The

Unreachable

Stars

The Human Chronicles Saga

#11

an Adam Cain adventure

by

T.R. Harris

Published by

Copyright 2015 by T.R. Harris

ISBN: 978-0-9913465-8-5

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

Book 1 – The Fringe Worlds

Book 2 – Alien Assassin

Book 3 – The War of Pawns

Book 4 – The Tactics of Revenge

Book 5 – The Legend of Earth

Book 6 – Cain’s Crusaders

Book 7 – The Apex Predator

Book 8 – A Galaxy to Conquer

Book 9 – The Masters of War

Book 10 – Prelude to War

Book 11 – The Unreachable Stars

Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series

Book 1 – The Enclaves of Sylox

The Drone Wars Series

Book 1 – Day of the Drone

In collaboration with author George Wier…

Captains Malicious – Book One of the Liberation Series

Contents

Prologue

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

Epilogue

Prologue

High-Noslead Risnes Sala scanned the report before tossing the sheets of thin plastic on his desk in disgust. “Inferior stock, without a doubt.”

“Agreed,” said First-Solicitor Cron Sinol, the other Sol-Kor officer in the room. “Yet the system is lightly defended, so the harvest should be uneventful.”

“It will take a dozen such crops to equal one from the choice worlds.”

Sala stopped there, not wishing to speak ill of the Queen’s decisions, especially not in front of a subordinate. Yet Cron Sinol was a close confidant of the High-Noslead, having served with him in two other dimensions and through countless harvests. He knew Sala would welcome the opportunity to speak his mind without fear of reprisal.

“The Queen wishes the others time to fulfill her demands before proceeding to their core worlds,” Sinol said. “News of this harvest—as well as the others—will only serve to hasten their actions.”

Sala crossed to the huge observation window set in the bulkhead of his private compartment and stared out at the distant ball of light that was the target world. From this vantage point he could see at least a dozen of the hundred beam platforms speeding past his flagship on their way to encircle the planet. It would take another forty standard hours before the beam saturation could begin, and then another twenty before the harvesters would land. That was when the truly tedious work began, the often weeks-long collection of the near-comatose stock.

The Sol-Kor preferred their food to be fresh. Most breeds would succumb to the elements within just a few days, their fallen bodies soon dying and rot setting in; however, the crop would remain in acceptable condition for several days thereafter, since most of the wild animals on the planet would have succumbed to the effects of the pulse beam as well. But the lower life forms, along with various forms of bacteria, would begin to take their toll.

The reaper fleet consisted of over ten thousand harvesters. Yet even with that number of ships, the job was never completed in time. The most High-Noslead Sala could hope for was a forty to fifty percent retrieval. The rest of the population would be left to decay, along with whatever signs of civilization the species might have achieved by the time of their premature extinction. Even with more ships concentrating on a single world, the most Sala could hope for would be upwards of sixty percent. That was why he chose to spread his four reaper fleets amongst four target worlds at a time and pull off the freshest stock without too much effort, rather than rush to salvage what was often a quickly decaying crop.

But now he was under orders not to pursue the richest stock yet found—in any universe! That, in itself, was inexplicable.

“You know I would concentrate all the fleets on a single world of the prime stock if given the opportunity,” he said to Sinol without turning from the viewport. “I could then deliver to the Colony a near one hundred percent harvest of the finest stock we’ve ever found. There are at least a thousand such worlds in this galaxy alone, and this is only the beginning of our excursion into this dimension. Imagine what other riches we will find.”

“I agree, and you know full well that once Panur is returned to the Colony that the Queen will give you the proper authorization. You need only patience.”

Now Sala turned from the window. “Patience?” he snapped. “You think I feel this way from a lack of patience? No, it is because I have read the reports—as have you, First-Solicitor. In the relatively short time we have been here, the natives of this galaxy have been able to defeat our anchor fleet and destroy two portal arrays. They have also managed to find a way to neutralize Panur’s supposedly impervious pulse beam. And worst of all, they managed in infiltrate our universe and attack the Queen! Never in our history have such events taken place … at least not in respect to an assault on the Queen herself. Now each day that passes without us confronting the superior species of this galaxy, they are afforded the opportunity to mount an even more effective defense, possibly even an offensive force to send against us.”

Cron Sinol shifted nervously in his chair. “Much of the blame for the earlier defeats was placed on Noslead Vosmin, as well as Panur’s collaboration with the Human food stock. Only through his efforts could they have taken such an action against the Queen.”

“I care not where blame is placed,” Sala barked. “All I care about are results. We waste our time picking at the scraps along the edge of this field while the true bounty is sitting right before us. By harvesting the richest crops in this galaxy we would also eliminate the threat they pose. It’s the best solution all around.”

“I’m sure the Queen is aware of that as well, yet she desires Panur to be returned before advancing. Her overtures have been made to the superior races. She must let the process mature. If that fails, then she will make a blanket appeal to the entire galaxy. As in the past, Panur will be returned.”

“And why, Sinol? Why must he always be returned? We already have the means to travel between universes and subdue entire worlds with his trans-dimensional portals and pulse beam. In the time it will take the natives here to find and return the mutant, I could harvest a thousand worlds, which would allow for even more growth for the Colony. Is that not our sole purpose for existing—for the good of the Colony?”

“And in the opinion of the Queen, having Panur once again within her court also serves the Colony,” the First-Solicitor countered. “We are not privy to the goings-on within the upper chambers of the hive. We do not know what purpose Panur will serve once he’s returned. The Queen commands it, and so it shall be done.”

Sala turned back to the viewport. “Of course it will be done, Sinol. I have not achieved such a high ranking by going against my Queen, and I will not go against her now. Yet I too hold the Colony’s wellbeing as my main priority. So here are my new orders: Expedite the harvest of this inferior crop. Settle on thirty percent if need be, but have us out of here in eight standard days and on to the next target.”

“Thirty percent! That’s unheard of—”

“Just do it,” Sala commanded. “If the Queen wishes for the natives of this galaxy to return the alien, then we must give them the incentive to do so, and sooner rather than delay. We should harvest as many worlds as we can, as fast as we can, and make sure the powers here know of it. Let them fear us even more than they already do. Let them believe that their only salvation lies in Panur’s return.”

“I see the logic, High-Noslead,” said Sinol. “And if we move in closer to the core worlds, that will evoke even more anticipation on their part.”

“Precisely. That way the Queen gets her precious mutant returned and we will be free to act sooner, before the natives are able to mount a defense against us. Sinol, I am not about to let the finest crop we’ve ever detected go to waste, not when it is within our grasp. I will abide by the Queen’s wishes, yet I will also do all I can to speed up the process.”

Sinol smiled. “And that is why you have achieved the rank you have in such a short time, my High-Noslead. You are one to be admired and emulated.”

“Agreed,” said Sala without conceit. “Now go and coordinate the shortened harvest. We move closer to the core worlds of the Juireans and the Humans. Then let’s see how long it takes them to find the Queen’s elusive mutant.”

Adam Cain is an Alien with an Attitude.

His adventures continue…

Chapter 1

  “Dammit, Panur! You can’t go around building trans-dimensional portals in a person’s garage without telling them first!”

Adam Cain was livid as he circled the twelve-foot-tall rectangular doorway that filled the center of his three-car garage. Because of the unwanted contraption and its clutter of supporting paraphernalia, his new Cadillac Escalade SUV sat in the driveway, exposed to the elements.

“I built the portal for you,” the tiny alien said, “as a reward for all you’ve done for me.”

“I appreciate the gesture, but what the hell am I supposed to do with it?”

Even though Panur had only been around Humans for a short time, he had already adopted many of their facial expressions … and the expression he now displayed was shock.

“What to do with it? If I didn’t know better, I would believe you were being facetious. This is a doorway to all universes, a way to reach every star, and you can’t imagine a use for it? Personally, I find such portals to be quite enjoyable and mentally stimulating.”

Adam was about to say that what was enjoyable and mentally stimulating to a five-thousand-year-old mutant alien wasn’t quite the same for a flesh-and-blood Human being, but he held his tongue. Despite his outward show of anger, he was actually in awe of the device. Once activated, it would lead to any number of matching doorways located across multiple dimensions, a concept which to Adam was the very definition of a miracle. Yet here it was, built in a single week, and out of spare parts he had lying around his garage.

Panur might be an often rude, condescending, and even child-like runt of a creature yet there was no denying his genius.

Through the fog of anger, Adam couldn’t fault the alien for his creative enthusiasm. He truly was like a child who had just learned to ride a bike—and now you couldn’t get him off of it. His curiosity was so insatiable and his intellect so vast that he couldn’t sit still for very long before rushing off to work on the next revolutionary invention or discovery. The quest for knowledge was his entire reason for being.

So if it hadn’t been a trans-dimensional portal filling his garage when he returned to Lake Tahoe, it would have been something else.

“I thought you were trying to keep the Sol-Kor from finding you? Won’t they be able to detect the doorway and trace it back here? And what’s to keep those flesh-eating bastards from coming through when you turn it on? As a matter of fact, I assume you’ve already tested it…”

“It is quite safe and anonymous,” Panur countered. “I assigned a micronomic wave signature to the gateway and then routed the signal through several other dimensional dipolar neutron sources. It will be quite impossible to trace.”

Adam wobbled his head at the pale-skinned alien, confounded. For his part, Panur was genuinely hurt—and upset. Obviously, he’d been expecting a different reaction from Adam, and now he met the Human’s angry glare with one of his own.

“You realize you are the only creature on the planet Earth to have such a device? I would expect you to be more appreciative.”

 “This universe is large enough as it is. Why would I need a way to reach countless others?”

“I thought Humans were innately curious creatures, explorers and conquerors? Maybe my assessment was wrong.”

Adam shook his head. “Unlike you, we don’t have an eternity to check out every little nook and cranny in the universe. We have to pick and choose where we go and what we do. But the real point here is the danger the portal poses—for all of us. You say it’s safe and can’t be traced. Well, you obviously know more about these things than I do, so I’ll have to trust you on that one. But it’s a link to any other doorway with the proper pin number. The Klin built a portal, too—a larger one for sure—and look what we got…the Sol-Kor. So be honest, you don’t know what’s going to come through that thing, do you?”

“It can link only with similarly-sized portals, and like I said, nothing can enter from other dimensions unless I give them access.”

“Is that what all that technical gobbledygook meant?”

Panur’s condescension was palpable. “And you Humans are supposedly the superior race within this galaxy.”

“We never said we were the most-scientifically advanced,” Adam shot back. “Just that we pack the most devastating right cross.”

“A reference to boxing terminology—meaning your race is the best at fighting—yes, I acknowledge that. Yet I see much more potential for your species than you obviously do. Humans should really begin living up to that potential.”

It was nearing nine in the evening and Adam was exhausted. The irascible alien had shown up unannounced at Adam’s doorstep three weeks before, and prior to his trip to Phoenix he had been trying his best to keep him entertained, but since Panur never slept and his interests included everything, the task had proved to be exhausting, to say the least. The five days he’d just spent in meetings with the leadership of the Orion-Cygnus Union had come as a welcome reprieve. Now he was back home, and with Panur his ever-frenetic self again.

“Just do me a favor, don’t turn it on unless you tell me,” Adam finally said, wanting to end the conversation and get to bed. “And don’t go building anything else without giving me a heads-up. Agreed?”

“Agreed … however—”

“However what?”

Panur recoiled from the intensity of Adam’s question.

“Your ship—”

“My ship? What did you do to my ship?”

“While you were gone I made some needed improvements…”

Adam was out of the garage a moment later and sprinting toward the huge hangar that housed his prized possession, Panur scurrying close behind. The Pegasus II was already the fastest starship in the galaxy, incorporating eight focusing rings within its relatively small frame. What the insubordinate alien could have done to improve upon that was anyone’s guess.

As Adam entered the hangar, it didn’t take him long to notice the first of Panur’s so-called improvements. “What the hell are those?” he said, pointing to a pair of long tubes now attached to each side of the hull and running twenty feet forward to aft.

“They are beam disruptors,” Panur answered proudly. He stepped up to the hull and placed a hand on one of the foreign objects. “I’m aware my suppressor beam has caused considerable problems for those within your universe, and even though the primitive wave-interference system the Klin scientists developed is somewhat effective, I’ve created a passive device that requires no effort on your part. Although you are personally resistant to the beam’s effects, this device will protect others who do not have such immunity.”

Adam had to fight hard to remain angry. Having a truly effective answer to the Sol-Kor mind-suppressing pulse beam would be a godsend, and could save countless lives. And Panur was right. Adam’s implanted Formilian artificial telepathy device did keep him from falling completely under the beam’s influence; however, it still gave him one hell of a headache.

Despite all this, Adam couldn’t let Panur off the hook that easy.

“Okay, the beam disruptor thingy is cool,” he conceded, “but I didn’t ask you to do it. Did you do anything else to the ship?”

When Panur hesitated, Adam simply crossed his arms and leaned back against a workbench, glaring down at the four-foot tall alien. “Lay it on me. I’m sure that whatever you’ve done will be fine…it’s just I don’t like anyone messing with my stuff.”

“I do apologize if I’ve overstepped my boundaries, yet once I reveal all I have done, I’m sure you will be very grateful. Or maybe not, considering your reaction to the TD portal.”

Adam shrugged.

The mutant alien wasn’t used to having his inventions so easily discounted, and his anger matched that of his host. After a tense moment, he continued: “As I’ve mentioned many times before, gravity-well engines are very inefficient and consume far too much energy, so I added a secondary warp field—”

“You screwed with my engines? What the hell were you thinking? The Pegasus was fine just the way she was.”

“Yet I have made a substantial upgrade.”

“Again without permission.”

“You are being unreasonable, Adam Cain!” Panur barked. “Even the Sol-Kor do not possess this technology—you should feel privileged to be the only being in any universe with such a propulsion system. Yet you complain even before you know all the facts.”

“You are one obnoxious and arrogant alien,” Adam growled.

“The same can be said of you!”

The two creatures faced off in a glaring contest again. This time Adam blinked first.

“Dammit Panur…just tell me what did you did to my engines.”

“I converted them into what I call dimensional phase shifters, which is a hybrid system employing wormhole technology and a refined gravity drive. Theoretically, it should increase your maximum transit velocity by a factor of three.”

“Theoretically? You mean you don’t know…hell, does the damn thing even work?”

Panur’s eyes grew wide. “Forgive me, Mister Cain, but to me the word theoretical is merely a place-keeping term I use prior to confirmation. I have never achieved less than a ninety-six-point-two percent success rate on anything I have built. You must remember, I am the most intelligent being in the universe.”

“I haven’t forgotten. You won’t let me forget.”

Adam looked around at the interior of the hangar and noticed a whole array of new parts and equipment scattered about. “So where did you get all the stuff to upgrade the engines…and also to build a TD portal in my garage?”

“I admit, I did have to acquire additional items and construction tools, many of which were quite difficult to locate here on Earth.”

“And I’m sure they also cost money.”

“You are correct, and a rather large amount if I understand Human credits properly.”

Adam’s anger resurfaced. “You didn’t hack into my bank accounts, did you?” Financially, Adam was pretty well off these days—thanks to his celebrity—yet he wasn’t that rich. A knot formed in his gut.

Noticing the panic sweep over the Human’s face, Panur quickly replied, “Calm yourself, Adam Cain. I used my own credits. Your finances are untouched and intact.”

Panur’s answer only made Adam more confused. First of all, he didn’t know the alien had any of his own money. And secondly, if he did, where did he get it?

Anticipating the next question, Panur continued. “In your absence I made a visit to the city located not far from here.”

“You went into South Lake Tahoe?”

“More correctly, the city of Stateline.”

“Need I ask why?”

“To engage in your games of chance—gambling, you call it—although I must say the experience wasn’t very challenging.”

“And you won, of course,” Adam stated rather than asked. “How much?”

“Six million, nine hundred eight thousand…before I was restricted from participating any longer.”

Adam’s jaw fell slack. “You won over six million dollars—how?” he stammered.

“By calculating the odds and then employing progressive betting. I would have won much more, but I was only allowed approximately twenty minutes per establishment before being asked to leave, and then it took nearly a full day for your law enforcement personnel to verify that I had not cheated. I believe the fact that I am not of this planet made them very suspicious of my gains. And as a point of contention, they also made some rather rude remarks regarding my biological pedigree.”

“Can you blame them, about questioning whether you cheated or not? Those games aren’t designed for people to win. Just the opposite. And now you’ve gone out in public and caused a scene,” Adam scolded. “What about the Sol-Kor? You say they have spies everywhere, even on Earth. You do know there are security cameras throughout the casinos?”

“I took precautions,” said Panur with a devilish smile. “Please observe.”

As Adam watched, the pale skin of the alien began to turn several shades darker. Yet as remarkable as his chameleon-like transformation were, it was when he grew in height—increasing by nearly two feet in a matter of seconds—that Adam was truly impressed.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“It’s related to how I can regenerate the cells within my body, allowing me to live as long as I have. I simply manipulate the amount and pigmentation in order to transform my appearance. It will be nearly impossible for others to recognize me. As an added precaution, I also carried false documents.”

Panur resumed his normal appearance.

“It was still a risky move,” Adam pointed out. “If what you say is true, the Sol-Kor will pay any price to get you back.”

“Yes, they are accustomed to my inventions—and are most-appreciative, unlike some other creatures I know. The Queen will be quite focused on reacquiring me.”

 “If you keep taking chances like you just did, that’s going to happen sooner rather than later.” With a sigh, Adam stepped over to the alien and placed a hand on his thin shoulder. “The upgrades you’ve made to the Pegasus are fine. Thanks. And if there’s anything else you have to tell me, let’s save it until the morning. I’m exhausted and I’m going to bed.”

“I accomplished all I could in the time allotted, yet there are many more improvements I could make—with your permission, of course.”

“In the morning, buddy. And since you don’t sleep and I do, please try to keep the noise down to a reasonable level. Don’t go building any Godzillarific mega death-ray kind of thing either without letting me know first.”

“That I promise,” Panur said as the pair left the hangar and headed along the forest path towards Adam’s huge log home. “Now that you are here, I will brief you on all my future projects.”

“Groovy,” Adam said with a weary smile.

Confusion crossed Panur’s face—briefly—before his near-perfect recall summoned up the urban definition for the term. “Yes, groovy…dude,” he said, finishing the phrase as his memory dictated.

The pair parted ways, Adam to the house and his beckoning bed, while Panur returned to the detached garage to see what more trouble he could get into.

After all, the night was still young.

********

“That’s him, without a doubt,” said the square-jawed, uniformed officer as he watched the security feed from the casino. “He changed his appearance somehow, but that’s Panur.”

The other man in the room wasn’t so sure. “This creature is taller and with darker skin.”

“I’ve seen this before. The damn thing can change its shape,” replied the stern-faced commando. “That’s how we lost him in Key West. Besides, we tracked him back to Cain’s place after leaving the casinos. There’s something going on between those two that makes me nervous.”

“His papers have him listed as a Crionean.”

“What the hell’s a Crionean? That’s a new one.”

“Some obscure race from the other side of the galaxy. His passport was in order.”

“So how do you explain someone—anyone—winning so much money in an hour and a half?”

“But that’s not why we’re tracking him, Cap.”

Captain Victor Noone, U.S. Army Special Forces Assault Group Alpha, studied the frozen image of the alien on the screen. “I wish it was. I’d sleep better at night in that case.”

The other man shrugged. “The team’s in place, just waiting your call…” He trailed off. “Are you sure we can even do this?” Lieutenant Steven Thomas asked. “This is supposed to be some kind of super-alien, like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

“It’s not a question of if we can, Lieutenant, it’s that we have to. You’ve seen what the Sol-Kor can do. This may be our only chance of saving the Human race.”

“Cain’s not going to like this.”

“Tough shit. The stakes are too high to let him get in the way. And if it comes down to it, I choose the survival of the species over the life of any one individual, even if that person is the famous Adam Cain. Saddle up, Mr. Thomas. We move out in fifteen minutes.”

Chapter 2

Adam was asleep nearly as soon as his head hit the pillow…but he wouldn’t remain that way for long.

He wasn’t sure if it was a vibration he felt or a hum he heard, but he was jolted from his slumber, straining to identify the source of the interruption. It seemed to be coming from the garage.

Adam fumed, convinced that Panur must have activated the TD portal—and against his specific orders not to do so. Dressed only in boxer shorts, he slipped out from under the covers and started searching the darkened room for his shoes.

That’s when the entire right side of his house imploded.

It takes a lot to knock down a log home, especially one built of thirty-six inch timbers with twenty-foot-long steel rods threaded between them. Yet the force of the massive explosion did a decent job, sending several tons of round cedar logs and pillars tumbling in and crushing the bed Adam had been in only seconds before. Then the roof gave way, freeing two huge crossbeams to cascade down from their crumbling supports.

Adam dove for the bedroom door, slipping through just as one of the huge logs slammed against it. Like a house of cards—not logs—the structure began to crumble, yet even as he ran for the nearest exit he recognized the whoosh of flash weapons discharging outside, along with a torrent of traditional automatic machine gun fire. There was a battle taking place on his property, and his precious mountain home had just become its first fatality.

As a former Navy SEAL, Adam was never far from laying his hands on a weapon. Most of his arsenal was locked away in his gun safe; however, he also had a fair assortment of smaller handguns, knives, and even a couple of MK plasma weapons stashed throughout the house—just in case. Without even noticing from where, he suddenly had a SIG-Sauer .45 semi-automatic pistol in his hand and was sprinting for the kitchen and the door closest to the garage—just ahead of his pancaking home.

Outside, a brilliant mountain moon lit up the forest, aided by the fire engulfing the east side of his garage and the blinding flashes of energy weapons streaking through the night. He slipped in behind a huge granite boulder set next to the path leading to the garage and assessed the battleground. His brand new Escalade SUV was a crumpled mass of twisted metal in the driveway, having been caught in the crossfire between two forces, one inside the garage and the other in the forest. The flash bolts were coming from the garage, the echoing gunfire of traditional projectile weapons from the tree line.

He could see the combatants positioned in the forest—Human, dressed in black and green camo combat fatigues and with military-grade weaponry. Bodies were scattered around. It appeared the commandos had already taken quite a beating.

Their prospects turned worse when a pair of truly massive aliens suddenly burst from the open garage door and charged the Humans’ position. An onslaught of precise gunfire ripped into the creatures, yet they kept coming, seemingly impervious to the damage being caused to their bloodied bodies.

Adam had never seen these particular beasts before—if he had, he would have remembered. They were true giants, measuring easily ten feet tall and surely weighing a ton or more each. They wore basic black pants that reached to mid-calf on their tree-trunk thick legs, along with burnished metal chest plates covering their upper torsos. Then to Adam’s relief, one of the giants keeled over, overcome by the dozens of bullets penetrating its tough hide.

At least they can be killed. And with that thought, Adam glanced down at the solitary handgun in his hand and winced. Although this won’t do much good…

Suddenly, a massive hand grabbed his right arm and tossed him into the air. He landed hard on the other side of the pathway, before rolling to his left and coming up with the .45 aimed at his Goliath-like attacker. He opened up, emptying the entire fifteen-round magazine into the alien. The charging beast ignored the shots and planted a thick fist onto Adam’s left shoulder. He rolled with the punch to lessen the impact and was up and at the creature’s side in a flash, unleashing his own series of solid blows to the alien’s exposed mid-section.

As it was with most aliens—big or small—Adam was much quicker than his adversary. Yet the beast took Adam’s hits in stride, and instead of succumbing, used its catcher’s-mitt-sized palm to sweep a powerful slap across Adam’s face. The Human absorbed the blow with relative ease; however, the first slap was followed quickly by another, and then another.

“Will you knock it off!” Adam yelled at the creature. But the thing just kept slapping, sending him a step back with each impact.

That’s when Adam decided to go for broke.

With the alien towering above him, he had a clear shot at the junction where the legs met the groin. Not knowing the creature’s anatomy—or even whether it was male or female—Adam took the shot anyway, sending his bare foot directly up and into the “V” where—hopefully—the beast’s family jewels were located.

Adam had tried this maneuver on extraterrestrials before. It worked about fifty percent of the time.

Fortunately, this was one of them.

The giant let out an ear-piercing scream, before buckling over and grabbing at his private parts. Without hesitation, Adam picked up a basketball-size boulder from along the walkway and brought it crashing down on the back of the creature’s thick head. It dropped to the ground with a decisive thud.

Free of distractions, Adam looked to his left and noticed that the Human force was down to only a handful of desperate survivors. The lone attacking giant had done a number on them before eventually succumbing to the commando’s relentless automatic gunfire. Yet plasma bolts were still streaking out from the garage.

That was when Adam saw something within the flickering light inside the building that made him gasp. The image was gone a second later, but the impossibility of what he thought he saw sent him scrambling to the side of the garage, oblivious to the gunfire splintering the thick logs that made up the structure. Instinctively, he ducked down as a series of lead rounds traced a path just above his head, but then he fell on his belly and crawled the rest of the way until he could look around the corner of the open garage door.

His stomach drew into knots when he received the confirmation he sought.

It was a Klin, with its distinctive body of shimmering silver skin encased in a black exo-skeleton contraption, allowing it to move more easily within Earth’s oppressive gravity. Further back was another Klin, along with three more of the ten-foot-tall giants.

A glowing ball of light arched out of the garage and landed in the middle of the remaining Human combatants. A brilliant flash followed, along with a fiery explosion and concussion. The powerful blast threw Adam away from the doorway and against one of the granite boulders, knocking the air from his lungs. A moment later, he looked to the spot where the Humans had been positioned and could detect no movement.

He staggered back to the garage door, falling again on his belly, unarmed and unsure what to do next. By then, the Klin and their surrogate muscle had retreated further into the building and away from the burning eastern wall, no longer concerned with an attack from outside. Standing next to the TD portal, the Klin appeared agitated, waving their mechanically-enhanced arms and shouting commands to the giants. A search was being ordered.

Panur’s not in the garage! Adam realized. And if not, then where the hell is he?

The Pegasus!

Adam jumped up and moved quickly along the side of the garage, avoiding the lancing flames, until he reached the dirt path that led to the starship hangar. As he sprinted over the tiny rocks and pine needles on bloody feet, he glanced back and saw the three giants emerge from the garage and head his way.

The beasts were large and strong, yet they weren’t very fast, and Adam reached the hangar well ahead of them. The side hatch to the starship was open—it had been closed earlier—and he barreled straight through, bouncing off a facing bulkhead before turning to his right and stumbling into the pilothouse.

Panur was seated at the co-pilot station, appearing calm and composed.

“I was expecting you thirty seconds ago,” said the tiny alien. “In another twenty I would have launched the ship myself.”

Adam ignored him, and had already pressed the chemical liftoff control button before dropping into the pilot’s seat. When nothing happened, he panicked and slammed his fist down on the ignition once again. “What the hell?”

“You don’t need the chemical thrusters any longer,” Panur explained.

“So how do we launch?”

“Like this…” Panur grasped the control stick and pressed a button on the right side of his panel. The move was met instantly with a thundering crash from above, along with a swooshing sound as outside air swept over the hull of the accelerating Pegasus II.

“We just crashed through the roof of the hangar!” Adam cried out.

“Your delay in arriving did not afford me the opportunity to open the canopy. I did not want to give away my position to the Klin—or to the Humans—before you arrived.”

Adam stared down at this control panel, not sure what to do next. It was obvious the alien had reconfigured the panel, so he didn’t want to take a chance of hitting the wrong button at the wrong time.

Sensing his trepidation, Panur leaned over and tapped the upper-most engine select button. “There, now you have gravity drive under your command. Later, I will show you how to engage the hybrid function I’ve installed.”

“Thanks,” Adam said, although he wasn’t feeling very thankful at the moment. He looked out the front viewport and watched the moon  sweep past. Normally, this kind of speed would be reserved for travel outside a gravity-intense stellar system, but a quick glance at his command screen showed that they were already traveling at nearly twenty-times light speed.

“I’m going to have to back off,” Adam said. “We could really screw up the system with a gravity well this deep.”

“Please check your readings first,” Panur said calmly.

Adam did, and then he checked them again. “This can’t be right.”

“Why do you continue to deny the fact that I made improvements to your propulsion system? The readings are correct. The well is of minimum depth, so there will be no disruption of nearby solid bodies. If you wish, I will allow you to engage the hybrid system. However, please have the autopilot activated beforehand. Your reactions may not be quick enough to respond to objects appearing within our path.”

“Why are we heading out of the system in the first place?” Adam asked. “We’re safe now.”

“On the contrary, those were Humans—as well as Klin—attacking your home tonight.”

“The Humans were probably there to protect you…or me.”

Panur smiled. “Unfortunately, that is not the case. They were there on the same mission as the Klin, to apprehend me for eventual return to the Sol-Kor.”

“Bullsh—”

The comm speakers came to life. “Calling the Pegasus II. Calling the Pegasus II. Please respond.”

Adam recognized the voice immediately. He toggled a switch to activate the voice-only link. “Andy, what the hell’s going on?”

“Adam, I’m glad you’re aboard,” said a serious-sounding Admiral Andy Tobias. “If the alien answered, that would mean you were still back at the compound…and probably dead by now.”

“No, I’m very much alive and mad as hell. The Klin destroyed my home, and now Panur says Humans were also involved in the attack.”

“Return to the planet immediately. We’ll talk when you get back.”

The Pegasus II was just passing the orbit of Mars, and proximity sensors were picking up at least twenty ships closing on their position. “Is it true? Are the Klin after Panur? Are we?”

“Just bring him back, Captain. That’s an order.”

Adam raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t been active in the military for over eight years, so Tobias was no longer his commanding officer. “What’s going on, Admiral? This isn’t like you.”

Panur leaned over closer to Adam. “Do not trust him,” he whispered. “They do not have all the information they need to make an informed decision.”

“Just bring him back,” Tobias ordered again. “If not, then I’m authorized to destroy the Pegasus II and recover his body from the debris. He’ll survive, but you won’t.”

Adam was stunned. This was Andy Tobias, one of his oldest and dearest friends, and his former senior officer when Adam was with SEAL Team Six. And he’d just said that he would order Adam’s death if he didn’t comply.

“Okay, Admiral, I’m turning around, but you better have a pretty good explanation when I get there.”

Panur reached over to the pilot’s command console and fingered two buttons. Instantly the star field through the forward viewport turned a hazy green and a strange tunnel appeared before them, sending thin streaks of light bubbling away from the tunnel. Adam felt like the air was being sucked from his lungs, even though it was only from his reaction to the visual effects through the viewport and not from any actual sensation of movement.

“What did you just do?” he asked once he regained his composure.

“I activated the dimensional phase shifter. We are now safe, and well beyond the reach of your military vessels.”

“But I have to take you back to Earth.”

“I cannot go there. If I do, your people will turn me over the Sol-Kor.”

“Bullshit! We don’t have anything to do with them, except the desire to kill every last one we can find.”

“Yet your race, along with the Klin—and more than likely the Juireans as well—

have all been offered immunity from Sol-Kor attack in exchange for my return to the Queen.”

Adam was suddenly overwhelmed by a flood of thoughts, not the least being the revelation that the Human race could avoid becoming a harvest crop of the Sol-Kor simply by returning Panur to the Queen. He cast a furtive glance at the tiny alien and noticed an amused smile on his face.

“Before you begin devising ways of restraining me for our eventual return to Earth, allow me a moment to give you all the facts. Will you grant me that?”

“But Humanity can be saved, with no more fear of becoming the latest addition to the Sol-Kor dinner menu.”

“Unfortunately, that is not true. If it were, I would gladly surrender myself. I like the Humans—and you in particular. Please give me five minutes. If at the end of that time you are not convinced that I should never again join with the Sol-Kor, then I will allow you to take me back.”

Adam eyed the pale alien with suspicion. Besides using his incredible intellect to create new and revolutionary inventions, Panur also had the ability to essentially read minds simply by studying body language and other subtle tells. He could also think several steps ahead, making any debate with him nearly a foregone conclusion. So Adam wasn’t sure he could trust the alien to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. He would make it sound convincing, but the very concept of reality was often what Panur made it out to be. How Adam could tell whether or not he was being manipulated, he didn’t know, but entering the conversation with a healthy dose of skepticism would be a good start.

“Okay, five minutes. But be honest with me, Panur. I consider you a friend, and friends don’t lie to one another.”

“Which in itself is an untruth,” said Panur, “yet I will allow you that. I will tell the truth, after which you will see the logic in my actions.”

“All right, the clock is ticking. Get talking or I’m turning the ship around.”

Panur spun around in the co-pilot seat until he was facing Adam. His face grew placid. “You may believe this is the first time I have parted ways with the Sol-Kor, when in fact this is the sixteenth such event.”

“Why do you keep going back?”

“Please allow me extra time if you are going to interrupt with questions.”

Adam leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “Well, excuse me,” he said. “By all means, continue.”

Panur nodded. “As I was saying, this is the sixteenth time, and in none of the previous departures did I return to the Sol-Kor of my own choosing. Each time I became the subject of a massive search and was eventually located, subdued, and repatriated.”

Adam began to say something, but instead snapped his mouth shut.

Panur smiled. “I know what you are thinking: I am Panur, the super-being, immortal and of unsurpassed intellect. So how is it I can be successfully caught and returned? The answer lies before you.” He swept his hands over his body. “Look at me. I am small and relatively weak. Physically, I am no match for countless species, so it is quite easy for me to be restrained against my will.” He nodded again. “Yes, in the past I have built defensive weapons, yet even they proved inadequate against overwhelming force. The Queen has often made galaxy-wide proclamations which set me against trillions of creatures, all seeking survival through my capture and return.”

“Take whatever damn time you need, but I’m going to ask questions,” Adam suddenly blurted. “Even if you do get returned, you’re still Panur, this hotshot alien that can’t be killed. So why do you keep building weapons and devices that allow the Sol-Kor to exterminate entire species?”

“Because I must.”

That wasn’t the answer Adam had been expecting, and he saw something in Panur’s eyes he’d never seen before—fear.

The alien noticed Adam’s reaction. “I know this may be puzzling to you. What can force a creature who cannot die into doing anything he doesn’t want to do? You must realize there are many things just as terrifying as death, even for an immortal.”

“What could be worse than dying?”

“Not dying, Adam Cain,” Panur answered. “With such a cryptic reply, I know I must provide more detail for you to understand.” The alien appeared to gather his thoughts. “You have remarked how it is that I don’t sleep. This is not hard to understand when you realize my body doesn’t require it, yet even if it did, I would resist the need. Sleep is such a waste of time, especially for me. I do realize how unique I am, and every moment I live I appreciate the special gift I’ve been given. That is why I am so curious of all things around me, and why I am always seeking new experiences. It’s the price I pay for this gift. I equate my need for activity—for creation and invention—to your need to breathe. And even though there may appear to be times when I am doing nothing, in reality I am always thinking. I do not experiment, Adam. I think, and through thinking I create. Turning my thoughts into reality is simply a physical and mechanical process, because by that time the project has already been completed—in my mind.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you help the Sol-Kor. I would imagine this unquenchable thirst for knowledge would go against all the Sol-Kor stand for. All they do is consume. They don’t colonize, they don’t invent, they don’t progress. They’re your direct opposite. Yet it’s your space engines, dimension portals, and suppressor beams that allow them to do what they do. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“More than you can imagine.”

“So what’s this hold the Queen has over you?”

Panur hesitated before answering. “Do not be offended, but there is information that if revealed will give you—and those you tell—this same hold over me as does the Queen.”

“You brought up the subject, so don’t leave me hanging. Just being with you right now is a much bigger risk to me than it is to you. If you want me to help, then I need to know it all.”

“You must not relay this information to anyone.”

“Trust me, Panur. Now tell me.”

“Very well. As you know, I absorb energy directly to sustain my bodily functions, whereas other creatures must consume food and other nourishment that then gets converted into the requisite energy to sustain life. My way is simpler and more direct, yet have you considered what would happen if I do not receive the energy I require?”

“I hadn’t thought of that. You’d die?”

“No, and that is the quandary. I don’t die, my body goes into a dormant stage until an energy source comes near. I can get this energy from just about anything: electrical circuits, plasma weapons, even the innate electrical charge associated with all large objects, such as planets, including lightning that ionizes the atmosphere. In general, it is very difficult for me not to acquire the energy I need.”

“Yet the Queen has found a way?”

“Precisely.”

“But then your body just goes dormant. You still don’t die.”

“That is correct.”

The fear in Panur’s eyes was even more pronounced.

“I don’t understand.”

“It becomes complicated,” the alien said. “Let me try this approach. I have studied your Human culture, and I know some of you are very good at playing musical instruments. Imagine being threatened with never being allowed to play again. Would you not fear that?”

“Of course, but if the alternative was to build deadly weapons that would be used against trillions of innocent people, I’d consider that a fair trade.”

“I see I am having difficulty with my explanation. Let me try another tack. For creatures like you, death is your ultimate deadline…your ultimate escape. It is the same with every living being, and even with planets, stars, and universes. You accept this, and therefore whatever you can achieve during the time you have available is satisfactory. You may regret not accomplishing certain things throughout your time, yet you realize you could not achieve it all, so you do not let it consume you. Yet what if you knew you had no time limit, that you could continue forever doing what gives you immeasurable joy and purpose? Would then the possibly of that being interrupted not scare you? Having a time limit on your life defines your boundaries and the scope of your endeavors. Without this limit, perspectives change. To you I have all the time I need to accomplish anything I desire, so why worry about time? I will live forever. You may find it strange and incomprehensible, but the only thing an immortal fears is not being immortal.”

“Hey, I’m just a simple soldier,” Adam said. “I think you lost me on that one. You say you’re immortal, but you fear not being immortal. You mean not being immortal any longer? Is that it?”

“You are getting closer to understanding, Adam Cain,” Panur said. His mood seemed to lift considerably. “When I enter a dormant stage, I can no longer do all the things I must do to give my life purpose. Knowing that I am simply in a dormant stage and being prevented from fulfilling my destiny is—to me—the worst kind of torture.”

“You’re conscious during these dormant stages?”

“No, I am not. And if I never transform back to a normal state, then I would not have the opportunity to regret my lack of activity during that period. Yet each time I go under the Queen revives me. The emotions associated with my revival are the most intense I experience. My addiction to creating has not been fed, and I feel the need to compensate.”

“And that’s why you build the Sol-Kor weapons?”

“No, it is not. What I meant by compensating is that I do, indeed, begin to study, build, and invent anew, and not necessarily just the items the Queen commands. It is everything.”

Panur’s face grew a shade darker. Adam didn’t know whether this was intentional or not. “I follow the Queen’s dictates just so she will not place me in the dormant stage again. Having experienced it, having been revived—several times—I know what I have missed. I know the agony of regret I feel when I come out at the other end. I know of all the opportunities that have been lost. And I know the Queen can toy with me over centuries, reviving me briefly, only to send me back under again after only an hour or so of consciousness. Death to Humans is acceptable, and often times even welcomed. Knowing what I know now, I would also welcome death if it meant I would never have to live again. Yet I know I will not die, and that life—and the fear—will come again and again. I understand that our perspectives are so different that you may have trouble understanding this apparent dichotomy. I don’t fear death, just the possibility of it not being final.”

“Wow, that’s some heavy shit,” Adam admitted. “So she keeps you in a perpetual state of fear, the fear of dying—if only temporary.”

“It is the certainty of revival that makes my situation so unique and perplexing. Unless you’ve experienced what I have, it is very difficult to grasp the concept. And so I create for the Queen, lest I remember what it was like to be alive before and dwell on all that I have missed while I was gone.”

“Still, wouldn’t you sacrifice your life if doing so would save trillions of others? What if each time she revives you, you just say no to her demands?”

Some of the enthusiasm Panur had been showing now drained from his body. “Do you believe I have not tried that? There is only so much even I can tolerate. After each series of protests, I eventually succumbed and did my Queen’s bidding. You may find this abhorrent, yet until you’ve experienced what I have been through, it is very hard to comprehend.”

Adam shook his head, trying to come to grips with the strange confession he’d just heard. He had no doubt Panur was sincere, yet having grown up in and around the military, Adam knew everyone had a point where they would sacrifice everything for the greater good. Because death was final for Humans, they saw it as their ultimate escape from bondage—the final up-yours to their capturers. Yet what if you didn’t die, and just kept waking up to go through it all over again? In a small way, Adam was coming to understand some of Panur’s anxiety.

He glanced at the nav screen and saw that the Pegasus II was already six light-years out from Earth and getting further away with each passing second. Panur’s admission had been interesting, yet it was off topic. The alien might fear being returned to the Queen, yet Adam had his entire race to consider, and so far he wasn’t convinced that placating Panur’s fears was a fair tradeoff.

“I’m sorry, Panur, but if I have to choose between saving the Human race or keeping you from suffering at the hands of the Queen, I choose mankind.”

“Understandable…and expected,” said the alien. “Yet consider what you just said. If I’m returned to the Sol-Kor, I will continue to work on deadly weapons that may eventually be used against you and your kind. And here is a truth you had better accept: never in the history of the Sol-Kor have they honored an immunity agreement.”

“You mean for returning you?”

“Yes, and why should they? I am back in their custody, which is all they desire. As you have said, the Sol-Kor do not colonize, nor do they seek long-term accommodations with others. They are of a single purpose: the pursuit of food. Furthermore, the subject race granted immunity often feels secure with the agreement and lowers their guard against the Sol-Kor. And that is when they attack.” Panur’s face took on a sad expression. “I wish I could provide you with evidence of this, yet in every case the species that returned me was consumed within a very short time. Every time. So you see you have been given a false choice. Returning me will not save your species—or any species—yet it will increase the chance of me inventing other means of subduing even more worlds. As a fact, I’m nearing completion on a suppressor beam upgrade which can dominate an entire planet from a light-year away. As it is today, the Sol-Kor need over a hundred beam platforms and considerable set-up time to subdue a planet. With my new beam, a single platform is required, with no units within close proximity of the target world. It will greatly improve the efficiency of the harvest.”

Adam rested his head on the end of the control stick. “Then just don’t finish the damn thing,” he said without lifting his head.

“I just told you why I must complete the project. Were you not listening?”

Adam turned his head toward the alien. “Yes, dickhead, I was listening.”

Panur furrowed his brow as the translation worked its way through his mind.

“Then you must not have understood the message. As I said, I go into a dormant st—”

“Yes, I get all that,” Adam interrupted. “There’s no need to repeat it.” He sat up again and slumped back in the chair. “So this offer of immunity is all bullshit, and if you do get returned to the Queen, you’ll complete a weapon that will allow Earth—and countless other worlds—to be overcome even easier.”

Panur attempted a smile. “That is something I truly enjoy about Humans. You can condense a subject down to a single sentence or two if need be. That is a benefit of having such a simple mind.”

Adam stared out the viewport at the strange looking tunnel the ship was plowing through. “So what are we supposed to do now? I could try convincing Andy that you should never be returned to the Sol-Kor, but I doubt he’d believe me. He’d look at it just as I did at first, as a way to buy us time to better prepare a defense. I doubt the Klin and the Juireans will call off the bounty, either.”

“It is a perplexing situation.”

“No shit. I can’t hide you forever, and once word gets out that any race that returns you to the Queen will be spared, everyone and their alien brother will be out looking for you, regardless of what we say.”

“That is how it has been in the past, and why I have always been returned.”

Adam felt a sour lump in his stomach. “I’ll be seen as the one who selfishly kept you from their salvation. Thanks a lot, Panur. I’m going from being a hero to a goat overnight. You know how many high schools will have to change their name as a result of this?”

“Twenty-eight,” Panur replied.

“Twenty-eight, are you screwing with me?”

“No, I have studied the records.”

“Only twenty-eight?” Adam was let down. He assumed the number was a lot higher.

“However, three more are opening this year,” Panur said after studying his expression. “Does that make you feel better?”

Adam shook his head at the alien. “Feel better? Let’s see: my reputation is ruined, my home is destroyed, I’m the subject of a galaxy-wide man-slash-alien hunt…and I’m sitting here in my boxer shorts, bruised, cut up, and freezing from the damn air conditioning. You’ll have to do a lot better than that to make me feel better.”

Chapter 3

Admiral Andy Tobias tapped his fingers on the cover of the report he cradled in his lap, anxiously awaiting the call to enter the conference room. He had been kept waiting in the anteroom for over fifteen minutes past the scheduled time for his briefing, and Tobias was not one to tolerate missed deadlines. As the highest ranking Navy SEAL in the fleet, he and his charges operated by strict timetables, often measured in seconds. It was how operations were run—by the book…and by the clock.

Dealing with politicians…they seldom kept to schedules, content to bloviate well beyond their allotted time.

When finally he was summoned into the meeting, Andy wasn’t the least bit surprised to find a small contingent of Juireans present. After all, the worlds of the Expansion were also at risk from the Sol-Kor. Two Klin were also in attendance. He fought hard to suppress a smile as he noticed the obvious physical distress the pair were under as a result of Earth’s gravity. The silver-skinned aliens could tolerate it for short periods, yet with the meeting running into extra innings, the Klin were just about at the end of their endurance.

Serves the bastards right for destroying Adam’s house, Andy thought, as he took a chair at the far end of the table opposite the President of the Orion-Cygnus Union. Now where am I going to go for a little R&R? Adam’s recipe for mountain trout was to kill for.

Andy saw President Michael Osbourne eyeing him with an expression bordering on apologetic. Tobias had known the career politician for over thirty years, beginning when Osbourne served a stint as Secretary of Defense under the old American regime. He knew Andy, and would be aware that under his calm exterior, the admiral was steaming. He had better things to do than give a report to a bunch of self-centered politicians and aliens.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting so long, Admiral Tobias,” said the president. “It’s just that our course of action in light of current events is still in flux. We’re hoping you can provide us with the latest intel, something that will help in our decision-making process.”

“I will do my best, Mr. President.” Andy opened the cover of his report and hesitated slightly before beginning, debating whether to draw out his presentation as long as possible simply to torture the Klin, or to wrap it up quickly so he could get on to more important matters. Seeing the agony of the narrow faces of the Klin had him leaning towards dragging it out. Yet another glance at the stern-faced Juireans changed his mind. The sooner he was away from the mane-heads, the better.

“As you’re aware,” he began, “Captain Cain’s ship accelerated out of the solar system at a rate never seen before, so it’s obvious Panur has made some modifications to the engines, and it has also left virtually no trace to follow.”

“Virtually. Then there is some residual?” The Klin’s voice was weak and strained.

Tobias turned toward the alien and smiled. “I was speaking in generalities, Mister Ambassador. The gravity drive did leave a track, up until something new kicked in. Then it was as if the ship disappeared. It reappeared almost a light year away, before disappearing again.”

“So you cannot track it?”

“No, we cannot. It’s as if the ship can hop from one point in space to another without leaving any record of its passage.”

“How is that possible?” asked Jack Hardy, the scientific attaché for the Union.

“I wish I knew,” Andy answered honestly. “The gravity drive also appears to be working at an elevated level of efficiency, yet this new thing—this jump drive—is beyond anything we’ve seen before.”

“Do you at least have a direction in which they fled?” asked the Klin Ambassador.

“The first couple of hops were within our range, and it showed a haphazard jump sequence. I’m sure that routine continued even when they fell off our scopes. They could be anywhere by now, and I mean anywhere. That new drive will revolutionize starship pro—”

“If you can find Cain and capture the ship intact,” President Osbourne threw in. “Any more information gleaned from the brief conversation you had with Captain Cain?”

“We were able to pick up another voice, that of the alien—I mean the being known as Panur. He said: ‘Don’t trust him. They don’t have all the information they need to make an informed decision.’”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, Mr. President. That was moments before the ship accelerated out of the system.”

“Where would they be going?” asked a white-maned Juirean Overlord. “Did you not order your subordinate to return to the planet?”

“Yes I did, Overlord Palon, yet Adam Cain is no longer under my command.”

“And yet he must have been aware of your serious desire to acquire this creature Panur?”

Andy looked first at the Juirean and then the Klin. “You have also been offered immunity,” he stated when the reality struck him. “That’s why the Klin attacked Adam’s house.”

“Yes, both the Klin and the Juireans have also been offered immunity for returning Panur,” said President Osbourne quickly. “As have the Sileans, the Hybens, the Formilians, and about a hundred other species. That’s old news, Admiral. Let’s move on.”

“So it’s a race to see who can find him first? What about the rest of us then, the ones left out when Panur is found and returned?”

“That’s the purpose of this meeting, Admiral,” said Osbourne. “It’s obvious now what the Sol-Kor are doing, so it’s important we present a unified front. There won’t be immunity for just one of us, but for everyone in the galaxy. At least that’s the offer we’re going to make once we get possession of Panur.”

“And what if they say no?”

“Let’s just find Cain first, Admiral.”

“That won’t be easy.”

“He is one of your kind,” said the Juirean. “Surely you must understand his ways.”

Andy turned to the mouthy alien. “Yes, he’s one of our kind, but Adam Cain knows this galaxy better than any Human alive. He’s been to every corner and has contacts from here to the other Arm. If he wishes to remain hidden, he’ll remain hidden.”

“Even if it means his entire species will be consumed by the Sol-Kor?”

“If he chooses not to return Panur, then he must have a very good reason.”

“Communications?” asked the president. “Surely we can still reach him through continuous-wormhole links.”

“CW channels are open and broadcasts are being made. He’ll contact us when he’s ready, but probably not until he’s found a safe place to go to ground.”

“Even so, I want all his prior associates contacted and watched. And send out a galaxy-wide announcement to be on the lookout for him. Offer a sizeable reward. We have to find Cain and Panur as soon as possible. With the Sol-Kor continuing their attacks, the future of the Milky Way galaxy could depend on it. You know him best, Admiral, so where’s he going and what’s his next move?”

Tobias shook his head. “He could go anywhere, Mr. President. Rest assured, by now Captain Cain has already formulated a plan of action designed to keep him from being found. He’ll have every detail nailed down, contingencies for each phase of the op. There’ll be no flying by the seat of his pants, every move will have a purpose. It’s what he’s been trained to do. I’ll send out your announcements, Mr. President, but Adam Cain will only be found when he wants to be found.”

Chapter 4

 “So what am I supposed to do now?” Adam blurted, finally reaching the breaking point after Panur’s insatiable line of questioning. “You’ve parked the Pegasus somewhere outside the plane of the galaxy, and five hundred light-years from the nearest civilized planet. We have the whole galaxy out looking for us—and you know I can’t hide you forever. What would be the point? I’m keeping you away from the Sol-Kor just so you won’t build them any more super death-rays, but even if I could hide you forever, the Colony will just keep absorbing planets until there’s no one left—which they’ll do even if you are returned…according to what you say. So what do you have in mind? You’re the genius around here, not me.”

“You are quite right on all accounts, and in order to secure my current status—short of having your entire galaxy stripped clean of advanced life—we must eliminate the Sol-Kor as a threat to your universe.”

“Duh…and how do we do that?”

“The first step is we must shut down all trans-dimensional portals, both here and in the other realms where they exist.”

“You know where the new portals are located?”

“No, not the ones currently being built by the Sol-Kor. However, before embarking for your universe, I detected six other doorways already in operation.”

“Six? I thought only the Klin built a portal?”

“The Klin built the only device capable of transiting starships. The other portals are of the smaller variety, such as the one I built in your garage.”

“Where are they?”

“Various locations within your universe. However, none of the smaller versions are within your galaxy.”

Adam shook his head. “Even if we destroy all of them—including the ones the Sol-Kor are building—that won’t stop others from inventing them in the future.”

“No, it will not. Yet if that happens outside your galaxy, the Sol-Kor will then concentrate their efforts within those harvest fields. Your home galaxy could be safe for several thousand years.”

“Or, as you’ve pointed out, they could use these other portals to branch out to neighboring galaxies. They know the location of the Milky Way and they know you’re here. That will make getting over here a priority.”

“The only other option would be to eliminate the threat at the source.”

“The Queen?”

“Not only that, but the entire Colony. If this queen dies, another will replace her and the activities of the Colony will continue.”

Adam had tended to his cuts and bruises and taken a shower before dressing in a pale blue tunic. Now he and Panur were in the common room aboard the Pegasus II, discussing their options.

“So all we need to do is find a way to kill off a trillion Sol-Kor who just happen to be in another universe. Doesn’t sound too hard.”

“That is my belief as well, Adam Cain. After all, they are mostly concentrated in one loca—”

“Are you mad? I wasn’t serious. We can’t take on the entire Sol-Kor Colony, not the two of us—unless you can come up with a new super-powerful weapon we can use against them. You can, can’t you?”

“I can think on it for a while. I’m sure I can come up with something…if given the time. In the meantime, it is imperative that you keep me safe and away from the Sol-Kor. You may need assistance to achieve that goal.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Let’s see, I’ll need something like the combined strength of the Humans, Juireans, Formilians and the Rigorians, just for starters. Oh yeah, and they just happen to be the same people who will kill me on sight just to get to you.”

“They must be convinced that turning me over to the Queen will not spare their worlds.”

“And for that I need to have a more detailed conversation with Andy—Admiral Tobias—and lay it out for him.” Adam reached for the comm button on his lap-top tablet.

“You do know that CW communications can be traced?”

Adam hesitated. “Traced? I didn’t know that. Are you sure?”

Panur frowned. “Even my systems can be traced, which means your primitive versions are wide open to anyone with the proper equipment.”

“What equipment?”

“I’m sure your people may not have the means, but I know for a fact that the Sol-Kor do. With the very nature of CW—that being longer communication periods—I would not be surprised if the Sol-Kor are already monitoring your communications in their search for me.”

“They can’t monitor all communications…”

“Not every communication sent is by CW technology. There cannot be more than half a trillion transmissions of this type at any given time within your galaxy. The Colony does possess the means of scanning that many transmissions simultaneously.”

“Let me guess: you built the equipment giving them that capability, right?”

“Of course. The Sol-Kor by themselves are very low-tech.”

Adam pulled up the navigation screen on his tablet. “Staying out here, without the means to communicate with anyone, is unacceptable. I need a base of operations, someplace we’ll be safe, yet with the resources to stay on top of current events.”

“Where might that be?”

“I know a place…or at least I did once. I may have to call in few favors, but it sure beats hanging out here in the middle of nowhere with an entire galaxy out gunning for us. Now show me how this new drive of yours works. You’ve screwed with my control board, so I don’t want to fly us through the middle of a star. That may give you something neat to talk about in the future, but it wouldn’t do my mortal body any good.”

“Do not blame me for your shortcomings, Adam Cain. Not everyone can have the privilege of being immortal.”

Chapter 5

Two days later the Pegasus II was nearing the Fringe, and after having had time to think about how to overcome the Sol-Kor threat, Panur announced that he could build a device that could detect all the new portals operating within the Milky Way Galaxy. Adam saw this as positive step forward, the ability to shut down the aliens’ access. It wasn’t a quick fix, but it did hold promise, as long as the rest of the galaxy united to form an effective strike force against the existing Sol-Kor fleet.

But now Adam felt his eyes cross as he scanned the material list for Panur’s portal detector. “I don’t have a clue what ninety percent of this stuff is. You’re going to have to be a little more descriptive.”

“That’s understandable. If you were capable of identifying these items, you could build your own detector. As it is, I feel secure in knowing that I am the only one who can.”

“We’re on the same side here, Panur. We need you to build the detector, but you also need the rest of us to destroy the portals and defeat the Sol-Kor in battle. So how about a little cooperation?”

“Agreed. I will try to go slow so you can understand. My detector must be extremely sensitive, since transit through trans-dimensional portals sends out faint yet identifiable waves, interrupting the underlying harmonics of the universe. I need a material that can absorb these harmonics, and then a method of reading these disruptions. Your brain-interface device is a suitable reader, yet I will need four of them to form a zonal collector of the harmonic waves coming off the detector.”

“Four of them? Will mine work?”

“Yes, once removed from your body. I am fully capable of performing the operation. Shall we begin?”

“Hold on a minute. Let’s wait until we figure out how to get the other three, along with all this other stuff. I may need the artificial telepathy device in the meantime.”

“That is such an inadequate description of the device. The communications function is only a small part of its utility.”

“Only the Formilians make the implants.”

“I understand that. I also know you have a unique relationship with the leader of the Formilians. All I need is three more.”

“Okay, let’s say I can manage to wrangle three more ATDs out of Arieel, what else do you need?”

“For the device itself, I will need a naturally occurring material with the sensitivity to detect changes in universal harmonics.”

“Naturally occurring? What does that mean?”

“It means it’s not artificial, but rather a substance found within the physical environment.”

“That sounds easy. Go on.”

“I need a mass of this material approximately one thousand pounds in weight and with near-perfect uniformity.”

“What kind of substance?”

“That which is formed within a C-star. Its item is number two on the list.”

“So just a little C-star material. You know, it’s been a while since I’ve been to Home Depot, but I’m pretty sure they don’t carry that stuff in-store. Maybe it’s a special order item.”

“Your colloquial humor is wasted on me, Adam Cain.”

“So where do we get this stuff?”

“As I said, it is C-star core material, and I need about a thousand pound crystal, intact and in one complete mass.”

“So it’s a crystal?”

“Yes, that is what the ‘C’ refers to.”

“For crystal?”

“No. It refers to the chemical composition of the crystal. Do you not know your chart of elements?”

“Chemistry wasn’t my strongest subject, so how about a clue?”

“The ‘C’ refers to the element carbon.”

“Like in pencil lead?”

“That is correct, yet in this case it refers to the crystalline version of the element.”

“Crystalized carbon?” Adam frowned. There was something familiar about the phrase, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He opened his mouth to continue the sarcastic banter, but he gasped instead.

“Diamond! You need a thousand pound diamond?”

“That is correct.”

“Does something that big even exist? And if it did…it would be worth a friggin’ fortune!”

“It does exist.”

“Where?”

“As I said, in the core of a C-star.”

“That doesn’t help very much.”

Exasperation was evident on Panur’s pale face. “This is becoming tedious. If I have to go through this routine for every item on the list, it will take nineteen hours, eight minutes, and forty-two seconds.”

“Just tell me, what’s a C-star core?”

“It is the core of cold white dwarf star.”

“A white dwarf star? You want us to pull a huge chunk of diamond out from the center of a star?”

“Yes.”

Adam fell back in his chair. “And here I thought you were serious about building a portal detector. I didn’t know it was some kind of mutant fantasy. How the hell are we supposed to do that?”

“It will involve maneuvering a localized singularity into direct contact with an appropriate subject star, and then sifting through the debris for the proper remnant.”

“Singularity…as in a black hole? That doesn’t sound so hard. Just smash a black hole into a star…and presto, we have our thousand-pound diamond.”

“You are being sarcastic, yet the theory is sound and quite capable of implementation.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I don’t kid.”

Adam stared at the alien for several seconds, waiting for the punchline to his sick cosmic joke. When Panur remained stoic and serious, Adam shook his head. “So where do I begin?” he asked. “First of all, you want us to find some rogue black hole and then crash it into a star. I didn’t even know we were capable of steering black holes. But assuming we can, then you want to create a massive explosion, after which a shitload of massive diamond chunks will be cast into space. Then we just pick up a thousand pound piece and bolt out of the area like nothing happened.”

“Again, you are being sarcastic. However, you have outlined the proper sequence of events.”

“Help me out, Panur, but how…exactly…can we pull this off?”

“I have already located the proper subject star. It is near the Sylox stellar system, and there is already a singularity in close proximity siphoning off exterior gases from the star. All we need to do is nudge the black hole a little and let the combined gravitational attraction of the two bodies do the rest. A fleet of ten starships, using their combined gravity wells, will provide the impetus. However, the angle of the strike will have to be closely controlled to keep the resulting explosion modest and allow the singularity to absorb most of it. There will be no supernova as you’ve intimated. Most of the star material will be absorbed by the black hole, yet a fair amount of ejecta will escape, including core material.”

“As in huge-ass diamonds.”

“Yes, huge-ass diamonds.”

“A lot of them?”

“Approximately equivalent to eight hundred billion carats, as you measure diamond weight. Yet that is just a fraction of the actual weight of the core. Most of the ejecta will be consumed by the black hole, while another large chunk approximately four-fifths the size of your Earth will remain intact.”

Adam’s jaw fell open, and it remained so for a full thirty seconds before he could speak again.

“And these billions of carats of diamonds will be floating in space, just waiting to be picked up?”

“Correct.”

“And then you can build the detector?”

“Again, correct.”

“And I’ll be filthy rich.”

“If that is your desire. You do realize that as more of this material is recovered, the lower will be the value of the commodity. The intrinsic worth of an item is based on its scarcity. With such an abundance of crystalline carbon, the value will drop to essentially zero.”

“Then I’ll only take a little.”

“Others will come looking for the bounty.”

“In the meantime, I’ll enjoy being first.”

“I did not realize wealth was so important to you?”

“Every man has his price. And with how messed up my life has become recently, I may need some extra cash to rebuild what I can—if I live long enough.”

“Do we proceed or not?”

“I assume the other items on this list will be a little easier to get?” Panur nodded. “Then talk about an incentive…” Adam was beaming from ear to ear. “You’re on, my little friend. Let’s build this damn thing!”

Chapter 6

The Juireans had been rebuilding their fleet for over ten years, and still it was only about a third the size it had been at the time of the Juirean-Human war. As a consequence, the territory that encompassed the New Expansion was thinly guarded, much of the responsibility for defense now falling on the individual worlds or clusters.

The Dackons were the most industrialized civilization within the Lim-Oppos stellar cluster, so the other five advanced races within the region looked to them for protection against the rumored threat of the Sol-Kor. With communications at a fairly sophisticated level throughout the Expansion, the inhabitants of the cluster had seen all the reports about the invaders from another dimension, yet even then they considered the danger to be far from their doorstep.

So when a small detachment of Juirean battlecruisers bolted into their space, the Dackons were still leery of the implications.

The Juirean Overlord towered over the much smaller Dackon sim-lieutenant, yet it was his bombastic tone that was making the biggest impression on the contingent of local military officers aboard the Juirean flagship.

“The threat is imminent,” the Juirean declared.

“What would they want from us?” Sim-Lieutenant Jarvois asked. “We offer no strategic location nor rich resources.”

“Have you not paid attention to the news reports?” the Juirean asked. “All the Sol-Kor want from you is your flesh and blood bodies. And your cluster offers an easy target of six populated worlds with over twelve billion subjects.”

“Can the Juireans not provide for our defense? We are part of the Expansion.”

“I have only forty-five ships. The Sol-Kor are bringing in ten thousand, including what we estimate to be over five hundred beamships. The Dackons must provide for their own defense.”

“But how? I have seen the reports and they speak of a weapon that can subdue defenders at great a distance.”

“Pardon me, Sim-Lieutenant,” said one of the other Dackon officers. “There are also reports of a counter to this beam. Do the Juireans offer us this technology?”

“There is a way to counteract the beam’s influence, yet not against five hundred attackers. We are also unable to provide the means to equip your ships with this defensive system since it has only been within the past few days that their destination has been determined.”

“Then how do you propose we mount our own defense?” Jarvois asked, having grown increasingly frightened by the conversation. Could it be that his entire race was doomed to extinction?

“You possess nuclear devices,” stated the Juirean Overlord. “We propose that you place these devices within your space and set them to serve as mines against the invaders.”

“We would not have enough to protect all the planets in the cluster.”

“The Juirean Command is aware of this. That is why we have come to the Dackons first.”

“You propose we sacrifice the rest of the Cluster Affiliates to save ourselves?”

“Of course. If the Sol-Kor’s aims on this region can be disrupted enough, there is a possibility they may choose to move on. The Juireans will provide what assistance we can to this end.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Six days.”

The nine Dackon officers in the room were stunned into silence, overcome by the blunt honesty of the Juirean Overlord and the overwhelming nature of the task ahead. “We will do what we must,” Jarvois finally said, “yet I beg of you, please bring in more defenders!”

“Currently we are tracking four other Sol-Kor raids taking place within Expansion space. Our forces are spread thin as it is. We can offer no more than what I have brought.”

“Then we are doomed,” said someone from within the entourage.

“Why has it come to this?” asked the sim-lieutenant. “I understood that the Sol-Kor had been defeated in previous engagements.”

“They were defeated, yet the threat remains as they have continued to infiltrate our universe. This is a war which involves all worlds within the galaxy, including Dackon. No one is safe or immune from attack, and with each passing day the number of Sol-Kor increase. The Juirean Command is attempting to communicate this fact to the entire Expansion, seeking a unified purpose to counter the enemy. We have no choice. Either we fight together for survival, or we all perish.”

Chapter 7

The next day, the Pegasus II entered the region of the galaxy known as the Fringe. Adam felt a twinge of nostalgia as he peered out at the glowing wall of stellar gas that made up the Barrier, which was the line of demarcation between the Expansion and the Human-led interstellar empire known as the Orion-Cygnus Union. The Barrier had once been just that, a barrier, yet now with improvements in gravity drives the gigantic cloud could be easily skirted, adding only a couple of days to a trip rather than the weeks it took in the past.

Adam was also surprised to find that a channel had been cut through the center of the Barrier, using gravity wells as a means of clearing away the debris. The passage was narrow yet effective, and was now the main conduit for travel between empires.

Adam choose to drop in over of the Barrier rather than risk passage through the more closely-monitored Castorian Channel, and soon found himself back in the Void once again. This vast desert in space had once served as an effective deterrent—along with the Barrier—to travel beyond the Fringe Worlds and into the Far Arm of the galaxy where Earth was located. Yet now it was nothing of the sort. It could be crossed in a couple of days, and several huge space stations had been constructed to provide travelers with a respite from even this burden.

Indeed, the Fringe Worlds were becoming civilized, no longer the rough and tumble frontier it had been even twenty short years ago. This was welcome news to many, not so for others…

A few years back, Adam had acquired a confidential localized communication address that didn’t rely on CW technology. To be effective, however, the Pegasus II would have to be within a relatively close range. He began sending out the broadcast as soon as they entered the Void.

It took eight hours to receive a reply.

“Scramble comm, please identify yourself. This is not an open network,” came the response. Adam was asleep at the time. Panur came to rouse him.

The challenge had come only once before going dark again.

Adam fingered the comm switch. “Scramble comm reporting. Please respond. Link requested. Code: Muleship One.”

No response came back. That would take another two hours.

“This is Muleship One. Is this who I think it is?”

Adam smiled. “Indeed, my friend. How are you, Jym?”

“Adam Cain! It is a miracle. News has been scarce, but I remember the last time we spoke you were requesting an audience with the dreaded Klin. I had always assumed you had been killed…until recent events.”

“What recent events?”

“Surely you must know there is a galaxy-wide search underway for you…and for your passenger. It is true what they say, that you harbor a most-dangerous being, one that could bring about the complete destruction of the galaxy?”

“Quite the contrary. He could be our only means of survival.”

“Adam Cain, is that you?” said a second voice.

“It’s me, Kaylor. I’m glad to hear your voice. Are the two of you still active in the underground market?”

“It is the best way to make the most profit for the least effort.”

“Spoken like true capitalists. You are survivors.”

“As you are too. Why is it you have contacted us? You must know you are a dangerous commodity and communicating with you is forbidden.”

“I need a place to lay low for a while.”

“You wish us to join in your efforts to hide from the authorities?” Jym said in his typical frantic manner. “Our activities here keep us constantly skirting the law, yet we do not have an entire galaxy after us.”

“I’m innocent of everything they say I’ve done, and so is Panur—the being with me. It’s important that I keep him safe. Otherwise we could all be consumed by the Sol-Kor. He’s the only one who can provide us with a final solution to the problem. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. Can you trust me on this? I need your help.”

“Adam Cain, you are a friend and confidant,” said Kaylor. “Of course we will help, although I can’t see what it is we can do.”

“This is going to sound a little strange, but I need ten starships and crew willing to take on a dangerous, and frankly impossible-sounding, mission.”

There was silence on the link, so long in fact that Adam had to ask if the aliens were still there.

“Yes, we are here,” Kaylor responded. “You say you need ten starships? Do they need to be of any particular size?”

“I would say marauder class or bigger.”

“Ten of them?”

“That’s right.”

“You do know we only have the FS-475. The power of the ship would clearly be comparable to a marauder, yet it is but one vessel.”

“I was thinking about asking the Fringe Pirates for help. They’re still around, aren’t they?”

“The pirates! You must not be serious,” Jym said. “They are still in operation, yet in a diminished capacity as a result of the influx of new population to the region.”

“Who’s leading them these days?”

“It is Angar…I believe you know him.”

“Angar? I would have thought after all these years he’d be long gone.”

“No, he is still active, even if his force is only a fraction of what it had once been. The pirate presence in the Fringe reached its apex when your friend Riyad Tarazi was its leader, yet Angar learned much from him. Are you expecting him to provide you with the ships you need?”

“That was my hope. He’ll be richly rewarded.”

“You did not mention that before, Adam Cain,” said Jym with more enthusiasm. “In what form is this reward?”

“If the mission succeeds, there will be the opportunity to acquire a fair amount of diamonds—crystalized carbon. I believe this particular commodity is also valuable in the Fringe and elsewhere in the Expansion.”

“It is. We call it forandite, and because of the rare set of circumstances required to produce it, it is rare even in a galaxy rich in exploitable planets. You say there will be forandite available at the end of the task. How much?”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. Suffice to say you won’t have to continue hauling illegal smokesticks around the Fringe after this, and all the pirates will be able to retire in luxury. Can you put me in contact with Angar?”

“Yes we can. However, he will need more detail before committing. Unlike the two of us, he is not your friend, and if you have Riyad Tarazi with you, that could be a problem as well.”

“Why’s that?”

“Your friend was not a very nice creature back then. Angar has spoken often of the abuse he suffered during his time with Tarazi.”

“Riyad’s mellowed since then. Besides, I haven’t spoken with Riyad in over a year. I’m headed for Castor. Can you arrange a meeting there?”

“He is headquartered on Nimor, but I will do my best,” Kaylor said. “We too shall meet you on Castor. Be cautious, Adam Cain, there are many forces looking for you.”

********

Adam’s history within the Fringe was limited yet eventful. He began his adventure among the stars here, and after his rescue from the Klin by Kaylor and Jym, he spent two years as a freelance assassin to earn enough credits to survive on. The job had turned out to be both easy and rewarding, as his SEAL training—coupled with the relative weakness of his targets—made fulfilling contracts a breeze. The money was great, allowing him to purchase his first starship, the Cassie I, named for his young daughter, who died in the first Juirean attack on Earth.

As a result of the variety of contracts he accepted during that time, he’d had the opportunity to visit all twelve habitable planets in the Fringe, including the homeworld of his main benefactor, the planet Castor. As the Pegasus II achieved a brief orbit before gaining authority to descend to the main spaceport above the underground city of Krune, he felt a strange foreboding looking down at the brown, dusty ball.

His last time on the planet, he’d come to collect his fee for a contract taken out on a minor crime boss by Seton Amick, his primary source of business at the time. Amick lived in a lavish cavern carved out of the side of a mountain, with a magnificent view of the outside world, one of only a handful of Castorians to be able to afford such luxury.

Adam liked Seton and considered him a friend—right up to the time he was himself killed by an assassin’s bullet—or flash bolt in this case—delivered by another top-notch alien assassin operating in the Fringe at that time—Sherri Valentine.

When he thought back over his twenty year history with Sherri, he felt a myriad of emotions, both good and bad. He knew he loved her, and he always would. Yet she was also the most difficult-to-get-along-with woman he’d ever met, the complete opposite of his deceased wife, Marie. At times Sherri had been a loyal and competent companion during his many adventures in the galaxy. At others she’d been an irritating thorn in his side.

They had permanently parted ways about a year ago, and she’d since married the real estate broker from the Bay Area who’d helped with the purchase of her home in Orinda. She was happy and content now—and expecting her first child. Her marriage had ended their frequent off-planet publicity junkets, during which they and Riyad would be paraded before adoring crowds, often at Joining Ceremonies for new members of the Union. That had come as a relief, as he’d never liked the pomp and ceremony of the events and needing to act the hero, especially when he knew the truth behind most of his celebrity—luck.

That’s all it was, luck, pure and simple. Adam Cain was the luckiest son-of-a-bitch alive and he knew it. So many times he had survived by seat-of-the-pants planning or an almost unbelievable set of contrived circumstances one could only find in some hack science fiction novel. That was why, in his mid-forties, Adam was satisfied with not pressing his luck much further.

Then the pale mutant alien had arrived at his door. And now he was up to his neck again in danger…and he didn’t know how much longer his luck would hold up.

Riyad Tarazi, the third member of the Big Three heroes of the Juirean and Klin Wars, hadn’t been as content to let the gravy train disappear. With the very lucrative promotional tours over, he’d sought consulting work, both in the Union and the Expansion. Along with Adam and a few surviving Q’uel, Riyad was among only a handful of creatures in the galaxy to have ever traveled to another dimension—in fact, to the very homeworld of the Sol-Kor—and as a result he’d found a decent replacement for the Joining tours by passing himself off as an expert on the Sol-Kor. Now he bounced from planet to planet offering his advice on defensive strategies, as well as a concocted psychological analysis of the voracious invaders. Having met the Queen herself, Riyad professed to have a unique insight into how the Sol-Kor thought, and this insight was being parlayed into a very lucrative occupation for the ex-terrorist-turned-hero.

It was all bullshit, of course. In reality, the Sol-Kor were the most transparent creatures around, governed by the most basic of instincts—hunger. Food was all they wanted, all they needed. It was as simple as that, and they would do anything to get it. It didn’t take any special insight to see that.

But not according to Riyad Tarazi. According to him, the Sol-Kor were a complex and unreadable race, and his expertise was needed to decipher them. And his expertise didn’t come cheap.

The last Adam had heard, Riyad was somewhere in the Expansion, on a circuit of a dozen worried worlds who were paying dearly for his special insight and advice. Adam smiled when he remembered how much Riyad told him he was getting for these consulting jobs. It was far more than they got for the promotional tours, and without needing to give public speeches or to put on dog-and-pony shows for adoring masses.

Now, as the brown dust of Castor billowed up to obscure the landing field of the spaceport, Adam was feeling a little lonely. It had been many a year since he’d set off on an adventure without his two main companions. Through good and bad, they had been the one constant in his otherwise chaotic life.

He tried to cheer his mood by thinking that in a few short hours he would be reunited with the very first aliens he’d ever met—Kaylor and Jym. It would be an emotional homecoming, but…they were still just aliens. The level of intimacy wouldn’t be same, not like if they were Human. Plus, this wasn’t a pleasure trip. He was involving his two best alien friends in a situation that could easily cost them their lives. Yet he had no one else to turn to.

The dust quickly settled outside the ship; the new dimensional phase shifter engines produced only a minimal amount of backwash. Looking out at the stark landscape of the savage mining world, Adam had no doubt the wolves would already be out for him and Panur, even here in the backwater part of the galaxy. In fact, with all the scoundrels and miscreants to be found here, this was probably a more dangerous landfall than most.

This line of thinking brought him to the two million Juirean credits he had stashed aboard the Pegasus II—contingency funds left over from a bygone era. With this money he knew his anonymity could be bought, at least for a while. Hopefully that would be enough time for Panur to complete his detector and offer it to the galaxy as vindication for Adam’s actions.

If not, then all the success and glory from the past twenty years would have all been wasted.

********

The need for payola began immediately upon landing. The port authority was slipped ten thousand credits to conveniently misplace the transponder code for the Pegasus II—a temporary error, lasting only five days. After that, they would have to leave the planet, or the fee tripled.

The two fugitives gained access to the huge underground city through a VIP entrance devoid of scanners and cameras, where they were met by a transport with blacked-out windows driven by a robot. This cost another two thousands credits, but they were able to bypass the public subway system and proceed eight levels down through traffic-filled streets to the rendezvous point with the two aliens.

For a brief time, Adam had maintained an apartment in the city, not so much a living space as a repository for his weapon cache. Most of his time back then was spent aboard the Cassie I, where he could control the gravity. Even though the lighter gravity of Castor was a delight to move in, over time it weakened the muscles, and Human bodies adapted rapidly. This was not welcome in his profession, either then or now. His Human strength, agility, and speed were his most valuable assets. Too much time in a weak-gravity environment would erode those advantages.

The atmosphere of Castor was thinner than Earth’s, with a lower pressure that required him to wear a breathing mask most of the time. He could go without it for periods up to a half an hour at a time before having to replace the mask. Panur seemed to have no problem with the air pressure, just as Adam had noticed he had no issues with Earth’s heavier gravity and air pressure either, and seemed able to adapt to different environments like he could change his shape as needed.

The pair made their way into the seedier part of the city, near where Adam had once had his apartment. There was a hotel nearby, not the best place in town, but one that didn’t ask questions of its guests. Kaylor and Jym should already be there, having been closer to Castor at the time Adam made contact. As Adam approached the front desk, the clerk didn’t have to be asked, he pointed to an indicator on the back wall behind the counter, where a series of room numbers were displayed. The aliens were in room number seventeen.

After Adam knocked on the door, it still took nearly a full minute for it to open. By then, Adam was livid.

“What the hell, Kaylor? Why did you leave us out in the hallway that long? We were sitting ducks.”

“Seated water fowl? I do not understand.”

“We had no cover out there from attack. Why did it take so long?”

“Blame Jym. He insisted on employing a heat-signature reader to make sure there were only two of you.” The tall, light blue-skinned alien then eyed the much shorter Panur. “Even then, your friend here does not have much of a heat signature. Jym suspected that he was not even alive.”

“I’ve often wondered that myself,” Adam said as he pressed his way past Kaylor and into the single room.

Jym was crouched down on the other side of the bed, the barrel of an MK-17 bolt launcher sticking up over the edge. “Welcome, Adam Cain,” he said. “Is that the alien everyone is talking about?”

“I’m not any more an alien than you are,” Panur answered for himself. “Are these your friends or your enemies, Adam? They do not appear to be very trusting.”

“When the entire galaxy is looking for you, it is wise not to be too trusting, especially if the reports are true,” Jym said, bobbing his head up and down as he spoke.

“What reports?” Adam asked.

Jym stood up, yet with his weapon still fixed on Panur. “That he is a walking weapon, capable of shape-shifting and impervious to bolt weapons.”

“If he’s impervious to bolt weapons, why do you have one aimed at him?”

“Because it makes me feel better.”

Adam shrugged. “I can’t argue with that. But seriously, put down the weapon. We’re all on the same side here.”

“And which side is that, Adam Cain?” Kaylor asked as he embraced the Human in a brief welcoming hug. “It has been a long time, and now you come to us when in great need, and offering a substantial reward for our help. You are a friend, yet until we have more information, please do not count fully on our assistance in your mission.”

“That’s understandable. But first let’s all relax. Panur is not the walking weapon he’s made out to be, and the reason we’re being sought is all a big plot on the part of the Sol-Kor to get him back.”

There was a single table and two chairs in the small room. Adam and Kaylor took seats while Panur, and a very nervous-looking Jym, sat on the bed. Adam then proceeded to lay out the entire story of Panur, the Sol-Kor, and the situation they now found themselves in. It took a full hour. He left out the part about the portal detector. The details of that would only poison his presentation. He would leave that up to Panur.

When Adam was done, Kaylor and Jym sat staring at the small, pale alien, mesmerized and in awe.

“You are five thousand standard years old? I find that amazing,” Kaylor said.

“Yes, it is a unique and fortunate event. It has allowed me the time and opportunity to gain an incredible body of knowledge.”

“And you have used this knowledge to build portals to other universes, as well as advanced weaponry and propulsion systems?” said Jym, all his prior concerns vanished.

“That is correct.” Panur sent a tight-lipped grin Jym’s way. “I understand from Adam that you are quite a technological wizard yourself. I would welcome our interaction.”

Adam saw Jym literally gush from the compliment, having to clean spittle from his short snout afterwards. He had never seen such a show of hero-worship from the tiny bear-like alien before, and he felt a combination of both trepidation and respect for how easily Panur had been able to manipulate the always-nervous and skeptical Jym’s emotions, winning him over to his side with a single remark. That Panur had sized up Jym in a matter of seconds was what worried Adam the most. Manipulation was second-nature to the mutant, and now he wondered how much he had been manipulated, now and in the past…

“We would be more than willing to assist you in sheltering Panur,” Kaylor said for the two of them. Jym nodded emphatically. And then Kaylor frowned, setting the inch long appendages hanging from his ears to swinging. “Yet I see where our efforts will be in vain. With such forces out looking for him, he will be eventually found.”

Adam leaned back in the rickety chair. “Kaylor’s right,” he said to Panur. “Unless I can convince the entire galaxy that the Sol-Kor offer of immunity is bogus, the search will go on for as long as they’re invading our galaxy.”

“I assume bogus means false,” Kaylor said when the translation bug could find no reference for the strange word. “Unless the Humans—and others—can drive the Sol-Kor from the galaxy, this is a losing proposition.”

“I may have a solution,” Panur stated, and before any of the others could raise the question, he continued: “I’m working on a plan. It is not complete as of yet, but with an adequate amount of time, it could be the answer we seek.”

“Is that why you need the starships?” Kaylor asked, turning to Adam. “I have arranged for Angar to meet us later this night. He chose the location.”

“Yes, that is why I need the ships,” Panur answered, looking at Adam with a frown.

“I told them about the diamonds,” he confessed. “They needed to know.”

“Did you tell them where they are to be acquired?”

“That I have not.”

“What is it we do not know?” Jym asked, the tip of his black nose now lifting up and down.

“I will tell you later, my friend,” Panur said with a closed-lip smile. He stood up from the bed and walked to a far corner, where he sat down cross-legged and leaning against the wall. “Now I need time to work. You may continue to converse, I will not be disturbed.” Then the face of the pale alien went blank and his mouth fell open slightly. His large, dark eyes remained open, staring unblinking into the room.

Kaylor and Jym looked to Adam. “He’s visualizing the solution. It’s how he works,” Adam explained. “When he’s done, it will simply be a matter of assembling the parts for the device he’s designing.”

“What sort of device?” Kaylor asked.

“It’s a detector, something quite sophisticated. If it works, it’ll help free the galaxy of the Sol-Kor.”

Kaylor smiled. “If I may use a phrase I learned from you…no shit?”

Adam returned the smile. “No shit. Let’s just hope I—now we—can stay hidden long enough for him to build it.” Adam rose from his chair. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to go make a call. Keep an eye on him. And don’t let him leave the room.”

Chapter 8

Although he was drunk out of his mind, Riyad Tarazi still noticed the four hulking Juireans when they entered the restaurant. He credited his exceptional situational awareness to the many years he’d spent as a jihadist serving in the name of Allah, where constant vigilance was an occupational necessity.

Yet even as his training took over, he still had to curse his host for not informing him that the irresistibly delicious local beverage he’d been drinking all night was an intoxicant. It wasn’t evident from the taste; however, the results spoke for themselves. How his reaction time would be affected was anyone’s guess.

Riyad was solidly within Expansion space. The wars were long over and the creatures from Earth were allowed almost universal movement within the empire, unlike the restrictions mankind placed on aliens coming into the Union. Yet the stern looks on the faces of the approaching Juireans told him that his presence on the planet Vinnous Mak was unwelcome, at least to them.

Riyad had been personally invited—and well compensated—to attend a strategy conference and weapons demonstration being held on the planet to address security issues to counter the Sol-Kor threat. In the end, his contribution to the conference amounted to little more than a lot of reassurances that the primary powers in the galaxy were on top of the situation, and that the Sol-Kor were on the run.

Just keep an active vigil and the natives of Vinnous Mak should be fine…

Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt to purchase about a quadrillion credits worth of defensive military equipment from his Earth-based benefactors either. The commissions he received for these cut-out transactions were seldom reported, and were currently gaining interest on a planet called Zufin, just on the Expansion side of the border with the Union.

Riyad was nearing fifty, and he had his pending retirement to consider.

The truth be known, the ravenous invaders from another dimension were anything but contained. In fact, no one had an accurate handle on the situation to even hazard a guess as to their strength or movements within the Milky Way. But that wasn’t what the attendees wanted to hear. So Riyad accepted his consulting fee while doing his best to calm the concerns of the nervous aliens.

At the conclusion of the conference, its chief organizer—a Makean named Rorick something-or-another—had invited him to dine at one of the capital’s more exclusive restaurants. And now, watching the four Juireans wend their way directly for his booth, Riyad felt like a trapped rat, unsure of the lay of the land or what forces were being brought against him—all the while harboring a blurry vision and numbness tingling from his head to his toes.

He had already located a secondary exit not too from where he sat, and so far no Juireans were stationed there. Normally, with only four aliens to contend with, Riyad wouldn’t have given the developing situation a second thought. If that was the extent of the threat, he had confidence he could handle it.

Except he might fall flat on his face the moment he stood up.

The Juireans made an impression on the crowded dining room. Each stood over seven feet tall. There were three green-maned Guards, along with a white-haired Overlord. His presence was what set Riyad on guard. Overlords seldom ventured out among the populace of the Expansion, so his being here was a warning that something big was up. The Overlord stopped at the booth and glared down at Riyad.

Leaning back, the dark-haired Human returned a friendly grin—careful to keep his teeth covered—and looked up at the towering alien.

“Are you Riode Tasary?” the Juirean asked.

Riyad nodded. “Close enough. It’s pronounced Riyad Tarazi.”

The Overlord’s glare didn’t waiver. “That is a confirmation?”

“Yes, yes it is. What can I do for you?”

“Have you had recent communications with a kinship Human called Adam Cain?”

“Adam? No, I haven’t—is anything wrong? What’s happened to him?” The mention of Adam’s name helped to sober Riyad up a bit—but only a bit.

“I will ask the questions,” the Overlord barked. He glanced around the room. “I wish to speak to you in private.”

Riyad was cautious enough—call it paranoid—not to trust Juireans as far as he could throw one, so he shook his head. “I would prefer if we—”

His sentence was cut short when all the other creatures in the huge dining room began to lift out of their chairs and head silently for the exits, including his host, I-can’t-pronounce-your-last-name-Rorick.

Riyad slumped in his seat. “It’s good to be the king, isn’t it?” he said to the Juirean.

“I do not understand the reference.”

“It’s not important. So what’s this about Adam?”

“Have you had contact with him recently?”

“I said no. Why do you ask?”

The huge alien slipped into the seat at the other side of the table. “You should be aware that Adam Cain is a fugitive, currently being sought by not only the Expansion but also members of your own race, and that any assistance rendered or unauthorized communications will place you as a conspirator-in-fact, subject to the same punishment that will befall your fellow Human.”

“Adam…a fugitive? Bullshit! And being hunted by Humans as well? Double bullshit.”

The Overlord looked up at one of the hovering green-haired Guards, sharing a look of confusion. He then looked back at Riyad. “I would suggest you keep your comments on a more refined level, just so no misunderstandings are made. The consequences of such a breakdown in communications could seriously affect your status within the Expansion.”

“What I’m saying is that Adam Cain is a hero to the Human race. He would never be in trouble with them.”

“Yet he is, and not only with the Humans, but also with every other advanced race in the galaxy.”

Riyad blinked several times. “Forgive me, Overlord—I’m sorry, I forget your name—but you’re going to have to fill in some rather huge gaps for me to understand what you’re saying.”

The Overlord’s pale yellow eyes scanned Riyad’s face. It was obvious to him that this particular alien hadn’t had much contact with Humans, so he had no idea what the Juirean hoped to learn from studying his expression. After a moment, the Overlord continued:

“Adam Cain has absconded from your planet Earth with a very valuable asset, one which is being sought by all within the galaxy, including your own species. There is now a galaxy-wide search taking place for him, and all his current and past associates are being contacted and considered potential accomplices or supporters. That is why I am here this night. You are listed at the very top of his associates, which places you as the most likely to help him avoid capture.”

“As well it should!” Riyad said defiantly, letting the alcohol get the best of him. “Adam is my best friend, and I know that if Adam took off with something of value, he had a damn good reason for doing so. What’s this thing he stole?”

“It is not a thing. It is a being known as Panur.”

“Panur!” Riyad head wobbled on his neck, partly from the shock of the statement, but mainly from the booze. “First of all,” Riyad blurted while sticking his index finger emphatically toward the ceiling, “I’m sure Adam didn’t steal Panur. You don’t know that little shit. No one could steal him even if they wanted to. And secondly, you’re labeling Panur a valuable asset being sought by all the major races in the galaxy. What the hell have I missed since I’ve been on Vinnous Mak?”

“Whether or not Adam Cain took the Panur creature by force is not my concern, and I do not have many details beyond the fact that the two of them left Earth together. What I do know is that the mutant creature must be captured and restrained without delay. Those are my orders, and the life of Adam Cain is of no concern to me in the fulfillment of my directives.”

“There has to be some mistake—misunderstanding—my green-skinned friend.”

“There is no misunderstanding. The entire galaxy is seeking Adam Cain and the creature Panur, and any and all means of locating them have been authorized.”

The hair on the back on Riyad’s neck suddenly came to life. There was something ominous and threatening in the Juirean’s words.

“Like I said, I haven’t heard from him in a while, but if I do I’ll be sure to let someone know. That’s the best I can do. I’m at a loss as to what’s going on or why he’s doing what he’s doing.”

The Overlord glared at Riyad. “Your abrupt offer to cooperate leaves me suspicious. Previously you mentioned how supportive you were of Adam Cain. Now I would be remiss if I did not consider you to be a potential assistant in his activities.” The Juirean glanced up at the three Guards standing nearby. “Summon a backup force,” he ordered, and then to Riyad: “I am fully aware of the capabilities of Humans—that is well-known within the Expansion. Even now, I believe you to be devising a plan to avoid incarceration.”

“Incarceration? I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Not yet, but I will take no chances that you will assist Adam Cain in the future. I am restraining you, however, only until your Human friend, as you call him, is apprehended or the creature Panur is acquired, by whatever means necessary.”

“You’re arresting me…just so I won’t do something bad? Isn’t that assbackwards?”

“There appears to be no adequate translation for the word assbackwards. Rephrase your statement.”

“I think you get the meaning well enough,” Riyad growled. His senses were sharp and his muscles flexed. Or at least he thought so. He wasn’t about to let the Juireans lock him up somewhere simply because he might help Adam. He would seek out Adam and give him his full support, but the Juireans didn’t know that—though to their credit, they knew Human nature well enough to suspect as much.

Now they were calling in additional alien-power. Riyad’s window of opportunity to act was closing rapidly.

The gravity of Vinnous Mak was like most planets within the Expansion—hell, the entire galaxy for that matter—sitting at about three-quarters that of Earth’s. As a consequence, Riyad was quicker and stronger on this alien world than he would be on his homeworld. He lifted the thick metal dining tabletop easily off the floor and shoved it into the chest of the much-taller Juirean Overlord. The alien’s eyes grew wide as the air blew out of his lungs by the force of the impact. He was caught between the crushing tabletop and the back of the booth, choking and unable to move.

Riyad then lifted the tabletop up and away, flipping it sideways before slamming it into the two nearest Juirean Guards. The movement was quick and unexpected, and the impact strong enough to send both of the aliens collapsing to the floor unconscious.

With the Overlord choking and gasping for breath through several broken ribs, that still left one huge green-haired Juirean to contend with. He had been standing off about ten feet away and out of range of Riyad’s swinging tabletop. An MK-17 flash weapon was now in his hand, and Riyad could see the pale amber light blinking on the side as the internal targeting computer calculated the shot. A brilliant flash bolt erupted from the barrel just as Riyad lifted the metal tabletop. The streaking ball of white hot plasma hit the table and spread out, instantly burning Riyad’s exposed fingers. He dropped the table, letting out a loud yelp at the same time.

Now the targeting computer of the alien’s weapon had an unobstructed bead on Riyad.

The Human crouched down, springing upwards in the light gravity just as another flash bolt whizzed by below him. The ceiling of the dining room was about twenty feet high, and with outstretched arms Riyad managed to reach it, locking his stinging hands around a narrow crossbeam. He swung forward as another flash bolt singed the skin on his butt. He let out another yelp.

Riyad continued his arc, releasing his grip only when he flew over the head of the Juirean. He tumbled backwards in midair, and a split second later landed hard on top of the Juirean Guard, who had been trying in vain to follow the movement of Riyad’s swinging.

Riyad wrapped his arms around the almost non-existent neck of the alien, using it to break his fall. He ended up riding the back of the Juirean, who was fighting desperately to break Riyad’s vise-like chokehold. Although a good foot shorter than the Juirean, and appearing to be much lighter, Riyad was in fact a heavier and denser creature. His weight caused the Guard to fall backwards, and as he did, Riyad’s feet reached the ground. With a firm base of support for torque, Riyad heard a snap, and then the green-haired creature fell limp in his arms.

Riyad tossed the dead alien aside—threw up briefly—and then looked to where the Overlord still sat in the booth. He was coughing up blood, his arms and hands clawing at his throat, suffocating from collapsed lungs and a crushed ribcage. Wiping his mouth, Riyad calmly bent down, picked up the Guard’s discarded MK-17 flash weapon, aimed it at the Overlord and pulled the trigger, not waiting for the targeting computer to give its slight vibrating confirmation. A moment later, the Juirean Overlord was relieved of his painful spiral towards oblivion.

Riyad sprinted—staggered—toward the exit he’d spotted earlier. It wasn’t an exit from the building; it led to the kitchen area. Although no one remained in the dining room, this part of the building was still occupied. Many of the cooks and servers had been watching events unfold through slits in doorways or security cameras mounted in the main dining hall. Now they tumbled away from the doorway as Riyad barreled through. The Makeans were slower than the Human, and Riyad found himself having to shove seven-foot-tall aliens from his path. But soon he was at the end of the kitchen, crashing through another doorway and out into the area behind the restaurant.

No Juireans were present; however Riyad collided with a moving transport, tumbling over the hood and falling to the concrete road on the other side. The driver slammed on the brakes, bringing the small electric vehicle to a stop twenty feet from where Riyad fell. By the time the car’s occupant had opened his side door and stepped out, Riyad was already there and pressing past him to slide into the driver’s seat.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine, just a little drunk,” Riyad shouted as he grasped the door handle and pulled it shut. “And by the way, I need to borrow your car. I hope you don’t mind.”

The native didn’t say a word, startled into silence by Riyad’s unexpected arrival…and now departure. Through the rearview mirror, he could see the alien standing in the middle of the road, gawking at his departing vehicle, just as another speeding car plowed into him.

Riyad grimaced. That was unexpected. Oh well, he won’t need his car back anytime soon.

Riyad steered the stolen car toward the spaceport, where his private starship was located. His co-pilot-slash-lover, Regina Greywood, was aboard and would have the engines already warmed up and ready for liftoff—she was pretty anal about that. All he had to do was get through the crazy alien traffic, which at the moment appeared to be spinning all around him, without somehow killing anyone—anyone else—including himself.

The spaceport was about eight minutes out—if he was going in the right direction—which should be just enough time for him to contact Adam using his Formilian brain-interface device, what Adam called an ATD, or artificial telepathy device. Riyad hadn’t used his in about a year and half, so he was hoping he could remember how it worked. As drunk as he was, he had no idea what kind of mental images he would be sending.

Still, he tried. The thought would link to an outgoing CW communication, then filter its way through a dozen more until it identified Adam’s ATD signature. In the past, Riyad had found such mental links could be nearly instantaneous or take up to five minutes to complete. In some rare cases, no link could be established since no CW comms were outgoing.

Now, while weaving his way through modest traffic on yet another alien world, he waited for a reply, and pursed his lips in disgust. The Juireans weren’t going to take too kindly to his killing of four of their kind—including an Overlord. Future consulting jobs within the Expansion might be a little scarce from here on out. And he still didn’t have a good feel for what Adam was up to, especially when it involved that obnoxious little alien Panur.

What he did know for sure was that he would help his friend—that was beyond question—even if he was the most wanted being in the galaxy. But what kind of deadly misadventure Adam had got himself into this time, only time would tell.

Two minutes later the link with Adam Cain was established.

Chapter 9

Adam left the hotel room and returned to the Pegasus II, and after routing a traditional comm-link to the planet Silea, he attached that link to a CW blast being sent towards Earth. If Panur was right, the Humans wouldn’t be able to trace the call. And with this extra cut-out, he was hoping the Sol-Kor would be slowed down in tracking it back to Castor.

He called Earth and the private CW number for Andy Tobias.

It was a visual link.

“I’ve been expecting your call, Captain,” said the red-faced officer. “And I have to say, you really screwed the pooch this time.”

“Me? Why would anyone trust the Sol-Kor to keep their word?”

“That’s not the point. Whether they do or not, the reprieve might give us the time we need to figure out a better defense, and all it will cost is returning an alien to the people he’s been living with for the past five thousand years. It’s a pretty cut-and-dry call in my opinion.”

“But it isn’t, Andy.” Adam leaned forward in the pilot’s seat. “It will be far too dangerous to return Panur to the Sol-Kor. He’s told me things—”

“Why do you believe him, especially over your own people? You’re being manipulated, son.”

“Aren’t we all? I sincerely believe the Sol-Kor will not honor any immunity agreement. As Panur says, why should they? They make no long-term commitments with anyone. To them, everyone is just food. All they want is Panur, and once they have him, all bets are off. They’ve done this before, so the pattern isn’t new.”

“We’re counting on them just moving on after they get him back, Adam. We’ve already caused them more trouble than they’re used to. It would be simpler just to move to another galaxy, or another universe.”

“It’s not as simple as that, Admiral. They can only go where there’s a matching portal. In our universe, the only one large enough for starships was built by the Klin. And now that they have a foothold in the Milky Way, they’re not going to give it up. They have nowhere else to go.”

“Aren’t there enough universes for them?”

“Only those with portals, and they’re few and far between.”

“Even if that’s the case, we have nothing to lose.” The admiral rose up from his seat and began to pace in front of his desk, the camera sensor following his movements. He was angry and frustrated, Adam could tell. And the doubling of deep worry lines on his forehead spoke of the strain Tobias was experiencing.

“Andy, I know you’re under a lot of pressure, not only from the Union but from the Juireans, the Klin, and everyone else in the galaxy…”

“Do you really? They know my feelings are conflicted. At any moment I could be pulled from command and replaced with someone they consider to be more impartial.”

“Then you have to give them all the facts. If Panur is returned it will not save their worlds. The Sol-Kor will renege and then Panur will go on to build even deadlier weapons against us. He says he’s working on a new beam platform that can subdue a world from a light-year away. Just imagine how terrible that would be.”

Andy stopped his pacing and turned toward the camera. “Why the hell would he do that? I thought he was your friend? Damn, and you’re risking your life to keep him away from the Sol-Kor.”

“It’s complicated, but I believe he’ll be forced to continue his work.”

“Forced? Hell, he’s already provided those alien bastards with everything they need to kill gazillions of creatures. If I could kill him myself, I would. That would be the best solution all around.”

“Or we can use him to build defenses against the Sol-Kor.”

“Like what?”

Adam hesitated telling Andy of Panur’s plans. They were so vague, so impossible to explain. But Adam wasn’t getting any closer to getting Andy on his side, and he would need the admiral as his advocate against the forces united against him.

“He can build a detector, something that can find all the Sol-Kor trans-dimensional portals in the galaxy. If we can shut down their access to the galaxy, they won’t be a threat to us anymore.”

Adam saw Tobias hesitate, his bright blue eyes staring into the camera with newfound intensity. “He can do that?”

“He says he can, and I believe him.”

“So bring him back to Earth and we’ll get him working on it right away.”

“It’s not that simple—”

“What the hell, Captain! You can’t keep saying, It’s not that simple. At some point it has to get simple!”

“He doesn’t trust the Klin or the Juireans. He believes they prefer to cut a deal with the Sol-Kor where their enemies are destroyed and they’re left as the sole power in the galaxy, especially the Klin. They don’t have a fleet or even a homeworld, so they consider themselves safe from the threat. With immunity for returning Panur, they could sit back and let the Sol-Kor consume Earth and Juir and everyone else they see as a challenge to their leadership of the Milky Way.”

“Bullshit! I’ve had a lot of contact with the Klin recently and they’re just as concerned as the rest of us.”

“Concerned for themselves, Admiral. If the status quo is maintained, they’re shut out, as they’ve been for the past four thousand years. They need a change, and they see the Sol-Kor as their ticket.”

“But you say the SK’s won’t honor their agreement?”

“And to the Klin, what if they don’t? They’ll concentrate on whole worlds first and not a scattering of colony ships. The entire Klin population wouldn’t provide even an appetizer for a Sol-Kor Sunday brunch. With the Klin’s ability to build TD portals, they may even convince the Sol-Kor that they can help them expand further into our universe. Andy, if anyone can’t be trusted, it’s those silver-skinned bastards!”

“So what are you proposing, Captain, that we let Panur build his detector—on his own—and then launch major attacks against the locations his gadget spits out?”

“That’s exactly what I’m proposing.”

Tobias shook his head. “And what about the opposition, from the Klin and others? Everyone has their own agenda.”

“You have to convince them, Admiral. This is the only real solution. As I said, the Sol-Kor will not honor any immunity agreement, so those who think they will are in for a rude awakening. If Panur is returned to the Queen, he’ll complete work on a new beam platform that can subdue a world from a light-year away. We wouldn’t even know what hit us before it’s too late.”

This time Tobias pressed both his hands against the sides of his head. “A new weapon, built by the very alien you’re protecting, the creature you’ve sacrificed everything for? Whose side is he on anyway? He’s willing to provide us with a way to defend against the SK’s, but if he’s returned he’ll build even deadlier weapons to be used against us. Can you see how screwed up that is?”

“Of course I can, Andy, that’s why I keep saying it’s not that simple. If Panur is returned he will be forced to complete work on the beam platform.”

“How? I thought the bastard couldn’t be killed?” Tobias saw Adam open his mouth to speak. “I know…it’s not that simple,” he interrupted. Shaking his head, Tobias returned to his desk and fell back into his chair, looking defeated. “You haven’t given me very much, Captain. And you’re right, I am under a lot of pressure. If what you say about the Klin is true, then they’ll fight me every step of the way. I need more details, details about this detector. How does it work?”

“You’re asking me?”

“Damn right I am! You trust this mutant. Give me a reason to trust him, too.”

Adam looked around at the darkened pilothouse of the Pegasus II. He felt totally alone and with no one to ask for counseling. If he made the wrong decision it could mean the end of the Milky Way galaxy, or at least all advanced life within it. And all he had was the word of a mutant alien to go by. What if he was being manipulated by what was undeniably a greater intellect than his? Adam had no doubt that Panur had his own endgame in sight. Whether it was beneficial to Humanity or not, he couldn’t tell, not yet. But he had to do something to get Andy on his side, to take his case before the powers in the galaxy, something to lift the manhunt for him and Panur.

He nodded. “Of course I don’t know how it really works, but he says certain crystals can pick up the disturbances in universal vibrations caused by the portals. With the proper crystal, and sensitive equipment to read the signals, he can detect TD portals.”

“What kind of crystal?”

Adam shrugged, displaying a wry smile. “Diamond, of course.”

“No shit? That’s it? He just needs to read some mystic diamonds to find the portals.”

Adam shook his head. “It’s not that simple,” he said, knowing that Andy would give him the nasty glare he now displayed. “He needs a flawless, thousand-pound diamond…”

An outside thought beamed into Adam’s brain like a sledgehammer. He paused speaking with Andy to respond.

Riyad! Damn dude, tone it down a little. And I’ll have to call you back. I’m talking with Andy Tobias right now.

But I need to talk to you!

I know. Give me a couple of minutes.

Tobias stared into the camera for almost a full minute before suddenly bursting out laughing. It took him another thirty seconds to recover from the fit. “Oh, is that all? Damn, Captain, I’m disappointed. I thought we taught you better in the SEALs, to face reality and not live in some fantasy world. I suppose Panur has convinced you that such a diamond exists?”

Adam bit his bottom lip. “Yeah, he has. In the core of a white dwarf star.”

Tobias frowned. “Adam, I’m worried about you. Have you gone completely mad, or is Panur feeding you some kind of drug that makes you lose all sense of reality? Even if he’s right, what good does that do us? It’s in the core of a friggin’ star!”

“He can get to it.”

“I’m afraid to ask how.”

“By smashing a black hole into the white dwarf.”

The smile returned to Andy’s face. “This will have to go down in history as the dumbest conversation of all time. But seriously, how the hell am I supposed to go before—well, anyone—with a story like this, and expect them to believe me?”

“Just do it, Admiral. Let the experts evaluate the feasibility of the plan. To you and me it sounds like science fiction—maybe even fantasy—but to them it could make sense.”

“And this is what I’ve been waiting to talk to you about, hoping it would give me a reason for what you’re doing?” Tobias was crestfallen. “If this is all I have, I’ll run with it, but you have to know it’s the longest of long shots…ever. Don’t be expecting too much.”

“Believe me, Andy, I’m not. My whole life has been poured into a blender and set on high. I’m taking one day at a time. I know you’ll do the best you can. I’ll do what I can from this end. And if we both live long enough to meet again, one of us will owe the other a beer when this is all over.”

“I just hope it’s not a toast over your coffin, Captain.”

“Roger that, Admiral. I’ll be in touch.”

********

After Adam cut the link with Tobias, he used his ATD to find the link back to Riyad. Another five minutes passed before their thoughts were synchronized.

Riyad! What a coincidence. Like I said, I was just talking with Andy Tobias.

That’s wonderful—now what the hell’s going on? In his mind’s eye, Adam could visualize that Riyad’s brilliant trademark smile had been replaced with a look of anger.

Right now I’m just trying to stay alive, Adam replied. You know, Andy threatened to kill me to get to Panur.

Yeah, well, it’s not making my life any easier either. An entire squad of hard-luck Juireans just tried to put me under arrest.

For what?

For knowing you, that’s what! How does it feel to be the most wanted person in an entire galaxy?

Honored, I guess, Adam said with a smile. But seriously, I didn’t know any of this would carry over to my friends.

They think we’re all going to rush in and help you.

And you’re not?

Of course I am, but that’s not the point. It would be nice to know what I’m risking my life for.

You know Panur…

Of course I do! They said you kidnapped him.

It’s not as simple as that…

And from there Adam went on to fill Riyad in on all that had happened over the past few days.

Thousand-pound diamonds, colliding back holes with dwarf stars, intergalactic intrigue, aliens from another dimension…sounds like fun. Oh, and I get to give up this implant. I never trusted the damn thing anyway.

Adam smiled. I thought you’d say that. This is right up your alley.

Where are you?

On Castor

Got it, Riyad said. Give me three days. I’ll contact you when I land.

Be careful, Sundance.

Adam could sense Riyad’s smile growing wider. I always saw myself as Butch Cassidy rather than the Sundance Kid.

The brains of the operation? Not hardly. However, I am a better shot than you.

Says who?

And by the way, have you been drinking?

Just a little.

I thought that was against your religion?

Not if you were tricked into it.

Tricked…into getting drunk. Now that’s a new one. I’ll have to try that the next time I get pulled over for a DUI.

I’m at the Crescent Star now, so I’m going to have to let you go, Riyad thought. Do your best to stay alive for the next three days. I don’t want to waste the fuel if you’re just going to be dead when I get to Castor.

I’ll do my best, just so I won’t inconvenience you.

In his mind Adam heard what sounded like the sound of someone vomiting—or at least the mental image of someone vomiting. Even that was enough to make Adam sever the connection as quickly as possible.

Chapter 10

Adam donned the breathing mask again and left the Pegasus II, hunching against a strong, cold wind. It was late at night, and Castor’s solitary moon had yet to rise. The spaceport was deserted except for a few drunken sailors staggering back to their ships after a night of debauchery in the raunchier parts of Krune.

It had been a long time since Adam had need of his ATD, and he was thankful he had it now to allow the conversation he’d just had with Riyad. He grimaced, thinking that he’d offered to give it up so that Panur could build his detector. Even then, it was for the noblest of causes that he was going to sacrifice the special powers the device gave him. And with Riyad on his way—and having already agreed to give up his—that left him only two short. Unfortunately, he’d still have to contact Arieel.

That was an entirely different matter, and one he had no idea how he was going to approach…

From somewhere in the wind, the mental signatures of three battery packs for MK plasma weapons registered in his mind. While on Earth, he rarely felt this awareness, since almost all Human weapons were conventional projectile devices. Now that he was back in the regular galaxy, energy-powered weapons were everywhere. Yet here, in the dark of a near-empty spaceport, their presence seemed out of place.

The objects were moving, two cutting across his path to the VIP elevator, another coming up from behind.

Adam pursed his lips. Damn, that was a waste of money, he thought, considering the money he’d spent to stay anonymous. It was obvious someone knew he was here, and with a bounty of galactic proportions on his head, the unfolding events weren’t totally unexpected.

Through his brain interface, Adam located the control modules for the three MK’s and severed the contacts between the trigger and the firing circuit. The readouts on the weapons would remain active, the guns just wouldn’t fire.

The three bounty hunters were closer now, and Adam decided it best if he used them to get information first, before he did anything else. Considering the foul mood he was in at the moment, this wasn’t going to end well for his assailants.

It happened as Adam passed a Juirean AM-81 merchant cruiser, sitting cold and idle on the brown soil of the spaceport. Two creatures, both Castorians, stepped out of the black shadows, MK-17’s leveled at him. Adam opened his eyes wide and threw up his hands.

“Please don’t shoot! I have credits…you can have them.”

Castorians were tall creatures—as are most beings from light gravity worlds—Primes with basic Humanoid features. What made them appear more alien was how their eyes were set almost to the sides of their narrow faces, almost lizard-like, allowing them to move independently and scan nearly three hundred sixty degrees around them. Their skin was pale, the result of a centuries-long migration to underground living, as the surface of the planet was ever the more stripped clean of vegetation to get at the precious raw materials buried just below the surface. As a result, oxygen levels had dropped and ozone was depleted from the atmosphere, exposing the planet to increased stellar radiation.

Physically, the natives had adapted to the lower oxygen levels, yet to protect against the radiation, they’d moved underground, occupying vast mines and caverns that had been carved out over the centuries following veins of metals, minerals, and gemstones. Castor was a fairly rich world—by Fringe standards—with their population still digging ever-deeper for the raw materials needed by a growing, industrialized galaxy.

Yet there was always an element looking to make a quick buck through illegal activities, and Adam was now face to face with two of them, with a third lurking in the shadows behind him in case something unforeseen occurred.

“You know we are not after your credits, Adam Cain. Where is the mutant?” The speaker was the taller of the two, with a dark red gash running diagonally across his pale face. He looked to be the sort who grew up on the dark side of Castorian society, and he moved closer to Adam with an intimidating confidence that the Human was sure worked on other Castorians, but not on him. Still, Adam played his part.

“Look, all I was supposed to do is bring the creature here. Now he’s left and I don’t know where he is.”

Both the alien’s eyes swiveled to peer down at the shorter Human. “Do not take us for uninformed. We know you are in the company of the mutant and that you have enlisted the assistance of others from your past. We will get paid for turning you over to the authorities, even without the mutant. Yet if we can acquire both aliens, we will be paid even more. Either way, we will be satisfied.”

“What if I take you to the mutant and then pay you to let me go? After all, it’s the other alien who has the most value.”

The Castorian looked to his partner. They shared a silent acknowledgement. “You have the credits to pay us now?”

“Not on me, they’re back at my ship. I always carry a contingency supply of Juirean credits aboard. It comes in handy at times.”

The alien stretched out a thin, closed-mouth grin. “You are experienced in the ways of the Fringe. Pay us a million credits and we will let you go…when the mutant has been secured.”

“You will need me for that. I know him better than anyone, including his strengths and weaknesses. Honestly, all I want is to be rid of him.”

The buldging, swiveling eyes studied the Human for a long moment. Adam knew this thug was seeing through his ruse of indifference towards Panur. But he was also already counting his bounty—the full bounty for the capture of both Panur and Adam—and with an extra million credits as a bonus.

“Lead us back to your ship. Do not attempt to escape. We have been advised to use Level-One bolts on Humans…and there are three of us, not two.”

The third Castorian stepped out of the shadows and joined the entourage that followed Adam back to the Pegasus II. Once inside the starship, they all ended up in the common room. Years ago, Adam had installed a false front on one of the food processors, where he kept his quantity of credits. He also had Formilian, Hyben, and a half dozen other currencies besides the Juirean credits, but since the mane-heads had returned to the leadership of the Expansion, their credits were the most coveted.

Adam began to pull out stacks of the light blue chips; a million credits was a lot. It would take a bag to carry them off the ship. The Castorians had dropped their guard somewhat, focusing on the growing stacks of credits on the food prep counter. Adam hadn’t offered any kind of resistance, and all the aliens could see right now were dollar signs. It was the moment Adam had been waiting for.

He took two huge stacks, one in each hand, and offered them to the three aliens, yet as he reached forward, one of the stacks began to wobble. Adam panicked, attempting to regain the balance with his other hand. All this did was make both stacks unstable.

Two of the aliens lowered their weapons and reached out to catch the falling credits, but it was too late. The plastic chips clattered to the deck. The two Castorians knelt down to gather them up, while the third—the leader—glanced down, following the movements of the others.

To his credit, he quickly recovered, realizing his mistake, and when he looked back at Adam, there was panic on his face. He knew what was coming.

Adam met the alien’s weird eyes with a wicked smile—and then planted a powerful right jab into his thin-boned face. The Castorian’s skull deformed as cartilage crumbled and fragments penetrated his brain. The force of the blow threw the creature backwards, where he collapsed on the solitary sofa in the common room, dead before he hit the cushions.

The other two Castorians were on their knees, scooping up fallen credits, when they heard the loud clap of the punch. They lifted their heads to look at Adam just as the Human stomped a booted foot down on the wrist of one of them, crushing the bones and dislodging the MK-17 he held in that hand. The thug let out an ear-piercing scream and tumbled backwards, cradling his shattered arm.

The remaining Castorian found himself being lifted off the deck as Adam grabbed the back of his jacket and spun him around until his back was to Adam.  A strong forearm then clamped itself around the alien’s throat, while Adam’s other arm came down hard on the Castorians’ gun hand. With a snapping of thin bone, the gun fell to the deck.

With alien number three firmly in his grasp, Adam looked to where number two was leaning against the couch, still holding his broken hand and screaming. Adam never realized Castorians had such powerful vocal chords, and the sound of the wailing alien was too much for him to bear. He kicked out, catching the sitting Castorian on the side of the head, and once again a clash between Human and alien resulted in a dead alien.

Adam spun the surviving thug around until they were facing one another. “Okay, now we’re going to have a little talk.”

The side-mounted eyes of the alien were wobbling uncontrollably, making Adam wonder what the hell the scene looked like from his point of view. It was disturbing.

“Will you stop with all that weird eye shit and look at me!” Adam yelled.

The gyrations continued.

“Look at me, dammit!”

Finally the movements quieted and the alien focused on Adam.

“Who told you I was here?”

“What?”

“I asked…who told you I was here? I’m sure you didn’t recognize me from the broadcasts. I’ve stayed pretty well hidden.”

“Will you let me go if I tell you?”

“You’re dead if you don’t, so you decide.”

“It was Dox Noan.”

“Who the hell is Dox Noan?”

“He is the one who told us about you being here.”

Adam’s eyes rolled back in his head. “Are you acting stupid, or is this the way you are naturally?”

“You asked—”

“I realize he told you about me, dumbass. What I want to know is who does he work for? You know, things like that.”

The alien formed an almost perfect “o” with his thin mouth. “He is a pirate, one of the Fringe Pirates.”

“He works for Angar?”

“Yes, he is his second. So now will you let me go?”

“Yep, as soon as I’m sure you won’t talk to anyone about this, and only then.”

“But how can you be sure I will not talk?”

Adam’s grin became a smirk. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? The only way I can think of is to kill you.”

“I could promise not to talk.”

“You could, but look at it from my side. Once you’re out of sight, you go straight to the Enforcers and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Yes, I see your dilemma.”

“Then no hard feelings?”

“Of course there will be, Adam Cain. I do not wish to die.”

“And I don’t want to be captured.”

A look of resignation crossed the alien’s pale face. “Please make it swift.”

“I promise.”

The Castorian nodded, just before Adam grabbed his head on each side and twisted it with a sudden jerk. The neck snapped and the body collapsed to the floor.

Adam looked down at the dead alien, and for the first time in—well, he had no idea how long—he actually felt regret for killing an alien.

“Am I getting soft in my old age?” he asked aloud. He looked around at the three dead aliens littering his common room, one bleeding on his couch. “It does leave a mess most of the time. That blood is going to be impossible to get out of the fabric.”

********

An hour later, Adam returned to the hotel. He didn’t tell anyone about the incident with the thugs, or of his conversation with Riyad. With Angar waiting for him at a nearby restaurant, he didn’t want to complicate things before securing the pirate’s commitment to the mission.

And now there was the issue of Dox Noan, Angar’s second-in-command.

Was Angar also involved? Was he out to get the massive reward being offered for Adam and Panur, or was Dox a rogue agent looking for a huge score of his own? From Adam’s experience, whenever a second-in-command is involved, he would always suspect a double-cross was underway—grab the reward, stab Angar in the back, and take over the Fringe Pirates. It’s what second seaters always did, at least those with ambition.

Adam was confident Dox would be at the meeting. It was being held in a closed restaurant—one of Angar’s choosing—arranged through his contacts within the criminal element of Krune. Both Dox and his boss would feel secure in the setting. Yet how would the turncoat react when he saw Adam? His hired thugs were supposed to have grabbed both him and Panur before the meeting.

Adam decided to send Kaylor and Jym in first, telling Angar that Adam was delayed but would be along in a few minutes. This would make the bad guy—or guys—believe the plan had worked. Studying their reactions when he appeared would tell him what he needed to know.

Although Krune was located underground, it still had individual buildings with rooftops contained within its huge caverns, and Adam stationed himself on one of them with a clear view of the entrance to the restaurant. It was late night in the city, which even without a natural sun still observed cycles of night and day, light and dark.

There were two guards outside the restaurant. They searched Kaylor and Jym before allowing them to enter the building. Then they relaxed. They were just muscle, tasked with providing security for a meeting that they now believed had all the attendees present.

Adam climbed down from the rooftop, dropping the last fifty feet in the light gravity to the surface of an alleyway next to the restaurant. Once on the main street, he still had about twenty feet to cover to reach the guards, and with no shelter to mask his approach.

So he took a deep breath… and then swung around the corner and out of the alley, sprinting toward the two pirates.

Twenty feet in the light gravity of Castor was covered in a second, and Adam’s lowered right shoulder plowed into one of the guards, and then the other. They both landed in a heap a few feet down the sidewalk, one unconscious, the other stunned but recovering.

Adam needed Angar and the Fringe Pirates, so he didn’t want to kill any of them—except for Dox Noan. So he simply slapped the conscious guard into a peaceful sleep and then moved quickly to the door of the restaurant.

He looked inside, and seeing no other guards, raced to the other side of the dining area and to the entrance of a lit room in the back. Without hesitation, he walked boldly into the room.

Angar—and who Adam assumed was Dox Noan—were seated next to each other on a long sofa, with two other pirates in chairs to each side. Kaylor and Jym were on another couch facing the pirates.

Kaylor beamed when Adam entered. “I told you he would be here.”

Adam first studied Angar’s face. It showed surprise, yet also joy, the recognition of seeing a long-lost friend. The plump alien seated next to him—Adam didn’t know the species—showed surprise as well, along with an overflowing amount of panic. He shifted nervously in place, glancing side to side, looking for an exit.

Adam smiled and walked quickly to the sofa, positioning himself directly in front of Dox. Angar stood, his five-foot-tall frame appearing slender and frail. He had aged considerably since Adam had last seen him, but his eyes were still bright and active.

“Adam Cain, it is a pleasure to see you again,” the pirate leader said. “Throughout the years I have heard of your exploits and often boasted to those who would listen that I know you personally. Most did not believe me.”

“We know the truth, my friend. I’m also glad to see you, though I must say I was surprised to hear that you’re still in the pirate business. I thought you would have retired long ago.”

“Pirating is all I know.” He glanced down at Dox, who remained seated on the couch, blocked by Adam’s body. “Even though many have counseled me to pass along the leadership to others, I fear I will be doing this until the day I die. Let me introduce—”

“Dox Noan, yes I know,” Adam said, turning his attention to the now-trembling alien.

“You know Dox?” Suspicion was thick in Angar’s voice.

“By reputation only, Angar. You see, he hired a gang of thugs to capture me and Panur tonight. It didn’t work out too well for the thugs, by the way. And now I’m sure he was going to betray you so he could take over control of the pirates. It’s always good to meet a being with ambition.”

The other two pirates were on their feet, MK’s drawn and ready. They appeared to be waiting for orders from Angar and not part of the conspiracy. Good, Adam thought. They’ll live longer that way.

Angar glared down at his seated second-in-command. “Is this true—there is no need to answer! I can tell by your expression that it is.”

“I was not going to betray you!” the fat alien squealed. “And I intended to split the reward with all of us. We have not had many profitable raids recently. It was easy credits!”

“This is Adam Cain, you fool,” Angar said. “Did you really think you could find others who could subdue him? Have you not heard the stories? Besides, Adam is my friend, and I came to Castor to hear his proposal without malice and with an open mind. Now you have embarrassed me.”

Angar turned to Adam. “Would you prefer I take care of this matter, or would you like to do it yourself?”

“I’ve already killed enough for one night,” he said to Dox with a wink, although he was sure the gesture was lost on the alien. “I wouldn’t want to get too far ahead of you in score. You can have him.”

“And my guards outside?”

“Bruised, yet alive.”

“I thank you.” Angar nodded to the other two pirates. They rushed in and took Dox out of the room, rather roughly and with purpose. “With that done, can we get down to business? For what purpose do you need the Fringe Pirates?”

Fifteen minutes later, Angar sat on the couch, his mouth slack and his eyes wide.

“I understand the principle, but is it even feasible? Can we actually affect the orbit of a black hole and control the collision precisely enough where all of us are not consumed by the resulting explosion? And then the time factor...how long will it take for this collision to take place? We are speaking of stellar distances here.”

“I asked Panur the same questions. He said once the two objects reach this gravitational imbalance, they’ll accelerate rapidly. And then the collision will only be glancing. The explosion will be modest and the material cast off will be ready for pick-up as soon as all the shockwaves subside.”

“How long will that be?”

“Eight hours, approximately.”

“Do you believe these estimates? I have never heard of such a thing being attempted.”

“Panur’s been alive for five thousand years and he’s learned a lot in that time. I tend to side with him when it comes to technical matters.”

“Yet still…moving a black hole and crashing it into a star…I believe this could end up being a fruitless folly.”

“But if it’s not, then you and your pirates would have your pick of thousands of huge diamond remnants. If you act fast, before the rush to recover them begins, you’ll be able to make a fortune—and it would all be legitimate.”

“And if the mutant cannot do what he says?”

“Then it’s only cost you a couple of weeks in transit time to and from the Sylox region.”

Angar looked over at Kaylor and Jym, who had been silent during Adam’s presentation. “Do you believe him—I mean the mutant? Can he really do this?”

Kaylor spoke: “I have only recently met him, yet he does appear to be quite intelligent. However, it is Adam Cain I trust. If he believes the mutant can do this, then so do I.”

Angar nodded. “I tend to agree. Very well, Adam Cain. I will provide you with the ships you need. My fleet is only fifteen in number at this time, so I will give you all of them. You say you need ten in total, and with Kaylor’s ship, only nine from me.” And then he grinned. “Having a few extra marauders in reserve could not hurt.”

“More firepower is always preferred to having too little,” Adam agreed. “So we have an agreement?”

“Yes we do.”

“Good, prepare your fleet. I need you at Sylox in eight days.”

“It will take an all-out effort for us to get there in that time, yet I will make sure it is done.”

Adam was ecstatic—up until he thought of Riyad. Angar and him had a storied past, but he was hoping money spoke louder than old grudges. And with luck, Angar wouldn’t find out about Riyad’s involvement in the operation until he and his pirates were on station.

The meeting broke up, and after apologizing to the battered guards, Adam, Kaylor and Jym returned to the hotel…where they discovered Panur was missing-in-action.

********

 “This is just great!” Adam said as he moved from room to room looking for the diminutive alien. “I knew I should’ve taken him with me.”

“Where could he have gone?” Kaylor asked. “With the entire galaxy looking for him, he must know he cannot go wandering the streets, especially late at night. Very few establishments are open at this hour.”

Adam spun around to face the Belsonian mule driver. “What places are open? He’s never been to Castor before, so he may be out trying to learn all he can about the natives while he’s here.”

“That would be extremely reckless,” Jym added.

“Reckless is his middle name.”

“Truly? That seems like a strange coincidence.”

“It’s not his middle name, Jym. Damn, I thought you understood the nuances of Human language better.”

“It has been a long time since I had extensive contact with your kind, and you have no idea how tedious it is having to constantly decipher your odd way of phrasing and description.”

“You’re right…sorry. We do tend to make up a lot of weird ways of talking as we go along. In fact, the more creative we can get, the more we respect the speaker.”

“That would appear to be very confusing and counterproductive to clear understanding. But now we must find the mutant. Without him, we have no reason to be here.”

“So what’s open at this hour?”

“Intoxicant stations, mostly,” Jym answered.

“Bars, of course. Do you know of any nearby?”

Jym went to the imbedded computer in the wall of the hotel room. It wasn’t very sophisticated, mainly just a search directory. “Three are within a short walk of here. All are operating at this time.”

“Take me to the nearest one.”

Chapter 11

Kaylor remained at the hotel, working on navigation charts for the journey to Sylox, while Jym went with Adam to the bar.

The intoxicant station was what one would expect of a late-night bar anywhere in the galaxy. It was dimly lit, sparely populated, and smelled of the perspiration from a variety of alien species. There were testing boxes on each of the tables and lining the bar, where patrons would have a blood sample taken to find their tolerance to certain alcohols and other stimulants. The bar ownership was usually responsible for any deaths resulting from adverse reactions to their concoctions, so before a creature could be served, a test was mandatory.

Panur was there, propped up on a high stool, talking with the bartender. Since the chairs were built primarily for tall Castorians, the mutant was standing on the seat cushion; even then he could barely see over the top of the counter.

There were three empty glasses in front of him.

Adam slipped into the seat next to him, while Jym quickly left the bar and returned to the hotel. He knew he wasn’t needed in a place like this, especially if there was going to be trouble. A four-foot tall talking teddy bear wasn’t much good in a fistfight.

“My friend!” Panur exclaimed when he noticed Adam next to him. “I’ve been expecting you. Did the meeting go well this evening?”

The bartender was staring at Adam, one of his offset eyes watching him and the other focused on Panur. Reluctantly, Adam placed his finger in the sampling box. A moment later, a menu of appropriate drinks began to scroll across a screen on the box. All the beverages were written in Castorian, so he simply pointed at one before it disappeared from the screen. The bartender snorted and then turned away to prepare the drink.

Adam leaned in close to the alien. “The meeting went well. You not only have your ten starships, you’ll have a total eighteen, including mine, Kaylor’s, and Riyad’s.”

“Excellent! Do they depart soon?”

“Within a few hours. What the hell are you doing here? If you get caught, none of what I’m doing will mean anything. Word is out that we’re here. Tonight I was attacked by three bounty hunters.”

Panur seemed unaffected by the news. “That was inevitable, and I see you are unscathed. I fear the same cannot be said for those who attacked you.”

Adam shrugged. “Are you drunk?”

“I cannot get drunk.”

“Then why are you acting so weird?”

Panur frowned and then looked at the empty glasses on the bar. “Perhaps I am! I had not noticed.” He laughed. “I shall have to analyze this, to determine how it was that I became inebriated without my knowledge.”

“It seems to be going around,” Adam said. “Now let’s get out of here. I still have to contact Arieel.”

The bartender deposited a large bowl in front of Adam with a cloud of steam rising from it. He shook his head. “Ninety credits.”

“Isn’t that rather high?”

“For you and your friend. He said you would be in to pay.”

Adam took out a Juirean hundred credit chip. “Keep it.”

The bartender didn’t seem very appreciative.

“Let’s go.”

“Are you not going to finish your drink?”

Adam looked at the steaming bowl. “I’m not even going to start it.”

“Then let me!”

Before Adam could react, Panur had scooped up the bowl and was pouring the contents down his throat. Both Adam and the bartender reacted.

“You cannot do that!” the bartender yelled, pulling the bowl away from Panur, spilling the scalding contents down the front of his white tunic.

“I will be quite all right,” Panur said. “Yet my clothing is probably ruined. Why did you do that?”

“That was made for his body chemistry, not yours.”

“And what is my body chemistry?”

The bartender looked at Panur with a concerned frown. “I wish I knew. Every time the sample was tested it came up with a different answer.”

“That is because I can change my body chemistry to suit the environment.”

“How is that possible?”

Adam hoisted the small alien off the chair and placed him on the floor. “We’re leaving now. Thanks for your hospitality.”

“But that was rather good,” Panur said, looking back longingly at the bartender. “I may want another!”

“No you don’t. Let’s go.”

With a very Human-like pout, Panur allowed Adam to steer him out of the bar; however, a last glance back at the bartender showed the Castorian reaching for a comm-link. Using his ATD, Adam located the device and disabled it, much to the consternation of the bartender.

“Hurry up, the bartender is going to report us.”

“No he’s not. He’s my friend. We had a very enlightened conversation. Did you know there are nineteen thousand underground communities on Castor? Of course Krune is the largest.”

Adam knew it would only be a matter of time before the bartender found a working comm-link. Whether he was calling the local enforcers, or just a group of his buddies hoping to score the reward, was anyone’s guess. Either way it meant their time on Castor was coming to an abrupt end.

Adam rushed past the dozing hotel clerk and entered Kaylor’s room without knocking. “The jig’s up, we gotta boogie.”

“Adam Cain, please!” Jym scolded.

“The bartender is going to report us. We have to get off the planet. You and Kaylor may have a little longer, but Panur and I have to leave now.”

“You cannot tell me what to do!” Panur said as he jumped and landed in the middle of Kaylor’s bed. “This is my domain. I am claiming this for my own.”

“Intoxicants?” Kaylor asked.

“Yep, and he not used to it. C’mon, Panur, change your chemistry or something. I need you sober.”

“Needing me sober would imply that I am drunk.”

“You are drunk.”

The mutant’s eyes grew wide. “That’s right…I forgot.”

Suddenly Panur’s expression changed from that of giddy inebriation to seriously sober. “I do not like the fact that I had a mental lapse in memory. The ingredients of those drinks are extremely dangerous.”

“You’re not the first to come to that conclusion,” Adam said. “Are you sober now?”

“Perfectly. But now I’m filled with anger.”

“Save it. We have to get off-planet, now!”

“Lead on. We have very little in our rooms.”

It was almost a universal practice that police cars had sirens—or some kind of wailing alarm—to warn of their approach. Now a distant blaring could be heard, growing closer by the second. This answered Adam’s question as to who the bartender was calling. He would have preferred to deal with bounty hunters again. They tended to work solo or in smaller groups, and could normally be killed with impunity. The police came in bunches, and in numbers that only grew the more of them one killed.

The pair of fugitives rushed out of the hotel and onto the street just before the authorities arrived. Now that the word was out, Adam knew that whatever prior arrangements he’d made for transportation and anonymity were forfeit. They would have to make their way up eight levels to the surface by their own means.

The public train system in Krune was very extensive and sophisticated, and it ran at all hours. Adam led Panur into the nearest access point and shoved him into an open door before it slid shut and the subway pod took off.  The car was empty and automated, so Adam relaxed some as the pod gained speed.

Then both he and Panur suddenly fell forward as the car began to slow. Three seconds later it had come to a complete halt in a darkened tunnel between stations.

“Follow me.”

Adam pulled open the doors of the pod and he and Panur jumped out. “Watch out for the middle rail. That’s usually the one that’s—”

A brilliant flash of light lit up the tunnel, popping sparks of electricity shooting into the air like a Roman candle.

Adam looked back and saw Panur behind the subway pod standing squarely on the middle rail. As a result of the short circuit, power had been cut to the track, yet not before Panur had absorbed the entire current. Now he stood naked—his clothing having been burned off—his body fully aglow with a pink radiance. His eyes also glowed, projecting beams of pure white light.

“Are you all right?” Adam cried out. He kept his distance, feeling the heat coming off the mutant’s body.

“I feel great!” Panur replied. “What a surge of energy! This is incredible.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. Now, can you move?”

“Move? I can fly!” And then the mutant alien lifted off the ground, hovering like a glowing version of da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

“What the hell are you doing? We don’t have time for this.”

“I’m superconducting. It’s creating a repelling force with the planet.”

Adam could hear a commotion down the tunnel toward the station they’d just left. “The police are here. Come down from there and let’s get moving.”

“I prefer this mode of travel.”

And with that, Panur began to float down the rail line, three feet above the floor and picking up speed as he went. Adam sprinted after him, finding it hard to keep up, but after a couple of hundred yards, the effects of the shock began to wear off and Panur settled gently to the ground.

“I have never taken in such an abundance of energy at one time. Can you tolerate the heat now?”

“Yeah, it’s better, but you still have a ways to go to get back to normal.”

“I shall shed the excess energy as we go and cool in the process. Where are we going?”

Adam pointed down the dark tunnel. “That way.”

“Why?”

“Because the bad guys are that way.” He pointed the other way down the tunnel.

Panur laughed. “That was very good. Do you know what’s down that way?”

“I haven’t a clue? Do you?”

Panur nodded. “I noticed the rail line layout when we first arrived. This tunnel continues to the 8-L station and then climbs to the surface through a series of switchbacks. Surely they will be guarded.”

“Since you know the layout, any suggestions?”

“Exhaust vents.”

“What exhaust vents?”

“Like that.” Panur pointed to a round hole in the ceiling of the tunnel covered with a grate.

The pair stopped below the opening. “Where does it lead?”

“To the surface. The vents are used to relieve the air pressure that builds up as the pods pass through the system. Without them, the tunnels would build up such air resistance that nothing would be able to move.”

“Sound like a plan.” Adam jumped up, reaching the twenty-foot high metal grate with ease. The cover was latched but not locked. Adam flipped a catch and the screen fell down, swinging to the side on rusty hinges. He then dropped back to the floor.

“I’ll toss you up…unless you can still fly.”

“Unfortunately that moment has passed. I’m no longer superconducting.”

Adam lifted the alien, and then hands and arms placed on the mutant’s butt, he shot-put him toward the ceiling. The tiny alien missed the hanging grate the first time and fell back into Adam’s waiting arms. On the next try, he managed to grip the bars of the grate and hang there.

Adam was beside him a moment later, and helped pull Panur up into the vent tunnel.

“Why didn’t you just grow several feet?”

“That would have been a good idea, but I didn’t think of it. Perhaps I am still suffering from the effects of the intoxicant.”

Adam smiled. “So I have a hungover, five-thousand-year-old mutant alien. That’s something you don’t run across every day.”

“Very funny, Adam, but I’m serious. This is an awful feeling.”

“Welcome to my world.”

There was a ladder built into the side of the vent shaft and Panur took the lead. Yet when Adam began to follow, he looked up at the naked alien above him and nearly gagged.

“Dammit Panur, wrap this around you.”

Adam was wearing a long-sleeve shirt and t-shirt. He removed the shirt and passed it up to Panur. Wrapping the sleeves around his waist and tying them off helped—to a degree. And although Adam had done more than his share of alien ass kicking in the past, having a worm’s eye view of one was an image he would have nightmares about for years to come.

It was a relief when the pair reached the next level, at least from Adam’s point of view. They stepped out of the shaft and onto a service platform where two other tunnels joined the main one. The airflow here was considerably stronger as the subway trains on this level were still in operation, forcing air to escape through the vents.

“Do we continue up?” Adam asked. “The airflow here is wicked. Another level or two and it will blow us right out the top.”

“I did not have the opportunity to study the complete ventilation system, just the schematic at the station.”

Adam stuck his hand back in the vent and felt the wind. “Maybe one more level, then it’ll become too dangerous.”

They entered the vent shaft again, this time with Adam taking the lead. By the time they reached Level Six, it was all they could do to keep from being sucked up by the rushing current of air.

“We’re going to have to take our chances from here.” He took his shirt off the alien and had him slip it over his tiny body in a more conventional fashion. It reached down far enough to form a long dress on the mutant, the sleeves rolled up to expose his hands. The look worked, but their faces were still fully exposed.

Panur overcame this issue by changing his face to look like that of Castorian child, complete with segregated eyes. Adam then ripped away the long sleeves from the shirt Panur was wearing and placed the cloth over his head. Next he removed his belt and secured it around his forehead. Most of his face was covered, which would have to do. They were running out of time. He had no idea how long it would take the enforcers to track down his ship.

There was a service exit on the platform and the pair dropped down onto another train track. This time Panur was careful not to step on the third rail—although Adam could tell he had a secret desire to do so. They hurried along the line until they reached a station, and managed to climb onto the landing just moments before a series of pods rushed by.

There were a few creatures on this platform at this time of the morning, the early birds on their way to their respective jobs. They gawked at the odd-looking pair of aliens, but no one seemed overly concerned. Adam and Panur took the next pod that came by.

Twenty minutes later, they had made enough transfers to work their way up to Level One. Here’s where it would get dicey. Access to the outside was restricted, since long exposure to the increased stellar radiation could prove deadly. Movement to and from the spaceport was okay, but if a person were to get lost in the wilds of Castor, they would be dead in less than twenty-four hours.

There seemed to be an inordinate number of Castorian Enforcers in the spaceport annex, their odd eyes swiveling to and fro, obviously on the lookout for Adam and Panur. But they would be looking for a Human and a pale-skinned alien of unknown origin, not a Human with a Castorian child. Still, a Human on Castor was not that common, so any sighting would be questioned.

“We need a diversion, something to let me slip past the guards without being seen,” Adam said.

“Let me do it!” Panur offered with enthusiasm. “I am disguised as a child. Even Castorians must cherish their offspring. I will pretend to be lost and without escort. Then at some point I will convert into another being and slip away.”

“Be careful,” Adam said.

“Or what…I might get killed?”

“They might just sit on you until reinforcements are called. Okay, you’re on.”

Panur entered through the double annex doors and began running, screaming at the top of his lungs and waving his arms about wildly. “I am lost! I am lost! Where are my parents?”

All heads turned towards the disturbance, including the four guards near the entrance. When they moved off toward the screaming child, Adam slipped in and turned to his right, walking quickly past rows of service counters, only a few of which were manned by groggy attendants, now shaken awake by the rantings of the lost child.

Past the counters were a series of service doors. Adam tried two before he found one unlocked. He stepped through and found himself in a hallway that extended in both directions parallel to the room outside. Using his knowledge of the spaceport layout, he rushed down the deserted corridor to his left before coming to a wider bay that appeared to be a break room of some sort. Two Castorian workers were seated at tables, dressed in the orange outfits of port workers. They looked up when Adam entered.

“You are not allowed here,” one of them said. “Where is your access badge?”

Adam stepped closer to them. “Badge? I don’t need no stinking badge!” And that’s when he struck the speaker with a soft elbow to the side of his head, and the other with a left cross. He did his best to restrain himself, not wishing to kill the workers. Both fell prone to the floor, and a quick check of their pulses assured Adam that they were alive.

He rushed out of the room and was soon in another with heavy exterior doors marked with warning signs. He went to the nearest one, and finding it locked, stepped back and placed a powerful kick to the latch. The metal broke away and the door swung outward.

He scanned the outside area. He was at the edge of the spaceport. In the distance was a forest of spaceships of all makes and models. He could see the Pegasus II about a mile away.

He looked along the edge of the annex building. It was a large metal barrier built into a huge overhang along the side of mountain, with doors and observation windows lining its length. There were three main entrances/exits, with one about fifty yards to his left.

He had to find Panur before heading for the Pegasus II.

Just as he came to a series of quad doors made of thick, tinted glass, an alien rushed out. Adam stopped in his tracks and assumed a defensive posture…until he recognized his own shirt covering the upper torso of the tall creature—but not the bottom. That’s when Adam realized it was Panur.

“What are you supposed to be?”

“A Crionean.”

“Never heard of them.”

“Very few have.” Panur quickly reverted to his normal appearance and the pair ran off toward the Pegasus II.

Adam skidded up to the hull thirty seconds later, having covered the mile distance in world-record time, thanks to the low gravity of Castor. To his surprise, Panur was right behind him. He punched in the security code and the hatch cycled open.

In the pilothouse, Adam activated the engines. “I hope your new dimensional-whatchamacallit doesn’t need any warm-up time.”

“Active upon demand,” Panur replied.

“Then I demand it now.” He punched the liftoff button.

“Wait!”

Panur’s warning came a moment too late; the pair were slammed back in their seats by the incredible acceleration of the spacecraft. Adam felt like he was being mashed in an industrial press, the air in his rapidly collapsing lungs forced out and his vision glossing over from bursting blood vessels.

To his relief, the pressure then fell away. He leaned forward and gasped for breath. Through blood-fogged eyes, he saw a long, thin arm retract from his control panel, and he followed it back to Panur as it returned to normal length.

“The dampers are not tied into the launch controls,” the alien explained, having recovered from the effects much quicker than Adam. “I see I will have to remedy that once we are safely on our way.”

“You do that,” Adam strained to say. “It would have been nice to have them coupled to begin with.”

“This is our first liftoff since Earth. I activated the dampers before we left that time as part of the pre-launch sequence.”

“I didn’t know there was a pre-launch sequence.”

“You do now.”

Adam’s eyesight was clearing somewhat, yet he was afraid to look in a mirror. From past experience with rapid, uncompensated acceleration, he knew his eyes would be a mass of red by now. They would heal rapidly—as did most eye injuries—but until then he’d walk around with vampire eyes.

The Pegasus II was now on a steadily increasing acceleration curve, speeding out of the Castorian star system at over fifty times light speed. Adam checked their flight path. They were heading in the wrong direction, back toward the Void.

“Where are we going?” Panur asked, sensing Adam’s thoughts.

“I need to contact Arieel…and Riyad. He’s on his way to Castor. Now we need another rendezvous spot.”

“Riyad Tarazi? I didn’t know you had made contact with him.”

“Right after I spoke with Admiral Tobias. He’s on his way to help us.”

“He also has a brain-interface device.”

“Exactly. You say you need four. With mine and Riyad’s we’re halfway there.”

“And the others will come from the Formilians.”

“As I said before, they only make them as needed, and from past experience it takes a while to build one.”

“Then they will have to come from existing inventory.”

Adam glanced at the alien. “You know what you’re asking? Arieel has had her device since she was five. It’s part of her existence, her entire being. It’s also her religion. And now her daughter has one as well. It’s not going to be easy to convince them to give them up.”

“The alternative is that Formil, and thousands of other worlds, will be consumed by the Sol-Kor. I believe in light of the seriousness of the need, both mother and daughter will agree to relinquish their devices. And after the crisis has passed, the Formilians can build new ones.”

“I suppose you’re right. I’m just not looking forward to the conversation.”

“We’re clear of Castorian space, and there appears to be no pursuit—at least none that can match us in speed. I believe it’s time to make the necessary calls and to check on the pirate fleet. You have done a remarkable job bringing together all the elements I need, but the task is still far from complete.”

Chapter 12

As Riyad rushed into the pilothouse of the Crescent Star, he tapped the light pad on the back wall. Nothing happened; the room stayed lit only by the dim light coming in through the forward viewport.

“What the hell?”

“Relax and enjoy the show,” said a voice from the shadows.

“Reggie? Is that you?”

“Damn right, my olive-skinned stud.” Suddenly a spotlight popped on in the ceiling, aimed at a pale, redheaded woman dressed in a slinky black nightgown and stilettos.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I know how horny you get after a presentation. So…I have a little presentation of my own.” With sensual movements of her slender hands, the woman began to separate the front of the nightgown.”

Ignoring the near-naked woman, Riyad slipped past her and settled into the pilot’s seat, flicking switches and overriding Regina’s single spotlight. The room was suddenly bathed in mood-killing light. “I appreciate the gesture, but right now we have to get the hell out of here.”

The engines were beginning to hum, even as the walls of the pilothouse began to sparkle with the red and blue reflections of emergency lights spinning outside the ship, coming from the edge of the spaceport grounds.

Regina Greywood moved quickly to the large window and looked out. After a quick survey of the horde of vehicles screaming toward the ship, she ran to her co-pilot’s seat and slipped in, pulling a shoulder harness over her thin, silky nightgown.

“I should’ve known when I hooked up with one of Adam Cain’s gang that I’d be running for my life one day.” She began to ready her controls for liftoff.

“I thought that was part of my appeal?”

“Oh, it was. After all, what girl wouldn’t want her own private Han Solo to romp around with?”

“That reference goes back a ways.”

“Sexy never goes out of style. So, stud, how many natives did you kill tonight?”

“I swear, not a single one.” And after the proper pause, Riyad continued. “They were Juireans, including an Overlord.”

When Reggie didn’t say anything, he chanced a quick look in her direction. Upon seeing the flushed cheeks and glossy eyes, he did a double take. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were getting aroused.”

“Well…you did say you killed Juireans.” Reggie began to run a finger over her moist, red lips. “That just earned you a bonus, big boy.”

Even as a dozen emergency vehicles closed on the starship, Riyad took a moment to lock eyes with his co-pilot. “I know where there’s a whole planet of Juireans just waiting to be killed.”

“Don’t tease me. If you do that, we both may not live through the aftermath.”

“We’d die with smiles on our faces, that’s for sure.”

The fiery redhead looked to the viewport. “If I have to go, I would prefer it that way than at the hands of a bunch of smelly aliens, on a rock of a world orbiting an unreachable star somewhere.”

“Then do the honors. You’re always telling me how you’re the better pilot. Show me what you got.”

“Seriously?” Regina bounced in her seat. “You’re going to let me do the escaping?”

“It’s the least I could do, in light of what you offered me earlier.”

“The offer’s still on the table.”

“Table, chair, bed, whatever. Just make sure we live long enough to decide on which one.”

“One? I was thinking all three.”

And with that, one of the most advanced warships built by Human hands shot into the night sky of Vinnous Mak, a long tail of flame falling out behind it, until the gravity drive engaged.

Four smaller Makean patrol craft rose up after them, firing ineffective plasma bolts at the rapidly shrinking target. The Juirean Class-Four battleship off to starboard, however,  was another matter.

The barrage of intense bolts it fired at the fleeing starship fanned out, covering a wide swath of space directly across their forward path. Riyad inhaled sharply as Reggie sent the Crescent Star into a series of wild “s” turns, expertly dodging the incoming bolts like one of those action heroes back home who end up being chased down the freeway on the wrong side of the road. All Riyad could do was hold on.

The Star was faster than the Juirean warship, so once she was beyond the range of their weapons, Reggie straightened out their course, even as she rollercoastered her way through a nearby asteroid belt.

“Where to, boss?” she finally asked as they cleared the field of space rock and headed out-system.

“Castor, in the Fringe.”

“I know where Castor is. I actually spent a couple of months in a prison there once.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Nope. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned a lot there.”

Although the two of them had been together for nearly a year, this was something Riyad didn’t know about his new flame. But that would have to wait for another time.

Right now, the one thing he did know about the woman: she was a better pilot than he was. Way better. But before he could compliment her, she placed the ship on autopilot, unstrapped, and then jumped in his lap, straddling him with her long, muscular legs.

“If this what it’s like to be part of the Adam Cain Brat Pack…I could get used this.”

As he was overcome by the warm kisses on his neck and the fragrance of her long, wavy locks, Riyad’s eyes rolled back in his head. His brilliant smile lit up the pilothouse.

“So could I,” he breathed. “So could I.”

Chapter 13

Adam corrected the course of the Pegasus II, heading for the planet Formil. He had no illusions that he would be allowed to land, so he would have to convince Arieel to meet him somewhere off-planet. That wouldn’t be easy for her. As Speaker of the Formilian religious order, her every movement was news. And to ask that her daughter go with her was something he wasn’t even sure was allowed. Speaker and Speaker-In-Waiting off-planet at the same time? If he were in charge, he wouldn’t allow it. Too much of a security risk.

Adam went to his cabin and contacted Riyad through his ATD, filling him in on the change of plans. Surprisingly, his old sidekick didn’t seem too upset with the prospect of spending a few extra days in a boring transit to Sylox. He also seemed distracted and anxious to break the connection, apparently having been interrupted in the middle of something important. What could be more important than saving the galaxy—and their lives? After only a short thirty second mental conversation, the contact was severed.

Now he lay on his bed and attempted to open a channel to Arieel.

Five minutes later an awareness filled his mind. The presence he felt there was more intimate than merely physical; their minds melded and sensations became one. This was something that only Arieel seemed to know how to do; he didn’t feel this with anyone else he communicated with by ATD. Her “Gift,” as the Formilians referred to the brain-interface device, was an integral part of her soul by now, and she used it in ways he couldn’t even imagine. As Panur had said once, calling it an artificial telepathy device was diminishing its abilities, and Arieel Bol had spent a lifetime learning all its secrets.

The question now: would she give it up based solely on Adam’s asking?

Adam, I am so glad you have made contact!

It’s good to hear your thoughts again, too, Arieel.

I have been meaning to contact you myself, yet I am under close scrutiny. It appears all your past contacts are being watched.

But we can communicate by the implants.

Yes, but your Admiral Tobias is aware of this. He has received permission from the Order to have surveillance on me constantly, hoping to detect changes in my expression.

That’s happening right now?

Yes, but I have resumed a calm demeanor. I am in a ceremony which involves emotional responses, so I should be able to mask my interaction with you. Now I must plead with you—return the mutant and let us be done with this. I do not understand what you are doing.

I can’t return him. If I do, he’ll be forced to create even deadlier weapons against us. And I’ve also learned that the Sol-Kor will not honor any immunity agreement made with them. They never have in the past and they won’t this time either. So even if we return Panur, the Sol-Kor will still come after us.

Are you sure?

That’s what Panur has told me, and I believe him.

It may just be a ploy to keep him from being returned.

I know, but his argument is strong. Besides, now he’s working on a way for us to defeat the Sol-Kor for good, a portal detector which will allow us to find all their doorways into our universe. Knowing where they’re getting into the galaxy will allow us to shut them down and remove the threat for good. That’s much better than working out some deal with those bastards to leave us alone.

Can he do that?

I believe so. If he does, he’ll be safe from the Sol-Kor, and so will we. It’s the best outcome we could hope for. This is also the reason I’m contacting you.

I sense a deep foreboding. You are in turmoil and it is tearing you apart. I fear what you have to say.

I need your help, Arieel.

Adam, I am incapable of providing assistance. With the current political dynamic of the galaxy, all the major races are unified in the quest to find and return the mutant. This dynamic has supplanted even local authority. I am diminished in my power, and our past relationship has only weakened it more. I am now seen as a potential accomplice to your deeds.

We have to find a way, Arieel. If Panur can build his portal detector, we can defeat the Sol-Kor once and for all.

As you have said…but I do not see how I can help.

I need your ATD—your Gift—as well as the one Lila has.

There was silence in his mind for several seconds.

I do not understand the request. Do you require our assistance through our Gifts? I sense there is more.

I need the actual devices.

Again silence followed his statement.

Please clarify. I am afraid I understand what you are saying. I just need confirmation.

Panur needs four of the devices to serve as readers for his detector. I’m giving up mine, as is Riyad. That leaves us two short.

They are to be removed from our bodies?

That’s right.

The silence was even longer this time.

You ask far too much of me…and of Lila. To us these are not simple electronic devices, as you consider them. To us they are an essential part of our lives and our bodies. I can’t imagine surviving without mine.

You may not have a choice. The Sol-Kor will continue to spread throughout the galaxy, consuming all the higher intelligences, including the Formilians. This is important, Arieel. Panur has a way of saving us all from the Sol-Kor. If he succeeds, we survive. If he doesn’t, then we all die. It’s as simple as that. And if he’s captured and returned, then he’ll be unable to build the detector and the Sol-Kor will renege on their immunity offer. We will have gained nothing, while also losing the only chance we have of defeating the enemy. If we don’t help Panur, all we gain is a little time. After that, there’ll be nothing left, no Earth, no Expansion…no Formil.

Adam…

Can’t the Order build you new Gifts to replace the ones you donate to the cause?

It takes time. It is a process to construct new Gifts. It is possible ours can be replaced, yet for us to help you, that would mean going against the Order and the galaxy to side with you and the mutant. You say the Sol-Kor will not honor an immunity agreement, yet that cannot be proven except through execution. If the Sol-Kor are not given the opportunity to prove their words have meaning, the galaxy will not accept your word over theirs. The mutant may indeed be able to build his detector, and the Sol-Kor may be vanquished from the galaxy, yet to some that outcome would also occur through their immunity offer. Certain factions here on Formil will see me as the ultimate traitor, not worthy of my position, and certainly not eligible for a replacement Gift. I fear that once I give it up, there will be no going back.

And without your help, the galaxy will fall to the Sol-Kor.

Do not do this to me, Adam. Do not put me in such a position. I want to believe you, and if what you say is true, then I would gladly sacrifice my Gift—my life—to save my people. But how can I be sure?

Adam was silent for a long time. He had no good answer. How could he prove a negative before the event occurred? How could he convince Arieel that she would die—that they all would die—unless she gave up her device?

You do realize your thoughts are transparent to me, unless you know how to shield them, Arieel said in his mind.

Embarrassed, Adam replied. Then you must be able to detect my sincerity.

I do, and that is the reason I believe you. Your unguarded thoughts reveal the truth. Can you allow me time to think on this? Although I believe in the sincerity of your argument, I must also look at the logistics. Even if I want to help you, is it even feasible? I am being watched, and you surely could not come to Formil.

You’re going to have to get off the planet so we can meet.

With Lila, too. I…I do not see how that will be possible.

You have to try, Arieel. Take a ship and get away from Formil. I will meet you in space. The Pegasus has had some improvements. No one will be able to catch us afterwards.

How much time do I have?

Not long. You know the entire galaxy is looking for me and Panur. If we’re captured before he can build the detector, then that’s it, game over.

This is not a game, Adam.

I know it’s not. It’s just a saying. This is as serious as it gets. Can I count on you?

I would only do this to save the Formilian people from extinction at the hands of the Sol-Kor. I believe…you believe…that to be the only alternative to me not helping.

You can sense it.

Yes I can…and that is why I will do what you ask. If I can.

Without you and Lila the mission falls apart. Without you and Lila, the galaxy will die.

Adam sensed a smile cross Arieel’s face. And when we save the galaxy…then we too shall become heroes—just like you. I will be in contact as the plan moves forward. Good-bye for now, Adam Cain.

********

When the connection was severed, Adam lay on the bed for a moment longer. He didn’t feel much like a hero at that point. In fact, he felt sick to his stomach. He barely made it to the head in time before he vomited.

As he recovered, he cursed under his breath: “You better be able to do this, Panur. Otherwise we’re all screwed.”

Chapter 14

“It’s about damn time he made contact with you, Admiral.”

Michael Osbourne, the fifty-seven-year-old President of the Orion-Cygnus Union, was seated at his desk, with his scientific attaché, Jack Hardy, sitting on a couch across the room. On the coffee table in front of the scientist was a scattering of papers and two laptop computers. Before being interrupted by the arrival of Andy Tobias, the two officials had been busy studying technical data.

Andy nodded at Hardy. They were acquaintances but not friends. Tobias had always found the scientist/politician to be uppity, and condescending at times. They had interacted at social events around Phoenix on a number of occasions, but never had the opportunity to bond. Now Hardy set some papers down on the table and leaned back on the couch, not bothering to disguise his frustration at being interrupted.

Osbourne motioned with his hand for Tobias to take a seat across the desk from him. “Is he going to give up the alien?”

“He says it’s not that simple…”

“What the hell does that mean? God dammit, we’re running out of time! Tell him, Jack.”

Tobias shifted his chair so he could see the scientist.

“Two Sol-Kor fleets have moved into the Union. They’re right at the outskirts, but we believe they’ve identified a couple of target worlds they intend to harvest.”

Andy turned back to the president. “I thought we had a moratorium from attack? They have to give us at least some time to catch Adam and Panur.”

“I don’t know where you got that idea, Admiral?” Osbourne said. The stress was apparent in his voice. “There have been reports of six worlds being attacked in the last week. Follow-up surveys after the fact have shown they’re going in and grabbing only about a third of the population before moving on.”

“What happens to the rest of them?”

“After the SK leave, they recover from the effects of the beam, but by then many are sick or dying from exposure and lack of food or water. And with such a major disruption of the basic workings of society, most can’t survive without the trappings of civilization, like heat and electricity. Half of the survivors die within a day or so of the aliens leaving.”

“And they’re stepping up their attacks,” Hardy said. “There’s a fifth harvest fleet operating in the galaxy now.”

“They have to give us time!”

“No they don’t, Andy. But what they have given us is incentive. So where is that traitorous bastard?” Osbourne was red-faced with anger.

“I don’t know, he didn’t tell me. He said the Sol-Kor will not honor any immunity agreement. He said Panur’s done this before, and every time the Sol-Kor have reneged.”

“Did he offer any proof of this?”

“No, sir. How could he?”

“Then I have nothing. We can’t give up hope of a negotiated peace simply on the word of a fugitive alien. He would do or say anything not to get caught. And even if I wanted to believe you, there are a lot more parties involved than just me.”

“Still, if Cain and Panur are telling the truth, returning Panur to the Sol-Kor won’t stop the attacks.”

Osbourne shook his head. “You’re going to have to do better than that, Admiral. What are Cain’s plans? He has to know he can’t hide the mutant from us forever. Does he know that the Sol-Kor attacks are continuing?”

“He realizes both, Mister President. However, he also said that Panur has come up with a way of shutting off the Sol-Kor’s access to our galaxy. That could be a very substantial breakthrough in the war if he can do it. I agree with Captain Cain when he says that’s better than negotiating with the alien bastards.”

“So how does the mutant propose to cut off the SK access to the galaxy? Did he say how?” Hardy asked, his curiosity piqued.

“He says he can build a device to detect the location of all trans-dimensional portals.”

“That’s it—a detector?” shouted the president.

“If we know where they’re coming in, we can concentrate all our forces there and shut down the arrays,” Tobias countered. “We’ve done it before, and it was effective.”

“Until they build other portals,” Hardy added. “And at what cost? You know how many people would lose their lives fighting the SK’s to the last ship, even if we can cut off their reinforcements?”

“This time we’ll know where they are and be able to take them out before too many ships can come through. It’s not a perfect solution—and it will take a lot of manpower—and lives—to shut down the portals. But once the doors are closed, we will eventually be rid of the Sol-Kor for good.”

“Cain believes the mutant can really build such a detector?” Hardy said, shaking his head. “How can he build something that can detect a portal anywhere in the galaxy? That’s a lot of area to cover with a single device.”

“I have no idea, Jack, but Captain Cain said something about these portals disturbing the harmonics of the universe. Panur’s device can pick up these disturbances.”

“Universal harmonics? I’ve never heard of such a thing. How does he propose to monitor these so-called disturbances within a medium that probably doesn’t even exist?” Hardy looked at the president and laughed. “Sounds like the admiral’s Captain Cain has been duped.”

Tobias was getting frustrated, not liking the tone of the conversation. Hardy, the chief scientist in the Union, was acting like a jealous employee trying to curry favor from the boss by criticizing another person’s work.

“Panur invented the trans-dimensional portal in the first place, along with a crapload of other things. I don’t think we’re capable of making a rational judgement as to the validity of his claims. That’s not a reflection on anyone’s intelligence or expertise. It’s just that we don’t know what the mutant knows.”

“That may be so,” Hardy said in his defense, taking Andy’s comments as a personal affront to his intelligence and expertise. “But there are basic laws of nature that I fully understand, and I have to tell you, I’ve never even heard of universal harmonics, let alone a way to read them.”

Cain had provided Andy with more detail about the detector, yet he hesitated telling Hardy about it. It sounded too much like science fiction—and although he should expect a more cerebral reaction from Hardy if he told him, considering the scientist’s current attitude about Panur, he was afraid the man would discount the information just out of spite.

“Is there more, Admiral?” Osbourne asked, sensing Andy’s hesitation to proceed. “If he told you more, let it out. That’s an order.”

Well, that’s it, Tobias thought. And who knows, maybe a light will go off in Hardy’s mind and all of this will make sense to him. After all, he’s supposed to be smarter than the rest of us with regards to black holes and white dwarf stars. Andy took a deep breath and then proceeded to tell the other two men exactly what Adam had told him. When he was done, it didn’t take long for his worst-case scenario to manifest itself.

“That crazy bastard is planning on crashing a black hole into a star?” Now it was Hardy who was red-faced. “Even if it could be done, that would result in a catastrophic nova explosion and gamma ray burst. If any inhabited worlds are in line with the burst, they’ll be wiped out as effectively as if the Sol-Kor had harvested the planet. Did he say where this is to take place?”

“No, he didn’t, but he also said that Panur could control the collision so that a nova explosion wouldn’t happen.”

Again Hardy laughed while looking from Andy to the president and back again. “First of all, he says he can maneuver a black hole—which in itself is absurd—and then secondly he can control the impact with such precision that he can actually regulate the resulting explosion? Am I the only one who finds this to be utter fantasy?”

“So you can’t see this working?” Osbourne asked his lead scientist.

“Not in a millions years—or five thousand in this case. I don’t give a damn how smart everyone thinks this mutant is, black holes can’t be steered and nova explosions can’t be controlled. Panur’s playing Cain for the fool that he is, keeping him thinking that there’s an alternative to turning him over to us. Even if he can get a black hole to collide with a white dwarf, we’re talking about galactic forces here. There would simply be no way to guarantee a controlled explosion.”

“Don’t take this wrong, Jack,” said Andy, “but the alien is a little bit smarter than you. You would have been first in line to say that travel between dimensions was impossible—”

“On the contrary, Admiral, up until the Sol-Kor arrived there had been a lot of speculation about how that could be achieved. Given a thousand years, we could be building trans-dimensional portals ourselves, even without the help of the Sol-Kor or the Klin. But this, this is beyond speculation.” Hardy focused on the president. “Listen to me, Michael, if Panur is allowed to do what he’s proposing, he will cause a massive nova explosion, and depending on what star he chooses, it could go supernova. If that happens, any world within five hundred light-years will be bathed in deadly radiation, even those spared from the gamma ray burst. Sure, it will take time for the effects of the explosion to propagate through space, but the entire region around the exploding star will be doomed, and there’ll be nothing we can do about it except evacuate entire planets of all their intelligent life.”

“And he didn’t give any clue as to where they’re planning this?” Osbourne asked.

That’s when Andy knew he’d lost the battle—perhaps even the war. He shook his head.

“It would have to be a white dwarf star with a companion black hole,” Hardy said with urgency. “Also the core of the star will have to be cool enough to allow for carbon to crystalize. A simple data search should be able to identify all the candidates in the galaxy. There can’t be too many with just the right combination of components. The ones with the closest black holes should be our priority.”

“Priority?” Tobias asked.

“Yes, Admiral,” President Osbourne said. “Priority if we are to stop Panur from even attempting his harebrained scheme…and capture him for return to the Sol-Kor.”

Admiral Andy Tobias grimaced. It seemed his noble attempt at vindicating Adam Cain had backfired. Now there was an even greater chance that his friend wouldn’t live out the week.

Chapter 15

After the mid-day festivities, Arieel Bol, Speaker of the Formilian People, the High Celebrant, the Giver of Life and Light, was escorted back to her chambers within the Temple Complex. To those around her, she kept up a pleasant demeanor, but her mind was in turmoil. Had she really agreed to do the impossible, the unthinkable? Give up the very Gift that gave purpose to her life?

Her Gift gave her the ability to communicate with the gods of her people, the polar opposites, Mislin and Sufor. Yes, she realized it was more about what they represented than actual beings. They were the powers of positive and negative that allowed electrical charges to exist, the personification of the electromagnetic force that bound the universe together, and which her people were masters at utilizing.

It was because of her people’s devotion to their gods that the Formilians had even developed such skills. Without such beliefs, none of their technological progress would have been made. Across the galaxy, Formilian electrical devices and controllers were used on thousands of worlds and by countless beings. Commercial trade in these devices fueled the Formilian economy, allowing them to survive wars and tumult simply because their technology was so vital. It made her people immune to the normal political and military machinations that were common on every other world and throughout the Expansion.

The people of Formil felt above the fray when it came to troubles that plagued the galaxy. At least they had, until invaders had come from outside the universe, creatures who were not dependent on their planet for their technology. So far Arieel’s world had not been directly threatened, and had been presented with the same offer of immunity from attack by the Sol-Kor for the return of Panur, yet the general populace was unaware of this. Only the priests knew, and they had wholeheartedly joined in the effort to locate the mutant, with the expressed declaration that the life of Adam Cain was expendable in this quest.

Because of Arieel’s involvement with Adam and the Sol-Kor at the outset of the crisis, she understood that the threat was real, even if the majority of her people did not. She had seen the Sol-Kor up close, had seen the aliens for who they really were—heartless, conniving, self-centered. It didn’t take much for Arieel to see them reneging on any treaty they were party to.

As the leader of a planet—indeed a civilization—she always had more than her fair share of advisors harping at her, yet in this case she was totally alone; no one would believe her, which was a new experience for her. The only person she felt she could confide in was her daughter, Lila. They shared a special bond, even if the child did frighten her…

“Mother, I sense worry in you like I have never felt before.”

Arieel had felt the presence of her daughter when the child entered her private chambers. Their Gifts were so well tuned to one another that breaking the link between them for some privacy was becoming more and more difficult, even if neither had sought such accommodations—until now.

Arieel looked up to where the security camera had been placed on the ceiling above her bed. There were eight more spread throughout the chambers, where before there had been none. Now she could not sleep, eat, or work unobserved. She was even watched while in the grooming stations and when indulging in the Formilian obsession with sexual activities. Although her people were much more open about this than other races—with Arieel allowed to share many partners even if Trimen O’lac, the First Celebrant, was her official mate—the idea of uninvited observation did dampen her spirit, as well as the enjoyment.

The cameras also had audio pickups.

We are being observed, Arieel thought to her daughter.

I am aware of that. “The ceremony today was quite enjoyable. I am sure you are just tired from all the festivities.” I will keep our thoughts private.

“Yes, I am tired. The food was enjoyable, yet the heat took its toll.” I am troubled, my daughter. I have a very serious decision to make, indeed a commitment I have already made.

Arieel watched as her six-year-old daughter slipped onto the bed and wrapped an arm around her. She was growing at an incredible rate, much faster than a normal Formilian child. And her intellect was now that of a young adult, maybe higher. She was in training to be the next Speaker, and this kept her out of the spotlight most of the time, yet her abnormalities could not be hidden from the Order. There was talk. Lila was not normal.

“Perhaps you should nap. I will remain with you for comfort.” Please tell me what is wrong. I know I am just a child, but I feel I can still contribute.

“Yes, I will lie down and sleep. I welcome your presence.” You are far beyond a child, and you must know how unusual that is.

Mother and daughter cuddled together on the huge bed, both aware that their every movement was being observed and recorded, including their rapid eye movement. Anyone watching would also know there was nothing to keep the two from carrying on whatever conversation they wanted. They were the only two Formilians to have the Gift of the gods imbedded under their skin.

As time goes by I am realizing that more and more, Lila thought. I only hope it will slow at some point, else I grow old and die long before my time.

Arieel trembled at the thought of her daughter dying—for any reason. And that was when she firmed her resolve and decided to tell Lila everything—almost everything.

When she was through, she sensed fear in her daughter.

I have only had my Gift for a relatively short while, yet I know how enlightening it is, how important it is to both me and to the Order. I understand the seriousness of the need, and will therefore agree, yet I have more concern for you than for myself. How can you possibly live without your Gift?

That remains to be seen, although I now believe that either way my time is nearing an end. I will either die from the loss of the Gift, or by means of the Sol-Kor. However, if it is the latter, that means all of us will die as well. I’m willing to sacrifice myself if it will save my people.

I, too, feel that way. If this is what is needed, then together we will make the sacrifice.

I do not want you to die. The effect on you will not be as traumatic. Promise me you will fight to live, fight to assume a normal existence once the Gift is removed.

I will, Mother. I promise. Yet I will also fight for you. Together we will survive. There was life before the Gift, and there will be life afterwards.

Arieel pulled her daughter even closer to her. These cannot be the thoughts of one so young?

I know I am different. For what purpose I do not know. What shall we do next?

There is a Council meeting in two days. Afterwards, I will pass the Temple landing field. I will demand a starship. Meet me there at Night-8.

There will be questions.

I know. But in the confusion that will result, we can take our leave quickly before others with more authority arrive.

Can you pilot a starship?

I have had some training. I will get us off the planet and race into space. Hopefully by then, Adam Cain will be near to protect us.

I am quite anxious to meet your Adam Cain.

He is not my Adam Cain…

Mother, I know your thoughts, your feelings.

Of course, forgive me. Still, he is not mine, and never shall be.

We shall see. Now, please, do get some rest. Once we begin this journey it will be long before we can enjoy such time again.

********

The Council meeting adjourned early, as the First Celebrant Trimen O’lac and two other Council members were absent. Arieel contributed little to the meeting; her presence there merely a formality, as she was required to be privy to all decisions of the Order Council.

As she walked through the Temple grounds, thick with the fragrance of rilic blossoms in the cool night air, she almost forgot what a pivotal moment this was for her, as well as for all the Formilian people. That it was such a pleasant evening only added to her anxiety.

Looking at the soft Temple lighting and the high masonry wall surrounding the complex, she could see the physical boundaries of her normal life. This was her home—not only her home planet—and where she’d spent nearly her entire life. Her mother had been Speaker, and hers before that. The line continued unbroken for the past two thousand years. Arieel was born, raised, and educated within the Temple Complex; she knew every structure, every tree, every bench placed around the compound where she used to rest, play, or simply observe the goings-on of the Temple staff, visitors, and officials. There was safety and security here.

Could she really leave it all behind? She suddenly felt nauseated.

If the Sol-Kor were indeed destined to consume the people of her planet, that might not happen for many years. During that time she could continue to live her normal life within familiar surroundings, with her Gift and with her daughter. But that would be selfish on her part: sacrificing her civilization just so she could have a few more years of relative normalcy as she hid away from the terror of the flesh-eating invaders. What of the future? What of all the Formilians to come after her? If she gave in to her selfishness, there would be none beyond her.

She was nearing the gate to the spaceport, which was affecting her like an episode of vertigo, drawing her toward an open abyss, yawning and unknown. The closer her entourage came, the more her vision became focused on the pillared entrance, until there was such a silent screaming in her mind that she wanted to press her hands to her temples to make it stop.

Instead, she turned and entered the spaceport, surprising not only the members of her entourage, but herself as well.

Her six escorts rushed quickly to her side.

“My Speaker, where are you going? Do we need to make preparations?”

“That will not be necessary.” She had already located a smallish starship and communicated this to Lila. The child was waiting near the entrance hatch, an escort of her own standing beside her, looking confused and impotent.

As Arieel strode up to the ship with confidence and purpose, she spoke to her escort. “My daughter and I will be going aboard for a tour, alone. You will remain outside unless summoned.”

“But My Speaker, that cannot be allowed,” said her Lead-Attendant, a male named Frosk. He was one of her regular sexual partners and had become quite intimate with her lately. Through this intimacy he apparently believed he had some license for which he was not entitled.

Already nervous and on edge, Arieel snapped at him. “Did you say that is not allowed? That I am not allowed? Is that what you are telling me?”

Frosk was taken aback by the ferocity of the questioning. “It is just that we have orders not to lose sight of you.”

“Orders? I assume these orders have come from a higher authority than the Speaker of the Formilian People?”

“There is no higher authority, My Speaker,” Frosk conceded. “Yet…”

“Yet, what?”

Frosk was at a loss for words. Finally he stepped back. “Please proceed with your tour, My Speaker. It is not my place to question your actions.”

“That is correct.” Arieel and Lila entered the starship, even as Frosk lifted his communication module to his lips and began to speak.

After securing the outer hatch, the two females rushed to the flight deck of the ship. Arieel had chosen this vessel because its small size made it capable of being piloted by an individual, yet it was swift enough to leave the system at a respectable speed. But as she took the pilot’s seat, she found the controls to be intimidating. She knew what they were, and she knew she could pilot the craft. It was just that the moment of actual execution made her hesitate.

“I was not aware you were pilot-rated,” said a deep voice from the shadows behind them. Both of them jumped at the sound and turned to see who was there.

First Celebrant Trimen O’lac stepped forward.

“Trimen, what are you doing here?” Arieel blurted in her shock and embarrassment.

“I could ask the same of you, My Speaker.”

Arieel opened her mouth to speak, but Trimen raised a hand to stop her. “There is no need to formulate a lie. I know what you are doing.”

“And what might that be?” she asked defiantly.

“You are rushing off to help Adam Cain. It is the only explanation.”

“That is absurd. Why would I do that?”

“Because he is your friend—even more.” Trimen glanced at Lila.

“That may be so, yet the repurcussions would be catastrophic if I do what you are accusing me of contemplating.”

“Even so, look around. We are aboard a starship, with you in the control seat and our daughter with you. You intend to go somewhere, and without informing the Order, or even me.”

“Please, Trimen, leave the ship and let us go. You must realize I do not do anything without reason. Please trust me.”

Trimen’s square-jawed, handsome features were stern and emotionless as he stared into Arieel’s dark eyes. He was quiet for some time, deep in thought. Then he stepped closer, taking Arieel by the arm and pulling her from the control seat.

“Trimen, do not do this. It is far too important—”

Then he slipped into the seat himself and began activating switches. Somewhere in the back of the ship, a hum could be heard as the engines came to life.

“I do not understand,” Arieel said.

“I am a much more proficient pilot than are you. In order to exit the system and avoid capture, you will need my expertise.”

“You are coming with us?” Lila asked, her shock matching her mother’s.

Suddenly the ship began to vibrate, and through the forward viewport the Temple Complex could be seen falling away. Her entourage was scrambling for cover; they would not be harmed by the liftoff.

Without looking at the females, Trimen said, “At this time I do not know all the facts of the decision you both have made, yet I do trust you, Arieel. You are making a serious break, not only with the Order, but also with the forces of the Expansion. You surely realize the seriousness of your actions, and yet still you persist. To me that means your course of action is warranted, and to the highest degree—at least in your opinion. I will help you survive, and then at some point you will let me know why you have chosen this path which will forever lead you away from Formil and your people.”

“I do this for them, Trimen. You must believe me when I say this.”

“Knowing you as I do, that would be your only reason for taking such drastic measures. I do not know the reasons at this time, but I admire and worship you for the sacrifice you—and Lila—are making…for your people. Others will not see it this way, but maybe with time they will. However, it matters not whether they do. I know, and you know our race will be better for what you are doing, and considering the changing dynamic within the galaxy, nothing less than the very survival of our people would prompt you to take such action. Again, I thank you…for them.”

Both Arieel and Lila fell upon Trimen, showering him with hugs and kisses.

“Please, I have piloting to do. We shall all share moments together once the immediate threat is past. Now strap in. We may encounter some resistance on the way out of the system. By the way, what course should I set?”

“I have no idea,” Arieel said, wiping away her tears. “I will have to contact Adam.”

“Please do, since we have already acquired a pursuit.”

Chapter 16

Adam Cain was in a quandary. He had been expecting Arieel’s contact, but not quite so soon. And now Trimen was with her. Through their mental conversation, she tried to convince him that the First-Celebrant was on their side, having been briefed on the reason why she and Lila were fleeing Formil. She did admit, however, that when he learned that the two females were to surrender their implants to Panur, he nearly changed his mind about helping.

Adam suspected Trimen was more pragmatic than Arieel let on. He would go along simply to learn the truth, yet be ready to act against them if he sensed any deviation from the stated purpose for the devices.

“The powers within the Expansion will see your friend as a way of leading them to us,” Panur said as Adam sat mesmerized by the strange green tunnel the mutant’s DPS engines produced. He was now going faster than any creature had ever travelled—as far as he knew—many thousands of times the speed of light. With normal gravity drives, the position of the ship within the event horizon of the series of miniature black holes the engines created was what protected the occupants from the limitations of Einsteinian physics. How Panur’s new drive accomplished the same thing, Adam had no idea, even though the alien had tried to explain it once.

It had something to do with their location not only within an event horizon, but also within a wormhole channel, which extended between two points in space in a giant loop. As Panur explained it, at any given moment they were both at the beginning of the channel and at the end. Only when the engines were turned off would they find themselves at a point within normal space. So was the strange green swirl outside the Pegasus II the walls of the wormhole? If that was the case, then they would have moved far beyond the event horizon of the black hole and into the singularity itself—indeed, through the singularity.

After Panur’s explanation—of sorts—Adam had gotten half drunk. With time to kill before reaching Formilian space, he didn’t want the lingering concept of what his body was going through to remain foremost in his thoughts. Space travel had never made him nervous before, but the idea of being stretched light-years in length—and not realizing it—was more than he could handle.

Even though he felt no physical change, when the Pegasus II dropped out of the DPS drive and reentered normal space, he breathed a sigh of relief—and amazement. They were forty light-years away from Formil, having traveled six thousand in only fourteen hours.

And they arrived none too soon.

Arieel’s tiny starship was on the screen, nearly overcome by a fleet of chase vessels. There were six Juirean Class-Fours in pursuit, plus a Klin Guardian class, and eight Formilian medium-size cruisers. Her ship was clearly within weapon’s range, yet destroying the ship was not their mission. It was to find Adam and Panur.

Now the Pegasus II had popped up on their screens, seemingly out of nowhere. The Juireans and the Klin changed course toward the Pegasus II, while the Formilian ships attempted to cut off Arieel’s ship from meeting up with Adam. They would get their traitorous Speaker back, while letting the Expansion warriors take care of Adam and the mutant.

“I suppose now you regret that I did not have time to work on your weapons systems,” Panur stated sarcastically.

“Don’t be such a jerk.”

“You must realize I have not had much contact with Humans, so my role models have been few. So accept the fact that I have learned most of my mannerisms from watching you.”

“You’re saying you learned to be such an obnoxious asshole—”

“By emulating you, that’s right.”

“Okay, smartass, how do we get to Arieel through that gauntlet of overwhelming firepower?”

“Easy, dickhead,” said the alien. “Go through them.”

Adam slowly turned to look at Panur seated in the co-pilot’s seat. “Does being immortal make you lose all sense of reality?”

“Of course not. I merely suggest you use the DPS as a means to bypass the barricade. Once activated, we are no longer in this dimension, but between dimensions.”

“We can move right through them?”

“More correctly, we will wrap around them and come out at the other end. It will be a short hop, which will require some precise control, but I have confidence in your piloting skills. However, I would suggest you do it now to avoid the sixteen plasma bolts that have just been launched in our direction.”

Adam turned back to his control screen just as the proximity alarms went berserk. He triggered the DPS drive button and pressed the throttle stick just as the forward view screen lit up with a wall of white hot plasma just outside the ship…

The scene shifted to that of the green tunnel again.

Adam dumped out a moment later—and then had to scan the space around them looking for Arieel’s ship and all the others. They were not to be found.

“You went too far.”

Adam expanded the search grid until he finally located the rendezvous point with Arieel. It was three light-years away. “I guess I did overshoot it a bit.”

He activated the drive again, but this time for only ten seconds. When they emerged again, they were six hundred thousand miles from Arieel’s ship, just behind the eight cruisers closing on her position.

The reaction of the Formilian crews was slow, having been caught off guard by the sudden reappearance of the Pegasus II. Before their shields could be raised, Adam placed three well-aimed bolts into the engines of the trailing ships, shutting them down and taking them out of any future battle. Then, employing the conventional—yet improved—gravity drive of his ship, Adam zipped past the remaining five cruisers and approached Arieel’s tiny craft. It was streaking away as fast as it could. Even then, Adam had no trouble matching its speed.

Arieel, I’m going to dock with you from below, he said through his implant. Hold the ship steady.

Trimen is at the controls. He is a very good pilot. He will oblige.

Adam let the computer do the fine tuning on the docking while he ran amidships to the topside airlock. A ringing clank was heard through the hull, then a rush of air. He climbed up the short ladder and undogged the hatch. Moments later he was greeted by a pair of golden bronze legs of incredible shape, followed by the most-perfectly shaped—and then an unfamiliar yet stunning Formilian female ducked her head inside the Pegasus II.

“Who are you?” Adam asked as he helped the young lady down the ladder.

“I am Lila, Adam Cain. I am very happy to meet you. My mother has spoken often of you.”

“But…but you’re only six.”

“Yes. I am mature for my age.”

Adam scanned the budding breasts, the long black hair, and the voluptuous shape of the young Formilian and his mouth feel open. “You do take after your mother.”

“I take that as a compliment. Although she is aging now, she is still in fair condition.”

“Fair…?”

Arieel was standing next to her daughter, nearly a mirror image, yet standing a good foot taller. Trimen then dropped to the deck with a thud, meeting Adam’s eyes with an almost savage glare.

“I suggest we depart quickly,” he said harshly. “Come, Arieel and Lila, let Mr. Cain go about his tasks.”

Arieel sent him a wry smile as she let Trimen lead her away, down the corridor and opposite the direction from the pilot house.

Trimen and Adam had a long history together. He had first taught Adam how to use his ATD, after the Human had blackmailed the Order into providing him with one—the first male of any race to be equipped with such an implant. Later, he and a group of Formilian commandos had been fitted with devices of their own and joined Adam in his quest to rescue Riyad from the Kracori. It was obvious now that the device had been removed from his body, which could account for some of the hostility the alien felt towards him. Or it could just be jealousy over the feelings Arieel still held for him. After all, Arieel was supposed to be his mate, arranged through the Order to be the father of the next Speaker, Lila.

After Adam dogged the hatch and made his way back to the bridge, he couldn’t help but be shocked and amazed by the young girl. Besides her phenomenal growth, there was something else very unsettling about her. He was sure he’d figure out what was bothering him, if he lived. But for now he had to bolt out of the area before the Juireans zeroed in on the Pegasus II.

“What is the daughter like?” Panur asked as Adam took the pilot seat and activated the DPS engines. Soon the Pegasus II was once more wrapped in the green tunnel and speeding away from the hapless pursuit.

“What do you mean? She seems to be a lot like her mother—almost too alike.”

“I am quite anxious to meet her.”

“Why?”

“No reason, it is just that she evokes a certain set of emotions in you.”

“How can you tell?”

Panur frowned and smiled at the same time. “Have you not noticed my ability to read body signals? There is very little I cannot decipher by studying you, or any other creature.”

“Well knock it off. I don’t feel like being read.”

“I can’t help myself.”

“Then go aft and read someone else. I’m sure everyone is quite anxious to meet you, too.”

“Place the ship on autopilot and join us. I wish to have formal introductions made.”

Adam looked around at the pale alien. “Why are you acting so weird? Have you been drinking again?”

“Not much, not enough to affect my judgement.”

“That’s what you thought the last time.”

Panur smiled sheepishly while standing. “Shall we go?”

“I’d just as soon not have to deal with Trimen’s insecurities, but if it will make you happy, sure.”

********

The three Formilians were in the common room, Lila and Arieel at the prep station, Trimen on the sofa with a tablet computer in his lap. He barely acknowledged Adam’s presence when he entered…or the trace of bloodstain from the deceased bounty hunter which Adam had been unable to remove from the cushions.

Arieel turned to him with a masked smile. “We found an empty stateroom in the back. Lila and I can stay there, if that’s acceptable?”

“Of course,” Adam said. He looked over at Trimen. “You can bunk with me, if you wish.”

“I will sleep here,” the Formilian said without looking up.

“And where do you sleep?” Lila asked Panur as she stepped up to him with a smile. She was about two inches taller than him—at least until he straightened up, gaining a good four inches as he did so. Adam knew this to be artificial height, and it didn’t take an expert at body language to see that Panur was smitten by the young—woman?

“I don’t sleep.”

“Seldom do I.”

“You appear to be tall for your age, and of a unique maturity level,” Panur commented.

“I take your observations as compliments. I thank you.”

Adam was shocked at how like her mother Lila was. She had a sensuality and flirtatiousness about her that had to be instinctive. But Adam wondered about Panur. He had never seen him like this, and either he had been drinking—a lot—or he was experiencing an attraction to another creature unlike any Adam had seen before. This wasn’t the Panur he knew, and knowing him as he did, Adam was immediately suspicious of ulterior motives on the part of the mutant.

“Where are we headed?” Trimen asked, breaking the awkward silence in the room.

“The Sylox system.”

“What is in the Sylox system? I do not know where that is.”

“It’s about ten thousand light-years from here.”

Trimen looked up from his computer. “That will take us over a month to cover. We are to remain here for all that time?”

“We’ll be there in three days.”

Now Trimen set the computer on the sofa and gave Adam his full attention. “A journey of that distance cannot be made in that time.”

“Yes it can,” Panur said, turning away from Lila’s dark eyes to focus on the handsome Formilian. “I built a new engine that can do that.”

Trimen studied Panur for several seconds before responding. “So you are the mutant everyone is looking for. They say you are five thousand years old, as well as some kind of genius?”

“That is correct, on both accounts.” He turned to flash Lila a thin smile.

“It is also told that you are responsible for the Sol-Kor’s ability to travel to other dimensions and to feed on countless intelligent beings. Is that true as well?”

The smile vanished from Panur’s face. “I create. What is done with my creations is none of my concern.”

“Even if entire species are made extinct by mindless creatures seeking food? Do you not take responsibility for your actions?”

Panur turned to Adam. “I do not like his tone. We need the interface devices from the females, yet the male serves no purpose to our mission.”

Adam snickered. “What do you suggest, that I throw him out the airlock?”

“It would conserve our shipboard resources, and I would not be troubled much if you did.”

Trimen stood up, the muscles of his tan arms flexing from balled fists. “I did my part in getting Arieel and Lila to you. Is that not enough of a contribution?”

Adam looked at Panur. “He’s right. Arieel and Lila are vital to the operation. I think you owe him an apology.”

“An apology for what? He did contribute, but that was then. Now he is dead weight, to use a Human term.”

“Just relax, both of you,” Adam said. “No one’s getting thrown out of an airlock. It’s obvious that the two of you aren’t going to get along, so I suggest you avoid each other for the next three days. Panur, don’t you have some more thinking to do about the detector? And Trimen, chill out. We’ve been on missions before, and I know you’ll come in handy at some point. Until then, get some rest. There’s still a lot to do before this is over.”

********

Adam was on the bridge, slumped down in the pilot’s seat with only the pale green glow of the wormhole tunnel lighting the room. He sensed Arieel as she came near. He sat up and turned around, only to find the Formilian silhouetted in the entryway, displaying the proverbial exaggerated hourglass figure of a long-haul trucker’s fantasy mud flap. It always took Adam a moment to recover from the initial sight of Arieel Bol, and as she entered and sat down next to him, her strong pheromones invaded his senses.

“I am so glad to see you again, Adam Cain,” she began, but there was no joy in her voice. “I have been conflicted for a long time regarding my feelings for you, and now we meet again in such dire circumstances.”

Adam reached out and took her hand. It was trembling. “Look, we’ve beaten the odds so far. All we need is proof that Panur’s detector will work and then we’ll be safe.”

“And yet to acquire the material for the detector you must achieve something that sounds impossible, and beyond the ability of creatures such as us to accomplish.”

Adam smirked. “That’s what I would be thinking, too, if I didn’t know that we’re currently traveling through the center of a wormhole using a device Panur built in a couple of days back at my house on Earth. He may be a complete jerk, but he knows his stuff. I wouldn’t even dream of doing what we’re about to do, but he treats it like a walk in the park.”

Arieel was frowning. “I see you have been spending more time among other Humans. I believe I understand your meaning, if not all the particular phrasing.”

“Sorry, I have been away for a while. Jym and Kaylor complain about the way I talk, too.”

“They are your two friends from the past?”

“That’s right. They saved my life twenty years ago and set me on the path I find myself on today.”

It was Arieel’s turn to smirk. “I can see where you could have conflicted feelings about such an event.”

“You’re right, except that I believe that what was going to happen—with the Klin and Juireans and everyone else—was going to happen whether I was part of it or not. It’s better to be in a position to do something about your fate than to just let it happen.”

“But that is what fate is, a series of events that were destined to happen. Like me and Lila being aboard this ship with you.”

“And what about Lila?” Adam asked, his curiosity and concern now on full alert.

“You mean about her rapid aging? She is indeed an oddity. In a way, taking her from Formil—possibly forever—could be a good thing. She was already attracting considerable attention—and worry—within the Order.”

“But do you know what happened to her? Why is she so different?”

“I do not know. Her condition only manifested itself three years ago. Since then she has aged the equivalent of thirty Formilian years—sixteen Human years. And her intellect has grown even faster. I have had her tested and she has the mental capacity of a full-grown Formilian.” Arieel stopped speaking, even as Adam sensed there was more she wanted to say.

“Go on. What else?”

Arieel took a deep breath. “She is actually beyond intelligent. Her recall is nearly perfect, which allows her learning to accelerate at an incredible pace. And another thing…she has never been sick a day in her life.”

Adam sat back in his chair, deep creases on his forehead. This was sounding all too familiar.

“I can see from your expression that we share the same thought,” Arieel said. “If so, then you understand my concern.”

“This could be the reason Panur was so anxious to meet her. They could be two of a kind.”

“Please do not say that.”

“It’s what you’re thinking, too.”

“Yes, but the idea of my daughter being a mutant is too upsetting.”

Adam squeezed her hand again. “Look at it in a positive light: she could outlive us all. And unlike Panur, she may actually do some good with her intellect.”

“You are being flippant. I feel responsible.”

“Things happen, Arieel. You and Trimen had no control over how your daughter would turn out.”

Arieel looked out the viewport and at the swirling green tunnel outside. “Yes, our daughter. I love her with my entire being. I only hope she can control her…uniqueness—at least better than Panur.” She turned back to Adam.

“Don’t you think it odd that both Lila and Panur should end up on the same starship together? What are the chances of two creatures with their strange abilities meeting, especially across dimensions?”

“Let’s not read too much into this, Arieel. Besides, with the two of us looking out for her—and Trimen, too—she’ll be fine. I’m sure her father won’t let anything bad happen to her.”

A tear escaped from Arieel’s eye. “Yes, I’m sure he won’t.”

Chapter 17

It looked like a special effect out of a science fiction movie, a computer-generated animation of what a black hole looks like as it pulls a thin stream of yellow and white gas from a nearby star. Adam had witnessed scenes like this before, but only on a handful of occasions, and never this close. And as the Pegasus II closed on the hundred-thousand-mile-diameter accretion disk surrounding the pinpoint of utter blackness, he could see the animation in action, the gas cloud swirling in a clockwise direction.

It was an awesome sight; however, as the name implied, most black holes were just that—black and invisible against the backdrop of space. Yet when one was encircled by a glowing ring of superheated gas, its presence was revealed. Adam shook his head, once again in awe of the tiny mutant’s incredible intellect. Not only was the black hole/white dwarf pair exactly as he’d described it, the arrangement seemed to be precisely what Panur needed for this phase of his plan.

The two celestial objects seemed to be in extreme proximity to one another, which made Adam wonder why they hadn’t merged long before this. It seemed like such a delicate balancing act that even the slightest nudge would upset the applecart.

And that nudge was already being maneuvered into position.

“Slave your engine and steering controls to the Pegasus II,” Panur commanded over the comm system. He was linked to the pilothouses of each of the nine pirate starships, as well as Kaylor’s freight hauler, having aligned them in a wide arc between the huge accretion disk of the black hole and the rather dim star that was the cold white dwarf. He would fine tune the positioning from the Pegasus II, which along with the six surplus pirate vessels and Riyad’s private flitter, lay off at a distance of two million miles from the black hole, with a top-down perspective on the system.

Looking down on the disk and star—connected by the curling stream of gas feeding into the black hole—what was being referred to now as the gravity line of starships. They would be situated closer to the singularity and somewhat north of the center point between the two bodies. The target location where the ten ships were to aim their gravity wells was a flashing red dot on Panur’s nav screen. Using back-wells to counter the forward force, the ships were to remain stationary, all ten applying maximum well depth at the appointed location.

The Pegasus II had been disqualified from joining the line because its gravity drive operated on such a high level of efficiency that it produced gravity wells of minimal depth. For Panur’s purposes, he needed ones that could create gravity points of staggering intensity, and the older ships employed by the Fringe Pirates did just that.

Riyad’s ship was also not part of the steering team, since his was to be used as the location of the portal detector. Again, the Pegasus II was disqualified from that duty as well because its DPS engines were a form of dimensional portal themselves, and would interfere with the readings coming off the device.

Kaylor’s FS-475 cargo hauler was at the center of the line, as it carried the most raw power of any of the conventional starships. The craft was mostly engines, with no frills for passengers or crew, designed to tow long strings of cargo pods across interstellar distances. Its gravity well formed the apex for all the others.  

As he and Riyad stood behind the seated mutant and observed his fine tuning of the well locations, Adam was beginning to believe that the alien could actually pull this off.

Riyad wasn’t so confident. “From that tiny point you expect to create a well deep enough to affect that swirling behemoth? I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Panur didn’t look back as he responded, concentrating on the screen before him and the tiny control knob he manipulated with his right hand. “I welcome caution in believing claims for events that have yet to occur, yet you doubt the entire concept in general. You say you need visual proof before trusting in my plan? That should happen anytime now. I am engaging the gravity drives aboard the pirate starships. At that point you will realize I was correct with my projections.”

Riyad and Adam didn’t notice anything at first. Angar’s ship was part of the ten, and a view of his bridge—along with that of Kaylor’s—shared the split-screen display of the main view screen at the other end of the pilothouse. The pirate was seated in his command chair, looking worried as his crew reacted to the sudden vibrations infecting their ship.

“The conflicting forces of the opposing gravity wells are more severe than expected,” he reported. “How long do we have to maintain?”

“Not long,” Panur answered. “Do not attempt to disengage. The presence of such intense gravity influences in the area could be catastrophic to the mission and result in the destruction of a number of your vessels. The experiment is underway, and there is no stopping it now.”

“Experiment?” Riyad said. “That’s reassuring.”

Just then an alarm sounded on the bridge of the Pegasus II. Arieel and Lila were near the alarm and both of them nearly fell from their seats. Adam and Riyad rushed to the station.

“Contacts, closing from out-system,” Adam reported, switching off the obnoxious alarm.

“How many?” Panur queried.

“Still coming on-screen, but looks to be around fifty. Juireans, mainly, with a few odd ships from other Expansion worlds.”

“They must be stopped, Adam, and immediately.” There was real concern in Panur’s tone.

“They’re about two hours out.”

“Time is not the issue, but their gravity influence is. Even at great distances they could impact the trajectory of the black hole.”

“No shit?” Riyad said.

“No shit. I have it calculated for the black hole to begin moving—now, there, it has shifted position.”

The two Humans looked to the nav screen and didn’t see any change.

“It’s subtle, but there. As I was saying, the singularity will begin an orbital change that will result in a grazing hit on the dwarf star. If there are other gravitational influences nearby, the black hole could miss the star altogether, or it could collide full on…which would result in the nova explosion you first suspected, Adam.”

“How big of an explosion would that be?” Arieel asked.

“The resulting shockwave would be tremendous,” her daughter Lila answered. “It would promulgate throughout the system at nearly light speed. The ships of the gravity line would be consumed, as may we.”

Panur looked over at the young Formilian with undisguised admiration. Arieel’s was one of shock.

“How do you know this, Lila?”

“I have read of such explosions, and considering the mass of both objects and the fact that the white dwarf is spinning at sixty revolutions per minute, the released energy would be incredible. It would not rate as a supernova, yet it would produce a gamma ray burst that would be deadly outwards of five hundred light-years in the direction of its double radiating beams.”

Riyad turned to Adam. “I thought you said she was six?”

“Six in Human years. Even then, she’s advanced for her age.”

“I would say so.”

“Can I take the Pegasus out to meet the Juireans?” Adam asked Panur.

“In a moment. I must still monitor the trajectory of the singularity to make sure it is on the proper course. The gravitational balance has been disrupted already, yet I still have the opportunity to make fine adjustments by manipulating the location of the attracting well.”

“I’ll take the Crescent Star and the six extra pirate ships to head them off,” Riyad offered. “You join us when you can.”

“I will assist,” Trimen announced, then he and Riyad rushed out of the pilothouse, headed for the docking hatch where the Crescent Star was attached to the Pegasus II.

Adam slipped into the pilot seat and brought up the threat screen on his main console, all the while glancing at Panur’s nav screen for any sign of movement on the part of the black hole. He knew it was moving based on the data stream along the side of the screen, but so far it didn’t appear to be any closer to the white dwarf. Even though both objects were essentially touching on a stellar scale, they were still half a million miles apart, and governed by the laws of physics in the normal universe. It would take time to close that distance.

“Accelerating,” Panur said, as if reading his mind. “I am releasing the gravity ships. Have them vacate the area on chemical drive only. This is imperative. We cannot allow their gravity drives to disrupt the path.”

“You heard him,” Adam said into the comm. “Chem power only. Take a zenith course to get above the plane of the system. Hurry…I can see the damn thing moving now!”

Indeed, Panur had managed to get something as large and deadly as a black hole to move. It was drawing closer to the white dwarf at an ever-increasing rate, and the mutant’s screen now displayed a dotted yellow line, showing where it had been and extending along the projected track. But there was definitely a change taking place. The two objects were getting closer, and all Adam could think about at that moment was whether or not Panur had his numbers right. A glancing blow would free up the diamond chunks they needed, while a near miss or full impact would mean the end of, well, everything: the portal detector, his chance to clear his name—hell, even his life, with the way things had been going recently.

He shrugged. Yeah, why worry? he thought. It’s not like anything really important is riding on this.  

“You may engage the enemy now.”

“Thank you very much.”

Adam gunned the engines, including the DPS, and shot off after Riyad and the pirates. The final count had the Juirean fleet at fifty-two ships, mostly Class-Two and Three battlecruisers. Adam had no idea how they’d learned of the location of the black hole/white dwarf pair, until he realized that there couldn’t be too many of these in the galaxy, at least not located within travelling distance from his last known location near Formil. The Juireans may have come here just to check it out.

A moment later, Adam was beyond the attackers and doubling back on their six. The Juireans reacted almost immediately by splitting their force, two thirds coming for the Pegasus II, while the other third continued into the system and directly at Riyad and the pirates. By now the Juireans should be able to detect the change of orbit of the black hole and know they were too late to stop the operation from happening. Yet as Panur had mentioned, they could alter the outcome just with their gravitational presence.

 “Riyad, you have eighteen ships headed your way,” Adam shouted into the comm. “Panur, when can the gravity line ships come in to help?”

“They are to remain on chemical drive for at least another thirty minutes. Even after that, no deep wells.”

“This thing won’t last thirty minutes. How long until impact?”

“Forty-two minutes, eight seconds, although the trajectory point-of-no-return will be reached in twenty-nine.”

“So we have to keep the Juireans away for half an hour.”

Riyad heard Panur’s estimate. “We’re going to have to engage,” he stated flatly.

“No getting around it,” Adam concurred. “I’ll have to stay back just to keep the bulk of the fleet away. It’s up to you, ol’ buddy.”

“And for that, I thank you. Maybe this encounter will make me as famous as Adam Cain.”

“Highly doubtful, but worth a try.”

“They still outnumber us two to one,” Regina added from the pilot seat.

“Which will make our victory all that much more glorious. Forgive me, my friend,” he said to Adam, “but I will have to concentrate from here on out. Good luck on your end.”

“Same here. Give ‘em hell.”

Trimen had stationed himself at the weapons console, with Regina piloting and Riyad taking the observation seat behind the control stations. The Crescent Star was a one-of-a-kind vessel, built by half-a-dozen defense contractors to serve as Riyad’s showcase and demonstration model for what the Human military-industrial complex was capable of constructing. Throughout his presentations and strategy meetings, he would take eager aliens on mock defensive runs and target practice. Though the stated purpose of his seminars was to prepare the natives for a defense against Sol-Kor attack, the secondary goal was to steer military contracts to Human contractors. So the Crescent Star was one mean machine. Nonetheless, going up against eighteen Juirean warships was a little beyond her specs.

The six pirate marauders accompanying him would be of little use. They were mostly aging derelicts from a more prosperous and ruthless time in the Fringe. Three of them Riyad recognized as being part of the pirate fleet when he was in command, over twenty years ago. He also came to learn that two of the captains had served with him—granted as low-ranking rookies at the time—but nevertheless they had survived all these years to assume command of their own vessels. The rest of the crews were mostly inexperienced deserters from other navies or renegades who could only find work within the ranks of the notorious Fringe Pirates.

Now Riyad commanded his squadron to line up on him so as to provide a smaller attack profile for the incoming warships. But even as they began to close on the Juireans, Riyad noticed that the main cluster of enemy ships weren’t changing course to meet them. Only eight broke off to engage, their position within the system forming an effective blockade between Riyad’s force and the ships heading in-system.

Confronting eight battlecruisers would be a hard enough task as it was, yet his main concern was now the other ten, and their clear shot to the black hole.

“Attention, everyone,” he called into the comm microphone. “We can’t spend a lot time dealing with these first eight battlecruisers, so only concentrate on their engines. Stop them in their tracks. After that, every ship that makes it through the blockade, head for the main force. Now…fire at will.”

A cacophony of voices came over the comm. “Which of the attackers is will?” was the gist of their queries.  

“Just shoot the damn Juireans!”

And the battle was joined.

The pirate ships were much more maneuverable than the larger Juirean ships, yet that was about all. The battlecruisers had more weapons, more shields, and greater thrust. Two of the pirates unloaded a barrage of plasma bolts at one of the cruisers, impacting the starboard shields only to be quickly absorbed. Then, as the pirates changed course and sped away, powerful bolts were released by the Juirean. One of the pirates got in the clear. The other didn’t.

“They can’t go head-to-head with those bastards,” Regina said between gritted teeth.

“No they can’t. Listen up everyone: shift all shield power to portside and then drop in near the rear of the battlecruisers. Target only their engines.”

Another voice came over the intercom, sounding almost embarrassed. “Which port might that be, General Tarazi? We are unfamiliar with any ports in this region in order to discern a direction.”

“What the hell are you talking—” Then Riyad realized that his reference to portside had been translated as harbor side. And yes, there were no harbors nearby to get their proper bearings.

“To your left side! Shift power to your left side shields.”

“Yes, that would make more sense.”

Regina glanced over her shoulder at an exasperated Riyad Tarazi. “Aliens…what can I say?”

Riyad just shook his head.

Now the battle was progressing a little smoother. Even though the Juireans unloaded on the marauders with torrents of plasma bolts, the pirates were able to sustain shield integrity long enough for them to get in close to the cruisers for more pinpoint targeting.

Shield screens were not continuous energy blankets surrounding a starship. They were rectangular areas of intense alternating current, designed to absorb the balance of negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions within a plasma bolt. But there were gaps between these invisible panels, and the pirates managed to get a few bolts between them. Two of the eight battlecruisers lost well integrity as their engines were struck. In a normal battle, the attackers would continue to target the stricken vessels until they exploded or surrendered. In this case, the pirates simply ignored them and moved on to the others.

Now it was Riyad’s turn to join the battle. Regina brought the Crescent Star into an attack profile on a huge Class-Three. “Trimen, ready the Starfire missiles.”

“I see the controls. What shall be their trajectory?”

“Already programmed in. All you have to do is launch.”

“And they will guide themselves?”

“Correct, my friend. Now…release!”

Most combat operations in space were between units firing incredibly hot balls of roiling plasma at each other. But the problem with this tactic was that all plasma bolts were ballistic in nature, and unable to alter course once fired. This issue was overcome by the fact that plasma batteries could be recharged quickly, so massive spreads of these deadly balls of fire could be sent toward an enemy, making evasion more difficult.

But now six missiles shot out from the Crescent Star. To an outside observer, the gravity-assisted, forty-foot-long tubes exited the ship and headed in the exact opposite direction from of the Juirean ships. But then they swept around, locking on targets and engaging their small gravity drives.

The Juireans saw the launch, and from experience knew what they were up against. Steering wells were intensified and the ship began to make radical evasive moves, as radical as the ship’s bulk would allow.

But the missiles kept coming, correcting their own course with every change the Juirean made.

Moments before impacting the shields of the Juirean Class-Three, the gravity drives shut down, as did all other electronics aboard the missiles. In less than the blink of an eye, the deadly projectiles passed through the electric haze of the shields as if they weren’t there and impacted the shiny hull of the Juirean warship. Without any electrical energy to absorb, the shields were completely useless, and the first of six missiles split the metal of the ship’s exterior and disappeared inside. A breath later, the Class-Three battlecruiser exploded.

The Juirean screening units were now down to three. Riyad’s force numbered five.

Three of the five were now harassing a Juirean ship that had broken away from the others.

A brilliant flash invaded the pilothouse of the Crescent Star, blinding the three- person crew momentarily before the polarizer could take effect.

“What the hell was that?” Regina asked. She shielded her eyes in the direction of the forward viewport and squinted at her command screen. “The damn Juirean just detonated a frickin’ nuke!” she shouted, answering her own question.

“A desperate act of defense,” Trimen commented.

“And we just lost three of our pirate ships,” Riyad added. His defenders were now down to just two, the Crescent Star and one pirate vessel.

“Reggie, get us past those other two Juireans,” he commanded. “We’re running out of time to stop the main force.”

“What about the other pirate ship?”

“Screw him. We’re going to have to do this on our own.”

“Let us hope others of the Juirean fleet do not elect to detonate nuclear weapons as well,” Trimen commented.

“I second that, my friend,” Riyad said. “But I don’t think anyone in the main fleet is going to do that. They need that cluster of ships intact to influence the path of the black hole. How we doing, Reggie?”

She appeared to relax noticeably. “Past the range of the two remaining Juireans. Even if they blow now, we’d be safe. The main cluster is a minute out.”

“Trimen, I’m going to need you to do a wide dispersal of the weapon labeled Cloud. It’s written in English, but the control is the third item in the first row on the weapon’s inventory screen. I’ll give you the word as we make our run. Maintain dispersal until I say when.”

“The third item in the first row, that I understood. I am still confused as to what word I will be expecting, as well as why the word when would be the signal to cease dispersal?”

“The word will be now, and the when is when I tell you stop the dispersal.”

“That is much clearer. Thank you.” From the tone of his reply, Riyad knew Trimen was still confused. It didn’t matter, Riyad had backup controls on the arms of his chair.

“We’re beginning our run. Trimen, transfer shields to port—I mean to the left side. Prepare for dispersement.”

“May I ask what we are dispersing?”

“You’ll see. Ready…now! Release!”

Trimen touched the screen where indicated, even though he had no idea what he was doing. Riyad watched him out the corner of his eye, as the alien studied his screen for any sign that something was happening. His screen was clear, or at least his screen as currently configured.

Regina looked back at Riyad and smiled. It had taken the oversexed redhead several minutes after Trimen’s arrival and introduction before she could concentrate on her job once again. The dude was a hunk, even if he was an alien. It was like that with all Formilians, male and female. But now Regina was all business, and Riyad returned the smile, exposing teeth almost as brilliant as the nuclear explosion.

“My friend Trimen, you may stop the dispersement now.”

“As you order, yet I see that nothing has happened.”

“Not yet, but it will. Please observe the extreme magnification view of the Juirean warships.”

The ships of the cluster appeared to be in close proximity of each, yet in reality they were separated by approximately a thousand miles of space between them. And as the Crescent Star swept past the outer row of ships, the Juireans unleashed a series of deadly plasma bolts at the Human starship. Regina angled the ship away from the bolts, avoiding them with ease.

That’s when Trimen noticed a series of tiny light rays beginning to erupt from the surface of the first Juirean ship they’d passed on their run. The lights grew in intensity and number as more and more of them connected. Then the hull of the warship exploded, the air pressure inside escaping with the force of a bomb.

Then the next ship along the line suffered the same catastrophic fate, followed by three others. All told, half of the Juirean cluster force was now gone.

“May I inquire as to what secret weapon you employed? The results are beyond compare,” Trimen said, in awe of the two Humans, who were grinning at him like a couple of Cheshire Cats.

Riyad was prepared for this. He walked over to the stunned alien and placed something in Trimen’s hand. When the alien opened his palm, he frowned, looking up at Riyad with even more confusion than before.

“They’re called ball bearings.”

“They appear to be made of metal.”

“That’s right, steel. And you just released about a billion of these little buggers on a collision course with the Juirean ships.”

“They carry no charge, so they passed through the shields unobstructed,” Trimen said, understanding dawning on him. “And as I can testify, they are too small to notice on threat screens.”

“Mass detectors would have picked them up, but then with dispersal over such a wide area, even those readings would have been misleading.”

“And at the speed with which they impacted the Juirean vessels, they would carry an incredible amount of kinetic energy.”

Riyad turned to Regina. “By Jove, I think he gets it!” He turned back to Trimen. “The most basic of weapons, with devastating effect.”

“It’s like throwing a shitload of rocks at them, all traveling at thousands of miles per hour,” Regina added. And then her tone shifted. “There’s still five ships—plus the two from before.” She brought the Crescent Star back around for another run.

By now the Juireans had studied the attack and knew they had fallen victim to a nearly invisible yet deadly force. They wouldn’t let that happen again. Plasma bolts were adjusted, widening their energy fields so they would spread out quicker when fired. The range and force of the bolts would be greatly diminished, yet they would be strong enough to vaporize any incoming metal balls.

“Shall I launch more of your missiles?” Trimen asked, once Regina had explained the Juirean’s new defensive posture.

“That would be a great idea,” Riyad stated, “if we had any more aboard. I used up ten of the missiles during demonstrations, and after taking out that other battlecruiser, we’re all out.”

“Any other secret weapons you can reveal?”

“Nothing except standard plasma bolts. We do have standard projectile machinegun batteries, but they’re ineffective at this range and used mainly for surface strafing. But the Juireans have lined up, exposing only one of their ships to us at a time, and according to Panur’s timetable, we only have six minutes to fight our way through five battlecruisers.”

“Anyone need a hero?”

Everyone aboard the Crescent Star turned their heads to the main view screen. There, an oversized head of Adam Cain was staring into the pilothouse.

“Where are you?” Riyad asked.

“Just entering the fray.”

“What about the other Juireans?”

“I’ll tell you later. Right now, let’s take out the rest of these pesky party crashers”

********

After the last battlecruiser had been destroyed, the Pegasus II slipped in next to the Crescent Star. With Adam’s DPS engine, he’d help make short work of the remaining Juirean force, popping into and out of the battlefield with deadly results.

Now everyone’s attention was focused on the drama taking place at the center of the star system.

“How much longer, Panur?” Adam asked the mutant.

“Two minutes.”

On extreme magnification, the crew of both starships could see the white dwarf going through some radical changes. The entire left upper quadrant of the star was a tumultuous wreck, deformed and spitting out massive solar flares the size of planets. The black hole wasn’t visible any longer, yet its effects were obvious. Huge bolts of stellar lightning were lashing out into space, only to arc over and return to the surface. The flaming surface was also experiencing starquakes, and each time one struck, a hazy shockwave raced away into space.

On the main screen, Adam also saw that the intense gravity influence surrounding the colliding pair was in flux, shifting unpredictably as matter was jockeyed about within the massive bodies. Two of the ships in the gravity line had been caught up in the gravity maelstrom.

Adam reached over and tapped Panur’s screen. “What about them? Are they going to make it?”

Panur stared at the point on the screen for two seconds before answering. “No, they will not.”

“Then let them engage their gravity drives. Two ships can’t make that big of a difference, not now.”

“Unfortunately, they still can.”

The forward screen had switched views, this time to the bridge of one of the pirate marauders.  Her captain was screaming into the comm: “Give us back control! We cannot fight this attraction. We need the gravity drive!”

Panur remained passive and unreadable.

Adam checked the locations of the FS-475 and Angar’s ship. They were at the center and leading edge of the line respectively, and appeared to be safe from danger. The last two ships in the line weren’t fairing that well. Now both the captains shared the split screen.

“Cut the control, you mutant raineic,” screamed one of them. Adam had never heard the word raineic before, but he was pretty sure he didn’t need to query the translation bug for a definition.

Panur remained stoic.

Adam looked over at Arieel and Lila. They were strapped in on the other side of the pilothouse, watching him and Panur. They remained silent—as did Adam—as the two ships on the screen began to fall back from the others, being sucked in toward the swirling mass of the white dwarf, their captains still frantically yelling in the now-muted images on the view screen.

Adam reached up and switched the screen view to the bridges of the FS-475 and Angar’s ship. Even with the sound restored, there was a deathly silence in both scenes, with all eyes of the bridge crews either staring forward or down at their workstations. No one raised a protest. They knew what was at stake, and that sacrifices had to be made.

Moments later, the two pirate ships disappeared from the mass screen.

“How much longer until the fireworks?” Adam asked the mutant, breaking the silence.

“Forty-two seconds, approximately.”

“Kaylor, Angar, prepare yourselves. Under forty seconds now.”

Panur put the nav image of the main view screen. At this range, it was hard to see anything other than the fiery brilliance of the now active star. Where once its surface barely reached three thousand degrees, it was now experiencing a sudden rebirth of its nuclear fire. This would be short-lived however, as this new energy source was being drawn from the passing black hole. Once it was gone, the cold star would once again wink out.

A brilliant light flared up, cancelling out the view screen before being dampened by the near-instantaneous polarizing of the exterior viewport.

Something had hit the white dwarf, something small yet powerful. And now a huge plume of yellow fire shot out from the star, as if a stick had punctured the surface of a balloon full of fire and allowed the contents to escape into space.

And there was more.

Adam could see—or thought he could see—a hazy line radiating out from the point of impact, causing background objects, mainly stars, to turn blurry for a moment until the ripple passed. This was much more intense than the other starquake shockwaves. And it was coming their way.

“Detecting a shockwave,” Panur announced. “Those closest to the star should prepare for its impact.”

“You heard him. Everyone hold on,” Adam said.

“I do not know how we can hold on any tighter than we already are,” cried Jym from the FS-475. Then the image on the screen turned to static a moment later, as did the view of Angar’s bridge.

“Status, Panur. Are they still there?”

“Yes, but transmission waves have been disrupted. It should clear in a moment.”

Chapter 18

In the lull of the passing shockwave, and as the white dwarf continued to rumble and roil, Riyad opened a channel to the Pegasus II.

“So answer me now, what happened to the other Juireans?”

Adam laughed. “Well, since you asked, Panur’s DPS engines worked to perfection, at least once I got a hang of how to use them in close quarters combat. I found I was able to pop in and out of the battlefield at will, kind of like in a galactic game of whack-a-mole, although I was doing the whacking, not them. I was taking out their units left and right, and if there’s one thing to be said about the mane-heads, they’re a pragmatic bunch of assholes. After a while they were bolting out of the area in a wholesale retreat. In the immortal words of M.C. Hammer, they must have realized…You can’t touch this!”

“Captain Cain, I didn’t know you were into rap music?” Regina said over the comm, her dimpled face displaying a wide smile.

“Couldn’t help it, especially with a song like that. It had a pretty contagious beat… and damn, my homeboy sure could dance.”

A moment later, a music track began to blare from the speakers aboard all the ships in Adam’s tiny fleet, both Human and alien.

“You can’t touch this…You can’t touch this…!”

“How the hell?”

“You can thank the wonders of the galactic Library,” Regina replied. “Just think of all the music piracy taking place these days across the entire galaxy.”

“Like that, like that. Cold on a mission so fall them back. Let ‘em know that you’re too much. And this is a beat, uh, they can’t touch.”

As the song continued to play, Trimen turned to Riyad with a frown. “I do not understand?”

Riyad laughed. “About forty years ago back on Earth, that was the universal sentiment of millions of parents.”

His comment didn’t remove the frown from the alien’s tan forehead.

“Actually, Reggie, I was more into Sir Mix-A-Lot’s classic one-hit wonder,” Adam corrected.

“Oh. My. God!” she exclaimed. “You like big butts?”

“I cannot lie.”

“I should have known.”

Adam looked over to where Arieel and Lila were sitting, curious as to how the two of them were reacting to the pulsating music filling the pilothouse of the Pegasus II. Although they, too, wore frowns on their faces, he laughed out loud when he noticed both of them tapping their smooth, delicate hands on the console, in time with the infectious beat.

All-in-all, Adam was feeling pretty content right about then, more than he’d felt in nearly a month, before this whole adventure had begun. The Juireans were in full scale retreat from the area, the cold white dwarf still roiled with vibrations caused by its glancing encounter with the black hole, and the singularity itself was now racing away from the star, leaving behind it a trail of huge star diamonds worth untold riches.

At that moment, Adam Cain thought he could see a dim light at the end of the tunnel.

“Everyone form up on me,” he commanded over the soundtrack. “Let’s go do some diamond hunting,”

The eleven remaining ships formed a wide phalanx—with the Pegasus II at the apex—and sped off past the star and after the fleeing black hole.

All the while, eighteen thousand light-years from Earth, a primal form of hypnotic music radiated into space, all the way from here to Sylox, confusing to some who may have been listening, yet a nostalgic reminder of home to others.

“It’s Hammer time…”

********

The black hole was streaking away from the white dwarf at a respectable one-half light speed, and had already reacquired a thin disk of gas, giving definition to the hole itself. A new river of raging star material was connected to it as well, though more chaotic and disjointed than before.

With the Humans’ torturous obsession with rap music now over, Riyad’s image came over the comm-link aboard the Pegasus II. “I owe you an apology, Mister Panur,” he said. “Looks like you did it.”

“Yes, the objects did collide, and at just the right angle. Now we should find a trail of core remnants following behind the black hole. However, please allow me a first look at them since my needs are specific. I would not want one of your pirates to abscond with my perfect specimen.”

For his part, Adam was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a river of glittering diamonds lighting up space behind the singularity. In fact, all he could see was a thick, hot cloud of gas.

“So where are all the diamonds?”

“They’re here,” said Panur. “I’ve been detecting the occasional dense object within the gas cloud, yet have failed to find one of the proper size and composition to attempt a recovery.”

“I mean, I thought there’d be a lot more.”

“There is just as much as I said there would be. You must remember we are talking about interstellar distances here. The fragments are spread over a vast swath of space.”

It was another four hours before Panur instructed Adam to change course to a specific point in space. During that time, Adam had to fight off the pirates’ demand to recover what they were detecting. At first, eight hundred billion carats of diamonds had sounded like a lot, until Lila informed everyone that the total carat weight of the white dwarf was approximately ten billion trillion, trillion carats! A meager eight hundred billion was only a sliver of the total, and as Panur said, the debris field was spread across an ever-expanding region of space.

Adam couldn’t see the remnant Panur had selected; it was just a point in space with a higher-than-normal density reading. In addition, the crystal was essentially as clear as glass, allowing the light of the galaxy to pass through it, so even as they got closer, he still couldn’t pick it up visually.

He cut the internal gravity aboard the ship and opened the rear bay doors. Next he executed a delicate process of slowing down within the path of the tumbling stone, allowing it to move into the bay unassisted. Then he closed the doors and slowly restored the gravity. The crystal banged against the metal deck a few times as its rotational motion was dissipated, and then it came to a rest in the center of the bay.

Adam couldn’t wait to see a thousand pound diamond, so he placed the ship on autopilot and joined the others as they all raced back to the landing bay for a look.

The moment he opened the pressure door he felt the heat still radiating from the fragment. Adam and Panur, along with Arieel and Lila, stood a good twenty feet from the glowing crystal—as close as they could get—gawking at the huge chunk of glassy material. Adam didn’t know what the others were thinking, but he was marveling at the thought that only a few short hours ago this object had been part of a star.

“I would suggest we leave the bay and open it back up to the cold of space,” Panur said. “The crystal should cool naturally. I don’t want to risk it cracking.”

“That is larger than one thousand pounds,” Lila announced.

Adam and Arieel looked at the large, oblong hunk of opaque glass and couldn’t tell whether she was right or not. After all, how big is a thousand pound diamond?

“You are correct,” Panur confirmed. “It is over two thousand five hundred pounds.”

Adam’s jaw fell open. He had done some research through the Library on the largest diamonds ever found. On Earth, the record was slightly over one-and-a-half pounds. Just a pound and a half. On a planet called Oonius Dome, a diamond had been discovered weighing eighty-four pounds, while the largest space diamond ever recovered was around five hundred.

Adam looked over the ton of diamond, and all in one piece. Imagine the ring stone that could be cut from that? he thought. And then for some odd reason, the name Kim Kardashian came to mind, dredged up from a distant memory. He shrugged it off, attributing the disjointed association to his recent recollection of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s I Like Big Butts.

But now Panur was talking: “I need the crystal to be of a particular shape and purity, so it will have to be cut down. This piece should work, once I remove the outer layer. The interior appears to be of perfect uniformity.”

“You know how to cut a diamond?” Adam blurted, feeling a little stupid after asking.

“Of course I do. It is basic mathematics.”

“May I observe the cutting?” Lila asked.

Arieel turned to her daughter. “I am sure he will need to concentrate—”

“Of course you may,” Panur interrupted. “I sense that you have an understanding of the theory behind the operation.”

“As you said, it is basic mathematics—geometry, to be precise—along with an understanding of crystalline symmetry.”

“Adam, please procced with the cooling,” said Panur. “I am anxious to get to work on the crystal, and on my detector. Please recall Mister Tarazi. I have need of his ship.”

Chapter 19

The Crescent Star redocked with the Pegasus II and the huge crystal was transferred to the cargo bay aboard the smaller ship. In the meantime, Adam had thanked Angar for all his help and then released the pirates to their salvage operations. He warned them to be judicous in their recovery of the diamonds, in order to maintain a decent price for the precious gem.

Kaylor and Jym, along with their own hoard of forandite crystals, remained with the rest of gang, at least temporarily. They were anxious to see what all their efforts would produce once Panur completed his portal detector.

For his part, Adam would be content with the castoff from Panur’s diamond. Fifteen hundred pounds of diamond crystal would be worth a staggering fortune back on Earth—if he was ever allowed to return.

Panur was hard at work assembling his portal detector. If it worked—and Adam could prove that it did—that should be the vindication for his actions. Otherwise…the sale of the diamond through some intermediary, and then an anonymous retirement on some distant Earth-like planet would have to do. An image of the stunning Arieel Bol suddenly invaded his thoughts. Would that even be possible? Could he and the incredible alien make a life with each other if neither of them could return to their respective planets? The fantasy was just about to take hold when the name Trimen suddenly came to mind. The alien was Arieel’s official mate—husband, in most jurisdictions. Adam had no idea how his presence as an exile would complicate things. He had a pretty good idea who Arieel would choose, but he wasn’t sure she would have the option.

And then there was Lila.

Arieel had once commented on how her own daughter frightened her. Now Adam could understand why. That fear had manifested itself even more after the brain-interface device had been removed from both their bodies.

According to Arieel, Lila was still able to communicate with her telepathically.

This ability was only one-sided, however, as only Lila could initiate the link. It gave Adam the willies, wondering if his own thoughts could be read by the young alien.

As Panur and Lila worked on the diamond cutting—an incredible display of precise skill that seemed to be proceeding at a frenetic pace—Adam decided to test his suspicions.

He created a thought in his mind. Lila, I wish to speak with you. He tried to send it with the utmost confidence, to make it appear as though he already knew the truth.

There was a slight hesitation before he felt a warming in his head, and then a soft voice spoke within his mind.

I am not attempting to hide my abilities, Mister Cain.

Adam noticed that Lila didn’t skip a beat in her assistance of Panur, her hands continuing to manipulate sophisticated cutting tools with uncanny—and unexplained—ability, while engaging him in telepathic conversation.

She continued: This ability is both unexpected and troublesome, not only for my mother and you, but for myself as well.

How do you explain it?

It is obvious I have certain abilities that are not common in my species. The only explanation for this is that I am a mutant of some form, much like Mister Panur. Does this frighten you?

You must be able to tell that it does, although frighten might be the wrong word. Worried might be better.

You wonder what could have caused such a mutation, especially in light of proliferation of such creatures within your narrow sphere of influence?

Can you blame me? Out of the seven people in this room—including Riyad, Reggie, and your father—two are mutants. That’s a pretty high percentage for any demographic. And besides that, you certainly don’t talk like a six-year-old.

Adam sensed the alien laugh. We both know physical age does not matter here, Mister Cain.

So you must have some thoughts on this, about what happened to you?

I do, yet I do not know if you are ready to hear them.

Adam was caught off guard by the comment. What do you mean? Is it that bad that…well, I don’t have a word it.

It would be shocking to you.

And then the alien stopped. Twenty seconds went by as Adam waited for her to continue. When it became obvious she wasn’t going to do it on her own, he insisted.

C’mon, Lila. You can’t leave me hanging like this.

I have said too much already. This is a sign of my lack of age and maturity. Ask Trimen.

Trimen? He knows why you’re the way you are?

He suspects.

And his suspicions are correct?

Ask Trimen. Now, Mister Cain, I will be breaking the contact, but before I do I wish you to know that you need not fear me. In regards to my telepathic abilities, I cannot read minds without the other party knowing I am present. Your thoughts are private, as long as wish them to remain so.

Thanks for that…I was wondering.

I know you were.

And with that he thought he detected a slight smile on the face of the stunning young alien, even as her eyes remained fixed on the huge diamond now taking shape in the center of the cargo bay.

********

Adam looked over at Trimen. The alien was leaning against a workbench, his huge, muscled arms crossed, watching the cutting with a detached, almost blank expression. He appeared to be deep in thought.

Most Formilian males looked like him: stunningly handsome, with chiseled features, perpetually tanned skin, and a sexual stamina the Human envied. Adam’s brief tryst with Arieel years ago had embarrassingly pointed out his own inadequacies when compared to what the over-sexed alien was used to. She was polite and sensitive to his feelings, yet Adam knew the truth. He was competing with the likes of Trimen, and although he could unquestionably kick the alien’s ass in a fight, he was no match for him in bed.

But now Adam was sensing something different from Arieel.

As it is with all relationships, sex was only part of it. She seemed to be looking for something more, a deeper level of love and commitment, at least more than Trimen was able to give her, or she was willing to accept.

And now Lila had steered him to Trimen to learn a shocking truth which her father suspected.

With Panur and Lila concentrating on the cutting of the stone, and Arieel napping on a cot nearby, Adam decided there was no better time than the present. He stepped over to the Formilian.

“Can I speak with you…in private?”

Trimen scanned Adam up and down with outright contempt. The Human recoiled slightly from the look, wondering if Trimen could read minds as well. Still, the alien nodded and led the way out of the cargo bay.

********

When they were gone, Arieel sat up on the cot just as Lila looked over at her. Their eyes met, a shared concern clouding their beautiful features. Then Lila turned back to the stone, while Arieel looked to the doorway where Adam and Trimen had just exited. This moment had been inevitable, yet she had always dreaded it.

That Trimen was involved made her realize a sickening truth: he had always known.

********

The Formilian led Adam to the common room of the Pegasus II, where he suddenly stopped and turned, causing Adam to come within a nose-length of running into him.

“I will not fight you,” the alien blurted. “I know I would not win.”

“I don’t want to fight you,” Adam said, backing away a couple of steps.

“You may not want to, yet you would not resist if called upon.”

“What’s brought all this on, Trimen? We used to be friends.”

“We were never friends. Even as I trained you on the use of the Gift—your implant—I always despised you. You coerced the Order into building a sacred device for you, and when I expressed admiration for how quickly you learned, you mistook that for friendship. Now I know you have continued feelings for Arieel—and she for you. I accept that Formilians have a more open philosophy when it comes to sex, yet in regards to inner commitment, we are just as devout as Humans to our bondings. Yet, to my utter confusion, Arieel has always preferred you. We all face an uncertain future, and I fear I shall be cast away while others find solace in new—or renewed—unions.”

Adam’s jaw had fallen open during Trimen’s tirade. The dude certainly has a pretty good grasp of things. It was obvious he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. But that wasn’t the reason for the meeting. It was Lila, and her strange abilities. Coupled with those of Panur, there was a threat here, even if Lila had tried to assure him there wasn’t. The mission wasn’t over—not yet—and until it was, Adam had to be on guard for the unexpected.

“Look, Trimen, circumstances will work themselves out after this whole Sol-Kor thing is resolved, if it ever is. But until then we need to stay focused. I appreciate you coming along and helping Arieel, but I called you in here to talk about Lila.”

Trimen’s already hard features suddenly turned to stone, his dark eyes burning into Adam.

“What about her?”

“C’mon, dude, you know she’s different…and she can talk with people telepathically, even without the implant.”

This news rattled Trimen slightly, evidenced by a solitary blink of his eyes. “I was not aware of that, although it would not be unexpected.”

“Then you admit she’s different!”

Trimen suddenly turned away and walked to the other side of the room, where he stopped and spun back to face Adam. “Of course she is different. She has been since birth, if only recently these differences have become physical. You must remember, I am the one responsible for the education and training of the future Speaker, so I have known from the beginning.”

“She told me you know why she is the way she is, and that you would tell me.” Adam stretched the truth a little the last part of statement. She had said to ask Trimen, not that he would tell.

“She did? Why would she not say herself? Would that not make more sense?”

“It would…if I knew what the hell the both of you were talking about.”

Trimen hesitated, but then he sat down on the couch and leaned back. “You ask why she is the way she is? Is it not obvious? She is a mutant, just like your friend Panur.”

“He’s not really my friend.”

“That is unimportant. What is important is that I believe I know now why he is the way he is, and that the same must have happened to Lila.”

“Stop messing with me Trimen and spit it out.”

Trimen frowned. “Spit it—oh, I understand.” With a nod, he continued: “I queried the doctors when Lila was born. They said it was impossible, yet the tests confirmed it. She is the product of an interspecies birth, just as I suspect happened to Panur five thousand years before.”

“Interspecies? Like between a Formilian and some other race?” Adam’s stomach suddenly tied itself in knots. “What other race?” He was barely able to form the words.

“Human, of course. I am surprised that you have not come to realize this. Does not your species have a non-physical bond with your offspring?”

“Lila’s my daughter?”

“Yes…unless Arieel had relations with another Human, perhaps Riyad.”

“No she didn’t.” At least he was pretty sure she hadn’t.

A whole flood of thoughts and emotions swept over him. He was a father—again—and of a daughter. And yet even as those words formed in his consciousness, he knew there was so much more to the story. It appeared as though he was the last to find out.

“And Arieel knows?” he asked, just for confirmation.

“She before all others. Although she has not admitted this to me, I could tell.”

“And her father, Convor?”

“He was not told before his death. As the Second Celebrant, and then the First, I was able to command certain information be kept from him. He died believing that his daughter had given birth to a pureblood Formilian who would one day assume the role of Speaker. You must realize that even without the current state of affairs, Lila could never become Speaker. Her abnormal physical growth would have begun the questioning, and eventually the truth would have come out. Arieel—because of her unexplained feelings for you—has destroyed the very foundation of our religion and brought an end to two thousand years of stability for my planet and my people. Now there will be a tumultuous period of confusion, introspection, and possibly even outright revolt. What appears at the other end of this cycle will be nothing like the Formil of today. And I have only you to blame.”

“It takes two, Trimen, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“Do not attempt to deflect. Yes, Lila is your daughter, yet you must also realize she is no one’s to possess. She is advancing at such a rapid pace, both mentally and physically, that what she eventually becomes is beyond speculation. And now you say she can communicate mentally, even without assistance. What other powers will she manifest as she grows older, more powerful? You should also be aware that Panur has known from the moment the two of them met. It must be a psychic bond between mutants.”

Adam trembled at the thought. Lila and Panur had been aboard the same ship for over eight days, and the tiny mutant hadn’t told him what he knew. Why not? The implications of that question made Adam tremble. What would Panur do now that he’d found a kindred spirit, the only other creature he’d encountered in five thousand years that was like him? Panur was likely to do just about anything.

********

When Adam and Trimen returned to the cargo bay, Lila looked at the two of them with a blank and even expression—lingering slightly longer on Adam—before returning to the crystal. Arieel, on the other hand, let tears flow down her ruddy cheeks. Trimen went to her and sat close, while she wrapped her arms around him and began sobbing even louder, more uncontrollably.

Adam stood near the doorway, glaring at Panur, who stopped his work on the nearly complete crystal and met Adam’s rigid stare. Then he shrugged.

It was a strange scene in the cargo bay, and one not lost on Riyad and Regina.

After a moment, Riyad asked: “What did we miss?”

Chapter 20

There was a strange tension aboard the Crescent Star, yet all the occupants pushed it aside as the crystal cutting was completed and the stone placed in the cradle Panur had built to hold it. This unit was then placed in the center of the larger apparatus that was the portal detector itself.

Power lines ran to the device, along with a myriad of wires, fans, movement dampers and other unnamed and unexplained equipment that all formed a twelve-foot-square conglomeration of stuff. At least that’s how it looked to Adam. To Panur—and now Lila—it all seemed to make sense.

Panur was ecstatic, bouncing around the cargo bay like a kid on Christmas morning, anxious to try out his new toy. Somewhere, lost in the mass of the device, were four of the Formilian brain-interface implants. Panur had skillfully removed all of them from their hosts a week before, saying he needed to begin their reprogramming as soon as possible. He pulled them from their bodies in less than ten seconds each, severing the physical connections that linked them to their brains without a moment’s hesitation. It was as if he did this every day, and had for years.

Adam and Riyad felt no real difference once the implants were gone, and Lila seemed to take it in stride as well. Arieel wasn’t so fortunate. She was nearly one hundred Formilian years old, and had carried the device within her body for all except the first five. For the two days after its removal, she remained in her room suffering through what looked to be drug withdrawals. Lila and Trimen spent hours with her, helping when and where they could, and when Arieel finally emerged from the stateroom, she had lost weight and her skin was sallow, her eyes vacant.

She remained quiet for another two days, even when engaged in conversation, giving one word answers and never asking questions. She was much better now, but Adam could tell the effects still lingered inside her.

Everyone’s mood changed when Panur announced that the detector was complete. This was the moment of truth, time to learn if there was a way out the mess they all were in…or not.

********

The Crescent Star undocked from the Pegasus II, and Adam’s ship was flown remotely to a distance of a thousand miles before being powered down of everything except a standby battery to reinitiate startup. Panur couldn’t risk the possibility of his DPS engines interfering with the detector. To further assure the best reception, the two vessels were situated in interstellar space and at least two light-years from the nearest star.

A solitary monitor was set up on a bench along the bay wall, and Adam wasn’t surprised when Panur awarded the honor of activating the detector to Lila. She flicked an innocent looking switch and suddenly the contraption sprung to life. Lights came on, fans swirled, and humming could be heard. From deep inside the device, Adam could see the huge, oblong—and now many-faceted—diamond crystal begin to glow. The light wasn’t steady, however, appearing to move within the stone while casting sparkles of brilliance escaping through the open areas in the detector. The light danced against the bulkheads, ceiling and deck of the cargo bay, particularly bright in the dark eyes of both Panur and Lila, which were exceptionally wide as they reveled in their own unspoken moment of eureka!

Panur turned to the screen and began making adjustments using control knobs on a panel on the tabletop. The monitor was all static; then the image began to waver, the frenetic black and white background displaying squiggly lines coursing through it.

Panur and Lila turned to the small crowd of people behind them and beamed wide smiles—even as doing so was not customary for Formilians.

Adam stared at the two aliens, before focusing on the screen behind them and its squiggly lines. “Now what?”

Both mutants lost their smiles and blinked several times.

“What do you mean, Now what?” Panur asked, genuine confusion in his tone.

“I mean when do you start detecting the portals?”

Panur glanced back at the screen and then to Adam again. “It already is…can’t you see?”

Adam exchanged startled looks of confusion with Riyad and Regina.

“All we see are squiggly lines,” Adam admitted.

Panur and Lila’s expressions suddenly buoyed. “Ah, then you can see!”

“I see squiggly lines…that’s all. What do they mean?”

Panur and Lila looked at each, until a revelation passed between them. “Oh, you cannot decipher the readout!” Panur exclaimed. Lila nodded.

“And you can?”

“Of course,” the two mutants said in unison.

“Then please tell us what they reveal,” Arieel pleaded, looking with both love and concern at her daughter, Trimen at her side.

Lila turned to the screen and began pointing at several lines. “There is one, as is another. There are eight in total, complete and in operation.”

Adam stepped past the two aliens and leaned in close to the screen. He turned to Lila. “I’ll take your word for it, but can you pinpoint locations, something that has relevance in the real world?”

Lila looked insulted. “Do not blame me if you are unable to understand the data.”

“I’m not, it’s just that I’m going to have to let Admiral Tobias know where the portals are located, and I obviously can’t send him a screen-print of your data, now can I?”

Panur pushed between the two of them. “I will translate the results into stellar coordinates, although you must realize your Admiral Tobias may still not accept your report.”

“Why not?”

“It would not be him. Others will see the coordinates, others who may not wish to have the locations revealed at this time. The majority of those aligned against us still see my return as being far more acceptable than launching major military operations against a huge invading force. Many lives would be lost, when in their opinion none would be if I’m returned. The galaxy would be free of the Sol-Kor menace, and without anyone having to die.”

“Because they still believe the immunity offer is real,” Riyad stated. “You know they always will until proven that it’s not.”

A new voice spoke up. “Then we return Panur to the Sol-Kor, and when they attack anyway, everyone will know the truth.” All eyes turned to Regina, particularly the two belonging to Panur. She continued: “After that, we’ll have the locations of the portals and can shut them down.” Then she smiled. “That’s one way of doing it. I didn’t say it was the only way.”

Panur relaxed, but only for a moment.

“Regina’s right,” Adam said. “If there truly was an option, we’d be crazy not to take the one that saves the most lives. So the question is: how do we get the SK to tip their hand without actually returning Panur?”

“Pretend to return him,” said Regina. All eyes returned to the fiery redhead. She squinted at the group, a mischievous grin stretching from her lips. “Let me explain…”

Chapter 21

The planet Fillion-Cassada was located only three thousand light-years from Earth, and although it was not a member of the Orion-Cygnus Union, it had been surveyed and its natives classified as Future-Potential. This designation meant that in about fifty years or so they will have reached a point in their development that contact with alien races would not be a shock to them, at which time membership in the Union would be offered.

Andy Tobias found this line of thinking to be funny, if not ironic. Here Humans were now the UFO’s in the night, the creatures making clandestine visits to an unsuspecting world, planning for the population’s eventual assimilation into the greater collective.

That was about the point in his thinking when his stomach turned sour and he became nauseated.

Unfortunately, the intelligent natives of Fillion-Cassada were not going to get the chance to witness the awe and wonder of Human starships descending from the Heavens, proving once and for all that there was advanced—and benevolent—life in the universe.

Their first contact with an alien species would be when their world was blanketed in a mind-numbing pale blue light, after which thousands of huge starships would land on the surface to collect the natives as food. It was a clichéd plot found in too many science fiction novels and movies, yet Andy Tobias would be there to see, firsthand, the horrible aftermath of that first encounter.

As a matter of fact, since the offer of immunity had been extended, nineteen worlds within the Union and thirty-six in the Expansion had fallen to the Sol-Kor suppressor beam. Fortunately—if it could be called that—the leaders of the Expansion and the Union had negotiated with the alien bastards to have them only harvest worlds which were not members of either empire. This placated the fears of members, but it did nothing for the trillions of creatures who had already lost their lives to the invaders from another dimension.

In Andy’s opinion, the-powers-that-be were having entirely too much contact with the Sol-Kor. It was almost as if the politicians hoped they could wiggle their way out of the current crisis by just giving up a little bit more here and there, even without an official immunity agreement. In fact, Andy could imagine a time when Expansion, Union, and Sol-Kor officials would meet to plan for the systematic—yet managed—harvesting of the entire Milky Way galaxy. Sure, there would be winners and losers, but who better to decide which category a species belongs in than our glorious leaders? Then, a thousand years in the future, when it’s their time to be consumed, the so-called survivors will look back on all the time their clever negotiations had bought them and give themselves a pat on the back...just as the blue pulse beams begin to radiate over the surface of their homeworlds.

Admiral Andy Tobias had come to the Fillion-Cassada system at the head of a ninety-ship-strong Union fleet. He was there to observe, not interfere. He was also under orders not to be provocative with his presence. He’d questioned President Osbourne about this, asking how a fleet of ninety warships couldn’t help but be provocative. The politician had hemmed and hawed, before finally blurting out with frustration: “Just don’t act too powerful.”

There had been a time when Tobias admired Michael Osbourne. Unfortunately, those days were long gone. Now he was disgusted with the whole pitiful lot, the appeasers and sycophants who were letting the SK’s walk all over them.

But what was really irking Tobias at the moment was the fact that he was under orders to act just like one of the fucking politicians. Soon a representative of the Sol-Kor harvest fleet was due aboard his flagship. As a Navy SEAL with over thirty years of experience, Tobias was a trained killer of the utmost skill. But now he had to be in the presence of the most despicable creatures any universe could produce. And he couldn’t kill any of them.

He wasn’t about to parade the flesh-eating assholes through the Mount Rushmore, his flagship, essentially bowing before them to his entire crew. A meeting room had been set up in a pressurized room off the main landing bay instead. They would come aboard, do their business right next to the landing bay, and then be gone. He had no idea why they had insisted on the meeting; the fleet wasn’t there to cause them any trouble. Yet he was under orders to accommodate the SK, and that meant spending time with them in a room aboard his ship.

They wore black armor made of strong composite material, and helmets with wide, clear faceplates. Other than the gray of their skin and the faint trace of tiny scales on their faces, Andy couldn’t tell much more what a Sol-Kor looked like. Sure, he’d seen plenty of their corpses; these would be the first live ones.

There were only three. The leader was introduced as High-Noslead Sala. Another of the entourage referred to him as the supreme leader of the SK forces in this universe, which Andy understood to mean the Milky Way galaxy—as of now—so his presence here was significant.

It was Andy’s sincere hope that the alien wasn’t coming aboard simply to flaunt his superiority—and immunity—to Human attack, that the Sol-Kor were in such a position of power that they could walk aboard the flagship of a Human war fleet with impunity. If the alien bastard took that attitude during the visit, Tobias wouldn’t be responsible for what happened next. And he wouldn’t care. It would a glorious way to go out.

When all parties were seated around a large round table, the Sol-Kor leader began the conversation. His voice was tinny coming through the helmet, but his words were clear.

“What progress is there in locating Panur? My Queen demands an update.”

My Queen demands! This isn’t starting out right.

“We’re still working on it,” Tobias said aloud. “There have been a few opportunities, but you—better than most—know the capabilities of the mutant. And he’s being helped by one of our most skilled operatives.”

“The Queen feels you have not put all the resources you have available to this endeavor.”

“No offense, but she would be mistaken.”

Even through the faceplate, Andy could see the alien bristle. He’d just called Sala’s queen a liar.

“She has decided to tighten the deadline for his return.”

“I didn’t realize there was a deadline.”

“There is now. Thirty-eight of your days.”

Andy was confused. “Why thirty-eight? It seems to such an odd number.”

Now the alien was really showing signs of being upset. “That is the number of Sol-Kor millennia my Queen has been alive. It converts to five thousand, two hundred and four Human years. The number is significant to her.”

“Sorry, it just seemed at little…different. But I can’t guarantee we can meet that deadline. What happens if we don’t?”

“Then there will be no immunity, and no concessions as to the worlds we harvest. The Sol-Kor only grow stronger in your universe. Even now you cannot match us in power. I have long awaited permission to treat this galaxy as all the others. In thirty-eight days, I will be given that permission.”

Andy stared at the alien with undisguised hatred. His eyes were mere slits and his jaw muscles pulsed. If the gloves are coming off…then let’s start here!

“However,” the alien said, “in an effort to remedy this situation and bring about a more cordial accommodation, I have information which may aide you in the search for Panur.”

Tobias fought to regain his composure, only seconds before he was about to pounce. “What…what is that?”

“The Human identified as Adam Cain will be near the Lupcanen star system in four days’ time. It is believed he will have Panur with him.”

“How do you know this?”

“We have detected certain communications between his ship and another designated the Crescent Star—is that correct?” He looked to one of his subordinates, who nodded his agreement. “Yes, the Crescent Star.”

Tobias was stunned. “This message was in the clear?”

That’s when Andy saw the Sol-Kor officer smile through his faceplate. “No, it was what you refer to as a CW-form of communication.”

“But CW comms can’t be traced.”

“No they cannot.” The wicked smile remained.

“You mean they can’t be traced by us!”

“If that is your conclusion from what I said. Now I will leave. As you are aware, there is much work to be done in this system before we can move on. And to let you know, your empire has already approved of forty-four more worlds within your space which we are permitted to harvest. It is a beginning, yet it will not appease the Sol-Kor. That, you may pass that along to your leadership.”

********

Andy didn’t escort the Sol-Kor delegation back to their ship. He sat alone in the conference room, lost in thought.

When he’d first heard of the communications intercept, he had seen it as a deliberate act on Adam’s part, knowing it would be overheard, recorded, and relayed to others. But this was a CW communication, a type of transmission which, until just a few moments ago, he believed to be secure and beyond intercept. Now this changed everything. He would have to let command know about this ASAP. Why Sala had let this vital piece of wartime intelligence leak was anyone’s guess.

Then there was Adam Cain. If the Sol-Kor know where he’ll be in four days, why don’t they pick him up?

There were too many questions at the moment, without a lot of answers. But there was one thing he was certain of: he wasn’t doing any good sitting here. With a deadline now imposed for the return of Panur, Tobias had no time to waste.

He pressed the comm button on the table that would connect him with the bridge.

“Commander Walker, set a course for the fleet to the Lupcanen star system.”

“Where’s that, sir?”

“Hell if I know. Look it up. In the meantime, recall all our observers and screen ships, and have the fleet ready to bolt in two hours.”

“Aye, sir.

Chapter 22

“We’re pretty sure it’s him, Admiral.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“It’s the gravity drive signature. We’ve been tracking it from the Lupcanen system all the way here, and the closer we get the more it looks like the same one we recorded leaving Earth a couple of months ago. It’s quite unique.”

Tobias looked at the green-tinted screen within the dim light of the CIC—the combat- information-center—aboard the Mount Rushmore. “If it’s Cain and the mutant, why aren’t they using that jump drive of theirs? The last confirmed sighting of the Pegasus was back near Sylox, with that whole white dwarf, black hole thing. I still can’t believe that little rat-bastard was able to pull that off.”

“I don’t know why they’re not using the jump drive, sir,” said Master Chief Tamara Allen. “Maybe it’s energy intensive, so only to be used in emergency situations. But I agree with the analysts. This is the same gravity drive signature we recorded leaving Earth.”

Andy’s fleet had traveled the five thousand light-years to the Lupcanen system, and just as the Sol-Kor leader had promised, a unique gravity signature had been detected nearby. With his suspicions piqued, Tobias had sent out cloaked drone ships to follow the mysterious signal. That was six days ago, and now the fleet was far from the Lupcanen system and nearing a huge fiery nebula known as NC-1187.

“No course deviation, Chief?”

“Not so far.” Allen replaced the image on the screen with a schematic of the glowing nebula. “NC-1187. It’s been surveyed. Not much there. The main part has a triple star system which has cleared out a void area, but it’s also formed a kind of funnel, wide at one end, narrow at the other.”

“And they’re headed there?”

“As far as the scouts can tell.”

Tobias pointed to the narrow end of the void. “Any other way out except here?”

“Not that we can tell. And there is a small Juirean fleet in the area.”

“No shit? What are they doing here?”

“President Osbourne gave them permission. Apparently, the Sol-Kor also gave the information about Cain’s location to the Juireans. I just got word that the president gave them our coordinates so they could assist in the capture.”

“And I’m the last know of this?”

“Sorry, sir. Fresh data.”

 “Regardless, it makes sense,” Tobias conceded. “Both the Union and Expansion are after immunity. By showing this to be a joint operation, the Sol-Kor may be forced to accept our request for a galaxy-wide exemption.”

“Cain hasn’t changed course in four days, according to the track. He’s definitely headed for the nebula.”

“Right into the mouth of the beast,” Tobias said with a frown. “Something doesn’t seem right about this.”

“In what way, sir?”

“That I can’t put my finger on, Chief. It just feels…weird.”

“Orders?”

Tobias studied the screen a moment longer before answering. “Contact the mane-heads—I mean the Juirean warriors—and have them barricade the exit at the narrow end of the funnel. Keep the main fleet back, scouts only, until Cain’s firmly within the void. Then we’ll fan out and prevent them from escaping. Maybe then I’ll be able to talk some sense into that insubordinate bastard.”

Chapter 23

Adam watched as the massive cloud of stellar gas and debris grew ever-larger in the viewport, forming a gaping ring that took up the expanse of his view. They were entering no-man’s-land, and the alien was becoming nervous.

“You better be right about this,” Panur said. “There’s only one way out of here, and the Juireans have that covered.”

“Relax. It’s not like we’re risking your life. It’s us mortals who should be worried.”

“That may be so, but I do not relish the idea of returning to the Queen. She can be very angry at me, particularly after such a long absence.”

“And after all we’ve been through, you still doubt my abilities?”

“Now you’re sounding like me. That I realize,” Panur said. “Yet now I have to rely on the actions of others for my survival. My inventions and other creations are inanimate. They do as I instruct them, constantly and without fail. Unfortunately, I cannot program living creatures as easily as I can my devices. With semi-intelligent beings—particularly Humans—there are no such guarantees.”

“Always keep ‘em guessing…that’s my motto.”

“I was not aware you had a motto. I believe you are making that up.”

“Will you just relax. Hell, go have a drink. That always seems to put you in a better mood.”

“I dare not risk it, not with the demon fluid’s ability to stunt my senses and memory. But I will retire to the common room…until it’s time.”

“Good, I need to concentrate,” Adam said. “See you on the other side.”

********

 “He’s effectively boxed in, Admiral,” Commander Walker announced. “His only way out is through a narrow channel at the far end of the cloud. The Juireans are closing in from that direction.”

“Very good, Commander.”

Although Admiral Andy Tobias had faith in his officer’s assessment, the news didn’t help to lighten his mood. A friend of over twenty years was about to meet a very nasty end, and it would come from his hand. He sat in his command chair and contemplated one last attempt at reason, even though both he and Adam had exhausted every line of debate they could to convince the other.

For his part, Andy was pretty much convinced Adam was right—he had been about everything to date.

News of the black hole/white dwarf collision had reached Tobias three weeks earlier, while he was still back on Earth. He then made a point of having another meeting with the president and his scientific genius, Jack Hardy. The I-told-you-so had been satisfying but still lacking. Hardy was an irascible S.O.B, and he dismissed the mutant’s successful operation as much-ado-about-nothing.

The debate turned to whether or not Panur could build the portal detector. He had the thousand pound diamond he needed, and one didn’t go through so much trouble to acquire such a thing unless it was for something really important.

Panur was planning to build—or had already built—his portal detector, that was Andy’s belief, even if wasn’t that of Osbourne and Hardy. And that’s when the truth came out.

Even if Panur did build a detector, it would be far easier just to return him to the Queen. The choice was clear: no casualties—with the possible exception of Adam Cain—or a prolonged war where potentially millions could die?

Tobias was no warmonger but he preferred the latter. At least then they’d be rid of the flesh-eaters for good. The other way they would always be a potential threat, lingering in the shadows at night, ready to strike whenever the spirit moved them. If the portals remained open, the SK would continue to bring in more ships. Eventually they’d reach such superiority that a clash with the Union and the Expansion would be a foregone conclusion. There would be no reason not to attack and destroy the enemy. Even if that enemy had long since been rendered impotent, it was still an obstacle that needed to be eliminated.

“He’s slowing, Admiral,” Commander Walker reported. “Looks like he’s changing course towards the lower right quadrant, away from the escape route. He has to know that’s a dead-end—literally.”

The hair on the back of Andy’s neck began to tingle. This wasn’t right. These were not the actions of a person trying to avoid capture. They were the actions of…

“Bring the fleet to battle stations, Commander! Send drone scouts to that quadrant. Launch screening units.”

There was a moment’s hesitation on the part of his operations officer before Walker began to bark orders. A few seconds later, Tobias felt the slight vibrations of the drones launching. These were unmanned reconnaissance units, all engines and monitors. They were extremely fast, and they shot out ahead of the small fleet, instantly bathing the CIC with incoming data.

“Admiral, I don’t know what you hope to find…”

“This isn’t for what I hope to find, Commander, but rather for what I hope I don’t. Maintain readiness.”

********

 “Your fleet has deployed scanning drones,” Panur announced with a burp. He had returned from the common room a few minutes before, having clearly given in to Adam’s invitation to have a drink. Apparently he had used his consummate skill at computer programming to produce a whole variety of knock-‘em-on-their-ass drink combinations. And once having created them, the mutant then felt obligated to test them all—out of scientific curiosity, of course.  The results were present in his droopy eyes and toxic breath.

 “I hope you can still function when the time comes.”

“Don’t worry about me. I can regain sobriety at will, unlike Humans.”

“Yeah, that’s what you say.”

“Any contact as of yet?”

“None, just Andy and his badass fleet on our six.”

“Don’t worry, they’re there.” And then the alien laughed. “They’re there. They’re homonyms, which is a word which begins with homo—as in homo-sapiens. You’re a homo…a homo-sapien.”

“Holy crap, man, you really are wasted! Try to focus. This is the first test of your friggin’ detector, and according to you and your squiggly lines, there’s a portal somewhere in here.”

“Squiggly lines don’t lie.”

“We’ll see—oh shit!”

The dim light of the Pegasus II pilothouse was suddenly overwhelmed by a brilliant flash coming from the nav screen. It appeared as though the entire monitor had whited out, but when Adam adjusted the contrast, he found instead that it was full of individual contact dots, hundreds of them, and all in close proximity. And that proximity was heading straight for Adam and the Pegasus II.

“I believe it’s time for some skillful Human piloting,” Panur said as calmly as if he were reading from the phone book.

“I repeat…no shit!” Adam had already activated Panur’s super-drive, and the dull sense of the Sol-Kor suppressor beam was noticeable in his mind. The mutant’s passive beam defense was working. Now Adam worried for Andy and his fleet. The counter-beams were effective, yet they required alignment and constant tuning. With so many enemy combatants, there were bound to be gaps and miscalculations.

Sensing Adam’s dread, Panur said, “This is the purpose of the mission, my spinning friend. Your kind so often have to be shown reality rather than trust in its existence.”

“What do you mean spinning? Oh, never mind.”

Adam was whipping the Pegasus II in tight spirals, corkscrewing through the cloud of Sol-Kor beamships, avoiding errant cannon bolts along the way—unrelated to Panur’s intoxicated vision. “C’mon, Andy, don’t let me down.”

********

Commander Walker first leaned in close to his threat board before suddenly twisting around in his swivel chair to face Admiral Tobias. “Anomalies on screen, Admiral. The drones are picking up energy signals…a lot of them.”

Tobias left the command chair and went to Walker’s station as a nervous buzz spread quickly throughout the bridge.

“Could this be one of Cain’s portal arrays—and its accompanying Sol-Kor fleet?”

Tobias pointed to the energy signature analysis running along the side of the screen. “These aren’t harvesters. They have to be beamships. Initial count of one hundred eighty.”

“Sir, we only have ninety ships in the fleet…”

“I’m well aware of that, Commander. Helm…reduce speed to one quarter. Tactical…station sentries along our perimeter. Comm…send the latest to the Juireans. Have them hold at the exit point.”

“Sir?”

“We’ve had contact with a Sol-Kor fleet before, Commander, less than a week ago. This one may be just as benign, even though we seem to have surprised them.”

“These are mobile beamships, not platforms, sir,” Walker pointed out. “This is a war fleet, not a harvesting fleet.”

“Admiral, I’m picking up a huge energy reading on one of the planets up ahead,” Chief Allen called out. “No doubt about it…it’s a portal array, and one huge muther.”

“So the mutant did build a portal detector.”

“Sir?”

“Cain led us here just to show us he can locate the portals.”

“Lot of good that’s going to do him,” Walker said. “He’s right in the thick of that mess.” When Tobias didn’t comment, Walker asked: “Aren’t we going in?”

“Not just yet, Mr. Walker.”

“I don’t follow, sir?”

“If those bastards can capture Panur, we might be able to convince them that we steered Cain and the alien to them, and that just might buy us the immunity we’ve been offered.”

“And Cain?”

“A casualty of war, Mr. Walker. Now, let’s lay off and see what happens.”

********

 “Your fleet has broken off its pursuit.”

Adam could see it, too. “What the hell are they doing?”

“They are sacrificing us in a bid to acquire immunity from attack.”

Adam instantly saw the logic in the admiral’s decision. Tobias still wasn’t convinced that the Sol-Kor would go back on their agreement.

“Can you open a link to the Sol-Kor?”

Panur shot a nervous glance Adam’s way. “Of course.”

“Good, then do it. Time to put Plan B into motion.”

“Plan A didn’t go too well, now did it? What makes you think your backup will do any better?”

“It’s the homo-sapien way. Now open the channel.”

********

First-Noslead Lonnis Huon received the link from the fleeing starship. It had already been identified as what the Humans called the Pegasus II, the ship belonging to Adam Cain. Anticipation grew in his chest as he wondered if Panur could be aboard.

“Open the link,” he commanded. “This is First-Noslead Huon. Identify yourself.”

“You know who this is,” the voice said over the comm. “I have Panur with me, and I wish to offer my surrender. Will you respect the offer and not blast the hell out of me if I reduce speed?”

“I will not blast you, Adam Cain, although I am not familiar with the substance within your body known as hell. I do not know what hell is.”

There was a long pause on the link before the voice responded. “Damn, I hate to leave a hanging curve ball out there like that…but I’ll accept your word. I’m reducing speed. Please send a pulse to indicate your location within the fleet.”

“Sending, yet I still do not comprehend your reference to the word hell.”

“Let’s save that for another time. I have your location, ETA—estimated time of arrival—six minutes. This should make you a hero to your Queen. Don’t fuck it up.”

“Human language is very difficult for our translators, so I am cutting the link before misunderstandings arise.”

“A wise move, dickhead…”

Chapter 24

 “Drone surveillance has the Pegasus docking with a beamship,” reported Commander Walker. “Looks like Cain’s going to give up the alien.”

“Comm…open a link to the Sol-Kor fleet.”

“Aye, sir.”

“This is Admiral Andy Tobias, commander of the Orion-Cygnus Union fleet, requesting a link to the leader of the Sol-Kor forces in the region. Please respond.”

There was only a momentary delay before a voice answered. “This is High-Noslead Lonnis Huon. I am the leader of the Sol-Kor force you see before you.”

“I wish to discuss with you the return of the mutant Panur, as initiated by the Human Adam Cain. It has been through the combined effort of the Human and Juirean fleets that this event is taking place. We have now delivered Panur to you according to the immunity terms offered by your Queen. I need to know your intentions at this point.”

“My intentions will depend on the orders I receive from my Queen. Until then, remove your fleet from this vicinity immediately or I will initiate action against your inferior force.”

On the bridge of Mount Rushmore, all eyes were on Tobias as he worked through his next move. “I’m sorry, but I will not comply. However, we won’t attack as long as you don’t. But I would respectfully request that you contact your Queen immediately for an answer to my question regarding the immunity offer.”

“You suggest I demand a response from my Queen?” The voice sounded incredulous. “You obviously do not understand Sol-Kor society.”

“I’m not demanding anything, just that you make your report in a timely manner. I’m sure that when you do, your Queen will give you an answer without having to be coaxed.”

“I will make my report the moment Panur is back within Sol-Kor control, yet I will not hold off on an attack for more than two of your hours as I await commands from my Queen. You have that time to withdraw your forces.”

“Agreed…but we’re not going anywhere, so let’s just hope your Queen honors her offer of immunity.”

“You question the integrity of my Queen?”

“Let’s just wait a couple of hours to see what happens. After that, who knows?”

********

The Pegasus II fit easily in the landing bay of the huge beamship, and once atmosphere was restored to the chamber, Adam cracked the hatch and stepped out onto the metal deck, wearing a clear respirator mask over his mouth and nose. As usual, Panur showed no signs of distress, his body adapting instantly to Sol-Kor air.

There were easily fifty armed aliens surrounding the Pegasus II, and as soon as Adam and Panur were clear of the doorway, several of them pushed past them and entered the starship. Adam gritted his teeth, knowing they were going on board to disable the ship. His precious Pegasus II was here for the duration…at least for the duration of Plan B.

A huge, gray-skinned alien stepped up to him. “The leader of the Human fleet has contacted me,” the officer said without introducing himself. “He says your arrival here was initiated by them—the Humans and the Juireans. Is this true?”

“Yes it is. I have been working with them from the beginning to return Panur to your Queen.” Adam turned to the tiny alien and held out double palms. “Ta-da…here he is. Now how about some of that immunity we’ve been promised? My galaxy would really like to get back to normal without having to worry about Sol-Kor dietary requirements.”

The officer nodded to others, and soon Panur was surrounded by hulking seven-foot-tall creatures who dwarfed him with ease, making all the ruckus over the tiny alien seem even that much more absurd. He began to be led away.

“Thanks for nothing, you traitor!” Panur yelled back at Adam, wobbling slightly as he was led away. “I trusted you, and now I find out this was your plan all along.”

“I’m just fulfilling the terms of the Queen’s offer. Now go sober up somewhere.”

Adam turned back to the High-Noslead and smiled. “What now, chief?”

As it was with almost every species, the eyes are the gateway to the mind, and in those of the alien, Adam saw a wickedness, and almost insane humor. “I am aware of your history with the Sol-Kor, Adam Cain. And although you have helped to return the mutant to us, I will still present you to my Queen to answer for your past deeds. There will be no immunity for you. Combined with Panur’s return and your capture, I will be rightly rewarded. I thank you for this opportunity. Now, lead him away!”

********

First-Noslead Lonnis Huon didn’t rank high enough to speak directly with the Queen, so his report was filtered through several others of more deserving status. It was Council Member Gori Bon who delivered the news.

“And you also say the alien Adam Cain is under our control as well?” the Queen asked.

Standing before the massive bulk of his mother, Bon nodded. He was a regular visitor to the sacred chambers, so he felt no intimidation. In fact, the news he brought to her at this time would bring great joy to the creator of the Sol-Kor, which Bon felt vicariously within his own body. “Yes, and with your permission, I shall expedite his transfer back to Kor so you may have your way with him.”

“Permission granted, Gori Bon. And have Panur returned along with the Human. I have missed him so much. There is a void in my soul when he is gone. Our interactions through these many thousands of years have always brought such joy to me. I do not understand why he must always go off on these journeys without warning me first.”

“In other business, my Queen, the Humans are requesting the immunity status you have offered, and they extended this to include their entire galaxy.” Gori Bon’s smile was thin and sinister.

Spittle drooled from the Queen’s heavily crusted lips as she attempted a smile of her own. There was a basin below to catch the liquid, which would be used in honoring ceremonies throughout the Colony. Bon saw that the basin was nearly full; he would order it changed out for a new one.

“I see that fleets of Humans and Juireans are in the vicinity of this particular portal.”

“That is correct, and our forces outnumber them by three to one.”

“Would you not think this a good time to start the wholesale harvest of the Human’s galaxy? With Panur’s return, the High-Noslead in command of the harvest will have my permission to commence full operations. I must say, the sample of the stock grown there is of the highest quality. Be sure to allot an additional portion for the Council and for the Noslead and his commanders, including the First-Noslead who is in command of the fleet now facing the Humans.”

Then the Queen’s mood turned serious. “This insignificant galaxy has caused me much distress, Gori Bon. The losses here have been inconsequential, yet they have been symbolic. Then to have been threatened by these creatures here, in my own chambers, is completely unacceptable. Order immediate harvests of the homeworlds of the major races, especially that of the Humans. Send even more harvesters. I want that entire galaxy devoid of advanced life as soon as possible. An example must be made. And with Panur back to complete work on his long-range beam platform, the harvest should come in at record levels. The Colony will grow substantially as a result, guaranteeing my longevity.”

“That was never in doubt, my Queen.”

More spittle drained from the side of the Queen’s mouth. “That is always in doubt, Gori Bon. The mysteries of Sol-Kor bodies dictate that. How my eggs know when it’s time for a new queen is unknown even to me.”

“There is no need for knowing, my Queen. Revel in the fact that the Colony knows, and that we will continue…forever.”

********

The first vessels to be taken out by the Sol-Kor were the observation drones. It was such a blatant attack that it confirmed Tobias’ worst fears. And only twenty minutes since the Pegasus II was taken aboard the beamship.

“They’re coming,” he announced to the bridge personnel. “Prepare for evasive maneuvers, even retreat if need be.”

“Retreat?” questioned Commander Ron Walker.

“With that many beamships it’s a good bet a lot of our forces will be knocked out of the fight. I doubt we’ll get close enough to the portal array to take it out. Obviously the alien bastards aren’t going to live up to their immunity offer, so we’re in this for the long-haul. The gloves come off now, Commander. But first, let’s make sure we can live to fight another day.”

“This is what Cain has been saying all along about the immunity offer,” added Walker.

“You’re right. And also about the mutant having a portal detector. I just hope Adam’s made other provisions for getting the information to us, and that they’re not riding around with him on the Pegasus. Surely Adam wouldn’t have led us here just to have the locations of the arrays go down with him?” Tobias shook his head out of frustration. “Riyad must have them. Send out a galaxy-wide alert to be on the lookout for the Crescent Star, and with implicit orders not to destroy the ship. We need those coordinates.”

“And if Tarazi doesn’t have them?”

“I refuse to believe we trained Cain to be that reckless, that shortsighted. No, he must be up to something else.”

“Let’s hope, sir. Otherwise we’re screwed.”

********

The sentry ships cast out countering beams as the Sol-Kor ships streamed toward the fleet. These were small destroyers, yet they still carried an incredible amount of firepower when compared to the lightly armed beamships.

Unfortunately, only ten ships were available as the first line of defense. They managed to blast eighteen alien warships to stardust before they were surrounded. Then the blue pulse beams saturated the defenders, who could only counteract four simultaneous beams. When struck with a dozen or more, the crews fell dormant and the deadly plasma bolts stopped. Moments later, the ten ships disappeared off Andy’s tac screen.

“Where are the damn Juireans?” he asked his communications officer, Lieutenant-Commander Grimes.

“Breaking off, sir,” she reported. “They see the futility of joining the attack.”

“Hell, they never even tried,” Tobias said. “Ron, do we have the location of the beamship that has Captain Cain aboard?”

“Yes, sir. It’s way in the back,” he added, anticipating the admiral’s thinking.

“Dammit. Anyway, we have the location of one of their portals, and it’s not like they can just pick up an array and move it somewhere else. We’ll be back, and in force the next time. At least we’ll take out one of them.” He looked out at the anxious faces of the bridge crew. “Call back the screeners. Sound the retreat, Commander. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Aye, sir.”

As the crew began to bark orders and go about their tasks, Admiral Andy Tobias slumped in his command chair. Good-bye, Adam. It’s been a good run. I just wish I’d listened to you when I had the chance. Hooyah, sailor!

Chapter 25

Adam was taken to a room and locked inside. With no crime in Sol-Kor society, they had no need for a brig aboard their ships. This was an office of some kind, with only a bare, four-legged desk and a few cabinets along the wall. There was no bed and not even any chairs.

 A small window was imbedded in the door and he could see four heavily-armed Sol-Kor in the corridor outside. He examined the legs of the desk—metal, about four feet long. They would make good clubs, to be used to acquire an even more lethal weapon. He flipped the desk on its face and then set about bending one of the legs until it broke off in his arms.

Just as he completed his task, the door opened and guards flooded in. Without a word, they took away his club and what was left of the desk and then left, with one now stationed outside the window outside, looking in. These were near-mindless drones. They would man their posts without distraction, and now the guard stared unblinking at Adam from the window. If he was going to escape, it would have to come when they moved him—if they moved him—before making the transit to another universe.

So with his back against a metal bulkhead, he slipped down to the floor and sat there, returning the gaze of the alien at the window. When he grew tired of that, he crossed his arms, hung his head, and tried to get some sleep. Whatever was going to happen would happen, and when it did, he needed to be well-rested and alert. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder how the battle outside was going.

********

 “May Allah curse you…was that you again, Jym?” Riyad covered his mouth and nose with the small breathing mask again. Like all the times before, it did little to lessen the potency. This had to be the tenth time the tiny bear-like creature had farted. The atmosphere in the packing crate was thoroughly contaminated.

“It is my nature,” Jym said in his defense. “Do Humans not release pent up gas?”

“Yeah, we do, but damn, yours could peel paint.”

“I do not believe so. That would take—”

“It’s just an expression, but remember, we’re trying to stay hidden from the Sol-Kor. If they smell you, they may think there’s some kind of dangerous gas leak aboard the Pegasus and cast the ship out the airlock. So please, control yourself.”

Jym looked to Kaylor. “It was not that bad, was it?”

Kaylor, who had lived aboard starships with Jym for over thirty standard years, just shrugged. “Riyad is right in one regard: we do not want to give away our presence.”

“Then let us get on with it,” Jym said out of frustration. “We have been crammed into this cargo box for far too long. It is quiet outside. Let us go do something.”

The two aliens looked to Riyad.

“Yes, you’re right. It is time to do something. Crack the lid, Kaylor. Let’s take a look outside.”

Only dim security lights lit the cargo hold of the Pegasus II, as the three stowaways peered out the narrow slit made by the raised lid. Then Riyad pushed it all the way up and the three climbed out. Riyad was relieved to stretch his legs again, and now that he could smell the fresh air of the cargo bay, he was able to put in perspective just how potent were Jym’s disgusting farts. He was even more convinced that if anyone had been in the cargo hold, it would have been impossible for them to miss the odor.

Riyad looked at his watch. It had been over six hours that the trio had been hiding in the box, and from peeing in plastic containers, Jym’s farts, and their rapidly disappearing rations, it was miracle they’d lasted that long. Now he had to figure out where they were.

The engines on the Pegasus II had long since shut down, and the gravity he felt was not that of the Human starship, but something much lighter. Also, he hadn’t heard or felt any signs of a planetary landing, so it was a good bet the Pegasus II was on another starship.

A Sol-Kor starship.

Riyad smiled. Damn, Reggie, looks like Plan B is working, he thought. That also meant that Plan A had failed. The Human fleet was not in the process of attacking a portal array, not ready to follow them to the other seven portals. That was Plan A. Now Reggie’s Plan B was underway. If they were aboard a Sol-Kor ship, then Adam had surrendered Panur as a means of tipping the aliens’ hand about the immunity offer. How that information would manifest itself was a mystery, along with how long it would take before the fleet—and the galaxy—knew it was all a fake.

In the meantime, Panur was back in the hands of the Sol-Kor, with the ball in the Queen’s court.

As Riyad surveyed the deserted cargo bay of the Pegasus II, he thought a silent curse. If ever there was a time when he needed an artificial telepathy device, it was now. He had to find Adam and Panur before they were moved to another location, and before they were sent through a portal, and it would have been a piece of cake with an ATD.

Riyad led the small parade out of the cargo hold, along the spine of the small starship and to the pilothouse. All was quiet aboard, and as they entered the compartment with its large forward viewport, they crouched down and moved among the equipment banks and crew stations before looking over the lip of the window at the scene outside the ship.

They were in a large hangar bay, one with a dozen or so Sol-Kor workers flitting about. Their movements showed no sign of concern or undue urgency, so Riyad concluded for himself that the ship was not part of a battle taking place.

With his breathing mask firmly in place, Riyad moved to the open exit hatch and looked out. His first priority was to locate Adam, and for that Riyad needed a Sol-Kor crewmember willing to be interviewed. One such candidate stood about twenty feet from the hatchway, his back conveniently turned away from the ship as he worked on the electric motor of a small, boxy transport.

“Stay here,” he whispered to his alien companions, and then armed with an MK plasma weapon he’d taken from the pilothouse, Riyad slipped out through the hatch, moving along the fuselage until he was about eight feet from the taller Sol-Kor crewmember.

Riyad had fought Sol-Kor before in hand-to-hand combat, so he wasn’t too worried; however, the major concern he always had was how much force to apply if he only wanted to knock them out or take them captive. Too many times in the past—and not just with Sol-Kor—he would use too much of his strength and kill the damn thing. Then he’d have to go hunting for another. That took time and exposed him to more risk. Now, as he slipped up behind his target, he fought the adrenalin surging through his veins, hoping he wouldn’t kill the guy. He needed information, not another useless corpse.

He had to jump slightly in order to reach neck level of the much taller alien so he could form an effective chokehold. The creature bent backwards with ease, and Riyad moved quickly to place a hand over his mouth. He squeezed a little tighter and saw his eyes rolling back into his head. As the crewmember became more compliant, Riyad quickly pulled him back to the Pegasus II and through the open hatch. They got back without being seen.

Riyad stationed Jym and Kaylor at guard duty before tossing the alien onto a couch in the common room and slapping him a couple of times to revive him.

“Wake up. You’re not dead. C’mon.”

The eyes of the alien fluttered open. When he saw the Human above him, a look of defiance came across his gray, scaly features. “You are not the one from before,” he stated without fear.

“No, I’m not. Where is he?”

“I will not tell you.”

“No, seriously, I want to know where he is.”

“I will not tell—”

Riyad planted a solid fist to the side of the Sol-Kor’s head. The alien’s yellow-tinged eyes grew cloudy and his mouth slack. Then Riyad slapped him again, this time lighter and for effect. “Wake up. I didn’t hit you that hard.”

Finally the eyes focused once more on Riyad. This time there was a little more fear in his expression.

“You cannot make me succumb.”

Riyad smiled. “Now we both know that’s not true.” He backed away and scanned the body of the alien. “I’m sure there are areas on your body that are more sensitive than others. Shall I begin the tour?” He ripped open the shirt of the Sol-Kor, revealing pale gray skin covered in what appeared to be tiny scales. He grabbed one of the scales and pulled it away. The alien grimaced.

“Ah, that looks like it got a reaction,” said Riyad with delight. “Now where is the other Human? Answer me, or I’ll rip off every last one of them.”

“I am not afraid.”

Riyad began peeling the skin of the alien, one strong hand pressed against the creature’s mouth to keep him quiet and immobile. After about a dozen scales had been removed, and with blood now oozing from the sites and spilling onto Adam’s light-colored sofa, Riyad pulled his hand away.

“You are just going to kill me anyway,” the creature squealed, his face a mask of intense pain.

“I have no desire to kill you. I just want to find my friend and get away. Cooperate and I’ll lock you in a cabinet somewhere, all safe and sound.”

He reached for more scales.

“Stop! I will cooperate. I do not know what good it will do you. There are but two of you aboard the mainship of the fleet.”

Riyad raised his eyebrows. “Go on.”

“The one we know to have participated in the attack on the Queen has been moved to the maintenance section and locked away.”

“Where is that from here?”

“Once through the main security door to the hangar, there is a corridor leading to the left of the control room. Traverse this passageway past three connecting corridors and then the fourth leads to the right and to the place where your like strain is being held. The room will be guarded, so you will not be able to free him.”

“Let me worry about that,” Riyad said.

“Now you will place me in cabinet.

“Oh, about that…I lied.” Riyad punctuated his statement with a punch directly to the alien’s throat, crushing it. The alien made a startled gurgling sound before his eyes fluttered shut and a long sigh of air—his last—left his lungs.

Riyad returned to the hatchway and looked out. He could see the exit; there were five Sol-Kor between him and the doorway. He went back to where Kaylor and Jym were waiting.

“I want the two of you to check out the Pegasus. Make sure all the systems are working and undo anything the ali—I mean the Sol-Kor—have done to keep it from flying. I’m going to get Adam. Have the ship ready to lift the moment I get back.”

“That we can do. Be safe.”

As it was with most large hangar bays, this one was littered with crates and miscellaneous equipment, making it relatively simple for Riyad to scoot along toward the exit without being seen. He was hoping the Sol-Kor didn’t have need for security cameras, since their race consisted mostly of drones and with no crime committed among its members. Still, he had to wait a good five minutes for the exit to clear enough for him to rush through. On the other side, he immediately had to slide along the smooth decking, like a runner going into second base, in order to trip an unsuspecting Sol-Kor blocking his passage. He was on the creature in an instant, grabbing him by the head with both hands and the slamming it hard onto the metal deck plate. Its skull shattered, and before too much blood could escape, Riyad took the body around a corner and left it in an alcove where a panel of controls was located.

A quick survey showed the remainder of the long corridor to be empty. He sprinted along its length, slowing at each adjoining hallway to scan for other Sol-Kor. He managed to reach the fourth hallway without incident.

After a quick look-see around the corner, Riyad spotted the cluster of guards filling the hallway outside one particular room. They were fifty feet away and with absolutely no cover between here and there. After checking the charge on his flash weapon, Riyad stepped boldly into the passageway and began walking quickly and with authority straight for the assembled guards. His weapon was in his right hand and hidden behind his back.

He made it halfway to the door before being noticed, and even then, his confident stride gave his spotter reason to pause before raising the alarm. Riyad produced the flash weapon from behind his back and filled the corridor with brilliant flashes of accurately-aimed plasma bolts. All four guards lay dead before the first one could even draw a weapon.

Riyad looked through the window and saw a relaxed Adam Cain seated on the deck with his back against the wall. He was looking at the window, having been alerted by the flashes and panic voices coming from the hallway. Now a wide grin stretched across his face. He climbed to his feet, brushed off the seat of his pants, and walked leisurely for the door of his prison. When Riyad activated the controls, Adam step out of the room, and without hugs or fanfare simply accepted the flash weapon Riyad had taken from one of the dead guards.

“I assume Kaylor and Jym are back at the Pegasus.”

“Wouldn’t leave home without them.” The brilliance of Riyad’s teeth competed with that of the flash bolts from earlier. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Not without Panur.”

“Here’s a newsflash, my friend. He’s already been returned to the Sol-Kor.”

“He’s somewhere aboard this ship, probably with the captain.”

“Oh, that’s good. I thought he’d be someplace that might be heavily guarded—like the captain’s quarters. Seriously, Adam, I have Kaylor and Jym getting the Pegasus ready to lift off. Let’s just blast this ship to pieces as we make our exit. That will keep him out of the hands of the Sol-Kor.”

“He’ll survive, and then the rest of the Sol-Kor will be around to find him. We don’t have a choice, we have to go get him. C’mon, we’ve been aboard beamships before. We know where the captain’s quarters are located.”

Riyad looked up and down the corridor. “You’re right, and if I recall, it’s three levels up and about thirty meters forward.” He bent down and picked up the flash weapons from the four guards. “Here, we’re going to need these. There’s no getting around it, we’re going to have to fight our way out of here.”

“I think I’m getting aroused,” Adam said with a smile. “Now let’s go. Time to kick some alien butt.”

“That’s the Adam Cain we all know and love. Lead on, my friend.”

********

High-Noslead Lonnis Huon got the first call regarding a disturbance aboard his ship a few minutes later. At first the reports were vague, concerning weapons discharge being heard in various sections of the ship. Then they became more detailed. A pair of rampaging Humans were shooting up the place, and since most of the crew did not carry weapons while performing their everyday duties, the death count was climbing rapidly.

He glared at Panur, who was sitting on a large couch, looking small and insignificant, his short legs barely reaching the edge, his feet shifting side to side as if to some musical beat heard only by him.

“Looks as though you have a cancer within your midst,” Panur said to Huon.

“Are they coming for you? I do not understand. Why risk their lives for a creature like you?”

“That’s a rather condescending comment to make,” Panur scolded. “Do you not believe I could have loyal friends?”

“Friends? They are aliens.”

“Everyone is an alien to me, High-Noslead, including you.”

“That may be so, but I will not allow them to take you from me, not when your return will mean so much to my Queen.”

He moved to his desk and withdrew a plasma weapon, but when he looked at the couch again, Panur was gone. In a panic, the officer spun around and found the mutant standing on his desk, now at eye level with the much taller Sol-Kor officer. He had a wicked grin on his face.

Lightning-quick, Panur’s arms stretched outward far beyond their normal length, and with the consistency of metal rods imbedded themselves into the chest of Huon, sending spasms of electricity coursing through the officer’s body. When Panur withdrew his appendages, Huon fell to the floor, still carrying the telltale signs of the shock he’d absorbed, even as the wounds were cauterized by the heat of the high voltage.

Calmly, Panur walked to the refreshment station in the captain’s cabin and cleaned the blood from his arms. Then he hid the body behind the desk and stationed himself in a chair facing the main entrance to the cabin.

Moments later, the door burst open and Adam Cain dove in, rolling once before rising up on one knee, scanning the room with the barrel of the plasma weapon pressed against his right cheek. Riyad Tarazi then appeared at the doorway, dodging flash bolts while returning fire at an unseen enemy down the corridor.

“Are you okay?” Adam shouted.

“Of course. Since word of your quest reached me, I have been waiting patiently for your arrival.”

“Where’s the captain?”

“I don’t know. He rushed off after the alarm went off.”

“Good, then follow me. We’re running low on battery charge.”

“Then allow me to lead the way. I can serve as an effective shield, and I would truly enjoy absorbing some raw energy in the process.”

“Great idea. You first!”

********

During the fight back to the hangar deck, Panur absorbed four direct plasma hits, and now his pale skin was literally glowing a light pink color, his eyes lit up like something out of an old sci-fi movie, pure white and evil-looking.

The trio entered the open hatchway of the Pegasus II, which closed a moment later, activated by Kaylor. They poured into the pilothouse.

Kaylor and Jym stopped what they were doing to stare at the tiny mutant. Adam couldn’t blame them. His body was radiating an inordinate amount of heat, making it nearly impossible to get within five feet of him.

“Dammit, Panur, isn’t there something you can do to shed some of that excess heat?”

“Why would I want to shed it? This is magnificent!”

“But you’re cooking us alive in here.”

“Then I will retire to some aft compartment as I let the four of you attend to our departure from the beamship. I’m sorry I’ll miss it. I’m sure it, too, will be magnificent.”

After he’d left the pilothouse, and the temperature began to return to normal, Riyad turned to Adam. “That is one crazy sonofabitch.”

“No argument there. Kaylor, Jym, how’s the ship?”

“Welcome back, my friend,” Kaylor said. “We have disconnected the dampening device they placed on the engines. Everything else is in working order.”

“Then let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Through the doors or the bulkhead?”

“Seeing that we’re pointed toward an exterior bulkhead, let’s try that for a change.”

“Agreed. Opening blast doors always seemed problematic.”

He nodded to Jym, who, seated at fire control, unleased a stream of plasma bolts at the nearby wall. Sparks flew, metal shredded, and prodigious rivers of atmosphere escaped through the breach. The glowing red edge of the hole grew even wider as Jym spread the stream in an ever-widening circle, until the gap was large enough to allow the Pegasus II to pass through.

Kaylor activated a small gravity well directly in front of them just as the escaping atmosphere set the ship to moving. They shot out into open space as fractures appeared on the weakened hull of the beamship, spreading spiderweb-like to infect the entire aft section. The back of the Sol-Kor ship blew outwards, sending the forward section tumbling off in the opposite direction. Evidence of small internal explosions could be seen through portholes and ever-growing cracks moments before the beamship evaporated in a fire-less explosion.

Adam took the co-pilot’s seat and activated the dimensional phase-shifter, launching the Pegasus II into a green-tinged tunnel of hyper-faster-than-light velocity. The lead beamship had been located within a cluster of twenty or more Sol-Kor ships, yet before any could react, the Pegasus II was far beyond weapons range and racing toward the huge wall of stellar gas forming the nearby nebula.

“Where to?” Kaylor asked.

“There’s a channel just below us,” said Adam. “You’ll see it. We’ll slip out that way.” He looked around and took in the faces of the other three people in the room. “And thanks, thanks for everything. I don’t know what I would do without you guys.”

“You would die—that is obvious,” Jym blurted in his usual unabashed manner.

Riyad just shrugged his agreement, while Kaylor was too busy seeking out their escape route to comment.

Chapter 26

Eight days later, Adam and the Pegasus II were back on Castor, having ripped up space to get there using Panur’s revolutionary new space drive. They’d been granted a limited diplomatic waiver by the Expansion while the details of the latest encounter with the Sol-Kor continued to be sorted out. There was a lot of confusion as to what the attack on the Human fleet truly meant. Was it a repudiation of the immunity offer, or just a defensive action on the part of the SK? Comm lines were burning up trying to find out which.

Spy ships in the region of the portal array had detected an almost frantic search taking place near where the lead beamship had exploded, apparently looking for Panur’s body. So far the SK’s hadn’t accused the Humans of still having the mutant, so Adam was keeping him under wraps for the time being.

Panur had long since returned to normal—whatever normal was for him—and was once again able to be around the rest of them without setting anything on fire; however, the energy he’d absorbed was still apparent in his eyes, which glowed an unnatural white. Adam had seen him take an even greater energy hit before, and without such long-lasting effects, so he suspected the tiny alien was taking surreptitious hits off some of the MK weapons they had around the ship. He was conflicted as to whether he preferred a drunk alien to a radiating one. Both were hard to be around.

Panur’s white alien eyes met his, at which point a sheepish grin stretched across Panur’s lips. Damn, the alien’s reading my body language again.

Adam looked at his watch. “Isn’t Tobias due here about now?” he said, changing the unspoken subject.

“That’s right. And Arieel and Regina, too, with my ship,” Riyad confirmed.

“Arieel’s coming here?” Panur’s tone was serious now.

“Yep. She wants to speak with the admiral. Trimen and her are serious about returning to Formil, but they’ll need a lot of support from Andy for that to happen.”

“And what of her daughter?”

Adam hesitated before answering. “She insisted on coming along. She’s on the Crescent Star with Arieel.”

“What are your feelings about that?”

“My feelings?” Adam asked. By now the truth was known to all that Lila was his daughter, even as none of them had pursued the subject much beyond that.

“Let’s not go there, okay?” he said. “I have no expectations. What will be, will be.”

“I would be more curious about how you feel about Lila,” said Riyad to Panur. Adam tensed as his friend had broached a subject that had been taboo until now. “You and she appear to have some weird connection.”

“She is a unique individual, as am I. She is definitely a subject worth study.”

“She’s a kid, Panur,” Adam said defensively.

The mutant shook his head. “That she is not, not by any definition of the word.”

“Just leave her alone.”

Panur leaned back in his chair. “Spoken with true paternal instinct. Believe me, Adam, my intentions are purely honorable.”

“Yeah, even so…stay away from her.”

“I’m afraid that will not be my choice. Lila finds me as fascinating as I find her. We are both curiosities…to each other.”

With Adam’s status in the Expansion—and the Union as well—in a state of flux, Castorian officials had cloistered him away from the general population of Krune. They didn’t want to take the chance of any residual bounty hunters taking action against him, not if there was a pardon in the works. At Adam’s suggestion—and he was surprised the place was vacant—the three of them were now kicked back in Seton Amick’s old home. It was a palatial estate at the very edge of a mountainside, with underground access through the exclusive avenues of a restricted enclave, and with a magnificent view of the stark outside world through its fifty-foot-wide observation window.

The home had been through a variety of owners over the past twenty years. Ironically, the immediate prior owner had been a business executive unlucky enough to have been on one of the worlds the Sol-Kor attacked, there to negotiate a new trade deal for Castor. This was before the SK’s had acquiesced to attacking only non-member worlds. Unfortunate for the Castorian, but a stroke of luck for Adam and the gang, as they were enjoying the hell out of the place in the meantime.

Without knocking, a parade of Human military personnel entered the estate. Stern-faced guards took up positions at the doors and around the huge great room, and Adam and Riyad stood from the couches, tense and frankly concerned. Were they about to be arrested, all bets off? Considering how Adam’s past couple of months had gone, he wouldn’t be surprised.

Admiral Andy Tobias entered next, followed closely by a thin civilian wearing glasses and a sour expression. Adam knew the man to be Jack Hardy, the scientific attaché to the Union. Adam had been in meetings with him before. The man was an asshole.

Andy grasped Adam’s hand warmly, and then Riyad’s. “Well, let’s get this thing settled out, shall we?” he said, cutting right to the chase. He looked over at Panur, who was still seated on one of the plush sofas in the great room.

“Do you know the location of all the Sol-Kor portals?” he asked the alien, leaving no doubt that he was demanding an answer, not requesting one.

“Yes, I do,” Panur said calmly.

Tobias glanced back at Hardy, and then to Panur again. “Are you going to give them to us?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether or not my friends are completely exonerated of any crimes, both in the Expansion and Union, and that a very public proclamation be made to that effect.”

“That will have to wait,” Hardy interjected. “Knowing the locations of the arrays may have some value, but only if the immunity offer has truly been revoked. It remains to be seen whether or not it was a true deception on the part of the Sol-Kor, or a consequence of your actions.”

Tobias cast an angry glare at the bureaucrat. “Let me handle this, Jack.”

“I’m just letting them know the official position.”

“It is so far, but that’s subject to change.”

“Why do you still insist on taking the side of the Sol-Kor in this matter?” Panur asked. “I—and my friends—have just gone through an incredible ordeal just so you can have the means to keep your galaxy safe from the Sol-Kor. Why would we have done that if there was an alternative?”

“There is an alternative,” Hardy growled. “Just turn your ass over the Queen.”

“You did that already, and they still attacked. Are you that blind to the truth? It has always been like this, and yet you simple-minded beings refuse to listen to the truth. The Sol-Kor only want you for food—not partners, not allies, not even slaves. You are a food crop to them.”

“Simple-minded beings? Why, you arrogant—”

“Can it, Hardy!” Tobias said. “This delegation is under military authority. You’re along just to observe and advise. Now shut the fuck up!”

Adam smiled. That was the Andy Tobias he knew…not the compliant yes-man some had been trying to turn him into. “Admiral, it’s been over a week since the events at the nebula. Have the Sol-Kor attacks backed off any?”

“On the contrary, Adam, they’ve intensified. And there appears to be a flood of new ships coming through the one portal we know of. They’re stepping things up, and have already hit two member worlds on the edge of the Union.”

“Doesn’t that tell you all you need to know?”

The eyes of the two Navy SEALs met. “To me it does,” Tobias stated firmly.

“Then take the damn coordinates and let’s go kick some Sol-Kor butt. It sure beats kissing it.” Adam looked at Jack Hardy.

“You can’t do that, Tobias!” Hardy cried. “Just take the mutant and turn him over to the Sol-Kor. Say it was a misunderstanding, the actions of a rogue group without official sanction.”

Adam stepped up to the shorter man. “Then what? The frickin’ Queen blesses us with a stay of execution while we continue on with our lives like nothing’s wrong, like there’s not a trillion hungry aliens just waiting for their chance at the buffet table? Even if they would grant us some form of immunity—which I know they won’t—I don’t want to live like that. Not when we have a way of kicking the bastards out of our galaxy for good.”

“Spoken like the true warmonger you are—”

It had been a while since Adam had hit a Human, and it felt good flattening the loud-mouth without fear of killing him. Hardy was now squat on the floor, his glasses broken and sitting cockeyed on his face, blood pouring from a broken nose.

“You will pay for this, Cain!”

“And you need to be more careful. There are a lot of things around here for you to trip on.”

“Trip…?”

“That’s right, Jack,” Tobias said. “That was rather clumsy of you.”

Hardy turned toward the four military guards in the room. To a man, they each smiled and shrugged.

“Fuck you…all of you!” And then he climbed to his feet and stalked out of the house.

“Such language,” Riyad said through his wide smile. “Some may find it offensive.”

“You know what I say to them?” Adam began. “Fu—”

“Now, Captain, play nice.” Tobias turned to the very-amused looking alien mutant. “Shall we get started? I have a war to wage.”

Panur smiled. “Against an unbeatable foe?”

“Among the unreachable stars,” Riyad waxed-poetic.

“That is my quest,” Adam said under his breath, before turning toward the huge observation window that looked out across the bleak landscape of Castor. Outside the growing shadows of early evening were painting the distant red mountains on another alien world orbiting one of those formerly unreachable stars. Every time Adam allowed himself a moment to step back and put things in perspective, the scope of it all took his breath away.

In the sky above the ruddy mountains of Castor, stars were beginning to wink on. From here they were mere dots of light, yet Adam knew better. Around a fair number of them were the homeworlds of countless struggling creatures, all with the same wants, needs, and desires as everyone else. Those tiny lights seemed to beckon him, seeking his attention, his strength.

Adam felt an incredible weight fall on his shoulders, and wondered at what point had Humanity become responsible for the wellbeing of all those living souls?    

The task—nay, the quest—before them would be daunting. The Sol-Kor were beefing up their forces, and it would take the combined military strength and resolve of the entire Milky Way galaxy to shut them down.

And yes, Humanity would be there to take the lead in that quest. They always did when it came to kicking ass.

But that was the price one paid for being the Supermen of the Galaxy.

Epilogue

“It won’t be easy, Arieel, but I’ll do everything I can.”

“I appreciate that, Admiral.” Adam could see Andy nearly melt when exposed to Arieel’s seductive smile. He knew she wasn’t doing it intentionally. When you were the most beautiful Prime female in the galaxy, sometimes it was  beyond your control.

“I have been in contact with the Order and they appear to be taking a very hard line regarding recent events,” Trimen said.

“But we did all this for the good of our people,” Arieel pleaded.

“I realize. Yet I feel there are other forces working against us, possibly against the Order itself. I can see a separation taking place soon between the religious elements of our society and those on the political side. There may not be a Speakership to return to.”

Adam knew Arieel had seen this coming for some time, but to hear it expressed by the First-Celebrant came as a blow. She had told him how much she despised politicians, and how she shuddered at the thought of them being in control of Formilian society. Yet she was wise enough to know that the same was being said about the religious class, though it had been that way for over two thousand years.

“So what do you want to do?” Tobias asked.

“I want to go home,” Arieel said, looking at Trimen. He nodded his agreement.

“Even if it means returning as just regular people, not part of the ruling class?”

“Yes. At least then we will be with others like ourselves.”

Adam cringed. That would definitely leave Lila out of the equation. There was no one like her…except Panur.

As if on cue, Adam suddenly felt an itching in his brain and a strange warmth that seemed to occupy the center of his skull. He looked at Arieel and saw in her eyes that she was experiencing the same sensation. As was Trimen.

Tobias noticed the sudden change in the three of them.

“What’s going on? Y’all look…weird.”

“It is Lila,” Arieel said. “She’s seeking an audience with us—with the three of us.”

“Should I leave?”

“That will not be necessary,” Trimen said, a frown creasing his forehead. “She’s speaking with us telepathically.”

“I thought—”

“It’s okay, Andy,” Adam said. “I’ll explain later.” Lila, where are you?

I am near.

I was not aware you could link all our minds together, Arieel said.

Neither was I, until now. There are so many things happening to me that I am just letting them come. I will analyze later.

So what’s up? Adam asked, feeling awkward around his newly-discovered daughter, especially with her rumbling around in his head. He was embarrassed over what she might find there.

I have news for all of you. You will not welcome it.

Lila!

Please do not be alarmed, Mother. I believe you knew this was coming.

Do not do this!

I must. There is so much to learn.

What’s happening? Adam asked.

She is leaving…with the mutant!

I, too, am a mutant, Mother.

Do not say that!

But it is true. And now I must explore this new reality with the only being who can relate.

Hell no! You’re not running off with that bastard!

It is done, Father. Even now we are leaving Castor.

What? How? Adam stammered.

Panur feels entitled to the use of your starship, since it was he who made the improvements allowing you to survive this latest adventure.

“He’s taking the Pegasus!” Adam yelled aloud, causing Tobias to tumble back in his seat.

“Who’s taking the Pegasus?”

“That bastard Panur. And he has Lila with him.”

“Don’t take this wrong, Adam, but what about the portal detector?”

Tell him it is aboard the Crescent Star and that Panur has reconfigured the monitor to display more traditional data. He will be able to find all existing and future portals.

Adam held up his hand to stop Tobias from speaking. Can you patch me through to Panur on this line? he asked Lila.

I’m here, my friend.

You’re not my friend! Now bring back my ship…and my daughter.

She is as much still your daughter as the Queen is still my mother.

All three of the people in the telepathic link looked at each other with gaping mouths.

What was that last part?

I thought you would have realized that by now, especially you, Trimen. Yes, interspecies mating can—though rarely—result in mutations. It happened with Arieel and Adam, and it happened with my father and the Queen.

Please explain, Trimen requested, while Adam was still speechless—thoughtless—with shock.

As some of you know, the Queen never leaves her chambers, but instead deposits prodigious quantities of eggs, which are then removed and processed. These eggs are fertilized by a corps of chosen Sol-Kor donors. These donors are a very rare and unique class of males capable of producing sperm.

How does this apply to you?

Quite directly, Adam Cain. When my world was first reached by the Sol-Kor, the flesh-eaters were much more primitive. They came in small starships and had to fight for their food back then. They even practiced cannibalism when no foreign food source was available. My people were very advanced biologically, and our brain matter was of superior quality, even better than Human, Klin, or Juirean. So there was an experiment conducted to see if this stock could be reproduced, even assimilated into the Sol-Kor breed. Males from my planet were forced to fertilize millions of Sol-Kor eggs in an attempt to create this new food crop. Many of the eggs were indeed fertilized and carried through full gestation, yet these products were of such a poor quality, often suffering severe physical and mental deformities. All except one.

You? Arieel asked.

That’s correct. Although I was physically small compared to the Sol-Kor, my mental capacity manifested itself quite early, early enough for the Queen to recognize my potential. She took me under her guard, and that was five thousand years ago.

A light suddenly went off in Adam’s brain. Wait a minute! You’re the son of the Queen, and the Queen is your mother?

That’s normally how these things work.

So all this bullshit about her torturing and tormenting you…

Was just that, Adam. Bullshit.

And immunity?

Oh, that’s true. The Queen does offer immunity to any race who returns me when I go off on one of my little junkets. But she never honors it. Once I’m back, it’s business as usual.

So what’s different now?

Lila.

Adam could feel both Arieel and Trimen cringe.

What do you mean? Arieel asked.

She is the first creature I have ever found who shares a similar history as me—and I have looked during each of my adventures. In fact, that is the reason for my explorations. And now that I have found her, it is time for me—as the Humans say—to leave the nest.

Don’t even go there, you bastard!

That remains to be seen, my friend. We do not even know if we are biologically compatible. Yet together, intellectually, there is so much we can accomplish. And as we have discussed, if we are able to reproduce, then we could become the Adam and Eve of a new species, a species of immortal geniuses. You must see the lure of such an undertaking?

All I see is an egomaniac with a God-complex.

If the shoe fits, Adam Cain.

Knock off the Human-speak, you freak.

You’re just upset because I took your starship. I’m sure the admiral will provide you with another.

That’s not it.

That’s part of it.

Well, yeah, but not all.

You refer to the diamonds you have aboard.

Oh shit! Adam thought—for all to hear. He’d forgotten about that.

I’m just playing with you, Adam. I transferred the crystals to the Crescent Star. Now, my friend, I know this is all very troubling for you.

To say the least. So what now?

Ah, that is the wonder of it all! I don’t know. Can you imagine how it is for me to not know the future? It’s exhilarating. But to more directly answer your question, we will be seeking a safe haven from which to conduct our experiments. It may be here, in your universe, or in another. That depends. And as far as us meeting again? There may indeed come a time, Adam Cain. As well, Lila may seek out contact with her mother. But until then, you need not worry about us. We are not a threat.

What about the Queen…your mother? Arieel asked.

She will suffer, since I am the only one of her offspring who has survived nearly as long as she. I am the one constant in her life.  Yet you should all look at this in a positive light. I will no longer be available to build deadly weapons for the Sol-Kor. What you see is what you get. If you can defeat them now, you will defeat them for good.

Lila?

Yes, Mother.

Are you sure this is what you want?

It can be my only path. My time on Formil was drawing to an end; we both knew that. This is a new beginning for me, a new awakening. I am excited and fulfilled. I believe now I can learn the reason for my existence.

Please be careful.

Mother, I cannot die. Your progeny will live forever, and may even give birth to a whole new race of beings—superior beings. For this I thank you—and you, Adam Cain—for giving me this incredible opportunity. Now I must go. Even though I am a mutant, I still have emotions, and this conversation is becoming very painful for me.

And for me as well. Yet I would not have traded it for all the riches in the universe. Good-bye, my daughter.

Good-bye, Mother…and Father. Don’t forget me. 

The End

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Novels by T.R. Harris

The Human Chronicles Saga

Book 1 – The Fringe Worlds

Book 2 – Alien Assassin

Book 3 – The War of Pawns

Book 4 – The Tactics of Revenge

Book 5 – The Legend of Earth

Book 6 – Cain’s Crusaders

Book 7 – The Apex Predator

Book 8 – A Galaxy to Conquer

Book 9 – The Masters of War

Book 10 – Prelude to War

Book 11 – The Unreachable Stars

Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series

Book 1 – The Enclaves of Sylox

The Drone Wars Series

Book 1 – Day of the Drone

In collaboration with author George Wier…

Captains Malicious – Book One of the Liberation Series