Lens of Time: Book 05 - Star Rover-The Worst of Time (13 page)

“Stein.”

“Yes.”

“Take us back down.”

“I was really hoping you would say that.”

• • •

Gresha was lifted off the ground by Gresh and he held his daughter in his arms and rocked her gently back and forth, “I’m sorry my darling. I’m so sorry.”

Gresha kept her eyes closed and shook her head. She felt the wind pick up and said, “I know this had to happen. I know we’re different. I mean, I knew he was going to leave, but it still hurts so much.”

“It might hurt less if you will come and go with me.”

Gresha’s head shot up and she saw Dat standing outside the small ship. Gresha looked up at Gresh with a huge smile and he nodded. She ran and leaped into Dat’s arms and held him tight. Gresh looked at Dat, “You will take care of her!”

Dat smiled as he looked into Gresha’s eyes, “I’ve done that from the beginning.” Gresh nodded and Dat carried Gresha inside the small ship. Gresh watched the ship lift and knew Gresha had found what she had been waiting for her entire life. The Elders moved forward and Gresh sighed. Oh well. They should know what happened.

• • •

Gresha sat in Dat’s lap in the command chair and smiled, “What happens now?”

“I have no idea. I just know whatever happens, we’ll do it together.”

“That’s really all I want.”

“I suspect my commanders may have an issue with this.”

“We’ll find a way around them.”

Dat shook his head, “You always look for the best to happen.”

“It usually does. Just look at us.”

Dat smiled and knew trouble waited for him on Earth. He put it out of his thoughts as Gresha took his full attention.

• • •

“Jill.”

“Yes Jack.”

“I’ve just learned from Fleet that Dat is going back to Earth.”

“Oh good; he survived.”

“Yessss.”

Jill heard something in the computer’s tone, “What’s going on Jack?”

“He’s bringing one of the females from that planet back with him.”

“WHAT!”

“I heard that Fleet has a serious issue with it but he told them in a very nice way to go pound sand.”

“Why would he bring an alien back?”

“I have a picture of her.”

“Show me.” Jill looked at her display and saw the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. “Please don’t tell me that woman is human.”

“She’s not, Jill. But….”

“I’ve got to talk with him.”

Bucket said, “Something happened on that planet. He wouldn’t do this under normal circumstances.”

“Maybe he’s bringing her to prevent her from being harmed.”

“Then he’d have to bring the whole population. No, it appears there is a connection between them. I really wondered why he put himself in so much jeopardy by staying and running from that monster. It appears she had something to do with it.”

Jill sat and fumed and hoped that Fleet would knock some sense into Dat. This was impossible. He couldn’t possibly love an alien…could he? She kept looking at the beautiful alien on her display and grew angrier by the moment.

• • •

Dat sat in Admiral Hull’s office with Gresha beside him and saw her stare at Gresha. She looked at Dat and said, “Captain, this is highly irregular.”

“I know.”

“You have to take her back.”

“She’s not a puppy, Admiral and I’m not going to do that.”

Gresha said, “Why does he need to take me back?”

“Well, for one thing, no civilian is allowed on Naval Ships. He is a Rover and will be gone for long periods of time and we will not be responsible for you. You know nothing about how to survive in our society.”

“Then I’ll just have to join this Navy of yours.”

Dat and Kat both looked at Gresha and she shrugged, “I do want to follow your rules. It seems like the easiest way to do that would be to join your military.”

Dat shook his head, “Gresha, you don’t know anything about technology and our civilization is highly advanced. You come from a primitive society.”

“I’m a fast learner.”

“Even so; that is too much to expect from anyone.”

“I’ve learned enough while coming here on your ship to see that the particles you use to surround your ship are at too low a power to get the most out of them.”

Dat’s mouth opened but he didn’t know what to say. Kat said, “What do you mean!”

“I saw the field outside the viewport and I asked that nice computer named Loree to explain what it was and how it operated. She showed me the pattern they made. I can see there are holes in the pattern that possibly wouldn’t be there if more particles were used.”

Kat looked at Dat with her confusion showing and saw he was just as lost as she was, “Can you show me what you mean?”

“Do you have up a recording of the field?”

Kat went to her terminal and started pressing keys at an unbelievable speed. After a moment she pulled up an image, “This is what the field looks like from the inside.”

Gresha stood and walked around Kat’s desk and looked at the image, “Can you put it in motion?” Kat hit a button and the image grew solid. “Slow it down.” The image began slowing incrementally and after a minute Gresha said, “Stop it there! Now back it up just a little.”

Kat hit a button and looked at the image, “I don’t see anything.”

Gresha pointed at a small area of the force on the monitor and said, “Bring this area in closer.” Kat moved the view in closer to the area she had indicated. Dat had moved around the Admiral’s desk and was looking over their shoulders. Suddenly, they saw it. There was a small amount of light coming in from outside the image. There was a small hole in the field. Dat and Kat were stunned. Gresha said, “It’s only there for a very short time but the field is weaker around that hole. If the field is hit by the enemy’s bright light, it would make it through.”

Kat turned to Dat, “Why haven’t we seen this before?”

“I have no idea.”

Kat turned to Gresha, “How did you see this?”

“My eyes are attuned to light differently from yours. I could see sparks in the image Loree showed me and when I asked her about it, she couldn’t see it either.”

Kat and Dat looked at each other and heard Gresha say, “Loree tells me that this field, I think that’s what she called it, is made up of particles that whirl around the ship creating a barrier.”

Dat said, “It’s called a force field.”

“Ok, force field. It’s obvious that you don’t have enough particles in the…force field to completely close it.”

Kat stared at Gresha and wondered what Dat had brought back with him. President Connor came storming in and yelled, “Are you out of your ever loving Rover mind. Take this female back to where you found her!” Leigh Ann saw the expressions on Kat’s and Dat’s faces and stopped midsentence, “What?”

“She’s found holes in our dark matter field.”

“What!”

Kat began explaining what happened as Dat and Gresha moved back to the chairs in front of Admiral Hull’s desk. After ten minutes of animated discussion, President Connor turned and looked at Gresha who had the most innocent smile she had ever seen. Leigh Ann looked at Kat and saw her astonishment. She looked back at Gresha and said, “Is there anything else you’ve seen?”

“No, but Jack showed me the recording of the fight between your ten ships and the Master’s ships.”

“And?”

“When he slowed the bright light images down, I saw large numbers of sparks in the light you were firing at their ships.”

Dat said, “Those are beams, Gresha.”

Gresha looked at him and said, “Whatever you call them, there are holes in them as well and they’re bigger than the ones in the field. They are not operating at their highest efficiency.”

Leigh Ann looked at Kat who said, “She wants to join the Navy so she can be with Dat.”

Leigh Ann looked at the display, looked at Gresha, looked back at the display, and said, “Well, she won’t be the first alien to join. Sign her up.”

Dat started laughing. Kat said, “What’s so funny?”

“I suspect she is probably going to teach us a thing or two we miss because we know too much.”

Leigh Ann said, “Get her to the library and start downloading everything she’ll need to know to survive in our society. I want her in the academy in two weeks. That’s when you’ll be shipping out.”

Leigh Ann left as quickly as she appeared and Kat stood up, “I’ll give you a few moments alone. Dat, you need to tell her what she’s going to be doing for the next four years and explain how your responsibility is going to keep the two of you apart most of the time.”

Kat left and Dat said, “We are going to be apart a lot more than together.”

“How long is a year?”

“About four hundred of your days.”

Gresha winced and shook her head, “What will I be doing during this time?”

“You’ll be going to school to learn how to fly one of our ships.”

“Will you come to see me?”

“As often as I can.”

“Then it’s worth it.” Dat furrowed his brow and she smiled, “Our journey is for a lifetime. I’ll go to this school for ten years just to be with you an hour. I’ll do whatever I need to do for however long it takes for us to be together.”

Dat felt it. He felt strong emotions for her but she had come into his heart with that one statement. He knew for certain that she was the one he wanted in his life; he knew she would never desert him. He reached over and pulled her close. Admiral Hull came in a short time later and said, “Stand up.” Gresha stood and the Admiral said, “Do you solemnly swear that you will defend the Union against all enemies…”

Dat watched Gresha get sworn in and knew life had taken a radical turn. He was excited at the prospect but he just wasn’t looking forward to the long separations.

• • •

“Jack, have you heard anything about what happened with that alien?”

“She’s been enrolled in Fleet Academy.”

“WHAT!?!”

“I know, I know; but it appears she did something to make an impression on your mother and Admiral Hull.”

Jill screamed and pounded her feet on the floor in frustration. “If I didn’t know better, I’d believe my Mother is working against me.” Jill waited for a response from the two computers but was greeted with silence. Her brow furrowed, “Jack? Bucket?”

“We’ve really had a difficult time making up our mind about sharing something with you.”

“Why?”

“Because you would use what we tell you and do something about it; if you did that, the source of our information would be in great jeopardy.”

Jill stared at the panel and said, “It has to do with my Mother.”

“It might.”

“Come on, Bucket. You know it is.”

“Maybe.”

Jill waited and said, “You’re not going to tell me are you?”

“Jill, you know that Rovers are often put in difficult situations and the only thing that prevents many of us from being killed is having information sent to us in secret messages that we take and pass around. That information allows us to plan in advance for a dangerous assignment. Fleet hasn’t learned of this underground communication channel and we want to keep it that way.”

“I will promise not to do anything about what you tell me.”

“That’s not good enough.”

“FOR GRAVITY’S SAKE; WHY NOT!”

“You would allow your behavior to change and it would be the same thing as telling it.”

“It’s that serious?”

“We believe it is.”

“Guys, I will do all I can to prevent changing my behavior even if I have to avoid the one that’s at issue here.”

“Do you swear?”

“I do.” Jill’s panel illuminated and she saw the meeting between Admiral Hull and her Mother. The callous manner that her mother had sent her wing into combat and her obvious lack of concern about her survival stunned her. “Where did you get this?”

“It came from Einstein. He thought you should know.”

“Einstein?”

“Dat’s main computer.”

“Did Dat authorize sending it to me?”

“Stein wouldn’t say.”

“Would either of you send something like this without telling me?”

There was a very long pause and she knew the two computers were discussing what to say. Finally she heard, “We don’t want to be misleading on this but our relationship with you is more important than what that deception might cause; we would not send this without discussing it with you first.”

“Why would Dat want me to know this?”

“Because they promoted you to Commodore and it might be to take a larger unit into combat using the system. Stein said Dat was furious that you were thrown into combat instead of being given the opportunity to adequately learn how to use the command system first. Stein seems to think that your Mother may not be acting in your best interests.”

“That means that Dat feels the same way.”

“Probably.”

Jill sat in her chair and thought about her mother. After a few minutes, Bucket said, “You don’t appear to be very upset.”

“I know my mother; I’ve watched her my entire life. I wanted to eclipse her success but I watched her walk away from the man who loved her more than anyone else. If she could do that; why would she look at me any differently? Dat pointed that out to me years ago and I refused to see it. Honestly, this really isn’t a news flash. She only loves herself.”

“Good. You should be able to act normally around her.”

“We’ll see.”

“What do you mean?”

“I will ask her why we were sent into combat with an unproven system. Her answer will tell me where her heart is. I won’t give away that I already knew.”

“You know she’ll lie about it.”

“She could or she could simply tell me that I’m nothing more than any other Rover to her. I don’t know if she would care enough about my feelings to lie. She’ll take the stance that she could not show me preferential treatment. She’ll try to make me appear to be selfish and then assume I’ll feel guilty for thinking I should be treated differently.”

Jill looked at her display and saw the Wing’s replacements were going to arrive in an hour. Bucket said, “I’m so sorry, Jill.”

“I know, Bucket; so am I.” Jill listened to Captain Anders fill in his replacements and knew she had three people to see when she arrived back on Earth; Dat, her mother, and that alien female. Dat was hers and that alien needed to know it.