“Yes, it does.”
Tommy looked at the group and said, “Please excuse me for a moment; let’s plan to leave within the hour.”
Tommy went to his quarters and sat down at his desk, “What’s up, Rose?”
Rose explained all that had happened both at the wedding and afterwards. Tommy listened but was inclined toward skepticism. “Rose, what are you saying?”
“Tommy, it’s like a man who has suddenly become a hundred times stronger and presses the accelerator rod in a vehicle and breaks it off. Now there’s no way to stop the vehicle before it hits something. On a much larger scale, what if you, without meaning to, you push against the wall of the learning facility and break the facility in half.”
Tommy understood. Rose continued, “And you are not alone; we need to look at Captain Dodd as well.”
“What do you mean we?”
“I’ve sent Tgon-Gee to look at your auras and to perform some experiments. He should be there within the hour. He’ll report to me what he finds out.”
“This has you worried, doesn’t it, Rose.”
“Yes it does, Tommy. My talents were not the only ones increased during the wedding. Our parents are also the proud new owners of three foot auras. They both have noticed changes in their psychic skills. Mother can now use telepathy with anyone, it’s not just limited to Dad.”
Tommy looked at Rose and said, “We’re going to another site to test Atlas’ weapons to see where we are compared to the eels. I’ll take Tgon-Gee with us.”
Rose said, “Eels?”
Tommy shrugged and said, “The Captors are an electrical energy life form. We also think that before they lost their physical bodies that they were probably insects closely related to bees or hornets.”
“Tommy, keep me informed, please; about you and those eels.”
“I will, Rose.”
Tgon-Gee arrived in S. R. Megaship Tribulation. Tommy commed him and said, “Hi, Tgon-Gee. We are leaving for a site to test some weapons. I just spoke with Rose and I would like for you to come with us.”
Tgon-Gee said, “I’ll come to your ship momentarily.”
Sprig said over the com, “Tgon-Gee, if it is not too much trouble, could you have the ship that brought you here standby in the event we need to compare our current armaments to the weapon we’re testing.”
Tommy said, “That’s a good idea, Sprig. Does it pose any problems to keep it here on standby?”
Tgon-Gee looked away from his screen and said, “No, this is my personal vessel. It is at your disposal.” Tgon-Gee boarded a shuttle that ferried him to the heavy shuttle. As he approached the heavy shuttle Tgon-Gee saw the dark aura surrounding it. It extended more than four hundred yards from the ship’s hull. Tgon-Gee took a deep breath and worried about the power of the two humans that possessed those auras. “We’ll see what it means, I hope,” he thought and entered the landing bay.
“Have you selected a good place to conduct the test, Twig?” Cassandra asked.
“Yes I have. It’s located in deep space far from the closest galaxy. I’ve also made sure there were no energy centers close to the coordinates. Hi, Tgon-Gee, welcome aboard.” Twig said.
“Thank you. Are you ready to jump?”
Cassandra said, “We were waiting on you. She keyed the com and said, “We will be jumping is two minutes. All hands, jump in two minutes.”
Tommy sat in the chair beside Cassandra marveling at how beautiful she looked. She had on a short sleeve t-shirt and her auburn hair was down. He wanted to reach over and take her hand. She thought to him, “Not yet. We have so much to look forward to and now I’m sure that we have to wait.” Tommy looked at her and nodded and continued to stare at her. She said, “What?”
“I remember how much I hated you and thought you were an ugly looking.”
“Don’t say it, though I know I deserve it.”
“That’s just it,” Tommy said, “I know that our contact has locked us to each other but I can see quite objectively that you are beautiful. Why did you hide it? You never dressed or wore anything but those severe looking military uniforms.”
Cassandra looked at Tommy and said, “I’ve never felt any thing for anyone. I’ve had no desire for any companionship. No one interested me.” Her eyes grew moist and she said softly, “When you touched me it felt like I came alive. I felt things I’ve never felt before. For the first time I’m comfortable in my own skin. I know deep inside me that I’ve been waiting for you my whole life.”
Tommy looked at her and it took all his effort to not reach for her. “It was the same for me, Cassie. I need you now more than you’ll ever know. I’ll wait forever if needed to be with you.”
Cassandra smiled and said over the ship’s com, “Jumping in 3,2,1, jump.”
They broke out into the pitch-black of empty space and saw one of the forts floating in space ahead of them. “Trust Mikado to be punctual,” Tommy said. “What do our sensors say, Cassie?”
“The screen is at full power and there are no biological readings on it.”
“Atlas, are you ready?”
“Open the port and I’ll take a shot at it.” The shuttle landing bay opened and the Silver ship moved out of the bay and moved toward the large asteroid. Atlas said over the ship’s intercom, “Sprig, are your sensors ready.”
“Yes they are, ready when you are.”
“I’m firing in 3,2,1, fire.” A bright blue beam stabbed out from the small silver ship and hit the screen around the asteroid. The beam penetrated the screen and hit the rock surface causing a giant explosion. Immediately after the beam turned off, the screen came back on line and surrounded the asteroid.
Tommy watched the beam penetrate the asteroids screen like it wasn’t there. He shook his head and said, “Atlas, hide yourself, please.” Atlas disappeared from the sensors. “Tgon-Gee, please call your ship to this location.” Tgon-Gee pushed his com and gave coordinates to his ship and waited twenty seconds until it appeared.
Tommy commed the Glod Megaship and said, “Captain Thid-Bea, please fire your weapons at the asteroid fort. I want you to do your best to penetrate the fort’s screen.”
Thid-bea asked, “You want me to use all the weapons in our inventory?”
Sprig broke in on the conversation and said, “If you don’t mind, use them one at a time and then all at once or in whatever combination you think might work.”
The Megaship fired its needles first using three stage and loaded needles. The screen showed no change. Next the ships primary beams struck the screen and the screen actually grew larger as it absorbed the energy. The short range high speed penetrator came next and the screen finally showed a bright flash as it hit. Finally the Megaship fired its focused primary beam and it made it forty feet into the screens depth. Thid-Bea announced that he was going to full weapons and that he would vary the mix of weapons based on what seemed to work.
The Megaship appeared to catch fire as it fired its weapons on the asteroid. The asteroid’s screen sparked and turned brilliant colors as the beams and missiles struck. The Megaship finally fired more than 600 of the high speed penetrators and continuous focused primaries and needles at one spot on the asteroids screen. Nothing got thru the screen. Finally the Megaship stopped firing and Thid-Bea commed, “It appears that we are unable to penetrate the screen. Is there anything else you want me to attempt?”
Tommy commed him back and said, “No, I appreciate your effort. You may return to your previous location.” The Megaship disappeared into its silver blue flash as it engaged its star drive. “Atlas, it appears we are substantially behind you in our weapon development. If you could penetrate that asteroid’s screen, you could kill any of our ships.”
“I could not hurt the Kosiev, Tommy. It was not affected by my beam. However, my weapons had absolutely no visible affect on the Captor ship that was pursuing me.”
“What about the Captor’s beam weapons; did they affect you?”
Atlas was quiet for a long time. “When the Captor ship began its pursuit, there were four of us together at one place. The Captor jumped in and we hit it with every weapon in our inventory. They had no effect on the Captor’s screen. Just as we started to jump away the Captor fired two beams at two of the ships there with us. It totally disintegrated them. We jumped away and the Captor came right behind us almost through the same jump point. We flew as fast as we could jumping every time the Captor came into normal space to avoid being hit by the captor’s beam. It didn’t matter how fast we jumped, the Captor stayed with us. We finally thought we lost him and we jumped into your system. My companion landed on a planet further out from the sun and I headed toward your planet. Before I arrived at your planet the Captor stopped at the planet my companion had landed on and hit the planet with a beam. The planet blew apart into small rubble. The Captor’s short stop to destroy the planet gave me the opportunity to cut a hole into a crater on your moon and turn off all my power. The asteroid strike happened just as the Captor arrived at your planet. I lived because of that delay.”