“Yes, Doc.”
“How many Sigma Ships are ready for launch?”
“Six but we’re only taking three out for initial trials. Why do you ask?”
“I want to take an extra out. Frack, I mean Dom is going to have a new partner when he is relieved. I am going to take Dee and she will be my navigator. I want Dom to be my wingman. I would also suggest that you and Gary pair up as a team as well.”
“Do you think we need to do that?”
“E was hit and Gary barely arrived in time to save you in the last battle with the Slavers. I suspect we would be better served to make sure two ships are always fighting close together for support.”
There was a long moment of silence and Doc saw Dee and Dom starting to get excited. “Cole seems to think that only High Genetics can fly the Sigmas.”
“Then this will give us an opportunity to see if that idea has any validity or not. If he’s wrong, think about how that will strengthen the Union. We can build them in high numbers.”
“If you think it’s a good idea, I’ll sign off on it. You will be the one with a normal crew defending you. Do you really think they can perform on the level of the Genetics?”
“I do and I’m going to stay out here with them until you can send relief. I won’t be able to start working with my ship until she comes back. We’ll start working together now.”
“I can provide you a good navigator.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I prefer this one.”
“I really need you back at Euclid.”
“Then get relief out here as quickly as possible.”
“Ok, I’ll see what I can do.”
• • •
Dee awoke during the night and couldn’t fall back to sleep. She got up and went to the bridge and looked at her display. She saw something happening on the huge ship facility and moved her scan closer. There were scores of workers installing something on the central hub. “D, how long has this construction been going on?”
“About four hours.”
“Can you determine what they’re doing?”
“They appear to be adding a module to their scanning tower.”
Dee looked closer at the facility and said, “What are they putting on the bottom?”
“I don’t know what purpose it serves but it appears that they are screening off the lower third of the facility.”
“Are you saying that the bottom third has its own field?”
“That is what those main cylinders are on each side of the facility.”
“And what is that huge tube being installed in the center?”
“It appears to be some kind of cannon.”
Dee closed her eyes and found the place in her mind where she went when she needed to focus. She allowed the various elements to float around each other as she watched the relationships. She added D and his technology to the pattern and watched them in her mind as they moved around each other. Suddenly, she saw a pattern snap into place and she shouted, “D, get us out of here!”
“Why?”
“Jump us out to the surface of the last moon. Land us in a crater’s shadow and turn off all power except environmental.”
“Dee, I should have the Commander’s approval to do this.”
“D, if you don’t start following your orders I’m going to have you turned into junk. Now get moving and make sure you emerge into normal space inside a shadow on that moon. Go ahead and sound general quarters if you like but do it!”
D appeared in darkness on the moon with the planet glowing high overhead. The klaxons started blaring, “Battle stations, all hands to battle stations…” Dee turned off the klaxons but left the red flashing lights on. Dom and Doc rushed on to the bridge and saw they were in normal space. “What are you doing?”
Dee was operating the optical scanner, moving it in on the huge ship facility and said, “Give me a moment.”
Dom yelled, “What’s going on!”
Doc looked at the tactical display on the ships front wall and stared at the blips that appeared, “Shut up, Dom. When did you see this?”
“About ten minutes ago.”
Dom looked back and forth between them and wondered what in the world they were talking about. Dee continued working her board and said, “I didn’t see what you just commented on.”
“They’re moving ships to surround all of the space around the planet. They’re doing it casually so they wouldn’t be noticed but the warships are moving in a pattern that would allow them to converge to any place within a hundred thousand miles of the station in orbit in less than a second.” Dom stared at the tactical display and began to see the pattern. Doc went and looked over Dee’s shoulder and said, “What did you see that made you leave other space?”
“Look at the new modules being installed on the scanner tower. There is also a separate field for the bottom third of the facility being installed on the hub. They have also placed a huge cannon in the exact center of the bottom of the hub facility.”
Doc looked at Dee and said, “I hate to admit it but I don’t see what made you decide to get into normal space.”
Dom said, “You focused on it.”
Dee sighed, “I did.”
Doc looked at both of them and said, “I’m not clear on what the two of you mean by focused on it.”
Dee continued to scan the giant facility and said, “I don’t really understand how it happens but I discovered when I was twelve years old that if I allowed my mind to go free and focus on something, I would arrive at remarkable conclusions. I don’t know how my mind is able to do it.”
Doc stared at Dee and said, “Please share what conclusions you came up with.”
“I wasn’t determining anything until I decided to use D as a comparison to what they were doing.”
Doc thought a moment and said, “They’re going to move the bottom third of the facility into other space.”
Dee smiled, “And if they do, where will that cannon be located?”
Doc shook his head and said, “What about the modifications to the scanning tower?”
“I believe that someone believes that we intercepted their communications, broke their encryption, and then attacked the planet where the warships were being sent to search for the Union. If they truly believe that, then they must have also determined that whoever intercepted that message, had to be close. Since they know their scanners didn’t show anything, the ship had to be hiding in other space. However, something had to be in normal space, receiving their transmissions. They are setting up that scanning tower to detect an ounce of charged metal anywhere around the planet. Even though our antenna is only receiving and not broadcasting, it still has an electrical charge.” Dee paused and said, “I see that they will complete the construction in less than another hour and I didn’t want to be in other space when they fire that cannon.”
Dom shook his head, “Why were you up here at this hour?”
“I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. I came up here and took a look at the Hub and saw the construction going on.” Dee paused and said, “D refused to follow my orders to move. I had to threaten him before he would do as I instructed.”
Doc said, “Is that true, D?”
“It is. The protocols I’ve been given dictate that any change of location must be approved by my Commander.”
“Then why did you move?”
“She threatened to make me into junk if I didn’t. I determined at that point that her high stress level and anxiety were reason enough to take action and notify you what was happening.”
Doc slowly shook his head, “I find it hard to believe that you are not a living being, D. However, from this moment forward, the highest ranking person on the bridge is your commander. Enter that into your protocols.”
“Done.”
Dee looked at Doc, “What do you think is going to happen?”
Doc looked her in the eyes and said, “We are about to lose a couple of our technological advantages. D, I want you to extend a small antenna into other space and wait for that cannon to fire. Record what you can but get it out before it’s damaged.”
“The antenna is active.”
Dee looked at her scanner, “Doc, once they enable that new scanner, do you think they’ll be able to see us here?”
“D, what is the composition of this moon’s surface?”
“Mainly high metal content.”
Doc looked at Dee, “Why did you choose this particular moon instead of the one over on the planet’s far horizon?”
Dee thought hard and shook her head, “I honestly don’t know. It was part of the pattern that fell out of my focus.”
Doc smiled, “It appears you must have read about the moons around this planet.”
“I read the scan reports that were done by the previous ship but there were more than ten thousand pages of information. I didn’t really remember most of it.”
“But the information was in your mind. Your focusing ability saw it even if you didn’t.”
Dee’s eyebrows lowered and she said, “What are you saying?”
“Euclid has been modifying humans for centuries to produce an advanced being. I believe that you are also a genetic advancement that happened naturally. Your telepathy made me think that you might be different.”
“We’re not the only telepathic humans on Santa Rosa.”
“You’re not?”
“No, there’re thousands of people that are telepathic to some degree. Dom didn’t tell you but his Juliette can also hear his thoughts.”
Doc looked at Dom and Dom nodded, “That’s what brought us together. We found each other in a crowded city street when we began hearing each other’s thoughts.”
Dee said, “What do you mean I’m an advancement?”
Doc said, “Your focusing ability is very similar to what a High Genetic does when they focus on something. You mind actually acts independently of your consciousness and has access to everything you’ve ever seen, read, or heard.”
“I have to quit consciously thinking in order to do it.”
“That’s because you haven’t practiced ignoring what’s happening. You can operate consciously while your mind works in the background. I’ll help you learn how to control it.”
D said, “Something’s happening.”
Doc said, “With all of our power off, I don’t think they’ll be able to see us on this metallic surface. However, D, if any ships start moving this way, get us out of here.” Doc stared at the Dee’s display and said, “Put optical on the main display.”
The large display on the wall illuminated and they saw the bottom third of the huge ships facility disappeared, “If what I think is going to happen does, that facility is going to come bobbing out of other space as soon as they fire that cannon.”
Dee nodded, “Anything in other space will be forced out into normal space.”
Dom looked confused and Dee said, “They’re going to disrupt other space.” Doc nodded. As they watched, the huge dish on the Hub’s scanning tower began rotating.
D said, “That was a powerful scan that just passed over us.”
Doc said, “Turn off environmental!”
“Done.”
The huge dish made another rotation and six Slaver ships that had turned and started toward the moon stopped and turned back. Doc said, “How many ships do you think they have in other space?”
Dee looked at Doc wondering what he was talking about when suddenly the bottom of the huge ship facility appeared and more than twenty thousand ships emerged into normal space. They emerged and filled in the holes of a giant pattern surrounding the planet. Doc shook his head, “D, how many ships would have been close to us at our former location?”
“Two thousand would have been on us in less than a second. Another five thousand would have arrived two seconds later.” There was a pause and D said, “Other space is disrupted and the shock wave from the cannon blast extended more than a hundred thousand miles beyond our current location.”
Doc had a small grin, “Dee, see if you’re receiving any frequencies of the FTL Destroyers.”
“I’ll activate the antenna for a hundredth of a second as soon as the scan passes over us again.” A moment later she looked up at Doc and he saw the shock in her eyes, “Six thousand are scattered around the system.”
Doc stared at the display and said, “This is a pretty good defensive tool they’ve developed.”
Dom said, “How is that?”
“If other space is disrupted, nothing can jump in to attack the planet.”
Dee heard the statement and her mind went active. “We’ve got to be able to get out of here without being seen.” Dom and Doc looked at her, “They’re going to move ships from another planet to see if the original communication was intercepted. If nothing happens they’ll know we aren’t watching their planets and will start the search for the Union.”
Doc looked up at the display and knew she was right. Doc shook his head, “They won’t be communicating with the planet being chosen so there’s no way we can know which one is being selected.”
Dom and Dee looked at Doc and wondered what could be done.
T
he Admiral stared at the display and said, “Nothing! Absolutely nothing!”
The Hub Computer said, “That is problematic on two fronts.”
“What?”
“If there were no ships here to intercept the message, they would have had to have ships watching Aeredom. If they have ships watching our planets, then it would absolutely mean they would have ships here at our most heavily defended planet watching us.”
“You expected enemy ships would appear here?”
“I did.”
“So you really thought they intercepted our communications and broke the encryption?”
“I must confess that seemed like the most logical explanation.”
“I don’t see how you made that determination.”
“What is the highest number of enemy ships we’re seen in any of our contacts with them?”
The Admiral thought a moment and said, “Three.”
“If they had a huge number, I would think they would have used them before now. If they don’t have huge numbers…”
“Then they can’t watch all of our planets.”
“Exactly.”
“So what’s the optimum course of action now?”
“We send ships from another planet and see if it’s attacked.”
“The First Councilor has selected Munnik as the next one to send ships to search.”
The Hub Computer said, “Another adversary on the Council.”
“He’s justified it by saying it’s the furthest from the center of the Common.”