Force of Gravity

The Human Chronicles Saga #22

T.R. Harris

An Adam Cain Adventure

Contents

Copyright 2017 by T.R. Harris

Contact

Novels by T.R. Harris

Who is Adam Cain?

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Epilogue

The End

Author Notes

Contact

Novels by T.R. Harris

Copyright 2017 by T.R. Harris

All rights reserved, without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanically, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Novels by T.R. Harris

The Human Chronicles Saga – Continuum

Mission Critical (An Adam Cain Adventure)

The Human Chronicles Saga (original series)

The Fringe Worlds

Alien Assassin

The War of Pawns

The Tactics of Revenge

The Legend of Earth

Cain’s Crusaders

The Apex Predator

A Galaxy to Conquer

The Masters of War

Prelude to War

The Unreachable Stars

When Earth Reigned Supreme

A Clash of Aliens

Battlelines

The Copernicus Deception

Scorched Earth

Alien Games

The Cain Legacy

The Andromeda Mission

Last Species Standing

Invasion Force

Force of Gravity

REV Warriors Series

Rev

Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series

The Enclaves of Sylox

Treasure of the Galactic Lights

The Drone Wars Series

Day of the Drone

In collaboration with George Wier…

The Liberation Series

Captains Malicious

Available exclusively on Amazon.com

and Kindle Unlimited.

Who is Adam Cain?

Adam Cain is an alien with an attitude.

His story continues…

Prologue

4,000 Years Ago…on the other side of the galaxy.

Pleabaen Juris Simlan was in a good mood, in spite of the unexpected request for an audience from the overbearing Juirean Overlord. As a being of precise organization and discipline, Simlan normally did not tolerate disruptions to his routine. Yet part of his joyous emotions this morning came from the role the Juireans played in his overall sense of well-being. He would enjoy toying with the savage beast, knowing the full truth he was withholding.

The door to his office opened and the thickly-built alien entered, trailing a velvet blue cape in his wake. Although Klin and Juireans were of equal height on the average, the rough-skinned creatures had recently begun to display huge mounds of long hair atop their heads that then cascaded halfway down their backs. This added another foot to their statue, which Simlan recognized as a vain attempt to appear even larger and more threatening, a practice common within the animal world. The Klin leader sincerely hoped the aliens weren’t doing this in an attempt to intimidate his people. The Klin were too sophisticated to fall for such theatrics.

In addition to the long manes, the Juireans were also dying their hair different colors to signify the class they belonged to. Overlords were colored blue. The military arm—the Guards—green. The Elites were white, while the Techs dyed their hair yellow. The Klin related most to the Techs, if related was the right word. They simply tolerated this class of alien more, even though the Techs also carried with them an air of immature bombast and arrogance.

For Simlan, it was the arrogance of the Juireans that he found most annoying. These creatures had no right to be arrogant. They had achieved their false level of authority within the Alliance based on the singular fact that they were savages, and not worthy of even full-status membership. Yet the Juireans were too ignorant to realize this fact. Instead of arrogance, shame and servitude should have been their way. But that was not the case, at least not within their ranks. They flaunted their illusionary power and authority for all to see. However, to others within the Alliance, the Juireans were a laughing-stock, at least behind their backs. Sensible beings did not provoke the beasts. Instead, they used them for their own purposes.

The Juirean glared at the Pleabaen for several seconds, waiting to be invited to sit. Simlan remained seated behind his desk, and then after an appropriate time, nodded toward a chair on the other side of the table.

The Overlord separated his blue cape and sat down, letting out a grunt of defiance as he did.

“I was not aware we had a meeting scheduled this morning,” Simlan stated. “It is only by my grace that I have found time for you.”

There was an unnatural pause from the alien before he responded.

“I have an update on the garrison stocking. I was anxious to witness your reaction,” said Overlord Oplim ra Unic. He was the head of the Juirean military forces and the liaison between the government on Juir and the Council. Simlan knew him well…and hated just about everything about the creature.

Simlan frowned. There was something different in the tone of the Juirean, something beyond the usual brashness. Was it…humor? That could not be. As far as Simlan knew, the Juireans had no sense of humor.

“You seem quite pleased with yourself this morning, Lord Oplim. I assume the stocking has gone well.”

“It is ahead of schedule, Simlan.”

The Klin leader bristled at the use of his singular name without title. This was rarely allowed, and especially not by an alien savage such as the Overlord. Yet Simlan calmed himself. Oplim was in an unusual mood this morning, and probably reverted to the informal speech of his kind with no offense intended. Simlan was himself in a rare mood. He would let it pass.

The alien continued. “All main garrisons are now stocked with Juirean Guards, and the fourteen-hundred auxiliary stations are also at full strength. I wish to also inform you that the forty-nine warships you supplied my people are presently in orbit at this time.”

“Above Klinmon?” Simlan asked, perplexed. “Why are they not on patrol near Oannan?”

“They are here for Klinmon.”

Simlan nodded. The sole reason the Juireans were in the Alliance was because of Klinmon—the homeworld of the Klin. They served as a deterrent to the belligerent machinations of the Oanneans, as each race vied for supremacy within the organization. The Klin were without skill at physical combat, having rarely raised arms against their own kind, at least not for the past eight thousand starcycles. But what they lacked in military skill they made up in cunning. It was through Simlan’s delicate maneuvering seven cycles ago that he persuaded a majority of the Council to approve the addition of the Juireans, at least on a provisional level.

At that time there were six advance races within the Alliance Cluster…and one of savage practice. It would be a thousand cycles—if even then—before the Juireans would achieve a level of civilization to earn full membership in the Alliance. Yet despite this, Simlan saw an opportunity to not only appease the overzealous Juireans, but also to provide a means for the Klin to defend their claim on the leadership of the Alliance.

The Juireans were allowed in, if only to provide a pre-made military force for the Cluster. Ostensibly, the aliens were to provide security for all members of the Alliance. Yet everyone knew the Klin controlled the beasts. They had sponsored their membership and even begun to share limited technologies to help the savages achieve a modicum of modern infrastructure. These actions—and more—made the aliens beholden to the Klin.

As it turned out, the vary presence of the throwback creatures quelled any outright opposition to the Klin, just as Simlan had predicted. Now the Klin sat securely atop the hierarchy of the Seven World Common Alliance, if only six of the worlds had full voting rights.

And this was a status the Klin well deserved. They had initiated the first contact between the other races within the Cluster. And it was their technological genius that took the energy machines of the Bal and turned them into the flash weapons all races now employed, including the savage Juireans. It was also the Klin who saw the potential of the Oannan remote wave generators as a means to produce miniature black holes, resulting in the gravity space drive the Alliance now used to expand its reach and influence to another forty worlds beyond the Cluster. And the fusion reactors used by the Tacic had been improved upon, providing an unlimited source of clean, renewable energy that now powered the burgeoning stellar empire.

Yes, it was the Klin who laid the foundation for the first interstellar empire, an empire that would eventually spread across the galaxy and unite all civilized races under the leadership of the Klin.

* * *

Simlan now eyed the offensive alien across the desk from him. Little did the Overlord know his time within the higher echelons of the Alliance was nearing an end. Soon the Juireans would be expelled from the leadership Council, left to assume a lower place among the common worlds. They had served their purpose—Simlan’s purpose—and now they would be discarded like scraps from the previous night’s mainmeal.

“I appreciate your concern for the safety of Klinmon,” Simlan said, “but you must surely know the crisis has passed. Your security forces are no longer needed exclusively on Klinmon. There is more urgent need among the other worlds beyond the Cluster. Your strength and intimidation-factor will send a message to our newest members. There is a hierarchy within the Alliance. All races must know their place.”

As he studied the face of the Juirean, the Pleabaen grew confused. He noticed the slight trace of a grin on the face of the Overlord. The aliens rarely bared their teeth fully; such a practice was considered a sign of aggression, either a warning or a challenge. Again, this was a trait found more in the animal world than civilized society, which only reaffirmed Simlan’s impression of the Juireans. Was Oplim about to bare his teeth, or was he truly displaying humor with his expression?

“And what place do the Juireans earn within this hierarchy you speak of, Simlan?”

Again without title!

Simlan bit his bottom lip. He was the Pleabaen of the Klin—their leader. As such, he could amend timetables and make announcements as he saw fit. In light of the Juirean’s obstinate behavior and lack of respect, he felt now was as good a time as any to reveal his plans to the Overlord.

“It is no secret that a realignment will soon come to the Council,” he began. “Your service to the Alliance—the Juirean’s service—has been welcome. Your people served a vital purpose at the time, and even as I make this announcement, your people will still play a vital role in the affairs of state. Yet it is the decision of the Council that the Juireans are to be removed from the high table, after which it will go back as it was before the Juireans were granted entry. You must recall, even at the time of your joining, it was a provisional appointment. And during the time you’ve sat in on Council affairs, your race has been given access to technologies far beyond your societal level. This will be our payment to you for your service. And as mentioned earlier, the Juireans will still play a significant role, especially as the Alliance expands outward.”

Simlan did not reveal to the Overlord that there were other races within the new worlds better suited to the role of security force for the Alliance. These beings were strong and capable, yet didn’t exhibit the arrogance and insubordination of the Juireans. This reality would be known soon enough. For now, Simlan simply wished the Overlord gone from his presence.

Yet Simlan’s confusion remained. The Juirean sat silently on the other side of the desk, still displaying the thin crescent of a smile, apparently unaffected by the Pleabaen’s proclamation.

Just then a message light flashed on the desk. Simlan continued to stare at the Juirean, not sure whether or not he should break the power trance to answer the message.

“If you are wondering, you need not answer the link, Pleabaen Simlan,” said the Overlord.

At last, some respect for my office!

“And why should I not?”

“Because I can tell you the subject.”

“I am confused? How can you know?”

Simlan jerked when the Juirean suddenly rose to his feet, catching the Klin leader off guard. “Come. Please join me at your window, which offers an incredible view of the great Klin capital city of Polidnon.” The Juirean walked to the window, leaving Simlan to ponder whether to answer the flashing link or to join the strange-acting alien.

He chose to join the Overlord.

As he looked through the window and down the prominence to the vast city below, Simlan noticed curious plumes of black smoke just now reaching above the rooftops and billowing higher by the second. The Council building was located at the north end of the city, on the lower slopes of the Dandis mountain range and several thousand feet above the mean level of the metropolis. From here he could see twenty miles or more down the thoroughfares, along the spires and past the towers of Polidnon. At first, Simlan noticed only a handful of smoke columns, but soon they numbered in the dozens.

“I…I do not understand,” he whispered.

“Yet I thought the Klin were the superior intellect in the galaxy,” Oplim said mockingly, still wearing the slight trace of a smile. “You mean you do not recognize a cleansing when you see one?”

“A cleansing?”

“Yes, Simlan, a cleansing of the condescending Klin from their precious homeworld. In fact, I might amend that word. I prefer now to call it a reckoning. That better suits the occasion.”

Simlan snickered. The words of the alien were absurd, with no meaning, no context.

In his present state of dismay, Simlan only lightly gasped when the huge Juirean Overlord grabbed him by the back of his garment and pressed his face against the glass of the window. The idea of physical contact with the alien was so offensive that Simlan nearly vomited. Yet he held his stomach, in too much shock to fathom his conflicted emotions.

“Look, Simlan. This is the end result of your diabolical planning, your blatant and insulting manipulation of the Juirean people. You brought the savage into your home, nurtured him, and then gave him the means with which to defeat you. Does this sound like the actions of the superior race within the Cluster?”

“You cannot be serious,” Simlan screeched as he watched flying ships sweep down from the sky to strafe entire neighborhoods, while streaking missiles slammed into towering buildings. Explosions rocked the once-tranquil city, while famed structures—some a hundred cycles old—toppled over to crumble into roiling clouds of grey dust. “Klinmon…you can’t. Why?”

Oplim pulled the quivering Klin away from the glass and placed his face close to his. “Why? You have to ask why?” The Overlord tossed the weak, silver-skinned creature to the floor and then stood over him, now snarling with exposed teeth. “It was the Klin who sent messages to my planet, telling the people there to unite as one before membership in your Alliance would be granted. Because of that, a billion of my people died during the Unification Wars. And even after that, you waited. It was not until we were reaching out to you in our own ships, across the cold of space, that you finally arrived.”

“We hesitated once we witnessed the savagery of your wars.”

“What did you expect us to do?”

“We expected you to sit down with all the other city-states and form an alliance—like civilized people—not to wage bloody war on such a horrific scale. From your actions, you proved too barbaric to be considered civilized.”

The Overlord appeared stunned by the comment. “Your expectations were naïve. That is not how the strong unite. Yet even then, we did not wish to kill our kind in such numbers! It was your ambiguity that left confusion in its wake. We had no choice but to unite by force.”

“And it is force you excel in, Lord Oplim. Your kind delights its implementation, even as you revel in the mass murder you are committing as we speak.”

Now the Overlord laughed. In the heat of the moment, Simlan did not consider it unusual.

“You are correct in this instance, Simlan. I am enjoying the slaughter of your people. It has been long in planning and anticipation.”

“You will not kill us all! You do not have the means.”

Oplim dropped down on one knee, bringing his huge head and blue mane closer to the frail Klin on the floor. “On that you are wrong. You have failed to monitor the production of several hundred additional warships we built on Juir. You allowed us only a few initially, yet from them we learned your secrets. We have ample Juirean warships and troops above your world, as well as all the worlds within the Cluster. Others will feel our wrath this day, yet none like the Klin. Within days, your race will be extinct.”

Simlan grit his teeth and snarled at the alien. “You are indeed savages, unworthy of association with civilized people. The Juireans are the weak among the intellectually strong. Your kind will eventually fade away, consumed by your own barbaric ways.”

“You are wrong again, Simlan. We will reign supreme. The Klin believe that technology makes you strong. The truth is the weak build technologies so they can stand at the shoulders of the strong. Yet the strong use technology to become even more powerful, more dominant over weak creatures like you. That is our destiny—Juirean destiny. A galactic empire will be forged from the ruins of Klinmon. But it will be a Juirean Empire, not Klin. And our destiny begins today.”

“The Klin will survive!” Simlan screamed. “There are millions off-planet. They will survive to avenge what you do to us this day.”

“That is true, some will survive. Yet we will pursue the survivors. We will place bounties on your lives, and rewards for knowledge of your hiding places. Nowhere in the galaxy will the Klin be safe. Not now. Not ever.”

Through tear-filled eyes, Simlan stared at the evil monster before him. How could this be happening? Only moments before, the Klin—his Klin—reigned supreme. Now he understood the seriousness of the situation. Yes, the Juireans would destroy Klinmon; the planet had no defense other than the traitorous creatures from Juir. The aliens would march unopposed across the landscape, leaving death and destruction in their wake.

But then a thought crossed Simlan’s mind, a thin sliver of consolation. “The treachery of the Juireans will be broadcast for all to see,” he declared. “You may win the day, but you will lose the future. You will become pariahs among the civilized, forever shamed by the horrific acts you commit today.”

To Simlan’s surprise, Oplim laughed again. “Perhaps it will be as you say. However, you must consider that the true nature of this conversation will be lost in the streams of time, for there will be no Klin left to relate your version of events. It will be told only through the eyes of the Juireans. And a very different story it will be. In ages to come, it will be the villainy of the Klin that brought about your destruction, a justified uprising against an evil race of heartless beings. That is the message that will be told for millennia to come. I am sorry, Simlan, but for the Klin, there will be no glory found in your defeat, only the insult of death. Accept reality. The Klin shall never rise again.”

Simlan didn’t see the small blade Oplim produced from under his cape, but he felt its sharp tip plunge deep into his chest.

The Overlord left the room shortly thereafter, leaving Simlan alone to experience the cold of his approaching death. Long afterwards, his dead eyes were still open, staring at the ceiling. There were no Klin left to attend to his lifeless body.

The Reckoning had begun….

1

Four Thousand Years Later…

With growing satisfaction, Cosnin Oblinus studied the map on the opposite wall of his chambers. Contrary to popular belief, the Klin were not beyond emotion; it just took a lot to impress his kind. And at the moment, Cosnin was ecstatic.

It appeared to be a small victory, at least on the scale of a galaxy. Yet the silver shading on the map—covering one full arm and several side spars—could be seen from across the room. Cosnin chose the marking color himself to match the shimming sheen of Klin skin. This was the region of the galaxy under his complete control. Although there was still a very large swath left to conquer, his forces had made remarkable progress over the past year, more so than during any prior campaign by the Klin. And as the current Pleabaen, Cosnin would get all the credit.

Gazing at the map during his quiet times gave Cosnin a sense of pride and accomplishment. For millennia, his people had been hunted like animals, despised and shunned by all within the galaxy displayed on the map. Even to this day, the Juirean savages still boasted in propaganda broadcasts the supposed words of Overlord Oplim ra Unic on the first day of the Reckoning. Whether the actual conversation was exactly as related, Cosnin had his doubts. But it was enough to serve as a clarion call for the Klin throughout all the centuries to come:

“The Klin shall never rise again.”

Cosnin smiled. The map on the wall said otherwise.

* * *

The Pleabaen’s quiet time came to an end when it was announced Robert McCarthy had arrived and was on his way to Cosnin’s chambers. The Klin leader sighed. He knew the Human was due in at this time, having been off-planet coordinating the evacuation of Corfer and making arrangements for all remaining Klin to consolidate on Vesper. McCarthy had protested Cosnin’s decision to reunite the Klin at one location; he felt it imprudent to do so, making them a single target for their enemies. But with the current status of the war, the Pleabaen no longer felt the precautions necessary. Expansion and Union forces were in such a state of panic that no concerted effort could be launched this far into Klin territory.

That last phrase brought a surge of joy to Cosnin: Klin territory.

It was true. The Klin now had territory they could call their own. This had not been so for over four thousand years. And the territory of the Klin was growing larger with each passing day. Because of this, the Pleabaen wanted his people together again, rather than scattered across the galaxy, still hiding like mur-rats in the backwater. The Klin no longer needed to cower in fear. It was the galaxy that now feared the Klin.

The short, thin Human with a fuzz of red hair atop his head entered the large room and approached Cosnin with appropriate reverence. He bowed slightly.

“I am pleased to once again be in your presence, my Pleabaen,” said Robert McCarthy.

Cosnin nodded. “You are welcome, my friend. Please, be seated at my table.”

McCarthy was a second-generation Human—a 2G they called themselves. He had been born off the planet of his blood-relatives and raised by the Klin. Although Cosnin occasionally had to tolerate his latent alien behavior, the Pleabaen knew that in many ways McCarthy was more Klin than Human. He had never set foot on Earth, yet had received additional training in the ways of his race from his father, Nigel McCarthy, until he was indistinguishable from the real thing. Cosnin often wondered how the Human operation would have gone if all 2Gs had been trained as such? Events might have unfolded differently.

“Is Corfer secure?” Cosnin asked.

“The site is now empty and all tracks to Vesper covered.” Cosnin saw the alien frown. “I still wish to log my protest. I believe it to be a mistake to cluster all Klin at one location. Our enemies are resourceful and will see this as a tempting target.”

Cosnin smiled. “If you refer to our mutual nemesis Adam Cain, you need not worry.”

McCarthy’s face lit up. “You have news?”

Cosnin had been anxious to share the report with the Human. But he chose to wait until McCarthy was in his presence to fully experience the alien’s reaction, rather than make the announcement over a CW link. “Yes, there is.”

“Is he dead?”

“Not yet…but soon.”

McCarthy frowned. “Please brief me fully. Playing games with my concern over Adam Cain is not welcome.”

Cosnin leaned back slightly. That was a rather rude comment, he thought. The Human was truly distraught, growing angry—and insubordinate—at the mere mention of the name Adam Cain. The Pleabaen had previously absolved Robert of all responsibility for Cain’s escape from Corfer, Cosnin being just as perplexed as the Human by the facts surrounding the event. Still, McCarthy had taken it upon himself to shoulder most of the blame. This made the news the Pleabaen was about to impart even more satisfying.

“Through our spies on Formil, Adam Cain and his companions have been tracked to a planet called Pyrum-3. Apparently it served as a staging ground for his team immediately after the Humans relinquished control of the Expansion several standard years ago and began working directly for Administrator Kroekus.”

“Yes, I recall the world in the history of Adam Cain,” said Robert. “Please continue.”

“Following his escape from our custody, Cain traveled to Earth and absconded with a prototype starship capable of inter-dimensional travel.”

Cosnin saw Robert tense, his light blue eyes locked intently on the Pleabaen.

“The Humans have TD starships?”

Cosnin shook his head. “They have the components, yet have failed to solve a power supply problem.” He laughed. “Apparently, Adam Cain found the solution for them.”

Robert leaned in closer, his face stern. “You make light of this development, my Pleabaen. You know what Cain will do with such a ship.”

Cosnin returned the frown, growing upset with the Human’s sudden intensity and border-line insubordination. “He obviously wishes to contact the mutants, if that is what you mean?”

“It is. He seeks Panur and Lila Bol so they can find a way to defeat our machines.”

“Our machines are invincible, my friend.”

“Nothing is invincible,” Robert countered, much to Cosnin’s chagrin and surprise. “Just because we can’t figure a way to defeat them, doesn’t mean the mutants can’t.”

“I thought it would be welcome news that Adam Cain has been located,” Cosnin barked.

“Not if he has the means to locate the mutants.”

“Then what I tell you next will bring even more disappointment. He has already found the mutants…and they are on Pyrum-3 with him.”

McCarthy pressed back in the chair and stared at Cosnin. “Why are you so…so cavalier with this news?”

“Because Cain’s island base has been attacked by forces from the Expansion, Earth…and even the Nuoreans—”

“The Nuoreans? Are they still a factor in the galaxy?”

“Apparently, and all three parties were there seeking the trans-dimensional starship. Fortunately, they did not succeed.”

Now the Human looked even more confused. “Fortunately?”

“Yes, because that means we may still acquire the vessel. You will be pleased to learn that I dispatched a VN-91 to Pyrum-3 as soon as I learned Cain was there. The ship has now arrived and is preparing to unleash a force of combat modules to the surface to kill Cain and his supporters.”

The Human’s reaction was not what Cosnin expected. Robert’s mouth hung slack and his eyes unblinking.

“Are you crazy?”

Cosnin’s eyes blinked several times, stunned by McCarthy’s insulting question. He had never seen the Human like this, and now Cosnin’s impression of the 2G was changing with each passing second and every obstinate reaction.

McCarthy spoke into the tension filling the room. “You say the mutants are with him, and that you will be sending robots to the surface? You do know the mutants are immortal? Our units will not kill them.”

“But they will kill Cain and the others. Then without support from their sponsors, the mutants may simply return from wince they came.”

McCarthy shook his head. “Who talks like that?” Before Cosnin could reply, Robert continued. “Cain brought the mutants here to find a way to defeat our ships. Now you have delivered such a vessel to them on a silver platter. It’s just what they need to analyze. I hate to disappoint you, my Pleabaen, but your robots will not kill Adam Cain or the mutants. They will work together to survive. Then Panur will use his genius to find a weapon against us.”

“That is not so,” Cosnin countered. “From reports, Cain’s team consists of only seven mortal individuals—”

“And now the mutants.”

“Yes, and now the mutants. We will deliver several thousand combat units to the surface. And since Pyrum-3 is of no strategic value, all the modules will be directed to the area where Adam Cain and the others are present.”

“It won’t fucking matter!”

“You attitude is unacceptable, Robert McCarthy! You forget your place.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t believe what an incredibly bone-headed thing you’ve done. Order the ship to leave immediately before the mutants have a chance to study it.”

Cosnin was taken aback by the issuance of an order at his person, and especially by a non-Klin. Yet he retained his demeanor. Only moments before McCarthy entered his chambers Cosnin had spoken with the single Klin aboard the huge warship. It was from that conversation he’d learned of the arrival of the glowing, egg-shaped spaceship and the emergence of its two occupants. He had no direct confirmation that they were the mutants, but from the sophistication of the craft, it was a logical conclusion to draw. He checked the clock on his desk. The release of the robots from orbit was scheduled for…now, so what was to happen on the surface of Pyrum-3 was already in motion. The question now became: what would happen next?

Even through his anger, Cosnin could see the logic in McCarthy’s argument. The mutants were an unknown in the equation, and the Pleabaen had saved them a lot of time and effort by bringing a VN-91 to the planet.

He pressed a button on his desk and spoke without waiting for a reply. “On my command, order VN-91 seventeen to leave the Pyrum system immediately at maximum speed. Enter a gravity-well at the earliest opportunity and proceed into open space to await further orders.” He pressed the button again, knowing the message would be relayed and obeyed without question.

The Human still sat straight-backed and tense, Cosnin’s withdrawal order having failed to resolve the issue to his satisfaction. It had also failed to resolve the Pleabaen’s issues with Robert McCarthy. He knew Humans were emotional creatures, often letting feelings rule their actions. But it wasn’t just the nature of the insubordination that bothered Cosnin. It was the fact that the Human had frightened him. He knew each member of the primitive race was a latent killing machine, incredibly strong and instinctively skilled. And the one sitting across the desk from him was no exception.

2

The beach was littered with dozens of dead Nuoreans.

Adam Cain would have preferred them to be Klin, but Nuoreans would do for the time being.

The Humans commandos were gathering their equipment and boarding Zodiac speedboats, preparing to head off across the narrow channel to the mainland, licking their wounds in the process. A larger force of Expansion troops was doing the same. Adam let them go. He was already in enough trouble as it was. Adding the deaths of a few of his fellow Humans or quasi-allies wouldn’t help.

The gray-skinned mutant Panur was trailing along beside him, his unblinking eyes taking in not only the carnage and confusion on the beach, but the utter destruction of two of the three buildings to their right. The residence and the admin buildings were in shambles, but the hangar was still intact, even though it had sustained some damage after it was discovered the trans-dimensional starship was not inside. The huge, rusting freighter dominating the landing pad at the west end of the island was also relatively unscathed. The attackers had been preoccupied with other targets to focus their attention on the ugly spacecraft. Besides, they probably thought it was just an inoperable pile of junk.

Occasionally, Adam felt Panur’s eyes linger on him. The mutant had arrived just as Adam was hovering on a firm cushion of air controlled by his artificial telepathy device and aided by the tiny cluster of mutant brain cells—Panur’s brain cells—residing in his head. So far, Panur hadn’t commented on the event, although Adam knew he was searching his genius brain for how it was done.

“Compression…by static electricity!” the mutant finally declared. “Yet that would require near-spontaneous creation and exceptional control. You have surely advanced in the finer manipulations of your brain-interface device, my friend.”

“I was just playing around one day and discovered I could do it…at least on a small scale,” Adam replied. “Then I just kept working on it.”

“Well…you have apparently mastered the technique. I shall have to try it myself.”

“You should. It’s really a lot of fun.”

Panur stepped over the bloody severed head of a Nuorean. “I’m sure it is.”

Adam had to change the subject. He couldn’t allow the mutant to focus any more of his considerable brain-power on analyzing Adam’s abilities.

“Where have you been?” he asked. “And have you been monitoring events here in the Milky Way?”

Panur smiled. “As to where we have been…we’ve been around. And as for monitoring events…some. I understand the Klin are causing trouble for you again.”

“Not just me, the entire galaxy. And they’re being helped by the son of Nigel McCarthy.”

“Ah, your old nemesis from before my arrival in your galaxy. Of course I have studied the history. So Nigel has a son still alive and thriving within Klin society? How unfortunate.”

“Robert McCarthy is the last of the 2Gs, and he’s been directing their war effort. He’s also responsible for their invincible black starships and killer robot army.”

The mutant snickered. “Invincible? Nothing is invincible.”

“I was hoping you’d say. The Klin are using their machines to slowly take over the galaxy and so far no one’s been able to figure a way to stop them. We need to defeat their ships and stop the invasion.”

“We?” Panur queried. “My friend Adam Cain, you have certainly developed an inflated impression of yourself since last we met.”

Damn!

To Adam’s relief, Panur turned his gaze to the azure sea beyond the now blood-soaked beach he once referred to as The Wedge. “You must tell me everything you know about these black starships,” Panur began. “I also need access to monitoring recordings and other data that show power output and input, as well as video of the ships in combat mode.” He looked again at Adam and smiled. “After which, we shall work on a solution together.”

* * *

A few minutes later, flickering of shadows on the cloudless day caught both Adam and Panur’s attention. When they looked into the sky, Adam’s heart skipped a beat.

The deep blue of the morning sky was dotted with hundreds—perhaps thousands—of tiny t-shaped objects. With his enhanced eyesight, Adam could make out the wide, thin form of elongated parachutes, and dangling below them, the frightening site of the Klin’s killer robots. Even as Panur and Adam focused on the terror from the sky, the robots opened fire on everyone and everything on the surface.

The Human commandos and Expansion forces took the brunt of the initial incoming flash cannon fire, as they formed the largest concentration of living creatures on the island. But the buildings to the north were also receiving their share of energy bolts. The once-intact hangar building was riddled with hits, while the huge orange freighter next to it was perforated with holes, before literally exploding from the inside out.

As he and Panur sprinted for their respective ships, Adam noticed that the Defiant—the trans-dimensional starship—was being spared from the rain of deadly energy bolts. The robots had been programmed to recognize the vessel, meaning the Klin knew of the ship and its capabilities.

Everyone! Get to the Defiant, Adam spoke through his ATD to all the other ATD-equipped members of his team. You’ll be safe inside.

“Panur, come with me!” he shouted aloud.

“I would prefer my own ship,” the mutant yelled back. “I see Lila does too.”

Lila had just broken away from her mother and was running toward the mutant’s cracked-open egg-shaped starship. Arieel watched her for a moment before turning for the Defiant.

Soon, Adam was the only one left on the beach. Both mutants had sprinted off in matching blurs, moving at unbelievable speed. Is that how I look to normal people? Adam asked himself. Damn!

Adam shifted course and ran toward the stretch of beach he called The Strand. Most of the Human commandos were tumbling into their Zodiacs, while others pushed the rubber and wood speedboats into the water. He could see three of the Humans had been killed by high-level flash bombs, with another five sustaining injuries.

“Major! Get your men to the mainland and back to your landing craft as soon as possible,” Adam yelled. He picked up an M-101 assault rifle dropped on the beach during the retreat. “I’ll try to draw their fire.”

“Thank you, Captain Cain. You should know our transport ship has left the area, ordered away when the Klin ship arrived.” The Army officer looked around the beach. “Sorry about all this, just following orders.”

“As well you should. Now get moving! If I don’t make it back for an evac, seek out the natives. They’ll keep you safe, if they can.”

Adam pointed the weapon into the sky and began targeting the robots about to land on the beach. Their repulsive magnetic shields deflected the metal slugs with a powerful electric field, causing no damage. But the bullets did get their attention. The beach around Adam exploded.

This time when Adam went airborne, it was not of his own choosing.

The cloud of blown up sand obscured the robot’s vision for a moment, but it didn’t stop them from firing into the cloud. Adam rolled on the soft sand, now liquefied by the deep depressions made by the energy bolts. He tasted gritty saltwater, but found the shallow hole to be cover against the incoming fire. A dozen of the Klin automatons landed and discarded their black parachutes. Dual treads transitioned to multi-jointed legs and they scurried off over the soft sand in Adam’s direction. On each articulated arm was a weapons-array, a multi-function device capable of firing flash bolts, ballistic slugs or lasers. Having identified their primary targets as Human, they fired lasers, rather than their other less-powerful armament.

The crest of the depression was raked with beams of intense light. The sand turned to glass and formed a hard crust. Adam laid the barrel of his rifle over the edge and began firing. To his delight, he noticed the robots stopped firing their lasers as the magnetic shield went up to block the incoming bullets from the M-101. The intense magnetic field interfered with the lasers somehow. This was all well and good, if not for the fact that Adam would soon run out of ammo at the rate he was firing.

A few of the robots shifted their attention to the two Zodiacs out on the water. Although the little boats were extremely fast, the tracking system of the robots could follow them with ease. Lasers and flash bolts erupted from the killing machines, striking the trailing boat. The powerful engines exploded and the craft lurched forward, burying its bow in the shallow water of the lagoon. The troops were thrown out, with half their number floating unmoving on the choppy surface afterwards. That still left half a dozen swimming for the distant shore, a hundred yards away. The robots continued to target the survivors.

Two of the robots were locked on Adam’s position, although he was keeping their lasers at bay with periodic bursts aimed at their square central torsos. Off in the channel between the island the mainland, Adam saw geysers of water erupting near the lead Zodiac. They were next on the target list.

Adam scrambled from the depression, heading for the two robots facing him. His M-101 fire kept their weapons at bay. The Klin killers had defenses against a variety of threats, but did they have anything to stop a flesh-and-blood person from a direct assault? He was hoping not. The designers probably figured no one would that stupid.

When he hit the first robot, his mutant-enhanced strength was at its max. He slammed into the metal torso with the added inertia from his run and felt a sharp electric shock as he passed through the unit’s diffusion shield. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The intense magnetic field of the repulsive shield ripped away his metal buckle and the belt with it. An intense pain also erupted in his right side. His ATD was being ripped out of his skin.

When Adam slammed into the robot, all it did was take a single step backwards, barely moved by the attack. In desperation, Adam ripped off one of the arms and twisted the other until it hung lifeless at the side of the boxy torso. To his relief, the shields dropped. The pain in his side subsided. It would have been a bitch if he lost his ATD.

Even though the shields were down and both weapons-equipped arms neutralized, that still left a myriad of other offensive weapons embedded within the skin of robot’s body. Gunshots rang out, skimming past Adam with only inches to spare. These weapons were aimed by a shifting of the machine’s orientation. That was the same for the flash bolts. Even so, Adam caught a portion of an energy bolt on his already burning right side. It hurt like hell until his mutant brain cells muted the effect.

He placed a stiff elbow into the robot’s dome-shaped brain on top of the boxy body. The unit broke away and the unit slumped down on its legs in the wet sand of The Strand.

Adam only had seconds to get away before the self-destruct instructions were executed. He jumped off the dead machine and ran for the other. Without suppressing fire from the M-101, the robot was sending beams of white-hot lasers at him. Quickened mutant reactions saved him from the first barrage. The exploding robot to his rear did the rest.

Both Adam and the active robot were thrown away from the blast, Adam forward, the robot onto its back. Adam landed on the machine and began ripping it apart with his bare hands, leaving only one articulated arm working and firing a near-constant stream of lasers from the tip.

Adam gripped the arm and worked its aim across the beach, targeting the Klin machines firing at the retreating commandos. A few of the robots were destroyed in the first few seconds of the attack. These exploded, taking out even more. Then shields went up and the firing on the commandos ceased.

But now the robots turned toward Adam.

Adam ripped off the robot’s remaining arm and then took off across the beach in a crouch toward the Defiant, running as fast as his enhanced muscles would allow. A moment later he tripped, his belt-less pants having slipped from his waist to around his legs. He kicked them off, leaving only his boxer shorts for decorum. The second robot exploded, providing him just enough cover to make it to the open side entry hatch of the starship. Once inside, he was safe; the robots were programmed not to fire on the TD-starship.

The door closed automatically, but by then Adam was already entering the pilothouse. The ship was off the surface and banking to the left as Kaylor lined up on the same trajectory as Panur and Lila in their now-glowing egg-shaped starship. Then the mutant’s ship became just a steak of light. Stunned, Adam leaned against the back of Kaylor’s pilot seat and let his jaw fall open. He’d never seen anything move that fast from the surface of a planet. Even the incredible acceleration didn’t cause it to burn up in the atmosphere.

Adam closed his mouth and nodded. This is why he needed the mutants—both Panur and Lila. He needed their genius. Seeing Panur’s miraculous little starship bolt from the surface of Pyrum-3 told him he was on the right track.

3

A few minutes later the Defiant was in space and tracking Panur’s speedy craft as the gap widened between the two ships. Jym and Riyad Tarazi were huddled over the proximity screen, nervously looking for the black behemoth that was a Klin VN-91 starship. What made them nervous was the fact they couldn’t see it, as well as the fear that at any moment a thick, white laser beam would vaporize the Defiant, with them inside.

“It’s not here,” Riyad said for the room. “And neither are the ships that brought the commandos and the Expansion troops. Two Nuorean ships are on the screen, but bolting away on full drive. Everyone is running away from something, something we can’t see.”

“And something that can kill us all before we even know it,” said Jym, adding his two cents.

“Does that mean we could already be dead and not know it?” Copernicus Smith asked. Jym shrugged off the remark and returned to the screen.

Sherri Valentine also ignored her boyfriend. “Could the Klin have developed some kind of cloaking device?” she asked instead.

Adam shook his head. “Why would they do that? Their ships are already invincible. They don’t need to be invisible as well.”

“And where the hell is Panur shooting off to in such a mad rush?” Riyad asked, not wanting to be the only one in the room not to ask a rhetorical question.

Panur’s track was clearly visible on the main screen, having been displayed there by Kaylor at the pilot’s station. The actual ship was off the active screen, but his track was still highlighted. There was a crackle from the comm speakers.

“I thought you might like to make contact with us,” Panur’s voice announced through speakers on the bulkhead. There was a slight trace of humor in his tone. The gray mutant was right. The crew of the Defiant had no idea how to contact Panur’s glowing starship.

“Where the hell are you going?” Adam asked through the open comm line. “You do know there’s a Klin warship out here somewhere?”

“Indeed I do, and we are quickly closing on it.”

“You’re what? I told you what happens when you fire on one of those things. It charges their main lasers and turns the damn thing into an invincible killing machine.”

“Then not to worry; we have no weapons.”

Adam looked around at the stunned faces of his team. “So…what are you going to do?”

“Just going in to take a look,” was Panur’s matter-of-fact response.

“Lila!” Arieel cried out. “That will be suicide.”

“I will be safe,” her daughter’s sweet voice said through the speakers. “We will only be testing the ship’s defenses and monitoring their power systems.”

The tiny dot representing Panur’s ship appeared at the outer edge of the screen, having slowed down as it reached the six-mile-long Klin warship. Soon the much larger and brighter signature of the VN-91 came on the screen.

As the Defiant raced from the surface of Pyrum-3, Adam noticed the VN-91 had dropped a much smaller force of killer robots than was their normal modius operendi. As they’d climbed into space, it was clear the machines were targeting the island exclusively. The rest of the planet was being spared. And having dropped its cargo, the VN-91 was now in hurry to leave the scene of the crime.

The alien ship was bolting from the system on full power. But why? Adam wondered. The warship broke orbit before Adam and the mutants left the surface. They certainly wouldn’t be running from them…were they?

This black ship had penetrated farther into Expansion territory than any before it. Is that why they were running? Then a terrible thought formed in Adam’s mind. Maybe they weren’t running at all, but rather in a hurry to get someplace else—another target perhaps?

He didn’t have time to ponder any more unanswerable questions; Panur’s ship was closing on the huge ship, which was now visible on extreme magnification. Light from the Pyrum system’s colorful gas giant reflected off the black hull, shimmering, even as a pale green glow of concentric circles led the ship’s way through the darkness of space. In light of the ship’s deadly pedigree, few people had spent time analyzing the strange double blackhole gravity drive the ship employed. For now, it was just what it was. Once the engineers and scientists figured a way to keep ships like these from destroying entire populations, then they would worry about the unique space drives of the black ships.

Of course, it wouldn’t be others who would solve the problem of the Klin black ships. That would be left to Adam and his mutant allies.

“Don’t be crazy, Panur!” Adam called out over the comm. “They still have a formidable defense system. The hull is dotted with dozens of laser turrets. They’re not as powerful as the offensive weapons, but enough for your little ship.”

“My dear Adam, size isn’t everything,” said the four-and-a-half foot tall mutant.

“But you said you don’t have any weapons. I realize the two of you can’t die, but you can become a pair of floating ice cubes lost in space. At that point you might be a little hard to find.”

“None of that is going to happen. Please observe….”

The Defiant was closer to the two ships, and the crew could see the brilliant glow radiating out from Panur’s tiny vessel. It swept in close to the VN-91, passing through the three diffusion shields, which began twenty miles out from the hull of the warship. Green flares lit the area around where the egg-shaped ship penetrated the shields. When Panur was ten miles from the hull, a dozen lasers ignited on the surface of the black ship and contacted the glowing egg.

At which point the egg glowed even brighter, lighting up the interior of the Defiant, both from the image on the screen and from the tiny—yet brilliant—pinpoint of light visible through the viewport.

The globe of light skirted along the six-mile length of the Klin ship before racing off into space ahead of it. After making a quick loop—that left a trail of white light in its wake—the tiny spacecraft made another run along the length of the VN-91.

This time after the run, the glowing egg continued to pull away, coming back to rendezvous with the Defiant.

The black ship hastened along its way. A few minutes later it reached a point where it could engage its deep-gravity wells, and disappeared from the Pyrum system.

“Are you okay?” Arieel asked through the comm, her voice trembling.

“We are perfectly fine, mother,” said Lila. Her voice was also trembling, but not from fear. She seemed to be…excited.

“As you noticed,” Panur began, “my ship absorbs energy, just as you say the Klin ships do, yet much more efficiently.” He then laughed. “And as an added bonus, the energy flows throughout the interior, giving both me and Lila a very welcome infusion of power. It’s quite stimulating.”

“So you’re both all right?” Adam asked.

“More than all right, my friend.”

“Good,” Adam declared. He placed a hand on Kaylor’s shoulder. “Then we’re going back to Pyrum-3 to rescue what survivors there are.”

“We will be along shortly,” said Panur. “The ship is much too hot to land on your tiny island. It would incinerate anything within a three mile radius.”

“Turn us around, Kaylor,” Adam commanded.

“An estimated twenty minutes to destination,” said his blue-skinned Belsonian friend.

Adam grimaced. The commandos had been taken a beating when the Defiant left. After another twenty minutes…and there could be no one left to rescue.

4

Kaylor brought the Defiant in low over the island and then continued to the nearby mainland, looking for the best place to land. There were survivors. They made it into the palm and mangrove forest of the low-lying marshland, seeking what cover they could find.

From the air, Adam saw how most of the alien robots had landed near the island, either on land or in the water. The damn things could float, and were able to make landfall utilizing some form of slow propulsion system. Yet almost all of them were now on the island, even as a wholesale effort was underway to reach the mainland. But the going was slow. A thick fleet of bobbing robots filled the channel between the island and the opposite shore.

Fortunately, the one thing the killer bots couldn’t do was fly. And that’s what saved the commandos.

“Set us down in that clearing in the path of the survivors,” Adam said, pointing out the forward viewport. He looked around at the crowded pilothouse. “Any of you have weapons?”

Riyad held up an MK-17. “Just this, but the battery pack is dead. I could throw it at the robots if it comes to that.”

Coop held up an M-101. “Mine’s better,” he said to Riyad. He flipped the rifle around and grabbed it by the barrel. “At least I can use mine as a club.”

The team had used all their ammo defending the compound from the attack by their allies and the Nuoreans, with any last rounds expended on the parachuting Klin robots. The TD-ship did have a weapons arsenal built into its operating system, but it had never been charged while sitting in storage on Earth. In addition, no extra hand weapons were stored aboard.

“Kaylor, turn us ass-end to the commandos and open the landing bay door,” Adam said. “They’ll just have to get to us the best they can.”

“Ass-end…oh, I understand.”

Adam smiled. “Good man.”

Kaylor looked at Adam and scrunched his face.

“You know what I mean,” Adam said. “Now everyone else get to the landing bay. Some of the troops may be injured. They’ll need our help.”

* * *

When the Defiant touched down it began to sink in the soft, wet sand and sludge of the marsh. With the rear bay door opened, a shallow flood of water poured in and drained down into the void below the grills of the deck. The void soon filled up leaving sandy water covering the deck to a depth of two inches. Adam and his team splashed through the small flood and to the open doorway.

The tall alien palm trees had once been beautiful, swaying in the ocean breeze with the blue-green water beyond. Now they were being blown to bits, exploding and splintering apart as the horde of alien robots peppered the forest with laser fire. The Human commandos—what was left of them—rushed through the growth, scrambling over thick vines of mangrove-like bushes. The going was rough, but these men were trained for worse than this. The first survivors reached the landing bay door and raced inside, carrying their wounded and guided by Adam and his team.

The Expansion troops were a menagerie of species. Some navigated the thick growth with ease, others didn’t. Adam could see three tall Juirean Guards rushing towards them. Their green manes were flaring in the wind, although now matted and tangled. Then about twenty feet from the ship, a white beam of light erupted from the chest of one of them. He fell where he stood. The others barely gave him a glance and kept running.

More survivors rushed into the landing bay. Adam gave a sigh of relief when he noticed the Klin robots stopped firing as the commandos got close to the Defiant. This allowed the last of the Human and Expansion troops to pile in. Adam slapped the close-door button as the last of them scrambled past.

“Kaylor, they’re in. Get us out of here.”

The floor pitched at a steep angle, sending everyone tumbling toward the bay door. A moment later, internal gravity kicked in and orientation righted itself.

But Adam was pressed against the cold metal of the hangar door with a stack of aliens and Humans against him. Everyone was packed in the room like sardines. No one could move until the inner airlock was opened. Then over thirty people flooded the spine corridor and other compartments of the Defiant. Even then, Adam had to push his way through the smelly, wet and bloody crush of bodies to reach the common room.

The Army Ranger officer was there, packed in between an unknown species of alien and one of his men. Most the troops—both alien and Human—were still armed. Whether they had ammo and power packs was another question. Adam and the major made eye contact.

The mission of the commandos was to secure the TD-starship and return it to Earth. Now they were aboard the ship, and with superior numbers and armament. Adam could see the conflict in the Ranger’s eyes.

“What’s it going to be, major?” Adam asked. “I don’t have all day.”

The big man sighed. “It would be really shitty on my part to bite the hand that just saved our asses. He stepped up on a couch and placed a bloody hand on the ceiling for balance. “Listen up! We’re to take no action while aboard this ship. We owe these people our lives. Let’s not be assholes about it.”

A chorus of agreement echoed throughout the small spaceship, some even coming from the Expansion troops. Adam wormed his way over to the two surviving Juireans. Normally, their huge manes would have been scrapping the ceiling. But now the wet hair lay limp on their heads and formed a dripping veil reaching all the way to their alien butts.

“Are we in agreement?” Adam asked.

The lead Guard leaned over the much shorter Human. He looked at Adam’s blooded soaked shirt and paisley-print boxer shorts and snorted. “I have heard much of you, Adam Cain. You are not as I imagined. Yet we will comply.”

“Good. Now, let’s get organized.” He looked around the packed compartment. He could see down the corridor to the landing bay. It, too, was filled with wet, sweaty and smelly bodies. Fortunately, Kaylor had closed the door to the pilothouse before it could be invaded by the survivors.

“Sherri, Riyad!”

A harmonized ‘here’ came up the corridor.

“Get the landing bay organized. Clear it out and then let our guests back in one at a time. We need a head count. And try to keep the Humans and Expansion troops separate.”

“We’ll try!” came the reply, barely heard over the cacophony of alien and Human voices. Adam’s head was spinning from the potent mix of odors. He knew his tiny ship would never be the same after this.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the ship had reached a somewhat orderly state of chaos. There were seventeen Human commandos out of the original force of forty-five. The Expansion troops had faired even worse. They started with seventy and ended with only ten. Counting Adam’s team of seven, the Defiant carried thirty-four people aboard, when it was only designed for six at the most.

The pilothouse was restricted to only Adam’s team. This allowed them to plan their next moves in private and with a little elbow room.

“There are nine seriously wounded, with just about everyone else suffering from some kind of minor injury,” Sherri reported. “There’s barely room to stand back there, let alone set up a sickbay. And that’s not even the worst of it. The Defiant had something like two days’ worth of food stock when you and Arieel took off on your little romantic hop into a neighboring universe. That’s almost gone. We don’t even have enough to feed ourselves, let alone another twenty-seven mouths and assorted orifices.”

“And I have more bad news,” Kaylor announced. “The fuel modules are nearly drained.”

“What the…. How can that be?” Adam asked.

“I’ll answer that,” said Copernicus. “The existing mods are just temps, used back on Earth when the scientists were running tests. They were never designed for long-term use. And your trip to…whereever you went…drained them even faster than normal.”

Adam pursed his lips in disgust. “How long can we run?”

“A week, at tops. And no trans-dimensional jumps. We have just enough power to make half a jump, meaning we’d be stuck in another universe with no way back.”

Adam slumped back in his chair. “Any other thing I need to know about?”

Riyad cleared his throat.

“What is it, buddy?”

“Just got a report that the only toilet aboard has backed up. I wouldn’t go aft if I were you.”

“How could the stench be any worse than it already is?” Sherri asked.

“I’m afraid to find out,” Riyad answered.

5

An hour later, Panur’s glowing white starship came up alongside the Defiant.

“Do you have room in the landing bay for my ship? It’s cooled down enough,” the mutant asked.

“Not even close. We have a cargo of hungry, injured and foul-smelling commandos, stacked from bulkhead to bulkhead. We have to get rid of them before your ship will fit.”

“Perhaps you should not have rescued them.”

Adam couldn’t tell if Panur was serious or not, but he gave him the benefit of the doubt. “That was never an option. We had to do what we could. I’m getting the senior Human officer up here in a few minutes and figure out what we can do with his people. Just hold tight. I’ll let you know more after I’ve spoken with him and the captain of the transport that brought them here.”

Adam called Major Ryan Mathis to the bridge.

“We have to get your men—and the Expansion troops—off the ship as soon as possible,” he began without preamble. “We have no food or water. The ship wasn’t stocked before we bolted.” He didn’t feel the need to tell the army officer about the power modules. He wasn’t sure how the transport captain would react to having the TD-starship within his reach and knowing it was running on fumes.

“Yessir, you’ll get no argument from me,” said the young officer. “We also don’t have adequate bunking and medical facilities…and the toilet has backed up.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“We could dump bags of crap out the back,” Mathis suggested.

“If we had bags,” Adam replied. “I’m telling you, major, we’ve got nothing useful onboard. I need you to contact your transport. Do you have the link code?”

“Yessir.” He moved to the comm station where Riyad relinquished his chair. A few moments later, the army officer was in contact with the captain of the Human transport vessel.

After Major Mathis gave a quick briefing regarding the events on the surface of Pyrum-3—and Adam’s rescue of the remaining strike force—the ship’s captain asked to speak with Adam.

“Captain Cain, I appreciate your actions in support of the men. You took a considerable risk in doing so. In light of recent events—and the politics involved—I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t,” said Captain Angus Klein.

“Captain, we are not enemies. I understand you were only following orders. But now we have a serious problem. We cannot support the added personnel aboard, not even for a couple of days. Where are you now?”

“We were ordered out of the area when the Klin ship arrived. We’re about two light-years away, awaiting further orders. I can send you the track and we can meet halfway. It shouldn’t take more than six hours to rendezvous.”

Adam studied the craggy face of the senior line officer on the viewscreen. “Captain, I understand your orders are still in effect. I’m hoping we can call a truce during the transfer.”

“Consider it done.”

“Won’t that get you in trouble back home?”

“Sure, there’ll be the higher brass and politicians to contend with, people who consider the return of the TD-starship of more value than the lives of seventeen soldiers—and the Expansion troops. But when we get home, and the survivors are reunited with their families in front of the cameras, they’ll be singing a different tune, at least in public. I’ll deal with the backdoor consequences as they come.”

“Very good. Send the track and we’ll be on our way. By the way, the mutants Panur and Lila Bol will be accompanying us in their own ship, so don’t be surprised when you see a secondary contact.”

“Are they here to help against the Klin?” asked Captain Klein.

“That’s the plan…if people will stop shooting at us.”

Klein’s smile seemed genuine. “Sorry about that. I suppose that’s why you needed the prototype starship, to contact them?”

“That’s right. Now send the track, Captain. The air in here is getting pretty ripe.”

6

The Defiant met up with the Human Union Space Force Kentucky six-and-a-half-hours later. In the interim, a lower-ranking enlisted Ranger donned a spacesuit, tasked with dumping the disgusting contents of the single bucket they found in the cargo hold out the back of the ship. A section of the landing bay was designated as the new latrine, since the real one was a foul mess that may never recover from the abuse it had taken. There were no liners for the pail, and in order for the unfortunate soul to dump it, everyone in the landing bay had to crowd into the living area of the ship every half an hour so the rear door could be opened. But no one griped. They were just glad to be rid of the toxic mixture of Human and alien bodily waste.

Captain Klein asked if Adam wanted to bring the Defiant into one of the dual landing bays of the much larger ship for the transfer. He declined, preferring the passengers to be shuttled from his ship to the Kentucky. Even though he trusted the Navy captain, he didn’t feel comfortable placing his ship inside the other vessel. If something went wrong, it would involve a major fight to get away.

Of course, having Panur’s glowing egg-ship sitting twenty miles away did provide Adam with a pretty effective deterrent. He’d spread the word about how the tiny mutant spacecraft had chased the huge Klin black ship from the Pyrum system. That wasn’t exactly how it happened, but a little twisting of the truth never hurt anyone.

Captain Klein sent over a small amount of food stocks from his reserves, even though he couldn’t spare much. It would help, at least for a few days.

When the last of the Human and Expansion forces were gone, and the well-wishes expressed, the ships parted ways. Adam waited an hour before sending the Defiant away on an arbitrary course. He had no idea where they were going, but he also didn’t want Klein to report their whereabouts, which he was obligated to do. Adam and his people were outlaws within the Union, and the TD-starship still coveted by the Expansion—and everyone else. He’d traded the survivors for a head start. How much of one remained to be seen.

The crew climbed into spacesuits and vented the interior of the ship. It worked—to a point. It would take a strong chlorine scrub to remove the trace odors, which had soaked into clothing, furniture, even the overhead panels. It took another hour to get the toilet working again, with the repairmen still in their spacesuits until the job was done.

Panur brought his tiny ship into the landing bay, reuniting Lila and Arieel again. The mutant was Adam’s daughter, yet he didn’t have near the bond as mother and daughter. Nevertheless, Lila treated him with respect and acknowledged her Human heritage, but sometimes Adam got the impression she often went through the motions for his benefit. But the connection she and Arieel shared was real.

There were now nine bodies aboard the Defiant, which, while still overcrowded, was a lot better than before. There was Adam and the other Humans: Sherri, Riyad and Copernicus, along with the three mortal aliens, Kaylor, Jym and Arieel. Then there were the mutants. Fortunately, they didn’t eat any of the limited food supplies and could sleep in their own starship in the landing bay…if they every slept, which they didn’t.

Adam called everyone together in the common room.

“Okay, first things first,” he began. “Our power mods are just about drained, so we have to find someplace to resupply within five day’s distance from our present location. Most advanced worlds carry a ready supply of modules, so we won’t have to risk one of the Expansion-controlled production centers. Jym, what have you found?”

“There is a world called Siron located at the outer range you mentioned. It serves as a global mining colony, with a mixed population working the nearby asteroid belt. A fair number of ships pass through the system regularly, so they should have power modules that will fit the Defiant. And of course, food stocks should be plentiful.”

“Sounds good,” Adam said. “Give Kaylor the coordinates.”

Adam looked around at the faces of his makeshift team. “There’s another issue,” he said. “Unless some of you are hording a stash of credits somewhere, we have no money to buy the supplies we need. Everything I had was either in the residence building on the island or in the freighter. Hell, I didn’t even get off the planet with my pants, let alone my wallet.”

The Humans laughed; the aliens and mutants didn’t.

Adam had commandeered a pair of pants and a shirt from one of the commandos. Even then, he only had one of each to last him until…well, he had no idea. He was more-or-less shooting in the dark here.

Coop produced a small stack of Juirean credits. “This is all I have on me. One hundred forty; that won’t do much, but it’s yours.”

They went around the room, and by the time it came back to Adam, they’d scrounged up five hundred eighteen JCs and fourteen Human dollars.

He looked at Panur and Lila. “I don’t suppose you have a fortune in gold hidden aboard your little leprechaun spaceship?”

“Currency has little meaning to us,” Panur said. “Yet if I may make a suggestion: Games of chance.”

Sherri shook her head, confused. “What does that mean?”

“It means I should be able to parlay the small amount you’ve collected into a much larger fortune. I assume they have gambling on Siron?”

The room was silent. In any other situation—and with different personalities—there would have been a round of protests from people not wanting to risk what little they had on something as unpredictable as gambling. Yet Panur was not your average person. And when it came to calculating odds and playing percentages, no one was better at it than the immortal mutant alien.

Several years back, he’d won almost two million dollars in the casinos of South Lake Tahoe while Adam was gone to Phoenix for a week. When he returned, Panur had used his winnings to purchase material and equipment needed to modify the Pegasus into a Sol-Kor stupor-beam-defying super starship. He also built a personal TD portal in Adam’s garage, which precipitated the attack—and subsequent destruction—of his home.

The team didn’t have a choice. And besides, with Panur sitting at the table, Adam was confident the mutant could pull it off. He’d done it before.

“I take it from the silence everyone is in agreement,” Adam said. “We’ll let Panur win the money we need for the supplies and power mods. After that, it’s off to defeat the Klin.”

He looked at the two mutants and smiled. Their expressions remained neutral, non-committal.

The smile vanished from Adam’s face.

* * *

Kaylor and Jym returned to the pilothouse to plot the course for Siron and initiate as deep a gravity-well as they could for the distance they had to travel and with their limited energy reserves. Arieel retired to one of the two staterooms for a nap, leaving the Humans and the mutants to discuss the next matter at hand.

“Did you learn anything from your crazy run on the Klin ship?” Copernicus asked. He was the most-expert starship engineer aboard—besides Panur—even if it was only a cover for his former profession as a spy for the Orion-Cygnus Union. But the man did have skills, and beyond the forty-nine ways he knew how to kill with his bare hands.

“Nothing conclusive,” Panur reported. “This was just a preliminary survey of their systems. As you pointed out at the time, Adam, the weaker defensive lasers are fed by existing internal batteries. There’s nothing unusual about them. However, the recycling of power from incoming energy sources to charge the main offensive weapon is the key to the ship’s so-called invincibility. It’s much the same as my ship, but of a simpler, more basic design.”

“We did experience the Klin’s shield systems, which provided some insight,” Lila added. “It’s a system built around constantly alternating currents spreading around the hull. This will make the ships more difficult to penetrate, yet Panur offered a solution.”

The little grey mutant looked at Lila. His eyes were steady, his expression blank. “I did?”

Everyone was shocked—even Lila—but she jumped into the silence without skipping a beat. “The timing for your sense of humor is misplaced, Panur,” she said quickly. “We are serious here. You suggested a timed wave of counter energy. That’s assuming we can get past the outer shields with such a charged device.”

“Yes…that is true,” said Panur, his voice unsure.

“Okay,” Adam said slowly. “It’s a start. Anything else?”

“Too early until we can monitor a full attack on a Klin ship,” Lila pointed out.

“How do you suggest we do that?” Sherri asked.

“Archival data might suffice, if there was sufficient monitoring done at the time of the attack. We need access to records and databases.”

“The Tactorians have extensive records from the attack on their system,” Adam offered. “The bulk of their fleet escaped. We just need to find out where they went.”

“Yet as you said earlier, father, we must first get your starship back in full working order. In addition to food and power modules, you will need weapons, clothing and data access. Hopefully Panur will win enough credits to make that possible.”

“That’s the plan,” Adam announced. “Now, I need some rest. I’m exhausted.”

He wasn’t, really. His mutant brain cells gave him a constant supply of rejuvenating energy. But he had to hide that fact from Panur, who was himself looking tired, something Adam had never witnessed before. But how does one know when an immortal alien mutant genius is tired, if that’s even possible? Adam studied the gray alien for a moment before leaving the common room, heading for the vacant stateroom. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to share Arieel’s room, but knowing the oversexed alien, he knew he wouldn’t get much rest if he did. And he needed time to think.

7

Robert McCarthy had commandeered a small office for himself within the main government building the Klin had confiscated on Vesper. The planet had an advanced indigenous species yet no star travel, which allowed the Klin’s arrival to remain a secret. The natives offered no resistance, not when half-a-dozen VN-91s, a million killer robots, three Colony Ships and two hundred thousand Klin began landing on their world. The sane and pragmatic beings simply put out the welcome mat and hoped the invaders had come in peace.

In this case, they had. All the Klin needed was a firm base of operations and a gathering place for their race. Once the invasion of the Milky Way was over, the Klin would choose the best world out of hundreds of prime candidates as their new homeworld. Vesper would not be it. Although Cosnin chose the planet for its near-perfect suitability for the Klin, it was only a temporary base. The planet was too far out along this arm of the galaxy to make an effective galactic capital.

Upon their arrival, the Klin had one of the major cities cleared of natives, and then they moved in. Cosnin selected one of the larger and newest buildings in the city as his headquarters, and then as was customary of most heads of state, took the upper three floors as his residence, office and governmental conference rooms.

Robert’s office was nine floors below the Pleabaen’s, which was fine by him. It kept him near to the center of power, while also providing a modicum of independence and freedom of movement.

He ordered redundant lines of secure communications to be run in and out of the office, telling the technicians it was a requirement for his consultations with the Pleabaen. They bought it, seeing how McCarthy was a frequent visitor to their leader’s chambers.

Within the privacy of his office, Robert was able to coordinate the vast network of spies he’d built over the past fifteen years, which stretched from one end of the galaxy to the other. It helped that he had an almost unlimited source of funding. Over the millennia, the Klin had accumulated an incredible amount of wealth, both in traditional credit chips, as well as hard assets such as precious metals and other valuables coveted on the thousands of worlds of the Expansion. This allowed the Klin to buy anonymity throughout the years, as well as the material needed to build their impressive Colony Ships and set-up planet-based war operations, such as they’d done during the Human-Juirean operation.

The Klin also maintained their own extensive spy network, and had for thousands of years, beginning the moment the Juireans launched their horrific attack on Klinmon. This was how they were able to stay one step ahead of the hunters. It also helped them plan the various operations designed to return them to the leadership position of the galaxy.

But over recent years, much of the Klin spy network had been compromised, and not by Union or Expansion assets. Robert had been slowly taking over the Klin intelligence network, with a more pragmatic design on the information provided. The Klin were often governed by a sense of destiny, and exceedingly slow and methodical in their planning. Robert was more proactive, seeking information that could be put to more immediate use.

That was the reason he learned of the mutant’s attack on the VN-91—for lack a better word—at the same time the Pleabaen did. This gave Robert a few minutes to anticipate the alien’s reaction and prepare a response.

Five minutes later he was summoned to Cosnin’s chambers.

“The mutants have assaulted the ship as it was leaving the Pyrum system,” the Pleabaen called out even before Robert had reached the desk.

“Was there damage?” Robert asked, acting as if this was the first time he’d heard of the attack.

“There was none. They did not fire on the ship.”

“The mutants did not fire, or the VN-91 didn’t fire?”

“The mutants, you ignorant Human!”

The hair stood up in the back of Robert’s neck, but he maintained his composure. The Klin leader had no idea how much he was being used by this ignorant Human.

“So no real attack occurred? What did they do?”

“The mutants ran past the VN-91 twice, drawing fire from the hull batteries.”

“The result?”

“Nothing! Panur’s ship apparently absorbed the energy, much as our ships do. Yet his is only a fraction the size of a VN-91. Reports have the smaller ship glowing bright white from the energy intake.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t damaged by the lasers?”

“It sped away under controlled flight,” barked the Klin leader. “You may recall—or not—that the mutants feed on pure energy. Their ship does as well.”

Robert sat down in a chair opposite the Pleabaen without first getting permission.

“And what of Adam Cain and the trans-dimensional starship?”

Robert could see the tension grow on Cosnin’s face. “They escaped the surface, unharmed, apparently.”

“I told you so,” the Human began. “Cain has an uncanny ability of surviving even the most unlikely of situations. And if the mutants use the same energy absorption technology as we do, then they can surely find a way to circumvent our systems.”

“And what do you mean by that statement?” asked Cosnin in a fit. “That you were right to have confronted me for sending the VN-91 to Pyrum-3? I accept your premise…as I did at the time, as well. But if what you say is true—and the mutants will find a way to defeat our ships—then it becomes imperative that we accelerate our offensive and strike at the Core Worlds as soon as possible. It will take time for the efforts of the mutants to impact our forces. We must subdue the galaxy now, before it is too late.”

Robert had spent the few brief moments after receiving the news of the attack attempting to anticipate Cosnin’s reaction. He had been correct in his assumption, if vague on his own response. The last thing he could do was let Cosnin upset his timetable.

“Yes, sending a fleet of VN-91s to the Core Worlds would certainly get their attention, but we would need to allocate all existing combat modules to the offensive,” Robert cautioned. “This will leave the manufacturing worlds unguarded. We could lose control of the factories, which will take time and effort to regain. And Adam Cain and the mutants would still be roaming the galaxy, causing incalculable problems for us. At this point, the Core Worlds are not our problem. Indulge me, my Pleabaen. I have a better idea….”

8

Adam had seen a lot of planets in his day, but Siron was in a class by itself.

It was an Earth-size world with a decent atmosphere and a little lighter gravity. It was located very close to a chaotic asteroid belt that had once been a full-fledged planet until it collided with another and was smashed to bits.

Looking at Siron, Adam could imagine what the Nuorean system must be like about now. Although only about a third of the planet was pulled through the midpoint generator when Adam and his team returned from Andromeda, the remaining two-thirds would have been highly unstable. It would have shattered to form a ring of rock similar to that near Siron. There was a chance the remains of Nuor would one day reform into another planet, but one much smaller than the original.

Siron had been colonized five hundred years ago by a variety of roughneck species looking for minerals, metals and other valuables in demand throughout the galaxy. The asteroid belt was fairly close, and the planet itself was pitted by dozens of huge impact craters, which made reaching into the lower levels of the crust easy and highly profitable. From what Adam could tell from the Library—the galactic internet available through his translation bug—there was no advanced indigenous species on Siron, probably because it couldn’t evolve due to the constant asteroid impacts. Lower forms of life did exist, but nothing above a three-foot-long rat-like thing that was the top of the food chain…until the aliens came.

In spite of the harsh environment, there were several hundred settlements on the planet, including four with populations over a hundred thousand. Adam chose the largest of these and set a course for its single landing field. After a brief, yet intense, negotiation, an exasperated Adam Cain finally got the port authority to accept a pad fee of seventy-five Juirean credits for a two-day stay. Every credit was precious, and the fact that such a rundown and backwater location as Siron would even charge a pad fee was ridiculous.

Adam checked the mod life: seven percent remaining. That was cutting it close. He gave a sigh of resignation when he realized the Defiant would never leave Siron without a fresh supply of power modules. That left a lot riding on Panur’s expertise at the card table.

* * *

The Library was of no use finding specific services and locations on Siron, and specifically within the town of Boraxx. There just wasn’t a lot of information on the planet. The team needed not only power modules, but food, clothing, weapons and battery packs. As regarding weapons, it was a good bet all they’d find would be flash weapons. That would be fine, since—if they could get some new power mods—the energy packs could be recharged. That was assuming they would be drained in combat. Adam was enough of a realist to know that on nearly every landfall he’d made over the past twenty years, some sort fight had broken out. This could have been the result of his hostile attitude towards aliens. Or it could be from the fact the galaxy was a dangerous and savage place where only the strongest survived. More than likely, it was a combination of both. But Siron was no luxury spa; the people calling this place home had to be tough. And tough bred competition among the strong, if for no other reason than for bragging rights.

Adam knew it would be a miracle if they got off the planet without killing someone—or something.

* * *

Kaylor and Jym would stay with ship, along with Lila and Ariel. Adam’s mutant daughter had once ruled the galaxy, so there was a pretty good chance she would be recognized, even this far off the established trade routes. Adam and Panur would go looking for a gambling room, while Sherri, Riyad and Copernicus scoped out the energy module depot and other service centers for what they needed. They would communicate through their ATDs, and once Panur had enough money to get the shopping started, they would ferry the supplies to the Defiant.

Adam had booked the landing pad at the spaceport for two days. Hopefully they would be gone within a few hours.

A vacant-eyed worker on the spaceport video comm provided a rather confusing set of directions to the different places the team was looking for. Eventually, they got the message that the commercial district was to the south, while the drinking, whoring and gambling section was to the north and adjacent to the spaceport. That’s where one would normally find it, catering to a transient population out for a quick thrill, score or buzz.

As the team stepped into the open air of Siron, they noticed a fine mist falling around them. But it wasn’t rain, but a gritty form of dust. It wasn’t blinding or dangerous, just constant—and annoying. Looking into the brown-tinted sky, they saw numerous streaks of light flashing by. Occasionally, one of these balls of fire would flare bright, casting moving shadows across the landscape. Although he didn’t witness any at the time, Adam knew some of these flaming chunks of rock and metal would reach the surface, and then all hell would breakout for several miles in every direction. That’s when he realized the gritty dustfall was the remnants of countless small impacts, only now settling out of the atmosphere.

There wasn’t enough money for the team to take transports, so they hoofed it into town. Panur wore his tailored silk suit, a Fedora and black mustache. He looked like a miniature version of a Mississippi riverboat gambler—which was completely out of place on a mining world like Siron. But the mutant seemed to revel in his appearance, strutting down the dirt road like a gray-skinned peacock.

The pair stuck their heads through several doorways before finding a place that seemed to cater to a higher clientele. They needed money—a lot of it—so the high-limit games were better suited for their purposes.

Eyes fell upon them as they entered. Besides Panur’s strange getup, Adam was a Human. Nearly everyone in the galaxy had heard of Humans by now, yet the vast majority had never seen one in person. Those at the tables soon returned their attention to their games; others took a little longer to satisfy their curiosity.

Panur focused on a table with five creatures seated around it. They were of five different species, and Adam was surprised when he didn’t recognize any of them. But what got Panur’s attention was not the players, but the huge stacks of credits in front of them. This will do nicely, Adam thought. Here was all the money they would need just resting on the slate table. All Panur had to do was win it.

The buildings on Siron were made of thick steel plates leaned against each other to form a-frame structures. Then the ends were sealed up with strategically placed doors and windows. They were designed to withstand the constant barrage of smaller meteorites falling from the sky. Anything made of weaker material would be pulverized within a day.

Adam and Panur leaned against a decorative support beam and watched the game being played. Adam had never seen it before, but it was pretty basic. Three cards were dealt, with numbers one to three printed on one side. Each player would then challenge another and roll a card. The one with the highest card won the initial bet and moved onto the other winners. After the first round, a player could refuse to reveal his card and preserve his bet for that round. He could then choose to stay in the game or fold, with no loss of money. But if he stayed, he had to reveal his cards in the next round, win, lose or draw. And draws simply meant the players received another down card and play continued, with the pots getting progressively larger.

It took Adam about three minutes to understand the intricacies and rules of the game. But still Panur hesitated joining the game.

Adam leaned over and whispered, “Not enough strategy or math involved?”

“That’s not it,” Panur replied. “This is a game of reading your opponent. Each knows the cards they hold and must select one they believe will be higher than their challenger’s. I am reading their faces, yet I must wait until each player has had a winning hand to know his reaction.”

“That could take all day,” Adam protested. “Some people are just shitty at cards and lose all the time.”

“The evenness of each player’s credit stack would say these are all accomplished players, evenly matched. They are simply trading credits from one to another.”

Panur suddenly pushed away from the beam. “I am ready to play.”

The mutant stepped up to the table.

“Pardon me, but I would like to join your game.”

The players eyed him up and down until one asked, “What are you? We see a lot of strange beings come through here, but I have never seen anything like you.”

“I am a Metachorian. There are few of us around, and those of us that are will be seldom seen.”

“That makes no sense. I can see you.”

“Then you should remember this moment. It may not come again within your lifetime.”

The confused alien looked around the table at his companions. They were equally confused.

“If you have the credits, you can play. No one will stop you,” replied the first gambler, one dressed in a flamboyant series of colorful overlapping capes.

“I have one issue,” Panur announced. “I see the average pot-bet is between one hundred and two hundred credits. I have but five hundred.”

The five gamblers at the table expressed a variety of laughs, depending on their species. “Then you shall not last long,’ said one of the others. “Seems hardly worth our effort to let you in.” The rest of them nodded their agreement.

“It is still five hundred credits. Within a few minutes, it could all belong to you—individually or collectively.”

More laughter.

“Then if you are so willing to donate your stack, we will be glad to take it. Sit.”

Panur looked small as he sat on an empty chair at the table. All the other players were much taller, even taller than Adam.

Panur smiled. “I said nothing about donating my credits,” the mutant corrected. “You will have to take them from me.”

“That is the plan,” said an alien with a face made of several flaps of loose flesh below two very wide apart and elongated eyes. Words formed from somewhere within the flaps and came out surprisingly clear.

“Let us begin,” Panur said, retaining his smile. “This is the first I have played this game, yet the process appears simple enough.”

The other five players looked at each with an almost pack-like bloodlust. Competition between them could wait. First they had to devour their weak and naive prey.

The game got underway. Adam’s butt was tied up in knots as he watched the mutant lose his first two hands. The five hundred credit bankroll was down to two hundred just like that. He hoped Panur was just setting them up for the kill. If not, this was going to be a very short day.

Then Panur won his first series of plays and recovered two hundred of what he’d lost.

But then he lost again.

The next hand got pretty hairy, but Panur managed to roll the winning card three times in a row. He now had eight hundred credits sitting in front of him.

Adam began to relax. Panur would do just fine. His incredible memory and microscopic attention to detail allowed him to accurately read the body language of each of his opponents. Subtle changes in pupil aperture, slight variations in respiration and facial twitches were an open book for Panur. And considering the variety of faces and bodies he was studying, it was remarkable he could do it at all.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Panur pushed away from the table and called Adam over. He leaned in close and handed him a stack of chips.

“This should get you started,” he whispered. “There are two thousand Juirean credits here. That will get us the food and other supplies we need. Give them to the others while I continue gathering the credits for the power modules.”

“You want me to go now? Won’t you need these credits?”

Panur smiled. “I will do fine with what I have in front of me. Go now and then hurry back. It shouldn’t take long.”

Following instructions, Adam left the gambling hall and stepped out into the annoying dustfall. He contacted the others through their ATDs. They had each found what they were looking for; all they needed now was the money. They agreed to a meeting place and Adam hailed a pay-transport. He had the money now to afford one. Fifteen minutes later he was dolling out the winnings to Sherri, Riyad and Coop.

“Save some for cab fare back to the ship. Now go. It’s getting late and some of these places may close down for—”

There was a sudden roar in the sky, followed by a thundering boom down the street. One of the A-shaped buildings was collapsing, folding its heavy metal panels in on anyone inside. Half a dozen others lay in the street, dead from the small impact explosion. It wasn’t a large meteorite—just a chunk of iron a foot across. But arriving at ten thousand miles per hour, the small rock had enough kinetic punch to crush a building and kill everyone within a hundred feet of impact.

To Adam’s surprise, no one on the street seemed to pay the event much attention. Sure, emergency crews arrived to clean up the mess. But no one considered what just happened to be out of the ordinary. It probably wasn’t.

Adam looked at his teammates. “Oh, and one other thing: Watch out for falling rocks.”

9

Adam was back at the gambling hall forty-five minutes after leaving it. But when he returned, it was not the same place he just left.

A dozen creatures were on their feet, some waving flash weapons while yelling in a variety of alien languages, their overlapping screeches impossible to translate. And they were all yelling at Panur.

Upon seeing Adam enter, several of the angry aliens turned on him. Through his ATD, he disarmed all the flash weapons he could detect by mentally severing their firing circuits. Now all he—and Panur—had to contend with were physical attacks by the riled up mob. He wasn’t worried about that, either.

Adam pushed his way through the crowd to where Panur stood passively waiting for the first fist to be thrown. “What the hell happened? I’ve been gone less than an hour.”

“The cards seemed to have taken a turn for the worst,” Panur stated.

“He owes me—a lot!” cried the flamboyantly-dressed player from the table. He was also one of the creatures with a flash weapon—useless now, even if he didn’t know it.

“What do you mean?” Adam asked. “He could only lose what he had with him.”

“Adam…that is not exactly true,” Panur said sheepishly.

Adam focused his laser-like attention on the mutant. “What did you do?” He was afraid of the answer. The only thing of value the team had was—

“I wagered the Defiant. Unfortunately, I lost.”

Adam was at a loss for words, at least initially.

“How could you? You don’t own the Defiant. I do!”

“Technically it belongs to the Union Defense Technology and Development Department, but I get your point. It’s just that I had a sure thing…and there were a hundred thousand credits on the table.”

“We don’t need a hundred thousand credits. But we do need the ship.”

“Like I said, it was a sure thing.”

“Then why did you lose?”

The look on Panur’s face was disturbing. The mutant looked confused, lost even. “I…I must have misread the signs.”

If Adam didn’t have an entire room of angry aliens about to pounce on him, he might have spent more time thinking about the implications of Panur’s words. As it was, Adam knew Panur didn’t mis- anything, not normally. After all, he was a goddamn, five-thousand-year-old mutant genius. A game such as this should have been child’s play for him; at least it had been up until the time Adam left and came back.

Adam’s unbroken string of unfortunate and deadly alien interactions looked likely to continue. He certainly wasn’t going to give up the Defiant, and the aliens weren’t going to let them leave without collecting their pound of flesh…and more. Someone was going to die today, and if events played as they had on a dozen other worlds in the past, that generally meant a shitload dead aliens.

Adam looked around the room, staring down the barrels of a twenty flash weapons—all with their firing circuits severed. He wasn’t worried about them. He focused his attention of the defiant gambler who claimed ownership to the Defiant.

“Listen buddy, I’m not giving up my ship. You can keep the credits and we’ll call it even. But we’re leaving now. So if you don’t want to get hurt, you better just let us go.”

The alien laughed. “I see you are a Human. I understand you to be formidable creatures, but I did not know you were also insane. I am Resric, a powerful citizen within the limits of Boraxx and the Western Territory. Most of the beings in this room work for me. They will fire upon my command.” He took a step closer to Adam. “It is time that you surrender ownership of your starship to me…before I have to force my claim at the expense of your life.”

Adam didn’t laugh, but he did grin. This caused the tall, flamboyantly-dressed alien to scrunch his face in some form of frown. “You obviously don’t know who I am. I’m Adam Cain.”

Resric continued to frown, until one of his companions leaned in and whispered in his ear. “Ah, the Human who journeyed to our neighboring galaxy and defeated the Nuoreans.” His companion leaned in again. “And he who attacked Juir with a single ship and decimated their military command and high political leadership.” After a third time, the alien boss was growing frustrated with the constant interruptions. “And yes, the warrior who also traveled to the Sol-Kor universe and killed their ravenous queen.” When the whisperer leaned in for a fourth time, Resric shoved him aside.

“It matters not! You come in here and cast out a name of a famous Human and expect us to believe you to be that person. And I suppose your gray cohort is Panur, the super mutant from the Sol-Kor who led their unsuccessful conquest of the galaxy.”

“As a matter of fact, he is.”

Resric laughed the loudest at this statement. “The genius of geniuses? This cannot be Panur. I noticed right off how he was reading my countenance. I let him believe he could until I had him in a position where I could defeat him, and all his possessions. Does that sound like something the smartest creature in existence would allow to happen?”

Adam looked at the now-docile mutant. Panur was staring vacantly off into the room and wobbling slightly. Adam had never seen him like this before. “I see your point,” Adam said. “But hey, even immortal mutant geniuses have an off day now and then.”

“Enough! Give me the ship, or I will take it when you are dead.”

“Not gonna happen, slick.”

“Then you shall die! Shoot!”

It was comical as twenty intense aliens fingered their weapons and then waited with savage grins as the targeting computers locked on. Adam was fairly close, so it only took a second. Next came the frantic pressing of triggers, accompanied by wide-eyed expressions of confusion, as not a single MK lit off. Adam stood patiently until all his assailants accepted the fact that their weapons were dead…and Adam wasn’t. They looked to Resric for guidance.

Although none truly believed him to be the famous Adam Cain, he was still a Human. In most cases, that would have been deterrent enough. But he was outnumbered twenty-to-one. Yet still the aliens hesitated.

Ignoring the unfathomable question why the flash weapons didn’t work, a smile stretched across Resric’s flappy face. It was Adam’s turn to be confused…until he noticed why the alien was so amused. It was hard to miss.

Across the crowded room came a deep, rhythmic pounding vibrating through the concrete floor, growing stronger by the moment. Then Adam saw the dark bulk towering above the others in the room even before they cleared a path for the giant. Resric’s confidence was justified, especially if the huge beast was in his employ. It was a Druan, or what Adam figured was a Druan.

When your race is considered one of the major badasses in the galaxy, you’re often compared to other badass races, be they real or imaginary. Adam had heard about these giant creatures for years but had never seen one in person. He figured they were just another mythical beast designed to keep Humans thinking there was always someone more powerful and dangerous waiting around the corner.

Adam was now facing down a massive twelve-foot-tall creature, with long arms two-feet thick, and legs as wide as tree trunks. Druans—if the stories were true—came from a world with gravity twice that of Earth. On their planet they weren’t particularly fast or coordinated, but on Siron, with less than half their normal gravity, the hairy beasts danced around like ballerinas made of stone.

The major difference between Humans and Druans—besides the size differential—was that Druans weren’t very smart. In addition, their huge, scoop-like hands were good for moving rock from one place to another, but they weren’t very good at manipulating fine instruments or spaceship controls. As a result, Druans never developed much technology on their world, and instead were hired out to the galaxy for their brawn alone. This deadly beast was probably on Siron to act as a living bulldozer. And from the unblinking look in the creature’s solid black eye orbs, he fully intended to bulldoze Adam, and enjoy every moment as he did.

Adam had to be careful. He couldn’t let Panur see him perform any more feats of inhuman strength and agility or else the mutant might start suspecting something was up. But in Panur’s current mental and physical state, that probably wouldn’t be a problem.

Even with a twelve-foot-tall wall of muscle coming at him, Adam had the wherewithal to focus his concern on Panur. Correction: It wasn’t Panur he was worried about, but rather Adam’s plan to defeat the Klin. Panur was the key. And although he had no idea at the time what the mutant would come up with, Adam had to trust that he would. But certainly not in his present condition. Something was wrong, and Adam instinctively felt he was partly responsible.

Even with the fate of the galaxy riding on Panur regaining his powers, Adam eventually had to push his thoughts aside and deal with the problem at hand. The massive Druan was only feet away.

Adam held up his hands to ask for calm. “Listen, I don’t want any trouble with you.”

“Trouble. You.” said the thing, which had a remarkable resemblance to the Incredible Hulk, only it was a deep, golden tan. The Druan wore chest armor of tied together sheets of metal, and pants made of an elastic fabric that showed off the bulging muscles in his thighs. The creature was barefoot, walking on pads almost three feet long and a foot wide.

The Druan pulled back a long right arm with a fist as large as a beach ball, preparing to strike. Adam had confidence he was quicker than the alien; his mutant enhancements were on full alert, ready for action. Even then, when the blow came, it was remarkable swift. Adam was able to shuffle away, keeping his body square to his opponent.

But then he backed into a wall of alien miners, tall and strong, who threw him back into the makeshift arena that had formed in the center of the gambling hall. He wasn’t expecting this, or the follow up left hand thrown by the Druan. The fist hit him on his right side and sent him flying through the air. The peaked ceiling of the building allowed for plenty of height and flight time before Adam crashed into a cluster of gambling tables. Everyone was on their feet watching the fight, so the tables were empty. Several thick slate tops tumbled over on top of him.

A quick estimation told him he’d flown about forty feet from the Druan. Any other creature—Human or alien—would have had nearly bone in their body broken from the impact and the landing. But Adam’s mutant muscles had been ready for something like this. His bones bent, but didn’t break. However, his pain-suppressing ability was having a hell of a time keeping up. He felt like he’d just been run over by a freight train.

A stunned hush came over the room when Adam pushed the broken table tops away and stood up, a little shaky at first, but appearing unharmed. No one should have survived the hit, but the Human had. Was he truly the Great Adam Cain? Think what they might, but Adam wasn’t feeling very great at the moment.

The Druan hesitated, surprised to see that Adam was still alive. This was probably a first for the giant. One-and-out was normal for him.

A moment later the last of the cobwebs vanished from Adam’s head. Using his ATD and mutant brain cells, he produced a brilliant cluster of static electricity balls only inches from the Druan’s eyes. The creature was blinded and raised his huge hands to shield his face. Adam lifted one of the thick slate table tops and threw it at the monster, Frisbee-style. It hit the Druan square on the chest and shattered into pieces against the metal plates of his shield. The giant barely reacted.

Now it was Adam’s turn to be surprised. He picked up another table top and tossed it. Even though blinded by the electric balls, the Druan shrugged off the heavy disks like pesky flies.

This isn’t working, Adam thought. The creature was too solidly-built and his chest too well-protected by his chest plate. Adam glanced down and smiled. But he was barefoot.

The next disk hit the alien’s left ankle. The table top shattered, just as the others had, but a large piece of slate was now firmly imbedded in the giant’s bloodied ankle.

The Druan cried out in pain. The look on his face was priceless. It was not only contorted in anguish, but also surprise. Adam figured the mighty beast had never been hurt before. This was a new experience for him. It wouldn’t be his last.

With the giant distracted, Adam ran forward and jumped. He wrapped his body firmly on the giant’s massive head and began punching at his face and huge ears. No one likes having their ears batted; the Druan was no exception. He stumbled back and lost his balance. His ankle gave way, having been nearly severed by the thrown table top. Adam was now on top the creature, sending fist after fist against the rock-hard skin. Eventually, the flesh softened and broke open, spilling blood across the face and into the alien’s eyes. Large arms and hands rose up, swatting at Adam, who jumped away before continuing to beat the Druan to a pulp from a different angle.

Eventually, the massive arms fell to the concrete floor and lay still. The face of the giant was a mess, but the creature was still breathing. He would live to fight another day. By then, Adam Cain would be long gone.

Adam was covered in alien blood—a common occurrence—when he climbed off the Druan and approached the gambler bigwig. Resric was in shock…and awe. He fell back against a long wooden bar and panicked. He was trapped.

Adam grabbed a handful of yellow and red fabric that made up the alien’s billowing cloak. “I warned you.”

“Yes, yes you did. I apologize for not heeding your warning.”

While still holding the squirming alien, Adam turned and scanned the floor around the overturned table where Panur had been playing. It was covered in blue and red Juirean credit chips. Adam had an idea. Using his ability to control the static electricity in the air, he used swaths of glowing green energy to corral sheets of wind and used them to send the credits twisting in the air. He released the alien and tore off his cloak. The small tornado of plastic chips came near him. Adam held out the cloak and dissolved the miniature wind storm. The credits fell into the cloak.

With the bag of credits in one hand, Adam moved over to Panur and took the mutant under his other arm. He turned to Resric, who now that he was free, was snarling at Adam like a wild beast.

“We’re leaving now,” Adam announced. “Anyone who follows will be killed. It’s as simple as that. Adios, amigos.”

* * *

Once on the street, Adam stepped in front of a slow-moving transport and placed his foot on the front bumper. The car didn’t stop immediately; instead it pushed Adam’s Captain Morgan-like stance down the dirt road a good fifty feet. This works in the superhero movies, Adam thought, but apparently not in real life.

“Stop, dammit!” he yelled out.

Finally giving in to his fear, the driver stopped the transport, opened the door and ran away.

Adam opened the back door and threw the groggy mutant on the seat. Then he took the clutch of credits and jumped into the driver’s seat. He gripped the joystick controller and shoved it forward. The transport lurched forward, heading up the street and away from the spaceport. At the next intersection, Adam turned right and followed the road until he could make another right. He was now heading south and back towards the spaceport.

Ten seconds later he barreled through an intersection, just as a huge piece of mining equipment, with a six-foot long spinning drill bit on the front, came at him from the right. There were a dozen wild aliens riding on the massive machine. They had flash weapons, weapons Adam had not neutralized. Bolts began to buzz past him, with a few hitting the side of the transport.

It was hard to drive and disarm flash weapons at the same time. He did his best, but a few weapons remained active, as did the truck with the bladed cone rapidly gaining on him. For a piece of mining equipment, it was remarkable fast…when not boring into a rock wall.

Adam spun the transport to the right at the next intersection. He had a vague idea where he was; the spaceport should be only a minute or two away, along the main road which was just ahead.

…And blocked by four heavy trucks and another mob of MK-waving aliens. It seemed Resric was a big deal in town, and he’d recovered nicely from Adam’s attempted intimidation.

Adam weaved the car back and forth, confounding the MK’s targeting computers. Then as he neared the wall of trucks, he steered for the sidewalk—or the wide area of dirt and dust that passed for a sidewalk. Curious pedestrians, who had stopped to watch all the commotion, drove for cover. Most made it; a couple didn’t and bounced off the hood of the transport. Flash bolts rained down on the car. They were level-two and did very little damage, designed more to affect flesh rather than metal. But a few quick-thinking aliens made the adjustment to level-one. As Adam spun the car to the left and onto the main road past the barricade, the rear window shattered from the more powerful energy bolts.

The truck barricade now fired up and came after him, with fifty or more aliens riding in their huge buckets. Adam kept up the wide gyrations, so only a few of the flash bolts struck the car. But then there were so many in the air that he found he was turning into the bolts rather than avoiding them. He made a beeline for the spaceport.

The entrance came up on his right. There was no gate, and only a toothless guard sitting under a thick metal lean-to. The transport raced onto the dust-covered ground and headed for the Defiant, about half a mile away.

Thought the rearview mirror, Adam saw the caravan of pursuers enter the spaceport only seconds behind. The huge trucks plowed into the guard’s lean-to and toppled it, with the unfortunate alien underneath. No one cared. They kept coming.

Get everything aboard, we have company! Adam yelled through his ATD. The team was shuttling cargo from two transports into the rear landing bay. They stopped and turned toward the commotion.

The constant rain of dust was thick everywhere, and Adam’s transport was churning up a large cloud behind him. He added to it by conjuring up an even larger dust storm, similar to a haboob back on Earth.

To his chagrin, the trucks kept coming; dust storms like this were common on Siron. Besides, they had a bead on the Defiant. All they had to do was maintain course.

Adam’s transport skidded to stop at the rear of the Defiant. He grabbed the cloak-full of credits and then pulled a Panur from the backseat.

“What happened to him?” Lila shouted out.

“I don’t know. Here.” He tossed the limp mutant to his daughter, who effortlessly caught him and carried him into the ship.

There were still a few boxes of food stock to be loaded. Adam rushed over and literally threw them into the landing bay. “Now go!” Kaylor, get us out of here.

The fuel mods are nearly drained, Kaylor responded through his ATD.

Use chem, just get us airborne.

Even the chems need power for steering and ignition—

Stop arguing. Just do it!

Even before the rear door closed, the Defiant was lifting on a massive cloud of chemical exhaust. The ship reached an elevation of a thousand feet before banking left and skimming over the peaked roofs of Boraxx.

Adam entered the pilothouse.

“Where to?” Kaylor asked.

“Go sub-orbital. Get us as far away from here as you can.”

“You mean before we drop out of the sky?”

Adam grimaced. “Well, maybe not sub-orbital then. Something a little more accommodating to a falling rock.”

There was no power left for a gravity-well, either external or internal, and without the compensators working, the crew was flung near the ceiling when Kaylor dove for the hard deck. He leveled out at about a hundred feet and began a series of wild slaloms through a craggy canyon between two huge impact craters.

Arieel threw up, which caused Riyad to follow suit. On top of the already offensive odor still present in the ship, this didn’t help.

“Hold on everyone,” Adam cried out. “Jym, anyone following us?”

The bear-like alien huddled over the contact monitor, holding on with his tiny claws. “None! Why are we going so fast?”

Kaylor pulled back on the throttle controls. “I was simply following the intensity in Adam’s words. I thought we were in a hurry.”

Adam placed a reassuring hand on Kaylor’s shoulder. “We were, to get out of the city. Now we can take it a little eas—”

The ship lurched forward and then sped off again, sending Adam and the other crew members not strapped in tumbling to the back of the pilothouse.

“Chem drive failing!” Kaylor yelled, stating the obvious. “Not enough energy to keep it lit. We’re going down!”

Adam leaned against the aft bulkhead and pointed out the forward viewport. “There’s a settlement to the left. Do you see it?”

“Yes!”

“Get us close. We don’t want to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a dead ship.”

The Defiant banked left…and kept banking.

“Level her out!” Riyad cried out.

“I am trying. This vessel was not designed to be aerodynamic.”

Lila stepped up to Kaylor’s console and placed a hand on the instruments. A brilliant spark shot out from under her hand. “That should give you enough power for one last burst from the chem drive.”

The Belsonian fired the engines. The Defiant wobbled to the right, leveling out just as the bottom of the ship made contact with the hard, dusty surface. The landing skids were deployed and crushed upon impact. The ship skidded along the ground, piling up mounds of dirt in front of it. Eventually, it came to stop, resting in the middle of a steep valley between the towering walls of the impact craters.

“Where are we?” Adam asked Jym.

It took a moment for the skittish alien to regain his senses. When he did, he glanced at the screen he was now on top of. “About three hundred miles from where we started. Elevation forty-two hundred feet. There is a settlement about five miles to our left.”

Adam looked at his team. They were all in the pilothouse, except Panur; Lila had placed him in one of the staterooms before they lifted. “Everyone okay?” he asked.

He was answered with nods and groans.

“Good. Let’s get the place stowed away. Lila, can you check on Panur? And someone…please clean up the vomit. The smell is making me sick.”

10

They were safe…for the moment.

The team did a quick check of the ship’s systems and found them all operable, if under-powered. They had enough power for lights, heat, monitors and the food processor. They just couldn’t use the engines. It took a lot of power to create blackholes. What they had left was fine for everything else, but the Defiant wasn’t going anywhere until they had new power modules.

Luckily, Adam had scooped up enough credits from the floor of the gambling hall to buy a couple of mods. The problem: they didn’t know where to get any without going back to Boraxx.

And then there was the issue of Panur….

He had been tossed about the stateroom during their escape, but healed completely by the time Lila checked on him. She tucked into bed and then met the rest of the team to discuss the condition of the gray mutant.

“What the hell’s wrong with him?” Sherri asked pointedly.

Lila looked at the assembled people with concern and reluctance. “I regret to inform you that his condition is not unique and has been growing progressively worse. I noticed the changes a while back, yet the malady appears to be accelerating. I fear for Panur if this continues. The loss of such a powerful intellect would be tragic.”

“You think he could die?” Riyad gasped. “But he’s immortal.”

“Something has happened to him that I’m at a loss to understand,” Lila said. “This could be a natural occurrence—unknown until now—since he is the oldest living mutant we know of.”

Arieel’s eyes opened wide. “Could the same thing happen to you?”

“Unknown, mother. I am a different type of mutant than Panur. He was essentially manufactured by the Sol-Kor queen. I was engineered as well, but over a much longer period and by beings infinitely more intelligent that the Sol-Kor. Yet he has lived for over five thousand years. Perhaps there is a time-limit on immortality. At this point, I do not have enough data to make an intelligence prognosis.”

I think we both have a pretty good idea what happened to him, said Sherri’s voice within Adam’s mind, relayed through his ATD.

We don’t know that for sure, he replied.

It makes sense, though.

Lila looked at Sherri and smiled. “You seem to have forgotten that I do not need a brain-interface device to access those which you now possess. What is this information you are keeping from me?”

Sherri turned beet red. Adam was a heartbeat behind her in his embarrassment. Lila scanned the faces of the others in the room.

“You all know?” she said, both shocked and hurt by the revelation. She looked directly at Adam. “Father, you must tell me. What is so important that you would hide such universal knowledge from me?”

Adam pursed his lips. He was cornered, and everyone knew it.

“It’s not that we were keeping the information from you, but more from Panur,” Adam began. “Let me explain. On the day you were kidnapped by the Aris, I was put into some kind of trance beam. I was conscious but I couldn’t move, see or speak. While we were searching for you, Panur suggested that I might have recorded what I saw through suppressed memories and that if he could access those memories it might help us find you. So we did a mind meld, an actual merging of our physical bodies—more specifically, just our heads.”

He paused when he saw the shocked look on his daughter’s face. She was staring at him with unblinking dark eyes. Adam could tell her incredible mind was correlating data and following lines of logic. He continued.

“Panur admitted at the time that he’d never done it before, and all I had to do was sit back and let his head merge with mine. Well—” he looked around the room at the silence faces of his team—“when we separated, he wound up leaving a few of his brain cells behind.”

Lila gasped.

Adam frowned, thinking Lila was overreacting to the news.

“Hey, it was only a few thousand…out of millions. What’s the big deal? Anyway, I didn’t notice anything at first, but over the past couple of years, I’ve learned how to utilize the cells. I heal faster, I’m stronger, quicker and frankly, more intelligent. Having the brains cells has saved my life—and the lives of the team—a number of times. I was reluctant to say anything because I thought Panur would want them back.”

For an immortal mutant genius, Lila took an exceedingly long time to reply. When she did, her voice was thick with worry.

“Do you not realize what has happened? It now makes sense.” She looked at Riyad. “Mr. Tarazi, you asked if Panur could die? With this revelation, I can say it is now an inevitability.”

“What do you mean?” Sherri asked. “Why is the loss of a few thousand brain cells so damn important?”

Lila took a breath. “I must explain how mortals and immortals differ.”

“One can die, and the other can’t,” Copernicus Smith stated. “That’s fairly obvious. Or at least it was.”

“It is more complicated than that, Mr. Smith. First of all, mortal creatures survive through the process of evolution, moving through time to become more and more advanced versions of the base species. They adapt to changing conditions, and those species—or variants within species—that can adapt the fastest survive to pass along this ability to their progeny. And neither is evolution is a static, lineal progression. It moves in spurts as the conditions warrant. This is how normal life functions. And father, you mentioned the enhancement of your normal abilities when an advanced form of brain cell was introduced into your body. This is expected. Your body has learned how to adapt, to use the superior quality of the cells to help you survive. You have probably advanced ten thousand years or more in Human evolution with the introduction of Panur’s cells.”

“Then you can understand why I don’t want to give them back.”

“Perfectly. Yet let me now explain how immortals exist. Again, mortals survive by evolving into higher and higher forms of life, through a dynamic series of changes to your bodies. Without evolution, species die off over time. Immortals don’t need to evolve to survive. In fact, evolution is a death knell for immortals. For all intents and purposes, our systems are perfect, at least in terms of survival of the species. We are static in our existence. We have everything we need to survive…forever.”

“Unless something is removed,” Sherri announced.

“That is correct,” said Lila, a trace of admiration in her voice for Sherri’s leap of logic. “Our bodies exist in a very precarious state of balance. And although we have the ability to instantly regenerate, this simply means we can only replace what we have, not what we have lost.”

“But it was only a few thousand cells,” Adam reiterated.

“That is true, father, yet consider this. As an ability, thought or biological function travels through Panur’s brain, it relies on all the parts being there to complete the task. When such a line reaches a place where a brain cell should be—and isn’t—it stops. You would imagine it would simply reroute itself, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t have to in an immortal system. But then that thread also ends—dies for lack of a better word. As other functions proceed through the brain, other threads contact these now-inert lines, and the damage spreads. It begins slowly at first, and with the complexity of Panur’s brain, it was barely noticeable. I began to see changes in his reasoning ability over a standard year ago. It was minor at first, which I attributed to my own inability to analyze him properly. But then the changes became more apparent and impossible to ignore. From this new information, I can now conclude that the effects are cascading, especially when his mind is called upon to operate at peak efficiency, as it has been recently.”

“Is he beyond repair?” Kaylor asked.

“I do not know,” Lila replied. “He has reached a point where the damage has spread to his basic motor skills. These are the most rote of our bodily functions, which would indicate his higher skills have been corrupted to a very serious degree.”

Adam sighed deeply. “We need Panur to save us from the Klin,” he whispered. Then he sat up straighter. “Or do we? Can you solve the problem of the Klin warships?”

Adam didn’t expect his daughter to shake her head no, but she did.

“I have tried to explain to you before how genius works.” Lila said with impatience. “I admit to having genius capabilities, including total recall and much quicker deductive reasoning. Yet information is not automatically downloaded to my mind. I do not have instant access to all knowledge and all experiences. You must also realize that chronologically, I am only eight Human years old. Times flows at the same pace for me as for you. I can only know what I have learned or experienced. I simply haven’t had time to acquire all the information I need to solve all problems. Technically, I am a superior mutant to Panur; I was designed to be. Yet what makes Panur such a powerful intellect is the five thousand years he has lived. He has had more experiences than any living being, as far as we know. And from this experience, he was able to invent brainwave suppressor beams, dimension-linking space portals, a variety of advanced weapons and space engines, along with countless other contributions to the Sol-Kor and others. He was able to do this from his accumulated knowledge, not simply because he is a genius. And each new challenge only added to his catalogue of knowledge.” Again, Lila shook her head. “I will do my best, yet I fear it will be inadequate within the timeframe you require. Given time, yes…but not now.”

“Then I’m going to have to give them back.” Adam announced.

The looks of concern on the faces of his team remained. They could point to several occasions where Panur’s brain cells had helped get them out of tight spots. None were anxious to give that up, even if it meant helping Panur. But the logic was inescapable. It was the only way.

“That may not be possible,” Lila stated, sending another shockwave through the team. Before anyone could ask why, Lila continued. “When Panur first did the mind meld with you, he was fully functioning. Even then, he was not able to recover all his cells from the merging.”

“He said it was his first time,” Adam said. “Maybe he didn’t see the danger and got a little careless.”

“That is a possibility,” Lila said. “Yet it is a given that in his present condition he would be even less capable of retrieving his lost material, if he could even comprehend what the goal of the procedure would be. It could cause even more damage to his brain, and yours as well.”

Adam was both relieved and depressed by Lila’s words. He could keep his mutant brain cells…but the galaxy would be overrun by the Klin. And then Robert McCarthy would take over Earth, using the Klin invincible black ships to enforce his will….

“There could be another way,” Lila said into the nervous silence filling the room.

“How?” Sherri asked.

Lila looked at Adam. “Through your Gift…your brain-interface device.”

“Explain,” Adam said.

“I could supervise the procedure, by accessing your mind through your device. I could identify and then manipulate the cells to link with Panur’s brain.”

“Link?” said Riyad. “Like through another merging? I thought you said Panur probably won’t know what he’s doing?”

“It would be a small merging, accomplished by direct access to Adam’s mind, yet not a full integration.”

“You mean surgical access?” Sherri asked. From the tone of her voice it was obvious she didn’t like the idea of cutting a hole in Adam’s skull.

“I’m working this out as we speak, but yes. Since Panur’s body will instantly repair any cut we make in it, we will have to place a small section of Panur’s active brain directly into Adam’s for the transfer to take place. I will be in my father’s mind, moving the cells through the link.”

“Can you do that?” Copernicus asked. “Can you find individual brain cells and put them back in Panur’s head?”

“Theoretically, it is possible.”

“Okay, then let’s do it!” Adam announced, growing impatient with all the back and forth. He stood up. “C’mon, we don’t have a lot of time. And the sooner Panur gets on the road to recovery, the sooner we can find a way to shut down the damn Klin.”

“It is not as simple as that, father.”

“Why not? You just said—”

“I believe it can be done, but not here. We will need surgical facilities and adequate monitoring.”

“Like at a hospital?” Sherri asked.

“Yes.”

Sherri looked at the other confused faces in the room. “Do we even know if they have hospitals on this stinking planet?”

“They have to,” Riyad said. “Mining operations are notorious for causing injury. We just have to find one.”

“All right then, sounds like a plan,” Adam said.

“Hospitals don’t come cheap,” Sherri pointed out. “Do we have enough money to do this? It won’t be just another smash-and-grab operation. We’ll need cooperation. And I assume there’ll be some recovery time.”

“Sherri is correct,” said Lila. “We should inventory the credits my father recovered from the gambling establishment.”

“We were going to use those for the power mods,” Copernicus said. Then he shrugged. “But I suppose without Panur operating at one-hundred-percent, there’s no rush. We’ll just have to get more…somehow.”

“I’ll see what I can find around here that passes as a hospital,” Sherri said. “Like Adam said, we don’t have a lot of time to waste. Besides, I’d like to be the one who drills a hole in his head. For a long time I’ve wondered if there’s anything inside. Now I get to find out.”

11

The six-mile long black starship known as VN-91 #17 entered the fringes of the star system after dropping out of its strange double blackhole gravity-well. It was detected immediately by several monitors placed along the outer perimeter, at a distance where most of the other black ships had made their appearance in a hundred other star systems. Word went out, not only to the primary world, but to Formil, Earth and all the worlds represented by the Advisory Council.

Alarms rang and people panicked, rushing to meeting rooms and comm centers to get more information. If the reports were true, this was catastrophic news.

* * *

The Advisory Council was made up of thirteen individuals representing the major industrial and military worlds of the galaxy. It was formed in response to the Klin threat and included members from both the Expansion and the Orion-Cygnus Union, as well as two independent worlds positioned out near the edge of the galaxy. Already, two of the worlds had been overrun by the Klin robots: Silea and Bannokfore, yet their representatives still sat on the Council. There was also a planning and strategy sub-committee under the main Council, comprised of various industrial interests, including the weapons manufactures of Xan-fi and Maris-Kliss.

The members who were currently on Formil at the time entered the huge conference room in the Trimen O’lac Building and took assigned seats. Three of the main Council members were off-planet, but soon their huge faces were projected from screens mounted on the walls. From detection to the meeting being called to order only eighteen minutes had passed, thanks in part to the instantaneous nature of Continuous Wormhole communications.

The Juirean Overlord Zaxis fe Rendor took control of the meeting, although the Formilian First Corusant U’lac Vison was the titular head of the Council. Yet with the Juirean homeworld under attack, no one protested.

“This is a major escalation of the Klin plans,” the Juirean bellowed. “Is this the same ship from the Pyrum system that disappeared six days ago?” he asked a tech seated at a console lining the walls of the huge chamber.

“Markings are no indicator, my Lord, yet the transit time based on observation of other Klin VN-91s would indicate so. It would take six days at full drive to reach Juir from Pyrum-3.”

“There must be others headed for the remaining Core Worlds!” proclaimed the Usanean representative Boad lon Forn. “We are still supplying our worlds with nuclear defenses. Efforts must be increased immediately.”

“Juir has been stockpiling nuclear devices for several months, using our own resources,” said the Overlord. “We will not surrender the planet without a staunch defense.

Several of the alien faces around the table displayed overt anger rather than fear. Chief among them was the Human ambassador, Ashton Hill. He spoke next.

“There must be a reason why the Klin have broken protocol,” he said.

“Yes!” cried the Usanean. “It is because of Adam Cain. Reports of the arrival of the mutants Panur and Lila Bol have forced them to deviate from their plan. It was as we suspected, ambassador. Your renegade bloodkin has just set in motion a series of events which could lead to the collapse of the Expansion, along with your minor Union of planets. Yet because your world exists at the opposite end of the galaxy from the Klin front, you probably feel you have time to secure your own defenses ahead of others.”

“As far as I know, there are no effective defenses against the Klin ships,” Hill countered. “We can flood our systems with deadly radiation all we want and all it does is delay the Klin attacks.”

“Perhaps they will offer Juir the chance to surrender, to become a manufacturing world,” said the Rosten representative, Sli Porten.

The Overlord snorted. “This is Juir we are speaking of. There will be no accommodation for my species. The Klin despise us. The same will hold true for Earth. No, the truth is none of our worlds will be spared. The Klin have other viable options without having to spare the Core Worlds. It is only through our destruction that the Klin will succeed in their plan to not only subdue the galaxy, but also humiliate all who have ruled before.”

“My Lord!” interrupted the tech. “Update from Juir.”

Ashton saw the Juirean inhale sharply. Although it was far too early for the Klin to have delivered their deadly cargo of killer robots to the planet, the Overlord was already preparing for the worst.

“The Klin vessel has stopped. It is holding position near the planet Klixen.”

Klixen was an outer planet in the system, a gas giant similar to Neptune within the Solar System.

“We shall consolidate our defenses at that point!” roared the Juirean. “I must contact my people.” He began to pull away from the table when the tech spoke again.

“There is a communication coming through from the ship. It is being routed to Formil.”

One of the large screens on the wall suddenly flashed to life, displaying an oversize image of a huge, silver-skinned face. The blue eyes sparkled from the light of side illumination, as those in the room could see the creature was sitting in an office with a view of a distant mountain range through a wide window on his left.

“I am Pleabaen Cosnin Oblinus, the leader of the Klin. I ask that you initiate a reciprocal link so I may gaze upon the faces of my enemy as we speak.”

The tech was watching the Juirean, waiting for the word. When Zaxis nodded, the Formilian technician turned back to his controls. The reaction by the Klin was immediate.

“So many of you, and you sit in a dim room which only adds to the drama unfolding.”

“What do you want?” the Overlord asked, dispensing with title or even a trace of decorum.

The Klin smiled. His bright white teeth were bared, causing the Juirean to flinch. “Please calm yourself Overlord Zaxis. I mean you no challenge or disrespect. And yes, I know your name; I know all your names. You see, my intelligence network is much more engrained on your worlds than yours is on mine. But let us not bicker. I come to you today with great news. I bring an offer of peace.”

Murmurs filled the conference room, as creatures spoke to one another and to themselves. Peace was a word they longed for, but coming as unexpected as it had, they were all trying to come to grips with its meaning.

“Are you proposing Juir to be the object of your conquest, and after that you will stop your aggression,” ask the weaselly Usanean. Zaxis sent him a deadly snarl.

“We will not surrender Juir as a bribe for peace,” the Overlord yelled. “We seek peace, but not at the expense of my homeworld.”

“Yet you were not born on Juir,” Cosnin said, retaining his smile. “You were born on the breeding world of Salin, whose facilities were destroyed by the Kracori almost twenty standard years ago. In fact, no Juireans can claim the planet as their homeworld, not for the last thousand years.”

“That is immaterial. We are all Juireans and shall remain forever linked to our namesake.”

“Unless you are dead,” deadpanned the Klin leader.

The Overlord pressed his thin lips together and fought the trembling anger building inside.

“We Klin have felt that same anger, that same helplessness, for four thousand years, Overlord Zaxis, and all thanks to your distant ancestors. It is not a pleasant feeling, is it? But let me get back to subject of this link. I do come offering you peace, and this peace does not involve sacrificing any more of your planets to our advance. In fact, we are willing to stop our war efforts and retire to the territory already gained, to become neighbors of the Expansion and the Union, rather than their enemy. Does that sound like something you would wish to discuss?”

The room exploded with dozens of overlapping conversations. Whether any were attempting to answer the Klin’s question was uncertain. Yet when Zaxis and Hill both called for order, the room eventually quieted down.

“There must be conditions attached to your offer,” said the Human representative.

“Indeed there are, Ambassador Hill. First, the VN-91 in the Juirean system is to proceed into orbit around the planet unmolested—”

“No! We will not—”

“Please, my Lord,” Ashton cried out. “Let him at least state his terms.”

“Thank you, Ambassador Hill,” said Cosnin. He continued. “In addition, VN-91s are being sent to all the Core planets, where they will remain on station until all conditions are met.”

Here it comes, Hill thought. The end of the galaxy as we know it.

“And what are these conditions,” asked the Formilian U’lac.

Cosnin smiled. “They are quite simple and straightforward. Surrender to me…Adam Cain and his team of outlaws—”

The room erupted again, with thunderous nods of agreement. “And one other thing!” Cosnin yelled above the din. “Also bring me the mutants Panur and Lila Bol.”

The room fell quiet in an instant, before erupting again. It was one thing to deliver the Humans and their assorted alien comrades—including the Formilian Speaker Arieel Bol. But the mutants? That was a whole other matter.

“How…how do you propose we do that?” yelled a voice in the room.

“There are ways, I’m sure you know. Chemical freezing is one. Blasting the ship they are on and casting them into the cold of space will have the same effect. Once they are inert, they can be more easily managed. See, not such an unreasonable request.”

A hush fell across the room, as each member of the Council contemplated the words of the Klin. Lila Bol was a pariah to the beings in the chamber. After Adam Cain had successfully attacked Juir and broken their hold over the galaxy, leadership shifted to Formil when Lila stepped in and assumed control of the Expansion—and by extension, the Union—having tired of all the bickering and inefficiency of the current management. Many in the room had their authority stripped from them, as none could figure a way to oppose the powerful mutant. And then when peace and prosperity began to spread across the galaxy, they thought their days in power were gone forever. The mutant would live on long past their lifespans, providing tranquility and continuity of leadership for millennia to come.

But then she was taken from Formil by powerful forces still unknown to this day.

The Nuorean threat soon followed, and now the Klin. A crisis was not something to be squandered, and wartime leaders were the closest thing to dictators on their respective worlds. This was power none of them was willing to relinquish, and especially not to the Formilian mutant—not again.

Now the Klin were offering peace in exchange for the mutants. For Hill and the others it was a no-brainer. And when you considered the added bonus of getting rid of the troublesome Adam Cain and his team, everyone in the room was ready to sign on the dotted line within seconds of Cosnin detailing his offer.

“I can tell from the looks on your faces that you find my proposal…interesting.”

“How much time do we have?” asked the Formilian U’lac. There was no discussion among the members if this was a good idea or not, and no vote was ever recorded. The sentiment was unanimous.

“My ships shall remain in orbit around your worlds until you meet the terms. Yet I would suggest an expeditious effort on your part. We Klin are patient, but we have our limits.”

* * *

After the link was broken, Hill caught the eye of the Juirean Overlord. Their two races were the most-hated by the Klin. From the alien’s expression, Zaxis shared Ashton’s concerns.

He was wondering if the Klin would keep their word after the deed was done? The silver-skinned aliens were in the power seat under no pressure to make this offer, not unless they truly feared the mutants. Adam Cain had sought them out to devise not only a defense against their ships and robots, but also way to defeat them. For Cosnin to make such an overture meant he had to believe that could happen.

For now, there was nothing Ashton Hill or the others could do. They had to accept the offer, and allow the black ships to take up orbits around all the major worlds in the galaxy, Earth included. That would put the Klin in a position to wipe out all organized resistance in one fell swoop and complete their conquest of the Milky Way, if that was their ultimate goal with this peace gambit.

Ashton had to find out what the Klin were really up to. And for that he had a source he could utilize.

* * *

The search for Adam Cain and the mutants would be unlike any before it. This was not a blanket bounty hunt, but rather a military operation designed to not only capture Adam Cain, but also to subdue two of the most powerful beings to ever exist. Civilians would be hard pressed to do that. But they could come in handy in locating them.

The word was sent out across the galaxy: Find Adam Cain, his team and the mutants. The very survival of the galaxy depended on it.

* * *

Ambassador Ashton Hill returned to his office in the Trimen O’lac Building moments after the unexpected meeting with the Klin leader. His thoughts were conflicted. Peace was the wish of the galaxy, yet it did screw up things for the Advisory Council. The primary goal of the Council was to stay in power. It was as simple as that. The Klin’s peace overture could jeopardize that.

But there was so much more. By moving their black ships to orbits around the Core Worlds, the Klin would be in position to destroy the foundational civilizations of the galaxy even if all the peace terms were met. Would the aliens do such a thing? Of course they would! Hill thought. Hell, he would if he were in their position.

He had to find out for sure if that was the eventual intention of the aliens.

He asked his assistant to establish a B-1 priority CW link. Hill would enter the final destination. He was not to be disturbed until further notice.

B-1 was the highest level of secure link possible. As a representative of a major galactic power, such comm links were common for those of his level. But this link wasn’t directed at Earth, but rather to an obscure planet near the edge of the galaxy.

Even then, the signal did not terminate on the planet. Instead it was routed back into space to track down the recipient, who was currently aboard a six-mile-long starship with a black hull.

“Ashton, my friend,” said Robert McCarthy through the link. His face appeared cherry and in good spirits. “I assume this has to do with Cosnin’s recent communique with your illustrious Advisory Council?”

“Of course it does,” snapped the diplomat. “What the hell are you doing sending VN-91s to the Core Worlds? No one is going to trust the Klin to keep their word. And peace…what is that all about?”

“Relax, this is just a little change of plans, thanks in part to our blood-brother Adam Cain and his mutant friends.”

“Do you really think they can make a difference, this far into our plans?”

“It’s not me, it’s the Pleabaen. He was ready to launch a preemptive strike on all the Core Worlds. This way we move the units into place without resistance, even to Earth, without having to use them.”

“The only way we can assume control of the planet is if the Klin rule the galaxy. If they take only what they have so far and leave the rest to the Expansion and the Union, we’re screwed.”

“If Cosnin got his way, Earth would be destroyed. Then what would we have?”

“Is he going to attack after Cain and the mutants are turned over to him?”

“I will have him spare Earth; I have that much control over him. And just think, we’ll be rid of Cain and his team. It’s actually a win-win for us.”

“So they’ll be no peace?”

“Eventually…when the Klin rule the galaxy.”

“And we rule Earth.”

“As it has always been planned, my friend. Have faith.”

12

With Lila’s help, Sherri was able to tap into what was essentially the local internet and locate a variety of medical facilities in the nearby town. The place was called Anoon and had a population of around twenty-five hundred, comprised mainly of miners working the local impact craters. There were a dozen other settlements like this lining the jagged mountains of the craters. Each had emergency medical facilities catering to a myriad of aliens and their individual physiologies.

It was turning dark when Sherri found her hospital, and the next day she and Copernicus took the five-mile hike into town to check it out.

They returned in the early afternoon with both good and bad news.

“It’s not really a hospital, but more a clinic. There do have an OR and what looks to be the proper monitoring equipment. Since it serves a variety of aliens, most of the signs and other message boards use automatic functions that connect directly to our translation bugs.”

“Is that the good news or the bad news?” Jym asked.

“That was the good news. The place should work for what we need it to do. The bad news is the cost. Unless we storm the place and take it over by force, we’ll need to pay for the services.”

“How much?” Adam asked.

“Twenty thousand JCs, and that includes recovery time, which Lila says is a toss-up. It could be a few hours up to a few days.”

“We just need to get to a point where we can be brought back to the ship,” Adam said.

“We’ll see,” said Sherri. “We don’t want to risk either of you.” Then she smiled. “Particularly Panur.”

“Thanks,” said Adam.

Sherri shrugged.

“We have the credits,” Riyad reported, “but not too many more. And we won’t have enough to buy the power mods afterwards.”

“The unfortunate thing is that if we don’t spend the credits, Panur could die,” said Adam. “And without him, our chances of stopping the Klin are virtually nil. We’ll just have to find a way to get more money. But first things first. How soon can we do the procedure?”

Sherri looked at Lila. “We could do it tomorrow, if you’re ready?”

“That will be fine. I have spoken with Panur. He understands what’s happening, to a degree. He agrees something must be done. It is instinctive at this point. He knows something is wrong, yet he doesn’t have the ability to comprehend what.”

All eyes were on Adam. “Don’t look at me. I’m all for a little three-way, especially when we’re talking about me and two immortal mutants.”

“That’s just gross,” Sherri said. “Funny, but gross.”

* * *

Lila and Adam took turns carrying Panur the five miles to the town. He was beyond the ability to walk, and his eyes bounced around in their sockets like he was drunk.

As was normal, Kaylor and Jym stayed at the Defiant, even though there was nothing they could do help if something went wrong.

Adam had asked Lila about Panur’s ship, and whether it could be used to affect a rescue, or to get them off the planet if it came to that? She said it was impossible for mortal beings to ride in the ship. It bled energy constantly into the interior. The mutants liked it that way, but others would be cooked from the inside out, like microwaving your brain. Even the energy source for the tiny ship was incompatible with the Defiant’s. They were trapped on the surface until if—and when—they could find a couple of fully-charged power modules.

* * *

The people working the medical clinic panicked when the four Humans walked in, one carrying a semi-conscious grey creature under its arm and looking menacing and mean. There was also a pair of Formilian females—nearly everyone in the galaxy recognized Arieel’s race. They gave off a powerful mix of pheromones that appealed to just about every Prime, even if their bodies weren’t sexually compatible. This was a survival trait engineered by the ancient Aris race as they set out to create the Super Being. Their goal was achieved three billion years later with the birth of Lila, the product of the interspecies mating of Arieel and Adam.

Before the two mutants had showed up on the sandy shores of Adam’s island base on Pyrum-3, it had been over two years since he last saw his daughter. That was when she and Panur were speeding away from the Aris base at the edge of the galaxy in a donated alien starship.

For her part, Arieel was uncertain what to expect when she saw her daughter next. The girl was only eighteen Formilian years old—equivalent to eight Human years—yet from birth she had grown at an accelerated pace. Arieel was expecting her to appear much older when next they met, but she didn’t.

As Lila explained, her body advanced to its optimum physical age. That was forty-eight Formilian, and twenty-two Human. She was now an absolutely gorgeous female with silky black hair, bronze skin and eyes as unfathomable as blackholes.

Arieel was proud of her only daughter, even if Lila was the end-product of an unimaginably long and complex experiment meant for selfish needs, and not as any advancement benefiting the galaxy. Lila would live forever, never growing old, and always the ravishing beauty she’d become.

Unless immortals weren’t immortal after all….

To the team, Panur’s condition made sense, after Lila explained it to them. It also meant that there were conditions placed on immortality, and that Lila had to be careful, or else she could suffer the same fate as Panur.

The team finally convinced the medical workers that they were not there to eat them, or anything along those lines. All they needed was a surgical room and equipment, and then a post-op facility after the procedure. They explained how they would be doing their own operation, so a doctor and nurses weren’t necessary. They might need some post-op care, as far as nourishment and clean-up, but other than that they just needed the use of the clinic’s facilities. When Adam produced the stack of Juirean credits, the worker’s attitude changed instantly. No one lived on Siron because they wanted to. They were here for the money, even the medical staff, who could charge outrageous fees to a constant and needy clientele.

* * *

Eventually, Lila cleared everyone from the operating room except Sherri and her patients. She then placed three hospital beds in a spoke arrangement with the heads of each touching at the center. Adam lay down on his stomach, placing his head in the void between two pillows. Panur lay on his back as Lila huddled over him and whispered in his ear. Sherri couldn’t hear what she said, but Panur reacted by nodding. He rested his head on a pillow and closed his eyes.

Sherri assisted as Lila shaved a section of Adam’s head near the base of his skull. She applied a local anesthetic provided by the clinic.

“You said you wish to be the one who drills the hole into Adam’s head,” said Lila, handing a small pneumatic drill to Sherri.

Sherri refused to take it. “I know what I said, but I have a lot more confidence in your abilities than mine.”

Lila smiled and turned to her patient. The drill whirled. Sherri dabbed a small amount of blood from the entry point and then placed a tiny rubber plug in the hole.

“Are you okay?” Lila asked Adam.

“Couldn’t be better. Sure beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.”

Lila stood up straight, her forehead furrowed. “That was never intended as a point of entry,” she said, confused.

“Good, since that’s just an old Human expression.”

Lila pursed her lips in frustration. “Please father, keep your remarks succinct and to the point. I do not wish inaccurate reporting to jeopardize the procedure.”

“Sorry.”

“Now relax. I must work on Panur before the two of us link through your interface device.”

Sherri noticed that the skin on Panur’s hairless scalp had taken on a glassy sheen—and appeared to be moving. Lila set about working the viscous grey material into a thin thread, pulling slightly as she did. The strand grew longer as she drew it out, which she placed close to Adam’s shaved scalp and the plug in his skull.

The hole in his head was only an eighth of an inch in diameter. Lila directed Sherri to remove the plug and then placed the thread into the hole. The moving flesh instantly filled the hole and then solidified to form a cord linking the two.

When this was done, Lila took her place on the third bed, placing her head at the very top. An unnaturally long arm snaked out from the mutant and took Adam by his left hand. Sherri gasped when the hands melted together to form one continuous arm between the two.

Sensing Sherri’s concern, Lila said, “The melding of our hands cannot cause a repeat of what happened between Panur and my father. This is only a surface melding and does not involve brain cells. I need to do this to gain access his brain-interface device.”

“If you say so.”

“Please monitor my father’s respiration and heart rate. As his body begins to lose the stronger brain cells, he may experience a level of shock. This should pass.”

“Should?” Sherri said. “But you’re not sure?”

“No, I am sure…he will experience shock. However, it should not cause any permanent damage. I am now beginning the procedure.”

“How long will it take?”

“Unknown. It will depend on whether or not Panur’s cells have clustered or if they are spread randomly within the brain.”

“Adam always felt like it was a tumor.”

“It would be best if that were so. Now please, let me concentrate.”

Sherri backed away. She sat in chair that allowed her to look over Adam’s gently breathing body at the monitor on the other side. She didn’t want to be stuck staring at a screen, and not the person. The device was tracking brainwave activity, respiration, blood oxygen and more. It was of alien design, but in another life Sherri had trained with similar equipment. After a few minutes of orientation by the clinic staff, she felt she could decipher the readouts with confidence.

And for the moment that was all she had to do—or could do. The three bodies on the hospital beds were lying peacefully with their eyes closed, with Adam’s showing the only signs of breathing. The mutants didn’t need to breath, and Sherri had to have faith they were still alive.

She laughed softly. Of course they’re alive, she thought. They’re damn immortal mutants. What do they have to worry about? It was Adam she was most concerned about. He had a splinter of mutant flesh connected to his brain and another’s mind probing around inside his body. What could go wrong?

As the minutes passed—and nothing could be seen happening—Sherri grew sleepy. Adam’s breathing, heart rate and more remained constant, and the hypnotic bleep of the monitor soon made Sherri’s eyelids turn heavy. Her head dipped a couple of times, waking her after a moment of sleep. But eventually she drifted off completely….

* * *

Sherri awoke, startled, as Lila was climbing off the bed. There were no clocks in the room and she’d failed to check her wristwatch when she sat down, so she had no idea how long she was out.

“Is it over?” she asked Lila, trying to sound alert and attentive.

“Yes.”

“And…was it successful?”

“The procedure was successful.”

Sherri wanted to feel more ecstatic, but Lila’s unemotional and cryptic responses gave her pause. “Why do you sound so worried?”

“I have moved onto the recovery stage. This is a time of uncertainty. Once they regain consciousness, I can gauge the overall success of the procedure. I was able to locate all the cells in Adam’s brain and manipulate them back into Panur’s. However, I could not place them in their proper position because that is beyond even my capabilities. They must migrate on their own, after which connections must be reestablished.”

“How long will that take? It took Panur a couple of years to get to this point. Hopefully it won’t take that long.”

“It shouldn’t, but it could.”

“It could? You never said anything about that. By then the Klin will have conquered half the galaxy. And if they go directly at the Core Worlds, it could be over sooner than that.”

“I’m sorry if I cannot give you a better estimate. Once I speak with Panur and monitor his abilities, I will have a better idea.”

“And Adam; how is he?”

There was a moment’s hesitation before Lila spoke. Sherri noticed. Her heart went racing.

“Panur’s cells had engrained themselves deeper into his living process than I expected, causing my father’s body to rely on them more. He has entered a state of brain shock. He needs rest. Time will tell.”

“Tell what, how long it will take for him to recover?”

“No…time to tell if he recovers at all.”

Sherri jumped up out of her chair, facing the mutant, her face red. “You never said anything about that either! You never said he could die from the transfer.”

“I did not say he would die, just that he may not recover from the removal of the brain cells.”

“So he lives…as a vegetable?”

“Please be calm, Sherri,” Lila pleaded. “That is a remote possibility. Again, once he regains consciousness I will be able to make a more informed assessment.”

Lila made a move toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Sherri asked in a panic.

“I have other tasks to perform, tasks which only I can do with certainty. Please remain with Panur and my father and let me know when they regain consciousness.”

“How?”

“Through your ATD. I will be monitoring.”

And then she was gone, leaving Sherri to gaze impotently at the two sleeping bodies. She had no idea how long she’d have to wait, or what would happen when they came to. She sat back down in the chair. The room was silent except for the rhythmic pulsing of the monitor. Her stress and anger had exhausted her. Within minutes, she was asleep again.

* * *

Outside in the hallway, Lila briefed Copernicus, Riyad and Arieel on the results of the procedure. They weren’t overjoyed, but neither were they disappointed. Time would tell.

Then she turned to Riyad. “Mr. Tarazi, please take my mother back to the Defiant and kept her safe.”

“What are you going to do?” Arieel asked.

“I am going to do what we should have done from the beginning. I am going to get a pair of power modules.”

“But we have no money,” Copernicus protested.

“Our mission is too vital to let credits deter us. We have had the capacity to simply take what we need from the beginning. The need has now become critical. I will have Mr. Smith accompany me.”

“Back to Boraxx?” Coop asked.

“That is correct.”

“But we have no way to get…oh yeah, right.”

Lila smiled.

“No money, no transportation…so we simply take what we need. I like it!”

“So you approve of the strategy?”

“Of course. That’s been my primary way of operating for years. And you’re right. We should have done it from the beginning, but we tried to be nice.”

“And you want me to return to the ship?” Riyad asked. “Don’t you think I could come in handy? Sounds like there could be a little fighting along the way.”

Lila smiled. “Do you not have faith in my abilities, Mr. Tarazi?”

“That’s not it,” he stammered. “It’s just…I feel left out of the action.”

“You are being tasked with protecting my mother. What greater duty could I ask of anyone?”

“Yeah, I see your point. Okay then. Good luck.”

“Let us proceed, Mr. Smith.”

13

There was a single road connecting the mining town of Anoon with Boraxx, which was subject to periodic landslides and often covered in inches of gritty meteorite dust. The towns were also three hundred miles apart and Lila didn’t want to take the time to drive there and back. The primary mode of cross-country travel on Siron was by way of electric quad-copter. These tiny helicopters were too small to carry gravity generators, and using chemical propellant—read rocket power—was too impractical to maintain and supply. So the ubiquitous quads were it. They could also make the hop over to Boraxx in a little over thirty minutes.

All they had to do now was find one.

As Riyad and Arieel left the hospital in one direction, Coop and Lila headed into town. Most dwellings and commercial buildings had quad-designated landing areas, often with maintenance hangars nearby. It didn’t take the pair long to find one of the squat flying machines sitting outside a hangar.

Lila walked up to the pilot side, opened the door and slipped into the cockpit. She fired up the motor. Copernicus ran to the other side and climbed in.

Two aliens of different species were hunched over a table in the hangar, working on a piece of equipment. They looked up when Lila started the rotors.

“You…you are not allowed!” cried one of the aliens. “That does not belong to you.”

The aliens ran toward the quad, one producing an MK-17. Spotting the weapon, Lila opened the door and stepped out. She began a quick march at the alien.

Whether it was her determined pace or the serious look on her face, the alien mechanic felt threatened by her approach. He held the MK steady as the computer locked on…and then he pressed the trigger.

The level-two bolt splashed against Lila’s chest, evoking a deep inhale from the mutant and an almost orgasmic look on her face. It would take ten such bolts before she absorbed enough energy to glow white hot. This hit was more like a strong cup of coffee. She kept advancing.

The alien lifted the weapon again and prepared to shoot. Then the next thing Copernicus knew, the MK was in Lila’s hand, her move too fast for the Human eye to follow. Both mechanics stood frozen with shock.

The unarmed alien carried with him a two foot long metal tool Coop recognized as a spanner wrench. He lifted it, to use it either as a weapon to strike the mutant or as a defense against her. Either way it didn’t matter. Lila pointed the MK at the alien and sent a deadly level-two bolt into his chest.

Coop was stunned. The alien wasn’t a threat to her, not really. And then when she pointed the weapon at the original alien and pulled the trigger, his impression of the sweet and lovely Formilian was changed forever.

Lila walked nonchalantly back to the quad and climbed in. She took the controls and then turned to Copernicus. “They were a hindrance and might have reported the theft. We do not have time for such complications.”

“It’s cool,” Coop stammered. “I’ve never had any problem with killing aliens. Apparently you don’t either.”

The tiny craft lifted off. It only took Lila a couple of seconds to test the pitch and yaw to determine the tolerances of the controls, and they sped off through the rocky canyon toward Boraxx.

“Did you expect me to be more compassionate?” Lila asked a moment later. “You must realize that although I have love for my parents and feel friendship for those I work with, I have very little in common to normal creatures. This isn’t from a feeling superiority, although I am. It is just practicality. I cannot care for everything; that would take up too much of my time.”

Copernicus watched the beautiful alien out the corner of his eye. He was already attracted to her—who wouldn’t be. But after her act of pragmatic assassination, Coop found he was sexually aroused. Although he was dating Sherri, he began to wonder if perhaps someday—

“Do not even think about it,” Lila said.

“You can read my mind!”

“I do not need to. You should know Sherri is my friend, so if you do not wish to spend the rest of the trip to Boraxx out on the side rail, I would keep your animal lusts in check.”

Even as she scolded the hunky starship repairman-slash-spy, she stretched out a thin smile. Coop was in too much shock to notice.

14

While scoping out the town with Sherri and Riyad, Copernicus had located the central power mod distribution center. He guided Lila to the spot, and once there, she hovered the tiny craft for a moment as she sought a safe landing area. There was a quad landing pad to the right of the building, but since there was bound to be some shooting taking place, she was looking for something a little closer to the entrance for a faster getaway. Surrendering to the inevitable, she simply dropped the quad on the small landscape feature outside the double glass doors to the building.

Two Mutt and Jeff aliens in ugly business suits watched as the craft landed and Lila stepped out, still holding the MK-17. Without hesitation, she blasted both of them where they stood. The guard at the main entrance saw the killings and rushed inside, locking the glass panels behind him.

“You might try to ration your shots, Lila,” Coop advised as he joined her at the doors. “You only have five level-twos left, and there may be more shooting inside.”

Lila nodded, and then lowered her shoulder into the entrance door. The glass shattered and the guard opened fire with his own bolt launcher. Coop had a weapon of his own, one of the MKs the team had bought in town before all hell broke out. He laid out the guard with a single shot to the head.

Now there was complete pandemonium in the huge lobby area, as dozens of aliens, panicked by the attack and the pop of flash bolts, ran…they simply ran. Lila scanned the chaotic crowd, before identifying two aliens who posed threats. She rushed through the throng and grabbed a security guard armed with a sophisticated MK-47 advanced bolt launcher. She twisted him into a pretzel before dispatching his partner with a single fist to the head. Coop rushed up and picked up the precious MK-47. He giggled like Gollum as he scurried off in the wake of the unstoppable mutant.

Power modules are tiny fusion reactors used in everything from cars and buildings to gigantic interstellar cruisers. They’re not particularly dangerous—not with all the safety features built into them—but if enough of them ruptured, and in the vicinity of others, things could get dicey in a hurry. As an extra precaution, the mods on Siron were stored far underground to protect them against the random meteor strikes. Lila rushed up to one of the many elevators and entered one. Coop barely made it in before the door slid shut.

“They’ll be expecting us,” he said to the ravishing, dark-haired—and cold-blooded—mutant.

“I will lead the way out.”

Coop could already detect the heat coming from her body. They had to be careful she didn’t absorb too many more plasma bolts. If she became too hot to ride in the quad, it would be her hanging onto the railing on the way back to Anoon.

The pair shifted to one side of the elevator away from the doors. When they opened, four blinding bolts of energy streaked in and splashed against the far wall. Lila looked into the room and immediately set off four quick bolts of her own, each one striking its target center mass. She didn’t waste shots, but she was down to only one left. Coop handed her his MK-17, keeping the coveted ’47 for himself. They stepped out into the foyer.

Besides the four dead guards, there were other aliens nearby, but most were running for their lives. Lila used her superior eyesight to scan the corridor both ways.

“Follow me. The storage facility is this way.”

After another small fire fight with three overmatched guards, the pair reached the entrance to the module storage room. It was a huge chamber set in solid rock, with towering racks of storage containers and electric forklifts to reach the higher levels. The honeycomb structure started with the smaller, low-yield modules. There were hundreds of them, since these mods could power buildings, quads, electric transports and more. These were the most in-demand units and Lila and Coop had to run past a frustratingly long row of them to get to the mods designed for spacecraft.

They need a pair of 318s. The designations started in the one hundreds, which were used in shuttle craft and other transport and repair pods. Then they moved in number to the larger gravity generators used for interstellar spaceships. The three hundred-series was for smaller deep-well generators. The designations went all the way up to the eleven-hundred series for the huge battle-carriers.

Lila and Coop reached the row of 300s near the far wall of the chamber. There weren’t very many of the larger modules beyond this, ending in the six hundreds for the huge ore carriers. High-grade military modules weren’t in much demand on Siron, so there weren’t any stored here.

Coop flipped open a lid and pulled out a three-foot long module. There was a pull-out handle along the length. He took out another 318 and then took both of them by the handles. There were a little heavy, but Siron’s gravity helped with that.

“Let’s go.”

Lila led the way back toward the entrance, but near the doorway, they encountered two more security guards with weapons drawn.

“Are you kidding?” Copernicus called out. “You’re going to fire plasma bolts in here?”

The guards looked past the pair of intruders and hesitated. One errant bolt and the entire city of Boraxx would become a radioactive pit in the middle of nowhere.

Lila lifted her MK-17…and blasted the two guards. Coop jumped back in fear, until he realized Lila’s shots were never errant. There was no danger of her hitting any of the hundreds of modules in the room.

They made it back to the elevator without incident and took the forty second ride to the surface. It seemed like a lifetime before the doors slid open…and the firing began once again.

“Hey! I have power mods in here!” Copernicus yelled out.

“They are in protective containers,” some wiseass called out. He had a point. Coop peeked around the corner, spotted the alien, and then blasted him with his fancy new MK-47.

“Stay behind me as best you can,” Lila instructed, and then the pair raced out of the elevator and into a hail of flash bolts. Most missed Lila, as her lightning quick mutant reactions made for an elusive target. Coop, however, took a bolt to his left leg. Level-twos couldn’t kill Humans, but they sure did hurt.

With the extra load of the power mods, he limped after Lila until she noticed and came back for him. She placed an elongated mutant arm around his torso and lifted him off the floor. Moments later they were outside and racing for the quad-copter.

Three aliens were standing near the craft, each with Xan-fi flash rifles slung on their shoulders. The commotion from inside the building spilled outside and the aliens took notice. One managed to unsling his weapon, while the other two were dropped by accurate fire from Lila’s handgun. The last one didn’t even get his weapon into firing position before Lila blew him away.

Lila carried Coop around to the passenger side and threw him inside. She fired the last of her energy bolts before running to the pilot’s side. The motors spun, and with steaks of flash bolts racing by, the quad lifted into the air and flew off over the building, dropping low on the other side to avoid fire coming from the front.

She kept the quad low, racing only feet above the roof tops of Boraxx before leaving the city and climbing high to crest the rim of an ancient impact crater. The tiny craft slid down the other side of the mountain at breakneck speed. Coop shifted the heavy power mods from off his legs and struggled to find his safety belt. He fastened it just as Lila pulled the quad into a steep climb to scale the other side of the crater wall.

A few exhilarating minutes later, the tiny craft was lost within the jagged peaks and valleys of the rift region of Siron, hidden from everything but tracking satellites in orbit. Siron was a rough and tumble mining colony. They had no need for tracking satellites in orbit.

“How is your leg?” Lila asked.

He was in so much pain he hadn’t noticed until now the near-unbearable heat coming off the alien. “Don’t melt anything in here,” he said, while trying to scoot as far away from her as he could.

Lila slid open a small side vent in the canopy, letting freezing air flow into the cockpit, cooling it instantly.

“That’s better,” Coop said. “As for my leg, it hurts like hell, but I’ll survive.” Then he smiled. “That was quite a rush, wasn’t it? I love how you just killed everything that got in our way. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am! You’re amazing.”

“You performed quite admirably yourself, Mr. Smith.” She locked eyes with Copernicus. “I see now why Sherri likes you so much. You two make a nice pairing.”

Coop picked up on the not-so-subtle rejoinder. They spent the rest of the flight in awkward silence.

15

Sherri awoke when sounds from the hallway penetrated the walls of the surgical room. There were voices and shouting. She jumped from the chair and ran to the door. Opening it slowly, she looked out into the corridor.

A phalanx of dirty and gritty aliens was coming toward the OR. They carried flash weapons and ugly expressions. They also seemed to know exactly where they were going.

Sherri darted back into the room. In a panic, she looked over the still-sleeping Adam Cain and Panur. She couldn’t carry them both to safety, and if she could, where would she go?

She could stay and fight; after all she was a Human with an ATD. Disarming the flash weapons would be a breeze. But with Adam and Panur lying helpless on the hospital beds, they could easily be injured, even killed in the fray. Of course, she was really thinking only of Adam. But all bets were off on Panur. She had no clear idea as his condition or ability to heal from injury. Fighting wasn’t the answer, at least not now. But hiding was.

She eyed a small gown closet set in the wall near her. She slipped inside and closed the door just as the aliens entered.

Her translator had trouble sorting out all the different languages coming through the thin door, but she did make out enough to get the message. The aliens were taking Adam and Panur. Words like liquid nitrogen and magnetic bonds were heard. It didn’t take long before the room was quiet again. Sherri poked her head out and took a look.

Sure enough, Adam and Panur were gone. She ran to the doorway again and saw the mad mob heading for the exit to the clinic. There were no windows in the surgical room, so she slipped into the corridor and into a recovery room with a window. From there she saw the gang of vigilantes load Adam and Panur into the back of a truck and lead a small caravan away from the clinic and into town.

Sherri pulled open the window and jumped from the second level. It was quite a fall, even in the lower gravity of Siron, but she landed in a puff of brown dust and then ran off into the clinic’s parking lot. There were only a few transport vehicles here, but one was all she needed. She rammed an elbow into the glass of the driver side window of one and reached inside to unlock the door. That’s when she discovered there was no lock. She opened the door and slipped inside, sitting on a bed of broken glass.

Sherri followed the hard-to-miss caravan of rowdy aliens as they paraded their catch through the streets of town. She was surprised when they continued to the far side of the settlement, to a flat open field where a modest-sized ore freighter was in the last stages of landing. This wasn’t a spaceport, just a convenient place to set down.

Sherri became caught up the every growing line of transports heading for the freighter. She thought the whole scene was odd. If they were returning Adam and Panur to Boraxx to face the gang-leader Resric, they certainly didn’t need a freighter to do it. They were preparing to take the pair into space, and that’s when reason broke down completely.

Sherri pulled the transport up to a group celebrating aliens. She hid her face with her hand before calling out. “It is a great day!”

“Indeed it is,” replied a dirt-covered female with four eyes and a double row of exposed teats running along the front of her torso. “There will be peace…and a reward, we are sure.”

“One we can all share in!” Sherri added.

“Indeed.”

“But won’t the mutant be hard to contain?” Sherri asked, going out on a limb.

“We have been told how to contain him.” The alien looked at her companions. “Extreme cold, is this correct?” Her friends nodded and kept cheering.

They were told? By whom?

A mass of aliens entered the rear of the cargo ship. Sherri couldn’t tell if they were carrying Adam and Panur or not, but she got the idea they were. Soon the crowd began to dissipate and the freighter fired off its chem drive before lifting off the surface.

Sherri was already racing away when the ore freighter shot for the heavens. She had to get back to the Defiant as soon as possible.

That’s when she remembered Lila could pick up on her ATD thoughts.

Lila! Can you hear me?

Yes, Sherri. Have they awakened?

No…they’ve been taken! A mob broke into the clinic and took them. They’ve just been loaded aboard a freighter.

This is terrible news. But we have the power modules we need. The Defiant should be able to catch up to a freighter.

There’s more. The aliens were told how to capture and contain Panur.

By whom?

I don’t know. But they were also celebrating the prospect of peace, and I got the distinct impression the capture of Adam and Panur has something to do with it.

Understood. Mr. Smith and I are ten minutes from the Defiant.

I’m about twenty out. I’ll see you then.

We will be ready.

* * *

When Sherri arrived at the Defiant, a little quad-copter was parked next to it. She jumped out of the transport and ran into the open landing bay. Arieel and Riyad were there. Arieel rushed over and hugged her, while Riyad gave her a wink.

“They’re installing the power mods now,” he told her. “We should be charged and ready to go in ten.”

“We can’t let that freighter get too far away.”

Riyad smiled. “You forget that with full power the Defiant is a trans-dimensional starship. Nothing can get too far away.”

Sherri relaxed. She wasn’t thinking straight, probably because nothing made sense anymore. Why were Adam and Panur being whisked away, and to the joy of the natives?

The rear door began to slide shut, controlled by Kaylor in the pilothouse. We are preparing for liftoff, the alien said into their minds, using his ATD; he was getting used to using it and bypassing the ship’s intercom system.

Sherri felt a slight disorientation and heard the roar of the chem jets as the Defiant took to the air. A moment later the internals kicked in, along with the inertia compensators. Everything was back to normal.

Everything except that Adam and Panur were not onboard. They were on another starship and bound for…where? She wasn’t sure, but she could think of about half-a-dozen possibilities—and none of them good.

16

The small co-joined pair of space rocks twirled around each other, in a delicate dance of gravity and momentum. For a billion years they’d orbited the huge galaxy known to some as the Milky Way, beyond the outer rim, yet still under the influence of the supermassive blackhole that dominated the galaxy’s core. But that was about to change.

If the tiny pair of iron and nickel asteroids had awareness, they would have sensed something was wrong. One moment they were traveling as they had always traveled, along their pre-determined path through intergalactic space; the next they were in a cluster of unknown stars located on the outer fringe of an even larger galaxy known as Andromeda. The rocks would live on for another three thousand years before being absorbed into a nameless star, unimaginably far from the place of their creation.

At the other end of the transit line, at the point where the orbiting chunks of stellar debris had once journeyed, there now appeared a small fleet of twenty starships. They were identical in size and design—elongated with silver hulls. The fleet hesitated only a moment to regain orientation, before lighting off their generators and entering deep gravity-wells, heading for the rim of the galaxy…a place known to the beings aboard the ships as the Kac.

The supreme commander of the tiny fleet had to be careful. His name was Kontin Lemoon (981), and he was a Lead Third Cadre officer of the Molin blood team. As his small force of Nuorean players entered the space outside the Kac, they were on high alert. There were so many questions to be answered, not the least of which was what had happened to their fellow players left stranded in this alien galaxy? It had been nearly two full cycles since contact had been broken between the galaxies. Kontin admitted that wasn’t a lot of time to pass, yet when LP-6 was destroyed, the Nuoreans were under incredible assault by the forces of the Kac. Learning the fate of his fellow players was one of Kontin’s mission objectives. But it wasn’t his primary directive.

With the fleet still forty light-years from the nearest Kac star, Kontin sent out a coded alert beacon, using a wide-band wormhole broadcast. It was set to the emergency frequency of the Nuorean forces, and should have been the first time it was used in the Kac. As such, there was a good chance the enemy wouldn’t be monitoring the signal.

Now all Kontin had to do was wait…at least for a while.

* * *

Master-Player Qintis Bondo (435) still had two huge battle-carriers under his command. The rest of the fleet consisted of eight hundred smaller vessels, now all crammed with the seven hundred twenty thousand players remaining in the Kac. Conditions were horrific, as food stock constantly ran low from demand that overwhelmed the capacity of the processors. And there was the question of sleeping accommodations, as well as sanitary considerations….and so much more.

Occasionally Qintis would send elements of his fleet into passing star systems to gather supplies, often at the point of energy weapons. It was the best he could do in light of the situation dominating the Kac at the time. With the alien Klin attacking random worlds with impunity—and the Nuorean’s appropriated planets lying directly in their path—Qintis had to evacuate the land facilities for the more mobile starships. This way they could not only avoid the deadly Klin, be also stay ahead of the other forces in the Kac opposed to them.

In all honesty, the forces fighting the Klin had more important considerations on their minds than the defeat of a relatively few Nuoreans still remaining in their galaxy. From all the reports passing through interstellar comm broadcasts, the Kac was facing the inevitable fate of being overrun by the silver-skinned aliens. Qintis had barely heard of the race when researching the Kac and the players they were to face once the invasion began. Indeed, from what he learned, the Klin would be no match for the Nuoreans in the arena. They did not participate in physical challenges of superiority and skill. Instead, they relied on technology to overcome their enemies, which to the Nuoreans was a disgrace and an insult, displaying the Klin’s weakness to all. Yet it was effective. The Kac galaxy was being relentlessly absorbed by the Klin machines, and apparently no one could figure a way to stop them.

And the Klin showed no favoritism or preference with their conquests. They would attack any target, be it a direct threat or not. That included the Nuoreans. Qintis had already lost a hundred ships in a futile attempt to confront one of the Klin’s massive laser ships. He could not afford to lose any more. He had a population to protect, and only by constantly moving could he assure their survival.

Yonin Cavins (984) was Qintis’ second-in-command. He was well-known to the Master-Player; the pair had even met in the arena cycles ago—a match won by Qintis, by the way. Qintis knew every subtle change in the Lead-Player’s countenance and manners. So when Yonin rushed into his chambers, red of face and panting, Qintis took note.

“What has happened?” he asked.

“A beacon…an emergency beacon, Master-Player,” Yonin reported breathlessly.

“Sent from Nuor?”

“Sent from the outer fringe of the Kac.”

“Has it been sourced?”

“As we speak. It appears to be legitimate.”

Qintis maintained his control composure. Subordinates may hyperventilate, but not Master-Players. Even so, this was momentous. It had been decided part-cycles ago that the midpoint gravity generators had been destroyed, moments after debris from Nuor rushed through to the Kac. The generators were massive constructs, taking decades to build. So how could units from the Suponac have arrived so soon? Unless the damage was not as significant as first believed....

“I will accompany you to the comm center. We must authenticate this beacon without delay. My friend Yonin, we may be going home much sooner than even our most optimistic…wishes.”

* * *

When the beacon was verified and a wormhole link established, Qintis was overjoyed to see the face of an unknown Third Cadre lead-player looking back at him. Qintis knew all the upper echelon members of the Third Cadre. The fact that he did not recognize this player only added credence to the belief that Nuor had been destroyed. The Third Cadre was—had been—based on the planet.

“I am Kontin Lemoon (918),” the three-striper in the black uniform announced. “I am pleased to see that Master-Player Qintis Bondo (435) has survived his stay in the Kac. What of your force?”

Qintis was nervous with excitement. A link had been reestablished with his native galaxy. It was time to take his people home—at least back to their home galaxy—after which a debate would be entered into whether or not to reenter the Kac for competitive challenges. With the introduction of the Klin war machines, Qintis would recommend against returning to the Kac. His people had suffered far too much for too little gain.

“I retain over seven hundred thousand players in a fleet of eight hundred ships. We are embarked on our vessels.”

“Have you not sought out land bases and set up arenas?”

“We did, but now there is a new force in the Kac that threatens not only us, but the entire galaxy.” He went on to briefly describe the Klin and their current campaign.

“But please, Kontin, explain to me how you were able to regain the link between galaxies?” Qintis asked. “Was the damage to LP-6 less extensive than first suspected? We are hungry for information.”

“No, the damage was complete,” said Kontin. “Yet as a temporary measure, the generators from LP-1 through LP-3 were transported to the LP-5 transit point and then sent to the midpoint. They have been linked together to form a crude replacement for LP-6.”

“That is remarkable. The fix may be crude, yet it obviously works.”

“It requires a full twenty-two days of charging as compared to only three days with the original generators. It is also precarious in nature, to be used only for transits of top priority.”

Qintis continued displaying his wide grin. “It will take us that time and more to move to the outer rim of the Kac. Please relay the coordinates and I will make haste to join you. We are anxious to go home.”

The Third Cadre Kontin nodded slightly. “That is understandable, yet my mission priorities are different from yours.”

Qintis continued to smile. Even though he heard the words, they did not register immediately. “I…please repeat. Your mission is not a rescue?”

“That is correct. In fact, the rescue of your forces places third among my priorities.”

“What could be more important?” Qintis barked. Technically, he was of a superior rank than the Third Cadre officer. Until now he had deferred to the junior player, just relieved that he was on the link. Now Qintis was ready to exert his authority. “The rescue of seven hundred thousand Nuoreans takes priority over any orders you may have, Kontin.”

“I am sorry, Master-Player, but it doesn’t.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I am here to kill Adam Cain.”

17

It took little effort for the Defiant to catch up to the ore freighter carrying Adam and Panur. The problem came when the freighter was joined by a dozen other craft—including three Expansion warships—that formed a screen around the transport. Riyad didn’t get the impression they did this to protect the freighter from them, per se. It was just that the cargo was so valuable that precautions were being made to protect the prize. Once the makeshift fleet reached the outer system, it entered deep gravity-wells. The Defiant followed.

“Where the hell are they going?” Sherri asked.

“On their current course, they appear to be heading for Formil,” Jym announced.

“They’ve gone through lot of effort to catch a starship thief,” said Riyad, referring to Adam and his absconding with the Defiant from an Earth-based research facility. “And Panur isn’t wanted for anything, except maybe being a pain in the ass.”

Sherri turned to Lila at the comm station. “Any idea what’s going on? The people back on Siron seemed to know what they were doing.”

“I have been monitoring intergalactic CW broadcasts and I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

Riyad could read between the lines. Bad news for an immortal mutant genius often referred to its impact on others, not her.

“Lay it on us,” he said. “We pretty much exist on a series of bad news announcements.”

“The Klin have made an offer of peace to the galaxy…in exchange for our capture and subsequent possession by the Klin.”

There was silence in the pilothouse, as each person worked the startling information around in their heads. Riyad broke the silence.

“Well, that…is bad news for sure, at least for us.”

“That also includes you and Panur?” Sherri asked.

“Yes.”

Copernicus snorted. “How do they expect to catch you and Panur? I’d like to see them try.”

“Panur has already been captured,” Lila stated the obvious.

Copernicus raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, but that was just a freak thing. Normally it wouldn’t have been so easy.”

“With the announcement seeking our capture, the authorities on Formil also broadcast instructions on how to subdue Panur and me.”

“The old freeze-them-with-liquid-nitrogen trick?” Riyad said.

Lila nodded.

“So much for having allies….” Sherri said.

Riyad nodded. “Not to diminish our importance in this whole affair, but I think getting Adam and Panur is something like eighty-percent of the game right there. Of course, Lila isn’t very well-liked in the corridors of power, either, but the Klin may not care about that.”

“We have to rescue them!” Kaylor called out.

“That would be nice,” Riyad said, shaking his head. “However, the rest of the galaxy might get a little pissed if we did. They want peace, and I’m sure to everyone else, this is considered a reasonable tradeoff.”

“There is also news that the Klin are sending VN-91s to all the Core worlds to act as security until we are captured,” said Lila. “The Advisory Council has agreed to safe passage for the ships. They are assuring the population that there will be no danger.”

Copernicus slumped back in his chair. “Oh, really? So if we aren’t caught and turned over to the Klin, the bastards will be in a position to wipe out something like ten of the most-powerful civilizations in the galaxy with the press of a button. Hell, they may do that even if we are caught.”

“The Council had no choice,” Arieel stated. “The survival of the galaxy is at stake.”

Riyad looked at her and frowned. “You aren’t suggesting we surrender…for the common good?”

“It is one possibility.”

“If you trust the fucking Klin!” Copernicus shouted. “This is just another form of blackmail and bullshit. Even if we turn ourselves over to the Klin, they could simply declare themselves the masters of the universe and there would be nothing anyone could do about it.”

“I see your point, Copernicus,’ said Arieel. “But what are we to do? There is obviously a major effort being launched to catch all of us. Adam and Panur have already been caught. Although Lila is still with us, we have lost a significant portion of our team, including a likely means to defeat the Klin.”

“That’s the only thing that can save us—and the galaxy,” Riyad began. “We have to find a way to defeat them.”

“Which is an argument for rescuing Panur and Adam. We need them to find a solution,” Kaylor said.

Riyad stood up. “Listen, the people back on Formil are not going to kill Panur—or whatever they can do to him—before he’s turned over to the Klin. They won’t risk losing their best chance at peace. And according to Lila, Panur and Adam are going to eventually recover from the operation they underwent, probably while they’re being shipped to Formil. We need to make contact with them using our ATDs. We need to know how they’re doing.”

“We’re too far out for our ATDs to work,” Sherri pointed out. She looked at Lila. “That’s right, isn’t it?”

“I can make contact at a much farther distance, but at this point, it is even too far for me.”

“Then we have to get closer,” Kaylor declared.

Riyad nodded. “That’s easier said than done. We could hop in using the TD drive, but then the caravan will know we’re following them. Lila, how close do we have to be for you to make contact?”

“Possibly three light-years. It will also depend on if Adam has recovered enough to respond.”

“We are nearly at that distance now,” Jym reported. “We could go in cautiously.”

Riyad smiled at him. “What other way is there to go?”

“We could go in the Human way, which could never be associated with caution,” replied the tiny alien, seriously.

“Yeah, but it is a lot more exciting.”

18

Adam was the first to awake, which wasn’t saying much. He felt like shit, with his energy drained and a pounding headache. He scratched the back of his head and was surprised when he scraped across a small nub at the base of his skull. He couldn’t imagine what it was, but it hurt when he touched it. His hair was also gone from around the nub. He rolled on his side and felt the painful area with his fingers.

Eyesight returned a moment later, as a thick film was blinked away. There was a wall facing him, made of either plastic or glass. And on the opposite side of the small room was a cot. A short gray creature rested on it, also on his side, eyes closed, and dressed in what looked like a silk business suit.

Panur! The word flashed in Adam’s mind, although he was confused what significance it had. A name? If so, it was a strange name. But then so was the hairless, almost featureless alien on the cot. Alien? Adam knew it to be an alien, since aliens were…common.

How could that be? Should he not be more startled by the revelation? But he wasn’t.

Beyond the transparent walls of his square cage, Adam saw rusted bulkheads, like those found in the cargo hold of a ship. Then something moved in the shadows; it was another…person—an alien with scales and jagged bone plates for hair. It was staring at him while cradling a Xan-fi Model Nine flash rifle in his lap.

How did he know what type of weapon it was? And for that matter, what was a flash rifle? He was confused, and the more he fought for understanding, the more his head hurt.

He sat up on the cot and looked at the sleeping gray alien. The two of them were the only ones in the glass cell, which put them on the same team, as far as Adam could tell. He stood up on wobbly legs and walked over to the other cot.

He studied the alien, not seeing any evidence of breathing. Was he dead? Adam reached out a hand and pushed on the body. It was warm to the touch, unusually so. He pushed again. Still no response. Perhaps he was dead. He reached out again.

“Stop it!” the gray alien growled in a whisper without opening his eyes.

“You’re alive!” Adam announced, his voice echoing off the walls of the cell.

“Like, duh,” said the alien. He opened an eye and looked at Adam. Then with pursed lips, he reluctantly sat up on the cot and glared at his Human cellmate.

“I was pretending to be asleep,” he barked. “Now our guards know we’re both awake and will alert those in charge. I was still working on a way out. Now they’ll start watching us closer.”

“You’re called Panur, right?”

The alien narrowed his eyes, locking his with Adam’s. “You don’t know?”

“I think I do. You’re an…alien, right?”

Panur leaned back, placing his back against the glass wall. “You really took a hit from the procedure, didn’t you? Hopefully it’s only temporary. You don’t remember Lila and the little operation the three of us shared recently?”

“Lila! Yes, I remember her. She’s my daughter.” The words came out as a statement, but to Adam they were more of a question. His daughter’s name was Cassie, not Lila, yet a part of him could confirm Lila was, too. “What the hell’s going on? Where are we?”

The alien looked around the room and beyond. “We appear to be in cage aboard a freighter of some kind. I can sense the gravity drive at full power. And the guards are armed and attentive. I also see several canisters lining our cell which I can only guess contain liquid nitrogen designed to keep me from escaping.”

“Escaping? Why are we even here?”

“Because you and I are on a mission to save the galaxy, and obviously there are those who wish our mission to fail.”

Pain was sparking in Adam’s brain, causing him to lose his balance. He tumbled forward and was caught by the incredibly quick reactions of the alien. Panur set him on the cot next to him until the dizziness passed. Memories were returning, if they truly were memories. Most seemed too outrageous to be real, more like parts from a dozen science fiction or horror movies he’d seen. But in all of them, he was the star.

A moment later, the pieces had assembled enough that Adam had a pretty good idea what was going on.

“You got your cells back,” Adam stated with a trace of regret.

“That is so, even as I’m still in the process of regaining all my mental faculties. You should not have kept it a secret from me.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask you to leave them in my brain. I didn’t even know they were there until long after you were gone.” Adam set his jaw. “And now that you’re back to full—whatever—maybe now you can be of some use. What happened after the procedure?”

Panur looked around the chamber once more. A couple of other guards had come into the outer room and were sitting in chairs with one eye focused on them and the other—literally—on a pair of control panels. They seemed to be waiting for something to happen.

“From what I can gather, we were taken from Siron while still under the effects of the operation. These are local Siron miners, yet they’ve been able to construct a cell that can hold me. They know the effects of freezing my outer body. That is not knowledge they acquired organically. They were instructed.”

“The Klin, the Expansion?”

“It could be one, or both.”

“How long were we unconscious?”

“I do not know. I have been awake for two days, surreptitiously studying my surroundings. Not so surreptitiously now.”

“Sorry, I thought you were dead.”

“Are you at full awareness now?”

“I don’t know. How do you know what you can’t remember?”

“Good point. It tells me I may be a little lacking myself to have asked such a question.” Panur smiled. Even his little lacking was better than anyone else in the galaxy. “They took us while were incapacitated, yet I’ve not seen nor heard any evidence that the others were taken as well. That is good.” He lowered his voice. “I am sure Lila is searching for us. I have confidence she will not let us meet whatever fate awaits us.”

Just then a ship’s officer of some indecipherable rank, wearing a tattered and dirty flight jacket entered the chamber and approached the transparent wall of the cell.

“Here is our opportunity to gather information,” Panur whispered as the pair made their way across the room to face the officer.

The alien was tall and overweight, with what appeared to be gills opening and closing rhythmically on his fat neck. “I am First-Captain Penisor. I hope you find your accommodations satisfactory.” The alien chuckled from his little joke.

“What are we doing here?” Adam asked pointedly. He was in no mood to play the alien’s games. Besides, his head still hurt.

“You are being transported to Formil. After that, I can only imagine.”

“Why Formil; I stole a Human starship.”

The alien looked confused. “I know nothing of that.”

“Then what gives you the right to take us prisoner?”

There was even more confusion evidenced in the alien’s fat face. “I do not understand your line of questioning,” he said. “You are being taken to Formil so the Klin may take possession.”

“Allow me, Adam,” Panur said, stepping into the conversation. “Are you saying we are to be given over to the Klin? For that to have occurred, we must be bargaining chips in a much larger game of war and politics.”

The alien burped, or snorted, or something, frustrated with Panur’s flowery way of speaking. It was above his paygrade.

“All I know is that with your capture there will be peace with the Klin. We also believe a sizeable reward will be presented to the people of Siron for our efforts.”

That’s it then, Adam thought. The Klin set all this up. Obviously they knew of the mutant’s arrival back in the galaxy and were afraid they would figure a way to defeat their machines. Adam looked around the cell and sighed. They were in some deep shit now. They’ll find no allies in the entire galaxy willing to put their welfare above the survival of the galaxy.

And damn, he thought. I was just beginning to enjoy being alive.

Panur was scanning the top of the cell and the canisters clamped to the roof with nozzles placed inside. “You have thought of everything,” he said to the alien ship’s captain.

“It is a simple arrangement, yet it will do to hold you until we reach Formil. It matters not how you are delivered, either conscious or frozen. As for your Human companion, he will surely die if doused in the freezing chemical. Life is not a condition of the Klin in his regard, just his body. So if for no other reason than to avoid his death, do not attempt to escape. The slightest provocation and my crew with activate the canisters. Are we understood?”

“Crystal,’ said Panur.

The alien frowned. “I do not understand?”

“I understand, to the point of crystal clarity,” Panur explained.

The captain gnashed his teeth and bunched his fists. “Then simply say so! Dispense with the verbal…verbal, I do not know what to call it.” The alien then turned and stalked away, mumbling to himself as he went.

“Touchy fuck, isn’t he?” Panur said in perfect Human-speak.

Adam smiled…just as he began to hear voices in his head. He didn’t know if this was a residual effect of having his brain invaded by various mutant aliens, or if he was really in contact with someone mentally. He was still not up to full speed.

“Lila?” Adam said aloud.

“What about her?” Panur asked.

“I think I heard her voice—a voice—in my head.”

Panur led him to the other side of the cell and sat him on a cot. He leaned over close and whispered, “Do not broadcast the fact. We are being monitored.”

“But it’s in my head.”

“You do not recall your brain-interface device?”

It took a moment for Adam to search his scattered memory for what the gray alien was talking about. But then it came to him…at full force. Now the voice in his mind was crystal clear.

Lila! he thought—loudly. Are you there?

Yes, father. So she is his daughter. That memory now flooded his mind. It was all coming together, a bit at a time.

Where are you—

“Are you in contact with her?” Panur interrupted.

Adam nodded…just as Panur took his arm and squeezed unbelievably hard.

Lila, I am here, the gray alien said, the voice appearing somehow in Adam’s mind. Adam’s mind felt like it was a balloon just filled to the point of bursting.

Are you recovered?

Partially. I can still sense the workings within my mind. The healing is taking place exponentially. I should be at full capability within nine hours.

And how is my father?

He is still recovering, but getting better in flashes of memory. Say hello, Adam.

Hello. Adam said, feeling awkward, a mere spectator to the conversation taking place in his head.

I am glad to hear you are recovering, father. Please rest now. Panur and I will carry on from here.

* * *

Panur lay Adam’s head on the cot and let his eyes flutter closed. He would rest while the two mutants used his mind as a conduit across light-years.

Where are you?

We are trailing the caravan and military escort. How much do you know of your situation?

Not much that can be verified. Are we part of a peace bargain with the Klin?

That is correct, as is the entire team.

Panur sensed the freighter drop out of the gravity-well at the same time Lila heard the report from Jym. The ship and its escorts were slowing down—then stopping—in the middle of interstellar space.

Do you know what is happening? Panur asked.

A contact has appeared running parallel to the freighter’s course. It is now crossing in front. The convoy is obliging. It is a Klin VN-91.

Are you able to maintain contact distance?

We will go dark and monitor the situation.

Good. I will monitor events from here.

* * *

There was panic and confusion on Formil. The Klin ship had intercepted the convoy bringing Adam Cain and the mutant to the planet, without any advanced notice from the Pleabaen. Were they there to provide additional protection during the transit? If so, then why force the convoy to stop? And if they intended to take possession of the prisoners, how would this affect the terms of the peace offer? The pair had been apprehended fully intending to turn them over the Klin. There had been no violation of the terms, as far the Advisory Council understood them.

Communications were opened with the Klin as previously instructed, using various CW relays to mask the location of the Klin base. Cosnin was in a shitty mood when the link was established and the Formilian U’lac began asking questions that seemed to catch the Pleabaen off guard. Once Cosnin got a grasp of the situation, he assured U’lac that the terms of the peace offer would still be honored, even as his forces took the prisoners from the ore freighter. The Klin leader then begrudgingly congratulated U’lac on the swift completion of one of the terms of the agreement. He still needed the others to satisfy it completely.

U’lac assured him that all efforts were underway, yet it was believed the remainder of Cain’s entourage had escaped the planet Siron in a fully-powered trans-dimensional starship.

“This is interesting information,” said Cosnin. “It would stand to reason they would be in pursuit of the convoy and anxious to affect a rescue.”

“I have been informed that both Adam Cain and the mutant are being held in the same cell, under the threat of a freezing agent if they attempt to escape or be assisted in such an action. This would surely kill Adam Cain. It is doubtful Panur would risk that. They are friends.”

Cosnin shrugged off the topic. “Instruct your forces to assist with the transfer, after which your responsibility for these two will be over. Concentrate on acquiring the others and the terms for peace will be met. And as you may already know, my ships have arrived at Crimera and Boschet-Lor. They will soon be arriving at all the Core worlds. The sooner you find the others, the sooner I can withdraw my forces.”

* * *

It was quite something to watch as the fourteen-foot-square plastic container holding Adam and Panur was lifted from the storage hold and moved to a huge landing bay aboard the freighter. The ship’s crew was used to moving large and heavy objects, and it showed. But what was even more impressive—to both the crew and the captives—was when the entire freighter was placed inside the huge black starship of the Klin and the cell moved out into a cavernous landing bay. Through their transparent box, Adam and Panur could see how the huge ore freighter was dwarfed by the size of the chamber, which Adam knew was only one of several within the six-mile long starship. The vessel was designed to carry upwards of four million killer robots. The freighter was an ant by comparison to such a load.

The cage was transported to another part of the chamber where a larger and more sophisticated prison awaited. The entrances were matched up and the pair willingly changed venues. There were actual beds in the new cell, along with a food processor and grooming station. All the comforts of home, if one’s home had a roof covered with canisters of liquefied nitrogen.

Adam knew the accommodations were primarily for him; Panur didn’t bother with such trivial things as food, sleep, or even toilets. Adam had an idea what—or more precisely, who—was behind it. When the ore freighter left the landing bay and the VN-91 sank into a deep gravity-well, it was only a matter of minutes before his intuition was confirmed.

“Adam Cain!” said Robert McCarthy as he stepped up to the wall of the cell. “Long time no see.”

“Why Bobby McCarthy, jolly good to see you, old chap,” Adam said in his best Cockney accent.

Robert looked past Adam to the gray mutant now seated on one of the beds, looking vacant and disinterested.

“What’s wrong with him? I heard you were both unconscious when you were captured and that something happened to him.”

“My friend is not himself. It seems the rumors of his immortality have been greatly exaggerated.”

McCarthy frowned. “Bullshit. This is the great Panur no-last-name. You expect me to believe he’s dying?”

“Yeah, it came as a surprise to me, too. I was really counting on him to figure out a way of kicking your bloody ass.”

McCarthy continued to stare at the mutant. “Nevertheless, I’ll keep the two of you locked up in there for the duration. If what you say is true—” Robert burst out laughing. “I can’t believe I just said that. But if it is, then this whole peace-for-mutants program was for nothing. My boss will be relieved to hear that. We have ships either on station or in transit to all the core planets in the galaxy. This thing may be over sooner than we thought.”

“Glad I could help. Anything else I can do?”

“You can just relax and not cause any trouble. Your comatose friend over there may survive a blast of liquid nitrogen, but it would turn you into a six-foot-tall popsicle. That would cheat me out of a perfectly good execution.”

“Damn, you sure do talk like one of us. Too bad you’re not really Human.”

The smile vanished from Robert’s face, if only momentarily. “Good try, Mr. Cain. But I’m just as Human as you are, even if I wasn’t born on Earth. But if things go according to plan, I will die there—of old age—after having ruled for decades. It’s just a matter of time now.”

“If I’ve heard one egotistical, megalomaniac, would-be god, I’ve heard a million of them. When you aspire to such heights, it’s a long fall back to reality. Enjoy the ride down, dickhead.”

McCarthy stared at Adam through the plastic wall, the humor in his voice having turned maniacal. “I shall enjoy devising a particularly creative and painful way for you to die. It can’t be just a simple execution. It will have to be one for the record books.”

He didn’t wait to hear another of Adam’s snide remarks before turning and walking away, almost with a small skip in his step.

Adam walked over to Panur and sat down next to him. He placed an arm around the narrow shoulders of the mutant and pulled him close, comforting him in his time of need.

“What the hell are you doing?” he whispered into the alien’s tiny ear hole.

“Playing dumb,” Panur answered. “And you played your role perfectly, my congratulations. Your friend may actually believe I’m dying.”

“For you information, you were, according to Lila.”

Panur wrapped his short arms around Adam’s waist and snuggled in. “Thanks for your concern, sweetheart,” Panur whispered.

“Don’t get carried away. I may be into aliens, but you’re really not my type.”

Panur ignored the remark and snuggled in closer. “Hold me.”

That’s when Adam broke the embrace and went to the other bed. One of Panur’s eyes sparkled mischievously, as the other gave him a wink.

19

There were only four living beings aboard the VN-91; Adam, Panur, Robert McCarthy and a Klin named Akin. When Robert returned to the bridge, the Klin informed him that Pleabaen Cosnin was on a link and waiting to speak with him. Robert moved to a cabin off the bridge to take the call.

The eyes of the silver-skinned alien bore into Robert across nine thousand light-years. “Why have you intercepted the Expansion force taking the mutant and Cain to Formil?”

“It was an unnecessary delay. This has cut thirty-eight days off the delivery time.”

“And the mutant is aboard your ship at this time?”

“Yes.”

Robert could see the anger evident in the Klin’s thin, frail body. “You scolded me for sending a VN-91 to Pyrum-3, fearing the mutants may learn of a way to defeat our ships. And now you have taken one inside. How is that a wise decision in any regard?”

“How else were we to transport the prisoners to Vesper?”

“We have other vehicles for the task, other than our prime assault vessels!”

“I have the situation under control.”

“As you have said before. How is the mutant secure?”

Robert was annoyed by the sniveling alien. The Klin may be smart but they had no—he searched for the word—guts, that was it. They were cautious to a fault, and spent too much time planning that they seldom did anything proactive. That’s why they had made so much progress under Robert’s behind-the-scenes machinations.

“He is in a chamber with Cain. Even if he attempts to escape, Cain will die from the freezing chemical. There is a bond between the two. Panur will not risk his friend’s life.”

“So I have heard.”

Robert considered telling Cosnin about the supposed condition of the mutant, but he wasn’t sure if it was real or just another deception on Cain’s part. The monitor before him showed the interior of the cell. The mutant was still sitting on the side of the bed, staring into space and rocking slowly. After a moment comforting the alien, Cain had moved to his own bed and was now attempting to sleep.

Robert decided to tell the alien, if only to calm his concerns with Panur’s condition. “There is something wrong with the mutant,” he said.

“Wrong, in what way?”

“He was unconscious at the time he was captured, which is something unheard of. Cain was too. The pair was removed from a hospital on the planet Siron, which is unusual in its own right. There was no reason for Panur to have been there, unless there was an issue, either physically or mentally. I’m monitoring him in his cell. He appears listless and unaware of his surroundings. I do not trust Cain, yet I believe Panur is in some kind of distress.”

“Do not trust them, no matter how it appears.” Cosnin ordered. “If the mutant is somehow sick, that is to our advantage. We must take our opportunities as they come.”

Robert nodded. “They will remain locked in the cell until we reach Vesper. I am simply transporting the pair to you.”

“Be sure that is all. For far too long, Humans—and particularly Adam Cain—have upset the plans of my predecessors. I do not wish to join the long list of Pleabaens who have misjudged Cain and his diabolical species.”

Robert detected the subtle threat in Cosnin’s words. It would not do for the Klin leader to lose faith in him. He needed to remain valuable to the Pleabaen.

“There is one other item to report,” Robert said. “The remainder of Cain’s team—including the other mutant, Lila Bol—departed Siron in the trans-dimensional starship. They will undoubtedly be planning some kind of rescue of their colleagues.”

“That is precisely the reason I have protested using a VN-91! If they can figure a way to defeat that ship, they can defeat them all.”

“It is very unlikely that will be able to stop me,” Robert countered. “Yet knowing they will try might give me an opportunity to either capture or kill the rest of them.”

“The mutant cannot die.”

“She can be cast into space. If that were to happen—and she is not recovered—she will float forever between stars, and no longer be a threat to us.”

“Stay alert. If you know they are coming—”

“I will stop them,” Robert interrupted. “And once Cain and the mutant threat is neutralized, you, my Pleabaen, will be in a position to exert your solitary will upon the entire galaxy.”

Robert felt that stroking the ego of the alien would help his cause. It may have, but Cosnin didn’t show it. Instead he said, “I can do that now. Your mutant threat may or may not materialize. In the interim, I could destroy the leadership of the galaxy with a simple order from where I sit. It should be clear to you by now: either the Klin will rule the galaxy…or no one will.”

20

Jym drew a curved line on the screen with a stubby finger, the claw retracted. “There are faint traces surrounding the Klin ship, out to a light-year away,” he reported.

“So they know we’re coming,” said Riyad. “How close can we get before we’re detected?”

Jym studied the screen. “I would assume the sensors are placed at the outer range of the shipboard detectors. The beacons add twice the range, so I would estimate three to four light-years out. At this time I can only track the Klin ship through this distant screen of sensors.”

Riyad looked at Lila, who was also studying the screen. “You can contact Adam three light-years out, isn’t that right?”

“Under optimal conditions. It is not that my brain energy can move between that distance unassisted and contact my father’s brain-interface device. This is only done by association with existing CW waves promulgating through space. If there are enough in the region, then contact can be made.”

“What would you say even if you could make contact?” Sherri asked. “Hey, we’re here, but there’s nothing we can do to help?”

“Perhaps there is something we can do,” said Lila. No one spoke, waiting for the mutant to fill in the details. “Panur and I required additional information on the Klin ships before we can formulate a possible way of defeating them. Data on energy utilization and shield structure is critical. This can only come from previously recorded events…or to witness and monitor a VN-91 in combat mode.”

Copernicus straightened up in his chair. “Are you suggesting we attack the ship…and I mean a real attack, not a flyby like you did before?”

“Exactly,” Lila replied. “We use the TD capabilities of the Defiant to jump in and out of range.”

“Do we even have enough firepower to activate their offensive weapons?” Sherri asked.

“Studying how a few flash cannon bolts are routed through their systems will help,” Lila said. “And during a run, I can contact Panur and have him monitor the ship’s systems internally using Adam’s brain-interface. It is extremely doubtful that we will cause any damage to the ship, but this could give us the data we need to formulate a response.”

“That will take some tricky navigation,” Coop said, “making precise TD jumps like that. We have to be careful we don’t materialize in the middle of the black ship. And on top of that, there’s a recycle period after each jump which will leave us sitting ducks for their lasers.”

All eyes turned to Kaylor. “Do not look at me. I only go where the navigator says to go.”

Eyes shifted to Jym. “I will accept no responsibility for such a reckless undertaking.”

“I will make the calculations,” said Lila. “We will need precise coordination between jumps, weapons dispersal, energy allotment and communications with Panur and Adam.”

“And if everything goes right, we do absolutely no damage to the Klin ship and Adam and Panur are still prisoners on their way to the Klin base to be killed.” Sherri smiled. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s do it.”

* * *

The team dressed in environment suits, preparing for battle. Lila took over at the nav station. Kaylor was in the pilot’s seat, with Coop as his co-pilot and in control of the TD module. Sherri and Riyad were at the weapons station and Arieel would monitor the energy allocation, shifting power from the engines to the TD module to achieve the shortest recycle time. The jumps in and out of the battlefield wouldn’t be over long distances—at least not in this universe. But the Defiant would have to be pre-programmed for a hop into another dimension, and then immediately back into the Milky Way at a precise point just a few light-years away. Copernicus was right. If they miscalculated by even a little, they could materialize within hull of the VN-91. That was one way of destroying the black ship. But it would also destroy the Defiant, and they only had one of those.

With Lila doing the fine calculations, the team felt somewhat confident in their chances. Even so, pulses were pounding when the first jump was initiated.

A strange green glow appeared through the forward viewport as the Defiant shifted into another universe. It didn’t stay like that for long. A heartbeat later, normal space returned—with a huge, six-mile long starship directly in their path.

Sherri and Riyad fired off a series of flash cannon bolts, now fully charged by the new power modules they’d gotten on Siron. The Defiant was only a hundred miles from the first line of defensive shields, so the plasma bolts impacted the screen a split second after discharge. The spectacular green glow of the diffusion shields lit up the pilothouse, expanding out to encompass the entire view outside the starship. They kept firing until the first of the weaker defensive lasers shot out from the hull of the VN-91.

Kaylor and Coop had the Defiant racing along the length of the black ship. They were taking hits, but so far, the screens were holding. Arieel was watching the power to the TD module climb, reaching toward the critical point where another jump could be made.

As Lila sent jump coordinates to Kaylor, she also contacted Adam through his ATD, splitting her brain activity between multiple tasks without skipping a beat.

* * *

Adam was asleep when the signal came through, loud and emphatic. He jumped, sitting up on the bed like he’d been shocked.

Father, link with Panur!

Adam looked around the plastic cell, confused and dazed for a moment. He knew he was being watched and didn’t want to let it be known he was linking through his ATD. Robert McCarthy knew of his device. He just didn’t know other people had them as well, or in Lila’s case, didn’t need one to communicate.

Adam stood up, stretched and then walked nonchalantly over to where Panur sat on the edge of his bed. That was also when he heard a high-pitched whine reverberating through the deck and bulkheads that hadn’t been there before. It was also getting very warm inside the huge landing bay.

He sat down next to Panur and took his hand. He didn’t need to say anything; Panur was instantly linked to his ATD.

Lila could tell the moment Panur’s mind linked with hers.

We have initiated an attack on the VN-91. If possible, link with the ship’s internals and monitor the power distribution and shield response.

Adam felt a surge of energy as the mutant took over his ATD. He was aware of the signals coming in and the speed at which Panur’s mind was racing through the circuits of the VN-91, but he couldn’t understand any of it. Perhaps if he still had some of Panur’s brains cells in his head things would have been different. But for now, his eyes glossed over as his body become simply a vessel for the mutants’ communications. The level of intimate connection between the two super brains was incredible and far beyond the ability of a Human mind to comprehend. Adam didn’t even try.

He heard Lila say she would return, and then the connection was broken.

Adam slumped, still holding onto Panur’s hand. What the hell just happened? They attacked the ship?

Yes they did, and it was remarkable. I gained great insight. They will be back for another run momentarily.

What did you learn?

It’s too complicated to explain at this time. I will be better prepared for the next attack. But I have to warn you, this will be intense. Brace yourself. I am taking over….

Adam felt like his brain exploded in his skull. It was great that Panur could link with Lila through his ATD, but everything still had to first be routed through Adam’s already traumatized brain, and it wasn’t equipped to handle such a surge of information. Adam fell back on the bed, sweating profusely, not only from the increased brain activity, but from the soaring temperature within the bay. As plasma energy was routed through the shields and back into the ship, heat bled off the circuits. And since the black ships only carried a single living crewmember—now two, with Robert McCarthy aboard—no provisions had been made to vent the heat from the bulk of the ship during an attack. There was no need. But now the room was turning into an oven. Panur was immune to the effects, but not Adam.

Within his mind, Adam heard Panur call out to Lila to break off the attack, Adam was dying. A moment later the sound echoing throughout the landing bay began to diminish, and along with it the heat.

Adam lay on the bed, making no effort to get up. Something strange was happening; Panur had both his hands on Adam’s chest. He felt a cooling sensation a moment before realizing the mutant was pulling the deadly heat directly from his body.

“Do you feel better?” Panur asked.

“Much…thanks. Imagine if we were in here during a full-scale attack, even nuclear.”

“You would not have survived.”

“No shit. I barely survived an attack by one little ship.” He reverted to telepathy. Did you get what you needed?

There is a plan forming. I will need a while longer to bring it to fruition. Now relax. I will need your interface device a little longer.

And with that, Adam suddenly fell asleep. Or was it into a trance?

* * *

“That was foolish,” said Senior Fellow Akin Sommis, the VN-91’s sole Klin crewmember. “They did no damage and activated our offensive weapons for but a single beam.”

Robert was on the bridge, isolated from the heat that had built up in the ship, and that was quickly dissipating. The Klin was right. The attack had not only been foolish, but pointless as well. Unless….

“They were testing our systems,” he said to the alien. “There are two mutant geniuses working against us—one on this ship, one on the other. They must be in communications.”

“How? I thought the mutant Panur was incapacitated.”

“I know how and I will deal with it. But first, contact Vesper. Have two VN-91s dispatched along our course. Cain’s ship will continue to follow us to the planet. We have to lay a trap for them along the way. If they find out the location of Vesper, they could cause trouble for us there.”

The Klin laughed. “They are but one ship with very weak offensive weapons. I detected only one flash cannon of moderate strength. What could they possibly do to us on Vesper? And with VN-91s in orbit around most of the Core Worlds, the Expansion would not dare attack us.”

Robert stared at the alien. They never learn, do they? Over confidence had been the bane of countless would-be tyrants throughout history. McCarthy wouldn’t let that happen to him. It was always better to plan for the worst. He had no idea what Cain’s team could do to mess up the works on Vesper, and it was for that fact alone that he would remain especially cautious.

“Please relay my wishes to Vesper, Senior Fellow Akin. It never hurts to be prepared.”

* * *

The Defiant dropped back into normal space seven light-years from the black ship of the Klin. They’d taken a number of hits from the defensive lasers, causing one of the shield panels to fail and a laser beam to penetrate the hull. The ship lost pressure to the main living quarters. Fortunately, everyone was in the pilothouse, dressed in environment suits. After the battle, Copernicus and Riyad went aft to seal the breech.

There had only been one powerful blast of the VN-91’s main laser weapon. The Defiant jumped just before the beam reached it, but in that brief moment, Lila was able to record vital data she would need in her assessment of the black ship. She had been preparing for another attack when Panur waved her off.

“Did you get what you wanted?” Sherri asked the mutant.

“Yes I did,” said Lila. “I received external readings while Panur received the most vital internal data. We exchanged data between during the links. This will help, but I will still need to contact him again after he has had time digest the information.”

“Any preliminary thoughts?” Sherri pressed. “We’re running out of time here. Any plan you guys come up with will need time to implement.” Then a terrible thought crossed her mind. “With the Klin ships heading for the Core Worlds to hang over them like the Sword of Damocles, there’s a good chance the Expansion won’t do anything, even if we do come up with a solution. They already think peace is at hand.”

“That is a consideration, which will leave only us to carry out any plan we devise.”

Within her suit, Sherri was sweating profusely, even with the cooling turned to full. She was on the verge of an anxiety attack, with the full scope of their challenge now spread out before her. How…?

“Panur and I discussed several options during the attack—”

“You had a discussion during the attack?” asked Jym. He’d been sitting quietly listening to Sherri and Lila talk.

Lila smiled. “Our minds operate on an accelerated level. We indeed had detailed discussions of the data coming in during real-time.”

“What did you talk about?’ Sherri asked, trying to distract herself from the dreadful thoughts bouncing around in her head.

“We have concluded that there are various means to destroy the Klin ships. These range from asteroid bombardment, to concentrated nuclear attack—as has already been demonstrated. There are also various encapsulating electrostatic options, but these would take time and resources to build and disseminate.”

Sherri’s eyes crossed. She had no idea what encapsulating electrostatic options meant.

“Yet there is a viable option which involves the use of the Defiant exclusively. This will put us in control of the offensive with no required input from the Expansion.”

“You’re saying we could stop the Klin, single-handedly?”

“It is a possibility, yet several conditions would have to be met beforehand.”

“What’s the plan?”

“Attack by dimensional portals, using the force of gravity between universes as a weapon.”

“You’re going to have to dumb that one down for us mere mortals,” Sherri said.

Lila leaned back in her chair, as if preparing for a long dissertation. “We debated various methods, including both external and internal methods. With the overlapping defenses the ships employ, external options are limited. It was decided an internal attack would be most effective.”

“What are internal attacks?” Jym asked.

“Methods whereby an effect is created within the ship itself, bypassing the external defenses. At first we discussed the possibility of creating gravity-wells within the interior of the Klin ships. Yet an analysis of the shielding indicated a well would not form consistently because of the interference from the diffusion screens.”

“The two of you discussed all this…while the attack was going on?” Sherri asked, still not believing that in the brief seconds she had contact with Panur so much information could have been exchanged.

“We also discussed the weather,” Lila said.

“You did?” It took a moment for the incongruity of the comment to register with Sherri. That’s when Lila stretched out a smile.

“Very funny,” Sherri said, embarrassed “I’m glad you can keep a sense of humor in the face of impending galactic doom.”

“We must maintain perspective. There is light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Please go on. Enlighten us.”

“As I was saying, we cannot create gravity-wells within the Klin ships. Yet there is a possibility we can open a portal between universes.”

“A trans-dimensional portal within the Klin ships…and then pull them into another universe?”

“Something like that.”

“But if we do, wouldn’t the Klin ship smash into us? We’d be creating the portal with the Defiant.”

“There are various details to be worked out,” Lila admitted. “Yet this appears to be our best option.”

Sherri looked at a shocked Jym and a silent Kaylor. “It would require….”

“Yes, precise navigation to open such a portal at the exact location in our universe, while we’re in another. To do this, a marker would have to be placed within the Klin ship to assist.”

“What kind of marker?”

“That is one of the details to be worked out. Yet if that can be achieved, we can open the portal a safe distance from the Defiant. In addition, if the opening is small enough, it would transfer the VN-91 to the other universe using the pressure differential.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means the enemy vessel would be sucked through a small hole and arrive as atomized debris in the other universe.”

“It would be crushed to dust, you’re saying.”

“Precisely.”

Sherri’s mood was suddenly buoyed. “I like it,” Sherri announced.

“Do not get too excited,” Lila cautioned. “There are still several major obstacles in our way.”

“Such as?”

“Only the Defiant can travel between dimensions, so we would be involved in every attack. And each VN-91 would have to be destroyed individually, which will take time. And we would need to know the precise location of each spaceship. And the markers would have to be created and deployed prior to opening the portal.”

Sherri’s mouth had drifted open during the litany. Now she snapped it shut. “Can all that be done?”

“The main obstacle will be locating the ships. That is something no one has been able to do to this point. Yet within the Klin ship, Panur has found a potential solution: Transponder codes.”

“Codes for the black ships?” Kaylor asked. “They have transponder codes?”

“Yes they do. Even the Klin must be able to locate their vessels. Yet this file is highly classified and encrypted.”

“Panur got the codes?” Sherri asked breathlessly.

“No, but he knows where they are kept.”

“Where?”

* * *

Vesper? Where’s that? Adam asked through his ATD. Panur had only recently released the brain-interface device back to him, and now the two prisoners were resting on the bed, Panur holding Adam’s hand. To an outside observer, the scene would have been…disturbing, to say the least.

It is at the end of our journey, the mutant said within Adam’s mind.

And that’s where these transponder codes are kept? Can you get to them?

Unknown at this time, but probable.

But then you’d have to get them to Lila. Variables and complications flashed in Adam mind. And then each ship would have to be individually targeted. If the Klin saw this happening, they could order attacks on all the Core Worlds before the ships could be destroyed.

There are still details to be worked out.

At that moment, Robert McCarthy and three killer robots raced into the landing bay and approached the large plastic box holding Adam and Panur. The robots took up positions at the door.

“Stand up, Cain!” the Human yelled. “The mutant stays where he is. Try anything and I’ll activate the gas.”

Adam climbed off the bed.

“Come here,” McCarthy ordered.

“What’s going on?” Adam asked.

“As if you don’t know. I’m moving you to the cell your Siron friends left. I know the two of you have been communicating through your telepathy device, and probably with the other mutant aboard your ship as well. Her recent attack was a transparent attempt to study our capabilities. You thought I wouldn’t be smart enough to realize that?”

“That’s not it.” Adam smiled. “I didn’t think you’d be smart enough to realize it…until it was too late. I was right.”

Robert glared at Panur. “Your attempt at acting injured was just an act. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

Panur smiled at the Human.

Adam was moved through the doorway and marched a short distance across the landing bay to the discarded plastic cell the pair had arrived in from Siron. Adam was placed inside and the door locked and chained shut. There would be no using his ATD to open the door.

Robert walked quickly back to Panur’s cell. He took out a small remote controller from his pocket. “Whatever information you were able to glean from the attack will stay within your mind. I cannot risk having you conscious for the remainder of the trip. So here, my mutant friend, enjoy a little nap.” He pressed a button on the controller and a thick cloud of bluish gas quickly filled the chamber. Panur’s body turned rigid, before toppling over onto the floor of the cell.

Turning back to Adam, Robert said, “I will keep the interior of the cell filled with enough liquid nitrogen to keep your friend on ice until we reach our destination and he can be safely moved to another facility. And notice the canisters on your cage. The Pleabaen will accept your dead body if it comes to that. I would prefer to keep you alive so I can kill you myself in a more spectacular fashion. Yet if my mission is jeopardized in any way, I won’t hesitate to freeze your ass as well.”

Adam smiled. “Chill out, dude. You’re going to give yourself a stroke if you keep up like this.”

“Act as calm as you wish, but I know it is only an act. I have you now, and you’re not getting away this time.”

“Never say never.”

“Fuck you!”

Robert McCarthy left the landing bay; the robots remained, ever vigilant, and armed to the teeth.

21

“Broadcasts report that Adam Cain has been captured,” said a player-tech.

Kontin Lemoon (918) took in the information. He was tasked with the death of the Human, but if the alien died at the hands of others, then his mission was to move to the secondary objective: the planet Earth itself. He would have preferred to accomplish both mission objectives with a single act. According to this latest news, that was not to happen.

Once Kontin had established communications with the surviving players in the Kac, he was morbidly pleased to learn that Adam Cain had survived his journey back to the Kac. That would give Kontin a chance to kill him, not only for himself, but for his entire race. The Human had been celebrated upon his return and called a hero…for destroying an entire planet. The Nuoreans had done some horrific things in their time, yet they did them in pursuit of the much-nobler goal of challenging their skills and mental acuity, rather than for the sheer delight of killing. Never had they destroyed an entire planet.

Of course, Kontin did know of the plans that were underway at the time of Nuor’s destruction. The Third Cadre was planning to destroy Cain’s homeworld of Earth. Yet that was more of a tactical move in a much larger game of point-counterpoint. Unfortunately, Adam Cain was quicker with the play, and it was Nuor that was destroyed, not Earth.

Kontin’s current mission was unique to the Nuoreans. He didn’t come seeking a fair fight against a worthy opponent. He was here strictly for vengeance. Afterwards, news of his success would reach the Suponac galaxy and then there would be another celebration. Kontin would then recommend that the Nuoreans lay waste to the Kac, despite the reservations voiced by Master-Player Qintis (435). The killing of Adam Cain and the destruction of Earth would be only the beginning.

“Where is the alien at this time?” Kontin asked.

“In transit to an unknown location. He is in the custody of a species called the Klin.”

“Yes, that name again. Do we know their intentions for the Human?”

“According to Master-Player Qintis, the Klin wish to kill him.” Even the tone of the lowly player-tech sounded disappointed. All the crews wished to be part of the killing of Adam Cain.

“Do we know the location of the ship transporting him?”

“That is unknown as well, my Lead.”

“Thank you for this information. You may resume your duties.”

After the tech left his quarters, Kontin grew even more frustrated at the loss of opportunity. He needed to know if he had options before accepting this fate. He needed information.

Being new to the Kac and its politics, he sought out his most reliable source for this type information, even though he hated to make the link. Qintis Bondo (435) had been single-minded in his desire to transport his players through the transit point for return to the Suponac. Yet with the limited capabilities of the reconstructed LP-6 generators, it would take several transits to move that many ships through the portal, at a cost of twenty-two days for each jump cycle. However, this was extremely problematic. The technicians said the more the generators were used the faster they would degrade. Kontin had to achieve his primary mission first. He needed to use the midpoint generators to concentrate on a single point on a planet, enough to affect a global catastrophe that would quickly build over time. That target had to either be Earth or a planet Adam Cain was on. After that, he would acquiesce to the desires of the Master-Player, for as long as the generators lasted.

“Kontin (918),” said Qintis with obvious distaste when the link was established. “I did not think we would be in contact so soon, not after our last conversation.”

“I come to you for information, for your insights into the thinking of the creatures of the Kac.”

“I thought your focus was on a single creature of the Kac, not all?”

“Please, Master-Player, we are on the same team. Let me accomplish my primary mission and then I will lead your people home.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Adam Cain has been captured by the beings you call the Klin.”

“Yes, I heard that too.”

Kontin inhaled sharply while biting his bottom lip in anger. And yet you did not inform me at the time you learned of it?

Qintis continued: “I should say your primary mission will be achieved, even without your input.”

“So they are enemies?”

“Very much so. I knew little of the Klin before coming to the Kac, yet have learned much about them since.”

“Then I should shift my attention to Cain’s homeworld of Earth, being unable to locate the Human?”

“That would make sense. Yet Earth is located on the other side of the galaxy. You mentioned before the need to place a beacon on the surface because the focus of the new LP-6 generators is so…loose, was the word you used.”

“That is correct.”

“Then would it not be valuable to know where he will be, rather than pursue a longer-term gambit that may or may not come to fruition?”

“What do you mean?”

“He is being transported to the Klin’s planetary base,” Qintis stated.

“Which it has been acknowledged we do not know the location.”

“That is true. No one knows the location except for the Klin. Yet it is rumored to be along the edge of the galaxy and very close to where you entered the Kac. A beacon would be easier to place there than on Earth, and you would get the pleasure of personally killing Adam Cain rather than leaving it to the Klin.”

“You talk in circles. The location is unknown. This seems to be a pointless exercise of wishful thinking.”

“Perhaps, and then perhaps not.”

“Please Master-Player,” said Kontin. “I understand you are not happy with my orders, but let us not play games.”

“Yet that is what Nuoreans do.”

“Games of physical challenge, not childish word games such as you are doing with me now!”

Qintis was unmoved by Kontin’s outburst. “What I mean is that the established powers in the Kac have opened a more cordial dialogue with the Klin. There is a peace offering in the making, if the Human and his team can be delivered to the Klin. Perhaps they know more about the location of the Klin world than they are letting on. Comm links must be established between the parties, details worked out for the coming peace.”

“What are you suggesting?

“Contact the Advisory Council for the allied forces.”

“And simply ask them for the location? Why would they tell me, even if they knew?”

“Because you could also destroy the Klin, at the same time you are killing Adam Cain.”

“Who would entertain such a wild gambit?”

“Please bear with me, Kontin. We Nuoreans are known for our superior tactical insights and maneuverings. Let me put them to use.”

“Go on.”

“In seeking out an ally for our gambit, we must find an individual from a race that holds intense animosity for both the Humans and the Klin. I reject negotiations with the Klin directly, since they are in a superior position and do not need our assistance. Only one name comes to mind: the Juireans.”

“I have heard of them,” said Kontin. “They were once the lead players in the Kac, a warrior race of some note.”

“Excellent!” said Qintis. “They have a long history of conflicts with the Humans, and especially Adam Cain. He once attacked their homeworld and destroyed much of their military leadership, as well as the killing of their appointed political master.”

“How did he accomplish that?”

“Apparently somewhat single-handed; with only his small team assisting.”

“What is this creature, Adam Cain? I cannot believe such a player exists.”

“Believe it, my Cadre friend. He is a formidable opponent. I have met him personally.” Qintis continued. “The Juireans have even a longer history of conflict with the Klin, dating back four thousand years. The two races are sworn enemies of each other, and there are reports that the Klin have recently placed one of their deadly warships in orbit around Juir, ostensibly as security for the terms of the peace offering. The Juireans cannot believe the Klin will leave without some kind of retribution for past atrocities.”

“So the Juireans would have reason to support the destruction of the Klin, as well as the killing of Adam Cain.”

“They would also welcome the destruction of Earth, if that is a bonus for their cooperation.”

“Yet they would have to know—or learn—of the location of the Klin planet.”

Qintis smiled. “That should not be a problem. During my time in the Kac, I have found that there are many individuals who will do our bidding…for the right price. They are notoriously disloyal—to everyone. I maintain some of these contacts and can gain access to the inner circle of the Advisory Council.”

“The location of the Klin base would still have to be found out.”

“What we offer the Juireans would be enough incentive for them to use all their resources.”

Kontin considered the words of the Master-Player. He acknowledged that Qintis was a master strategist; that was the reason he was placed in command of the Nuorean invasion force in the Kac. For his part, Kontin was an instrument of strategies, often formulated by people like Qintis. As a Nuorean, he felt no diminishment from this reality. Each had their roles to play in the larger game.

He nodded. “Your plan is sound, Master-Player. I will follow your lead.”

“Then let me contact the planet Formil and my surrogates there. I will re-link with you once I have more information.”

* * *

Qintis Bondo (435) had no time to waste. The sooner Kontin could complete his primary mission, the sooner Qintis and his players could go home. It took him only a moment to link with Formil, and the paid spies he still had on location. The number was fewer now than before, but the Nuoreans still retained a fair amount of the wealth they accumulated to pay the bounty for Adam Cain. It would be enough to gain the assistance he needed.

All he was asking for was a private link with the Juirean representative on the Advisory Council. During his time as leader of the Nuorean invasion force, Qintis had studied all his enemies, including their strengths and predilections. He knew the Juirean Overlord, if only by reputation.

It took two hours before the face of the blue-haired Juirean Overlord Zaxis fe Rendor appeared on his comm screen.

The Juirean looked understandably confused and upset. To have been directed to a CW link with a Nuorean without his prior approval would mean severe repercussions for the underlings responsible. Hopefully after the conversation, rewards would be due, rather than punishment.

“Who are you?” the Juirean demanded.

“I am Master-Player Qintis Bondo (435), the leader of the Nuorean forces within…within the Milky Way galaxy.”

“We call it the Casullo galaxy. Milky Way is a Human term.”

Qintis was relieved to detect the acerbic tone of Juirean’s voice when speaking the word Human. The game is afoot.

“My apologies. It is not my intention to offend.”

“What is your intention? Are your forces threatened by the Klin, and you wish our assistance? You should know that will not be forthcoming.”

“It is nothing of the sort. In fact, I come to you with a solution to your problem—all of your problems.”

The Juirean scoffed at the comment, shaking his head. “You speak nonsense. This is just another of your Nuorean games. Your forces are insignificant to be of concern to the Council, and if you have not noticed, there are larger problems we face at this time.”

“I come today not as an enemy, but an ally. May I continue?”

“Hurry; you are trying my patience.”

“First, I would like to confirm the information we have received that the notorious Adam Cain has been captured and is in route to the Klin’s planetary base?”

“That is true. The galaxy is full of such news,” said the Juirean, impatiently.

“Speaking of such, it will come as news to you that a force of Nuoreans has recently arrived in the Kac—I mean the Casullo—from my galaxy.” Qintis saw the Juirean tense. “Be assured, they have not arrived to resume our previous designs on your galaxy. But what this does tell you is that the midpoint generator has been repaired.”

“And this is significant in what manner?”

“It is simple. When Adam Cain returned to the Kac, I mean—”

“Call it what you want, if it will speed up the conversation!”

“Yes, then the Kac. When the Human returned to the Kac, he destroyed Nuor in the transit.”

“You are telling me history I am already aware.”

“Then you must know the midpoint generator has the ability to destroy worlds.”

“I am ending this link,” said the angry Overlord. “We face enough threats from within that yours become meaningless.”

“Please, Overlord Zaxis, let me complete my thought. I am not threatening you or those of your Council. But I do propose to use the midpoint generator to destroy the Klin’s planetary base, and along with it the Human Adam Cain. And after that is accomplished, we will destroy the planet Earth as a bonus offering.”

The Juirean’s stunned silence spoke volumes. Qintis had his opponent completely under his control. It would only take a few moments for the Juirean to accept that fact.

“Yes, Overlord Zaxis,” said Qintis. “Not only would the last of the Klin be killed, but so would your new mortal enemy Adam Cain and his Human race.”

“Technically, Juireans and Humans are not enemies,” said Zaxis, unconvincingly.

“Technically you are correct,” replied Qintis with a thin smile. He knew better than to expose his teeth to the Juirean. “Yet I also know the history of the Kac. I know the Humans—and particularly Adam Cain—are not your friends and allies. You accept their presence even as you despise them.”

The Juirean was silent for a long moment; Qintis let him digest the news he’d just received.

“You would do that?” asked Zaxis. “Why?”

“You need ask why? Adam Cain destroyed our homeworld. There is need for no other reason. Yet I imagine the fact that the Klin should also suffer would be of added benefit to you and the Kac.”

“Do you know the location of the Klin world?”

“No, and that is why I have come to you.”

The fact that the Juirean did not immediately claim ignorance of the location gave Qintis valuable insight. Could it be as he suspected? Does he know the location?

The Overlord remained silent, lost in thought. Qintis needed to prod him.

“You know the location, do you not? Revealing such to me would only benefit your race and your Expansion. It would allow you to resume your rightful place as leaders of the galaxy without the interference of the Humans or the Klin.”

“Cain has two mutants with him. They cannot die.”

“We are aware. But when the Klin world is ripped apart and transported to the Suponac, they will drift frozen forever in the debris and be of no concern to anyone.”

“You must verify Cain is on the planet before you act.”

“Of course.”

The yellow eyes of the Juirean met those of the Nuorean. Then he spoke. “Vesper. They are on Vesper.”

* * *

After the link was broken, Zaxis leaned back in his chair, breathing heavily. Did the prior conversation really take place? Was it true, or was he only dreaming?

The logic of the Nuorean’s offer was inescapable. The Overlord knew the Nuoreans could destroy planets with their powerful gravity generators. That was a fact, as evidenced by the debris of their planet Nuor floating within the galaxy. It also underscored their hatred for Adam Cain. In addition, the destruction of Earth would be an equalizer for the destruction of Nuor. Everything the Nuorean said made sense.

And all Zaxis had to do was reveal the location of the Klin planet.

That knowledge had come to him by way of the naïve Human Ashton Hill, who still believed that B-1 CW communications were secure. They were in most cases. But not his. For the past few months, Zaxis and the Council had been listening in on the ambassador’s links with Earth. However, lately he’d been in communications with a Second-Generation Human named Robert McCarthy, the son of the infamous Nigel McCarthy of the Juirean-Human War. Adam Cain had revealed that the younger McCarthy was now assisting the Klin with tactics and strategy. This prompted the Council to authorize a monitor on Hill’s comm links, suspecting collusion between the two Humans. Their suspicions were confirmed, even as it was proved Hill was acting alone in his treachery. It didn’t matter.

The location of the Klin hideout had been revealed, and if it wasn’t for the recent offer of peace, a united force would have been sent to the planet to eradicate the Klin problem. But now the black ships of the Klin either hovered above, or were on the way, to all the worlds of the Council, including Juir.

That was the only reservation Zaxis had in revealing Vesper to the Nuorean. It was a risk, that even with the destruction of the planet and all the Klin thereon, the black ships would still strike their targets. That’s when a revelation came to Zaxis. Even if attacked, Juir would rebuild. It had been nearly destroyed before and was still in the process of repopulating and rebuilding. If struck again, it would be far less catastrophic than what would befall the other worlds of the Council—including Earth.

As he thought more of it, if the black ships did attack the Core Worlds, a multitude of problems for the Juireans would be solved. It would rid them of their most troublesome rivals, including the Formilians and the Crimineans. It would also eliminate Adam Cain and the Humans. And it would send the two mutants off to another galaxy to become someone else’s long-term problem.

Zaxis felt like celebrating. But who could he tell? No, he had to stay calm until the deed was done. Then he would celebrate, even if Juir was attacked. In the end, the Juireans would rule again, stronger and more secure than ever before.

22

The Defiant maintained a respectable distance behind the Klin warship, using the screen of extra sensors placed around the craft as their guide. The VN-91 had made a number of sudden course changes during the twelve days the Defiant had been its shadow. The Klin knew they were being followed, and were doing this just to keep the team from figuring out their ultimate destination. But no matter the course changes, the VN-91 was inexorably nearing the edge of the galaxy. There wasn’t much further to go.

Copernicus was taking his turn at the controls, with Sherri dozing in the command chair behind the pilot’s seat. The rest of the team was either sleeping or eating, except Lila. The mutant—who did neither—was in the landing bay working on some gizmo she had tried to describe to Coop earlier. He’d listened politely, taking in words like quantum pairing and dimensional leaps…until he yawned. Insulted, Lila dismissed him, content to do her own thing without having to explain her work to people who wouldn’t understand, even if they cared.

Alarms sounded throughout the ship, shocking everyone into action. At first Coop and Sherri couldn’t identify the threat, not until they checked the mass detector. At that point they went pale and their knees turned to jelly.

Proximity detectors relied on the mass of an object, rather than its energy signature. They were used primarily to find asteroids or other physical obstacles in the way. But they were also good at detecting ships in dark status.

And the two dark contacts the sensors had just detected were massive—and each six miles long.

Riyad was the first in the pilothouse. He switched off the alarms. “What do you have?”

“Two VN-91s,” reported Copernicus. “Coming out of dark status and closing on both sides.”

“Can we jump?”

“The damn Klin have us in a vice, bleeding power from us to their diffusion shields. We’re just under the power requirement for a TD jump.”

Sherri had taken a seat at the weapons station. “I’m detecting a major build up on their primary laser weapons.”

That didn’t sound right to Coop. “Where are they getting the power?”

Kaylor and Jym entered the room next. The blue-skinned Belsonian had heard the question. “Check their hull turrets,” he said to Sherri.

“No readings.” Her eyes grew wide. “They’ve channeled all energy to their primary laser weapons. They’ll be active in ten seconds.”

The Defiant suddenly shifted course using the chemical drive—and directly at the huge Klin warship to port.

“What the hell are you doing?” Riyad yelled at Copernicus.

“I’m going to get under the ship so the big gun can’t reach us.”

“But the hull defenses—”

“The smaller lasers protect the hull. They’re down.” Before Copernicus could say more, the Defiant hit the outer-most diffusion shield, twenty miles from the black hull. All power was sucked from the small ship, including engines, weapons, sensors and life support. Momentum created by the now-dead chem drive kept the Defiant racing forward.

“Now what?” Sherri yelled. “We’re going to hit.”

At their current speed, the Defiant closed the twenty miles gap to the VN-91 in eight seconds, passing through the two inner screens in the process. Just before crashing headlong into the hull, Coop used gas jets to achieve a negative course and flipped the Defiant on its back. The bottom of the ship contacted what was also the bottom of the black ship, sending an ear-piercing screech screaming through the hull. The Defiant’s landing skids—which had been crushed during their hasty escape from the city of Boraxx on Siron—caught hold of something. Those of the crew not strapped in were thrown forward, but the ship came to stop, hooked to the dark metal of the Klin warship.

“The main laser is on the other side of the ship!” Jym announced. “We are safe.”

“Not for long,” Kaylor announced from the nav screen. “They are rolling, exposing the bottom to the other VN-91.”

“They would fire on one of their own?” Jym asked.

“We’re talking about the Klin,” Riyad said. “Of course they would.”

Lila entered the pilothouse.

Riyad turned to her. “Two Klin ships have attacked us. We’re hooked on the hull of one of them.”

“Excellent!” said the mutant. She turned and ran from the pilothouse.

“What…what?” Riyad said. He turned to the rest of the team. “Did she say excellent?”

A moment later Lila was back, holding a small metal box in her hands. She rushed to the nav station. “Please assist me, Jym,” she said, handing the small alien a contact cable. “Hook this into your station.”

“All power is down,” Jym told her.

“It is recycling. Full power in sixteen seconds.”

“I’ll be ready,” Coop said, turning back to his controls.

“Do not jump until I tell you.”

Just then an incredibly bright flash of light lit up the pilothouse. A three-foot wide beam ripped into the hull of the VN-91 not more than six feet from the Defiant. The next shot would be on target.

The only way for Coop to move the ship was by venting the starboard air tanks. The Defiant shifted position by a few feet, which was just enough for the second beam to miss and open up another long tear in the hull of the Klin ship.

“That’s one way to destroy the black ships,” Sherri remarked. “Let them do it themselves.”

“Power up!” Jym cried out.

“One moment,” Lila said as she manipulated the controls on her little silver box.

“Lila!” Coop yelled.

“Now…you may jump,” she said calmly.

The greenish glow outside the Defiant told them they had survived to make the transit to another universe. When the viewport cleared, there was nothing but empty space outside, with a few faint stars burning in the distance.

No one spoke for a full minute. Then eyes began to fall on Lila as she continued to work her little box.

“That was too close,” Riyad said. He stepped up to Lila. “What is that thing?”

“It’s a quantum generator.”

“What is a quantum generator?”

“It produces quantum pairs of particles.”

“Where did you get it?”

“It is what I have been working on. It will provide the markers we need to defeat the Klin vessels. Observe.”

She manipulated the nav controls to project a split-screen image on the main display. The screen on the left showed a solitary white dot, while the one on the right had two.

“I was able to place a particle in each of the Klin ships before we jumped using data from the navigation computer. The image on the left is us, the other the matching pairs in the other universe.”

“And this is a good thing?” Riyad asked.

“Exceedingly so,” Lila replied. “This shows that the quantum pairs are joined even through different dimensions.”

“You’re picking up signals between universes?” Sherri asked, stunned.

“It is really not that unusual. Quantum pairs exist for only moments before transferring to different dimensions using pressure differentials. I have been able to stabilize them, but they will not last for much longer. We must act.”

“Act how?” Coop asked.

Lila turned back to her tiny box and made a few adjustments on the control pad. The single dot on the left screen separated into two and shifted position.

“Sherri, I do this is to alleviate your concern about the Klin ships contacting us when transported. I have moved the quantum pairs to a safe distance. Now, Mr. Smith, if you will allow me to take control of the TD module controls.”

Coop literally jumped from his seat, anxious to let the mutant genius take over. Lila sat down and began to work the TD controls. A moment later a bright cloud of sparkling points of light appeared outside the Defiant in the clear nothing of space. The distance from the ship was impossible to tell since there was no reference as to the size of the cloud. A moment later, the sparkling lights faded away. A second cloud appeared and repeated the cycle.

“Did what I think just happen?” Riyad asked, awkwardly.

Lila beamed a bright mutant smile at the room. “The clouds were the remains of the Klin warships. My markers worked. I was able to pinpoint the vessels across universes.”

“Then you have done it!” Jym exclaimed. “You have found a way to destroy the Klin ships! We are saved.”

Lila turned to the tiny bear. “Unfortunately, that is not correct. I was able to plant the markers on the Klin ships because their location was known to me. Unless we physically seek out every Klin ship so I can place the markers, the process cannot be repeated.”

“We still need the transponder codes,” Riyad deadpanned.

“Yes we do.”

“And that’s Panur’s job,” said Sherri, equally deadpan.

Kaylor looked out the forward viewport at the vast expanse of an alien universe. “And we have lost contact with the ship carrying Adam and Panur. They are heading to an unknown world and we have no way to contact them.”

“They will have to contact us…if they are successful,” Lila said. “Until then, we should reenter the Milky Way and wait.”

“For how long?” Jym asked.

“Until all hope is lost.”

* * *

Robert McCarthy was confused. If Cain’s team was where he thought they were, the trap should have been sprung by now.

“Still no contact?” he asked the Klin, Akin Sommis.

“As before,” said the alien. “Our ships may be running silent, awaiting the ambush.”

“That would put the Human ship too far back along the course.”

“Perhaps our course changes have confounded them. Perhaps they are no longer following.”

Robert shook his head. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Shall I continue attempting to make contact?”

“No. The VN-91s will contact us once they engage Cain’s team. We’re only two days out from Vesper. If they aren’t close enough now, they’ll never be able to follow us. Prepare another course correction. Let’s make sure we’ve lost them.”

23

Robert’s VN-91 entered the Vesperian star system and dropped out of the double blackhole gravity-well. He engaged a traditional well and proceeded into the system. Nine hours later they took up orbit around the green, blue and brown world of Vesper, looking remarkably like the pictures Robert had seen of Earth. A few minutes later, two huge cargo loaders came up from the surface. One took the cage holding the still-frozen mutant Panur to the surface, while the other took Adam Cain and his cage. Robert McCarthy rode down on Adam’s transport.

Vesper was a moderate size planet with a surface gravity very close to the Klin’s homeworld of Klinmon. The natives had achieved a technological level similar to that of twentieth century Earth by the time the Klin arrived two years ago. They drove gasoline-fueled cars and flew in airplanes. The arrival of the aliens had been an understandably catastrophic event, something out of an alien invasion movie—at least to a point. The Klin numbered two hundred thousand, with a million killer robots spread across the landscape. But the Klin didn’t do much to the natives. They weren’t that important. The silver aliens simply took what they needed and left the Vesperians to themselves for the most part. There had been a few brief uprisings, which were quickly put down by the robots. The Klin shrugged off the meager resistance, and when no great pushback came from the invaders, the natives left well enough alone.

The location of the planet was to be a secret and that’s why the Klin picked a non-space traveling species as their reluctant hosts. There would be no communication with the rest of the galaxy, unless initiated by the Klin. Vesper would do for the time being. After the conquest of the Milky Way, the Klin would be moving on.

The invaders had commandeered a large airport at the edge the planet’s largest city to serve as a spaceport. The two transports landed near a huge hangar and offloaded their cargo.

Adam watched with interest when a squad of Klin entered Panur’s cell dressed in protective gear and set to work on the still-frozen body. They drilled two holes into the mutant’s back just below his shoulder blades. In the holes they inserted tubes connected to a metal cylinder, which Adam concluded contained liquid nitrogen or some similar freezing agent. They placed a harness around Panur’s shoulders and fastened it across his chest. When the Klin were done, they left the chamber and let it heat up naturally, thawing the mutant in the process.

* * *

There was space traffic within the Vesperian system, but not a lot and all Klin. And it wasn’t made of exclusively of the black VN-91 starships. There were a variety of smaller vessels shuttling personnel between the manufacturing worlds and Vesper, as well as bringing other material needed to support the Klin colony on the planet.

The tiny ship entered the system unseen and hid in the wake of one of the larger cargo ships. As it neared Vesper, it broke away and headed for the tiny second moon of the planet. The satellite was nothing more than a captured asteroid and the ship set down on the tiny rock using anchors to keep from drifting off the surface. Monitors were set up, and then the crew of three waited.

Five days later a huge black ship six miles long entered the system and established an orbit around the planet. Two cargo ships came up to the monster vessel and then quickly returned to the surface. This had to be it, the vessel they’d been waiting for.

The three Nuorean Third Cadre operatives entered separate entry vehicles and made for the planet below. Each had the identical objective, providing redundancy, and increasing the chances of the mission’s success. They aimed for the large spaceport where the cargo ships had landed, located on the northeast side of a huge city. This was where most of the Klin activity was concentrated. If Adam Cain was on the planet, it would be here.

One of the Nuoreans was killed by a bulky robot the moment he landed. The other two were fortunate to exit their ships and make it into the city on foot. To avoid the deadly robots, Second-Player Cacas Iniss (990) and the other surviving member of the team separated and set off along different paths to the landing field. Cacas reached the security fence and scaled it with ease. He then scampered across the open field toward where the two cargo ships sat outside a huge hangar. Security was non-existent at the spaceport. Cacas reasoned the aliens had very little to fear on this hidden world, and relied on their machines to respond to any disturbances. It was Cacas’ mission to make sure that changed.

He slipped around to a side door to the hangar and made his way inside. He positioned himself behind a cluster of yellow barrels and pulled out a scanner scope to sweep the interior.

In the center of the vast chamber sat two transparent cubes containing what looked like one being in each. Four of the deadly robots stood guard. Cacas focused the scanner on the smaller of the two boxes and the occupant inside. A moment later, he lifted a small databox and compared the images. It was Adam Cain.

With his primary mission accomplished, Cacas did a cursory sweep of the other cube. Inside was a thin wisp of gas, and through the fog he spotted a figure lying on the floor. It was gray-skinned with a strange apparatus fastened around its torso. It appeared to be dead. This would be the mutant Panur.

Satisfied, Cacas slipped out the way he came and rushed off to the side of a nearby building. He found a hidden alcove between two trash receptacles and sat down, his back against a metal wall. He pulled out the comm device and activated it without hesitation, even though he knew it would seal his fate. Cacas knew this was a one-way mission, and he took pride in that knowledge.

There was a slight chance the signal could be traced, but only if the aliens were looking for it. Even if they did, there was no way they’d be able to decipher the encrypted message. The series of electronic pulses shot from the surface of Vesper and to the spaceship on the small moon. From there, a miniature wormhole link reached out through the void and made contact with the ship of his Third Cadre commander, Kontin Lemoon (918).

The Nuorean officer felt a tremendous surge of excitement and pride when the message was received. Just as it was for the lowly Cacas, this was his primary mission, and now he had the final piece of the puzzle. He wasted no time relaying the signal to the unit he’d left at the transit point on the edge of the Kac. The periodic pulse jump was due forty minutes later. When the time came, the signal was routed through the return pulse, and a split second later the data sent from Cacas on Vesper was in the Suponac galaxy. It had only taken forty-four minutes for the signal to make it to another a galaxy.

But the signal’s journey wasn’t over. Wormhole comms moved the signal from the landing point of LP-6 to the transit point for the LP-5 station. Like LP-6, there was a periodic pulse cycling every forty minutes, designed to catch any signal transmitted from the Kac.

All Launch Point stations in the Nuorean system were dedicated to the singular mission of finding and killing Adam Cain. Now that the focusing marker for the target planet had reached the landing point for LP-5, it was a simple matter of broadcasting the data to LP-6, a distance of half a light-year. The tracking signal was programmed into the computers at the midpoint station and the series of huge gravity generators began to move, aligning with their target one-and-half-million light-years away.

Since the energy required to transmit the tiny data pack was so minimal, the time required to recharge the generators was also greatly reduced, from the normal twenty-two day time frame after a standard transit, to only three hours.

In three hours, Adam Cain would be dead.

24

Before Panur had fully recovered, Robert McCarthy entered the hangar and surveyed the work of the Klin technicians. Then he walked over to Adam’s cell.

“We know the mutant can be frozen from the outside in,” he said in a particularly jovial voice. “Now we’ll see how he likes being frozen from the inside out. You should tell him when he recovers that the vest is rigged to go off if he tries to escape. I wouldn’t want any accidents to happen.”

Robert smiled at Adam. “And now for you.”

Out of nowhere, Adam was hit by a strong bolt of electricity. His whole world turned white before he passed out.

When he recovered, Adam had a brief flashback to the only other time he’d be struck by a Klin stun gun. That was twenty years ago, the night he was abducted from Earth. And if he recalled the incident correctly, he was just as pissed at that time as he was now.

While he slept, the Klin had placed a personal diffusion shield around his torso and electrified it. He figured this was to neutralize his ATD. It seemed to be working. They’d also chained his arms and legs together, and tied him upright to an alien form of hand dolly.

Robert was inside the plastic cell, waiting for him to wake up.

“Ah good, you’re awake.” He waited for Adam to survey his bindings. “Please understand that I’ve taken these precautions so I can present you to the Pleabaen. He’s pretty skittish, and this is the only way he’d see you. Once that’s done, I’ll take off the shackles. But be warned, at that time I’ll also relieve you of your telepathy unit. Yours is much more advanced than mine, and I want to make sure it’s removed properly and not damaged. And as an added precaution, I have to do this while you’re still alive in case it has a self-destruct feature upon your death. That would be a waste of a perfectly good brain-interface device.”

He looked over at Panur’s cell.

“Your friend is just about thawed. When he does, I suggest you both relax and accept your fate. It won’t be much longer now.”

If Adam could have thought of something witty to say at the time he would have, but his mind was still jumbled up from the electric shock. Robert was gone by the time Panur stood up and began to check out his new attire.

Adam looked at mutant. “Here’s another fine mess you’ve got me into.”

“I understand the reference, my friend,” said Panur. “Am I to assume the device on my back will react if I remove the tubes?”

“That’s what they tell me. And then there’s the issue of the four robot guards outside our cells. FYI, we’re to be taken to the Pleabaen soon. After that…well, use your imagination.”

Panur focused in on Adam’s…predicament, and wide grin spread across his grey-skinned face. Adam imagined he looked something like Hannibal Lecter in the movie Silence of the Lambs, all tied up and fastened to a dolly. He would be taken before the Pleabaen, but on wheels. He wasn’t sure what state Panur would be in at the time. That would be up to him.

Panur sighed. “Then I suppose we should get out of here,” said the mutant, matter-of-factly.

Adam made a shrugging motion with his shackled shoulders. “I’m ready if you are. Let’s do this thing. Besides, I have to take a piss, and I can’t very well do it in this get-up and chained to a dolly.”

Panur walked to the far side of his cage, opposite the door. He looked at Adam and winked.

A moment later Panur bolted for the door, using all his mutant strength to cover the distance in a flash. The security measures on the vest were just as quick. Panur was injected with a generous dose of liquid nitrogen and his torso ballooned into a ball of frozen flesh, tearing away the apparatus he wore, plus the jacket and shirt of his silk business suit. His lower body remained normal—spindly legs covered in a pair of ash-gray pants.

His instantly frozen body—carried along by the incredible momentum of his run—hit the plastic of the door and shattered it. Panur rolled out onto the floor before coming to a stop next to Adam’s cell. The four robot guards opened fire, pumping ten scorching flash bolts into the icy ball that was Panur’s body. The white-hot plasma was absorbed by the icy sphere, cycling through it with hypnotic flashes of energy. From this incredible intake of heat and electricity, Panur began not only to thaw, but to glow. A moment later he stood up and faced the automatons.

These were mindless killing machines, and when their sensors failed to register a heartbeat or match Panur’s extremely high body temperature with anything in their database, the machines stopped firing. To them, he was on fire, and therefore no longer a threat.

That’s when the mutant rushed the robots. Ten seconds later, all four were nothing more than scrap metal spread out on the floor of the hangar.

Panur went to Adam’s cage. The box was armed with nitrogen canisters, and if the door was opened without authorization, Adam would be bathed in the deadly liquid.

Panur’s body was still glowing white hot; this happened when he took in more energy than he needed. But now he would use the excess to his advantage. The mutant placed his arms at his side and then leaned against the plastic wall of Adam’s cell.

The material began to melt. A moment later, a substantial amount of Panur’s excess heat had been transferred to the plastic. He cooled, leaving an opening in the wall.

Taking no chances, Panur rushed through the hole, grabbed Adam’s dolly and tossed the whole contraption—Adam with it—through the opening. The sudden movement within the cell triggered the release of the liquid nitrogen from the ceiling, but by then, both Human and mutant were a safe distance away.

Panur’s mutant strength made quick work of Adam’s restraints.

“If I still had your brain cells, I could have done that myself,” said Adam as he unlatched the diffusion screen from around his chest. He felt a sudden surge of awareness as his mind reconnected with his ATD. He’d had the device for so long that he’d forgotten what it felt like not having it continually linked to his mind. It was refreshing having it back.

He looked around at the huge hangar. “What now, Kemosabe?”

“I need to get to a computer, one that’s networked with the main Klin database.”

“Lead on.”

“I usually do.”

* * *

Simply stepping outside the hangar provided the pair with an instant solution to their problem. The airport was partially integrated into a larger city, and dominating the skyline to the southwest was a towering skyscraper easily ninety stories high. That’s where Pleabaen Cosnin would have established his headquarters, the highest point in the city.

The gravity of Vesper was similar to Juirean standard, which meant Adam could have easily jogged into the city without a problem, with Panur leading the way. Instead they climbed into a four-wheeled car with official marking on the side, of which Adam couldn’t read. He slipped behind the steering wheel and a wide grin stretched across his face.

Adam grasped the wheel with joy—he hadn’t seen one of these since he’d left Earth. He felt peddles on the floor and closed his eyes to take in the intoxicating scent of gasoline in the air.

“Now this is what I’m talking about,” said the Human.

He looked around for a key or ignition button. The car was a service vehicle for the airport, so there was a universe toggle switch to start the vehicle rather than a key. The engine fired and the car began to rumble.

“I like this,” he said to Panur.

“Then I would recommend you put it in gear and get us moving. Our escape could be discovered at any time.”

Adam nodded and pressed the accelerator. The car took off, its engine revving to screeching RPMs in a matter of seconds. There were only two peddles on the floor—an accelerator and a break—but no clutch. In desperation Adam searched the steering column for a gear shift. It turned out being a button on the steering wheel. He pressed it once and the RPMs dropped, only to build again as the car moved faster. Another push of the button and soon they were humming across the tarmac heading toward the tall building in the distance.

After passing through an unguarded gate at the boundary of the airport, Adam began to wind through nearly-deserted streets, always keeping the skyscraper in sight. There were very few natives around and nearly all of the storefronts were shuttered. The Klin had taken over most of the city, after which an unspoken understanding took place. The natives would stay out of the Klin section, if the Klin stayed out of the native section. This made Adam and Panur’s journey to the headquarters building thankfully uneventful.

The skyscraper had once been a glimmering business center for the Vesperians. There had been fountains in the middle of an expansive courtyard and manicured gardens forming a park-like setting surrounding three-quarters of the grounds. The fountains were now stagnant cesspools and the gardens overgrown jungles of brown and dying vegetation. The Klin cared nothing for aesthetics. The building served a purpose. As long as it didn’t fall down, the Klin were content.

There were a hundred or more Klin coming and going near the entrance. Adam had never seen so many of the silver-skinned aliens in one place, not even aboard the twenty-mile-in-diameter giant space stations called Colony Ships. These vessels could carry twenty thousand Klin in comfort. But they were made up of tight interior corridors and compartments, limiting the number of Klin who could gather at one time. Adam had spent time aboard a couple of the Colony Ships but he never saw a Klin mess hall, where thousands may have gathered for meals. Now it was a little nerve-racking seeing so many of the evil creatures in one place.

The building had a ubiquitous underground parking garage, and Adam steered the alien vehicle down a short ramp and into the dim light under the large concrete and steel structure. There were very few cars here; the Klin didn’t venture far from the building. There were two hundred thousand of them on the planet. He bet two-thirds were in the huge building at this time, making for a very juicy target….

Adam parked the car and then looked at Panur. The mutant was shirtless with his silk pants in tatters. Adam didn’t fare much better. He wore a simple green t-shirt and jeans. What had once been white tennis shoes—without socks—rounded out his ensemble. And now the pair proposed to walk into a building occupied exclusively by seven-foot-tall, silver-skinned aliens. It’s not like they would stand out….

Adam fumbled around until he found the latch for the trunk. They rifled through the contents and found a couple of dark blue work uniforms used by the natives at the airport, when they were in charge. Like most creatures from light-gravity worlds, the Vesperians were taller than Humans. The arms and legs of the uniform hung six inches beyond Adam’s hands and feet. On Panur, they formed a tent.

Adam spent the next few minutes tying Panur’s uniform in places so he could move. He pulled the collar up over the mutant’s head to form a hood. It was sloppy, but concealing. For his uniform, Adam did the same collar-as-hood arrangement, which helped with the leg length. Then he rolled up the sleeves, but left them long enough to cover his pink hands.

“This is not going to work,” he said after checking his handiwork.

“Have faith, Adam. We just need to find a computer terminal and then a CW communication center. After that we can fight our way out…like I know you’re itching to do.”

“I never said that—”

Panur headed for a bank of elevators, leaving Adam scrambling after him.

Adam found the whole building layout comfortably familiar. The truth was that most Prime beings were built more-or-less the same, with the exception of their exterior shells. This also meant that buildings had walls, floors and ceilings, and multi-level structures needed some way of moving people up and down. Elevators were the universal answer.

Inside the elevator they scanned the floor selection. This cab only went to the twenty-fifth floor. Panur punched the top button.

“That’s a lot of real estate to cover if we get in a pinch,” Adam said.

Panur smiled as the car began to move. “What do you mean we? I’d just jump out a window and fall to the ground. Imagine the Klin’s surprise when I get up and simply walk away. It’s good to be immortal.”

“Rub it in, asshole.”

When the door slid open, the pair was met by six Klin going about their business. One noticed their rag-tag appearance, but then moved on without a second thought. The aliens were in their environment; there was nothing here that could harm them.

Panur moved from the elevator and up to a counter with a Klin sitting with his back to the lobby. “Could you direct me to the nearest CW comm center?”

The Klin heard perfect Klin spoken through his translation bug and responded without turning. “Two floors down…nine, no eight doors on the left.”

Adam and Panur went back in the elevator and down two levels. As they made a beeline down the corridor, they passed half a dozen more Klin; some looked at them with disgust, while others ignored them completely. They came to the designated door and went inside.

“Comm room?” Adam whispered.

“There has to be a computer in here somewhere. And I’m going to need the CW facilities to relay the transponder codes to Lila once I find them. Seemed like an efficient use of our time.”

The comm center was full of Klin, seated at consoles, checking readings or standing around idly, supervising. There was a pregnant pause as those in the room scanned the two mismatched aliens, neither of which looked like the native Vesperians. Under his hood, Panur smiled, followed by a shrug. “Sorry about this,” he said to the Klin. “But there’s no subtle way to take over the center without busting a few heads. Adam….”

The pair rushed the assembled aliens. The Klin had never bought into the idea of hand-to-hand combat, and it showed. Their bodies were thin and frail and broke like twigs in a stiff breeze. The battle lasted nine seconds, during which no alarms were sounded. When it was over, Panur unceremoniously tossed a Klin body from a seat at a computer console and sat down.

His fingers became a blur as he accessed the computer network for the building. “Come here,” he said to Adam. “This will be quicker.”

He took hold of Adam’s arm and immediately accessed his ATD. Adam nearly passed out. “Dammit, Panur, give a guy some warning!”

“I can route faster through your ATD and then pull up the files I find on the terminal. Relax, this will only take a second.”

It actually took seventeen seconds, but then Panur released his arm and focused on the computer screen. He laughed.

“It’s encrypted,” said the mutant. He punched a few keys. “Now it’s not encrypted.” Data began to scroll across the screen. When the file was done, Panur shifted to another chair in front of a CW comm screen. He punched in what essentially was the phone number for the Defiant and sent the link out into the galaxy.

“There’s a security monitor on the transmission,” he told Adam. “An alert will go out, but we will be done by the time they can react.”

The screen activated and Lila’s lovely face was looking out at them. The rest of the crew gathered around behind her beaming smiles across the light-years.

“Do you have the codes?” Lila asked without a greeting or emotion.

“Are you all right?” Sherri called out from behind the mutant.

“Where are you?” Copernicus asked.

“Are there any hot women there?” asked Riyad. Everyone looked at him. “Just trying to be different. How’s it going, buddy?”

“I’m okay,” said Adam over Panur’s shoulder.

“Excuse me, Adam, but I need your help again.” Panur grabbed his arm and took over his ATD, and with it, his brain.

“Fuck! Stop doing that!”

“Lila, I’m attaching Adam’s thoughts to this CW link. It contains the transponder codes for the VN-91s. You should be able to extract them.”

“Already done,” said Lila.

“Any progress from your end?” he asked.

“Quantum pairs,” she said cryptically.

Panur nodded. “That would work. Also spinning gravity loops, and shifting frequency pulses.”

“I thought of those, too, but I only had the materials aboard to build the quantum generator. We destroyed two VN-91s using the markers.”

“Very good. Now you can destroy the rest. Start with those presenting the most danger.”

“I shall.”

“Where are you?” Copernicus asked again.

“A planet called Vesper,’ Adam answered. “It’s a non-empire world but on the registry.”

“Hang tight,” Sherri said. “We’re coming.”

“That’s not necessary,” Panur said. “We have another way out—”

The screen went dark, as the automated security monitors cut the unauthorized link.

“We have been found out,” said the mutant.

“What did you mean, we have another way out?”

Panur looked around the comm center. “First…I need a screwdriver.”

25

Lila was up from the chair the moment the screen went dark, while the others stood around wondering what happened.

“Hurry,” the mutant said. “I have the codes. But once we start destroying the VN-91s the Klin will notice and launch their assaults. We have to target the ships already in orbit around vulnerable worlds. We will start with Formil.”

Kaylor slipped into the pilot seat. “It will take forty-seven days at full drive to reach Formil. I do not see the need to hurry.”

“We are taking a different path,” said Lila. “Prepare for TD jump.”

“Where to?” said Jym at the Nav station.

“A universe Panur and I are quite familiar with. I have programmed in the coordinates. Please make the jump, Mr. Kaylor.”

* * *

When the green glow vanished, the Defiant was in another dimension, or so they were told. Every universe looked alike to the crew, all except Lila. “This is where Panur and I have been for the past two years.”

“Why this place?” asked Sherri, standing near the viewport and looking out at the vast expanse of nothingness.

“The harmonics are very soothing here, although I imagine you cannot feel them.”

“What now?” Riyad asked impatiently. “How is this getting us to Formil any faster?”

“Travel within parallel universes is the same everywhere. Yet even minute changes here can affect distances in other dimensions. We may travel a light-year here, but when we reenter the Milk Way, we could be thousands of light-years from where we left. This has always been true of inter-dimensional travel. The key is knowing how to navigate both universes to affect the quantum leaps we desire.”

Sherri smiled. “And you can do this, of course.”

Lila smiled back. “Of course…I’m a super-mutant.”

“And a very lovely one at that,” said Riyad.

Arieel was beaming with pride.

Lila turned to Kaylor. “Steer one-one-nine, negative four degrees at full drive for fourteen minutes. At that point we will transition back to the Milky Way.”

“And be at Formil?” Arieel asked.

“We will be home.”

* * *

“You never said anything about this!” Riyad yelled as he dove for the weapons station.

The Defiant had indeed transitioned back into the Milky Way near Formil—and a thousand miles from the huge black ship in orbit around the planet. They were easily within weapons range, and the VN-91 reacted to their sudden appearance by heating up their defensive laser turrets.

Lila seemed unconcerned by the panic sweeping through the pilothouse.

“Get us out of here!” Sherri yelled to Kaylor.

“Do not,” Lila said to the Belsonian.

“We need time to recharge the jump batteries,” Sherri said to Lila. “In the meantime, we have gravity drive.”

“I need time to plant the quantum particle. There…Kaylor, you may now proceed.”

The Defiant shot forward, with a dozen laser beams streaking after it. Ninety seconds later, they made the jump back to the other universe.

“Observe,” said Lila as she looked out the forward viewport.

The crew saw the same sparkling cloud of debris as before. The VN-91 from Formil was no more.

Riyad stepped up to Lila. He moved two of his fingers between his face and Lila’s. “We need to have better communications,” he scolded. “It would have been nice to know the procedure.”

“It will be more or less the same,” said the mutant. “I was guessing as to the range to the VN-91. Transitioning between universes is more of an art than a science.”

“So was that close for you?” Riyad asked.

“A little. I can plant the markers at a range of a quarter-light.”

“Well then let’s do that next time.”

Lila turned back to her little metal box and began making adjustments. “That will be possible, except for the ships in transit. Navigating moving intercepts will be much harder, but I have the coordinates.” She looked up and smiled at Riyad’s dark face, darker now from his residual anger. “Please prepare yourself. We are making another run.”

* * *

Over a hundred video monitors and telescopes were locked on the VN-91 orbiting the planet Juir. The Juireans were quietly moving in nuclear armed missiles to be used in a last ditch effort should the huge landing bay doors on the Klin ship open and millions of robots pour out. The planet was sparsely populated by comparison to when the Expansion was at its zenith. Even still, the constant stream of evacuees over the past twenty days was hardly enough to compensate for the millions who would die if the Klin attacked.

That’s why thousands of worried Juireans jumped to their stations when the Klin ship simply disappeared. They reran the video, which only added to their confusion. Had the Klin developed some new warp technology that allowed their behemoths to shift position instantly? Were they preparing for an attack, one from a completely different direction and immune to their nuclear defense?

No answers were forthcoming. The black ship was gone. That was all the Juireans knew for certain.

* * *

Frantic CW links came into the office of Overlord Zaxis fe Rendor. The Juirean hesitated connecting the link, until he saw it was from Juir.

“What is it?” the Overlord yelled at the green-haired Guard on the screen. Zaxis was already up to his neck in mystery; what could his people on Juir have to tell him that was so important?

“My Lord, the Klin ship has disappeared!”

Zaxis stopped in his tracks, as did the other six Juireans in his office at that time. The Overlord turned to the screen.

“Repeat!”

“The Klin ship above Juir has disappeared. We have run video. It simply vanished.”

Zaxis looked at the other two Overlords in the room, plus the senior Guards in attendance. He looked at the clock on the wall.

Twelve standard minutes. Twelve minutes between the ship above Formil disappearing and the one above Juir suffering the same fate.

“Any contact with the Klin?” he asked a Guard in the room.

“None. They could be consolidating for a massive attack.”

“By instantly transporting their largest ships from superior locations above our most vulnerable worlds to…to where, exactly? Contact the other worlds where the VN-91s are already in orbit. I have a feeling you will find the same thing happening there.”

“My Lord,” said a senior Guard commander. “Is this not welcome news? The Klin ships are disappearing. Juir is no longer in danger.”

Zaxis glared at the Guard officer. “It would be welcome news if I could explain how this is happening. Until then, the mystery is the reason for my concern. Remain at alert. There may be more surprises coming.”

* * *

The Pleabaen of the Klin was a very busy person. He not only had the politics of the day to contend with, but a galaxy to conquer. As a consequence, he delegated much of the day-to-day routine of managing his varied responsibilities. It also meant his day was regimented, with meetings planned far in advance and to the minute.

And today was the day he would meet Adam Cain and the super-mutant Panur.

Cosnin was anxious for the meeting. He had been aware of the pair of aliens for many years. Mostly the reports had been tragic. But that was back in the day before the Klin took control of their destiny and stopped relying on other races to enforce their will and execute their plans. For his part, Adam Cain had been the instrument of many Klin failures in the past, including the deaths of two of the prior Pleabaens. One creature, one Human. It was hard to believe.

Yes, although Cosnin was anxious to meet this super-Human Adam Cain, he was more anxious to witness his death.

When the comm bleeped on his desk, Cosnin exploded with anger. First, his morbid fantasies of Cain dying had been interrupted. And secondly, because he had left word he was not to be disturbed within this hour, his only hour of private time for the day.

“Speak!” he yelled into the room.

There was a moment of silence on the line before a voice spoke. “My Pleabaen, forgive me. I would not have—”

“Speak, as I said. What is it?”

“Reports are coming in through CW broadcasts.”

“What reports…from where?”

“Everywhere, my Pleabaen, and they all speak of the sudden disappearance of our VN-91 warships.”

Cosnin stopped his pacing. He didn’t know how to respond; the subject had come so suddenly out of nowhere. “Repeat. I did not understand.”

“Broadcast reports from across the galaxy are mentioning the disappearance of our starships. They come from Formil and Juir, and even Crimin. We are attempting communications with our other ships, many in transit. About half our links are going through. The ones we contact report nothing out of the ordinary.”

Cosnin went weak. He didn’t know what was happening, but he had an idea who was behind it. “Continue monitoring. Send all information to Senior Fellow Jessn. He will keep me updated.”

The breaking of one link was immediately followed by the connection of another.

“McCarthy!”

* * *

Robert heard the frantic voice of the Pleabaen over the speaker on his desk. Cosnin sounded hysterical.

“My Pleabaen,” Robert said into the room as voice-control linked the pair. “What can I do for you?” He could have asked ‘What’s wrong’ but that would have implied a reading of the Klin’s tone of voice. He would let Cosnin reveal the problem in his own time. Unfortunately for Robert McCarthy, it came with the very next sentence.

“Our ships are disappearing across the galaxy. This has something to do with the mutants and Adam Cain. I know it does.”

Robert plopped down in the chair behind his desk, suddenly weak. “You say they are disappearing?”

“I’m not saying that,” said Cosnin, misunderstanding Robert’s question as only an alien could. “These are eyewitness reports from Formil and Juir and others. This is happening, and the mutants are doing it.”

“If that’s true, it’s only Lila Bol. Panur is in my custody. He’s not doing this.”

“Do not tell me that. Do something about it! If this is true and continues, we are lost. We lose all of our advantage.”

“I will look into it immediately. I will be in touch.”

Robert cut the link before the Pleabaen could say another word. The implications of the brief conversation were tragic. If it was true, then not only were the Klin doomed, but so were his plans for Earth. He was afraid something like this might happen when the mutants got involved with Adam Cain. It was habit for them to interfere in someone’s plans for galactic domination.

Robert accessed the security cameras at the hangar where Cain and the mutant were being held. He replayed the video twice after his initial suspicions were verified, marveling at what he saw. His prisoners were gone, leaving in their wake a pair of breeched holding cells and the remains of four robots strewn across the floor. The escape seemed effortless on the part of the mutant.

Could they really be behind the apparent disappearance of the VN-91s? But how?

But that wasn’t the most important question facing Robert McCarthy.

He had to find where they went.

He accessed the security files for the headquarters building, looking for any alerts recently noted. There weren’t many, but there had been an unauthorized CW link that was automatically terminated when the proper access code wasn’t provided. The link lasted thirty-eight seconds before being cut. That had to be it. Cain and Panur had contacted their rogue ship. Now the loss of communications with the two VN-91s at the ambush point made sense. Cain and his team had found a way to defeat his invincible warships. And they’d done it in a most spectacular fashion.

Robert took up a case he had on the floor next to his desk and headed for the door.

26

“There,” said Panur as he stepped back and admired his workmanship.

Adam had watched as the mutant set to work tearing up the CW consoles and other equipment, and almost just as soon, began reassembling the parts into something else. He watched in awe, asking what Panur was doing. When the mutant finally told him, Adam couldn’t believe it.

“You’re building a trans-dimensional portal…here, and now.”

Panur continued his frantic build. “I’ve always told you TD travel is just an extension of continuous wormhole technology. But with a TD portal, the wormhole connects universes and not simply points within the same existence. Also, unlike CW, my portals can transfer material objects between dimensions. It’s really quite simple.”

Adam looked at the opened up panels and the small doorframe taking shape across the room. He’d seen something like this before…in his garage back at Lake Tahoe. If Panur said he could do it, he could.

“But don’t these small units need a matching portal to work?”

“Yes they do…and we have one.”

“Not in the Sol-Kor universe!”

“No, right here in the Vesperian system: A Klin Colony Ship.”

It suddenly dawned on Adam. He had used the small TD portal within one of the huge space stations to jump to the Sol-Kor universe—twice. Could the portal still be working?

“We are fortunate,” said Panur. “One of the three remaining ships in the system is the one with the portal. I checked on the computer. It is still functioning, yet with no portal in existence to link with.”

“Until now.”

“Until now.”

Adam shook his head. “But there are twenty-thousand Klin aboard one of those things.”

“Not any more. Most of the Klin are on the surface. There is only a token crew aboard.”

Adam had run out of objection. He raised his hands in mock surrender.

“Build away, oh mighty Panur-The-Great. I’ll just be over here killing any Klin who come through the door.”

“We each have our mission in life,” said the mutant, smiling. “Mine is to build fantastic machines of science. Yours is to kill aliens.”

“And at both we are masters.”

* * *

“Is it ready?” Adam asked. He didn’t detect any power running through the portal. Usually a window was opened between the two portals, allowing one to see into the other.

“Everything has an ‘on’ switch,” said Panur. “Here we go.”

Panur flicked a switch on a console and the doorframe began to buzz. Then from within an image began to form, looking like a big screen TV set on its side. But the image inside was upright and static. There were no lights on in the room, just the glow from the control panel for the portal, which only came to life when Panur flicked his switch on Vesper.

“After you,” Panur said. draping an arm at the portal.

Adam hesitated. “You built it,” he said. “You should have the honors.”

Panur smiled and stepped through the portal. He turned back to Adam and smiled.

Then the skin on the mutant’s body began to shiver. His face distorted, one eye falling down while the other migrated to the top of his bald head.

Adam stepped back in shock. Something was wrong—

Then the quivering stopped and the mutant’s face returned to normal.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

Adam gnashed his teeth. “If you weren’t an immortal mutant asshole, I’d wring your scrawny neck.”

“Come on through,” said Panur. “We still have a ship to commandeer. I love that word: commandeer.”

* * *

Adam and Panur opened the door to the Colony Ship’s portal room and scanned the outer corridor. A vessel designed to carry a long-term colony of twenty-thousand individuals had to be big and sophisticated. Adam had been a temporary guest aboard one of the Colony Ships years ago—in fact it was this one. Yet he never got the James Bond tour of all its most-secret inner workings.

However, the last one he was on was an entirely different experience. That was after Copernicus Smith sold him, Riyad, Kaylor and Jym to the Klin. They spent two weeks aboard the giant spacecraft being tortured unmercifully until they were rescued by a team of Human commandos. It would have been nice if Coop had told them at the time that he was a deep-cover spy working to discover the location of the Klin, and that Adam and the others were simply bait. They’d gotten off the station moments before the Klin blew it up, taking a hundred commandos with it. That was a terrible price to pay for the rescue of Adam and his friends. Even the deaths of the twenty thousand Klin aboard couldn’t make up for the sacrifice the commandos made that day on their behalf.

Now as Adam and Panur stepped out into the deathly quiet passageway, the full scope of their mission hit them. Neither man nor mutant knew where to go. They had to get to the bridge, wherever that was.

“Can you tap into a computer and learn your way around?” Adam asked.

“Good idea. Wait here.”

Panur ducked back into the portal room and returned a moment later with a big grin on his face. “A piece of cake, but even I must admit this sucker is big. Follow me.”

Panur set off down the corridor to the left. Adam followed like an obedient puppy.

27

Robert McCarthy had an MK-17 in his hand set on level-one when he approached the door to the CW station on the twenty-third floor. The hallway outside was quiet, even though he’d come across several Klin on his way here, panic growing on the faces of some and being transferred like a virus to others they passed. The news was getting out. The Klin VN-91s were disappearing, and along with them, the Klin’s stranglehold on the galaxy.

He pushed open the door until it met with an obstruction lying on the floor. Through the opening, he could see several dead Klin and a CW comm shack that had been literally ripped apart in a fit of violent rage. Robert pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside.

All the Klin were dead, even though there was little blood. This spoke of broken necks and other trauma injuries, carried out by incredibly strong killers. Adam Cain and the mutant, no doubt.

But as he surveyed the room, he had to correct his previous assumption. The equipment in the room hadn’t been ripped apart. It had been taken apart and then reassembled. Robert walked up to a seven-foot-tall metal frame, resembling a doorway. The effect inside the portal was dizzying. He looked around to the other side of the doorway. The image he could see from one side disappeared from behind.

It was a trans-dimensional portal. Robert had seen the huge land-based units the Klin built that had first attracted the Sol-Kor to the Milky Way. He’d even seen the small personal units about the Colony flagship.

He smiled and nodded in admiration. The damn mutant had cobbled together one of the most elaborate pieces of scientific innovation—in less than an hour and out of parts found in the CW comm center.

For a brief moment, Robert hesitated following Cain and the mutant through the portal. Perhaps he had bitten off more than he could chew? If the mutant could do this, what else could he do…to Robert?

But he had no choice. The Klin were destined to die, and he was the last of the 2G’s. Escape was his first priority, and here was an open door—literally—beckoning him inside.

Robert clutched his precious case…and stepped through the portal.

* * *

There was an elaborate system of elevators and trams throughout the Colony Ship. This was more of a space station than a spaceship, and as Adam and Panur made their way to the bridge, they saw wonders Adam never thought could exist in a spacecraft.

The ship was so large—and the token Klin crew aboard so small—that they didn’t encounter their first alien until they reached the command bridge.

There were two of them, each sitting at separate computer consoles and doing whatever Klin do on computers in their spare time. Adam wasn’t curious enough to ask. The aliens barely had time to react before he and Panur were upon them. Adam had killed a lot of aliens in his time, but there was something especially satisfying about snapping the brittle bodies of the Klin. His hatred for them went back twenty years, to the image of the charred bodies of his wife and daughter. He couldn’t rid his mind of the horrific memory, which only served as an icon for all the death and destruction the silver bastards had caused. Perhaps he was particularly savage with this latest victim of his anger. He didn’t care, and Panur seemed not to notice as he made short work of his Klin.

Adam surveyed the room. It wasn’t as big as he imagined it would be to pilot such a huge spacecraft. But the Klin were masters of automation, either with flying their spaceships or with fighting their battles.

The Colony Ships were near-obsolete at this time in Klin history. For thousands of years they had served as mobile homeworlds for the aliens. But as the Klin operations moved to planets—and the huge black ships became the tip of the sword—the space stations were left in reserve simply as transport vehicles from one place to another. And with no strategic value, there were no killer robots aboard. After disposing of the bridge crew, Adam and Panur could get the ship underway before hunting down what other Klin may be aboard.

“Do you have any idea how to fly this thing?” Adam asked. The control room looked manageable; it was when the sheer size of the ship was taken into account that Adam got worried.

Panur pointed to a panel. “You push this button, and it goes forward. You push that one, it goes back.” The mutant laughed when he saw Adam’s expression. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out. Give me a minute.”

Panur sat down at what looked like the main piloting station and scanned the controls. Then he accessed data files on the various screens around him. Less than a minute later, Adam could feel the hum and vibration of generators spinning up.

“See, no problem. It will take the generators five minutes to warm up, then we’re on our way.”

Adam walked up to the fifty-foot wide viewport at the far end of the bridge and looked out. This Colony Ship was one of three left. From his vantage point he could see the other two, sitting off in the distance. They appeared as half-lit globes, about the size of the moon from Earth. From here, their size was deceptive. They were the largest artificially-built objects in the galaxy, surpassed only by the massive gravity generators at the Nuorean’s midpoint station.

Adam began to relax, feeling the reassuring vibration in the deck below his feet. If all was going according to plan, Lila and his friends were out destroying all the Klin black warships, and along with them their cargos of millions of deadly robots. This would free the galaxy to pursue the Klin and put a final end to all their diabolical plans for domination. Too many people had died just so the aliens could stand upon a hill and proclaim themselves masters of the universe. Adam found the whole process stupid and vacuous. What sane creature would ever want to rule a galaxy? What would you do with one if you could?

Just then the calming hum in the deck faded away. He turned to Panur at the control station.

“What happened?”

“The generators have gone offline.”

“A saboteur?”

“More-than-likely. There are undoubtedly more Klin aboard. I will go below and check it out. The engine room is sixty floors below. There’s an express elevator down to it just outside the bridge.”

“Should I go with you?”

“No, stay here and secure the bridge. I can handle anything I find. I can also fix whatever damage has been done.”

Adam nodded. Panur seemed to have a pretty good grasp of the situation.

The mutant left the bridge, while Adam continued to stare out the viewport, fantasizing about all the great things to come.

* * *

Robert McCarthy had spent half his life aboard the flagship of the Klin’s Colony Ship fleet, although he was born on a planet with similar gravity to Earth and raised with thousands of other Second-Generation Humans. Then based on his lineage, he was removed and placed in a special training program designed by his father, Nigel McCarthy. The training sent him to a variety of planets before ending up on the Colony Ship. He and his brothers were treated differently from the other 2Gs—not better, just different.

When the whole Human-Juirean debacle happened, the Klin turned on the 2Gs. Most were killed, but Robert and a few of his siblings were locked away, kept in reserve in case the Klin needed them. When the Sol-Kor attacked, the Klin began coming to the Humans for advice. The aliens never admitted this was what they were doing; they had too much pride. But the way the questions were phrased and reactions Robert got, showed him the Klin were in desperate need of a new idea, a new direction. Everything they’d done in the past had failed. They had to be at wits end to come to Humans for answers.

About that time, Robert came up with his new idea involving the invincible black ships and army of killer robots. The Klin leadership bought into it and began setting the plan in motion. It took nine years to reach this point, and during that time, Robert attained a special place within the Klin hierarchy. That was all over now, including the legacy of the Klin. They would all die, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

And now all Robert McCarthy was trying to do was survive.

* * *

Robert knew the ship intimately, so upon transporting the relatively short distance from Vesper to the Colony Ship, he rushed to the engine room to set his plan in motion.

After everything was in place, he took the case he’d brought with him from Vesper and sat it on a counter in the engine room.

He open it and withdrew a pale yellow breastplate made of an unbreakable composite material and strapped it around his chest. Next came a flimsy looking harness that fit around his shoulders. He fastened the guards to his arms, forming a plate running along his outer forearms and biceps. Then he placed a skull shield on his head.

The apparatus wasn’t anything to look at, but it was practical. The breastplate would protect again even laser beams, and the feather-weight shields on his arms would stop any physical blow without breaking. Coupled with his thirty years of hand-to-hand combat training—thanks to his father—Robert McCarthy knew he could handle anything Adam Cain could throw at him.

And if that wasn’t enough, Robert had his MK-17 and a full level-one charge. Level-one bolts could burn a whole through Human skin. Cain wasn’t super-human, just a Human. Soon he would be a dead Human.

Robert took up a position at the door to the express elevator from the bridge. He carried a canister of liquid nitrogen he’d taken from the engine room—just in case. When the door slid open, Robert relaxed and stretched out a wide, full-tooth grin.

Resting on the floor with his back against the side of the elevator, was a thoroughly frozen immortal mutant genius. Robert had rigged the elevator with canisters of the chemical before he shut down the gravity generators, expecting Panur to come down from the bridge to get them started again. Now the mutant was just a gray ice cube.

Robert laughed, wondering if the mutant was getting tired of being frozen every few hours. He knew he would.

Wearing protective gloves, Robert placed the heavy block of ice on a cart and wheeled it to the nearest airlock on the engine level. There were several, used to move parts, fuel modules and other equipment into the vast complex that made up the propulsion department of the Colony Ship.

He rolled the cart into the airlock and left it there. He stepped back into the main lobby and closed the inner door. Once the light turned amber, he pressed the button that would open the airlock to the unforgiving cold of space.

Still wearing his manic smile, Robert headed for the elevator. All he had to do now was take care of Adam Cain. He would get a lot more satisfaction from that act than he did ejecting the mutant from the ship.

* * *

In the airlock, the wheeled cart began to move toward the open portal and the infinite vastness of space beyond. Just as it neared the threshold, an arm and hand pulled away from the frozen block. Panur was immobilized, but he wasn’t completely frozen, at least not yet. He reached out and grabbed a bracing bar near the outer door. He barely closed his fingers around the metal rod, when his body froze. The cart slipped out from under him and fell away. Then the outer door cycled shut. The chamber pressurized automatically. However, the air that entered was only slightly above freezing. At this rate of warming, it would take days for Panur’s frozen body to thaw.

Adam Cain didn’t have days.

* * *

Adam heard the door to the bridge slide open; he also noticed the vibration had not returned to the deck.

“What’s wrong, you couldn’t get the generators—”

Through the reflection in the viewport, Adam saw that it wasn’t Panur who had entered the bridge. It was Robert McCarthy, and he had an MK aimed his way.

Adam jumped to his right just as the room lit up from a level-one plasma bolt. The ball of energy seared the skin on Adam’s left side. He fell to the deck, writhing in pain.

“I bet that stings!” Adam heard Robert say. “Get used to it. It’s just the beginning.”

“Are you crazy!” Adam called out. “Killing me won’t save you. When Panur—”

“Oh yeah, your little mutant buddy. I just blew him out of an airlock in the engine room. He won’t be coming to your rescue, not this time.”

Adam leaned against the back of a control console and checked the burn on his left side. It had burned off part of his baggy uniform, with the skin red and raw. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt as much before. Adam scanned the room for flash weapons with his ATD. There was only one, the MK Robert was holding. A moment later the firing circuit on the bolt launcher was severed. Adam winced from the pain in his side and he stood up to face his enemy.

Robert had moved into the room. He stopped and pointed the weapon at Adam’s head. “A level-one bolt will splash that pretty face of yours all over the viewport, so I don’t know what you’re doing. I’m not asking for your surrender, only your death.”

“Then go for it, dickhead.” Adam stepped around the console in Robert’s direction.

When the weapon didn’t fire, he fingered the trigger a second time before accepting reality. “You did something to it,” he stated. “So your interface device can do more than just make telepathic telephone calls. Now I truly must have it. I was worried that it might self-destruct if you were to die, but that’s just a chance I’ll have to take.”

Robert tossed the weapon away and approached Adam, taking a fighter’s stance as he did.

“I do not need the weapon,” he said. “I have skills, developed over thirty years. I also have this.” Robert raised his right arm and then tapped with his left hand the metal shield running the length of his arm.

“What the fuck are you wearing?” There was no fear in Adam’s voice, just annoyance.

“A little something I had the Klin make for me, unbreakable composite material, light-weight and flexible.” He balled a fist and smashed it down on the top of a control station. The metal bent, forming a perfect mold of Robert’s shielded hand. “That will soon be your head. And another consideration: this is Human on Human. You will have no advantage here.”

“You’re not Human, just a cheap imitation of one.”

Adam saw the fire in Robert’s eyes, a moment before the 2G jumped. An enhanced fist came at Adam’s head; he leaned back, sweeping the arm away as it passed, before landing his own right fist into Robert’s chest.

Adam twisted away, gasping in pain and holding his injured hand with his left. That wasn’t such a good idea, Adam thought. He’d just been told the material covering Robert’s arms and chest was made of indestructible material. It was also really hard.

Distracted with the pain, Adam failed to notice the left fist coming at him. Robert’s flesh didn’t make contact, but the composite material did. Adam fell back, stunned, and tumbled over a control console. Robert raced around the obstruction and dropped a knee into Adam’s chest. Air was forced from his lungs and he fought to breathe. Robert took him by the loose fabric of his dark blue overalls and lifted him from the floor. He balanced Adam against a console, stepped back, and then performed a lightning-quick spin kick to Adam’s chin.

Adam fell, tasting the hard, cold metal of the deck, stunned and nauseous, blood pouring from his mouth. He was on the verge of passing out when something odd happened. His eyesight cleared. Not only that, but he began thinking he wasn’t as badly injured as he suspected. Sure, he was battered, but the pain was tolerable.

Fully expecting a follow up kick, Adam made it to his knees, before the final effort to stand up.

Robert was a few feet away, smiling like the Cheshire Cat. He squared up again, preparing for another roundhouse kick. “Such a willing target,” he said.

This time when he spun—sending his left foot lashing through the air—there was no contact. Robert continued twisting, losing his balance and falling into one of the many consoles placed throughout the control room.

Adam was still standing, but had shifted away from the kick. Now it was his turn to smile.

Robert pushed off the console and turned to growl at his opponent. He squared up again and came at Adam, expertly shifting his weight and balance as he did. Adam blocked the first blow, and then the second, before landing his own punch to the exposed side of Robert’s face. The silly, beany-like helmet flew off, clattering to the deck several feet away.

But Robert McCarthy did have skills. Despite being hurt, he managed to twist again and plant an elbow into Adam’s burnt side. The pain was there, but under control.

Adam moved away, putting distance between him and Robert. He wasn’t worried anymore. In fact, as the moments passed, his confidence grew by leaps and bounds. Although he didn’t fully understand what was happening, he knew for a fact Robert had even less comprehension. He was standing several feet away, the smile long gone from his bruised and bleeding face. This was not what was supposed to happen.

* * *

Pleabaen Cosnin was in a fit of rage. More reports had come in about his disappearing fleet. It was undeniable now: someone—or something—was destroying his ships. And McCarthy had not communicated with him in over two hours. In fact, he was not to be found within the building.

Fearing that the Human had abandoned him, he placed a shoot-to-kill order for not only McCarthy, but any non-Klin seen in the headquarters building. He was taking no chances.

Suddenly the building jerked violently. Just once.

Cosnin leaned over his desk and gripped the edges. The Klin had been on Vesper for two years and had experience a multitude of smaller tremors. This was common upon every planet. But that last jolt was different somehow.

When a distant rumbling grew in intensity, Cosnin ran to the window of his office and looked out.

A huge cloud of dust was rising in the distance, possible evidence of an explosion of nuclear proportions. But this cloud was unusual. Rather than spreading out in the light pressure of the upper atmosphere, this one grew narrower the higher it climbed.

Then Cosnin began to notice dirt, trees, buildings and more being sucked into the vortex. The effect was racing closer, consuming the city before him in a matter of seconds.

The last Pleabaen of the Klin never knew what hit him, as the ninety-story headquarters building was torn from its foundation and hurled into space. It took less than a minute to transport half a planet to another galaxy, not only killing every native Vesperian on the surface, but over two hundred thousand other creatures—the last of the Klin.

* * *

Both Adam and Robert McCarthy were thrown to their feet as the Colony Ship rocked and tumbled. The ship maintained internal gravity wells, but the inertia compensators were off. However once orientation returned, the two Human stared out the expansive viewport at the scene from Hell taking place outside.

Vesper was located a quarter-of-a-million miles away, about the same distance at the moon was from Earth. But being six times as large, it was a prominent disk in the black of space. Adam could see the surface being swallowed by a dark, brown cloud, which was itself being drawn into space, sending a maelstrom of debris racing past the Colony Ship not more than ten thousand miles away. Adam could tell the ship was being drawn toward the river rock. He also knew what was happening, and if the Colony Ship continued to be pulled in, it would eventually contact the transit beam and be ripped from one galaxy to another.

He turned just as Robert came up behind him and delivered another staggering blow to the back of Adam’s head. He fell against the viewport.

“What are you doing,” he yelled at Robert. “Can’t you see, Vesper is being torn apart. It’s the Nuoreans. And now all your precious Klin are dead. There’s nothing left.”

“Fuck the Klin! I just want to kill you.”

“We have to get the generators going otherwise we’ll be sucked into that!” He pointed out the viewport.

The insane look on McCarthy’s face told Adam he wasn’t listening. Hate and anger were controlling him now. Adam pursed his lips. He had no choice. There wasn’t time.

Adam jumped forward, riding on an incredible surge of strength and power. He crashed into Robert, sending him slamming into the side of a control console. Adam pulled back a balled fist and planted it into the unbreakable composite material of the breastplate. It broke.

Robert’s ribs became splinters and his lungs collapsed. His Human heart compressed and then broke open, spilling blood throughout Robert’s chest. His eyes showed shock for a moment, before a calm expression came over his face.

Adam didn’t wait to hear Robert’s last breath. Instead, he ran to the main control station on the bridge. After a moment of staring at it without comprehension, he raced off the bridge and to the express elevator outside.

In his excited state and facing a life-or-death deadline, there was nothing express about the elevator. It simply meant there was direct link from the bridge to the engine room.

When the door finally opened, Adam faced an entirely new challenge. The engine room was huge. In fact, it was made of multiple compartments, each cavernous in their right. There was nothing compact and streamlined about the engine components either, not aboard a twenty-mile-in-diameter space station.

All Adam had to do now was find out how to start the gravity generators and get the ship moving away from the transit stream. He didn’t have a clue where to start.

Except control panels. There had to be control panels…and there were. Lots of them. Adam raced between chambers trying to get a quick feel for the layout. The generators had to be huge, with a section for the dozens of focusing rings. And then power plants, module units, regulators, batteries, converters and so much more. He could pretty much identify all the parts, until he entered another room, and found even more.

He was about to give up when he heard a pressure door swish open. He pursed his lips in anger. If any of the surviving Klin were coming here to stop him—

But then a familiar figure limped towards him, entering from a side compartment along the outer bulkhead of the ship. He was dripping water, with flakes of ice falling from his body.

“Need some help?” said Panur, the immortal mutant.

Adam ran up to him, never happier to see the obnoxious mutant than now. He went to hug him, but then thought better of it. He still looked awfully cold.

“I thought McCarthy threw you out an airlock?”

“He tried. And then the internal temperature of the room, combined with all the crap going on outside, got me to the point you see before you.”

“Are you all right?”

“All right enough to save our asses. Now step aside, son, and let me do my thing.”

28

Six days later…

The huge Colony Ship lay stationary between distant star systems near the edge of the galaxy, nineteen light-years from what had once been the planet Vesper. The Defiant was safely tucked away in one of the many landing bays of the gigantic station, while Panur had spent the last two days working on his tiny egg-shaped starship, having removed it from the cargo hold of the Defiant.

Adam and his team were gathered in one of the dozens of lounge areas aboard the station, where once the Klin had sat and contemplated such profound topics as the conquest of the galaxy. Fortunately, there were no more Klin left to debate such profound subjects.

The destruction of Vesper hadn’t killed all the Klin; there were still a fair number of them on the seven manufacturing worlds in the conquered territory. Fortunately, they didn’t survive long after all the black ships disappeared. Although these worlds built the killer robots, over ninety percent of the inventory had recently been loaded aboard the VN-91s heading for the Core Worlds. The Pleabaen never intended on honoring his promise to withdraw his ships after the capture of Adam and his friends. He was going to unleash death upon the most populous and advanced planets in the galaxy. Up to the moment all his delivery ships vanished.

The natives of the manufacturing worlds revolted. The handful of surviving Klin didn’t last long, even as some tried to hide behind a few hundred killer robots. Eventually the robots lost power. That’s when the Klin race went extinct—this time for good.

But even in light of the recent happenings, Adam was still a nervous wreck, as were all the members of his team. The Klin menace may be over, but it had revealed an even more-deadly threat.

“The Nuoreans are going after Earth next,” Riyad stated with conviction. “The only reason they hit Vesper first was because it was closer and they thought you were there.”

“So how do we stop them?” Sherri asked. Everyone seated in the lounge had intimate knowledge of the Nuoreans and their weapons. They also knew there was no way to stop an incoming transit beam, one designed to destroy a world.

And the local Nuoreans would be of no help. They’d climbed under a very heavy rock after Vesper was destroyed. But their objectives were clear. Kill Adam—and all Humans—for what they’d done to Nuor. With the repair of the midpoint generator, it was only a matter of time before they pointed their weapon at Earth.

Panur found the assembled teammates and entered the room with Lila at his side.

“We are leaving now,” the mutant announced without warning.

The news came as a shock. Arieel jumped up from the couch and ran to her daughter. “No, you cannot,” she cried. “You have only just returned. Do not leave.”

“We must, mother.”

“Will you be back?” Adam asked as he walked up to the mutants. He knew they followed their own path, for reasons only they knew and understood.

“Perhaps, but please be assured, we will keep an eye on things.” Lila’s beautiful smile was infectious.

Adam hugged his daughter. Arieel did the same, but wouldn’t break the embrace until Lila pulled away.

“I know you are concerned about Earth, but I believe it to be unfounded.” Panur said. “The midpoint generator is not capable of destroying a world that distant. I’ve analyzed the transit wave reaching Vesper. These are not the same generators as before. You destroyed the more powerful units.”

“That helps, Panur; I appreciate it. But we can’t be sure, not really. It may not be this year, or next, but someday they’re going to strike again, and without warning.”

Panur gripped Adam’s arm. “Have faith, my friend. The Nuoreans will never be a threat to this galaxy again.”

Adam smiled. “And neither will the Klin.” He looked at Lila. “There’s still a place for you at the top. A lot of people would like to see you in charge again.”

“That is not my place, father. I cannot enforce peace on the galaxy because of my special abilities. It is up to the people to find their own peace, a real peace among all.”

“Time to go, Lila,” said Panur.

The mutants turned and never looked back.

Adam turned to the group and wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Well, that was some shit.”

* * *

The tiny glowing starship passed through a trans-dimensional portal and entered intergalactic space only a thousand miles from the crude linkage that was the rebuilt midpoint generator. The ship had skirted normal space by transiting a parallel universe until it was time to shift back. The journey took four days from the time Panur and Lila left the Colony Ship in the Milky Way galaxy.

A new control station had been built near the generators. It wasn’t as large as the old one, but then neither were the generators. The station did, however, have reliable tracking sensors, and they detected Panur’s ship the moment it appeared.

“Unknown ship, identify yourself.”

Panur opened the link, his smiling gray face full of humor and good spirits.

“Who are you, and what are you doing in Nuorean space?”

“Nuorean space?” said the mutant. “I look around and see that you are a million-and-a-half light-years from anyone’s space. Rather presumptuous of you to make such a statement.”

“This is Nuorean space. Your words have no meaning. Now state your business or you will be fired upon.”

“Ah yes, my business. I am a messenger,” Panur stated with flourish.

“A messenger? From whom?”

“From an old friend of yours…Adam Cain.”

The grim-faced alien on the screen was knocked off guard by the statement. “Adam Cain? Adam Cain is dead.”

Panur shook his head while displaying a face-encompassing smile. “I’m afraid that is not so. He was not on Vesper, and now he has sent me here to deliver a message to the Nuorean race.”

Panur could see the thoughts racing through the alien’s mind. Adam Cain was dead…killed ten days ago. The technician knew the debris from the planet Vesper had passed through the midpoint. The Nuoreans were currently charging the generators and awaiting the marker for the planet Earth. Yet here was a spaceship with information only days old. How did it get here? The tech was turning red-faced as the pressure built up in his head. Finally he focused again on Panur.

“What is this message you bring from the dead?”

“It is simple. Do not ever return to the Milky Way—the Kac—or you will have to face Adam Cain again.”

“Ridiculous—”

“And he has a gift for you as well.”

“A gift? What gift?”

Panur spun his little ship around, pointing it at the thin white line in the distance that was the midpoint generator. Three tight pulses of white light shot out from the front of the ship and closed the distance to the structure a split second later. The sixty-mile-long machine didn’t explode. Instead, it turned to space dust.

The tiny ship spun back around to face the space station, appearing more ominous now than before.

The alien’s face was pale. He saw the event on his monitors, as well as the data that had suddenly stopped arriving from the generators. He focused wide eyes on the small gray alien and the taller, pink-skinned female sitting next to him.

Panur smiled. He got the message.

“Merry Christmas.”

Epilogue

Adam and Sherri were alone in one of the observation domes of the Colony Ship. The view was incredible as the mighty ship entered the Formilian star system and raced past the colorful gas giant of Andos.

They were returning a heartbroken Arieel Bol to her home planet, to be welcomed back as a hero after months of being treated as a criminal.

The rest of the team was also beginning to receive muted congratulations, even though most of the credit was going to the mutants. Adam was okay with that. He had enough fame for one lifetime. When you become famous, people begin to expect things of you. And right now Adam just wanted to be left alone. He also had a burned-out shell of a log home back in Tahoe to rebuild. He couldn’t wait to get back to the warm thin air of summer in the mountains, and the picture-postcard views of winter. He liked the seasons. He would enjoy the simple life again.

He laughed to himself. When had his life ever been simple? In fact, life would never be the same for Adam Cain.

“I know,” said Sherri from out of the blue.

“Know what?”

“About you.”

“What are you talking about?”

Sherri continued to look out the observation dome. “I know about your powers.”

He opened his mouth to play dumb again, but then changed his mind. He’d been looking for someone to confide in, and Sherri was his closest friend.

He nodded.

“I thought all the brain cells were removed?” Sherri said. “That’s what Lila told me.”

“They were.” Adam had been trying to find an answer for weeks now. He had a theory, but that was all it was. “I think my cells learned from Panur’s. Lila said we advance by evolving. Maybe my body not only used the mutant cells, but evolved because of them. I can’t do everything I could before, but that may be just a case of learning. It’s different now.”

“What’s different?”

He gave her a wink. “For one thing, I don’t have to wait for the extra strength to come.”

“You mean it’s there all the time?”

“Not as much as before, but what’s here is always here.”

“What about your intelligence.” She smiled.

He returned the expression, thankful she hadn’t voiced the obvious put-down joke, something equivalent to the oxymoron Military Intelligence. “That remains to be seen. I need some advanced problems to solve before I know for sure. But I can tell you I have more energy and feel healthier than I have in years—or at least before I had Panur’s cells in my brain.”

“So how does this change things for you?”

He frowned. “They don’t. I’m through. I’m going back to Tahoe. Let the galaxy save itself from now on.”

Sherri scooted around until she could look him in the eyes. “You have a gift, Adam. If what Lila said was right, you’re ten thousand years more advanced than any of us.”

“What does that have to do with anything? I didn’t ask to be super-man. I still don’t believe I am.”

“Well, you can sure take a lickin’ and keep on tickin.’”

“But why do I always have to be the one taking the lickings? Let someone else get beat on for a while.”

Sherri smiled and took his hands.

“Hey, we all have our mission in life, my dear. Yours is to take lickings…and keep on killing aliens. And one must always follow your calling, no matter what kind of bad attitude you may have.”

The End

Adam Cain will return in his next breath-taking, galaxy-spanning adventure February 27, 2018.

Available for pre-order now.

The Human Chronicles Saga

Continuum: Mission Critical

Author Notes

Welcome to the world of Adam Cain

and The Human Chronicles Saga

After reading Force of Gravity, some of you may be wondering what’s to come of Adam Cain and his friends? The answer is nothing. There will be many more adventures to come. However, as the author, I have a little latitude as to how I do this. Let me explain.

The Human Chronicles Saga didn’t start out to be a saga. It was originally a five-book story arc…that turned into twenty-two! By popular demand, I kept adding to the series, bringing in new villains and challenges for our heroes. And you followed the adventures from book to book. And for that I thank you.

The problem comes from the fact The Human Chronicles is a sequential series, better read from book one all the way to book twenty-two. This has left only one real entry point into the series: Book One, The Fringe Worlds.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of readers who would hesitate to enter a 22-book series. That’s a major commitment. For my loyal fans throughout the years, the process has been more gradual, an evolution of sorts. For new readers it’s a daunting task.

So I’m tweaking things a little. Not much, just a little. Future Adam Cain novels will be under the series banner of: The Human Chronicles Saga—Continuum.

Wow! Fantastic! Bravo!

Calm down everyone. It’s not that revolutionary. What it means is that each new Adam Cain novel will be essentially a stand-alone book. Adam and his team will still face villains and challenges of galactic proportions, but rather than take three or four books to reach a conclusion, they will do so over the course of one book, two at the most. Not only that, but the books will be written in such a way that new readers can jump in and know what’s going on from the beginning, without having to have read the original series—all twenty-two books of it. (If after reading a Continuum book they want to go back to the beginning, they’re more than welcome. But it won’t be necessary in order to enjoy the latest Adam Cain adventure.)

You can think of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novels, or Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series, or the Jack Reacher books. Even the James Bond novels, for that matter. That’s what I hope Continuum will become.

And for my long-term fans, nothing changes. It’s still Adam Cain and the gang kicking alien butt and saving galaxies and damsels in distress. Just another day on the job.

The first of these revamped Adam Cain novels is entitled Mission Critical and will be out on February 27, 2018.

The book is available for pre-order now. Follow the link below to pick up your discounted copy today.

The Human Chronicles Saga – Continuum

Mission Critical (An Adam Cain Adventure)

And now for something completely different.

Well, not really. In fact, just the opposite.

I’ve been working on a new military space opera series for a while, but with the schedule I’ve had with the Adam Cain novels, it’s taken some time to get to the point where the series is ready to begin. It’s called the REV Warriors Series with the first book called REV, of all things.

Let me explain a little more about the series.

Obviously, I like writing novels like The Human Chronicles Saga, and you obviously like reading them. A while back I tried to figure out what was so appealing about the Adam Cain novels, and I came up with a few conclusions. You like stories where Humans are the badasses. You like military sci-fi. You like stories of people with super-Human abilities. And you like stories where reluctant heroes face seemingly impossible odds and come out on top. Of course, those are just assumptions on my part, maybe because those are the type of stories I like to read. I’ve always believed that if you write a book that you want to read—but can’t find—there will be thousands of other people out there just like you who will follow you. I did that with The Fringe Worlds, and a whole lot of people followed, and continue to this day.

So after doing my little analysis, I decided to develop a new series designed specifically to appeal to my Adam Cain fans, containing all the elements of the first series. There are huge military battles against deadly aliens, along with people who have skills and abilities and develop even greater skills and abilities (read: superhuman). There are villains and betrayal, and desperate challenges with literally galactic consequences tied to them. There’s also the humor you’ve come to expect from me. (Let’s face it, I can’t go more than a thousand words without cracking a joke. But I think this is what adds to the ‘humanity’ of my stories.)

The REV series has all these things…and more.

Briefly (yeah right!) it’s a story set about a hundred years in the future about Humans fighting an evil alien race. The battles take place in space and on a variety of Earth-like worlds (which is the reason we’re fighting over them in the first place). The hero, Zac Murphy, is a Marine 0331, a modified warrior, who when revved up on the wonder drug NT-4, turns into what I call The Incredible Hulk without the Bulk. While on the drug, he becomes incredible strong, quick and durable. He also loses his mind temporarily, becoming a crazed killing machine that’s wound up and pointed in the direction of the enemy. It’s his job—the job of all the REVs—to breech alien strongholds, opening paths for the following Marine troops. He’ll kill anything in sight, be it friend or foe. Then after a Run, he’s injected with the Twilight drug that brings him back down. Zac and NT-4 saves lives, Marine lives. That’s what makes him and the other Revs heroes in the Corps, until….

No spoilers here, but be assured everything is not as it seems. Zac is changing, and these changes make him a danger to the Corps and the people around him. Now the military geniuses who made him have a problem on their hands. What do you do with the most-dangerous and efficient killing machine ever devised?

The first book in the series is available for pre-order, with a release date of January 29, 2018. Follow the link below to pick up your discounted copy today.

REV: REV Warriors Series - Book 1

As a last note, I would like to thank all my thousands of fans, who through the years, have made my books some of the most-popular on Amazon. It’s humbling to say the least, when a little spark of an idea can turn into a career, a goal I’ve had since I was twelve. That’s right, my writing career didn’t start as a ‘what if’ spur of the moment event. It’s been something I’ve been working towards and aspiring to for a long, long time. And you have made it a reality.

With the greatest sincerity, I thank you.

T.R. Harris

December, 2017

Pre-order both books today for only $3.99 each

Mission Critical (An Adam Cain Adventure)

REV: REV Warriors Series - Book 1

Contact

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Novels by T.R. Harris

The Human Chronicles Saga – Continuum

Mission Critical (An Adam Cain Adventure)

The Human Chronicles Saga (original series)

The Fringe Worlds

Alien Assassin

The War of Pawns

The Tactics of Revenge

The Legend of Earth

Cain’s Crusaders

The Apex Predator

A Galaxy to Conquer

The Masters of War

Prelude to War

The Unreachable Stars

When Earth Reigned Supreme

A Clash of Aliens

Battlelines

The Copernicus Deception

Scorched Earth

Alien Games

The Cain Legacy

The Andromeda Mission

Last Species Standing

Invasion Force

Force of Gravity

REV Warriors Series

Rev

Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series

The Enclaves of Sylox

Treasure of the Galactic Lights

The Drone Wars Series

Day of the Drone

In collaboration with George Wier…

The Liberation Series

Captains Malicious

Available exclusively on Amazon.com

and Kindle Unlimited.