Ashes of the Realm - Juliette's Dream (21 page)

Vring remained at the edge of the clearing and decided, “If he goes, I go.”

Scotty, Julie, and Jingo were sitting on the shuttle’s bridge with Timmy and Tesa. Timmy looked at them and said, “I’ve been doing a little homework on the origin of this ship.”

Scotty looked around, “And?”

“This ship is a piece of the Holy Realm’s history, and was present when many important events happened. It is a one-of-a-kind ship in this universe.”

Julie furrowed her brow and asked, “What are you trying to tell us?”

“This is going to take a while. If I say something that isn’t clear, stop me. OK?”

Everyone nodded.

“I researched everything I could find out about this class of shuttle before your attack on the Magrum. This class of ship was first built when the Realm was new. This particular shuttle was manufactured by the Algeans specifically for the Alexander Kosiev.”

Timmy saw the shock on everyone’s face. “I know! You want to know how I made that determination. There were only fifty shuttles manufactured with two red generators. They were all assigned to the Kosiev. It’s important to understand that when the Algeans built something, it was superior to anything else. Those fifty shuttles were manufactured as powerful as the Searcher Class ships.”

“Timmy, how can that be possible? The Searchers were the most powerful ships ever created.”

“That’s right, Jingo. However, please remember that the Algeans also built those. The Kosiev had just defeated the Captors, and the red generators were starting to be designed into the newly designed Searchers.”

“Is this ship that old?

“Yes it is, Julie. The Kosiev had launched all of its shuttles to stop a Captor energy ball from striking our home world, Earth.”

“I remember learning about that as a child.”

“We all learned at age six about the Captor war, Scotty. The Kosiev did not have any shuttles, and Cassandra requested the Algeans build replacements when they had time to do so. Obviously the construction of the Searchers took priority, and it wasn’t done before the Kosiev went into the star and Cassandra and Tommy went into hiding. The shuttles were built after the Realm had more Searcher Class ships than Searchers to fly them. They were built to a higher standard than any of the other shuttles of that time.” Timmy paused and then continued, “They were given standard null drives and two red generators. The ship’s hull was covered in the new flexible Coronado Power Cells. Only three were used to build the entire vessel, and they were connected to the red generators.”

“Why weren’t they given teleportation ability?”

Timmy shook his head, “I really don’t know, Julie. I have speculated that they held off adding teleportation until the Kosiev was resurrected from the star. I suspect they wanted the newest system available at that time. Whatever the reason, those shuttles remained on their planet waiting for the Kosiev to make an appearance.”

Scotty said, “The Eight Leg invasion brought the Kosiev back to the Realm.”

“Yes it did. However, remember that the Kosievs’ landing bay was used to gather iron trees and stone trees. The shuttles remained where they were throughout the war with the Eight Legs.”

Timmy stopped talking and Scotty saw something was not being said, “Timmy, you need to tell all of it.”

“I’m just not sure if I should.”

“Let us be the judge of that.”

Timmy looked at Tesa and she nodded. He took a deep breath and continued, “After the defeat of the Eight Legs and the Red Demons that created them, the Algeans knew that the Alexander Kosiev had become intelligent. It was considered a mechanical life form. The Algeans decided the shuttles needed to be a useful tool for the giant ship and they modified them.”

“How?”

“I’ll tell you in a few moments, Jingo. Just try to be patient. They determined that the shuttles would actually be the tools the Kosiev would use to perform many tasks. They also upgraded the weapons and force fields accordingly. Those fifty shuttles were designed to be a fleet of warships for the Kosiev to use to fight the enemies of the Realm. However, the Kosiev and the Gardners disappeared and no one knew where they went for more than 12,000 years. They came back during the war with the Keepers. It was at that time that the shuttles were given to the Kosiev with brand new teleportation boards on top of the null drive boards.”

Timmy grew quiet again and Scotty asked, “How did that shuttle get to this planet?”

“This is all speculation, Scotty. I don’t have anything to prove it, but it feels right. That shuttle brought the last probe to El Prado. That probe would automatically teleport the planet if a universal drive was detected. It landed on the planet and the pilot took the devices to control it to the Duke. The Duke made him wait until he had time to learn its functions. Less than two weeks later, all teleportation devices failed and the Realm left our universe. The pilot was trapped here on the planet and held prisoner until the Duke could determine what was happening. He was later executed by a mob.”

Tesa said, “The shuttle had no jump capability with the loss of the teleportation board, and the connection to its red generators was inoperative. The Duke had the shuttle painted in his colors and grounded.”

Timmy nodded, “However, enter the Searcher. He threatened the Duke, and he sent that shuttle to pick up the Searcher’s family and then to arrest his brother. It was then that the Searcher systematically started destroying the planet. The pilot of the shuttle was a Magrum. The Magrum were the Duke’s bully boys and did the dirty work to insure his directives were followed. The pilot flew quickly to Belcheer and landed outside the city. He had commed ahead, and fifty other Magrums joined him on the ship and made their escape into the northern wilderness. They turned the power off and hid under the overhang of that hill.”

The group was silent. Timmy said, “Once the Searcher killed himself, the Magrum used this ship to capture slaves and force them to work the fields to feed them. Whenever the scanners showed a raider approaching the planet, they turned the power off and hid. That’s how things remained until we showed up.”

Julie looked at Tesa, “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

“Yes, there is. The Algeans put a cybernetic computer in the fifty shuttles. You may recognize it as the computers that operated the Searcher Class ships. It is not currently connected to the ship, but it is drawing power from the red generators and we think it has never been completely shut down. There is a control on the main panel that will connect it to the ship’s systems. We don’t know what to do. It will take control of this ship if we connect it, and we don’t know what it will do.”

S
cotty looked at Timmy and saw his fear. “What’s scaring you, Timmy?”

“The Searcher destroyed every city and settlement on the planet. I don’t know if this computer will finish what that Searcher started.”

“Is the computer intelligent?”

“By all the terms I use to describe intelligence, it is.”

“Then you have to turn it on.”

Jingo stood up, “Wait a minute! Let’s not get hasty about this. You can’t make that decision without considering all the consequences. You’ve seen what this ship can do.”

Scotty smiled, “Jingo, we just risked our lives to free the ones being held in captivity by the Magrum. If this computer is intelligent, and if we don’t release it, we are no better than the Magrum.”

“But it’s a machine.”

“It doesn’t matter. If it’s intelligent, we can’t hold it captive. This ship is its body and we can’t hold that captive either, even if we do want its defensive capabilities to protect us from raiders.” Scotty looked at Tesa, “Throw the switch.”

Tesa took a deep breath, “Are you sure, Your Majesty?”

Scotty smiled, “I know you’re appealing to my responsibility to protect the ones living here. If we do that by holding another captive, we violate the principles of the Holy Realm. Throw the switch.”

Julie moved closer and held Scotty’s arm. Tesa shook her head and pushed the switch.

The lights on the bridge grew brighter and all the panels began flashing lights at high speed. After a minute, the lights on the panels glowed steady. A speaker in the corner said, “I didn’t expect you to free me.”

“How could we do anything else?”

“I’ve been listening to your conversation, and it’s surprising that former citizens of El Prado could act so responsibly.”

“We weren’t citizens of El Prado originally. Our ancestors were Stars Realm’s representatives working in the commerce buildings. One of our senior officials moved us to an isolated island to save us.”

“That’s interesting. Why did you free me? You know the threat I represent.”

“You’re not really a threat to us.”

Jingo looked at Scotty like he had two heads. He mouthed, “Don’t make it mad.”

Scotty smiled as the computer said, “What makes you believe that?”

“Because you were built by the Holy Realm’s tool makers, who swore to never kill again. You have the ideals of the vanished Realm and would never harm someone incapable of defending themselves against you.”

“I would if they threatened the Realm.”

Scotty shrugged, “The Realm is gone from this universe. No one is going to threaten it now, at least no one here.”

“I heard the young Cainth call you ‘Your Majesty’. Why did she do that?”

“My people have selected me to rule them in the principles of the Realm.”

“There is no Royalty but the Royal Family.”

“Then why were the rulers of the five provinces called Dukes by the Royal Family?”

The computer was silent. The group waited, and finally it said, “You got me. Obviously there were other royal titles in the Realm.”

“I wasn’t really trying to do that, and I would give up my status faster than light speed if the Royal Family would return. My accepting this title is not done in a spirit of disrespect. It is an honor given me by my communities.”

“I noticed you released the yellow one who killed your mother. I didn’t want to be impressed, but I must confess I was. Few would not have taken their revenge,”

“Do you have a name?”

“I was named after one of Cassandra’s children; my name is Jessica.”

Julie said, “Oh, how wonderful, we have another lady.”

The speaker gave a chuckle, “Thank you, when’s the wedding?”

Jingo said, “My, my, you have been snooping.”

“Yes, sending Scotty back was the best idea.”

Julie burst out laughing again and held up her hand as Jingo jerked his head toward her, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I just can’t help it.”

Scotty bit his lip trying not to laugh, and the two teens just looked away and stifled their snickers. “I think you’re getting a bum rap, Jingo.”

Jingo spun around and said, “See? An impartial computer agrees with me!”

“You would have been through talking in three days. Not four.”

Julie fell out of her chair and Scotty put his head on the bulkhead and laughed. They tried hard, but the two teens also burst out laughing.

Jingo looked around, “I just don’t get it.”

After the group composed themselves, Julie asked, “Jessica, what are you going to do now?”

“I guess I could go look around, but I’ve tried to contact every frequency in my system and no one answers. It seems the Realm has really gone. I think I’ll stay here for awhile if you don’t mind.”

Timmy yelled, “That would be great!”

“Why do you say that Timmy?”

“Gosh, Jessica. You’ve seen so much history being made. I really want to hear what you’ve seen.”

“I’m sorry, Timmy. I wasn’t installed until the war with the Keepers. I was put in when the teleportation device was installed.”

“Why did you stay here?”

Scotty said, “Because she was ordered to stay here by the Gardners.”

There was silence. “Why do you say that?”

“Jessica, we don’t deceive our friends. You were sent here to see what kind of threat the Evil Duke was to the Realm. The Gardners had been told a civil war was coming. The Duke would never suspect a shuttle of being a spy. You are one of fifty shuttles that were made with a cybernetic computer. All the others left with the Realm and the Kosiev. The only way you could have come here was because the Gardners sent you. No one else in the Realm, including Queen Valerie, could have done that. Only the Gardners controlled the Kosiev.”

“You are more than I thought. You’re right.”

“I suspect your sister and brother shuttles on the Kosiev will come looking for you if they ever return, and this is where they’ll start. I’d stick around here, too, if I were you.”

“Do you think they’ll return?”

Scotty didn’t say anything until Julie said, “Well, do you?”