant galaxy in an instant and Chris brought it to a stop more than a million light years away. He looked at Allison and shook his head. “Gene, keep an antenna in the void and let me know if you see anything moving our way.”

Allison began pressing buttons and her panel lit up. Chris began activating his programs and he stared at the void and normal space monitors. His fear was almost overwhelming. After two hours, he deactivated his armor and saw Allison turn hers off as well. She jumped up and ran across the small bridge and threw herself in his arms and started weeping. Chris held her and stroked her hair. “We’re alright! We’re alright!”

• • •

Loree ordered her scouts out of M-87 and they went to full speed. The new battleships flew out of the galaxy at a speed that left M-87 quickly behind. The Montana flew into a dwarf galaxy circling M-87 as Loree looked at Janice, “Show me the last images we received from the probes!” Janice pressed a button and they saw a huge Black Ship moving quickly toward the probe. The view ended and other views began appearing. The Black Ships were moving toward the probes at an incredible speed in every image. Then the images stopped as the probes self-destructed. She looked at Janice.

“Sir, none of our probes are operational.”

“Did you get a reading on that black ship’s speed?”

“It was moving faster than we can fly, Sir.”

Loree punched her panel, “ALL SCOUTS, STOP AND ACTIVATE YOUR BLACK CLOUD! EVADE, EVADE, EVADE!”

Loree looked at Janice, “Sir, ten ships have failed to respond.”

Hawk looked at Loree and nodded toward the tactical monitor, “Sir!”

Loree looked at the monitor and saw a huge Black Ship blow past them at an incredible speed. “Take us into normal space and keep the cloud around us.” Hawk nodded as they saw the black ship start a wide turn on the monitor as they left the void.

The Montana entered normal space and Loree yelled, “RUN TO THAT MOON AND LAND IN A CRATER!. DO IT NOW!”

Hawk accelerated the huge battleship and dove into a deep, high walled crater. Loree grabbed her chair and knew they were going to crash. How Hawk managed to prevent it was beyond her. She looked at Janice, “Kill all power to the ship; keep the black mist flowing around us!”

“Sir, the bow is not completely covered, yet.”

The inside of the entire ship went black. The only light they could see on the bridge was through the small section of the view port not yet covered by the black mist where the top of the huge crater wall above them was in direct sunlight. She stared at the top of that wall and saw a giant shape pass over it. Then the dark cloud covered the entire ship and they were in pitch-black darkness.

• • •

Finally, Allison stopped crying and stood up, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I almost ran to you.”

Allison wiped her face with her sleeve and shook her head, “Uh Unnn.”

“No, honestly.”

She exhaled and moved back to her chair. “How long are we going to stay here?”

“We’re leaving now.”

“Where are we going? Please don’t say back to that planet!”

“No.” Chris looked up, “Barbie, do you know the coordinates of the place that ship entered M-87?”

“No, but they should be easy to determine. I have the line it followed on its way in.”

“You have the ship. Take us to a location far enough out where we will be able to see if that ship leaves.” The ship moved back toward M-87.

• • •

“Chris, I have us three hundred thousand miles out. Our optical system should be able to get a very good view if that vessel returns this way.”

“Thanks, Barbie. I want you to activate the receiving portion of your telepathy module. Focus in on the Legend’s and convert what you hear to our speakers.”

“Is that a good idea!?”

Chris looked at Allison and saw her fear, “They won’t be able to detect anyone listening.”

“But they can hear our thoughts!”

“Barbie will leave the transmitter off. They might get a line on me if I tried to listen because I could not avoid thinking about what I hear. However, Barbie can shut it off entirely.” The wall speaker came on and they heard:

• • •

“…PERFORMED DEPLORABLY AND YOU SHOULD BE PUNISHED OR REMOVED FROM YOUR STATION.”

“LORD, WE HAVE TOTAL CONTROL OF THIS GIANT GALAXY, WHICH WAS THE MISSION WE WERE GIVEN.”

“I REALLY CAN’T FIND FAULT WITH THAT BUT EXPANDING THIS DOMAIN HAS BEEN A HUGE FAILURE.”

“THINGS WERE PROGRESSING MARVELOUSLY UNTIL WE DETECTED THAT MENTAL ENTITY IN THE SPIRAL GALAXY FIFTY MILLION LIGHT YEARS FROM HERE.”

“WHAT?”

“WE DETECTED THE MENTAL PRESENCE OF AN ENTITY HERE AND TRACED IT BACK TO THAT SPIRAL GALAXY. IT WAS INCREDIBLY POWERFUL AND WE DETERMINED IT HAD TO BE KILLED BEFORE WE COULD CONTINUE OUR EXPANSION. IT REPRESENTED A DANGER TO OUR SURVIVAL.”

“SHOW ME WHAT YOU DETECTED!”

There was a long silence and Allison looked at Chris, “Can anyone hear their thoughts? I heard them when we were at their planet with the thought blocking system at full power.”

“If a telepath projects his thoughts, then those he’s focused on will hear them. However, if the telepaths power is large enough, everyone nearby will hear them. You heard them because of our close proximity to the planet.”

“Shouldn’t our armor have blocked their thoughts?”

“These creatures are an entirely different level than regular telepaths. The power of their mind is such that they sound like a person who can only talk by yelling at the top of their voice. The power of their thoughts overwhelmed the power of our blocking circuits in our helmets.” The speaker came on again and they turned to it.

“THIS BEING APPEARS TO HAVE A MUCH HIGHER LEVEL OF ENERGY THAN US.”

“LORD, IT COULD BE A REAL DANGER TO US IF NOT FOR OUR DISRUPTOR FREQUENCY.”

“YOU WERE WISE TO DIRECT YOUR EFFORTS AT FINDING IT.”

“IN ORDER TO KILL IT, OUR TOOLS HAD TO FIGHT THEIR WAY THROUGH THAT ENTITY’S WARSHIPS THAT WERE AT A HIGHER TECHNOLOGICAL LEVEL. WE WERE FORCED TO SEND THE MAJORITY OF OUR FORCES TO THAT GALAXY TO KILL IT. OUR LOSSES WERE INCREDIBLE AND WE LOST CONTROL OF THE GALAXY WE INVADED DUE TO HAVING TO PULL OUR FORCES FROM THERE.”

“ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU KILLED IT AND DO YOU KNOW THAT WAS THE ONLY BEING LIKE IT IN THAT GALAXY?”

“WE SAW ITS STRUCTURE HIT BY NUMEROUS DISRUPTORS AND IT FELL APART. WE’VE NOT DETECTED ANY OTHER PATTERN LIKE IT AND WE’VE BEEN SEARCHING THAT GALAXY FOR A VERY LONG TIME.”

“BUT IF THERE’S ONE, THERE HAS TO BE OTHERS.”

“THAT’S WHY WE CONTACTED YOU, LORD. THAT BEING’S SPECIES MAY ISOLATE THEMSELVES IN DIFFERENT GALAXIES SIMILAR TO HOW WE FUNCTION. WE FELT THE INFORMATION SHOULD BE PASSED ON TO YOU.”

“IT APPEARS YOUR CONTROL HAS SUFFERED FROM YOUR ACTIONS.”

“THERE ARE THREE GALAXIES THAT ARE WAITING FOR A WEAKNESS TO ATTACK OUR FORCES. WE ARE REBUILDING OUR FORCES TO REGAIN CONTROL BUT WE HAVE SUFFERED A SETBACK THAT WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO OVERCOME. HOWEVER, WE WILL REGAIN CONTROL.”

“THAT TIME SHOULD BE SHORTENED WITH THE ADDITION OF THE NEW WARSHIPS I’VE BROUGHT YOU.” Chris looked at Allison and shook his head. “YOU SHOULD USE THEM WISELY.”

“LORD, WE WILL USE OUR TOOLS TO DO MOST OF THE FIGHTING. THEY NEED TO HAVE THEIR NUMBERS CONTROLLED OR THEY MAY EVENTUALLY REBEL.”

“YOUR TRAINING IS NOT AS BAD AS I FIRST THOUGHT. I CAN NOW SEE HOW YOUR EXPANSION WAS SLOWED. IT DOES APPEAR THAT YOU SHOULD GO AND MAKE THE ADVANCED CIVILIZATON IN THAT SPIRAL GALAXY YOUR NEW TOOL.”

“ONCE OUR TRAINING IS COMPLETED, ONE OF US WILL TAKE CONTROL THERE.”

“YOUR TRAINING WILL BE COMPLETED WHEN YOU REGAIN CONTROL OF THIS GALAXY AND REMOVE THE THREATS TO YOUR TOOLS.”

“THANK YOU, LORD. THAT IS OUR FOCUS AND THE SHIPS YOU BROUGHT TO US WILL HELP MAKE THAT HAPPEN.”

“DON’T DISAPPOINT ME AGAIN!”

“YES, LORD!”

• • •

Chris looked at Allison, “I want you to turn off all our monitors and send the passive controls to my console.”

“Why?”

“I need to conduct an experiment. I want you to sit in your chair and tell me when that ship moves toward our position.”

“Without my scanners, that’s impossible.”

“Humor me and focus on seeing if you can feel them. Gene, Alley, Barbie, do not tell her anything.”

“Chris why are you doing this?”

“Allison, I can’t tell you until that ship leaves this galaxy. Then I’ll explain what’s going on.”

Allison sighed and nodded. “I am going to assume the last thing they said indicates that it is departing.”

“I’ve arrived at the same conclusion.” Allison sat back in her command chair and closed her eyes. Chris kept his eyes on her and fifteen minutes later, she started squirming in her chair, then she started shaking followed by opening her eyes and looking at Chris in a panic, “They’re here!” Chris looked at the monitor and saw the massive black ship blow past the edge of the galaxy and then accelerate away at an incredible speed. He got up and went to Allison and went down to a knee in front of her. He grabbed her hands and shook his head, “You are not afraid! What you’re feeling is caused by that ship. It’s not real, it’s induced.”

Allison was shaking and she saw that Chris appeared to be calm, “You’re not showing fear!”

“Because I suspected it wasn’t real and that allowed me to fight it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“I had to know if I was right and I had to see if it affected normal people that aren’t telepaths.”

Allison took deep breaths and in a minute shook her head, “This feeling is overwhelming but I’m fighting it. What happened and how did you know they caused this?”

Chris held her hands and looked back at the monitor, “You showed me it wasn’t real.”

Allison’s head tilted, “What?”

“You came into my arms in stark uncontrollable fear. Allison, you are the bravest person I’ve ever known and that is not like you. Something overwhelmed you emotionally and it had to be artificial.”

Allison’s breathing began slowing and she lowered her eyes as she focused on the feelings threatening to overwhelm her. She looked at Chris and he said, “Are you alright?” Allison nodded and Chris stood up and went to his command chair.

“How does this happen?”

Chris exhaled loudly and looked at her, “I’m not really sure but I suspect that the Legends emit either a technological energy pattern or their minds naturally give off a field that causes any being they encounter to have the part of their mind that controls their emotions to be adversely affected.”

“But the only emotion I felt was fear.”

“The first emotion I felt when I saw that ship moving toward us was fear. It was that emotion that was enhanced to the point where it ran out of control. I don’t know if I’m right but if they’ve conquered a species that now worships them, it would be that adoration that would be exploited.”

“That would almost be addictive.”

“It would be addictive. That is how they control the galaxies they conquer after enough time has passed.”

“Why haven’t the two species in this galaxy learned to adore them?”

Chris sighed, “I hate to say this but the Legends here may be children of their species that are being taught how to conquer a galaxy; the part of their mind that creates that field is not fully developed yet.”

“Children?”

“I’m strictly guessing but the being that came here sounded like an adult scolding them.”

“They’re the nastiest children I’ve ever seen.”

“And they’re going to get nastier. If they win this war, one of them is going to come to the Milky Way and take control.”

Allison shook her head, “Chris, how can we fight them if we’re immobilized by fear?”

“That is going to have to be handled by our engineers. The thought blocking systems have to be greatly strengthened before we can take them on directly.”

Allison nodded, “That’s why we weren’t able to think clearly at their planet?” Chris nodded. “We had all the evidence we needed to know that they could not detect us in the barrier but we refused to do anything. Our fear paralyzed us.”

“But you overcame that fear to send out an order to destroy the probes. It is possible to do things even when you’re being assaulted by your emotions.”

“Now that I know it’s not real, I think I could do more.”

Chris nodded, “That’s the reason I could function when they moved past us. You can do it as well.”

“You felt that much fear!”

“Maybe more. I’m telepathic.”

Allison smiled, “I’m impressed. What do we do now?”

“We go back to the Legend’s planet and take a look at the ships that monster delivered. We are going to have to find out if we can stand up to them.”

“You will not go there and pick a fight.”

“That’s not my intention but why do you say that?”

“Because if you do and we happen to win, that monster ship will be called back.”

Chris smiled and nodded, “You’re right and we’re not anywhere near being ready to take on their tools much less their ships.”

“This looks worse than when the invaders originally attacked Earth.”

“Perhaps.”

“Get real, Chris!”

“They don’t know about the barrier and their ships are slower than the new pods. We haven’t fired a dark energy beam at one of their warships and, if they can damage them, we’re in better shape than you might think.” Allison tilted her head and nodded. Chris stared out of the viewport and turned to her, “Are you ready to build that fort?”