An engineer took a vial of silver liquid and said, “Join hands and try to get a comfortable grip.” Tommy and Cassandra joined hands and Tommy nodded at the engineer. He poured the liquid over their hands and the gloves melted into each other. “Try to pull apart,” the engineer said. Tommy and Cassandra leaned back and pulled against each other.
Tommy shook his head and said, “Well Darling, looks like I’m stuck on you.”
Cassandra smiled said, “Let’s get this over with.”
Tommy and Cassandra stepped onto a lift and rose to the level of the chair that was suspended just below the ceiling. Tommy leaned backward and sat down in the chair and then an engineer reclined it and strapped him in. Cassandra followed him onto the chair on her knees and waited for the engineers to complete their task. The engineer nodded to Tommy and Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “Be home in time for supper.”
Cassandra smiled and then stood up and jumped into the ceiling and disappeared. Tommy leaned back on the chair with his arms extended up into the ceiling watching and waiting for Cassandra to come back.
Cassandra looked around and saw that everything was a uniform cream color. She immediately noticed that her sense of balance was off and she felt dizzy. She closed her eyes and focused on her closed eyelids. She noticed that she was not breathing and her heart felt like it was not beating; however she didn’t feel the need to breathe. She then turned her mind to the area around her and began letting her senses expand out ward. She then sent out a thought, “Admiral Kosiev, can you hear me?”
She waited for an answer and then it occurred to her that since time did not exist, it might take longer than she thought for her question to move through that vast space. After what seemed to her to be a long time she thought again, “Admiral Kosiev, can you hear me?” She kept her eyes closed and relaxed. She waited for a response and after a while she fell asleep.
She was jerked awake by a thought, “Who is calling me?”
“My name is Cassandra Gardner and I’m trying to find you.”
“Are you related to Thomas Gardner?”
“I’m married to his son.”
“I didn’t know he had a son. How long have I been in here?”
“Almost twenty seven years, Sir.”
There was a long pause and then Cassandra heard, “I just entered this space a few moments ago. Do you know what happened to my ship?”
“It was destroyed, Sir. However, I’m here to try and get you out of here and back into normal space. Did any of your crew make in here with you?”
“Yes, there are eight of us and we’ve managed to stay together.”
Cassandra could actually see the thoughts as Kosiev thought them. She focused on the direction and the cream colored space moved away from the path the thoughts were traveling. “Sir, can you see the break in the surrounding mist?”
There was a pause and she heard, “Yes, I can.”
“Sir, I need you to move through the break in the mist and bring your crew members with you.”
“We are moving now but it looks like the break in the mist extends a tremendous distance in front of us.”
“Just start moving; time doesn’t exist in here and distance is another thing that gets wacky.”
“We’re on our way.”
Cassandra continued to focus her thoughts toward Kosiev. She knew that if she stopped the mist would close in and she would lose him. She continued to focus and wondered how much time was passing back in normal space.
After what seemed like a month, Cassandra knew that her time was growing short. Kosiev was still too far away to be seen and she knew that she was going to grow too weary shortly to keep up the focus necessary to keep the mist parted. Then she had a thought, “I wonder if psychic skills still operate in here. She was able to move objects with her mind; could she do it here? She focused on Admiral Kosiev again and thought, “Move here now.” Suddenly, there he was along with the other seven crew members.
Kosiev smiled at her and said, “Whatever you did; you moved us here pretty quickly.”
“I wish I had done it sooner, Sir. I need each of you to come to me and grab my arms and push yourselves toward my hands.”
Kosiev looked at her arms that appeared to disappear into a solid cream colored wall. “Well, Ensign Orton, you go first.” A young sailor moved forward and started to move with his head toward the wall.
Cassandra said, “Go feet first. You’ll be coming out of the ceiling of a ship. There should be someone there to help you but I don’t want you to fall on your head.”
Cassandra had just entered the ceiling when a pair of feet emerged and a body began following the feet through the ceiling. The engineers moved the lift under the emerging body and helped the young sailor onto the lift’s floor. Immediately another set of feet emerged and everyone in the room felt tremendous excitement. Tag looked at the sailor that had just emerged and asked, “Who are you, son.”
“Ensign Orton, Sir, sensor officer SR Megaship Moscow.”
Everyone in the room felt a shiver as they looked at one of the Stars Realm’s historic heroes. Here was one of the sailors that had given their life to save the fleet at the Pydres planet. Six other sailors emerged from the ceiling and then the eighth came through and Tag saw his friend that he had mourned for years. Alexander Kosiev looked exactly as he did those twenty seven years ago when he attacked the frequency ships to save the trapped Stars Realm Fleet. Kosiev turned and saw Tag and reached forward and hugged him.
“I’ve missed you Alexander. I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”
Kosiev smiled and said, “We have a lot to talk about. You look older than I do.” He then turned to Danielle and said, “It’s good to see you Your Majesty. I trust you’ve taken care of the Realm.”
Danielle rushed forward and hugged Kosiev and said, “I haven’t been queen for more than twelve years. My daughter Rose is Queen now.”
Rose walked up and smiled and said, “I’ve learned so much about you from our history books. It is a real delight to meet you.”
Kosiev and the other Moscow crew members were stunned. Then Twig and Sprig entered the bridge and Tommy said as he helped Cassandra onto the lift, “Admiral, this is Sprig and Twig. They are two Algean adolescents that are responsible for us finding you.”
Kosiev looked at the two plants with wide eyes and then said to Tag, “They don’t look anything like the Algeans I remember.”
Tag smiled and said, “That war is over. The Algeans are our allies now.”
Kosiev looked back at the two plants and said, “Do tell.”
Tag pointed at Tommy and said, “Alex, this is my son Tommy and his wife whom you’ve already met. They are leading us in our current fight against the Captors.”
Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “We’re in another war?”
Tag smiled ruefully and said, “Yes, and some of the ships we’re fighting are more than three thousand miles in diameter.”
Kosiev sat down and looked around the room. Then he said, “Will you take me to the library so I can see what I’ve missed. It feels like I’ve only been gone a few moments but obviously a lot has taken place. I hope I have a place in this new world.”
Twig said, “If you don’t mind Admiral, I can transfer all the history files directly to your Mind and help you organize them. It should only take two days and you’ll be completely up to date.”
Kosiev looked at the young Algean and then said to Tag, “Can she do that?”
“Absolutely, Alex; I think you will be amazed at the things we can do now.”
Sprig said, “Wait until he finds out that this ship bears his name along with the Fleet Academy.”
Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “Say it isn’t so.”
Tag started laughing and said, “Someone fetch us a bag of popcorn. Now it feels like home to me.”
Cassandra and Tommy watched Tag and they could tell that a huge weight had been removed as soon as Admiral Kosiev emerged from the ceiling. They looked at each other and Cassandra thought to Tommy, “I like him.”