Trapped in Time-Extinction (35 page)

The Regent stared at Tyler and shook his head, “You are thinking centuries ahead of us.”

“Just trying to make the path smooth for those that come after us.”

The Regent slowly shook his head and heard his Mate say, “I want the connection to the scanners installed.”

Tyler smiled, “I have one right here for you.” Tyler pushed the module into the slot and said, “I’ve also developed a helmet for your blaster operators that connect them to the scanners as well and they can operate the weapons from their helmet.”

The Regent shook his head and Grandel said, “The Lead Engineer says he should take his place.”

The Regent laughed, “I must say that I agree with him.” He put his hand on Tyler’s shoulder, “Lead us into the future, Tyler. The union of our species is something that fate must have demanded.”

Tyler smiled as he pushed the switch up on the Queen’s helmet and heard her gasp.

• • •

Andy walked down to the end of the giant cave and felt a small rack fall hit him on the shoulder. He stopped and looked up, searching for where the rock had fallen. He saw cracks running from the area directly above him and shuddered. The Hole would have collapsed if the Regent hadn’t used his ship’s force field to strengthen it. The force field was kept in place until the quakes finally stopped and then the major cracks were reinforced, but there were so many that most of them were ignored. He waved Tamara over and showed her the rock, “I think you should get a team up and check out the area above me.”

Tamara looked at the rock and nodded, “I’ll get the engineers to take a look at it.”

“Thanks.” Tamara nodded and put her carry pouch on the floor to mark the spot. Andy continued to the back of the cave and found Linnae and Harmony leaning against the wall. The small pool of water they were sitting next to was slowly running over the barrier and out of a hole cut in the wall. Linnae saw him coming and removed her helmet, “What’s up?”

Andy knew the helmets Tyler had made for them was a Godsend; now they were able to shut out all the thoughts that once barraged them. “I’m going to need at least one of you to be without a helmet for the next several weeks.”

Linnae tilted her head and Harmony said, “Has that much time passed?” Linnae looked at her and lowered her eyebrows. Then she saw Harmony’s thoughts and looked back at Andy.

“It’s been six months since the impact and the Time Takers are due within a month. I’m not certain about how they measure time and I don’t want to be caught by surprise.”

Linnae waved a hand, “Their time is the same as ours. Their thoughts translate into our measurements.”

“Even so.” Linnae looked at Harmony and she nodded. Andy sighed, “What did the two of you just decide?”

Linnae looked guilty, “I’m sorry, Dad; we have gotten out of the habit of sending you what we’re thinking. Mat’s telepathic ability had grown since he started using it with Harmony. He is also capable of hearing them. We’ll work out the schedule to make sure at least one of us is open all the time.”

“Girls, this is extremely important!”

Harmony smiled, “And we’re taking it seriously. We’ll handle it; however, I think they won’t arrive during nighttime.”

“They probably won’t but…”

“We’ll make sure one of us is watching at all hours.”

Andy smiled and Harmony’s quick response and said, “Some of the communities have started sending Riders out to explore the lands around their caves. Notify them that until we tell them differently, everyone must stay in their caves.”

“We’ll get the message out.”

“Thanks.” Andy turned to go and stopped. He turned around and said, “Do either of you remember the species that attacked the Talen’s home world?” Linnae and Harmony looked at each other and nodded. “Is it possible that you could find them again?”

Linnae shrugged, “Maybe, why would you want us to do that?”

“If you could find one of their starships and link with the one on board that flies it…”

Harmony nodded, “We could link some of our warriors with him and they could learn how to operate it. Do you think we’re going to come into possession of some of their ships?”

“The Regent knows where three of them are located with everyone on board dead.”

Linnae nodded, “And we’re going to need them.”

Andy nodded, “Exactly right.”

“Does it have to be them?”

“What do you mean, Harmony?”

“Wellllll…if the Regent’s mind waves work like we think they do, it might be a better idea to find ships that are more powerful than those three.”

Andy’s eyebrows came down and he thought about the idea. “We’ll still want to know how to use those dead ships. We can retrieve those without having to fight someone to get them. However, let me know if you find something else. One should never limit their options.” Andy turned and walked back towards the Talen Warship.

Linnae looked at Harmony, “Are you thinking about the brown ships?”

“I am. No one has been able to slow them down, not even the ones that destroyed the Talen’s planet. They’re also much larger, which is another benefit.”

“Then why don’t we do this; you try to find one of the brown ships and you’ll feed the pilot’s thoughts to Tyler and Mat. I’ll find the ones that left the three dead ships and feed the thoughts to whomever Dad and the Regent select.”

“Ok, do you want to be included in learning how to fly it?”

“You know you can just feed the information to me at night or when neither of us aren’t busy. I’m going to do the same with the three of you.”

Harmony nodded, “I’ll talk with Mat about it tonight. I’ll let you know what he thinks.”

Linnae smiled, “Let’s go ahead and contact all the communities and let them know they should stay inside. Then we can start looking for those two species.” Harmony nodded and closed her eyes.

• • •

“DAD, THEY’RE BACK!!”

Andy left Melody with Harvey and the priests. She was due to have her baby and he was staying close. He ran to the ship and rushed up to the bridge. He looked up at the monitor and saw the huge grey ship hovering over the site of the former community. He shook his head and looked at the Regent, “They’re a few weeks late.”

The nodded absently and stared at the monitor, “I wonder why they haven’t destroyed our scanner.”

Linnae entered the bridge just ahead of Harmony and said, “I think they’re going to take it with them.” Everyone looked at her and she shrugged, “That’s what they’re thinking about.”

Andy looked at the ship and shook his head. The sky was still covered with thick dark clouds, which made midday look like twilight. The black ground under the huge, hovering ship was covered in large accumulations of snow and ice. There was no movement on the ground. He looked at Linnae, “What are they doing?”

“They’re taking more time to scan the ground for the Talen’s ship. Last time they were being barraged by burning rocks and they were concerned that a really large piece might hit them. They can take their time and make sure. Do you want to hear what they’re saying?”

“Absolutely!”

The Regent took off his helmet, “I do as well.”

Andy could see the beings on the Time Taker’s ship from the eyes of one of them. They looked like large bronze lumps that continuously changed shape. Then he heard, “There just doesn’t appear to be enough mass for it to be their ship?”

“It’s really not far off from being the right amount, or do you disagree?” Andy sensed the one whose mind he was in contemplating whether or not to challenge the ship’s commander. “No, there is a large debris field under the mud. I just can’t see the important pieces. The power plants aren’t as big as they should be.” Andy looked at the Regent and remembered him suggesting that all the reactors from three landers should be gathered in one place. He nodded and the Regent smiled.

“Notice that the ground around them is burned and still emitting radioactivity. After seven months, a lot of the material could have burned away.”

“The ground is covered in carbon from the rocks that fell; it does inhibit some of our scans.”

The Commander looked at the speaker, “If it’s not their ship, what is it?” The speaker remained silent. “That debris matches the structure of their hull. The power units match the emissions of their fuel. It’s scattered over an area as large as their ship. What else could it be?”

Andy heard the speaker think that it could have been landers but he immediately dismissed the thought. Andy shook his head and saw the Regent doing the same. Then the speaker decided that it couldn’t have been anything else. The comet’s impact must have burned some of the ship, which would account for the missing mass. “You’re right. It has to be the remains of their ship. Are we going down to collect that piece of equipment that is still powered?”

The Commander looked at the scanner on his monitor and after a few moments of reflection he said, “No, just hit it with a blaster. We need to make sure none of the humans survived the impact.”

“Where do you want to start?”

“They didn’t have enough time to really spread out. We’ll start five hundred miles north of here and do a deep scan. We’ll then move around the former shoreline paying close attention to where we originally placed them.”

“And if none of them are found?”

“We will jump forward two years and look again. If we don’t see any, then we’ll have to jump to our time to see what this change has caused.”

Suddenly, a bright flash emerged from the grey ship and the wall monitor went dark. Andy and the Regent heard, “I’m moving the ship north of here.”

“That would be good.”

Andy looked at Linnae, “You can stop sending their thoughts. Let me know if anything important happens.” Linnae nodded. Andy looked at the Regent, “That was close.”

“Indeed it was. The Commander confirmed everything you told me.”

Andy nodded, “Which means, we have two years to get out of here.”

“How do you see that happening?”

“Once the girls confirm they’ve jumped away, we need to take your ship back to your planet and see if it’s still habitable. If it is, we’ll go out to capture ships to move us.”

“It’s been a year since we fled. I suspect there won’t be many enemy ships there, if any.”

“Linnae and Harmony will be able to see if there are.”

Harmony tilted her head, “Dad, do you think it’s wise to take both of us?”

“Why do you ask?”

“One of us should remain here to pass on whatever orders you have for the communities.” Andy lowered his head a moment and Harmony said, “Also, I think it would be a better idea if you didn’t go at all. You know how your absence would affect the communities.”

Linnae quickly said, “And don’t forget about the baby.”

Harmony smiled, “Yeah, Mother is about to have her baby.”

The Regent looked at Andy, “You worry that I won’t keep my word.”

“Wouldn’t you worry if you were in my place?”

“I would. However, we’ve become dependent on Tyler’s inventions and most of my subjects would revolt if I even thought about backing out on our agreement.” The Regent looked at Harmony, “Which one of you would go with us?”

“Linnae and Tyler, along with Richard, Jennifer, and Manuel.”

Andy looked at Harmony, “Why would Rich, Jenn, and Manny be going?”

“They’re the ones that have learned how to pilot the three ships. I suspect you might want to go and pick them up.”

“I didn’t know you were teaching them. I thought we’d start that after the Time Takers appeared.”

Harmony shrugged, “We went ahead and started training them the day after you asked us about it. They’re good choices; all of them are single and highly rated warriors.”

A young Priest stepped on the bridge and said, “Pardon my bad manners for interrupting…” He looked at Andy, “Melody is in labor and is calling for you.”

Andy looked at the Regent and said loudly as he turned and ran away with the Priest, “Work it out with my daughters, I’m going to stay.”

Harmony looked at Linnae, “The Priest didn’t say that Mom is having twins again.”

Linnae’s head went back, “REALLY!”

“Yes, the first one has already arrived and it’s a boy.”

“REALLY!”

The Regent smiled, “Why don’t the two of you plan to sit down with me after the Grey Ships leaves and we’ll determine what we should do next.”

Harmony nodded and saw Linnae was back to following the Time Takers as they moved around the planet.

• • •

Andy sat beside Melody and stroked her forehead. She sighed and opened her eyes, “I’m so sorry I didn’t get here in time…”

Melody lifted her index finger and placed it on his lips, “Shhhhhh. Those Time Takers have awful timing.”

Andy smiled, leaned forward, and tenderly kissed her on the lips. Two female priests came in with the babies. Andy’s eyes went wide and Melody whispered, “It looks like I am predisposed to have twins.”

Andy looked at her, “You didn’t know?”

“They kept it a secret. One managed to keep a low profile.”

Andy shook his head as the priests handed him the babies, “Which one?”

“The little girl.” Andy looked at the two babies he was holding and Melody reached and took one of them from him. She kissed the small infant on the forehead and smiled, “You really hid from me.”

Andy looked at the other baby and Melody said, “It looks like the string is intact.” Andy looked at her with his eyebrows up and she said, “Say hello to our son.”

“Really?” Melody nodded. Andy looked at him and smiled. “Have you thought about a name?”

“I initially thought Olivia would be a good name but I don’t want to take a name that Tyler and Linnae might want to use. So, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to name her Destiny.”

Andy smiled at Melody. She had been broken hearted when her cursor did not return from a mating trip into the forest. She loved that cursor so much. “It’s perfect.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am. It was our destiny to be here together. It’s perfect.”

Melody kissed her again and looked at Andy, “I guess our son will be called junior.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Melody’s brow furrowed, “You aren’t going to name him Andy?”

“No, I’m not.”