Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four)) (35 page)

Tag thought, “Are you in there Alex? Please be in there.”

The First Male was overseeing the reconstruction of the construct around the gas giant when he received a call from the Old Watcher. “Do you have a few moments?”

“I always have time for you. What do you want?”

“I have been keeping track of the nexus and it appears the temperature is coming down. If the trend continues, I should be able to use it again within a hesp.”

“That is good news. We should be able to go after the strangers and not wait on them to attack us.”

“I have thought about that and it occurs to me that there is a possibility that they can see the nexus and realize the same thing. It may be that they will attack before the time is up.”

The First Male thought about what the watcher said and replied, “I suspect you’re right. We will go on high readiness immediately and cease looking for the strangers. I’m certain we will need all our resources to defend our home.”

The Old Watcher paused then said, “I know that the strangers attempted to work out a means to stop this conflict. Is there no way to come to an agreement?”

The First Male thought and then said, “Can you allow another ship to enter our system without attacking?”

The Old Watcher paused and said, “No, you know my instincts would take over and drive me to attack. I think that even with our intelligence we are still basically mindless on issues like this. Could we possibly look at our construction and see if there is a way to modify our responses?”

The First Male did not respond. Here was a novel thought. “I don’t know. I’ll mention it to the First Mother and see what she thinks about the idea.”

“Thank you for your time,” and the Old Watcher went back to his task.

The First Male thought about what the old watcher had said and thought, “No, thank you.”

Twig stood in front of the main monitor in the control room of the Kosiev. All of the Gardners were gathered around the monitor watching as Twig rolled the recording of the construction of the Kosiev in high speed. “I have marked the section that McAllister brought back for Sten to work on. I have colored that section that was directly above the control room red so that no matter where it goes during the construction it will keep that color. Now I will run the construction at high speed and follow the section. I think it might surprise you where it ends up.”

The recording began and the red spot moved up and down the length of the Kosiev and then went under the bottom of the ship only to emerge again at the top of the ship next to the rear engine mounts at the conclusion of construction. Then everyone saw the section move slowly forward until it stopped directly above the bridge and there it remained.

Twig pointed to it and said, “Those particular Coronado Power Cells seemed to be able to move around the surface of this ship as if they had a mind of their own. It’s almost like they were looking for the place where they would be most comfortable.”

Sprig pointed straight overhead with one of his branches and said, “It is directly above us.”

Everyone looked at the ceiling and then at each other; finally Cassandra said, “Do you have a way to explain how this happened?”

Twig and Sprig turned toward each other and both said simultaneously, “No.”

Tommy looked at them and said, “Would you care to speculate how this happened?”

Sprig looked at Twig and both of them said simultaneously, “No.”

Rose said, “Why not?”

Twig looked at Sprig again and after a long pause said, “We know that inanimate objects do not have intelligence. This purposeful movement by those cells opens possibilities that are quite disturbing. If they did what we’ve observed, then it tips all the laws of the universe out of whack.”

Cassandra was silent while the group questioned the adolescents and after ten minutes she said, “Alexander Kosiev is in there.”

The Adolescents were in mid argument with Tag and Danielle when Cassandra made her announcement. Everyone stopped and stared at her. “Those cells were not most comfortable in that place, Kosiev was.”

Sprig and Twig stared at Cassandra and Twig said, “That would explain why they moved over the bridge; the bridge is where the Admiral was most at home.”

Tag stood and said, “I think you’re right, Cassandra. His consciousness was locked in that hull and I suspect he wandered around until he found a place that felt best to him.”

Cassandra said, “I have to tell you that I’ve thought this was all a wild escape into some kind of fantasy until I watched those power cells move through the other cells until they found the bridge. I agree that inanimate objects do not have intelligence; therefore, there had to be some kind of intelligence directing it.”

Tag looked around and said, “Ok, how do we do this?”

Cassandra looked at the bridge crew and said, “Everyone off the bridge. You are relieved of your duties until I issue other orders.”

The bridge crew stared at her and then she said, “Right now, unless you want to see what the inside of the brig looks like.”

The Crew rushed for the door and the three engineers standing by began removing the roof and insulation from the ceiling. Sprig said, “We should be ready to begin within the hour.”

Tag looked at Danielle and thought to her, “I love you. No matter what happens, I’ve loved you from the moment I took you hand and I’ll love you until my life is over; and if the creator has a place for us after death, I’ll love you there, too.”

Danielle said, “Shut up; you’re scaring me. You sound like this is the end; it’s not. I will not leave you in there. We will go together or not at all.” Tag embraced his wife and felt his love for her just as strong as it had always been.

Tommy and Cassandra watched Tag and Danielle and felt what they were feeling. Cassandra thought to Tommy, “That is us, Tommy. See what we have to look forward to as we grow older.”

“Tag, go slow when you go in; make sure you maintain contact with Danielle.”

“Hi, Atlas, have you been listening in on what we’re doing,” Tag asked?

“Yes, I have. I must say that I agreed with Cassandra about this until I saw those cells moving purposefully on the hull. Just be careful, old friend.”

“Thanks, Atlas; I will.”

Cassandra sat in the command chair and watched as the engineers removed the insulation from the ceiling. She could actually feel the materials as they were removed. “This ship is a part of me,” she thought. “And I am a part of this ship.” She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. Her mind could feel the space above the skin and she sensed how vast that space was. Then she knew what had to be done. She looked at the Gardners sitting and waiting for Tag to enter the skin and she said, “There is going to be a change in plans.”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and Tag said, “What do you mean?”

“You will not be going into the skin; I will.”

Tag, Tommy, Danielle, and Rose all began speaking at once objecting to her idea. She waited for them to run down and finally Danielle asked, “Why do you think you have to go?”

Cassandra looked up at the ceiling and said, “I know this ship like my own body. It is a part of me and I feel everything in this ship. I’ve just discovered that I can even feel things inside the skin. I can see where the negative matter is located and where the stars matter was stored when the ship absorbed it. I can feel all of the space inside the skin and it is vast beyond your wildest imagination. The section above us contains space larger than a galaxy and when someone enters that space it is probable that they could move a distance of more than a light year is less time than a micro second.” She then looked at Tag and said, “You have absolutely no chance of finding your way around in there.”

Tag looked at Cassandra and the silence was deafening. “And you think you can.”

“I am not going to look for him, Mr. Gardner. I am going to have him find me.”

“How are you going to do that, Cassie,” Tommy asked?

“By letting my thoughts find him and directing him to my location. That space has grown since you and Danielle entered the skin at the end of the Algean conflict. It is nothing like what you experienced and I’m certain that the gloves will not have the range to keep track of you.”

Rose thought about what Cassandra was saying and said, “Then how are we going to keep track of you if you go in?”

“Tommy will hold my hands with a set of gloves as I enter and will not let go of me while I’m in there. If he gets tired he will pull me out and rest until he can continue. I suspect that if this works, then it will happen immediately. Time doesn’t exist inside that skin and what may seem like weeks to me in there will be less than a second here in the control room. If I need to come out, I will pull myself out.” She looked at Tommy and saw his concern. “I want you anchored on this side of the wall so I don’t pull you in.”

Tag interjected, “Cassandra, we can’t risk you; you’re too important to our fight against the Captors.”

Cassandra smiled and said, “Then tell me how your plan is safer than mine and I’ll back off.”

Tag struggled with what she was saying but after a minute said, “I guess I’m not the only one to ask difficult questions.”

Cassandra looked at the engineers and said, “I want a chair elevated next to the ceiling and anchored to the floor. Tommy, I want you belted into the chair and I want our gloves locked together.”

The engineers continued working on the ceiling while two of them left and returned with a high strength alloy pole and welded it to a chair and then to the floor. After forty five more minutes Rose handed Cassandra a pair of electronic gloves and a matching pair for Tommy. They looked at each other and Tommy embraced Cassandra and said, “You know I will never let go.”

“I know, my love.” Cassandra put on her gloves and Tommy put his on with a small struggle with the left hand.

Rose said, “Those are the same gloves that Mom and Dad wore. Maybe they will bring us good luck.”

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.”