Misty had her head tilted and said, “Where does it go when it jumps?”
“We honestly don’t know. Some scientists have speculated that the resonance field is actually no larger than the size of the universe just before the big bang which was the size of a small atom; so the distance traveled between jumps is actually too small to measure which is why the jumps are instantaneous. That concept however, is conjecture. We do know that using the field reader one can read the resonance frequency of any point in the universe and strangely, the field is instant and is not bound by the speed of light.”
Misty then asked a question that would change the course of the war, “Well what is the frequency of the space you go thru to make a jump?”
Gerald Nelson looked at her and Misty could see lights go on behind his eyes. “I have no idea, Director. I have never thought about that and I don’t know if anyone ever has.” Gerald’s mind was running away with him. What a concept, why hadn’t he thought of this before. “Director, please pardon me but I need to call my assistants together to explore this concept. Would you mind if I go to work on it.”
Misty smiled and said, “Get out of here, and let me know what you find out.” Gerald left the room running.
Danielle sat in the play room watching Rose play with her dolls. Danielle loved her little girl and could feel her presence no matter where she was. She was worried about her future happiness because it was clear her psychic skills were growing every day and finding someone to match her was probably not going to happen. She watched Rose move her dolls from chair to chair without touching them and she laughed when Rose sent one out of the room to find a missing teacup. She stopped laughing when the doll walked back in holding the teacup in her stuffed arms. The stuffed doll walked up to the table and placed the cup in front of another doll and then sat down in one of the little chairs. Danielle looked at Rose and said, “Honey, how did your doll know where to find that teacup?”
Rose looked at her mother and said, “I told her to find it and she did.” Rose looked at Danielle and then got up and walked over and put her little arms around her mother’s neck and said, “Mommy, what are you sad about?”
Danielle knew her daughter could sense her moods and she was not going to ever be less than honest with her. “Honey, I just wonder who your husband will be some day. I want you to be as happy as your father and I are.”
Rose looked into her mother’s eyes and said, “Don’t worry Mommy, he was born two years ago and we know we will be happy.”
Danielle was stunned. “Tag,” she thought.
“Yes dear,” Tag answered.
“Rose just told me that her future husband was born two years ago.”
Danielle could hear Tag’s silence in her mind. Then he said, “She did what?”
Rose looked at her mother and said, “Mommy, let me tell him.”
Danielle nodded and Rose thought at her father, “Mommy was worried about who I was going to marry and I wanted her to feel better so I told her that he was born two years ago. I am older than him just like Mommy is older than you.”
“Rose,” Tag thought, “How do you know he is going to be your husband?”
“The same way you and Mommy knew,” Rose said matter of factly.
Danielle thought to Rose, “How does he feel about it, Rose.”
Rose giggled and said, “He doesn’t think about it yet but he feels me and it makes him happy. We will talk when he learns how to talk better.”
Tag was amazed and then he had a thought, “When can we meet him, Rose?”
“When I meet him; I think that will be when I am eighteen.”
“Why do you have to wait until then?” Danielle asked.
Rose looked at her mother like the answer was obvious, “Because we won’t be ready for each other before then.”
Danielle and Tag shared a thought, “Perhaps that’s exactly the way we did it.”
Danielle took Rose into her arms and hugged her tight and Rose could tell that her mother’s worries were gone. “I love you, Rose,” Danielle said.
“And I love you so much Mommy.
Chapter 17
Ron-Dar sat in the Captain’s chair on board Retribution. The chair had been specially built for the physical dimensions of a Glod. He looked at his controls and displays showing the status of the ships many systems. He glanced over at a young Cainth female that had just been assigned his new sensor officer and asked, “How are the sensors operating, Lt. Rena?”
She looked up from her console and said, “I have a small fluctuation in three Coronado Cells that reduce the range to our port side by 10,000 dregs. I have assigned a team to go correct the problem but other than that, our system reads out to three light weeks.”
Ron-Dar knew that 10,000 dregs was less than one, one trillionth of optimum performance. Too small to really be noticed but his sensor officer had found it. This spoke well of her ability. “Carry on, Lt,” he said and then he went thru his crew list and noted the department heads. He sent a message to each one’s com with a time he was going to inspect their departments. He looked around the bridge and he could tell the intensity everyone felt as they prepared the new Megaship for Thomas Gardner’s arrival. He knew that everyone on the ship had been selected because of their outstanding performance. He was surprised at how well the new crew members had meshed together and were working well with each other.
He was also amazed at the difference in his ships Coronado Power Cells. Most Megas had the forty five foot cells but Sten had built Retribution with 120 foot cells that for the first time in the manufacturing process had been bent into a curve such that three of them surrounded the hull instead of the usual twenty seven to cover the same space. Retribution also had a new generation of black hole reactors which removed the need of having an outside energy source to help keep the power cells charged. In meeting with Planet Leader Sten, Ron-Dar was told that this was the first of the new megaships that would use this new technology. The Megaships were fast but this ship was more than double their speed. Sten also believed that the new screen would handle multiple anti-matter hits. Although production of new Mega Ships had been stopped, Admiral Dorg had insisted that the five ships Thomas Gardner was going to use had to be stronger than normal. He and Mikado both agreed that the risk of losing Tag was something that they would do everything to minimize. Thus the new ships were much stronger than normal. Ron-Dar looked over at Lt. Rena and said, “When are the other four ships scheduled to arrive?”
Lt. Rena looked at her display and said, “They have just completed on loading their munitions and stores and will jump within half a rotation.”
Ron-Dar pressed his com and said, “Weapons, how much longer until our magazines are loaded?”
Chief Petty Officer O’Brien answered, “Six drags, sir. Two of our hornet launchers are jammed and are being replaced. The penetrators went in without a problem. All the other hornet magazines are loaded.”
“Have you calibrated the new needle to our sighting systems.”
“Yes sir. We launched three hornets 200 miles out and the system hit all three of them within five hundredths of a second.”
Ron-Dar was impressed. Those hornets were only three feet long and moving at extreme velocity. The system was impressive. He had decided that he would use the ships needles to protect it against incoming missiles until they were 125 miles out and then he would launch the hornets. Anti-matter explosions were no danger unless they were inside fifty miles. “Carry on, Mr. O’Brien and inform me when those launchers are completed.”