“These heads surround this one block. I think that means something.”
Jillian reached in her backpack and pulled out a gravity gun, “Let’s see if we can move these.” She set the gun on weightless and Chris pushed out on the two blocks beside the plain center block. They moved easily, and he grabbed the center block and pulled on it. It came slowly toward them and they saw that something was dragging on top of the block. “Hold on a minute.” Jillian looked over the block and saw a hollowed out section. She reached inside and felt something. She stretched and pulled out two small round metal discs. Both of them had something written on them in the Sheera language. Jillian looked at one and sat down on the ground.
“What is it?”
“This disc has ‘The History of the Churnau Alliance’ written on it.”
“And the other one?”
“Alliance Maps.”
Chris stared at her, then hit the blocks with a slight weight setting. He climbed the block that had been pulled out and looked inside. He saw something written on the inner walls of the cutout. “Do you have a beam?” Jillian reached in her backpack and handed him a lantern beam. Chris shone the lantern into the cutout and began reading, “I took these from the Gods the day they made me their assistant. I don’t know what possessed me to take them, but take them I did. I have hidden them in this block and marked their place with the three heads of our Gods. I hope to retrieve them one day and see if our benefactors are truly helping us or have another motive. If you find these, then I was not able to retrieve them. I don’t know what that will mean, but perhaps you will know what to do with them.”
Chris climbed down, made the blocks weightless, and they slid them back together again. “You were right. How did you know?”
Chris shook his head, “I’m not sure, but just like Hemon, I know this assistant must have sensed something wasn’t right about the Sheera. I know that if I was in his place, I would have tried to do something to find out. I was thinking that he might have hidden a Sheera weapon, but I know they would have noticed if one went missing.”
“You don’t think they missed these?”
“How many times have you moved?”
Jillian tilted her head back, “Oh, maybe ten times.”
“And each time you moved, have you ever misplaced a map or a book?”
“I guess so.”
“Well, these five Sheera were left here to handle this project, and I’m sure they left things lying around when they first arrived. If their new assistant could read their language now, these two items would have been irresistible. By taking them the first day, the Sheera probably thought the other group had taken them. Once more, luck was on our side.”
Suddenly, Chris’ computer tablet began beeping. Jillian looked at him, “What’s that?”
Chris opened his tablet and looked at his display, “We have ten skimmers coming in from the south. They’ll arrive in less than ninety seconds.”
She stood, began moving back toward the Ninja, and hit her communicator, “Dad, whoever you spoke with in the Bolivian Government is either an insurgent or has their communications tapped. Notify the Bolivian Government not to send any of their military assets here unless they want to lose them.”
“Are you going to be all right?”
“Calm down, I think so, but I don’t want to have to sort out the bad guys from the good. I’ll contact you after this is over.”
A skimmer came roaring in toward them, flying just thirty feet above the ground. It started firing a heavy machine gun as Chris took out his gun and thumbed it on. He pointed it at the Skimmer when it was two hundred yards out, and pulled the trigger. The ray gun fired an intense white beam and the skimmer disintegrated before their eyes. There wasn’t anything left to fall to the ground. “Head for the Ninja!” Chris heard, ran behind her, and looked for more skimmers. A second skimmer flew in from the left and sprayed the ground with heavy machinegun fire. Jillian turned, knelt, and hit it with her gun and they watched it disintegrate.
They sprinted, and Chris pressed his handheld remote just as they cleared the wall. The Ninja’s force field came on and covered them just as five more skimmers flew over them, firing high caliber slugs from Gatling guns. A three foot high pile of slugs collected around the force field as the Gatling Guns continued to fire at an unbelievable rate.
“They want the Ninja.”
Jillian looked at Chris and knew he was right. “Should we just leave?”
“If you were back in Egypt when Daniel was killed, would you just leave?”
Jillian flinched at his words, and he saw her face harden. She lifted the remote and pressed the auto-weapon button. The Ninja’s popup blaster came out of the ship’s hull and started firing multiple beams of varying width. The Ninja looked like it was exploding as it targeted the remaining skimmers and tracked the insurgents that had landed and were moving in on foot. The ship only fired for ten seconds and then grew silent. Nothing was moving around Puma Punku.
Jillian turned to Chris and her expression was hard, “How do you know about Daniel?”
“What is it about me knowing that bothers you?”
Jillian was angry and she attempted to answer him, but couldn’t. Chris said, “I could ask you the same thing about my failed Nobel Prize, but how you know is not important. What’s important is that you know and still love me anyway. Are there things in your life that I am not invited to share? If there are, you need to tell me now. I don’t choose to love pieces of you. It has to be everything.”
Jillian said sternly, “Or nothing?”
Chris looked at her with great sadness, shook his head slowly, and said, “Or nothing.” Then he turned and walked into the Ninja.
Jillian watched him go and relived the loss of Daniel all those many years ago. Then she realized she was about to lose another love. She ran after Chris, catching him just inside the port, turned him around and kissed him hard. “Please don’t leave me. Please don’t ever leave me.”
Chris held her tight and said, “I know your pain. I’ve lost those I’ve loved as well. There are some losses that you have to let go and choose to move forward and live again. Now is the time for you to embrace life and live again.”
She put her head on his shoulder and said, “I was the one that suggested we go to the pyramid without an escort. It’s my fault he died. I caused it.” She began sobbing and shaking in his arms.
“No, you aren’t the only one at fault here; he didn’t have to go. If he loved you he would have never allowed you to put yourself in that kind of danger. You may have suggested it, but both of you were accountable for what happened. You were both young, and unfortunately, the young make bad decisions until they learn wisdom. Notice this time you came prepared. You learned, and now you’re wiser for the experience. It’s time to forgive yourself, Jilly. I’m sure he blamed himself as well.”
Jillian listened to what he said and realized he was right. She had suggested they go, but Daniel had jumped up and started making the preparations. She saw that it was a mistake. That’s why Daniel had sacrificed himself to save her. She continued to cry as Chris led her to the Ninja’s sleeping quarters. He laid her down on the bed and softly stroked her hair. She finally looked up at him with puffy eyes, reached around his neck, and pulled him down to her.
The Project Command Group sat around a table after they had read Dolly’s translation of the two discs Jillian brought back from Puma Punku. The launch of the Cheops had been delayed until Chris and Jillian completed reading the translation. Arnold looked around the table and said, “I’ve briefed the Presidents on what we’ve discovered. They have immediately ordered a massive building campaign, and are going to announce to the world what’s happening in two days. We have selected the colonists for four of the eight ships, and they are being prepared to go out within ten days. The Magellan has already found ten Earth-type planets that are not inhabited by intelligent life, and thanks to Dr. Connor’s device we are certain to find more. Our main concern is that without the screen the Alliance uses to defend their worlds, we will be open to attack. The president wants some suggestions from us on what we should do.”
Dolly looked at Arnold, “Have you trialed the energy discharge in Sierra Space?”
Arnold nodded, “Yes, we have. It was trialed at a solar system without habitable planets.”
“And?”
“It was just like Hemon suggested. It blocked a stardrive from being used within the boundary of the planets.”
“Then we have the means to possibly protect our new planets.”
Arnold looked at Dolly skeptically, “How do you figure that?”
“We know that our ships can get out of the system three times faster than they can come in. We know that from an examination of the captured ship. If a Moet or Alliance fleet enters the system, a ship will be dispatched to come and warn us of the attack. We can get back to the system with a fleet and colony ships to move the population faster than they can reach the planet. We just have to make sure we have a fleet ready at all times to respond to a call for help.”
“What if they send enough ships to overwhelm us?”
“That’s why we’re sending out the colony ships. There will always be a risk to Earth; they know where it is. Finding the colonies will be a different story.”
Hemon said, “I don’t know how you can say that with such certainty.”
“Have you looked at the map of the Alliance?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should see that they have not done any new exploration of habitable planets in ten thousand years. They are fighting to hold on to the status quo. You also should factor in that our cosmologists estimate that there are an average of two and a half planets for every star in our galaxy. That means there are trillions of them. The only way we could find those planets to colonize was through the use of Dr. Connor’s invention. Without it we would probably never find one. Those ten planets will likely be quite safe from discovery.”
“Why do you say likely?”
“Because we haven’t examined a Moet ship, Dr. Morrison. Until we do, we have to wonder how the Moet found the Sheera here five thousand years ago.”
Chris watched Dolly handle the meeting and was amazed at the composure of the brilliant young woman. She’d grown up. Dolly saw him looking at her, stopped talking, and said, “What?”
“I’m amazed at how far you’ve come since we used to be dance partners. I’m very proud of you and what you’ve become.”
Dolly turned red and said, “It’s Jeff’s fault.”
Jeff flinched and said, “Me?”
“Yes, you. You’ve made me focus on making sure we have a future.” Dolly looked at Chris and said, “Make sure the two of you come back. You two are what keep us going. I’ll kill you if you get yourself killed.”
No one said anything until Jeff said, “It would be too late by then.”
Dolly looked at Jeff and said, “Nope, you and I will go back in time and save them.”
Everyone laughed and Dolly said, “I’m not kidding!”
That made everyone laugh even harder, but Jillian caught Dolly’s eye and nodded. That was enough for Dolly.
Arnold said, “So what do we know about the combatants in this galactic war?”
Chris looked around the table and shook his head, “We don’t want anything to do with either of them. The Sheera were telling half-truths when they built the pyramid.”
Arnold leaned back in his chair and nodded for Chris to continue.
“They were building the Great Pyramid and the temple at Puma Punku to install a force field that would surround the planet and prevent the Moet from attacking. What they didn’t say was that once the screen was in place that the planet would be forced to pay the Leaders of the Alliance for their protection. The Alliance would also prohibit any travel outside of our solar system and prevent the development of a stardrive. We would simply become workers providing our captors with raw materials. The Alliance Leaders are a group of tyrants that rule the members of the Alliance with a very heavy hand.”
“What about the Moet?”
“We really don’t know but Alliance History describes them as a monarchy that pretty much destroys any intelligent life they happen to stumble on. I have to believe there is more to it than that. However, without opening a dialogue, there is no way to find out.”
“What are we going to do about that asteroid?”
“We’re going to leave it alone for the moment. However, we’re going to remove their eye in the sky so they won’t see the Cheops or our colony ships depart.”
Arnold looked at Dolly, “How do you intend to do that?”
“We’ll use their methods to do it.” Arnold lowered his head and looked over his reading glasses. Dolly continued, “We have a ship in the inner layer of the ort cloud. They have picked up a large Asteroid and made it weightless. They have installed thrusters on it and it is aimed at that Moet scanner. Once they fire the thrusters, the asteroid will accelerate to one tenth light speed and rush in on the scanner faster than it can react. Just before impact the ship following behind the asteroid will return its mass with a gravity beam. It should be interesting to watch. We’ll be doing that in two days.”
Hemon said, “Why then?”
“Because Jillian and Chris are launching immediately after the destruction of that scanner; we are also firing a high energy device in Sierra Space to block stardrives four hours after they leave. We will then send the forty warships we’ve built out to the asteroid belt to hide and wait for the Moet response to the scanner’s destruction.”
“Then why don’t you remove the killer asteroid after you remove the scanner?”
“Hemon, we’re hoping if they send a ship to investigate that they will see the asteroid is still headed toward Earth and that their scanner was destroyed by an accident. We still want to buy as much time as possible to build up our defenses.”
Hemon shrugged, “I understand.”
Dolly looked at Chris, “Are you ready to go?”
Chris looked at Jillian and said, “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be. I don’t know how we can ever be completely ready.”
Arnold said, “Let’s hope it’s enough. I’m counting on you to bring my daughter back safely.”