Читать книгу Adventures of Space Cadets 101: Weddings - Darryl Dean Wright - Страница 14

In the Bermuda Triangle, under water on a UFO saucer shaped craft, on a Centurion's bridge, one Centurion was using telepathy to tell another Centurion, "Looks like we lost another one." He stepped over the dying Centurion who was, until recently, linked to the late President of ED. It was dying now that the President was dead since it was still hooked up to its counterpart.

Earth was still going crazy after seeing all of the alien space craft flying around, but the Turtle did collect all of its children except for Nick's ship.

Right then Nick, JR, Austen and Derek were hiding in the Q-forest getting high smoking a big blunt. Derek handed it to Austen and started coughing. Austen was taking a hit as JR explained to Nick, "Yeah, our ships have beaming technology, so if we need weapons or drugs, we just lock onto what-ever on Earth and beam it up." Austen was coughing now.

Nick asked, "Can I personally beam down?"

Austen choked and said, "Nope. No human or organic can be beamed so we use Nano-droids." Then he looked at JR and said, "Which means you can't beam any drugs up to your ship." Nick already knew all about the Nano-droids; he had quite a few on his ship. Apparently JR had found a way around this restriction, though, because he was never without.

Austen choked and said, "I talked to Mary. She's come out of hiding and she says she's fine." The other three were nodding their heads grateful for that news. Mary was the only one who had managed to avoid ED's capture.

That night after the good-byes to Nick and JR, Derek asked the Turtle to fold space and take them back to Tauri. The Turtle said, "Copy that, Admiral." They were now headed to Tauri at best speed.

Leo was in the hallway looking out the window as Derek and Deana were walking by. Derek asked, "What are you doing, Leo?"

The couple let go of each other and went to the window by the Leonsian's right, putting Derek in the center of the three. Leo asked, "Just look out there, Sirs. Have you ever seen stars like that?"

Derek reached up with his left hand and put it on Leo's right shoulder. He said, "Leo, buddy, those aren't stars. As long as we are in between galaxies, you are looking at other galaxies. Pretty huh?"

Leo said, "It's majestic. I've never seen anything like it."

Deana was looking at Derek and she said, "He sure is!" She pulled on Derek's arm and said in her sexy voice, "If you'd like, Admiral, I could give you an 'oral' report that you've been waiting on in my quarters."

As they left Leo he thought, Those two are going to have lots of cubdren.

Austen was on shift and on the main bridge when a new alarm went over every speaker on the ship. Since everybody was looking at him, he knew they had no answers for him, so he asked, "Turtle, what is that and please turn it off. It's annoying."

The alarm ceased and the Turtle said, "We are about to drop out of folded space into either a black-hole or a super nova. It is not my fault, Sir. It just happened!" The Turtle sounded very worried.

Austen thought, That's how the last people who owned this ship died! He asked, "How much time does …" He never had a chance to finish the question. Everybody slammed forward, including Austen who slid under the railing and fell to the lower level in an awkward position. Everyone else on the second level was caught on the railing. Kirk hit his head on it hard, but he seemed to be OK. There were several cadets lying on the deck plating trying to get back up.

Tim at the helm didn't go anywhere because the helm held him in place. He froze for only a second due to the enormous black-hole that was taking up the entire front view screen. Then he ran to Austen's side to see if the admiral was alright. Austen was face down on the deck plating, and he had blood running from his nose. Tim knelt beside him and asked, "Admiral, are you okay?"

Austen made a funny noise and tried to roll over but couldn't without Tim's help. Tim looked around and saw everyone that could help was helping those that needed it. Austen ordered, "Report!"

Tim said, "We smacked into a black-hole, Sir!"

Austen said, "Smack it back and get us out of here, Captain."

Tim started to get up and Austen grabbed his arm and said, "Turn that alarm back on."

Tim started to get up again, and Austen pulled him back and said, "Get a medic up here for us."

Tim said, "Yes Sir," and he started to get up again.

Austen pulled him back and said, "You're in charge." Then he pulled him closer and asked, "What are you waiting for, Captain?" Tim was used to the admiral's humor, but this was serious!

Tim smiled and ordered aloud, "Someone call for a doctor to come to the bridge," and then he jumped into his seat shouting, "Turtle, please turn the alarm back on."

Austen was thinking, Klax-on, klax-off.

Lita Scott was radioing for a doctor at the hospital to come to the bridge while Maria Martin next to her just stared in shock at the gapping black-hole taking up the entire view screen. Kirk was at his science console rubbing his head and looking at the black-hole too. He did some equations and yelled out, "It's about to get worse; we're entering the event-horizon."

The Turtle was being sucked into the secretion disk of the black-hole. That was all the swirling lights that could be seen around the spatial rift. Travis Daniels at navigation turned to his left in slow motion, and in a deep voice, he asked Tim what he was going to do. He was sure they couldn't travel backwards with the way they were being pulled in.

Everyone was moving in slow motion and talking in deep slow voices as time slowed down. Tim remembered how Deana had gotten away from ED when they visited Sol. She had slingshot around Jupiter, so he gave every ounce of speed the Turtle had and aimed deeper into the hole. Cadet Daniels screamed to be heard over all the chaos and confusion, "Look!" He pointed at the far left corner of the screen.

Tim looked over and smiled because it was the Turtle flying out of the black-hole from the near future. It was with an incredible speed that the Turtle was leaving the disk. He was smiling because he knew they were going to escape through what should be an impossible feat. He pointed and aimed the Turtle just a little deeper into the black-hole, picking up even more speed.

Deana, in her bedroom with her lover, was flung to the floor shortly after a new alarm went off. They weren't hurt, but they were wondering what was going on. Derek asked Deana if he should be worried. She said, after closing her eyes and reaching out with her mind to feel what was happening, "No, they have everything under control," and she hugged him and pulled him closer and tighter. She then climbed on top of him right there on the carpeted floor. As they started making love, everything slowed down.

As they were coming out of the black-hole, Tim saw a single Leonsian ship falling into the secretion disk. Captain Johnson ordered loudly and in a deep voice, "Mr. Ford, get a tractor beam on that ship and pull them in." He was thrilled that they had made it out and he thought, Once more into the breach! There was never a dull moment working for the Houstons.

They were then a million kilometers away from the rift, and the captain ordered an all-stop. Then he asked the Turtle to turn the alarm off again. As the alarm stopped squawking, Dr. Fisher came in and looked Admiral Austen over. He only had a bloody nose and the wind knocked out of him, the doctor reported. Austen would not have called for a doctor if he had known that he was the only one who had been hurt. He was slightly embarrassed, but at least time wasn't in a telescope anymore. That was how he described the experience.

He took his seat back on the upper level, and as he moved the chair-strap out of his way to sit down, he thought, I should've had that on when the alarm went on. He would not make that mistake again.

He looked at Kirk and said, "Would you please explain what just happened, Cadet?"

Kirk took a deep breath and said, "Well, as you know, our sun is a second generation star born from a dying star called a white dwarf, and as it dies it either goes super nova or turns into a black-hole. Ours did both because it used to be a binary system. A super nova happens every second in space and creates all the other stars. Our Milky-way's center went both ways, a super nova and a spatial rift known as a black-hole, which is four million times bigger than our sun. And yet a super nova created all of the Milky-way's stars. The black-hole is the reason why ours and most galaxies are described as spiral, even though you can't see the black-hole with the naked eye because of all the swirling lights that are being sucked into it."

The admiral asked, "Is that what happened here?"

Kirk said, "No Sir. Apparently we just found the solar system that the Leonsians made nova. We also have one of their ships in our tractor-beam, and I have the rest of their fleet on long range sensors leaving here. We are headed home, Sir."

Austen said, "You are slowly but surely turning into your father, you know that? I should've had the doctor look you over." Then he faced forward and said, "Captain Johnson, damn good job of flying!" Then he looked up and asked the Turtle "Are you OK Turtle?" The last thing he needed was his ship in other than great condition, so he was a little worried.

A few seconds went by and then the Turtle came over just his chair's speakers, "I am now; how are you? …am now; how are you?"

He thought, I hope the Turtle just made a joke.

Austen said, "I am fine. Send over enough Nano-droids to push every Leonsian on that ship out their air-lock. It is only fitting they should float to the same black-hole they just made. But make sure there aren't any vegetarians in the litter." He hoped the Turtle was OK after it had repeated itself, but Austen wasn't going to mention it to the Turtle. He would see if it happened again. They all had gone through a lot, and he sure was not at his best either. He would mention it to Derek when he saw him next.

The Turtle responded, "It is done, Sir. Would you like the ship brought into the Q-bay?"

Austen said, "That would be great."

At the end of his shift, Austen went to the Q-bay and grabbed Leo to check on the new Leonsian ship. When they arrived there Leo said, "Admiral, see that icon there in the front of the ship?" and he pointed up.

Austen saw it. It did look familiar, but he couldn't place it. He asked, "I see it, but what does it mean, Leo?"

"It means that that ship was in your solar system, Sir," Leo said.

Austen asked him to explain. Leo pointed at the icon and said, "When our fleet picked up one of your nephew's probes, that marker was put on every ship in the fleet that was sent to conquer your planet." Austen made a mental note to take those icons off both Leo-ships he had salvaged. He wondered if ED had found out about the icon and the fact that it looked like Kirk's probes.

Austen then thought that it was justice that the ship who tried to blow up his solar system could not catch up with its people, and that one of the same nova bombs had caught their ship. It was also fitting that they would spend eternity being sucked and stretched into a black-hole like spaghetti. He knew this one had to be the ship that tried to blow up Earth's sun.

Leo patted him on the back, and they went forward passing up some Nano-droids and one Lizardian engineer until they entered the Leo-ship. They went straight for the engine room. Brion was there, but he was not supposed to be.

When Brion saw the Leonsian he freaked! He grabbed the biggest wrench he saw and threw it at the Leonsian, but Leo, with his cat-like reflexes caught it without thinking about it. Brion was screaming as Austen ordered him to stand down. Still Brion rushed at Leo in a rage. That was the last thing Austen needed.

Austen caught Brion as he tried to slip by him and put him into a choke-hold. He then ordered Leo to the bridge of the ship they were on just to get rid of him for the moment. Leo immediately did an about-face as Austen told Brion to listen up, "He is with us, Brion! He is a vegetarian. What are you doing here? You are supposed to be in a class right now, aren't you?"

Brion could barely breathe let alone speak, so he could only nod his head, yes.

Austen said, "Turtle, I need one security guard to the Leonsian ship," The Turtle responded by telling the admiral that Clark was on her way. The admiral told Brion that he had met a different man named Brion once and that he sure hoped he was nothing like him, because that would be bad for him, very bad. Austen was of course talking about the dead pirate he once ran into.

Austen let go of Brion and pushed him to the deck hard. He said, "Stay down, Son. I don't want to hurt you but I will. We have aliens aboard the Turtle. You were told. Derek and I are equal opportunity cadet-grabbers, which explains how you are here. The next time I give you an order, you had better obey it. If not, you aren't welcomed on my ship. You get me fodder?"

Brion said, "But…"

He wasn't able to finish the sentence because Austen yelled, "No buts or I will kick yours! You say 'Yes Sir or yes Admiral,' You get me cadet?"

Brion slowly arose from the deck-plate and stood at attention. He said, "Yes Sir, Admiral." Just then Commander Clark came into the engine room with her laser out. She was hoping she wouldn't have to fire it.

Austen saw her and said, "At ease, Commander, it was just a misunderstanding. She holstered the laser-gun and Brion relaxed a bit. Austen straightened out his suit and looked at Brion and asked again, "What are you doing here anyways, Cadet?" He said it nonchalantly, but he expected an answer.

Brion said, "I wanted to know everything about this ship, Sir. Its engines and capabilities so I can help my brother. He is after all alone, and I think I'm ready and old enough now."

Austen said sarcastically, "As opposed to a couple of months ago?"

Austen turned to Clark and told her to have engineering install a cloaking device onto the ship. She saluted him. He then turned to Brion and said, "Well you are in luck, young man. We just happen to have an expert on the matter. His name is Leo and he is Derek's and my friend. He is appalled at what his people do, and he is the main reason why we are helping your people. We wouldn't know anything about your people or where you are from if it weren't for him. He left everything he knew for a chance for something better just like you did. And that is here on the Turtle where we don't have politics of 'skin,' so you will treat him with respect, or I'll have this very pretty marine throw you out an air-lock. What's it going to be, Cadet?"

Brion said with a tear in his eye, "I'd like the Leonsian to help me learn this ship, Admiral."

Austen smiled and said, "Well alrighty then." He looked at Clark and said, "Stay with him and keep an eye on him in case he changes his mind, and if he does change his mind, throw him out an airlock."

As he was leaving to go to the bridge to tell Leo he could go back to the engineering room, Clark said, "Yes Sir … And I think you are pretty too, Admiral." He didn't know what to say to that remark so he just left.