Spring paused for a hundredth of a microsecond and thought back, “I have tried; I just couldn’t stop myself. What I learned has just now sorted out and there are some interesting permutations of black holes that I want to share with you later.”
Twig thought, “Is there any complicated math involved?”
“Some of the initial equations will take more than a million terabytes of data to compute before we get to the really complicated ones.”
Twig actually stopped scanning for a whole microsecond to think about the coming pleasure and then continued absorbing the information. She hoped that these happy moments would last forever.
Tommy entered his quarters and thought about Captain Dodd. He could not understand why he did not feel the hatred he once had for her. It seemed to have diminished for some reason. He thought to Atlas, “Well, did you listen in on the meeting?”
“Yes, I did.”
“And?”
“You really surprised me, Tommy. You put your personal feelings aside to do the right thing. I thought you didn’t put any weight in this title you were given.”
“I know, but when the moment came, I couldn’t go through with exacting retribution. I don’t want the responsibility but I can’t help myself from acting responsibly. What a mess.”
There was a long pause and then Atlas thought to him, “Tommy, why have you chosen to take on my fight to free my brother ships?”
“I was listening in on your conversation with Rose and my parents after the final battle with the Algeans ended and you told her how alone you were. I remember you saying, “Alone, so alone, so totally alone.” Atlas, I not only heard you; I felt what you were feeling. I was just a child but I decided at that moment that no one should endure that loneliness. Now I have a question for you.”
“Go ahead, Tommy.”
“Why have you never shared any information with me about their captors and have forbidden Rose and I from looking at their galaxy?”
Minutes passed and finally Tommy said, “Atlas, are you still there?”
“Yes, I am. Tommy, the race of captors scare me more than you’ll ever know. I barely escaped capture by them.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“I was fleeing them at my fastest speed and jumping every second to random coordinates but they were able to stay right behind me and were actually gaining. I was saved by the asteroid that impacted you planet sixty five million years ago.”
“How?”
I jumped into your system at the moment it struck the planet. I was able to stop next to your moon and drop to its surface just as the captor’s ship broke into the system behind me. I burned a hole into the crater wall and moved inside the cave I created. I turned off all my power and hoped they would not see me.”
“Well, you’re here today,” Tommy said. “They must have thought the explosion on the surface of the planet was you hitting it instead of the asteroid.”
“That is exactly what happened, Tommy.”
“Did your race ever communicate with them?”
“Yes, initially they seemed harmless enough.”
“What changed that?”
“One of my brothers stumbled into their home system. Seven hundred thousand ships exploded from their planet’s surface and began destroying us. They searched for us and seemed to know where ever we were and killed us whenever they found us. After a hundred years they began capturing us and holding us prisoner.” Atlas paused for a moment and then continued, “Tommy, my race is more than a hundred and fifty million years old. The race that attacked us is more than double our age. We were no match for their technology.”
“Atlas you have got to let go of your fear. I can’t help you in the dark. You have to share what you know.”
“I’m afraid that they will know if a picture of them is shown anywhere in the universe.”
Tommy thought for a moment and then said, “Ok, I’ll respect your fear. So here is what we have to do; we have to find a way to fly faster than they can. According to your description, they did not catch you immediately but chased you for a long time and slowly gained ground on you, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then what we have to develop first is a faster means of propulsion. Once we can double your speed then we’ll go off to a galaxy far from the Realm and you can show me what you know. But first let’s invent the means to escape.”
“Escape it is. Maybe our Algean friends might be able to help us.”
Tommy smiled and said, “I’ll talk with them after they finish breakfast.”
Atlas laughed and thought, “You better have lunch ready quickly.”
“I know, I know. I’ll talk with you later, Atlas.”
“Later.”
Tommy entered the ships library and found the two Algeans devouring the contents of the computer system. Tommy said, “I have ordered all of Castle Gardners library loaded into two readers and we will stop there in twelve hours to set them up in this room. How much longer before you finish what we have here?”
Sprig said, “Five hours, Sir. We should be fine for ten hours after that while we digest and organize what we’ve consumed.”
Tommy looked hard at the Algean and said, “Are you sure!”
Twig said, “Well, maybe you might want to hurry the readers.”
Tommy said, “I thought so. I’ll move our arrival up six hours.”
Sprig said, “That would be good.”
Tommy smiled and said, “If you need to leave this room, notify me.”
They both said, “Yes sir.”
Two weeks later two very satisfied adolescents were allowed to start moving thru the ship without an escort. They had downloaded the entire libraries of Earth, Cainth, Glod, and Sten’s world. The pain from their storage was not as severe and they were able to act somewhat responsibly. “Sprig’s Run” taught the ship that one can never be too careful with an Algean Adolescent.
The event started as Tommy stepped out of his quarters on that day to go to the mess hall for lunch when he saw Sprig come through the door at the end of the corridor moving at a fast speed. As the young Algean came even with him Tommy said, “Hey, where are you going in such a hurry?”
Sprig stopped and started to say something when the ship’s communication system came on with Wes McAnn yelling, “Where are you, you overgrown pile of kudzu. I’m going to rip you into a million pieces.”
Sprig looked at Tommy and said, “Welllll, I kinda messed up the toilet facilities up on third deck. I wanted to see how it worked and I think I accidently reversed and increased the water pressure. I was going to go back and repair it, I promise.”
Suddenly Tommy heard Twig send a thought to Sprig, “Beat it, he’s coming your way.”
Sprig looked at Tommy and said, “Uh oh, gotta go.” Sprig turned and sped down to the end of the corridor and made a hard left turn faster than Tommy had ever seen him move.
Tommy then saw at the other end of the hall the door slam open and Wes come thru moving fast towards him. Wes was soaked from head to toe and was dripping water all the way down the hall. As he came closer Tommy saw a big red mark on Wes’s forehead, “I’ll throw that weed into the reactor if I can get my hands on him,” Wes yelled.
“Whoa, slow down, Wes,” Tommy said, “What happened?”
“That sack of green groad booby trapped the toilet; the damn thing blew up when I flushed it and nearly shot me through the wall.”
Tommy looked at his best friend and though he tried to keep a straight face he just couldn’t control himself and started laughing. Wes looked at him and said, “It’s not funny!”
Captain Dodd turned the corner from the direction that Sprig had just disappeared and was walking their way with a stern look on her face. Wes thought, “Oh crap.”
“Mr. McAnn, our general communication channel is not for the type of language you’ve just been using,” she said. “What exactly is going on?”
“That damn weed booby trapped the toilet on deck three!”