Cassandra thought, “Tommy, meet me in the library. Something is happening to the adolescents.”
Tommy jumped up from the control board he was learning and ran to the library. He entered the room and found Cassandra and Wes standing next to the Algeans that were standing in the middle of the room with their limbs intertwined. Cassandra said, “Wes missed seeing Sprig yesterday and when he didn’t see him today he came here looking for him.”
“They were both standing still like this. They are not attached to their readers so they can’t be learning.” Wes looked extremely concerned. Since the bad beginning, Wes and Sprig had become good friends.
Tommy looked into the minds of the Algeans and quickly withdrew. “They are doing what I suggested. They are absorbing each other.”
Cassandra said, “Didn’t they say that it was dangerous for them to do that?”
Tommy looked at Cassandra and Wes and said, “Yes they did. I just looked in their mind and the transfer rate and it is enormous. I had to get out.”
Wes looked at his friend and said, “What are you going to do?”
Tommy shook his head and said, “We must allow the process to complete. I feel that if we interrupt them then we will do them great harm. We have to wait.”
Cassandra walked up to the two Algeans and then she had a thought, “Tommy, do you remember that Sprig and Twig both said that while we were touching each other…”
“They found they could process their information much more effectively,” Tommy completed. “We cannot touch each other for long.” Cassandra walked up to Tommy and put her arms around his neck ignoring the shock and kissed him hard.”
Wes watched the Algean adolescents grow to their full height and start swaying gently back and forth. “Ok you two, back off.”
Tommy and Cassandra reluctantly stepped back and saw the adolescents swaying. Cassandra said, “This must be a good sign. Let’s wait for them to complete whatever it is they are doing.”
Wes said, “Permission to stay, Captain.”
Cassandra looked at her sensor officer and thought about how far Wes’ relationship with Sprig had come. Cassandra keyed her com and said, “Lt. Ortiz.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“I’m placing Lt. McAnn on a temporary assignment. Please assign a replacement until further notice.” Cassandra said to Wes, “Let me know if anything changes.”
Wes sat down on the floor in front of the two Algeans and said, “Yes Sir.”
Five days later, an exhausted Wes and Linda Kay were sitting in front of the Adolescents. Linda Kay had brought Wes a dinner because he refused to leave his friend. Linda Kay sat next to her husband and laid her head on his shoulder. Wes tilted his head against her and said, “Thank you for being patient with me; I love you.” Linda Kay closed her eyes and sighed feeling her happiness.
Then they heard behind them, “He should be thankful, you have to have a lot of patience to put up with him.”
Wes and Linda Kay jumped up and Sprig and Twig were leaning over looking at them. “Thank the creator you’re alright.”
Sprig said, “I’m not completely sure about that but we felt you here watching us. We thank you, Wes.”
Wes heard a lot that was not said in Sprigs thought. He said, “Me, too, Sprig.”
Tommy came running into the room with Cassandra not far behind. Tommy thought, “Hello you two. We’ve been worried about you coming out of your little project.”
Twig said, “It was close that we were going to lose ourselves but we received a strengthening of our psyche during the critical moment and it allowed us to keep our own identity.”
“What did you learn from the experience,” Wes asked?
The two Algeans were quiet and then Sprig said, “I think we have found a way to move Earths population quickly and safely.”
Tommy raised his eyebrows and said, “How are you going to do that?”
Twig said, “We need some time in Sten’s lab but we think we have found a way to teleport without using a screen.”
Tommy thought a moment and asked, “How will that help us?”
“Picture a doorway on the planet’s surface that when you step through a door you arrive on a planet on the other side of the galaxy. You could make the doorway wide enough that more than a thousand could walk through together.”
Cassandra said, “What you’re describing is that the population will not have to be transported in ships. They can drive their floater through the portal carrying all their belongings with them.”
Then Tommy saw it. “We can put a portal on a major highway and evacuate a major city through the portal.”
Sprig said, “I was thinking that every door on the planet could be set up for teleporting those that were in the room behind the door. Press a button and step through the door. You could evacuate the whole planet in less than an hour.”
“How would you convert a normal door to a teleporter?” Wes asked.
“If our ideas work, all you need do is place a mat on the door that is preset to a location on the target planet. Press a button and the mat activates. Then you step through. After five minutes the mat turns off and will not operate without someone on the other end turning it on. This would prevent the enemy following.
“Won’t they just read the coordinates of where they went?”
“There won’t be anything to read. They can’t be followed. Teleporting bypasses null space.”
Tommy asked, “Is it possible to teleport a moving ship?”
Sprig said, “That is what started us working on this. We believe we can project a field in front of the ship and teleport away. The field will disappear after the ship passes through.”
Twig added, “If we can go to the Kosiev and do some work of the front emitters, we might be able to trial it.”
“Then by all means go and work on it. The crew should be completing their training in four days and a shakedown cruise is needed to make sure everyone knows their assigned tasks,” Tommy said. “By the way, it’s good to have both of you back.”
“Thanks,” Sprig said as they rushed from the library to take a shuttle to the Kosiev.
“Atlas,” Tommy thought.
“Yes, Tommy.”
“Do you use teleportation is your drive systems?”
“No, I do not. I’m curious about what they’re talking about. All of my systems use travel through null space.”
Tommy looked at the door the Algeans had just left through and thought, “We’ll know shortly. I hope they came through the mental transfer ok and this is not a wasted effort.”
“There is a difference in them. They seem to know what the other is thinking before they say it. I don’t think this is going to be wasted effort.”
“We’ll see,” said Tommy.
The crew of the Kosiev was aboard ship preparing for their shakedown cruise. Cassandra was sitting in her command chair letting her mind roam the various systems of the ship feeling peace from the contact. The ship was feeling like a cat purring in her lap. The adolescents were in the nose of the giant ship connecting the device that they had built in Sten’s lab making sure all the connections were secure.
“Tommy!”
“What, Rose?”
“A giant red ship has just come out of star drive just outside the orbit of Jupiter. The ship is almost two thousand miles wide.”
“Rose, ground all ships and stop any in system traffic immediately. What is it doing?”
“It appears to be just firing a beam into Jupiter’s atmosphere.”
Tommy looked at Cassie and said, “We have no choice, I’m jumping into the Captor’s system immediately. If it causes a warning to all ships, perhaps that one will leave and go home to help defend the home world.”