

# PARALLEL

# CONNECTION

A Science Fiction / Fantasy Novel

by John Jonas

### ***~~~***

### Parallel Connection

### Published by John Jonas at Smashwords

### Copyright John Jonas 2014

### ***~~~***

CHAPTER 1

James H. Wilkins always loved to go fishing with his dad at the lake. They didn't always catch anything worth grilling with a little lemon juice but it was the experience that the 12 year old cherished most. Dad in his folding chair and little Jimmy sitting on the ice chest, both holding their fishing poles at the end of the dock. The battery powered radio's volume was set on low, tuned to the Aggie-Longhorn football game and Dad's Fightin' Aggies were down a field goal. Jim was staring at his bobber, WILLING it to jerk down into the water when the loud beeping startled him out of his sleep.

Shutting off the alarm clock with memories of his father and Lake Buchanan fading away, Jim Wilkins kissed his still sleeping wife, forced his 6'4" frame out of bed and prepared to start another day. He would much rather be back in Burnet, Texas with his mom and dad but life and adulthood brought him to Phoenix. That, and the Department of Energy.

After earning his Masters in physics at Texas A&M, Jim got a job with the Dept. of Energy in July of 2049 at the Nuclear Materials Storage Facility here in Arizona. At the age of 26 and fresh out of college, he was one member of the ten engineer team chosen to design and build the new storage facility for enriched uranium. This turn of events worked out perfectly because his wife, whom he met in College Station, had family here in Mesa. Sylvia had been recruited to Texas A&M to play women's basketball but after a knee injury she focused on earning her degree in teaching. Being 6'2", she was an intimidating presence to her third graders but they all respected and liked her. Even though Jim was tall and had an athletic build, he never liked to play sports. He was more interested in his academic studies and when he strolled into the library on campus she immediately noticed him, especially his strikingly white hair. She thought it was premature gray but it had a blond tint to it under the fluorescent lights. He walked in with 3 or 4 books in his arms and sat down at a table with six chairs by himself. Sylvia waited a few minutes and wandered over, sat down at the opposite end and opened a book as if preparing to study. Over the next thirty minutes she had glanced at him and kept trying to think of an excuse to start a conversation when Jim asked her if she had a handheld computer he could borrow. When she looked at him, everything else and everyone else in the library disappeared because those mesmerizing green eyes. His white hair, green eyes and square jaw were irresistible and a year later they were married and living in Phoenix.

The uranium storage center, located outside the small town of Florence, southeast of Phoenix, was completed 10 years ago. It was built in response to numerous security breaches at the old Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee. Even though there has been a flawless safety record of using uranium in automobile power plants, hundreds of environmental protestors showed up at Oak Ridge every year causing trouble. When a group of them were found trespassing and trying to break into one of the buildings, the higher-ups in the D of E decided to move it to a more secure location. The new facility is located in the center of 500 acres of desert 300 feet underground. Any unauthorized trespassers have to cross a half mile of unobstructed view desert where they will stand out and be noticed by one of 30 cameras. Entry into the compound is only accomplished by multifactor authentication, which consists of having an RFID card and a retina scan. Parking is outside the main perimeter and the employee must enter through a security building where the RFID's are read and the retina scans are performed. They are then transported to the facility by a once every half hour shuttle. The facility only has about 50 employees so everyone knows each other and their families. The only automobiles allowed on the grounds are the trucks that carry the containers in and out, along with the armed guards. Strict security procedures and meticulously kept logs are kept to account for every gram of uranium that is processed here. Enriched uranium used to be used in nuclear weapons but is not needed any longer thanks to the new space-based lasers that are more powerful than any bomb created.

Uranium is now used to power cars. The enriched stuff is processed to a more depleted level but still volatile enough to generate enough energy to power an automobile engine. A tiny reactor is used to break down water into its two elements, hydrogen and oxygen. These gases are then pumped into the engine where it is combined (burned), which then pushes the pistons down and produces enough horsepower to move the car. All the driver has to do is fill the tank with water and the only by-product is either steam or small water droplets coming out the exhaust pipe, depending on the temperature and humidity of the air. The automobile grade uranium can't be used to make bombs but the enriched uranium, stored at this facility, is.

As Jim was stepping out of the shower he heard his phone ring. The wristphone was sitting on his dresser so he let it go to voicemail so he could dry off. After slipping into his jeans he put on his wristphone and grabbed the rest of his clothes and went into the kitchen so he could finish getting dressed without waking that beautiful brunette in the bedroom. He put a couple of slices of bread in the toaster, put some bacon in the microwave, grabbed a cup of coffee and finished getting dressed while his breakfast prepared itself. Sitting down at the kitchen table with his bacon on toast Jim said "call voicemail" and listened to his secretary asking him to call the office in what sounded like an urgent tone.

He said "call office" and in 2 seconds he could hear his secretary's voice coming out of his wrist, "Engineering and Logistics, Jim Wilkins' office. May I help you?"

"Linda, this is Jim. What's up?"

"Oh, good morning Mr. Wilkins. I'm sorry to bother you but Mr. Sorenson from security wanted me to get hold of you and ask that you get here as soon as possible. He's really upset and you know how he gets when he's excited, he starts repeating himself and running around and... "

Jim interrupted "I know how he hyperventilates Linda. Any idea why this time?"

"He is saying something about a cylinder missing." Linda said.

All Jim could say was "Impossible!" but he was already scrambling for his keys and yelling that he was on his way. After jumping into his old Ford pickup and almost forgetting to open the garage door, Jim had the car speeding down highway 60 toward Florence Junction with nothing but questions running through his mind. How? How is a cylinder missing from one of the most secure places on Earth? Is this just an accounting error? Jeez I hope it's that, somebody miscounted or maybe a computer glitch. If there really is a cylinder missing, the Department is going to come down HARD on the whole group and EVERYBODY is going to get an anal exam. Just as he thought about this, he reached the gate where the guard read his parking sticker with the RFID scanner and he was able to pull his old beat up Ford into his assigned slot. As he got out of the truck he could see that the Security building, where everyone entering must pass, was not normal. Body armored security guards were stationed on either side of the main doors and approximately every 100 feet along the fence facing the road. He could see the cameras, usually stationary, rotating ever so often and Jim could almost feel them staring at him as he walked towards the door.

As he entered the building he saw some new people manning the checkpoint that he did not recognize. The guard holding his RFID badge, making sure it was unaltered, was a big and well built mountain of a man only a few inches shorter than him. The usual procedure of just holding your badge under the RFID reader and then placing your face in the retina scanner was not being done today. The guard removed his badge, examined it, compared the picture to his face then let him pass to the scanner. After checking his eyeballs, the second guard pressed a button and Jim walked through to the platform to wait for the shuttle. Only this time there was no shuttle but there was a van with an armed guard holding the door for him, so Jim took a seat and accepted the ride to the main building. It was just him and the driver and as the van made its way down the two lane road, Jim stared out the window at the featureless desert landscape and tried to visualize what happened.

The cylinders that the uranium is stored in are eighteen inches long and six inches in diameter. Each cylinder holds about three pounds of uranium and are lead lined, which explains why each one weighs about 25 pounds. They are stored in an automated vault that is 300 feet underground and has a biometrically controlled access system. A biometric identity authentication system is based on the characteristics of a person, such as face, voice, fingerprint, retina pattern, hand geometry or signature. The retina scan station in the security building uses biometrics but the main vault has a voice recognition system that controls access to it, and in this case access is restricted to just three people. Only the Security Chief Rick Sorenson, the Facility Administrator Melinda Powell and Chief Engineer Jim Wilkins are allowed in the vault. The cylinders are transferred by automated robotic arms and are moved through tubes that extend up through the ceiling. Each cylinder has an eight digit serial number and an attached RFID tag, which allows the computers to know its exact location at all times. There is also an embedded GPS locator in all of them but this device only gets activated when it travels past the perimeter of the main building. Anytime a cylinder is moved in or out of the vault, there is a computerized record of the serial number with a timestamp.

After going through the second security checkpoint, Jim was met at the elevator by Rick Sorenson.

"Good morning, Rick. What the heck happened?"

The Security Chief, with his ever present coffee cup in his hand said "I'm not sure Jim, all we know is last night the logs showed we had 75 cylinders in the vault and this morning about 6 A.M., one of my assistants reported that there were 72. There is no record of any transfer and the computer doesn't show anything but 3 cylinders vanishing into thin air. What time that was is anybody's guess because last night's log was time stamped at 11:30 P.M. and there is no record of any activity until the log check this morning. The only reason it was noticed is because the same man checked the logs last night and remembered the number."

"What about the cameras? Anything on video?"

The elevator came to a stop and they both stepped out as Rick said "I was just about to go to the surveillance room, care to join me?"

"Absolutely, got any coffee in there?"

"Of course. Help yourself."

Jim and Rick walked into a room that had subdued lighting to allow for the operators to easily watch the 3 large monitors mounted on the wall. These were directly in front of a massive console where there were three uniformed security guards seated. Each guard had what looked like an airplane cockpit console in front of him with more buttons and switches than Jim could count. As he was pouring his coffee he could hear the Security Chief tell one of his guys "Let's take a look at the last 12 hours of the topside feed". The three monitors on the wall switched to a view of the deserted landscape that surrounded the main building. He could see the perimeter fence in the distance. The guard touched a button and the video feed seemed to flicker a little as if it had changed speed. He saw the clock display on the lower right go from 6:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. and it continued to count up the hours as the light went from daylight to dusk to dark. When the counter reached 6 A.M. and the light had returned, nothing had happened on the video out of the ordinary.

"Well, it looks like nobody came in through the fence and I've got a team going through the personnel entry logs with a fine toothed comb. Switch to the vault feed and let's see what we get."

The video feed for the vault came up and Jim could see that the quality of the video was not as good as the rest of the camera feeds, it seemed a little grainy. He remembered that inside the vault, even though the uranium is sealed in lead lined cylinders, a small amount of radiation leaks out. This presents a problem for the internal CCD's in the cameras. The result is a grainy video that is not as high a quality as the rest of them. What was on the screen now was a view of inside the vault with the usual time indication in the lower right corner. Jim could see the rack that he designed to hold the cylinders and still allow the robotic arms to grasp them. These racks were mounted on the far wall, which was about 30 feet across and 6 feet high. In the center of the room was the computer that controlled the arms and on the floor in front of the racks was a small set of what looked like railroad tracks that the robot traversed on. It moved left and right as needed and at the moment was in its storage position, which was far to the left side of the room.

Rick said "Speed it up" and the guard touched a button and the time at the lower right started counting up. Nothing unusual happened at first but at about the 1:00 A.M. mark, something appeared in front of the racks for just a flash and disappeared.

"Slow it down and replay at half second intervals starting at the 1:00 A.M. mark!" yelled Rick.

The screen in the center showed the vault and the clock on the right now included seconds in the display with decimal points. The guard advanced the feed by half second intervals and at first, nothing but vault showed. Then at the 1:14:35.2 mark, Jim could see on the screen what appeared to be a tall figure in front of the racks that only stayed there for a blink of an eye.

"Back it up and replay!" yelled Rick.

After using the controls to rewind and replay the video 3 or 4 times, it looked like a tall man had suddenly appeared in the vault in front of the racks at the 1:14:35.2 mark and then vanished when the clock reached 1:14:38.0. The intruder was wearing a dark jumpsuit of some sort with a wide metallic belt around his waist. He also had to stoop down a little which would indicate he was taller than 6 feet. Just before he vanished, he touched a spot on his belt and then disappeared, along with three cylinders, after being visible for only 2.8 seconds.

CHAPTER 2

as•ter•oid

noun: asteroid; plural noun: asteroids

A small rocky body orbiting the sun. Large numbers of these, ranging in size from nearly 600 miles across to dust particles, are found (as the asteroid belt ) esp. between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, though some have more eccentric orbits, and a few pass close to the Earth or enter the atmosphere as meteors.

As space rocks go, this particular one is much larger than the ones that usually hit the Earth's atmosphere and turn into shooting stars, or meteors. The ones that survive the fiery plunge through the planet's air supply, depending on its size, can either put on an impressive light show but cause little damage or create havoc on its way down with shock waves and sonic booms culminating in an impact crater that changes the landscape for centuries.

On 15 February 2013, an asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia with an estimated speed of over 41,000 mph, almost 60 times the speed of sound at that altitude. The dazzling light of the meteor was brighter than the sun, and bright enough to cast moving shadows during the morning in Chelyabinsk. It was observed over a wide area of the region and in neighboring republics. Eyewitnesses also felt intense heat from the fireball. Due to its enormous velocity and shallow atmospheric entry angle, the object exploded in an air burst over Chelyabinsk at a height of about 76,000 feet. The explosion generated a bright flash, producing many small fragmentary meteorites and a powerful shock wave. The atmosphere absorbed most of the object's energy in an explosion equivalent to approximately 440 kilotons of TNT, 20–30 times more energy than was released from the atomic bomb detonated at Hiroshima.

The object was undetected before its atmospheric entry and its explosion created considerable confusion among local residents. About 1,500 people were injured seriously enough to seek medical treatment. All of the injuries were due to indirect effects rather than the meteor itself, mainly from broken glass from windows that were blown in when the shock wave arrived, minutes after the flash. More than 7,000 buildings in six cities across the region were damaged by the explosion's shock wave. With an estimated initial mass of about 11,000 tons and measuring between 55 and 65 feet in diameter, it shattered into many small pieces and did not cause any damage due to impact.

Eighteen years later, another undetected asteroid about twice the size of the Chelyabinsk one entered the atmosphere over Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Located on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake and about 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Yellowknife had a population of approximately 20,000 before the disaster. The November, 2031 meteor didn't shatter into thousands of pieces, instead impacting south of the city near the shore of Great Slave Lake and killed almost 4,000 of its residents. The U.S. Geological survey measured the energy at a 9.2 on the Richter scale and the crater it created can be seen from any of the orbiting space stations above North America. It created a dust cloud in the atmosphere that lasted for 2 years. The shock wave destroyed the city and the Canadian government decided to move the survivors to other cities and not rebuild.

The disaster prompted NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to reactivate an experimental program to detect incoming asteroids that was shut down in 2010. The NEOWISE program, Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, is still plagued with problems due to its advanced age and the need for cryogens to cool the telescope.

This unnamed rock, roughly round in shape and 55 miles in diameter, is a C-type asteroid and is traveling at about 200,000 miles per hour toward the Earth's sun. C-type asteroids are carbonaceous asteroids. They are the most common variety, forming around 75% of known asteroids, but this one has a moderately strong ultraviolet absorption rate due to its composition, which makes it harder to detect from great distances.

Created by an interplanetary collision many thousands of years ago, it is presently hurtling through space 2 billion miles from the sun, having recently passed the orbit of Neptune. The distance between Neptune and Earth varies but averages out to be about 3,500 million miles, and at 200,000 miles per hour, the asteroid should be in Earth's "vicinity" in less than 2 years. There is one tiny problem with that itinerary: Jupiter is in the way.

With the sun being at the center of the solar system it consists of 8 planets and their natural satellites, 5 dwarf planets, the asteroid belt, comets and other stellar objects (including those in the trans-Neptunian belt). With the exception of Pluto, all 8 planets (and most dwarf planets) are known to revolve around the sun in a semi-circular orbit and in a near flat trajectory along the elliptical plane. Although all of them are rotating around the same sun, they are not all lined up in a row like people waiting their turn for a carnival ride. In order to calculate where a planet will be at any given time, scientists use things like celestial mechanics and Kepler's equation to estimate where it will be in relation to Earth. When this asteroid reaches Jupiter's orbital path, the gas giant will be in its path and should collide with the 5th planet in the solar system. With Jupiter being the largest planet in Earth's solar system, two and a half times more massive than all the others combined, and having a diameter that is 11.2 times that of Earth, it's not a hard target to hit. Having a mass that is 317.8 times that of Earth and big enough to hold roughly 1,300 Earths, its gravitational pull is felt across the 8 planets and even the sun.

At its current speed, the asteroid should crash into it in approximately 14 months. If it is discovered by anyone on Earth before that, it will mostly be ignored because it will be approaching Jupiter on the back side and astronomers and space watchers are more interested in observing the spectacular impacts when they occur on the Earth side of it. At the moment, though, no one is aware of this massive 55 mile wide boulder speeding through space; it has gone undetected so far.

Undetected by no one on Earth, that is.

CHAPTER 3

Jim and Rick stood there looking at the screen, stunned. No one spoke for a full minute until Rick asked "What just happened?"

"I'm not sure but I think we just got robbed" said Jim.

Rick started shaking his head "No. Impossible. I did not just see a guy magically materialize in my vault, grab three cylinders and vanish. No way."

"We played the video 5 times Rick, it happened. We just have to figure out what we are going to do about it."

Rick yelled "Do about it?!? What can we do about it? Those cylinders are gone and so is the magician who took them."

"Why don't I put a suit on and go into the vault to make sure our eyes aren't playing tricks on us. Physically verify they are missing. Maybe look for evidence."

Rick said "Good idea, and while we're at it, we need to make a copy of this video and lock it up." He then instructed one of the guards to put the video onto a security chip and put in his office safe. He then told the guards "You three gentleman are to speak not one word of this to anybody and you will forget what you saw. I will throw your butts in jail if I even suspect one of you leaked this out. Understood?" All three nodded in unison to the affirmative.

"Okay then. Go back to the usual watch rotation, no need for all three of you here anymore." At that, two of the guards stood up and left, leaving one on duty. Rick and Jim left the darkened room for Jim's office. As they were walking they were both trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for what they just saw. Jim spoke up first.

"Do you think that was some sort of alien? We don't have anything like that, something that beams people around. Do we?"

"Not that I know of, Jim."

"Well, Melinda is going to want to know what happened. What are we going to say?" Jim was thinking about the reaction of the Department of Energy, and heck, the entire U.S. Government, the media, and the general population to the fact that some kind of alien being popped into a highly secure facility and ripped off six pounds of enriched uranium then disappeared into thin air. How will they feel knowing that some "thing" or some "being" can suddenly appear wherever "it" wants to and do whatever "it" feels like? Is this an invasion? A hundred more questions were running around in his mind when Rick said "Ms. Powell is still on her flight back from D.C. Why don't you put a suit on and go inspect the vault? I'm going to go back through the inventory logs and double check everything."

Jim said "Okay, but I'm going to grab some lunch first. I'll look you up when I'm done in the vault." Jim peeled off toward his office to check in with his secretary, Linda.

"Good afternoon Mr. Wilkins." His secretary was sitting at her desk and probably typing up a report from yesterday. She started working for Jim six months ago and still refused to call him by his first name. A pleasant looking 28 year old, brown haired southerner from Georgia, she used to work in a different section of the Dept. of Energy up in Minnesota. After working in the harsh winters near St. Paul, she had requested and received a transfer to the warmer climate of Arizona. "Did ya'll find out what Mr. Sorenson was so upset about?"

Jim said "Linda, this is a huge mess that's going to get worse. If anybody calls looking for me, take a message and I'll get back to them later. Right now I need to go up to Level 3 and grab lunch in the cafeteria." Jim elected to not go into what happened with her and besides, the storm is really going to get bad when Melinda gets back to her office tomorrow morning.

Jim walked out of his office and jumped into the elevator just as it was about to close. He pushed "3", closed his eyes and leaned against the wall of the elevator as it went up two floors. He briefly remembered his dream about fishing with his dad before the doors opened, and he walked out and to the left where the cafeteria door was. He could already smell the mingled food odors as he opened the door and saw that it was mostly empty. Today's entrée was meatloaf so he ordered a small portion of that and two slices of bread and made a meatloaf sandwich. As he ate he was thinking about the meeting that was going to take place tomorrow morning and how the heck are they going to explain the theft. He also was wondering what to tell his wife, Sylvia, and IF he could tell her. Jim was thinking that Security is going to censor what is released to the public and Jim had no special privileges in that department. He doesn't tell her everything about this place and she doesn't ask a lot of questions about it.

After he finished eating, he got back onto the elevator and went down two levels below his office where the vault is. The elevator opened into a small lobby where a security guard sat behind a bullet-proof window with speaker built into it. Next to the window was a thick steel door with no knob. The guard looked at his computer monitor and saw that his RFID badge had been read and said "Mr. Wilkins, the security chief told me to expect you" and he heard a buzzing sound as the door next to the window opened into the lobby. Jim walked through it and the guard handed him a microphone and said "State your name and badge number, please."

Jim did so and the guard watched as another door opened on the opposite side of the room. "Go ahead." The guard said as he pointed at the open door. Jim walked into the other room where there were radiation suits hanging in open lockers on one side of the wall. The door closed behind him as he was reaching for a one. After putting on the suit he found a helmet sitting on a shelf and placed it on his head and secured the seal around the neck.

Looking up at the camera in the upper corner of the room, he flashed a thumbs-up and a light on the big vault door turned green. The huge door swung open so he walked in and moved over to the wall where the racks are and started counting cylinders as the door closed behind him. After only reaching 72, he started looking for anything out of the ordinary or out of place. The robotic arms were in the storage location in the corner, the controlling computer looked normal, nothing looked wrong except the three spots where the cylinders were. As he was walking past the rack where the three cylinders were taken, he saw a small object on the floor next to the base. He picked it up and held it in his hand. It was a small, half-inch long triangular shaped piece of metal. It was gold colored with a small dot in the middle. He put it in his pocket and waved at the camera and the big vault door opened, Jim walked out and removed his suit.

Jim found Rick Sorenson sitting at his desk and it was almost 4:30 in the afternoon. Jim had returned to his office and held a short meeting with the engineering team and let them go home for the day. Rick was closing some folders on his desk and had a cup of coffee in the other hand. "Did you find anything, Jim?"

"Just three empty spots, and this." He dropped the metal piece on Rick's desk as he sat down in the chair in front of it. Rick picked it up and examined it and said "This looks like a piece of the robotic arm; I'll hang onto this and have the lab check it out tomorrow. I've written up a report for Ms. Powell and I'm going to leave it on her desk so she can read it first thing when she gets in tomorrow morning. Why don't you go home to your lovely wife and we'll deal with this tomorrow." Jim agreed and left.

Jim walked into the front door of their 3 bedroom home that was a couple of blocks from the 101. Jim and Sylvia had chosen to buy a house in Phoenix because her Mom and Dad lived nearby and the school she taught at was close too. As soon as he walked in he could smell her homemade lasagna and that put a big smile on his face where a frown of concern had been all day. He found her bent over with her head in the refrigerator so he snuck up behind her and patted her behind. She straightened up and turned around and put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Hi honey, how was work?"

Jim hugged her and said "I'll tell you later, right now I need a drink and your lasagna smells great. You want some wine?" Jim reached into the fridge and took out a bottle.

Sylvia said "Pour me half a glass and I'll set the table."

As they ate Jim told her about the intruder and how he and Rick watched on camera the thief appearing and vanishing along with the uranium cylinders. Sylvia was skeptical at first but after they ate she seemed to appear shaken.

"I've never believed in alien life but this is scary." She said. Jim assured her that they would get to the bottom of this and nobody's going to blast the White House into a zillion pieces and Jim isn't going to have to fly a jet fighter into a big levitating saucer. Jim went to change clothes as Sylvia put the dishes away and cleaned the kitchen. They then sat down for a quiet evening in front of the TV wall but Jim's mind kept wandering away back to the bizarre events of the day.

Melinda Powell had gotten her Bachelor's Degree at Arizona State but soon became a stay-at-home Mom when she married her husband Stan and had two children. She loved her two girls, Hailey, 8, and Mary, 10, and Stan could not have been a better father. Stan was a Colonel in the Army and they had a good life in New Mexico while he was stationed at the White Sands Missile Range.

When Stan was killed in a tragic accident involving a missile that was supposed to have a dummy warhead, she was forced to become a working mom. Her father was a Congressman in Arizona's 4th Congressional District, so with his influence, Melinda was hired for the Admin job at the nuclear facility. Not having the qualifications for the job, she became proficient at fooling her coworkers into thinking she was. The job mostly called for political maneuvers and BS'ing anyway, and she was quite good at that. So when she got to her office the next day and heard about the missing cylinders, Melinda realized that she might have to do some administrating, so she got a fresh cup of coffee and sat down and read Rick Sorenson's report. When she got to the part about the tall figure appearing and vanishing on the video, she couldn't believe what she was reading, although Rick's reports have always been one hundred percent accurate. Her first thoughts on this were not HOW to explain this to Washington but IF she should report it at all. She has been fearful of her job security lately and her first reaction to any crisis is to limit the damage to her reputation. As she was contemplating the report, Jim and Rick walked into her office.

Jim said "Good Morning, boss. How was Washington?"

"Cold and miserable. Tell me this is a joke." She said while holding up the report.

Rick said "We wish it was a joke. What are we going to tell the Department?"

Melinda was still trying to decide that very question so she said "Let's go over every detail on what happened yesterday. I want to know everything." Rick began to describe the discovery of the missing cylinders and continued while she was listening and comparing the report in front of her. Jim also filled in a few details that he recalled, and when he described the small, triangular metal piece he found, Rick pulled out the envelope he kept it in and put it on her desk. Rick said "I thought at first this was a piece that fell off the robotic arm but it isn't. The robot checks out okay and the lab says this isn't made out of any element they know of. It looks like gold but seems to be harder than that. We don't know what it is."

Jim said "Our intruder must have dropped it. Let me have a crack at identifying it. I've got a new analyzer in my lab I want to try out."

Rick handed the envelope to Jim who put it in his briefcase.

Melinda said "Okay, here's what we are going to do. I'm going to forward Rick's report to D.C. via email. We'll let them deal with this on their end and they will give us our marching orders. Rick, tell all your men that they are not to discuss any of this with anyone, not even their families. We have to keep this out of the media or there will be widespread panic. Other than that it's business as usual, okay?"

Both men agreed and the three of them discussed the rest of the day's schedule, but Jim's mind kept wandering, he was worried about the metal piece he found in the vault and was eager to get it to his lab. When they were finished and the meeting was over, he took the elevator down one level and entered the code by the door to his lab and walked in. The new analyzer was still boxed up, so he unpacked it and began to set it up, which took the rest of the morning and little past lunch time.

At about 3:30 in the afternoon the security alarms started going off throughout the complex. Jim had almost finished getting the analyzer hooked up to the computers so he had not had the chance to check out the gold triangle. Irritated, he walked out of the lab door and locked it. Whenever there is a security alarm, the department heads are required to meet on the ground level with the Security Chief. When Jim got to the Security Center, Rick was watching the screen on the wall which showed the featureless desert inside the perimeter fence. Jim could see that a security vehicle was in the center of the screen and two guards standing next to it. There was also someone in handcuffs being searched and he watched as the intruder was placed into the back seat and the two men get into their seats and drove through the sand toward the main road.

Jim asked "Where did he come from?"

Rick replied "We think SHE climbed over the fence. About an hour ago the front gate reported that a disturbed woman showed up and insisted on speaking to someone in charge and yelling that we were all in grave danger. It's probably another nutcase protestor or some environmental wackjob, we're going to file a complaint with the Sheriff and let them deal with her. She'll be tied up in the legal system for a while, probably charged with trespassing on federal property."

Jim spent the rest of the afternoon in his lab setting up and calibrating the analyzer. He decided that the triangle could wait until morning when he had a clear head. He locked the envelope containing the triangle in his small safe and left. As he exited the building and walked to his car he could tell that security was being extra cautious and scrutinizing all movement inside the compound. After starting his car he left the parking lot, turned right onto the highway and turned on his wristphone. "Call home." Sylvia's cheerful voice said "Hi, Honey"

Jim said "Why don't I pick something up for dinner tonight? How does Chinese sound to you?"

She said "That sounds great, don't forget the soy sauce."

"See you in a half hour." He always smiled when he heard her voice and couldn't wait to spend a little quiet time with the love of his life.

Twenty five minutes later, he pulled into the driveway, grabbed the big bag off the front seat and walked into the front door. Sylvia had the news on the TV and the plates were already on the table. As he was unpacking the broccoli-beef and the Kung Pao chicken, he heard the news announcer say something about the Nuclear Materials Storage Facility. Sylvia was next to the TV so he said "Turn that up, please." She hit a button on the remote and they could hear the pretty blonde news anchor report that a theft had occurred at the facility under unusual circumstances. Jim sat down in shock and immediately began wondering how the news station found out about it.

CHAPTER 4

As he was driving to work the next morning, Jim was thinking that one of the employees, maybe a security guard, might have said something to a loved one and that's how the leak occurred. Sylvia wouldn't have said anything. Another possibility is someone in D.C. may have slipped up after receiving Melinda's emailed report.

When he arrived at the Facility, there were news vans and reporters set up near the gate to the parking lot and Jim had to drive through the throng of people and cameras to get into the parking lot. He ignored the volley of questions being shouted at him as he walked to the parking lot toward the security building. When he reached his office, Linda told him that Ms. Powell wanted him to go to her office as soon as he arrived. Jim poured a cup of coffee and walked down the hall to Melinda's office. Rick Sorenson was seated in one of two chairs across from Melinda's desk and they were talking about the news media at the front gate.

Rick said "I've told the guys at the gate to keep those vultures a hundred feet away from the entrance and keep a sharp eye out and not to answer any questions. We are going to have to issue a statement to the press eventually."

Jim took a seat in the other chair and asked "Have you heard from D.C. yet?"

Melinda said "Yes, I have. I was told to keep a lid on this thing and that The Department of Energy will make a statement late this afternoon to the Washington media outlets. Also, they want to find out how this got out to the press. Rick, have you talked to your men? Did any of them say anything to anybody outside this compound?"

"I asked the three guards that were in the command center when we looked at the video and they swear they kept quiet. I'm going to polygraph them later but I doubt it will show anything. I just don't think they are the source of the leak."

Melinda looked concerned and said "I have a friend that works as an assistant to that blonde news anchor on channel 5, I'm going to give her a call and see if I can get her to talk to me. Maybe we can find out how they got the story. In the meantime gentlemen, business as usual and let's meet for lunch in the conference room, I need to go over some figures with all the Department heads."

Jim spent the rest of the morning in his lab with his new analyzer and the mysterious triangle from the vault getting nowhere. The readout he was getting was gibberish and he was getting frustrated, thinking that he had not calibrated it right. When the clock on the wall reached noon, he left and took the elevator to the cafeteria level. Today's entrée was fried fish with vegetables on the side, and Jim asked for a to-go container and picked up a bottle of water on the way out the door. Two other people were already on the elevator when he got on for the ride back down. They were talking about the news reporters by the front gate. One of them said "That guy from channel 15 asked me how much uranium we kept here."

Jim said "I hope you didn't tell him."

She replied "I know we aren't supposed to say anything Mr. Wilkins so I just said 'no comment' and kept walking."

Jim reminded them that D.C. will do the talking for them as he exited the elevator and turned left for the conference room. There were six people seated at the conference table when he walked in and all of them were talking and eating while the projector was being set up. There was an empty seat next to Rick so Jim sat down and greeted Melinda, who was across from them. Some people had brought their lunch and the rest picked something up from the cafeteria. When everyone was finished and the projector was ready, the meeting convened with a slide presentation of various financial figures. When Melinda was finished, everyone was excused except Jim and Rick. After the last person had left and the door closed, Melinda said "I heard back from my friend at channel 5. You're not going to believe what she said."

Rick said "Did she tell you who told her about the theft?"

She said "Yes, she did. Do you remember that woman that we caught inside the perimeter yesterday?"

Jim said" Yes, she's locked up in the Maricopa County Jail, isn't she?"

"Yes she is, and my friend told me that she caused so much trouble there that it made the police scanners. A reporter heard it and went over to the jail to try and get a story out of it.

Turns out that this woman told him, the reporter, all about the theft."

"What I want to know is how she found out."

Rick said "I used to work for the Sheriff and I still have a few connections there. Maybe I can get us a visitation with her."

"When can you arrange that?" Melinda asked.

"I can set it up but I can't be the one to visit her, it will have to be one of you. I'm too well known over there."

Jim said "I'll go, and tell your connection that I'll have a voice recorder with me."

Two days came and went before Rick could arrange for the visit with the woman. Jim arrived at the County Jail at 9:30 A.M. inmate visits were allowed between 10:00 A.M. and 3 P.M.

Rick told him to arrive a little early and ask for a deputy Sanchez. He walked into the front door and the first thing he saw was a visitor screening station. Two guards were there, one was at a table with a computer where Jim had to give his name and present an ID, then had to empty his pockets into a plastic tray. The other one motioned for him to walk through the magnetometer to scan for weapons. After going through the metal detector, Jim retrieved his valuables and asked where the visitor center was. The guard closest to him pointed and said "Just follow the signs." He walked down a hall which turned three corners before he came to a set of double doors with a sign above it that said "ALL VISITORS MUST CHECK IN FIRST." He walked through the double doors into a room with a security station surrounded in mesh-reinforced glass and a sign that said "CHECK IN HERE".

Jim walked up to the window and showed his ID and asked for Deputy Sanchez. The Hispanic woman behind the glass said "Wait a minute and I'll go get him." After about 5 minutes, a heavy-set Hispanic man that looked to be over 300 pounds came out into the reception area and said "I'm Marco Sanchez, are you Wilkins?"

Jim said "Yes. Rick Sorenson told me to ask for you. I'm here to visit the woman that climbed our fence last week."

The big deputy said "Ok, have a seat in one of these chairs and I'll go get her." He pointed at the woman behind the glass. "This deputy will let you know where to go in a few minutes." And at that, he walked up to the metal bars and Jim heard a buzzing sound. The door made of bars slid open and he disappeared.

Jim was ushered into a room with five glass partitions that were separated; each one had a chair to sit in and a telephone handset on the table. He sat at the first one and almost immediately a door opened on the other side of the partition. A guard was escorting a tall, light-haired woman wearing an orange jumpsuit with the letters "MCDC" stenciled on them.

She was almost as tall as he was, looked about thirtyish, walked with a slight limp, had straight hair past her shoulders and appeared to have an athletic build but it was hard to tell with the loose fitting jail clothes she was wearing. When she sat down he could see that she had eyes that were almost as green as his and was somewhat attractive. Jim reached into his shirt pocket and turned on the recorder as they both picked up the handset. It had a magnetic field pickup microphone and did not need to be plugged into the phone to record both sides of the conversation. The woman asked "Who are you?"

"My name is Jim Wilkins. I am an engineer at the nuclear storage center. Do you mind answering a few questions about your visit last week?"

The woman's expression changed when she heard where Jim worked and said "You're from there? Sure, I'll be glad to talk to you."

Jim said "Ok, who are you and why did you try to get into the facility?"

"Cynthia, I go by Cindy. I've been trying to tell everybody that the planet is in danger, and I saw everything the other day."

Jim said "Wait a minute, start from the beginning. Tell me about yourself and then go from there."

She then began talking about her life in San Diego working as a paralegal, going to school to earn her degree and having her life disrupted last week. She explained that one night while she was sleeping, she woke up with a strange feeling coming over her and then seeing the inside of some room with a bunch of cylinders sitting in a large rack. She said that she knew it was not a dream because she could almost "feel" her surroundings and that she also could hear the sounds in the room. She then went onto accurately describe the interior of the vault and that there were three cylinders taken. Jim was startled at this because he was sure that detail had not been made public either. He asked "Do you remember what time this was?"

She said "It was about midnight."

Jim remembered that the intruder had appeared a little after 1 A.M. and California is one hour earlier than Arizona. Startled, Jim asked her "Are you clairvoyant? Do you have ESP or anything like that?"

"No, not that I know of, but I know this is real. I FELT it and I saw it. We are in danger and I felt that too. I don't know how, but the Earth is going to be destroyed in less than a year."

CHAPTER 5

Five months after the events at the Nuclear Materials Storage Facility on Earth, three billion miles from here, the asteroid is beginning to increase in speed due to Jupiter's gravitational pull. Having just passed Neptune's orbital path around the Sun, it is approaching the route that Saturn takes as it travels in its 29 year orbit. Both planets are billions of miles away and have almost no gravitational effect on the asteroid. Jupiter, however, is on a collision course with it provided no other unforeseen forces cause its trajectory to change and as it approaches the massive planet it will increase in speed even more. As it is shooting through space close to 250,000 miles per hour, its orientation seems somewhat stable; it does not appear to be tumbling. It only has a very slow "roll" to it, in the direction of travel as if it is rolling down a hill in slow motion. The pilot of the small transport ship that is a half a mile off to the side of it was grateful for the stability, but he knew of this before making the three month journey from Gavilon. Drago had been observing this one asteroid for three years, ever since it made its close fly-by of his home planet, passing less than three million miles away from Gavilon. It took two years of plotting and planning, making the right connections and gathering materials before his plan started coming together. The first thing he had to do was get inside the Gavilon Space Command to gain access to the ship he needed. Drago decided that he needed to get hired by an engineering firm that did business with the Space Command, so he falsified a few documents and "arranged" a few references to lie for him. The second part was a little more difficult; he had to hack into a few computer files to be able to blackmail the politicians he needed for his references. After working for the engineering company for a few months, to establish a history with them, he went back to his "references" in order to get onto the Command payroll. With his engineering background, he was able to maintain the façade of being a good employee of The Directorate while working toward his ultimate goal.

After establishing his reputation and gaining the trust of his supervisors, Drago was allowed to enroll in the Space Transport Crew training school. This is the school where everyone that is stationed aboard any of the two hundred ships in the Transport fleet are required to attend. It trains pilots, navigators and cargo specialists that are required to man the ships that shuttle back and forth between Gavilon and Eos, one of its two moons. The other moon, Ios, is smaller and further away than Eos and does not have an atmosphere. The colony on Eos was established thirty years ago as an experiment and has grown into a full size city that requires constant re-supply. The Directorate allowed the colony to continue and expand because of population growth on a planet where less than one fourth of it is dry land, and the increase in tax revenue wasn't so bad either. Eos has an acceptable atmosphere but almost no natural resources that are of any use. Individuals wanting to travel to or from there simply need to use a standard space-jump belt but are limited to two or three small items to take with them. All one has to do is go to any of the three jump stations on Gavilon and buy a ticket, then they are handed a pre-programmed belt to use for the trip. One touch of a button and a second later they are in the corresponding jump station on Eos. The user removes the belt, hands it to the screener and walks out.

The large amount of cargo needed by the people on Eos has to travel another way. The soil on the larger moon is capable of supporting a small amount of food crops but the rest has to be shipped in, along with all the other items needed by a medium sized city. Bulk materials are loaded onto transport ships that make the round trip once a day. Each ship has a crew of six; one pilot and one co-pilot, a navigator and three cargo handlers. The co-pilot and the navigator aren't exactly necessary but Directorate rules require them. The ships are 200 feet long and 100 feet wide with an oval shape, much like one of those rocks you skip across a pond, and the inside height is roughly 30 feet high in the cargo space. There is a spherical structure on the top close to the front that serves as the bridge, where the pilot and co-pilot command the ship. The crew's quarters are one level below the bridge, another level down is where the dining and bathrooms are, the last level down is where the Gravitite propulsion system and computers are. The cargo bay is aft of the crew structure and fills out the rest of the ship and is separated by an airlock, which is needed when the ship is operating on a planet with adverse conditions. All the cargo is placed here and is strapped down to tie points that are placed in a grid that is in twenty foot squares. This is to make sure is doesn't shift during takeoff and landings. Gravity is controlled on the ship by the propulsion system during times of near zero G's between planets. In fact, the propulsion system uses gravitational forces that exist to propel the ship through space. This is possible due to the Kalderite coating that is present on all exterior surfaces and is controlled by the propulsion system. Kalderite has the unique ability to "reflect" gravity under certain electrical conditions and can "attract" gravity also, thus causing a ship with this coating to be mobile and move through space. When the pilot wants the ship to move in a certain direction, he pushes the controls and the computers respond by causing the Kalderite coating on one side of the ship to reflect gravity and the opposite side to attract it, putting it into motion. Kalderite is refined from Kalderum ore that is mined on nearby Rylos, the next planet out from Gavilon. It is uninhabited with the exception of the mining crews due to the poisonous atmosphere and the cold. They spend six months guiding the mining machines then spend the rest of the year back home with their families. They earn enough during their time at the mines that they don't have to work the rest of the time but some of them like to sign on to be cargo handlers on the transports to make a little extra.

The pallets that the cargo is strapped to also have the Kalderite coating on the bottom and there is a control box attached by a harness to each one. The handler only has to push the buttons on the controls to cause the pallet to lift up a few inches and move in whatever direction he wants. There is a large retractable door at the rear of the ship where all the supplies are loaded and unloaded using a ramp that disappears into the hull of the ship when it is underway.

Drago slowed the ship as it approached the asteroid and rotated it counter-clockwise ninety degrees to become parallel to the surface in preparation to landing. He was landing it on the side of the asteroid that would be considered the "left" side of it; the "front" of the asteroid being the side that faces the direction of travel. As he was watching the graphical navigation display his distance from the surface, his right hand touched the control screen to extend the landing gear. Drago felt a bump at the same time the display showed touchdown, so he put the ship's computer into a grav-hold condition so it wouldn't drift away from the asteroid.

He touched the comm button on his collar and said "We're here; get the cargo ready for offload, Hemet."

There were only two people on the ship, Drago and his assistant Hemet, who was a friend from the transport crews he worked with at Space Command. Hemet was one of those part-time mine workers part-time cargo handlers because he didn't have a family and he liked to stay busy.

"Understood, putting my suit on now. I'll let you know when we're ready to depressurize the cargo bay."

Drago watched the video screen as it showed the cargo bay air lock in the upper left corner, the full view of the cargo bay in the center and another view of the cargo bay door underneath. In the center of the screen he could see the payload that he was delivering sitting on the floor with its straps tied to it, keeping it immobile. It was a massive box that had barely fit through the rear door of the ship. He and Hemet had loaded it on Gavilon under cover of darkness after Drago had built it in his warehouse under great secrecy. It was a little less than thirty feet high and measured fifty feet square at its base, squared off corners that gave the appearance of a metal cube. He had not told Hemet what was inside and he told Drago he didn't care as long as he was paid what he was promised.

Drago heard on his comm "Okay, ready to depressurize."

He touched a button on the control panel and turned to the screen to verify the DePress light was flashing yellow and watched as Hemet opened the air lock and walked out into the cargo bay. When the DePress light turned red, Drago pressed another button on the panel and the rear door began to open and the ramp started extending. After watching him remove the tie-down straps, he could see Hemet pick up the gravity control panel and manipulate the controls for the pallet his payload was sitting on and it rose a foot off of the floor. Another second and it was slowly moving out onto the ramp with Hemet following, barely clearing the rear opening. After a minute he saw his assistant walk back onto the ramp and into the bay empty handed. He touched his comm button and said "Ready to close rear door, boss."

Drago touched the panel and the door began to close and he watched Hemet walk to the airlock. The indicator on the panel showed the rear cargo door closed and locked. He waited a minute for Hemet to remove his suit and then touched his comm button, "Hey, Hemet, I'm getting a door lock fault on the rear door. Can you go back and check the lock? I show a door closed light but not locked."

"Are we repressurized captain?"

Drago said "I have a good seal and RePress light. Go ahead." He watched the monitor as it showed his assistant walk back to the rear door. Right when Hemet reached to check the lock, Drago touched the control panel and watched as the rear door opened and Hemet was sucked out into space after giving one last panicked look at the camera in the front of the cargo bay. He then switched the camera view to the outside, where he could see his lifeless body float past the huge box that was sitting on the surface of the asteroid. Drago then gently lifted the ship away from the asteroid and slowly put distance between them. When he had reached an altitude of about 300 feet, he reached for a suitcase sized package and opened the cover. The screen on the wall still had a view of his box as he touched a switch on the device in his lap. After hitting a few more buttons, he watched as the top of the box he had just delivered lift up and float away. The sides then folded down and out of the way revealing a pile of machinery with a very large tube sticking out the top of it. He then moved the ship to a distance of about thirty miles away and behind the asteroid and watched the screen as he touched one last button on the device in his lap. The view of the asteroid became so bright that he could see nothing but white light as his Ion Particle Beam Thruster engine came to life and deliver the one hundred million pounds of thrust that he had designed it to do. He knew that his massive thruster engine would run non-stop for ten hours and then run out of power, at which point the gravity controls would shut off and his masterpiece would drift off into space like his assistant.

Drago closed the lid to the briefcase then put the ship's auto-pilot controls to maximum speed and prepared for the long journey back to Gavilon.

CHAPTER 6

Only once a year does both moons, Eos and the more distant moon, Ios, line up one behind the other but when it happens at night the view is spectacular. As the two orbs, one brighter than the other, begin to align, they seem to merge into one bright star. On evenings like this Jarvick knows that two things always happen; the tides get unusually high and the population goes goofy and he will be one busy detective. The tidal changes don't concern him because he lives well away from the ocean but he knows from past experience that this will be his busiest month of the year. His friends and family tell him that he is just imagining it or that it's just coincidence but he knows it's real. He's seen it almost every year since he started as a patrolman ten years ago when he graduated from the academy. There is a noticeable increase in thefts, assault and disturbing the peace arrests when lunar alignment happens and the Directorate Police Department is always busy during this time of year.

Jarvick lives in a small apartment in the capital city of Vendorra, which is quiet this morning, but he knows that it will change as the day wears on. After he and his girlfriend split up two months ago, Detective 2nd Class Jarvick III decided it was best to move closer to the precinct headquarters and save on the rent. Vendorra is a large city situated in the central zone of the Western Province on Gavilon. Seventy five percent of the planet is ocean, leaving two landmasses to hold all the inhabitants, called provinces. The Western Province is the larger of the two and is where the majority of the population is. The Eastern Province is the where the farming is done; most of the food produced for the people is grown there. There is a small mine located on the extreme southern tip that is responsible for all the Solinium that is needed for power production.

There are a few islands scattered around but only one is large enough to have a population, and it is used as a prison for those offenders that cannot be rehabilitated. It is located between the two provinces and when a criminal is sent to Modor, he knows it's for the rest of his life.

The orange sun was shining through the window as Jarvick finished getting dressed for work. His uniform consisted of a black shirt with his detective insignia of three white stripes on the left sleeve, black pants with white stripe on each side, black shoes and white Police hat with the black brim. His belt had hooks for the steel baton, stunwave gun holster, handcuffs and his radio. He finished the last of his juice as he walked through the kitchen, put the glass in the sink and walked out of his apartment. The elevator doors opened as soon as he hit the call button so he stepped inside and hit the button for the first floor. The precinct was a block away so he walked west on 2nd street as he does almost every morning and turned on his radio.

The desk sergeant greeted him as he entered the station and Jarvick climbed the stairs up to the second floor where his Captain was waiting on him.

"I got a hot one for ya' Jarvick, the space jockeys are missing a man and they can't contact him. They say he lives in Sector two, just outside the city limit, and I need you to go and check his place out."

"Do I need a partner for this or can I do this solo?" he asked.

The captain said "Take a cruiser to check it out by yourself and call it in, it's just a welfare check."

Two patrolmen walked in, each one had somebody in handcuffs as they escorted them toward the rear detention area. It was a man and a woman, both screaming at each other. Jarvick thought to himself that the craziness has already started and the day had just begun.

He went to the motor pool and picked up a cruiser that didn't smell too bad and drove north on 3rd street toward the north side of the city. The streets were laid out in a grid pattern with the east-west ones even numbered and the north-south ones were odd numbered. All the cars used the Kalderite coating to hover off the ground and propel them but they were limited at the factory to no more than a foot off the ground. They also had a maximum speed limiter that was well below the police cruisers. These rules were set by the Directorate to maintain order and safety, which has worked well for many years. The cars used by the police are not limited by these rules and are strictly regulated and controlled. This advantage helps the police to control traffic and capture criminals on the run. The cruiser can catch up to the vehicle and pass above it, which shuts off the Kalderite effect due to the physical forces of the anti-gravity coating. When the gravity reflecting coating is above another one, it counteracts this effect and overrides it, thus "shutting off" the vehicle underneath it.

When Jarvick reached 82nd street he turned left and parked in front of a run-down apartment building that looked to be about thirty stories. His sheet had the missing person's apartment listed as 2507. He got out of the patrol car and walked up the cracked sidewalk to the front door. Two elevators were inside, one with an "Out of Order" sign taped to the door.

He pressed the call button and waited. A door down the hall opened a crack and a woman peeked out, then the door slammed shut. The elevator was one of those fast ones that make your stomach jump up into your throat. When it reached the 25th floor and the doors opened he walked down the hall to 2507 and knocked on the door. Jarvick put his ear to the door and listened but heard nothing. After knocking a few more times, he went back down to look for the manager, which he found and showed his ID. He persuaded him to come back upstairs and open the door so he could look in the apartment for any evidence of foul play. When he got the door open, the first thing he noticed was the dust on all the horizontal surfaces. This apartment has been empty for a long time and it showed. The detective made his notes as he walked around and looked for any clues that he could find. The apartment manager stayed in the hallway as Jarvick asked him to.

When he opened the bedroom closet, the radiation detector on his belt started beeping so he backed out quickly and shut the door. Jarvick thought Radiation? Why is there radiation in that closet? He went into the main room and radioed the station.

"HQ, this is Jarvick. I've got a situation here. I'm going to need a containment team and some lab techs, ASAP."

The watch captain replied "What type of situation, Detective?"

"I've got a radiation alert in an apartment building. I was checking on a missing person and my rad-alarm went off."

The radio was quiet for a little too long, then "Understood. We are sending a team there now. Keep the area clear. Out."

Jarvick walked out into the hall and told the manager that he could go, and that there was going to be some police activity in the apartment.

"What happened in there? Did somebody get killed?" the manager asked.

Jarvick said "No, nothing like that. It's just routine follow-up on a missing person. Nothing to worry about." At that, the manager left grumbling something under his breath.

Ten minutes later, about a half dozen officers got off the elevator as Jarvick was standing in the hall. When he saw the blonde haired woman carrying two cases in her hands, he put on his best smile and went to greet her. "Need a hand with one of those?" he asked. He thought Matea was one of the best looking lab techs he had ever met and wanted to get to know her. She handed him one and asked "How ya' been, Jarvick? I haven't seen you in weeks."

"I've been doing okay. How about you?" he asked.

"I've been just fine. What do we have here?"

"Missing person, mineworker on Rylos by the name of Hemet, friends say they haven't seen him in six months. He usually works a six month tour in the mines but they say he never showed up."

They had entered the apartment and she set down one of the cases and reached for the one Jarvick was holding. "Hand me that case, I need to suit up." Matea took the case and went into the bedroom and closed the door. After 20 minutes, she emerged and said "I need three more bags. We are going to have to take all the clothes in that closet back to the lab, I can't identify the type of radiation we have but it's all hot. Get a containment van parked in front of the building and we can carry it down after it's bagged up."

The next day, Jarvick was doing some reports on his data terminal when the Captain called him into his office. As Jarvick entered the glass enclosed office he saw Matea was there too. He smiled involuntarily as the Captain pointed at the chairs and closed the blinds. He asked Matea to read her report.

"There were three items of clothing, work-suits, that were highly radioactive. I've narrowed down the cause of contamination, but it's very unusual."

Jarvick asked "What is it? Solinium?"

"No. Would you believe Uranium?" She said.

Both men's faces tuned pale and there was an uneasy quiet for a few seconds.

"Uranium is illegal on Gavilon and the only place you can get it is Earth! How the heck did it get here??" the Captain yelled.

Jarvick said "I don't know yet, sir, I'm going to be trying to interview his known associates today. Maybe they can shed some light on his recent activities."

The Captain said "Okay, you two need to work together on this. Find out what he's been doing for the last year, where he's gone, canvas the sector he lives in. Matea, take along a radiation sniffer and see if there are any more hot spots in the city and keep me informed."

Jarvick said "Will do Cap" as they both stood and left. The Captain said "Oh, and detective, I'm going to get the transport department to issue you a hyperlight cruiser and a jump belt. You may be going on a trip."

"Oh, great" he thought. "A month long trip to Earth", and then he remembered someone he had not thought about in many years, his brother.

Jarvick had an investigation to do, however, so he would worry about that later.

CHAPTER 7

Jarvick and Matea were standing in the Space Transport terminal speaking with a supervisor of personnel. He had explained that they were investigating a missing person and deliberately omitted any part about uranium being found.

"When is the last time you saw Hemet?"

"About eight months ago, I think he said he was going back to work at the mines on Rylos. He alternated between there and here, working as a cargo handler for the Eos run" the supervisor said.

"Did he associate with anyone that worked here? Did you see him talking to anybody on a regular basis?" Jarvick asked.

"He didn't have that many friends here; he was pretty much a loner. I did see him talking with one of the pilots more than once, but they were never on the same ship so that was unusual."

"Do you remember the pilot's name? Is he here?" Jarvick asked.

"He left a week ago for Rylos on a Kalderum run, his name is Drago."

"Do you have his home address? Any information on him would be very helpful."

The supervisor said "I need to go to the records section to get that, it will only take a few minutes. You can wait in the break room if you want."

Jarvick and Matea went into the break room where they sat down at one of the tables.

Matea said "We haven't gotten a hit on the radiation sniffer. If Hemet was hanging out with this pilot, maybe we'll get lucky with this guy."

"Maybe, but I want to search his place if we get a hit or not. Something doesn't smell right. We have a cargo handler and a transport pilot that do not crew the same ship, and the missing man has uranium on his work clothes."

The supervisor walks into the room and hands Jarvick a note with the address of the pilot. He thanked him and they walked out to the cruiser and got in. Jarvick said "This Drago guy lives way out in the industrial sector on 133rd street. Strange." They drove east for about a half hour and turned right on 133rd then south for a quarter mile. The street was lined with large warehouses and industrial yards. They parked in front of a small office with a warehouse next to it and got out. Matea retrieved the sniffer and turned it on. Jarvick went to the front door and knocked as he peered into the window. He could see a small reception area with a door that was closed on the opposite wall. After trying the door and finding it locked, they walked around the fenced area and found an opening to the yard that surrounded the warehouse.

Jarvick stepped through first and then helped Matea into the yard. As they walked toward the large metal building, the sniffer beeped and Jarvick stopped.

"Well, we have a connection between these two. Call into the station and get the lab guys out here, I'm going to take a look around." Jarvick walked away as Matea got on her radio.

He only found one window that he could see through, up high above a small attached shed. He climbed on top of it and looked in. Inside the large warehouse was a bare floor with a few tools scattered around and some metal parts against the far wall. He hopped down and went back to the front of the building. Matea said the lab guys were on their way. Jarvick says "Looks like we are going to Rylos to talk to this Drago guy. I'll tell the Captain." They got into the cruiser and took off, Jarvick talking on the radio.

Jarvick piloted the hyperlight cruiser into the Rylos airlock and landed on the pad. He and Matea could feel a light vibration as the airlock door closed above them. When the inside air pressure matched the outside, he opened the hatch and they both stepped out and walked down the stairs where they were greeted by the station chief. After both showing their badges to him, the chief escorted them through another airlock to an office that had a small table surrounded by four chairs. "Please sit, make yourself comfortable. Can I get you anything?"

Jarvick said "No thanks, we're her to talk with a pilot if you don't mind. His name is Drago."

The station chief said "He just got here too, he's in his quarters resting, want me to go get him?"

"Please" said the detective.

Five minutes later, a dark-haired man, six-two, appeared to be in his low thirties walked in; Jarvick introduced himself and Matea while showing their badges. After some small talk Jarvick asked him "Do you know a man by the name of Hemet?"

"Never heard of him." Drago answered.

Jarvick glanced at Matea with a 'what-a-liar' look and asked "Are you sure? He's a cargo specialist at Space Command. You were seen talking with him."

"Doesn't ring a bell. Can I go back to my quarters now?"

Jarvick, ignoring the request, says "Is your residence still on 133rd street in Vendorra?"

"No, I live in the city center, near 6th street."

"Mr Drago, we were told that you had a residence on 133rd by the station chief on Gavilon and that you had been seen talking with Hemet several times. Why are you lying?" Jarvick asked.

"I don't know why he told you that. I..." Jarvick interrupted him "You're coming with us back to Gavilon for questioning. Turn around and put your hands behind your back." Jarvick handcuffed him and the three of them walked out and headed for the exit.

During the three hour trip back to Gavilon, both of them tried to get more information out of him but Drago just sat there, stoic and quiet. Matea thought she saw him smile once but it didn't last long. After escorting him to the detention section of the police station, Matea returned to her lab and Jarvick walked into the Captain's office and briefed him about the day's events. The Captain digested the news and said "I agree with you, detective, something isn't right. I've got a gut feeling there is more than what we're seeing. Let's leave this Drago character in detention until he talks while you go to Earth and take a look around. Find out when and where the uranium came from and get back here as soon as you can."

Jarvick said "Yes sir, I still have the hyperlight and the jump belt, I just have to pick up a few supplies and I'll be on my way."

"Good luck, detective, have a good flight."

CHAPTER 8

Jarvick left the station and drove to the Medical division of Space Command. It was located next door to the Transport station where the cargo pilots go through flight exams and pre-flight preparation is performed on pilots going on long distance hyperflights. Earth is roughly one trillion miles away, a fourth of a light year, and the long trek takes about a month when the ship is a hyperlight cruiser at maximum speed. The trip can be made without the need for the pilots and crew entering hypersleep, but it would require too many resources and it would tax the ships environmental systems. Jarvick was traveling alone and he wanted the option of it so he decided to get the flight suit with the life support system. Once that was done, he stopped by the library and picked up a couple of data discs, then drove to the transport yard at the police station. He checked in with the desk and walked out to the ship where he loaded his items, closed the hatch and lifted off.

When the cruiser had exited the atmosphere of Gavilon, Jarvick glanced at the two moons and wondered what he would find when he returned. Because uranium was involved in this mystery, he feared the worst. He programmed the nav computer with Earth's coordinates but did not want to engage the hyper drive just yet; he needed to consult the discs he picked up at the library, and he wanted to think about something he hadn't considered in quite a few years.

Jarvick retrieved the discs and inserted the first one into the onboard computer's data slot and began reading. The ship had reached one fourth light speed and stayed that way for the next several hours. He read about Earth and its continents, how it is about 70 percent water, 25 percent larger than Gavilon in size, which means that Earth's gravity is that much stronger. He remembered reading about one of its continents, North America, many years ago, and that there were many large cities. What most fascinated him was the large amount of open, unpopulated land that exists, unlike Gavilon where every square foot in the Western Province is occupied. He studied Earth for a few more hours and then checked the automatic navigation system before going to sleep.

The last thing about his dream he could remember before waking up was about a brother he has never met, which he had been thinking about in the back of his mind since preparing for this trip. He knew he had a twin brother, an extremely rare occurrence on Gavilon, and he had been sent away to Earth a week after they were born. He wondered if he would have a chance to find him while on this assignment as he spent a few more hours reading about the planet, then he prepared the ship for light speed. He turned on the Collision Avoidance System, checked the autopilot and descended the ladder down to the hypersleep compartment. Jarvick programmed the computer to wake him in three weeks so he could manually pilot the ship through the asteroid belt that is between Jupiter and Mars. After hooking up the life support system to his suit, he laid down on the bed and shut the transparent cover, then pushed a button located on the side and waited for the darkness.

Jarvick opened his eyes and tried to focus them, trying to remember where he was. He had a sour taste in his mouth, his tongue felt like it had a dirty sock wrapped around it; and then he saw the clear lid above him. He opened the cover and unhooked all the tubes that kept him alive during hypersleep, then went to the head to clean up and rinse out that nasty taste.

When he was finished, he climbed the ladder to the bridge and heard the CAS alarm from the console. The Navigation system was still in autopilot so if there was a possible collision ahead, it would automatically perform evasive maneuvers, and also light up the CAS alarm. Jarvick dropped it out of light speed and opened the metal front shield to allow a view of the space ahead of the cruiser. When the shield was fully opened, the left half of the screen was filled with the sight of the enormous planet of Jupiter. It was gray in color with huge brown stripes of swirling clouds that ran horizontally around the sphere. There were several large, brown and gray circles in the lower half of the atmosphere that were many times larger than any planet in this solar system. Glancing at the navigation screen, he could see the giant planet and its four moons, plus one other object that was not in any navigation chart. This unknown body, Jarvick was thinking, is probably the source of the collision alarm. Jupiter and its four moons were off to the left of the ship and not in the way, but this thing was almost directly in his path. He slowed the cruiser as he approached it to get a closer look; and record its speed and size. Jarvick touched a few controls on the panel and the computer began to record a log of the encounter. He saw that it was a large asteroid, about 60 miles in diameter, traveling close to 250,000 miles per hour. After recording a few more details, he increased the ship's speed and prepared to navigate the asteroid field ahead, thinking that the one he just saw seemed a bit out of place. With the CAS still activated, but the ship in manual control, he guided it through the asteroid belt; which took most of the day.

After passing the path that Mars takes in its 687 day orbit, Jarvick slowed the ship and studied the navigation chart; looking for Earths only moon. He planned on placing the cruiser in a stationary orbit on the back side of this moon to avoid detection by anyone on Earth. He started a simulation on the computer to predict when the moon will be between him and Earth; so as to use the moon to shield his ship from any onlookers, and then use the Gravitite system to keep it there. The computer showed that the perfect time to make his approach would be in 2 days, so he brought the ship to a stop and let it drift in space.

He used the time to study the discs to familiarize himself with the people and customs of Earth, and also to formulate a plan. He needed to find out where the uranium came from; and how Drago or the missing man, Hemet, were connected to it. He decided that his first step should be to gather what information he could by listening for any radio frequency transmissions coming from Earth, which would require him to bring the ship out from behind the moon in short intervals. He could then instruct the computer to screen for the word "uranium" and glean what information he found with it; and from that he will decide where to start looking.

When the time came, he guided his cruiser to a spot behind the moon at an altitude of 100 miles, where he stayed for a few hours before beginning his listening procedure. Peek out from behind the moon, record an hour of intel, go back into the shadows and look for clues in the results. After doing this for 72 hours, he got several hits. The first one was a news report, in Russian, about a leak at a processing plant. The next two were in American about a new automobile engine. The last one made him jump; it was another one, in American, about the release of a woman from a jail in Phoenix, who had trespassed onto restricted property. The story went on to say that she had climbed a fence at a nuclear storage facility; had been jailed for almost a year, and was due to be released in two days. It went on to report that she was going to return to her home in San Diego; and the last part mentioned something about missing uranium at the storage facility.

Jarvick yelled "THAT'S IT!!" He smiled, knowing that he had gotten lucky this time and hoped that his luck would continue. He decided that he needed to go to the jail in Phoenix before she was released, or he would have a difficult time finding her after. He immediately switched the computer over to the transport mode to program his jump belt, then changed out of his suit into clothes more appropriate for Earth. The detective had one more thing to do before leaving the ship, he had to find the pills he picked up at the Medical division before leaving Gavilon.

CHAPTER 9

Cindy Young was playing solitaire and looking forward to getting out of this place. She was wearing the orange jail clothes with MCDC stenciled on them that the Maricopa County Detention Center had issued her months ago. She wanted to get out and enjoy what was left of her life before the world ended, particularly find some better food than the junk they were serving in here. She was sitting at a table in the common area of the jail pod. Each pod had twelve cells arranged in a circle with a common area in the middle. The guard station, which was enclosed in wire reinforced glass, was off to one side. There were six tables in the center and a television mounted up in the wall above the guard station. One of the guards walked over to her and said "Young, you have a visitor."

"What? I wasn't expecting anybody. Who is it?"

The guard said "I don't know, not my job. Get your butt to the visitor's room, miss popular."

Cindy thought _It can't be Kathy, she went to visit her parents_ as she walked down the hall. When she walked into the visitor center Cindy recognized the man sitting at the table and said "You look familiar, sorry I don't remember your name." She sat down opposite him.

"I'm pretty sure we haven't met before, I'm Jarvick. I understand you're going to be released tomorrow."

"Yes, I am. What can I do for you?"

Jarvick was trying to think how to get whatever information he could without telling her too much about himself.

"Why did they put you in here?"

"I broke into a federal facility, where they store uranium stuff, and they got really mad. But I had a good reason. They don't know what I know."

"Why did you do that? Didn't you know you would get caught?" Jarvick asked.

"I knew I would get caught, but I wanted to get their attention, because of the dream I had, or vision, or whatever I saw."

He thought _This is odd_. "What was this dream, vision, whatever; what was it about?"

Cindy went on to explain about how she had seen and felt the stranger stealing the uranium cylinders and that this man was thinking the planet was going to be destroyed very soon.

"I'm telling you it was so real, I could swear I was there." She said.

Jarvick asked her where this facility is.

"It's in the desert, outside of Florence. Big fences and cameras everywhere. Security was real tight."

Jarvick asked "Do you still plan on going back to San Diego?"

"Yes, eventually. I have a friend that lives here I may stay a few days with. I figured we could spend a few days together before the world blows up."

"I would appreciate it if we could keep in touch after your release. Where does this friend live?"

Cindy reached for the newspaper that was on another table and tore off a piece, asking a guard to borrow a pen. She wrote down the address and then said "Look, now that you've been here awhile, I am positive I talked to you before. It was right after I got locked up; you came and asked me how I found out about the missing uranium and that you worked at the place. I remember your hair, how white it is."

Jarvick thought _She looks familiar too; where have I seen her before?_ and said "Thank you very much for talking with me, I may try to contact you later."

He walked out and decided he had to visit this facility, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Right now he had to jump back to his ship, the computer was there and he wanted to do some research on the storage facility.

The next day, Jim Wilkins was sitting at his desk reading his emails when a very peculiar feeling came over him and his vision became blurry and dark. He thought at first he may be having a heart attack, but there was no pain, just a "floating" feeling. Then he heard a voice saying something but the sound wasn't coming from somebody speaking, it came from his head and his thoughts.

" _I need to speak to you. I'm not here to harm you, you are not in danger. Please remain calm and come outside the security gate. I need to speak to you. Do you understand? Just THINK the word YES or NO and I will hear it."_

Jim was startled by this, jumping up from his desk and then remembering that his vision wasn't working right, sat back down and thought _What the heck is this? Am I hallucinating?_

Then it happened again. _No, you are not hallucinating, you are hearing me and I can explain everything. Just come outside and you will see me, I am outside the security gate_. The strange feeling left him and then his vision returned to normal.

Jim stayed at his desk completely stunned for five minutes, trying to figure out what just happened. He ran over in his mind several times the words "I need to speak to you." He could feel the urgency in the words every time he remembered them, so he left his office and took the elevator up to ground level. Walking over to his car he could see somebody standing by the road outside the fence. Jim started his car and drove to where the man was, parked and got out. When he got a good look at him, Jim almost fainted. There, standing before him, was an exact duplicate of himself, as though he was looking at a mirror.

"I know this is a shock to you, but I can explain everything, if you'll just have some patience. I think we need to go someplace where we can talk, I mean you no harm. Just listen to me and you'll understand" the mirror image said.

Jim could only shake his head yes with his mouth open as he motioned for the stranger to get in his car. He was trying to think where they could go and talk when he remembered the little coffee shop he and Sylvia went to on one of their first dates. It was about 5 miles from here in a quiet little neighborhood strip center. Jim drove in silence while his twin looked around as if he was on a tour. When they reached the coffee shop, they both walked in accompanied by stares from the two patrons that were seated at the counter. Jim found a booth in the back that had cracks in the vinyl seat covers but it was out of earshot from the others. Jim ordered coffee; his guest did not want anything. After the waitress left, Jim said "Okay, who are you? I don't remember having a twin, or my parents never told me."

The stranger said "My name is Jarvick, and you are right, I am your twin brother."

A hundred questions raced through his head, causing Jim to sit there for a few seconds, and then he asked "Where have you been? Why wasn't I told about you?" then his head got fuzzy again and he could hear his thoughts say "WE are from another planet, born of the same mother. We are twins." Jim's head cleared up again and he said "So you are the one doing that to me. How is that possible?"

Jarvick began to explain "I know this may sound preposterous to you but we were born on another planet, twins, of the same mother. Shortly after we were born, one of us had to be taken to another planet, and you were chosen. There was no reason or rule as to which one of us was to be relocated, but it had to be done. You were taken from our home planet to this one and placed up for adoption."

Jim thought _This guy may look like me but he's nuts_.

Fuzzy feeling _NO I'M NOT, I'M TELLING THE TRUTH_. Fuzzy feeling goes away.

"Did you do that? Cut that out!"

"Do you believe me yet?" asked Jarvick.

Reluctantly, Jim said "I'm beginning to. Why separate us and bring me here? Are we aliens or something?"

"We can get into the "alien" definition later, but for now let me go on.

I , uh , WE are from a planet called Gavilon. It is approximately one-fourth of a light year away from here, in another part of our galaxy. It is the same type and class of a planet as this one, Earth, but one fourth smaller. The problem is that when twins are born on Gavilon, which is an extremely rare event, one of them must be taken away. The nearest habitable planet of the same class is Earth, so here you are."

"Why do you have to separate twins so far away? Is there some type of disease we have?"

"Not quite, but close. Gavilonian twins are born with an extremely strong telepathic connection that cannot be broken or controlled until a later age. Twins have no chance at a normal life until one of them has had training that teaches him or her to control it; and then the relocated twin was supposed to be returned to receive training and then reunited with the sibling. It was the only way." Jarvick spread his hands out, palms up, as if to say he was finished.

Jim asked "So why am I still here?"

"The practice was halted some years ago because a medication was found that enable the twins to shut down the telepathy. A few slipped through the cracks, like us, when the parents died and the records got lost. The Directorate decided that it was better to leave the few left where they were."

Jim took a minute to wrap his head around all of this and then asked "Did you go through the training? You jumped into my head a couple of times."

"I went through the training and about the time I finished, the practice was stopped. I also have the medication with me that helps control it, which is why you are not jumping into my head. If I didn't have the pills, we would be having a difficult time communicating right now. My thoughts would overwhelm you to the point of confusion and chaos."

"I think I get it, so why are you here now? Did you come to get me and take me back?

I'm married now and I'm happy here." Jim said defensively.

"No, I'm not here to abduct you, I came here on a police matter; I'm a detective for the Gavilon security force. Earth is the only planet that has uranium in this galaxy, which is banned on our planet, and we detected its presence recently."

Jim's mouth fell open, the connection now dawning on him "Oh, I see" he said very slowly, drawing it out, understanding now showing on his face. "And you think that guy that popped in and stole it is somebody from Gavilon?"

"Precisely."

"So, how can I help?" Jim asked.

Jarvick thought about it and said "Tell me everything about the event when the theft occurred."

Jim went on to tell Jarvick about the discovery of the missing cylinders, then the review of the video; where he saw a man materialize in the vault, grab the cylinders, then disappear.

"I have to see this video. Is it possible?" Jarvick asked.

Jim thought about this and then said "I'll have to talk with the Security chief, but it may be possible. I'll have to get a copy of the video and take it off the premises. There's no possible way I can bring you in as a guest. Even if I could, it would bring up too many questions, walking in with a twin. I'm on record as not having any brother."

"When can you get this copy and show it to me?"

"I can bring it home with me today after work, and we can review it at my house. Where will you be?" Jim asked.

"I'll be waiting right here, pick me up tonight."

"You're going to wait here for seven hours?"

"No, I have to get some more medication from my ship; I'll be back here then."

Jim decided not to ask about his "ship", he's had to absorb too much weird information for one day. Getting in his car, a thought entered his head, not from Jarvick though, from his own thoughts _. How am I going to explain this to Sylvia?_

Rick Sorenson reluctantly agreed to let Jim borrow the video disc to review it, but stipulated that it was not to leave the facility. It has an RFID implant built into it and D.C. would have his head if it did. This presented a problem for Jim, if he walked through the scanner with it on his person, alarms would go off and alert the Security Chief. He would have to tell Jarvick this afternoon when he went to pick him up.

CHAPTER 10

Jim walked into the little café and saw that his newly arrived brother was already sitting in a booth toward the rear. He sat down and ordered a cold drink and told Jarvick the bad news.

Jarvick asked "Let me get this straight. If you walk through the doors out to the parking lot, the alarms will sound if you have this disc on your person, right?"

"Yes."

"What if it just disappeared and showed up at your house, without going through the scanners? Will they know?"

Jim thought about this and said "I'm pretty sure they won't."

Jarvick stood up and said "Then meet me here tomorrow morning, on your way into the facility."

"Why? What do you have in mind?"

"Just do it, I have a plan." Jarvick insisted.

"Okay, see you tomorrow." Jim said.

Bright and early the next morning, there he was, sitting in the same spot as yesterday. Jim walked in and sat down, asking Jarvick "Now, what's the plan?"

Jarvick said "Go into work like normal and have the disc nearby. When you are alone, THINK the words _I'm Ready_. I'll "pop in", as you say, and take the disc out with me when I jump back here."

"So you are going to do what that other guy did and disappear with it."

"Exactly." Jarvick smiled.

"And you'll be here when I leave, then we go to my house so you can see the video." Said Jim.

"That's the plan."

Jim arrived a little late and went to his office, greeting Linda like he usually does every morning, adding that he will be participating in a conference call and he was not to be disturbed for a few minutes. After closing his door, he retrieved the disc and sat down to take a deep breath.

_I'M READY_ he thought.

Jarvick materialized five feet in front of his desk and said "Give me the disc and I'll be out of here. Meet me at the café tonight."

Jim said "Why don't I just leave early and we can meet in about an hour?"

"Even better, I'll be waiting." Jarvick said.

"Ok, see you then."

Jarvick is gone in a flash, and Jim sat down to check his email. After 45 minutes, Jim walked out and informed Linda that he wasn't feeling well and was leaving.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Wilkins. I hope you feel better."

Jim said "I think it's just a headache, I should be in tomorrow back to normal." He then took the elevator topside and left. Jarvick was waiting at the booth, smiling.

"Did any alarms go off?" he asked.

"No alarms, let's get to my house. I want to get this thing back as soon as possible." As Jim drove toward his home, he thought this was a better time to look at the video because Sylvia was at the school teaching her third graders. He may not have to explain his new sibling just yet. They pulled into the driveway and parked, and both walked into the house. Jim showed him to the living room where the TV was and went to the kitchen. He returned with two bottled waters and offered one of them to Jarvick, then inserted the disc and sat down.

A view of the vault appeared on the screen and Jim explained the location. Then in a flash, a figure appeared, and then disappeared. Jim backed it up and replayed it in slow motion.

The video resumed frame by frame, but this time when the face appeared in the grainy picture, Jarvick jumped up and exclaimed "That's Drago! And he's got a jump belt!"

"Who's that?" Jim asked.

Jarvick, still standing, says "Drago, a guy I arrested back on Gavilon. We put him in detention in connection with a missing person investigation. We also detected uranium at his warehouse."

"Is that 'jump belt' thing how you and him pop in and out of places?"

"Yes, it is. They are very useful devices but highly restricted. Only Directorate personnel may have them. We use them in public transportation for special purposes, but that's it.

This reminds me, I need to go to my ship and look for something. I'll be back in a few minutes."

At which point, Jarvick touched his belt and disappeared. Jim turned off the video player and waited. Five minutes later Jarvick reappeared, holding a small box and said "I've got to get back to Gavilon, but I need to make a stop first." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "How about we talk while you drive me to this location?"

"Sure. Where are we going?"

They both exited the house and Jim locked the door as Jarvick says "Cindy Young is staying with a friend at that address. She is the woman who climbed the fence at your facility. I need to have a talk with her."

Jarvick knocked on the apartment door and Jim stood off to the side, out of view. When the door opened, it was Cindy, who said "Hello again." Jarvick replied "Good morning, Miss Young. I need to speak with you. Can we come in?"

"What do you mean, 'We'? I only see you." At this point, Jim stepped into view, which caused her to look at both and say "Twins, huh."

Jarvick repeated "May we come in, please?"

Cindy opened the door wider and ushered them in. "Come in, sit down."

When they were seated at the kitchen table, Jarvick said "I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I need to ask you for your assistance on a matter of great importance."

"What is it?" she asked.

"You said you could sense, during your 'vision' that the Earth was in grave danger, right?"

"Yes." Cindy said warily.

"Then I need to explain something to you." Jarvick went on to tell Cindy what he told Jim about the twins of Gavilon, where he was from, the separation of twins, the whole story. After about twenty minutes, with Jim's help, she began to believe what she was hearing. Jarvick then said "I just need you to do one thing for me."

"What is that?" she said.

Jarvick then opened the box he was carrying and took out what looked like a belt with an oversized buckle. "I need you to put this on and go back to Gavilon with me."

Cindy thought for a few seconds, then said "Okay, I may as well if this planet is going to go boom anyway." Cindy began to put the belt on as Jarvick turned to Jim, no words were spoken.

_Thanks for your help, brother_.

Jim: _You're welcome. When will you be back?_

Jarvick _: I'm not sure, but I would like to return one day. Are you going to tell your wife about us?_

Jim: _Of course. Tonight. She won't believe me so I'll need you to come back and vouch for me._

Jarvick: _Then count on it then._

Then Jarvick faced Cindy and said "Place your hands at your sides and remain calm." He then placed one hand near her belt and one near his and said "Goodbye Jim", then they both vanished.

CHAPTER 11

Cindy Young could not believe what she was seeing. One second she was in her friend's apartment, the next second she was inside a space vehicle on the other side of the moon. Jarvick had retracted the shield on the front of the ship to allow her to view the craters on the moon and to remove any doubt in her mind that all of this was, in fact, true.

"You can take that belt off now. Strap yourself into that seat and get comfortable while I get the ship ready for travel." She watched him manipulate some controls on the panel in front of them as she removed the belt and fastened the straps that were at her sides. Then Jarvick said "I've got to pilot the ship manually for a few hours; don't touch anything, please. After that, I'll brief you on the rest of the trip." Cindy watched as the view of the moon changed as the ship seemed to shudder, then it went off the screen replaced by moving stars. She felt her weight settle into her chair as Jarvick stabilized the onboard gravity and increased the speed of the ship. The stars appeared to move faster and faster toward the screen as Jarvick's hands were moving from one control to another. A yellow light in the corner of one screen was blinking, as were the letters CAS; and then he touched a control that changed it to a display that had many little red dots on it. Jarvick said "Once we get through this asteroid field and get past Jupiter, I'll put us in hyperlight; but I want to check out a rogue asteroid, first."

Three hours passed like minutes because Cindy was fascinated by what she was seeing. She watched as Jarvick piloted the ship through the maze between Mars and Jupiter, then watched as the brown and gray planet appeared larger and larger on the screen. When Jupiter looked like it could get no closer, it slid off the screen to the right as Jarvick steered the cruiser toward a small, round object that was grayish in color. He touched a few spots on the screen to his right and looked at the figures. "Wow, that thing is really moving fast. I hope Earth has it in their sights, it looks like it's going to be close." A few more buttons touched, then he closed the front metal screen and turned to Cindy.

"I'm going to put the ship in hyperlight speed and we're going to go into hypersleep. What that means is we are going to sleep while the ship traverses the trillion miles between here and Gavilon. It will take about three weeks, and you'll have to put on a suit, which I'll help you with." Jarvick stood and motioned for her to follow him down the ladder. When they reached the lower compartment, he handed her a suit, which he help her put on.

"I'm going to program the computer to wake us before we get there, lie down on this bed and get comfortable. I have to insert an IV in your arm, so don't panic, it's done all the time."

When everything was ready, Jarvick closed the transparent lid above her giving her a thumbs up. Cindy watched him as he touched a panel next to her bed and she drifted off into darkness. Jarvick climbed into his bed and closed the lid.

Cindy awoke and felt like she was going to get sick, Jarvick was standing next to her bed holding a cup of water. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like I'm going to vomit. What's that nasty taste?" she said while sitting up and putting her feet on the floor.

"I know; it's an unavoidable side effect. Here, take these pills. You'll feel better."

Cindy swallowed both and drank the rest of the water, asking for more. Jarvick retrieved another glassful, and as she was drinking it he said "One of those is for the nausea, and the other is to keep your telepathic powers from activating."

Startled, she said "Excuse me? What did you say?"

Jarvick took the cup from her and said "When I heard about your 'vision', then I saw his face, I was convinced. I'm pretty sure you have a twin brother here. From what I saw in that video, your brother was the one who stole the uranium. He is being detained at the Directorate and I don't want him alerted to your presence until the right time. "

"Okay, so what next?"

Jarvick helped her out of the bed and talked as they climbed the ladder. "I'm going to land the ship, then we are going to the station. Get up here and strap in."

Jarvick parked the patrol car in front of the station and they both got out. When they reached the Captain's office, they both sat down and Jarvick introduced her.

"Captain, this is Cindy Young, from Earth. I think she can help us with Drago."

The Captain shook hands and said "I sure hope so, he's refused to talk with us. How can she help?"

"She is his twin sister."

The Captain's eyes got big and he said "Oh, Really?"

"Yes sir. If we do it right, she can find out what he's planning."

"Then let's get to it. I'll bring him in from detention. Let's put her in the next room."

Jarvick said "I've got her suppressed, so we'll have to hook her up to an I.V. and slowly counteract the meds."

The Captain said "Understood. Get her ready."

Jarvick motioned for her to come with him. She was led to a room and a med tech was summoned. Cindy was hooked up to an I.V., given a paper tablet and a pen.

"In a few moments, you are going to begin feeling your brother's feelings and hearing his thoughts. He is in the next room with the Captain under restraint. Try to remember everything you feel and write down what you can."

Cindy started feeling lightheaded and her vision began to blur. A look of bewilderment showed on her face, then she started to yell "NO! NO! You can't do this! I'm here! Don't do this! You have to stop it!" Then she tried to rip out the I.V. from her arm in a panic.

Jarvick told the medical technician to calm her while trying to grab her arms and hands. The drug took effect in seconds which calmed Cindy, who began to breathe normally and sat back in her chair. Jarvick picked up the tablet and returned it to the table but Cindy said "I don't need any paper, I remember it all. It's just too horrible not to remember."

"What did he tell you, Cindy?" Jarvick asked.

"It's too late. The Earth is going to be destroyed, and Drago is responsible."

Jarvick asked her to explain everything, in detail, which Cindy began.

"Drago has altered the path of a large asteroid headed toward Earth. It was supposed to crash into Jupiter, but he built some sort of device that pushed it in a different direction. He built it in his warehouse, here on Gavilon. He wanted to destroy Earth because of me. He knew about the policy of twins being split up, and also found out he had a sister that was sent there. He heard through someone that I was killed in an accident before we could be reunited and that made him angry. He thought if he destroyed Earth it wouldn't happen again."

Jarvick asked "Did he tell you what type of device it was and where it is?"

"All I could tell was that it used uranium that he stole from Earth."

"Okay, thanks Cindy. Relax and I'll be back in a minute." Jarvick went to the room where the Captain and Drago were. As he entered, Drago said "She's HERE? My sister? Where did you find her?"

"We found her right where she was supposed to be, on Earth. You didn't sense her when you stole the uranium?"

"I thought it was the effects of space travel and I was only there for a few seconds. Can I see her?"

"No. Tell me about the asteroid. What did you do?"

Drago hesitated, but then opened up about how he built the Ion Particle Beam Thruster and transported it to the asteroid. He left out the part about his assistant, Hemet, he didn't want to admit to murder.

"Where is the thruster engine now? Is it still on the asteroid?" the Captain asked.

"It might be, or it's drifting near it. I didn't anchor it to the asteroid." Drago said.

In the next room, Cindy was busy writing down everything on the tablet that she was hearing in her thoughts; details that Drago was trying not to talk about. How he had discovered the asteroid and tracked its path. How he had recruited Hemet and discovered that he, too, had a twin on Earth. How Hemet had gone to Earth and convinced his twin to get a job at the uranium facility to assist in the plot. Hemet's brother got hired as a security guard, and placed a homing beacon in the vault, a beacon that Drago's jump belt honed in on for the theft. Once the thruster engine was built, it was transported to the asteroid and put in place, then Drago murdering Hemet. The thruster engine's job was to deflect it off the collision course with Jupiter and cause it to slingshot around the planet and crash into Earth. The timing was perfect, Drago thought; but after finding out that his sister was alive, everything had changed.

Jarvick read this and thought about his brother, and the disaster that was about to happen.

He walked into the next room, threw the tablet on the table in front of Drago and waited for him to read it.

"You are going to help us change the path of that asteroid. When is it supposed to hit Earth?"

Drago said "It should take ninety days to travel from Jupiter to Earth. You're too late."

Jarvick did some quick math in his head. He thought about the rogue asteroid they passed on the way here three weeks ago, that one must be it. That leaves 69 days, give or take a day or two. Three weeks to get back there and that leaves about a month and a half to avert the disaster. Plenty of time.

Jarvick thought about his brother again.

"You are going to come with me and help stop this thing, or I will take you to Earth and leave you there to die with everybody else."

Drago thought for a second, then reluctantly agreed. "Okay".

"What are we going to need? What do we have to do first?" Jarvick asked.

"We are going to need a cargo ship, one that has the capability of going to hyperlight."

Jarvick contacted the transportation division and found out it would take a week to get one in shape for the journey, and then told Drago that he was going to be assisting in the work.

"Fine. Can I see my sister now?"

CHAPTER 12

Cindy Young had been taking the anti-telepathy drug for a week now, and her connection to her brother Drago had been slowly severed. She learned a lot about her brother during this time, both from sharing his thoughts and talking with him at night after his days at the Space Command. It has been less than a week and she wanted to get to know him better, but lately she had caught herself thinking more and more about Jarvick. She was staying with her brother at his place but gladly went with him during the days of preparing the ship so she could get close to him. She found him quite attractive, but there was something else she couldn't explain that made her want to get to know him better, too.

The retrofit of the cargo ship was finished on the sixth evening and Jarvick told Drago to load everything he will need onto the ship; they were to take off the next morning. Cindy had spent the days in the Space Command office, reading about her home planet Gavilon and watching the men work on the ship.

The next morning, everything they would need was loaded on the ship, and the three of them boarded it and prepared for the long trip. The massive roof was opened and the ship slowly lifted off the ground and exited the hangar. Jarvick was at the controls and Drago sat in the copilot position, with Cindy standing in the back of the bridge trying to stay out of the way. The front screen was open so they could see Gavilon and its oceans getting smaller as the ship made its way into space. The larger moon, Eos, was off to the right and a small orange dot to the left was Ios. Jarvick closed the front screen and programmed the navigation computer the same way he did on the first trip, hyperlight until Jupiter; and then sub-light speed after that. He turned to Cindy and said "Drago and I need to talk about a plan, why don't you go down to the hypersleep compartment and we'll be down shortly."

Cindy left the bridge and Jarvick asked "What do we need to get that thruster engine going again? Can we re-use it?"

"First, we have to find it. Then we have to refuel it." Drago said.

"I assume you mean refuel it with uranium."

"Yes. And you know what that means."

Jarvick shook his head "That means we will have to go back and talk to my brother."

"Yes, it does." said Drago.

"That's going to take more time, time that we are already running short of." Jarvick pounded his fist on the control panel.

"Then we better get to hyperlight speed". The both of them stood and began to climb down the ladder toward the lower compartment.

Three weeks later, Jarvick was the first to emerge from hypersleep, and he woke Cindy first. He had planned this in order to administer her anti-telepathy drug before waking her brother, then he would wake up Drago and give him the same medication. Neither had received the training to deal with their inherent telepathic connection so the drugs were a necessity. After waking Drago, Jarvick climbed up to the bridge and checked on their position. The navigation system indicated that it had just dropped out of hyperlight and was nearing Jupiter. Jarvick slowed the ship and began searching for the asteroid just as Drago entered the bridge.

"Why are we slowing down now? We are a long way from Earth."

Jarvick touched the control panel and said "We need to find your thruster engine before we go to Earth. There's no use in picking up the uranium if we don't have the thruster."

"Oh, good point. Any luck yet?"

"I just now located your asteroid, it's just ahead. Then we can scan for the thruster." Jarvick opened the front screen and Jupiter came into view on the left side of it just as the CAS light and alarm lit up on the panel. "There is the asteroid, now if can just find the engine."

Jarvick manipulated a few more controls and the computer screen displayed a large green object in the center. A yellow line scrolled across screen from top to bottom, hesitating at the large circle in the center then continued down to the bottom. Drago said "Try looking on the other side of it."

Jarvick moved the controls and the ship began to circle around the asteroid to the other side. He then started the scan again, the yellow line moving from top to bottom, it pausing at the circle in the center. This time, however, a small dot appeared near the circle. "There it is!" The ship moved closer to the asteroid and stopped about a mile above the surface. On the front screen they could see Drago's Ion Particle Beam Thruster, drifting in space paralleling the asteroid; the tip of the huge cylindrical nozzle blackened by the previous use.

Jarvick turned to Drago and said "Go suit up and let's capture that thing in the cargo bay." Drago left the bridge and descended the ladder; passing by the crew quarters and on seeing Cindy, he said "Better suit up as a precaution. We're going to decompress the cargo bay." He found his suit in the utility locker and put it on, then exited the lower level and opened the airlock. Entering the massive cargo bay, he remembered what he did to Hemet, and wondering what the detective had in store for him after all this, IF they were successful.

"Ready for decompress" he said as he reached the control panel for the mechanical arm near the rear door. Jarvick must have adjusted the gravity a little because he felt slightly heavier, then the red light in the ceiling started to flash and alarms sounded. The rear door began to open and Drago could see that Jarvick had rotated the ship so that the thruster was floating near the back of the ship about a hundred yards away. "Back a little farther" Drago said and the thruster began to move closer as the mechanical arm extended and touched it. "Hold it right there!" and then the arm locked onto a cable that was attached to it and pulled it closer. The cable was for the pallet gravity controls, and the pallet was still attached. Drago pulled the huge thruster engine into the cargo bay where the built-in gravity system pulled it down to the floor. It settled with a gentle thud as Drago said "You can close the rear door, we got it." When the door was closed he could see that the decompression light turned green, and then heard Jarvick say "All clear."

Drago was examining his engine when Jarvick and Cindy entered the cargo bay and he heard "Wow, that thing is huge. Is it still usable?"

He turned to Jarvick "I think so, I don't see any damage."

"Let's get it tied down, we have to get moving." Cindy watched as the two men strapped down Drago's thruster, then they left the cargo bay through the airlock. When the three of them reached the bridge, Jarvick sat down in the pilot's seat and said "I have to get through this asteroid field faster than I should, but we are running short on time. I'll need your help, Drago."

"Yes sir, Captain." Drago sat in the copilot seat and the two of them were busy for the rest of the day. Cindy had gone down to the crew quarters to read, and when she returned, the front screen was open and she could see the cratered surface of the moon. The men had stationed the ship on the back side of it, just as Jarvick had done the last time they were here.

"Drago and I are going to jump down to Earth, Cindy, do you want to go home or stay here aboard the ship?"

"I'll stay here; that asteroid isn't aimed at the ship."

"Okay, we should be back in a few hours. Don't touch any of the controls; it would be better if you waited in the crew quarters."

Jarvick and Drago descended to the cargo bay utility locker and donned their jump belts, which had been pre-programmed.

Jim Wilkins was sitting in the small cafeteria enjoying lunch when Jarvick contacted him.

_Jim, we need to meet outside. It's a matter of life and death. URGENT_.

He shook his head and tried to clear the cobwebs, then he realized who it was. _Uh Oh_ , he thought, _Jarvick is back_. He took his tray to the trash and left the cafeteria, turning right toward the elevator. When he got to the parking lot, he could see two men standing outside the gate. He recognized Jarvick and the other man looked vaguely familiar.

"Jarvick, good to see you again. What brings you back here?"

"Good to see you, too, Jim. We are going to need your help, Earth is in danger."

"How, or why is it in danger?"

"This is Drago, the guy who stole your uranium. Remember seeing him on the video?"

"YOU!??! You're the one?!? I'm calling security, Jarvick."

Jarvick held out his hand, palm toward Jim, "Wait Jim, I arrested him and he is my prisoner. He will pay for his crimes on Gavilon when all this is over. Right now I need you to convince your superiors to release some more uranium so we can save this planet."

"Why? What's going to happen?"

Jarvick explained to Jim about the asteroid on its way to destroying Earth, how Drago altered its path, and they only have a few days left.

"How much uranium do you need?"

Jarvick turned to Drago, who said "Twice as much as I used last time. Six cylinders."

Jim shook his head "I'll never be able to get authorization for it. I think you're going to have to get it the same way you got it the last time."

Jarvick asked "Why not? Your planet is going to be destroyed!"

"I know that, but we will have to explain the whole story to the Department of Energy, starting from the existence of another Earth-like planet, to us being twins, and so on. They will never believe us, so I suggest you think up another way."

Jarvick thought a minute, then asked "Do you still have that homing beacon you found in the vault?"

"Yes, it's in my lab."

"Put it back in the vault."

Jim nodded his okay, but then asked "Why can't you just jump in there like you do when you come here? You don't need a beacon for that, do you?"

"No, but we aren't jumping into a room full of radiation and interference."

Jim then said "Okay, I'll let you know when I have it in place. I'm going to have to think up an excuse to go in there, so give me an hour and I'll let you know."

When Jarvick got the _Okay, I'm ready_ from Jim, he and Drago jumped in and took six cylinders of uranium and jumped out. Jim was in the security center performing a conveniently timed maintenance update on the camera system, so the cameras were off. He would deal with the inventory discrepancy later. Jarvick and Drago appeared in the cargo bay on the cargo ship, holding three cylinders each.

"Get that thing refueled, I'm going to the bridge." Jarvick went through the airlock and climbed the ladder. Cindy saw him and climbed up after him.

"Did you get what you needed?"

"Yes, now we need to get back to the asteroid as soon as possible." Jarvick touched a control and the moon disappeared from view on the screen.

"That asteroid should be well past the asteroid belt and close to Mars by now. We've only got a few days to get that thing to change directions. I hope Drago can get his thruster to work again." Jarvick put the ship into sublight speed and watched the monitor. After an hour he slowed the ship and changed modes on the navigation computer to look for the asteroid. He saw it appear on the monitor, showing up as a green circle in the center. He touched a button and stood to leave the bridge, Cindy following behind him.

Entering the cargo bay, Jarvick asked "How is the refueling going?"

Drago was screwing one of the cylinders into the side of the thruster. "It's going to be another couple of hours before I'm ready. The last time I only used three cylinders and it burned for ten hours. We are going to need better than twenty hours to get that asteroid to change directions enough to miss Earth, and that means I have to use all six."

"Understood. Let me know when you're ready, I'll be in the crew quarters getting some rest." Jarvick went into the crew quarters and tried to sleep, but kept thinking about the asteroid, how it had already passed the Mars orbit, and was hurtling toward Earth, the next planet in its path. He had the navigation computer match the speed of it in order to stay near it, and was just drifting off into his nap when he heard, or rather thought _They see the asteroid, Jarvick. The space agency's on Earth have discovered it and know we are in danger._

The message from his brother surprised him, he didn't think Jim would learn how to use his gift so fast. Jarvick decided to reply; _You learned fast, brother. Are they planning anything now?_

Not yet, but they are talking about using the orbiting lasers to try and destroy it.

Jarvick thought _That would be a very bad move, it would only turn one asteroid into a thousand._

We are about ready to try the thruster; I hope they wait before they attempt anything.

He didn't get a reply from him, and Jarvick was now too worried to sleep, so he left the crew quarters and went to the bridge. He looked at the front screen which showed the gray surface

of the enormous boulder and thought he should prepare for the next step. Taking control of the

ship from the autopilot, he moved it closer to the asteroid and rotated it ninety degrees to

become parallel to the surface. After extending the landing gear, he felt a slight bump as he set

the ship down against the surface and put it into a gravity hold. Touching his comm button, he says "Drago, how long before you're ready?"

"Just finishing up now."

When the thruster was offloaded onto the asteroid, Jarvick moved the cargo ship to a safe distance approximately one hundred miles away. The front screen was on, showing the asteroid in the center. Drago retrieved the suitcase sized controller he used the first time he deployed the thruster and opened the cover.

"I'm ready to ignite it, Jarvick."

Jarvick paused a few seconds, then said "I'm starting a record of this on the computer so let me count it down." Touching a button on the command console, he started counting "3.. 2.. 1.. GO!"

Drago moved his hands over the controls and they watched the screen.

Nothing happened.

CHAPTER 13

Drago touched more buttons and watched the screen, still nothing.

"What's wrong, Drago? Nothing is happening."

"I don't know. I thought I checked everything."

"Well, we have to get this thing working NOW. Do something!" Jarvick yelled.

Drago left the bridge with his controller and climbed down to the cargo bay saying something about running some tests. Jarvick stayed at the controls making sure the ship remained within sight of the asteroid. His mind was racing trying to come up with a plan B and also thinking about the lasers Jim had mentioned. Sure, they could use the orbiting lasers to shoot it, but that would create thousands of little asteroids, causing a lot of damage when they hit, but it wouldn't be as destructive as one HUGE impact that this one would cause. If this monster hit the Earth, the first thing that would happen after the hit would be the enormous shock wave and earthquakes it would cause. Half the surface of the planet would be instantly destroyed, killing every living thing in that hemisphere. Ten percent of the planet would be ejected into the atmosphere and the surrounding space, causing a suffocating cloud to encircle the Earth blocking all sunlight for years to come. The few remaining survivors wouldn't have much of a chance due to the lack of breathable air and the oceans would be relocated because of the shifted land masses that will occur. If the planet didn't split in half, its orbit and axial tilt would surely be affected, the Earth would become a dead planet, uninhabitable.

Drago returned to the bridge, looking grim. "I'm going to have to manually start it."

Jarvick turned to him and asked "What does that mean?"

"I have to flip the switch on the master control, it's located on the thruster control panel."

"You mean you have to be there, on the thruster, to get it to light off?"

"Yes."

Jarvick shook his head "No. You'll die."

"I know that, but it's the only way. All of this is my fault; I started this so I am the one who has to finish it. You're going to throw me in prison when all this is over, anyway. Let me go out on my own terms."

Jarvick frowned, then said "Alright, then, do it. I'll go back and drop you off."

Jarvick closed the rear door of the cargo bay and lifted off and away from the asteroid. He had instructed Drago to wait at least twenty minutes to allow him to retreat to a safe distance before he set off his thruster. Cindy had said her goodbyes and was crying in the crew quarters, having known her brother for such a short time, getting to know him just before watching him die. Jarvick watched the front screen patiently for any sign that Drago was successful, then the screen turned bright white, blocking any view of the asteroid. Jarvick had started a recording log file in the computer for later analysis, to determine if the thruster had pushed the asteroid off its collision course with Earth. Drago told him the Ion Particle Beam Thruster should burn for at least twenty hours, and with 100 million pounds of thrust, the asteroid "should" miss Earth. Jarvick decided that the next best course of action would be to move the ship to a place near Earth so he could observe the near miss, and he wanted to be close enough to try and communicate with his brother. He hadn't heard from Jim since he told him that some space agency's had found the asteroid, and he wanted to let him know of their progress. No doubt that they had also seen his ship and the exhaust plume of the thruster, so no reason to hide behind their moon. He decided to place the ship in between the Earth and the moon, out of the path of the asteroid. Glancing at the graph that the computer was now generating, he could see that it was predicting impact in two days; but it was constantly changing the relative position of the asteroid as time progressed, and hopefully the graph will show that the two will not collide. The only thing he could do now was wait.

The next day Jarvick wanted to get his brother's attention _. Jim, we have attempted to redirect the asteroid._

Within a few minutes, Jim replied _We need to establish radio communication. There are people here that want to talk with you_. Jim then relayed to his brother the radio frequencies that he needed. Once Jarvick programmed these into his command console, he grasped the microphone and said "Jim, this is Jarvick. Can you hear me?"

"Yes, this is Jim, and I am with some people at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These people work with our space program and they have some questions for you."

"I guess they do. Have you told them about Gavilon and our connection?"

Jim replied "Yes, I have told them everything about us, and Gavilon, and how that asteroid was redirected by Drago, everything. They are very curious about you and your ship."

"I will be glad to answer all their questions later, but for now let's keep an eye on that asteroid. "

A different voice came on this time. "This is Terence Anderson. I am the project leader here at the JPL. We have been tracking the asteroid for the last two days and we have it on a path of a close flyby at about 10 P.M. tonight. How were you able to redirect it?"

Jarvick explained to him about Drago's thruster, how it was refueled and reused.

The radio voice asked "Are you able to fire off the thruster again, or can you still use it?"

"No, it is out of fuel and the engineer who designed it is deceased." Jarvick said.

After a pause the voice said "Well, we still have a big problem. It looks like the asteroid is going to miss Earth, but after it passes by, it's going to hit our moon."

_Oh NO!_ Thought Jarvick. _With the thruster out of commission, how are we going to stop it from hitting? If it hits their moon, it will be shattered into pieces!_

After a few minutes of discussing their options, Jarvick said "I understand that you have some space based defensive weapons orbiting the Earth."

"Yes we do, what do you have in mind?"

Jarvick said "I have an idea . . . "

CHAPTER 14

Later that evening the asteroid passed by Earth with only 15,000 miles separating the two; fewer than two dozen satellites were destroyed. Now was the time to implement Jarvick's plan to keep it from hitting the moon. If it were to hit the moon in one piece, both bodies would be shattered into pieces causing unpredictable environmental disruptions on Earth. There would also be thousands of fragments from the collision ejected toward the Earth that would become dangerous meteors. Jarvick told them his plan. He instructed the men at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to utilize the space based lasers and blast the asteroid into pieces after it passed by Earth. The inertia will carry the fragments toward the moon and impact it but not cause as much damage as one big impact, and the men at the JPL agreed.

Jarvick had his ship stationed in a high orbit above the Earth so he could watch the process of destroying an asteroid. There were five large satellites above North America that were used for defensive purposes, but they were pointed AT the Earth. It took the JPL and the Department of Defense a half hour to get them pointed out towards space. When they were ready, Jarvick and Cindy watched on the screen as the five satellites lit up and produced five red laser beams that converged right on the asteroid. After about fifteen seconds, it exploded in a bright flash, but no sound, which doesn't carry in the vacuum of space. The asteroid had shattered into thousands of pieces, almost all of which continued to hurtle toward the moon in an expanding cloud. Several pieces were blown free of the asteroid but shot backwards, away from the asteroid toward Earth. One of them, about the size of a car, hit Jarvick's ship with a loud explosion on the port side of the cargo bay.

Jarvick grabbed Cindy's arm and dragged her down the ladder to the utility locker. He handed her a jump belt and hurriedly put on his. With the air in the ship getting down to dangerous levels, he hit both buttons on the belts and they disappeared, just as the ship exploded.

Jarvick and Cindy found themselves in a small café, which was closed and dark. Jarvick recognized the interior and sat down at one of the tables.

"Sit down, I know where we are." Jarvick pointed at the chair opposite him.

Cindy sat down "Oh really? Where are we?"

"My brother works close by; we met here a few days ago. This place should be open pretty soon."

Cindy looked around as she sat down and said "I guess your ship is gone, isn't it?"

Jarvick nodded and said "I think it blew up. There's going to be a lot of trash floating around up there for awhile, most of it should fall to Earth and burn up in re-entry."

"How are you going to get back home?"

"I don't know. I think what will happen is someone back on Gavilon; my Captain probably, will wonder what happened and send a cruiser to find out. Now that the authorities here on Earth know there is another inhabited planet in the galaxy, any ship that arrives to investigate will be noticed and they will try and communicate with it. By the way, where is this Jet Propulsion Laboratory I was talking with? Jim was talking to me from there."

"I think it's in California, why?"

Jarvick yawned and said "Jim said the people there were very interested in meeting with me and I want to keep in touch with them in case a ship does show up; I'll need to let them know I'm here."

Cindy stood up and began to look around, "If he was in California, he won't be back until much later today. If we can get out of this place, my friend's apartment isn't that far; we can go there and get some rest."

Jarvick had already moved to a booth along the wall and laid down on the bench seat. "I'm sure the owner of this place will wake us up when she gets here."

Cindy laid down on the bench opposite Jarvick and said "And then have us thrown in jail."

He yawned again and said "I'll tell her we just saved the planet, she'll thank us."

# PART 2

CHAPTER 1

Three months after the asteroid was destroyed in a spectacular explosion between Earth and its moon, there are still after-effects from the near disaster; some known by scientists and space observers and some unknown. The most highly educated and qualified people are still studying the events that transpired; some from NASA in Houston, more from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, and many more from around the world. Most of the asteroid's pieces spread out in an enormous cloud after it exploded and are now racing toward the Sun but a large number of them hit the moon and created new craters. The meteors that impacted ranged from basketball sized rocks to a few that were as big as a house. For the first few weeks after the impacts there was a cloud of dust that had taken time to settle back down to the lunar surface, blocking any view from Earth. What concerns the scientists now is that the combined impact of these meteors may have altered the moon's orbit, and they were focusing range-measuring laser beams at it to gauge any changes that may have occurred, even down to the nearest foot.

For the most part the people of Earth knew something unusual happened in space; that an asteroid had barely missed the planet and blew up, but the U.S. Government asked that the JPL and NASA not to say anything about the presence of anybody from another planet. Jarvick had spent the last few months meeting with people from these agencies and was asked to keep a low profile. He had lived with his brother, Jim and his wife, but felt like he was intruding too much; and after getting closer to Cindy, she and Jarvick moved back to her place in San Diego. With the JPL being located in Pasadena, he had rented a small apartment nearby and spent three or four days there and the rest at Cindy's. It was much closer than Phoenix and Jarvick had struck up a friendship with Terry Anderson, the chief at the Lab. He and Jarvick were working with another man, a Japanese immigrant by the name of Binchiro Watanabe, who told everybody to just call him "Ben". His area of expertise was metallurgy and the composition of moons, planets, asteroids and whatever bodies existed in the solar system.

Even though Jarvick was a detective by trade, the other men found him extremely intelligent and were fascinated that someone from another planet had traveled such a great distance and knew so much about space travel. The JPL hired him as a consultant knowing he would need a job, and everyone at the lab was thrilled that they had an "alien" on the payroll. Jarvick had spent many hours over that last months with these men talking about where he was from and using computerized charts to locate his home planet. They wanted to know everything about it, especially the practice of sending one twin to Earth because of the telepathic connection. There was even talk of conducting experiments with him and his brother at a later date.

Jarvick had met with some other government officials to discuss the presence of other aliens that had come from Gavilon. He assured them that the practice of separating twins had stopped twenty years ago upon the development of the drug that disabled the telepathic connection that was inherent in them. It is made from the seed pods of the Pyka tree, only grown in the Eastern Province on Gavilon; it had been found growing on the western shore in an old growth forest that followed the Nidak River. Most of the food grown on Gavilon is produced in this province and the main source of water is the massive Nidak, which begins in the Central Mountains and makes its way westward toward the sea. A large part of the Eastern Province is farmland except the southern tip, where there is a Solinium mine, and the western shore, where the Directorate ordered that the natural habitat be left in place. The Pyka produces these seed pods only every two years, and they are collected and taken to the Western capital of Vendorra for processing.

Jarvick had run out of his pills months ago and was relying on his training and discipline to keep from connecting with Jim, but it was getting more difficult every day. Sometimes he would catch a thought or two of Jim's and he would do the same, at which point one of them would apologize and break the connection. There were also times where they would have a long conversation about something and ignore the people around them. One time Jim and his wife Sylvia were at a restaurant and Jim had a thousand yard stare on his face and wasn't listening to anything his wife was saying. He and Jarvick were talking about the absence of any further contact from Gavilon when Sylvia waved her hand in front of his face and said "Hellooo, Earth to Jim." Jarvick laughed and broke the connection, but was still concerned that there had been no ship sent to find out what happened to him.

Something was very, very wrong.

CHAPTER 2

Jack Thompson had made the long drive south from Darwin to Alice Springs three days ago and was only now to the point that he could do what he came here to do. If you're a Geologist and you want to explore Australia's Outback, there are a few things that have to get done first before you can hop in your jeep and drive out into the middle of nowhere. You have to find living quarters with air conditioning to get out of the January heat. He had rented a one room bungalow on Knuckey Avenue in Alice Springs; it had a small kitchenette, a cramped bathroom, a lumpy queen sized bed and a noisy window unit that managed to keep the place cool enough. Jack had found a small grocery a few blocks over when he was renting his post office box. He had brought several jugs to hold water but he wanted to find an extra spare tire in case he ran into trouble while out in the desert here.

Jack finished tying down the spare and made sure his geology tool bag was in the back before starting up the jeep and heading east toward Stuart Highway. It is the main north-south road in Alice Springs. If you head north and drive for 15 hours you'll find yourself in Darwin on the northern coast. Heading south for 13 hours will put you in Port Augusta on the southern coast, which puts this place in just about the center of Australia. Jack was only going about a mile north, then he turned right on Herbert Heritage Drive, which was a dirt road only about two miles long and ended abruptly at the old telegraph station. It stopped in the middle of the desert only because there was nothing else beyond it except desert, which is exactly where he wanted to be. He made sure the jeep was in four wheel drive and turned the steering wheel hard left and headed northeast, to nowhere in particular.

The desert here isn't like a "desert" in the classical sense, where there is nothing but white sand and sand dunes. The dirt is a reddish color and there are ravines and canyons with rocky ledges, carved out of the ground by the rare rain storms that happen here. The majority of the landscape is flat and level with sparse grasses and shrubs and an occasional Acacia tree struggling to survive. The lack of water available has limited the wildlife to a few lizard species, some red kangaroos and the rare Bilby, which resembles a big eared rat. One of the lizards that is able to exist in this harsh environment is the Thorny Devil, whose diet consists of only one type of black ant.

Jack kept the jeep's speed at a slow pace, no more than twenty miles per hour, because he was just out looking around and exploring. He wanted to find a ravine that exposed the underground layers of the earth, perhaps find a few interesting rocks, or dig in the dirt near a billabong; he had taken two weeks off for this and wasn't in any hurry.

After a few hours of exploring the jeep reached the crest of a small hill which gave Jack a good view of the landscape ahead. At the bottom of the hill in front of him was a small ravine that had been carved into the ground by a long ago rain storm, but off in the distance to the right was something that looked interesting. From here it looked like a deeper washout but the dirt was much darker, so he descended the hill in that direction. As he got closer, he could see that it wasn't a canyon at all, and the ground looked scorched, like there was a fire. Jack stopped the jeep at a safe distance and shut it off, slowly stepping towards the edge of a huge crater.

It looked like it was about fifty feet across and thirty feet deep. The ground was scarred and blackened, with debris thrown out from the center reaching a hundred yards. At the bottom of the crater was a boulder the size of a small car. Jack picked up his bag from the rear of the jeep and descended into the darkened crater. The meteorite looked like a large chunk of coal, the surface was rough, and upon closer inspection he could see that there were different colored pockets of minerals in it. He walked around it and counted three different colors of these impurities; the blue and the green ones were the size of his palm and looked like glass or crystal. There was also a powdery orange substance that was in a long crack that ran the length of the meteorite. Using the pointy end of his rock hammer, Jack scraped some of the powder into a small pill bottle and capped it. Then, again using the pointy end, he began to try and chip out some of the blue crystalline mineral by striking near the edge of it. The boulder didn't budge; it seemed extremely hard and dense, like iron. Then he tried chipping at the blue part, and it produced a spark. Not like when he hits a piece of flint with his rock hammer and getting an orange spark, more like an electrical spark, bright white and arcing out to his hand and it felt like a shock. None of the blue crystal chipped off so he decided to hit it harder. Jack pulled his arm back and swung it down as hard as he could, striking dead center of the blue part; and the last thing he saw was a very bright flash, then darkness. The explosion cracked the meteorite in half, throwing debris into the air and a cloud of black smoke drifted up and away. Jack's body was thrown halfway up the side of the crater, the upper part of the torso missing. When the sun set and darkness descended on the scene, the only light available was the glow from the blue spots in the fractured meteorite.

CHAPTER 3

Jarvick walked through the laboratory assigned to Ben and into his office just as his printer spit out the last page of a report that he was working on. Ben picked up the sheets and said "Oh, I'm glad you're here, I may have something for you to do. This is a list of geographical locations I need you to check out."

"Sounds like fun, what do you need me to do?" asked Jarvick.

"When that asteroid exploded, we were able to track six fragments that were expelled back towards Earth that did not burn up in re-entry. This is a list of their GPS locations. Most of them came down in the southwestern Pacific Ocean in a line from Hawaii to Australia. The closest one was halfway between Hawaii and Midway Island; the next one was near the Marshall Islands, one in the Marianas, another in the Solomon Islands, then the Coral Sea, and lastly Australia. All of them are underwater except the one in Australia, which is where you'll be going. I'll have the travel department book you a flight tomorrow, take a satellite phone because it's in an uninhabited area, and I'm sure your wristphone won't work there."

Jarvick wished he had a jump belt that worked, but he didn't have access to the computer on his ship that programmed them. When he thought about it, he asked "Did you track what happened to my ship?"

Ben's fingers danced across the keyboard and said "A lot of the pieces either burned up in the atmosphere or splashed down south of Hawaii. There is still a large piece up there, but it is in a degrading orbit. It is expected to come down in about two weeks."

Jarvick's pulse quickened a little, he wondered what had happened to his ship and was trying to figure out how to get back home. "Is there any way to determine what part of the ship is left, and what about bringing it down safely?"

Ben thought a second, and said "The only way to see what's left is to visually inspect it. We also have a satellite retrieval ship that we use to make repairs; we could try to bring it down with one of those. Why? What are you thinking?"

"I would like to get home someday, and I want to see what I can salvage from it, see what may still be usable."

Ben handed the sheets to Jarvick and said "I'll check into it while you're in Australia. Call me when you get there and have a good trip."

Jarvick was awakened by the flight attendant's announcement about the tray tables and seatbacks need to return to their upright position. He was sitting in the window seat, so he yawned and looked out the window, seeing only blue ocean. The travel department had only booked him a flight to Darwin, Australia, gave him a credit card and told him to find his way from there. The GPS coordinates indicated that one piece of the asteroid had landed near a town called Alice Springs. He was to locate the meteorite and report from there.

Looking out the window he could see the waves in the sea getting closer and then land appeared under the aircraft. A minute later he felt the wheels bump the runway and the jet's thrust reverse clamshells deployed. Jarvick had only packed a carry-on bag with three changes of clothes, a pair of work boots, a handheld computer and a satellite phone. While the plane was taxiing toward the terminal, he asked the man next to him "What time is it here?"

"9:45 AM"

Jarvick had to think for a second about his answer, the man's Aussie accent was so thick. "Thanks. What's the best way to Alice Springs?"

"South" is all the man said.

"I'm sorry; maybe I should have asked a more specific question. HOW can I get to Alice Springs?"

This time the man opened up more. "Well, you can rent a car and drive down there but it'll take you all day and then some. Or, you can catch a flight, there's two a day from here. You've already missed this one and the next one is in four hours."

It took a second for Jarvick to process his reply through his Aussie-English mental translator.

"I really don't want to wait that long, know of any other alternative?"

"You could try Charlie's Outback Tours. He's got a small storefront near baggage pickup."

"Okay, thanks. I'll check into that."

The plane came to a stop and people began to stand in the aisle and retrieve their carry-ons. A few minutes later, Jarvick exited the aircraft and walked down the long terminal following the signs for baggage pickup.

Jarvick walked past the rental car counters and saw a hand lettered sign next to a glass door that said CHARLIE'S OUTBACK GUIDE SERVICE. Close enough. He walked into the small office and was greeted by an awful smell and a cloud of smoke, apparently coming from whatever was burning in the glass dish that was sitting on the metal desk. Having never seen or smelled a cigar, Jarvick thought someone had accidently left it burning, so he stubbed it out, erring on the side of caution.

"Hey there mate! That's my stogie!" A leathery skinned man walked out of the bathroom in the back, zipping up his shorts. He was wearing a wide brimmed hat with one side of it folded up, tan colored shorts and a matching button up shirt, both in dire need of washing, and a pair of well worn boots missing the laces. His skin looked like cracked leather, blond hair and blue eyes. He looked about fifty but carried himself as if he were in his mid thirties. The man re-lit his cigar and said "What can I do ya' for?" Jarvick looked around the place and said "I need to get to Alice Springs. I was told you were the man to talk to."

"Have a seat, let's talk business." He said.

Jarvick sat down in the chair next to the rusty metal desk and looked at the large map on the wall. It covered the entire wall and had stick pins in various places. Jarvick pulled his computer out of his bag and located his GPS list. Comparing this to the map on the wall, Jarvick stood up and pointed to a spot on the map and said "I need to go here." He pointed to a spot northeast of Alice Springs.

"No worries, mate. I got a Cessna 180 outside and a ranch right near there. We can fly down there and drive one of my jeeps out to where you want to go. I provide all transportation, food and water, anything else you need is extra. I'm Charlie, by the way."

"Jarvick. Nice to meet you."

Charlie opened a drawer and pulled out a receipt book and a pencil. "Well, now, Mr. Jarvick. When did you want to leave?"

"Now. If you don't mind."

"Now it is. That will be $1500 cash."

Jarvick pulled out the credit card and showed him.

"Cash only."

"I'm afraid all I have is this card." Jarvick said.

"There's a cash machine by the ticket counters."

Jarvick said "I'll be right back" and walked out, following the signs to the ticket counters.

CHAPTER 4

When Jarvick returned to the small office, Charlie had his feet up on his desk and was holding a metal flask, having just taken a drink of something out of it. Seeing Jarvick, he put the flask back into his shirt pocket and put out his cigar. Jarvick handed him the cash and Charlie put it in his pocket without counting it.

"Alrighty then, let's get going. The plane is out this way." They both walked out of the little storefront and around a corner to another door marked AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Charlie pushed it open and they both were outside the terminal in the heat. Jarvick was startled by how hot it was as he followed Charlie toward a small plane that looked like it was in the middle of being repaired. The metal cover behind the propeller covering the engine was open and there were some small hand tools on the ground. The plane had large, balloon like tires and the entire aircraft had a covering of reddish dust. Charlie picked up the tools and put them in a canvas holder and rolled it up. He then closed the engine cowling, opened the door on the left side and threw the tools in the back.

"Throw your bag in the back and walk 'round the other side."

Jarvick did as he was told and when he reached the right side of the plane, Charlie was unwinding a piece of wire that apparently held that door shut. He opened it and motioned for Jarvick to get in. When Jarvick sat down, Charlie closed the door and re-wired the door shut. Getting into his side of the plane, Charlie said "I haven't had time to fix that yet. Put your seat belt on." When he found only ropes where the seat belt should be, Jarvick looked at Charlie with a quizzical look and Charlie said "That too. Just tie it and hold on, we have about a four hour flight."

It took a couple of tries to get the engine to stay running, but they were finally starting to taxi to the runway. The engine noise was deafening, and Charlie pointed to a headset near Jarvick and motioned for him to put it on. Jarvick did so and could hear Charlie speaking to the control tower. When they were cleared for takeoff, Charlie wound up the engine and the old aircraft started to roll down the runway. It lifted off the ground thirty seconds later and began to gain altitude. After a minute or so, Charlie turned the plane slightly to the left and headed south. Twenty minutes into the flight, Charlie began to relax and took out his flask. "Want a snort?"

"What is it?" Jarvick asked.

Charlie handed it to him, "Hooch. I have a still at my ranch."

Jarvick took a small taste and wanted to spit it out, it tasted horrible and burned his mouth. Charlie looked at Jarvick's expression and guffawed, taking the flask back and taking another drink for himself.

Jarvick recovered and shook his head, "That tasted like poison! What's in it?"

"Almost pure alcohol, I've been brewing this stuff for years, a lot cheaper than whiskey, but it's an acquired taste."

"I don't want anymore, thank you." Jarvick said.

Charlie laughed, took another sip and put the flask in his shirt. The next hour was quiet, Jarvick looking out the window at the landscape below, asking questions about something on the ground occasionally. At around 12:30, Charlie said "Lunchtime" and turned the plane toward the right and began to descend. Jarvick couldn't see a runway but the plane was losing altitude anyway. He could see three small buildings ahead as Charlie set the plane down in the middle of a dirt road, slowing and coming to a stop next to one of them. Charlie got out, unwired Jarvick's door, and then they both walked toward a single story building with a sign above the door that said MACKENNAS.

Once inside, Jarvick saw that it was a café on one side and had a bar on the other.

Charlie walked to the bar side where a heavyset man was cleaning a table with his back turned. He slapped the big guy on the back and said "Mac, you old woofer, how ya' been?"

They engaged in a man-hug and conversed a little, then Mac asked Charlie "What are you doing in these parts?"

"I'm taking this yank down to the Springs and we need a couple of sammies and beers."

"Sure thing Charlie, just let me finish up here."

Charlie turned to Jarvick and called him over. "Mac, meet Jarvick, my yank friend."

The two shook hands and then Charlie asked "Mac, you still got that petrol tank out behind the bar?"

Mac said "Yes, but I don't know if it's any good. It's been there awhile."

"Can I have a few liters? I'm a little short."

The two talked a little while Jarvick wandered off in search of a bathroom. When he came out, Charlie was sitting at a table with two plates on it, each containing a sandwich, and two beers. Charlie's beer was already half gone and was working on the sandwich. The two of them ate while Mac and Charlie talked, and when Charlie finished, he stood up and walked over to a table with four men in the corner. Jarvick finished his meal and went over to where Charlie was, and saw that they were playing cards. Charlie said "Sit down and join us, dollar a hand."

"I thought we were supposed to fly to Alice Springs? I'm paying you for the trip, not so you can play cards."

Charlie looked at Jarvick and said "That plane can't fly without petrol, mate. They're putting some in it now, so why don't you sit down and relax."

Jarvick declined and walked outside. There was a man with a large barrel in a wheeled contraption that had a hand pump that he was cranking. The plane was being refueled. Jarvick decided to walk out into the surrounding brush and look at the scenery.

Five minutes had gone by when he heard shouting coming from the bar, so Jarvick ran toward the commotion and saw Charlie running to the plane.

"Get in, Get in!" Charlie got into the pilot seat and Jarvick got into his, without wiring the door.

"Worry about that later, hang on!" Charlie started the engine and gunned it, and the plane was already moving. He taxied a short distance and turned around, then gunned the engine more. As they were taking off, Jarvick saw Mac come out of the bar holding what looked like a shotgun. He asked Charlie what happened, at which Charlie replied "They didn't like having five aces in one deck."

CHAPTER 5

Jarvick could see a small city on the horizon as Charlie put the small plane in a descent toward a dirt runway in the middle of a clearing. He could see where the red dust on the plane came from. Next to the runway there were two hangars and a house. The plane bounced a couple of times then came to a stop next to one of the hangars, then Charlie shut the engine off. A short, dark skinned man walked out wearing only shorts, followed by a dog that had gray hair around its snout, making it look old. Jarvick walked around the back of the plane and toward the group as Charlie said "Jarvick, this is Harry, he's my assistant here." Greetings were exchanged and Charlie told Harry to make sure a jeep was ready to go, then the two men walked to the house followed by the slow moving dog.

They emerged thirty minutes later after a bathroom stop and having a quick snack, greeted by a jeep that was parked right in front of the door. It had two metal jugs strapped to the bumper, one labeled PETROL and one labeled WATER. There was a GPS unit mounted to the dash that Charlie powered on as they got in, the dog jumping in the back seat without being told.

"Okay, sport, show me where we're going on this thing." Charlie pointed to the GPS.

Jarvick pulled out the sheet Ben had given him, and after studying it and the GPS, he moved his finger on the screen and said "Right here" pointing to a spot on it.

"Okay, then. I'll go west to Stuart Rd then head south to the old telegraph road and then head east. We should be there before sundown, buckle in and hang on."

After an hour of rough road, bumps, being thrown around the jeep after being airborne; Jarvick was surprised that the dog was still with them. Evidently he was used to Charlie's driving and learned to stand up and keep his balance during the worst of it. Charlie kept an eye on the GPS as he drove, and the jeep came upon a ridge that overlooked a dark spot in the distance. They headed in that direction and had to drive around rocks and debris in their way as they approached. Charlie stopped the jeep at the edge of a darkened crater and the both of them looked on the grisly scene before them. Halfway down into the crater there was half a man's body, the lower half. At the bottom of the crater there was a black boulder, split in half, that had different colored spots in it. Jarvick knew that this was a piece of the asteroid that had crashed to Earth months ago after the explosion. What he didn't know was why there was a body here, and how it had gotten so badly damaged. It smelled like it had been there a few days, so where was the rest of him?

"Crikey!" Charlie said. "Where did the rest of this bloke go?"

Both of them got out, followed by the dog, Charlie saying "stay here" to it. Jarvick walked down into the crater, avoiding the corpse, and began to study the meteorite. It was hotter down here with no wind and he began to sweat even more. Charlie stayed at the top, removing his hat and wiping his face and brow. "We should tell the Constable about this body when we get back to town."

Jarvick saw in the main fissure between the two halves of the meteorite a blue crystal like mineral at the edges. There were other blue areas in the rock, but this area seemed to be the source of a violent explosion. There were scorch marks around a hole in the fissure, and looking further down into the crack he could see more blue, green and orange spots.

"Jarvick, I think the dog found something" Charlie said from the craters edge. Jarvick looked up to see the dog holding something in its mouth. Charlie took it and said "It looks like a hammer" and walked down to join him. Jarvick took it and saw that it had scorch marks and appeared to be damaged. The handle was intact but the chrome on the working end was burned off and the metal was bent and the pick point was missing.

"He must have been trying to remove a sample from the meteorite, maybe from here." Jarvick said, pointing to the area he was examining earlier. "That blue crystal might be explosive, better stay away from it until we can analyze it."

Jarvick picked up a small pill bottle and opened it.

"It looks like he took a sample from here" pointing to a crack in the rock that held an orange powder. He poured the powder into his palm and looked at it; and as he looked, he watched as the middle of his palm became transparent and he could see through his hand at the ground below it. Charlie looked at it and said "I'll be gobsmacked, how did that happen? Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt; it must have properties that causes whatever it touches to become invisible, unless it reacts to the air or sweat, or skin. Hand me your canteen."

Charlie opened his canteen and poured out some water for Jarvick to wash his hand with. He rinsed off his hand and it became visible again.

"Wow, we have to get this meteorite back to the JPL and study it." The two men climbed out of the crater; Jarvick picked up his satellite phone from the back of the jeep and dialed.

Ben looked at his clock and saw that it was 3:30 in the morning, his phone was ringing, not his alarm clock. He picked it up and managed to mumble a hello.

"Ben, this is Jarvick. Are you awake?"

Ben sat up, "Yes, what did you find?"

"We have to get this meteorite to the lab. It has some unusual mineral deposits embedded in it that we should take a look at. Do you think the Australians would object to us taking it back to the U.S.?"

Ben turned his light on and grabbed a pencil. "While you were in the air yesterday, Terry contacted the Australian Embassy here and told them what we were doing. They said there would not be a problem with us taking it off of their hands. Also, we have arranged for an Air Force cargo lifter to be in the area in case we needed it. Can you get it to Darwin?"

"I think so, but it will probably take about 24 hours. I have to get it moved to a more solid piece of ground so it can be lifted onto a truck. I have a local here with me that may be able to help." Charlie nodded his head yes.

Ben said "Good. The Air Force jet will be at Darwin International in 24 hours. Are you going to ride back with it?"

Jarvick said "No. I want to stop at another impact site and see what else came down. I'll keep you updated."

"Okay, good luck."

Jarvick hit the END button on the phone and turned to Charlie.

"We need to get this rock onto a truck, got any ideas?"

Charlie rubbed the week old stubble on his chin and said "There is a heavy lift helicopter that is used to help with brushfires here. Last I heard, it was over at Yuendumu Airport, west of here. Can I borrow your phone?"

Jarvick handed him his satellite phone and went back down into the crater. He could here Charlie talking as he looked around some more at the meteorite. There was still one more mineral he had not examined yet, the green deposit. Glancing at the blue one, he thought it would be better to leave it alone. The sun was setting anyway, and it would be dark soon, so he went and picked up the damaged rock hammer and climbed out of the crater. Charlie said "The helicopter can be here in an hour, and one of my mates has a flatbed truck. We can load it on that and drive it to Darwin. I also called the Constable about that body; he said he'll be out here straight away."

Jarvick thanked him and they both sat down in the jeep, Charlie's dog jumped in the back, and they waited for the helicopter as the sun began to drop below the horizon. Charlie pointed at the meteorite and said "Well, look at that. It's glowing."

CHAPTER 6

After fifteen hours of taking turns driving, alternating between driving and sleeping, they arrived at the Darwin International Airport. Charlie was driving and Jarvick was pointing out the signs with directions to the cargo terminal. The truck made a turn around a large hangar and they could see the big Air Force jet sitting in front of it. Jarvick had been talking with Ben along the way and had been told to ask for Colonel Williamson, which he did to the security guard at the gate. The guard waved them through and they proceeded toward the big jet, where they were met by two airmen at the ramp into the jet. Charlie and Jarvick got out and an airman began to drive the truck, with the meteorite strapped down to it, into the aircraft.

Charlie asked "When are they going to give my mate's truck back to him?"

Jarvick said "Don't worry; he will be compensated very well for the use of it. We can't risk transferring it to another truck."

Just then, a short but stocky man with a crew cut walked up to them "I'm Colonel Williamson, you must be Jarvick?"

"Glad to meet you Colonel, this is Charlie, it's his truck you're commandeering."

"Good to meet your Charlie, and thanks for the use of the truck. If you give me your contact info, I'll make sure it gets back to you in one piece."

"It doesn't belong to me but I'll let the owner know where it is."

The Colonel said "Tell him we are renting it from him and he'll be paid quite well."

After Charlie gave him his info, the Colonel started to walk up the ramp as it was closing; Jarvick and Charlie walked toward the terminal, then Jarvick asked "How are you going to get back to Alice Springs?"

"No Worries, I'll call Harry and he'll fly up here in my Cessna and pick me up."

"Well, thanks for everything, all your help, I'll never forget it."

Charlie shook Jarvick's hand and said "Look me up next time you're here, it's been a kick."

The two men separated, and Jarvick walked to the ticket counter pulling out the credit card Ben had given him. He only had to wait in line for a few minutes; so when it was his turn, he told the woman behind the counter he wanted the next flight to Guam.

Jarvick was looking at his handheld computer and comparing the map to the GPS coordinates that Ben had given him as the plane landed at the airport on Guam. Located in the western Pacific east of the Philippines, the Marianas' most southern island of Guam also serves as the capital. The Marianas also have fourteen other islands that are located in an arc, all north of here. The one Jarvick wanted to get to was Tinian, a smaller island next to Saipan. On the southern tip is a spot in the ocean called Tatsumi Reef, a shallow area where one of the asteroid fragments landed.

After exiting the plane, he found the ticket counter and arranged for a flight to the Tinian airport. He was told the next flight is in two hours, which Jarvick accepted as a chance to get something to eat and send a note to Ben at the JPL. After finishing a forgettable sandwich, he typed a note into his handheld computer to Ben. _Presently in Guam, going to site #3, Tatsumi Reef near Tinian. Jarvick._

Jarvick walked down the stairs from the twin turboprop onto the tarmac. The Tinian airport terminal resembled a small office building with a tower next to it. Inside, he found a rental car agency that consisted of a desk in the corner with a sign on the wall. He was able to rent one of the three cars in their "fleet", which he found parked outside next to the taxi stand, the keys were in it. It was an old pickup that still ran on gasoline; and when he started it, white smoke billowed from underneath the beast. Exiting the airport property, Jarvick found the road to the south and drove for a half mile before the pavement ended. The road continued, but it was more a dirt path, trees and bushes to the left and beach to the right. He didn't have a plan and wasn't sure what he was going to do yet, so he just drove. When he reached the southern tip of the island, he stopped and walked down to the rocky shore, looking south at the blue water. Off to the left he could see two boats tied to the shoreline. Two young men were next to a fire pit and appeared to be cooking something. Jarvick walked up and introduced himself, noticing the fish on the grill. He explained that he was from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the U.S. and was here on an investigation. The two men invited him to join them, saying they were sailors from the Naval base on Guam, enjoying a day off spear fishing.

"I'm Jay, and this is Mark. You want some fish? We just got it out of the ocean."

Even though he had a sandwich a few hours ago, the fish smelled good, so he accepted and told them he needed a ride out to a spot not far from here. The one called Jay said "We'll be glad to help, where do you need to go?

Jarvick pulled out his computer and showed them the map. He pointed to a spot in the ocean about a half mile out into the ocean.

"You mean the blue hole." Mark said.

Confused, Jarvick said "The blue hole?"

"Yeah, the blue hole. Most of the water out there ranges from five to eight feet deep, except the blue hole. We found it a month ago."

Jarvick asked "How deep is this hole? Have you been in it?"

Jay said "It looks like it's about forty feet deep and we haven't been down to the bottom, but you can almost see it. It looks like there is a boulder at the bottom but you would need a scuba tank to get down there. We just like to snorkel around with our Hawaiian slings and spear fish. There's a scuba rental place in a shack down the beach if you're interested. Did you want a ride out there?"

Jarvick couldn't believe his luck. "That would be nice of you, thanks."

After renting three scuba tanks, Jay and Mark gave Jarvick a quick lesson near the shore and were now dropping the anchor over the side of the boat. On the way out here the water was light blue in color, but they had come to a spot in the reef that was much darker, a deep blue area almost a hundred feet across. Their boat was near the edge of it and they began to put their scuba gear on. Once Jarvick gave them a thumbs up, over the side the three went, where they met at the edge of the hole. Jay flashed an "okay" sign at Jarvick and he replied with the same hand signal, then the three of them descended into the hole.

It was darker and colder at the bottom, but Jarvick could see that the boulder Jay had mentioned was there and it looked like the same kind of fragment that he had found in Australia. It was mostly black with different colored spots scattered in it, but it was twice as big. The two sailors were swimming around it and pointing at the blue and green areas; and Jarvick gave them the hand signal of pointing at a blue area followed by the "throat cut" motion, meaning danger. The two men replied with an okay signal and backed off. Jarvick noticed a spot near the top that looked like a hole in the meteorite two feet in diameter but the small fish nearby were not swimming through it. He tried to put his hand through the hole but something blocked it, like there was a piece of glass in the way. Then he remembered what the orange powder did to his hand, turning it invisible; so he guessed that there must be a deposit of the orange substance in this area of the meteorite.

Jarvick signaled "up" and the three of them surfaced; and the two sailors barraged him with questions about what they had just seen. He answered as many as he could as they returned to shore, where Jarvick thanked them and returned to his rental car. Taking out the satellite phone, he dialed and waited for Ben to answer. It was still early in Pasadena and Ben picked up on the fifth ring, sounding like he had just gotten out of bed.

"Ben , are you awake?"

"Just getting some coffee, where are you?"

"I'm at site #3, getting ready to leave for the U.S."

Ben sipped his coffee, "The Air Force jet from Darwin is due in a couple of hours, did you find the number three fragment?"

"Yes, and I have a warning for you. Be very careful when you examine the blue areas, I'm pretty sure it's a dangerous deposit. I don't know what the green ones are but you're going to find that orange mineral quite fascinating."

CHAPTER 7

Thirty five miles north of Vendorra, in the Industrial Zone, the large three story metal building was dark and appeared to be unoccupied. It was half a block long with a paved area at one end, which normally stored containers of Solinium ore; but the invaders had taken it months ago. The other buildings nearby also were dark and still, as were the rest of them in the Zone, having been idled by the demands of the new rulers of Gavilon. They arrived six months ago unannounced and just took over, surrounding the planet with eight very large ships; only having to resort to violence a few times. Since then, ninety five percent of the population had become complacent slaves for the aliens for some inexplicable reason. The few that didn't had either stayed in the shadows and did their best to survive, or joined with the others to form an underground resistance.

Suddenly, the two large doors on the end of the building slid apart and the ship emerged from the dimly lit warehouse onto the pavement. The doors slid shut just as the ship began to rise into the air and speed off into the darkness. The pilot, Terand, was keenly aware of the danger he faced but he had made the trip five times before and had learned to anticipate the alien's reactions, which were slow compared to his.

The ship had cleared the atmosphere and now is the time to be careful. All eight of the massive ships had some kind of pulsar beam that they use for defensive purposes, and he had seen them destroy three of these clandestine supply ships in the past. He was glad that his brother had stayed behind in the underground bunker beneath the warehouse; the resistance needed every one that was available if they were to defeat the invaders and reclaim their planet.

Terand saw the tell-tale flash from the pulsar cannon on the nearest ship, and immediately changed course and speed to cause it to miss. He had to do this three more times before he was out of range of the alien ship's fire, then he sped off on course for Eos. These supply runs were imperative if the people on Gavilon's largest moon were to survive.

CHAPTER 8

Jarvick and Ben were in one of the JPL's four hangars, and in front of them was a large screen displaying the three dimensional image of the meteorite from Australia. It was the result of a backscatter x-ray scan being performed on it in the big room behind the screen. They could see the mineral deposits that were in the fragment; their location and color were shown in detail. Ben was using a joystick control to rotate the image to get a better view of each section, and recording the image to a file in the computer for later analysis. Every three or four seconds a color print would eject from the printer.

"How are we going to extract the mineral deposits without blowing ourselves up?" Jarvick asked.

"We are going to use the laser cutter, guided by the scans we're doing now. The computer will control the process, but it's going to be done in a blast proof room, just in case" said Ben.

"I know the blue crystal is dangerous, I have an idea about the orange one, but I didn't have a chance to examine the green one. I'm real curious about it, too" said Jarvick.

Ben released the joystick and picked up the printouts.

"We are going to move it to the cutter in an hour, so you'll have your chance this afternoon, if everything goes well. The one from the Marianas will be here tomorrow and we will start processing that one too." Ben said. The two men were walking toward his office at the other end of the hangar. Jarvick turned toward Ben and asked "Did you look into arranging a trip up to what's left of my ship? I really would like to check it out."

"Yes, I did, and you're in luck. One of our communication relays over Hawaii is not responding. NASA is sending up an ORCA in two days to get it; and there should be room for your wreck, too."

"What is an ORCA?" Jarvick asked.

"It stands for Orbital Retrieval Craft; they just put an A on the end to make it sound good. It's a large, fat spacecraft that looks like the killer whale, so we think it's named correctly. It takes off on the horizontal, like an old airplane, then transitions to space with a burst of speed. It has two large doors on the top that open up to release or pickup a payload. When it returns to Earth, it does a normal re-entry then lands like an airplane again. It really is a remarkable aircraft, and very useful in the space business."

Jarvick's heart seemed to skip a beat. "They have room for me?"

"Absolutely. You'll need to be at Edwards by tomorrow night for a pre-launch briefing."

After having lunch, Jarvick wandered over to Ben's lab and walked in the door. Three long tables had been set up in the middle of the lab and men were pushing carts in with different colored rocks on them. On the first table there were several blue samples varying in size, the largest one two feet in diameter. The second table had orange ones, and the third one had some green ones. These were the mineral deposits from the meteorite; the cutter Ben mentioned had done a precision job removing them.

"Hey, that was fast." Jarvick said to Ben, who was walking out of his office.

"I'm going to be analyzing these samples over the next week, and I'm going to hold off on the blue one because of what you said about it possibly being explosive. The guys who carried in the green samples said it was very light, but I'm curious about the orange one. What did you find out about it?"

Jarvick explained how he poured the orange powder into his palm in Australia, then how it turned transparent. He also told him about the invisible hole in the one at Tatsumi reef.

Ben asked him "Were you sweating when you poured the powder in your hand?"

"Yes, it was hot down there."

Ben then said "Saltwater. This orange mineral must react with the salt in the water, and your sweat; or the combination of salt AND water. It will take more tests but I need to put all three through the mass spectrometer first. That will give us a base to work from."

"I'm pretty sure the blue crystal killed a man. I found a dead guy next to this meteorite and evidence of an explosion. I think he was trying to knock out a sample of it and it reacted to the blow from his rock hammer. Maybe it is sensitive to external force."

Ben nodded, "That sounds plausible. That could also explain why there was such a large explosion when the asteroid blew up."

When Ben mentioned the asteroid destruction, Jarvick remembered being on his ship with Cindy when it happened, and asked "Do you need me here anymore? I need a day off to get ready before going up there. I haven't been to San Diego in a week."

"Go see your girlfriend, Jarvick, and be back here tomorrow afternoon in time to catch the shuttle to Edwards. I've got everything under control here."

CHAPTER 9

Jarvick stepped off the shuttle bus at the Edwards Air Base parking lot in front of a small building marked CREW TRANSFER STATION. He had spotted a large aircraft on the runway behind this building a half mile before arriving here and couldn't wait to get a closer look at it. Pushing the double doors open, he was greeted by a security station where he showed his JPL identification and was escorted to a room full of lockers. An attendant that was there greeted him and began to explain what he could expect on the trip and showed him to a locker. Inside was a suit he was told to put on. It was a heavy space suit, with a metal ring for a helmet and mounting for a backpack of some kind. It also had heavy gloves and large, clunky boots that made it difficult to walk. Because he felt as though he was a guest here, Jarvick had made it his personal policy not to remark on Earth's older technology; so he managed to keep his giggles and snarky comments to himself. Thoughts of returning home came more frequently than before and he worried a little more each day that passed without hearing that a patrol from Gavilon had arrived.

He had joined five other people in a small classroom for a pre-flight briefing, which lasted two hours; where he met the flight commander Karen Johnson. Afterward, all the crew members lined up and walked out onto the runway, where Jarvick saw the enormous space plane sitting on the pavement. It was a monster of an aircraft, three hundred feet long, with a wingspan that was almost twice that. The wings were triangular, or "delta" shaped, like he was told in the briefing; and each one had five large round engines under each one. What made it so unusual, though, was the main fuselage. Where a round tube should have been, there was what looked like a whale; an oversized tube behind a small nose-like cockpit. It really looked like an ORCA with wings. Above the wings, mounted on the huge fuselage, were two long cylinders; obviously the booster rockets. It was sitting on a long runway that terminated a half mile away with a ramp that curved up into the air hundreds of feet. Jarvick was so busy staring at it that he had to be nudged from behind by one of his fellow crew members.

The stairs were pushed up to the crew section, and Jarvick climbed up into the space plane. The flight deck was located in the smaller nose section in front of the balloon-like main fuselage. Since he was just an observer and passenger, his assigned seat was in the back against the starboard bulkhead. The pilot, copilot and navigator seats were forward with some kind of console in front of each one; and the seat opposite Jarvick's was for the cargo specialist. Before he sat down, he looked through the window mounted in the center of the rear bulkhead and saw the huge cargo bay, massive and empty.

"Okay everyone, seatbelts on and tray tables back to the upright and locked position, we're ready for departure." said Commander Johnson. After a few minutes of preparations and radio exchanges, Jarvick could feel the craft begin to move. He could feel the vibrations of the engines and hear a thunderous rumble, thinking it must be deafening outside of the aircraft. The only window to the outside was in the front and he couldn't see it because of his location. After forty five seconds of shaking and rumbling, the plane tilted upward and he could feel it being thrown into the air. They gained altitude and the flight smoothed out as everyone relaxed and went through their scripted routines. Twenty minutes later Jarvick heard the Commander announce "We have a go for exit, prepare for zero G's." then she counted down from ten. When she reached one, she flipped a lever and Jarvick felt himself being pushed back into his seat before he heard the roar from the rear of the space plane. He felt the nose lift up and the force pushing him into his seat became stronger, making it hard to breathe. Three minutes passed, then the feeling reversed and he felt as though he was falling up; they were now outside Earth's atmosphere and in space.

Jarvick couldn't get used to being weightless, so he stayed buckled in his seat as he watched the crew go about their duties. They were preparing to capture a malfunctioning satellite, which he understood to be a few miles ahead of them. Robert, the cargo specialist, was standing in front of a rear-facing console looking out the cargo bay window. He had freed up the robot arms that were used to catch and release satellites and he turned to Jarvick and said "Mr. Jarvick, would you like to see Earth from space? I'm opening the bay doors."

He didn't want to tell him that he had seen it before, so he got out of his seat and moved toward the window; grabbing whatever handhold he could find. Flying without gravity was a pain in the neck.

"Coming up on Objective one" announced the Commander as Jarvick watched the massive doors open to reveal a view of Earth beyond. Sunlight brightened the interior of the cargo bay and the robot arms were extended out past the edge of the plane. A small satellite slowly drifted into view with the blue oceans below acting as a backdrop. It took a half hour for the pilot to maneuver the ship close enough so that Robert could use the arms to grab the satellite and gently pull it into the cargo bay.

"You're up Mr. Jarvick" said the Commander. "Suit up, it's time to earn your ride."

"Excuse me?" said Jarvick.

"Somebody has to go out and tie down that satellite, and you are to assist Mr. Knudson" the Commander said as she pointed to Robert, as he closed the big bay doors. Jarvick thought _They didn't tell me this_ as he was getting his helmet on, then he remembered that Ben had arranged this trip and made a point to ask him about it when he got back.

With the satellite secured, Jarvick had returned to his seat to rest. It took them two hours to secure the satellite and now the pilot was maneuvering the ship towards what was left of his.

"What exactly are we going to pick up, Mr. Jarvick?"

Jarvick had prepared a story for this and said "It's a piece of leftover space debris, the remains of a failed experiment. I need to examine it to see if it's salvageable or to let it just burn up in re-entry."

"Roger. I'll let you know when we get close and it is in sight."

An hour and a half later, he was called up to the pilot area where he could look out the front windshield; and what he saw floating in space in front of them startled him.

"That looks like a piece of space junk." said the Commander. "You really want to bring that back?"

Jarvick couldn't believe what he was seeing; his ship was mostly gone, except the front ten percent, where most of the controls and the propulsion systems were located. The cargo bay, which made up ninety percent of volume of it was gone, but the most important parts were still there. He could see the bridge and the deck below it, but where the cargo section should have been, there was a ragged and torn metal edge where the explosion had ripped it away. It looked like it may even fit into the cargo bay of this space plane. His mouth was wide open, but not for the reason the crew thought; because he now had hope of returning home.

CHAPTER 10

A week later, Ben was in his laboratory when Jarvick walked in; the tables with the samples from the asteroid had been removed. When Ben noticed Jarvick, he asked him how his trip went.

"They put me to work up there."

"Sorry, that was the only way I could get you a seat. Did you bring anything back down?"

"Yes, the bridge section. It was blown free of the rest of the ship and it looks like there is some equipment that is salvageable. It took us a while to get it in the cargo bay, but it's now on the way here on a flatbed truck with a tarp over it. I stayed at Edwards to arrange the transfer; where can I put it when it gets here?"

Ben thought a moment, then said "Have them deliver it to the Mars Hangar. It's on the east end of the campus, next to the Mars Yard."

"Mars Yard?" asked Jarvick.

"Fifty years ago, they built a spacecraft called the Mars Rover. It was used to remotely explore Mars and send back pictures and data. They built a mockup of the Mars terrain so they could test the rover in it. The hangar isn't used anymore and it's empty; so it should be big enough for your needs."

Jarvick looked around at the lab and asked "Where are all the rocks that were here?"

"I moved them over to the building next door. It's bigger and we have room for three separate labs that we set up. We've discovered some interesting things about your asteroid deposits; come on, let me show you." Ben motioned for Jarvick to follow him as they left through a side door out of the lab. Ben led him through a short, narrow hallway that ended at a locked door with a sign that said HANGAR 2 on it. Ben had to swipe his ID through a card reader, the door clicked, then opened into a large aircraft hangar that had partitions that separated three different areas of the concrete floor. They were standing in a roped off walkway that ran the length of the hangar, and there were men in lab coats typing into their computers amid a sea of scientific equipment.

The two of them walked to the far end of the hangar to the first section where there were tables and platforms set up with test equipment and computers, electrical wiring and meters, scales, welding gear, a blast shield and various other experimental equipment that Jarvick had never seen before. There was a handwritten sign that said BLUE STATION, and Ben turned to Jarvick and said "Obviously, this is the area where the experiments on the blue crystal deposits were done. We found that it has at least two characteristics, or properties, that we know of. The first one is that it can be a source of an enormous amount of electricity under the right circumstances. The second is that it has some kind of kinetic projection forces that we are still trying to define. When we put the crystal under pressure, like squeezing it in a vice or putting it under weight, it generates a large amount of electricity; the greater the pressure, the higher amount of power. It doesn't take much and you have to be careful; if there is no outlet for the power to release to, it builds up and feeds back on itself and there can be catastrophic results. That's probably what happened to your geologist in Australia."

Jarvick nodded and said "That's right, he hit it with a rock hammer and it killed him. What about the kinetic properties you mentioned?"

"The electricity that it generates when under pressure is direct current, or DC, like static electricity, but more like lightning. When we exposed it to alternating current, or AC, different objects around it in the lab moved around by themselves. Most of them moved away from the crystal, and some of them moved closer. This stuff is amazing, but it also has great potential. We're still learning about it."

Ben pointed to a light bulb on a counter. "You see that light that's on? It is being powered by a sample of a blue crystal the size of a pencil eraser that is under a small amount of pressure. We placed a stapler on top of it and ran two wires to the bulb."

Jarvick could only shake his head and say "Wow."

Ben motioned for him to follow and they walked to the second section, the sign read ORANGE STATION.

"This compound is easier and safer to work with, the orange deposit. We think it has only one property; it reacts to sodium chloride, or salt. When you put some in your hand when you were sweating, it turned invisible. When it was submerged in the ocean, it was invisible then too. We don't know how it works, but it has some kind of light refraction capability. Watch this."

Ben picked up a spray can and pointed it at a lamp, spraying it with a liquid. The lampshade disappeared.

"We mixed it with some saltwater and put it under pressure in this spray can. As you can see, it works quite well. The invisibility can be washed off with a little fresh water. Some of the guys around here are real jokers; one of them even sprayed himself and walked around invisible messing with people. We now keep this in a locked cabinet."

Jarvick laughed, "Why isn't the spray can invisible?"

"I think it's because there is no light inside the can." Said Ben.

"What about the green rocks?" asked Jarvick.

Ben began walking toward the third section, "You're not going to believe what we have there." Jarvick followed him to the GREEN STATION sign and the both of them entered into the area.

One of the tables had several pieces of the green crystal on it, and there was a hole in one end of it. Ben picked up one of the pieces and tossed it to Jarvick; and what he saw was just like Ben had said, he could not believe his eyes. When Ben tossed it into the air toward him, the piece no bigger than a grape, gently floated toward him like a soap bubble. Slowly, it drifted in an arc and very lightly landed in his hand, almost weightless, as if it was in slow motion.

All Jarvick could say was "Fascinating!It weighs almost nothing."

Ben then said "We discovered that it also is influenced by an electrical charge, depending on the polarity. With a positive charge, it shoots into the air, as if it is fighting against gravity. With a negative charge, its weight seems to amplify."

Ben pointed at the hole in the table. "That is the result of one our tests. It crashed through the table and hit the floor very hard." Jarvick could see the splintered edges around the hole, and said "It's just like Kalderite!" as his mind started racing and ideas were taking shape, then he thought about his brother.

_Jim, I'm going to need your help again_.

CHAPTER 11

There are two large landing pads that serve as cargo docks on the outer edge of the colony on Eos, formally known as Eos City, where ships can land and unload the supplies that keep it functioning. Fuel for energy generation and food supplies are the most important arrivals lately; cargo ships have dwindled down to a trickle since the invaders arrived. Each ship that lands is greeted with enthusiasm after being scrutinized and cleared for arrival through port security. The pre-landing security procedures were not needed in the past, but with Gavilon under control of these alien invaders, screening of each ship arriving became necessary. Ground based weapons were installed, long range sensors constantly scan the skies and nearby space for unannounced visitors, and a group of armed volunteers has been formed as a defense force. The colony on Eos has become an armed encampment and its inhabitants, whose survival depends upon a surrounded and controlled planet, are now focused on expelling the alien invaders. A clandestine resistance exists on Gavilon in the shadows; gathering intelligence, organizing resistance to disrupt the alien activities, and making supply runs to Eos. A command structure has been set up here on Eos; headed by a decisive, larger-than-life man known as Calek. He used to be the Vice Director of Eos City until the invasion; when the Director was killed and his ship was destroyed trying to return to Eos, Calek was unanimously promoted to Director. Now he is in charge of the colony and also what is quickly becoming a military resistance force.

Calek is sitting at the head of a long conference table with six of his assistants, who he has named the Resistance Council. They are made up of the most qualified and capable members of the colony and were the first ones to settle on Eos, which took an amount of grit and determination not often found in most Gavilonians. The Director and his Council were being briefed with the latest status update from their spies on Gavilon. A tall, thin man of about twenty was standing at the opposite end of the table from Calek; holding a laser pointer and reading the latest status briefing, while standing in front of a screen that was hanging on the wall. At the moment, a map of Vendorra was displayed.

"We have five underground bases set up and running, all of them are marked on this map." The man used the pointer to indicate their locations on the map.

"The total number of men and women that make up our force on Gavilon is sixty six. We still have six ships that continue their biweekly supply runs and have become proficient at avoiding enemy fire. The aliens have ninety-nine percent of the population under their control, by what means we have yet to discover, and they are using up the planet's resources every day. Oxygen and fresh water are rapidly being diminished by the alien's activities; they have forced the people of Gavilon into growing some kind of plant-animal hybrid that appears to be how they reproduce. Eighty percent of the Eastern Province is now occupied by these growing operations and the population in the Western Province is the supply chain for them. Our forces there are doing what they can to interrupt the aliens but we are terribly short on manpower." The man reading the briefing sat down.

Calek was the first to speak."We cannot continue like this, we will lose this fight. These aliens are like parasites that eventually kill the host. We must find a weakness or Gavilon will cease to be a livable planet. How are they controlling the people? If we can discover how they are doing it we may find a way of stopping it."

The man to his left spoke up, "There is a small number of Gavilonians that have not fell victim to their control, which makes up our resistance force. If we can find out why this is, we have a chance of fighting it."

Another man across from him said "We have a ship coming in on a regular supply run that has an additional passenger aboard that may shed some light on this. I'm told it is a woman that returned from the Eastern Province after working there, and one of our teams in Vendorra captured and sedated her. She is a controlled slave like the rest of them and we thought if we studied her, she could shed some light on the problem."

"That is an excellent plan; when is the ship scheduled to arrive?" asked Calek.

"It is in the process of landing now, Director."

"Good, put her in the lockup and let me know when she is awake."

His ship has only been on the ground five minutes and there were already a dozen people in the rear cargo area in the process of unloading it. Terand had climbed down the stairs and was walking in the big hallway of the Administration building when a woman security guard approached him.

"The Director would like to see you in his office."

Terand wanted to go clean up and get something to eat, but decided it could wait. "Which way is his office?"

The guard turned around and motioned with her hand "If you'll follow me I can take you there."

After a two minute walk and several turns they reached Calek's office; the Director was sitting at an old desk that had seen better days. On the wall were three monitors displaying various locations of the Colony, including both landing pads.

"Terand, my old friend. How was the trip?" Calek said as he stood to shake the pilot's hand.

"About the same as the last one, except the aliens are getting a little more accurate with their cannon." he said as they both sat down.

"I hear you brought us a prisoner."

Terand shook his head slightly "I wouldn't call her a prisoner, she's more like a victim. My brother talked to her and it appears that she's brainwashed. Before we sedated her, she was saying that the aliens are doing good things for the planet and she was more than happy to help them."

Calek pointed to one of the monitors, it showed the woman being rolled in on a stretcher. "There she is now. A Med Tech is going to wake her up after they put her in the lockup and I'm going to talk with her when they do. You want to observe?"

"No thank you sir, I need to go to my quarters and rest up for a day or two."

Both men stood, and Calek said "Very well, Terand, and good job. I'm glad you are on our team."

The woman had only been awake for a few minutes, but she already knew something was different. She had asked the man that was present when she opened her eyes where she was, he did not respond; he only walked out of the cage she was in and left.

Her cage was in the middle of a large, dimly lit room; with the exception of the bright light directly above her cage. In it with her were a small bed and a chair, which she was chained to. Just now, two men entered into the large room and walked toward her cage. One of the men seemed to be in charge while the other carried some kind of weapon, his guard maybe. The large man approached her and asked "Do you know where you are?"

"No, I do not. Why am I under restraint?"

"I'll ask the questions, if you don't mind." Calek said. "You are on Eos, I'm Director Calek."

The woman stood and said "On the moon, Eos? No Wonder!"

Confused, Calek asked "What do you mean by that? 'no wonder'"

She said "The fog is gone, and I can see."

Calek put his hands on the bars and said "Please elaborate, what fog?"

"When I was on Gavilon, it was like I was in a fog. I seemed to have tunnel vision, bordered by some kind of mist on the edges. Everything I did was like I was in a dream, and I had no control. I watched myself doing things like I was an outside observer, as though another person was in my body. Now it's all gone and I can see."

Calek thought this was promising and asked "Do you feel in control of yourself now, because you're away from Gavilon?"

"Yes. Definitely."

Calek turned to the guard and said "Release her."

CHAPTER 12

Its eleven thirty at night and Jarvick is sitting at the controls of his newly finished, untested space ship that is sitting in one of the JPL's largest hangars. It took three months to build, having salvaged the computers and some of the propulsion system from his old, nearly destroyed ship. The most difficult part was talking his brother into taking a leave of absence from his job to help him engineer the project. Jim has been helping out his brother during the week and shuttling back home on weekends; Sylvia insisted on keeping her teaching job, but both of them wanted to do whatever they could to help Jarvick return home.

After retrieving what was left of the cargo ship; a group of five people, which consisted of Jarvick, Jim, Ben and two other engineers designed and put together this one. It is a hybrid cruiser that combines the technology of Earth, Gavilon, and wherever that asteroid came from. The computers that control navigation, life support and propulsion are strictly from Gavilon. The ship's frame and exterior shell; the rigid structure of the cruiser, is made from the same materials as the ORCA. It has a high strength characteristic yet lightweight enough for this purpose. The rest of the design took some imagination and has never been tested, which is why Jarvick insisted on being the only pilot to put it through test flight.

The ship needed a durable power source; partly to supply energy for the internal systems and computers, and the rest needed for propulsion. The Team, as they called themselves, was able to remove the hyperlight component from his old cargo ship, but they had to make some modifications in order to adapt it to the new power source. Ben and Jarvick had performed a number of experiments on the blue crystal in Hangar 2 and learned what could be done safely with the mineral. They even gave it a name; with azure being a shade of blue, the Team named it Azurite. They also discovered that if they used a blue laser to cut the crystal into the shape they needed, it didn't trigger a violent reaction. Ben suggested that in order to get the most out of the Azurite, it needed to be in cut into cubes. The blue laser cutters were able to make six cubes out of the biggest crystal extracted from the meteorite. Jim engineered an ingenious system to mount the Azurite in that was able to safely contain and control the power produced by these cubes. It consists of six ceramic clamps that do not conduct electricity, and they are able to exert a precisely controlled amount of pressure on the Azurite to produce the desired amount of power, which is channeled into the ships main power circuit. A separate and much larger dedicated circuit is used to transfer power to the hyperlight propulsion system. Jarvick also wanted a circuit installed that enabled him to supply Alternating Current to the Azurite so he could experiment with its kinetic energy characteristics. He remembered Ben describing them in the lab, where some objects moved away from it, but they didn't have time to explore them yet.

The ship, which was 75 feet long and 35 feet around, looked like a big cigar and sported a greenish tint. This was due to the thin coating on the exterior using refined particles from the green crystal extracted from the meteorite. Jarvick had obviously named it Kalderite, after its namesake from Rylos, and its purpose is the same as the original; to propel the ship by gravitational reflection and attraction. The speeds that can be achieved with it are relatively slow inside a planet's atmosphere and increase in the vacuum of space; but never approach that of the hyperlight drive. Incredible speed can be reached using this Gavilonian technology and Jarvick was anxious to find out if it still worked; the only way to test it is in space. He was able to test out the onboard computers successfully, he even programmed one of the two jump belts he still had; but the biggest test was tomorrow. A few minor functional tests were done here in the hangar, but tomorrow the ship will be moved out onto a launch pad and he will begin flight testing the Team's creation. Climbing down from the ship, Jarvick wondered if he will be able to sleep.

Ben and Jim were waiting for him when Jarvick walked into Ben's office at 8:30 A.M.; the two of them were drinking coffee.

"Are you ready to be a test pilot?" Ben asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be" said Jarvick.

Ben pointed toward the door to hangar 2 and said "I've already had the ship moved out to the launch pad and set up our command center so we can monitor your flight." The group then walked to the hangar; and Jarvick could see a make shift office had been put together in a corner, complete with computers, monitors and a communication center. The big hangar bay doors were open and he could see his ship out there sitting on the pad.

"Okay, Jarvick, I think you should stay within Earth's atmosphere on this first flight; don't push it too hard just yet. Here is your flight suit and we have already tested the communication link. Good luck." Jim shook his hand. Jarvick put the suit on and tested the comm link as he climbed the stairs to the ship. "Ben, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear. Go for lift off."

Jarvick took a seat in the pilots chair and belted himself in. He had practiced this in his head many times, but this is the first time he did it with power applied. After flipping a few switches on the console, lights came up and monitors clicked on; and his ship came to life. Jarvick took the controls and after a few seconds, it lifted off the ground and began to rise. At first it was a little unstable, Ben suggested an adjustment in the Navigation computer, and then the ships movement began to smooth out. Jarvick took the ship higher and increased its speed as he soared above the JPL and the surrounding area; and all the while he became more optimistic that he was going home, because the ship was working.

Over the next three days, Jarvick and the Team put the ship through more extensive tests. The Kalderite coating was working like it was supposed to, the Azurite power system seemed reliable, but Jarvick wanted to venture out into space. Ben was reluctant to allow it because he felt it was too soon, so Jarvick stayed within Ben's test protocol. Then one day he was at an altitude of fifty thousand feet, Jarvick decided it was time to take the ship where it was designed to go and pointed the ship out into space. Increasing speed and altitude, he could hear Ben's voice in his headset and ignored it; and within a minute he could feel Earth's gravitational pull less and less, and then he was in space.

After orbiting the Earth once, which only took fifteen minutes, Jarvick returned and landed at the JPL. Ben and Jim were waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

Ben said "We haven't finished testing the life support systems yet, but you just did. How did it handle in orbit?"

Jarvick took off his helmet and said "I want to go to the moon tomorrow and test the hyperlight drive."

"I can't see a reason why not" replied Ben.

The next day, Jarvick had the ship in a low orbit when he heard Ben on the radio, "Okay, Jarvick, take it easy on the power system at first; and keep an eye on the monitors."

"Will do. Going hyperlight now", Jarvick said as he made a few changes in the Navigation computer; and then engaged the untested system for just a couple of seconds, even then not all the way. The next thing he sees through the front screen is the lunar surface, craters and all. He had sped through space at just under light speed and the ship survived. He was ecstatic, and a big smile was plastered on his face; he was going home at last.

CHAPTER 13

Ben, Jarvick, Jim and the rest of the team were sitting in Ben's office going over the performance reports from the last flight Jarvick had taken to the moon. The report contained all the data from the sensors that were built into the most important parts of the ship; the power system, the navigation and guidance systems, and the hyperlight drive. The only errors that appeared in the report were minor ones that could be corrected through adjustments in the computers. There was one anomaly in the data stream that the Team was trying to understand that had nothing to do with the ship's performance; it had to do with the outside air pressure during Jarvick's ascent toward orbit. The men were looking at a graph on the screen and Ben pointed to a spot and said "Right here, Jarvick, there is a negative spike in air pressure on the outside of the ship. I don't see anything in the log indicating a cause. Did you change anything in the controls?"

Jarvick thought a second and said "Do you remember when we were designing the power systems, and I asked that I have a way to apply AC to the Azurite?"

"Yes, I do." Jim said. "You said you wanted to experiment with it."

"According to the time stamp in the graph, that's when I tried it out. I have a switch on the panel that isn't wired into the logging system; we didn't have the time. I pushed that switch during the ascent to see what it would do and saw nothing, so I disregarded it."

Ben then said "Well, it did something that affected the air pressure."

Jim scooted forward in his seat "The Azurite, being exposed to Alternating Current, may have produced some kind of force field. You said it moved some objects around in the lab when you were experimenting with it."

Jarvick's face lit up "That's right! It must have produced a force field around the ship when I pushed the switch!"

"That could prove to be useful" said Ben.

"We have to test it. I need to know how effective it is" said Jarvick.

Ben asked "Why don't we try some low velocity tests while it is on the ground first?"

"Then we can move to the higher speed tests later" said Jim.

Over the next week, more test flights were performed on the ship and followed up with the usual performance reviews, which were all satisfactory. The Team also started testing out the force field; first by throwing objects at the ship, which all bounced away harmlessly, then graduating to higher speed tests. They eventually came to the conclusion that the best way to test the force field was to shoot a bullet at the ship as it was flying past the JPL landing area. Everyone agreed that if the test failed, there would be an element of danger and repairs would have to be done on the ship. Jarvick accepted the risk and the test was performed as planned, which it passed. The bullet never struck the ship, it bounced off his force field and fell to Earth.

The Team decided that the ship was as ready as it ever will be and Jarvick agreed; it was time for him to go home. He had been discussing this with Cindy, explaining that the trip was long and could be hazardous, but she chose to return to Gavilon with him. She didn't have any family here on Earth and the two of them had become fond of each other, and Jarvick thought it would be nice to have the company on the three week trek back home.

Two days later, on a Wednesday, they left. Cindy packed lightly, only the barest necessities, as did Jarvick. After saying his goodbyes to his brother and the Team at the JPL, he thanked them profusely for all their help. He also made sure that there were three boxes loaded on board in the small cargo area in the rear of his ship, each containing extra samples of the crystals that made this return trip possible. The one with the blue crystal was in a padded metallic case to protect it, the ones with the green and orange crystals were in their separate boxes, and all three were strapped down to the deck. The Team had engineered a gravity control system for inside the ship, but only the front part where the "crew" resides, not the cargo area. Jarvick took one last trip through the hangar at the JPL to pick up a few things that he thought may be useful on the return trip and boarded the ship.

They had just passed the moon when Jarvick increased the ships speed and turned to Cindy, "I loaded a lot of books into the computer to help us pass the time; we don't have any hypersleep units on board so we are going to be reading a lot."

Cindy asked "How long is it going to take?"

"About three weeks, just under light speed, if the hyperdrive keeps working. We have enough nutrition tablets for a month if something goes wrong."

"I'm perfectly happy to spend three weeks alone with you" said Cindy.

The next day they passed Mars and Jarvick turned on the force field, in case he made a mistake going through the asteroid belt. After Jupiter he would activate the hyperdrive.

When Jarvick saw that they were clear of the asteroid belt, he remembered the last time he was in this area of space. Jupiter was within sight and there was a large asteroid here that didn't belong. Now, Jupiter's orbit had taken it farther away and appeared a lot smaller; and Jarvick had thoughts of home and why he has not heard from them.

It was time to engage the sub-light speed hyperdrive and Jarvick wondered if their engineering of the power system was up to the task of the three week trip _. There is only one way to find out_ he thought, so he programmed the Nav computer and powered up the hyperdrive. Cindy watched the front screen as the stars went from white dots to bright streaks as the ship surged to just under the speed of light. Jarvick monitored the readings on the computer and noticed that they weren't going as fast as during the trials, and then he saw that he had left the force field on. He turned it off and the speed indicator moved up a little bit, so he made a mental note of it. Evidently, the force field activation degrades the power crystal's performance.

Jarvick and Cindy climbed down into the compartment behind the bridge. It was a small room with a padded sitting area along the wall with a table in the middle that had two handheld computers sitting on it. The room was designed for relaxing and passing the time. There was a berthing compartment to the rear of this one, and the cargo room was behind that, where the gravity control system did not reach. Cindy stretched out on one of the couches as Jarvick went farther aft toward the cargo room. After opening the hatch, he stepped into the dimly lit room and began to float toward one of the boxes he had picked up from the JPL. It was secured on a shelf above the crystals and after opening it he took inventory of its contents. In it he saw his two jump belts, a few hand tools, about a half dozen boxes that were one inch across, (these contained small samples of the crystals), a jar that held a gallon of saltwater, and three spray cans that had orange labels. He took out the jump belts and closed the box, then returned to the world of gravity up forward where he saw Cindy reading something on the computer.

Jarvick sat down on the other couch, ate a nutrition tablet and turned on his computer to read something. It was going to be a long, boring trip.

CHAPTER 14

Two and a half weeks of reading, sleeping, getting to know each other and keeping an eye on the ship and its course; Jarvick almost didn't notice the small alarm light on the control panel indicating a proximity alert. He was on the bridge checking on the power levels of the Azurite when he saw it; meaning that the ship might be on a near collision course with another object, so he immediately dropped the ship out of hyperlight speed. What he saw on the front screen confused him at first, until he realized what was happening. There appeared to be an extremely large ship, probably five hundred yards long, chasing a faster and more agile smaller ship, closer to the size of his. The behemoth was firing some kind of weapon at the smaller ship as it was trying to get away. Jarvick had to turn the ship sharply to the right to avoid colliding with it, and ended up behind the massive ship. Just as he was about to increase speed in order to get as far away from this scene as possible, he saw a large ball of light shoot past the ship on the right side. He saw it on the front screen as he was reaching for the hyperlight control; so instead of engaging it, he instinctively turned on the force field in case that was a weapon aimed at him. Just as he did so, he felt an explosion that shook the ship so violently he thought that it had come apart and blew up because the lights went out and he felt weightless. After a few seconds of confusion, he could see the dim light from the computer screens that he was still alive. Jarvick then tried engaging the hyperlight drive, but the control didn't respond, so he bumped the sublight Kalderite speed to as fast as it would go. He didn't know which direction he was going and didn't care, as long as he put some distance between them and that big ship that was shooting at them. The lights came back on just as Cindy floated into the bridge and Jarvick was scanning all the controls to see what still worked.

"What happened!?!" Cindy asked as she put on her seatbelt.

"We almost collided with an alien ship, and it was shooting at another one. I guess they saw us and assumed we were with them and started shooting at us. I'm pretty sure the force field took the brunt of the attack but we were still hit. I need to go back and check on the power crystals, the hyperlight drive isn't working. Keep an eye on that big ship in the middle of the screen and if it starts heading our way come get me." At that, Jarvick floated off the bridge and started working his way back to the propulsion and power compartment.

As soon as he opened the hatch he was confronted with disarray and chaos. What should have been safely stored away on shelves and locked down, objects were floating around in the air and Jarvick had to push it away as he entered. Hand tools, spools of spare wiring, extra boxes of nutrition tablets, water bottles and other debris of various kinds had broken loose from their storage locations and were floating around in zero gravity. This part of the ship must have taken most of the force from the attack. He grabbed onto the shelves to move about the cabin and worked his way toward the power crystals. When he got there he saw the reason why the hyperlight drive was malfunctioning. There was a piece of ceramic with a power coupling that supplied power to it that was cracked; evidently it was damaged during the attack. Jarvick's heart sunk upon seeing this, so close to home but still so far. They still needed four more days of travel at light speed, and with the hyperlight drive out, it would take two more weeks to get home.

He began to put away the debris that had gotten loose and started thinking of a way to repair the damaged power plant. When he was finished, he made his way toward the rear cargo room to check on it. Just outside the door to it, he saw a cable that had come loose from its mounting on the ceiling, the connector dangling away from its counterpart. On it was a small label with GRAV written on it, indicating it was part of the gravity control circuit. Jarvick reconnected it, and then remembered he was floating weightless as he fell down hard to the deck and heard other things in the ship fall too. Picking himself up, slightly embarrassed, he opened the hatch to the cargo room and peeked in. Everything appeared normal, so he shut the hatch and walked back toward the bridge.

"Thanks for the warning, Jarvick" said Cindy, she was standing outside the bridge rubbing her elbow just as Jarvick recalled that he had left the ship's speed at maximum and heading off into who knows what direction. Jumping into the pilot's seat, he explained to Cindy about the cracked ceramic clamp and that they needed to find someplace to land and try and repair the damage. Cindy pointed at the front screen and said "How about there?"

Jarvick looked up and saw on the screen a fast approaching planet as he slowed the ship; it was blue and green and had what looked like clouds, so it had some kind of atmosphere. There was what looked like a storm on the southern part and a large land mass in the north, with patches of snow on the northern edges. Jarvick moved the ship closer and made some changes on the computer controls so he could do a scan of the planet. There weren't any radio transmissions and he didn't see any other ships in the area; and the planet didn't appear to have any kind of civilization. No buildings that he could detect, no roads, cities or other evidence of intelligent life at all. All he could see on the land mass below was large plains in the north and a lush forest in the south. Jarvick decided to land just on the outer edge of the southern forest, as there was a large river flowing to it from the north. He was thinking that he may be able to find some kind of material that could take the place of the cracked ceramic piece near the river. All he needed was the right kind of stone, and if he could shape it just the right way, they could resume their journey.

Jarvick left the force field on as they entered the planet's atmosphere, slowly descending toward a spot he picked out in a clearing next to the river. With the landing gear extended, he guided the ship to the center of the clearing and set the craft down as softly and as quietly as he could. Both Jarvick and Cindy looked out the front screen intently, looking for any movement in the area that would signal that their arrival had been noticed. Jarvick had landed with the ship facing east toward the river, and the only movement they could see was the current on the river's surface as it headed south, off to their right. He kept the force field on as he ran a thermal scan of the area around them, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing left now was to run an air sample through the computer to see if it was breathable; then he remembered that he was on his Earth-built ship, not his old one. This one didn't have that, so there was only one way to find out if the air outside was okay to breathe, step out into it. From what Jarvick could see out the front screen, the trees and small plants looked like any others he had seen on Earth and Gavilon. If the air was poisonous, wouldn't they look quite different?

Jarvick turned off the force field and powered down most of the ships functions, leaving on only the computers. He told Cindy to wait in the crew quarters until he gave her an all clear, then opened the main hatch and climbed down the ladder. After taking a few breaths and looking around, he didn't feel any adverse effects, so he climbed back up and told Cindy everything was okay. Jarvick picked out a hammer and chisel out of the toolbox in the storage compartment and they both climbed down and began to look around. The air smelled sweet from some kind of flower and the temperature was in the low 80's.

"I'm going to look for some rocks by the river. Try not to wander too far from the ship; we don't know anything about this place."

"Okay" replied Cindy, as she started toward the tree line to the south. She walked about a hundred feet before she was surrounded by tall, large leafed trees that blocked the sunlight. The smaller plants at the base of the trees resembled elephant ears, and she could smell the sweet odor that they had encountered when they first climbed down. The odor was much stronger here in the forest, and Cindy began to crave fruit. She stopped looking up at the trees and started to scan closer to the ground and around her at eye level. There were no trails through the foliage, but it wasn't difficult to make her way around. The groundcover wasn't thick at all, just short, small grasses or bare dirt; probably because of the lack of sunlight. She walked around for about ten minutes, moving slowly and pushing the big elephant ears away, when she found a plant that looked different from all the others. It was like a miniature tree, about four feet tall, with thick limbs and small leaves; and it had some kind of fruit hanging from the end of its limbs. The fruit was round, about the size of a grapefruit, it was bright red with a smooth skin; and it was obvious that this is where the sweet odor was coming from.

Cindy had such a craving for fruit now she decided to pick it from the tree and taste it. She grabbed the red ball and yanked it free from its limb, and a clear sap began to drip from the stem. When she tasted the sap, which was sweeter than any fruit she had ever tried; she began to hear a slight buzzing sound, like it was off in the distance. She tried to open up the fruit by using her fingernails, and the buzzing was getting louder. When the fruit finally gave way, what she saw inside shocked her where she almost fainted, but she dropped it and began to run. The "fruit" dropped to the ground, what was inside began to move and unfold its wings; for inside was what appeared to be a wasp the size of her hand. The buzzing got louder as the swarm of huge wasps came from the south, fifty yards behind her and chasing her. She was running as fast as she could through the elephant ears, and the big leaves were cutting her face as she screamed for Jarvick. He was halfway up the ladder as he looked toward the noise and saw Cindy running out of the trees and entered the clearing; and behind her was a black cloud of buzzing wasps getting closer to her. Jarvick threw the rocks that were in his hand into the ship and reached down to grab her; when he saw one wasp on her back stinging her. She screamed in pain as he slapped the wasp off of her, then he drug her inside and closed the hatch. The buzzing noise was deafening outside the ship, surrounding it, and they could hear them scratching at the hull. Jarvick carried her into the lounge and placed her on the couch where he asked her if she was okay. Her speech was slurred as she said "That hurts like crazy, did we get away from them?" Cindy's eyes were shutting and she began to fall asleep.

"Stay awake Cindy, stay with me!" yelled Jarvick. He started slapping at her cheek trying to keep her awake, but to no avail, she was out cold.

Jarvick checked her vital signs, which seemed good, so he left her there and went to the bridge. There wasn't anything he could do to help her because he had no idea what the wasp venom was made of. He thought it would be best to let it wear off and keep checking her vitals as often as he could. The wasps had swarmed onto the ship and were covering it; he could not see out the front screen. After shutting off all the instruments, he went back to the propulsion and power room to try and repair the cracked power coupler. He had chiseled a facsimile replacement for the cracked ceramic piece and hoped it would be good enough to get the hyperlight drive back in working order. After removing the cracked piece, he only had to make a small modification to get the new piece to fit, which took about thirty minutes. He stopped at the lounge on the way to the bridge, where Cindy was still asleep, but her vital signs were still good. Her breathing was normal, as was her blood pressure, and her pulse rate was just a little low.

The wasps were still blocking his view on the front screen, but Jarvick would worry about that later. He wanted to check the power systems first, so he turned on the ship's systems and began doing checks. Through all the buzzing, all the systems appeared normal, so he turned on the force field to see what would happen. As soon as he turned on the switch, the buzzing stopped and all the wasps fell to the ground, dead.

Not seeing any reason to stay here, Jarvick lifted off and ascended out of the atmosphere into space again. Consulting the Navigation computer, Jarvick saw that they were off course a pretty far amount. Evading that huge space ship had added two days to their journey. He was eager to test the hyperlight drive, so he adjusted the Nav computer and tried powering it up, which it did. Increasing speed on the controls, he engaged the hyperlight engine and it responded with a jolt, then the stars went from dots to streaks, as Jarvick watched the speed indicator jump to the top.

Cindy woke up twelve hours later and told Jarvick about her trip into the forest, and the fruit she had found. He told her she was lucky to be alive, and about the force field killing the wasps, and about the hyperlight repair. He then told her they should be home in about five days.

CHAPTER 15

The man sitting at the long range sensor console touched the comm. button and said "I think we need to contact the Director; I have a small, unidentified ship that is inbound and not answering our hails. It is not coming from Gavilon, it is headed toward it from outside our area and is ignoring all attempts at communication."

After a minute, he heard the voice at the other end say "Send a ship to intercept it, use the next pilot that's on call and find out who is on it and what they are doing in this area."

Terand was just waking up when his intercom sounded out two short beeps; so he stood up and touched the "call" button.

"Hello, I'm awake."

The voice said "Terand, you're needed immediately. Please report to the briefing room."

"Understood, give me a few minutes." Terand released the call button and stretched _. Must be important_ he thought, _they usually knock on the door_. He decided to skip the shower and got dressed hurriedly and headed for the Pilot Briefing Room on the surface level. His small box of a pilot's quarters was two levels underground and a little cramped, but he didn't complain. The only thing he did down here was sleep between missions, which were every twelve hours. He wanted to do everything he could to kick the invaders out and get back home to Gavilon. Before the invasion, he had a wife and two sons, plus a nice home in Vendorra. After the invaders took over, they were ordered to report to the labor camps when he was on a trip to Rylos. When he returned to his home, his wife and sons were nowhere to be found and Terand barely escaped with his life. After finding his way to Eos, he joined up with the colonists here and settled in for the fight.

When he reached the briefing room, the Watch Commander said "We have an unknown ship inbound that we need to intercept. Grab one of the armed cruisers and try to contact them. If it is a friendly, they need to be warned about Gavilon. Try all the radio frequencies you have. If it isn't friendly, or if you are fired on, destroy it."

Terand picked up his helmet and said "Got it. When I establish contact, I'll call it in", and then headed out to the Number Two landing pad.

There were three cargo ships and two fast cruisers sitting on the pad; Terand had piloted all of them before, but mostly the cargo ships. The cruisers were much faster and more maneuverable; he climbed in the nearest one and strapped himself in. After getting the last known position of the alien craft, Terand activated his long range scanner and located it on a path headed for Gavilon from a trajectory outside their solar system. He increased speed and set a course for intercept, ETA approximately five minutes, programming his radio to broadcast his hails on all available frequencies. When he was close enough, he began his message... "Unknown craft headed for Gavilon, this is approach control Eos. You are advised to detour to Eos immediately. Please respond." He set the communicator to repeat every ten seconds and looked up at the screen. Is that ship green?

On the lowest frequency he had, there came a response...

"Approach control, we acknowledge, awaiting your instructions."

Jarvick was startled when he heard the message to detour; he wasn't expecting to be contacted while they were so far away. Then again, he didn't know what to expect, having heard nothing since he left so many months ago. Now, he was staring at an armed cruiser in his path demanding his attention.

"Please identify yourself and your destination" came the voice.

"This is Jarvick of Gavilon, Vendorra Police Department. I am returning from a trip to another solar system. Why do I have to detour?"

"Everything will be explained on Eos. Follow me; we will be landing on Eos, Pad 2."

"Understood" said Jarvick. The small cruiser was just ahead and increasing speed. He made a few adjustments and followed it until he could see the terrain on Eos. Pad 2 was a large flat area next to a series of buildings arranged in a square. The cruiser waited for him to land and then it followed suit. Jarvick and Cindy were met at the bottom of the stairs by two armed men, who escorted them into one of the buildings where they were placed in a room with a large table and six chairs.

"Wait here please, someone will be here in a moment" said one of the guards before the door was closed and an audible _click_ could be heard as it was locked.

"What's happening Jarvick? Why are they holding us?" asked Cindy.

"I don't know, but we're about to find out. Something bad must have happened in the nine months since we have been away."

Five minutes passed, then they heard the door unlock; and in walked a large man followed by a woman Jarvick recognized.

"Matea!" said Jarvick.

Calek turned to his assistant and asked "Do you know these people?"

Matea said "I used to work with Jarvick on Gavilon. He was a detective on the Directorate Police force."

The four of them stayed in the room for over an hour; Jarvick telling them about the two trips to Earth and the asteroid, Calek explaining that Gavilon had been invaded and taken over by aliens and that Eos was now a base of resistance.

"Why haven't they attacked Eos?" asked Jarvick.

"We think they only want to focus on one planet and may see Eos as a non-threat" said Calek. "Eos does not have any resources the aliens can exploit, either."

"Did you say that _most_ of the population is being controlled by them? Why not ALL of them? Why are some people immune to their control?" asked Jarvick.

"We haven't discovered that yet. We have run chemical analysis of the few prisoners we get and found no differentiating factors. If we could find out what it is, we could win this war."

After a few more minutes of questions and answers, Calek told them that Matea would assign Jarvick and Cindy living quarters at the base. Matea stayed behind as Calek left, then Jarvick asked her "How did you end up here? The last time I saw you, you were working as a crime scene tech in Vendorra."

"When the aliens arrived, I hid for a while and survived on what I could find in the neighborhood. Then my sister showed up and told me about a group of people that had not fallen under their control; and had formed a sort-of resistance force. We moved around from place to place and I ended up here as Calek's assistant."

"Is your sister here too?" asked Cindy.

Matea replied "No, she stayed on Gavilon to help with the resistance and got captured. The last I heard, she was taken to the Eastern Province and I haven't seen her since."

"I'm so sorry; I hope you find her soon."

Matea stood up and said "I hope so too. Now, let's get you a place to stay", then Jarvick and Cindy stood and followed her out the door.

CHAPTER 16

The living space Jarvick and Cindy were given was modest but comfortable; it had a bedroom and a bathroom, and a living area with a couch and a table. It was on the fourth level down from the surface near the elevators. All meals were provided in the cafeteria on level two; it was safer to confine all meal preparation to one area of the base. Cindy volunteered to work in the cafeteria and Jarvick was asked to join the pilot squad.

He was scheduled for a briefing the next day but at the moment he was sitting in Calek's office with Matea, waiting for him to arrive. The Director had asked for this meeting because he wanted to hear more about his journey and his ship.

They had only touched on a few details and Calek had more questions about the green oddity sitting on landing pad two. The only thing he was told was that the Director wanted every ship available and was interested in his.

Just then, Calek walked in with another man and then Jarvick stood with Matea.

"Jarvick, this is Terand, the pilot who greeted and escorted you. You will be working with him. Please be seated." Calek motioned for everyone to sit.

"That is an unusual color for a ship. Why is it green?" asked Terand.

"It's a side effect from the way it was constructed" said Jarvick, who then told a short version of how it was built with parts of an asteroid.

"In fact, I have some samples of the crystals still on board and I'm sure we can use them here at the base."

"Do you need help unloading it?" asked Calek.

Jarvick said "It will only require one other person besides myself to carry it off."

"I can help" said Terand.

"Very well then" said Calek. "Now, about your ship. How fast is it? Can we use it?"

"You can have it for whatever you need. It has a hyperlight drive, but you will have to gut it to haul cargo" said Jarvick.

"Hyperlight?!?" asked Terand. "We can really use that."

"Yes, it has that. It runs off of a power source that can be adapted to supply power to the base, too. Are you still using Solinium?"

Calek replied "Yes, but supplies are running short."

"This crystal can supply all the power you need" said Jarvick. "I'll show your engineers how it works and they can put it to use. I also have two other materials from the asteroid that might be useful."

Calek said "Excellent. Why don't you two go unload your ship and take it to Engineering, our power plant is in dire need of repairs."

As the two men were unloading his ship, Jarvick struck up a conversation with Terand; wanting to know more about the invasion and how they were fighting it. The boxes were on a Gravitite cargo carrier and they were walking down a long corridor toward Engineering.

Jarvick asked "Why hasn't the population combined their forces as a whole and attacked them?"

"Because they are under some kind of mind control. The aliens have them under a spell and they don't resist, or can't"

said Terand.

"It doesn't affect you when you go there on a supply mission?"

"No, some people are immune."

"What about your family? Did you have anyone close there?" asked Jarvick.

"My wife and two sons are still there, I don't know where, my older brother was killed the first day of the invasion, and my twin brother is part of the resistance on Gavilon."

They arrived at the Engineering section and Terand started talking with the Chief Engineer. While they were talking, Jarvick was admiring all the work that had been put into the power plant; then he was introduced to the man in charge.

"Jarvick, this is Chief Engineer Merton, he is the one to talk to about your crystals."

After the introduction and pleasantries, Jarvick began to explain about the blue crystals and how they produce power. He stressed the point about how dangerous they were and how his brother crafted the ceramic mounting devices. The Chief was quick to grasp the technicalities; but as Jarvick continued to go over the details, something kept nagging at him in the back of his mind. Some little detail he had heard since his arrival was bothering him.

_What is it?_ He kept thinking.

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks, but he had one more piece of the puzzle to put in place. He abruptly interrupted the conversation that Terand and Chief Merton were having and said "I'm sorry, but I have to go." Then he ran out of the room and back down the long corridor towards the exit. When he reached the landing pad, he darted across it narrowly missing an incoming cargo ship, and ran into the main building. Calek's office was the fifth one down the hall on the right, and he was looking for Matea. Just when he got to Calek's door, Matea appeared and was startled by Jarvick running towards her.

"Matea! Tell me about your sister!" yelled Jarvick.

She was taken aback a little and began to stutter her answer, then Jarvick stopped her and asked "Is she your twin?!?"

Matea answered "Yes. How did you know?"

Jarvick grabbed her by her arms and said "That's it! That's why some people are immune to the alien mind control! Twins!"

Jarvick ran into Calek's office with Matea following behind. The Director was sitting at his desk and was startled by the two of them entering so hurriedly.

"Director Calek, I have an answer why some people are immune to the alien's mind control" said Jarvick."Look at the list of the resistance forces that are able to operate on Gavilon and you'll find that all of them are either a fraternal or identical twin. That's the common factor."

Calek looked puzzled at first, then he looked at Jarvick with a surprised expression as he began to realize he was right. He then typed a few commands into his computer and looked at the screen, then said "You are absolutely right. I have the list here, and they are all twins. But, how can we use this information, Jarvick?"

Jarvick smiled and said "I have a plan."

CHAPTER 17

The rays of Gavilon's orange sun had just began to filter through the gaps in the foliage on the shores of the Nidak river when a small ship came crashing through the upper limbs of the tallest trees and stopped in a partially controlled landing. The ship came to rest halfway on the ground and halfway on a stump, leaving it at a tilt. Two men climbed out of a hatch and began to hurriedly grab the nearest limbs and covered the ship with them in order to conceal it. After thirty seconds of this frantic effort, they dove under the nearest bush and hid themselves as the sounds of their pursuers became closer. They remained as still as possible as the high pitched whine of the alien craft hovered over their position for what seemed like hours, moving away in different directions but always returning to this area. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the alien ship shot off to the east; and the two men could hear the sound echo off the canyons far away.

"I think they gave up" said Terand, as Jarvick climbed out from underneath his bush and began to look around.

"I thought they would never leave" replied Jarvick.

Terand stood up and said "Let's find this tree and get out of here, I don't want to have to fight my way out. This place is crawling with aliens."

Jarvick laughed and said "Well, they ARE four legged creatures" as he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. Unfolding it, the two men looked at the picture Matea had printed for them; it was a picture of a Pyka tree.

Matea had researched this particular tree for Jarvick and the two of them had read up on it before they embarked on this dangerous mission. A mature Pyka tree averaged thirty feet in height and grew on the shore of the Nidak River. It had large leaves at the top of the main trunk that measured four feet in length and one foot wide. The seeds, approximately eight inches in length, grew in clumps of twelve directly underneath the leaves near the main trunk. When the seeds were ripe, they turned from green to a bright red, which is the correct time to pick them. If the seeds were brown, they were too ripe and unusable; right before they fell to the ground.

They had landed on the southern side of the river, about a hundred yards from the shore, so they started walking toward it and looked around. Neither of the men could see any tall trees with big leaves, so they walked west. The going was somewhat difficult because the forest grew right up to the edge of the river and the men had to push it out of their way. After thirty minutes of clawing their way through the growth, Jarvick looked up and saw what they were looking for. Right there in front of them were two tall trees on the river's edge; and each one had bunches of red seeds hanging at the top, waiting to be picked.

Across the river on the north shore.

At this point, the river was only fifty feet across but the current was fairly swift and would be difficult, but possible, to cross. Jarvick said "I don't see any other trees nearby, so we might as well get these. We will just have to use our shirts to carry the seeds in as we swim back."

"I don't know how to swim" said Terand.

Jarvick sighed, and said "I had to learn in the academy. Give me your knife and watch for aliens, I'll go get them."

Terand handed him his knife, then Jarvick stepped into the current and swam across. He landed a little downstream from the trees because of the current, then climbed out and walked back upstream. The Pyka tree had few limbs to climb, so Jarvick had to shimmy up the long trunk, which took a minute or two. When he reached the seeds, he retrieved the knife and cut the seed bunches loose and they fell to the ground. He then slid down the trunk, climbed the other tree and repeated the process. At the bottom of the trees, Jarvick removed his shirt and tied the seeds into it, forming a pouch. Swimming back while holding the seeds proved to be more difficult than the first time; the current forced him downstream farther than he had anticipated. Terand followed him and helped him out of the water, and they began their trek back to the ship.

Terand cleared away the limbs that they had piled on the ship while Jarvick climbed inside and stowed away the seeds. Terand climbed in and closed the hatch, and Jarvick said "Let's get out of here. Take it up above the trees and look for aliens. If it's clear, hit maximum speed."

"What if there are aliens?" asked Terand.

"Hit maximum speed" replied Jarvick.

The ship rose up slowly and cleared the top of the forest, as Terand watched the screen, which was clear.

The leaves on the highest tree below them swayed in the breeze as the ship ascended and became a small spec shooting through the clouds.

CHAPTER 18

"How much oil were we able to extract from the seeds?" asked Jarvick.

"Almost a gallon" replied Matea. The two of them were walking down a hallway in the main building, and Jarvick was carrying a small box in his hand. The meeting room was past Calek's office at the end; and when they walked in the door, Jarvick counted twenty people in attendance. About half of them were pilots that Jarvick had met, but the others he didn't know. Everyone was seated at a long table, with the chair at the end being empty, as Calek had yet to arrive. Jarvick and Matea took two seats that were available; and Jarvick asked her who the others were.

"They are our agents who spend most of their time on Gavilon" replied Matea. "Do you see that man sitting next to Terand?"

"Yes" said Jarvick.

"That's his twin brother, Sorac. He is one of the Commanders in the Western Province. Without his leadership on the ground on Gavilon; gathering supplies and scheduling the re-supply flights, we could not exist here on Eos."

Calek walked into the meeting room and everyone stood.

"Good Morning, please be seated" Calek said as he took the chair at the head of the table.

"Thank you for coming, everyone. I know you're all busy with your day to day activities, but I have some important news. We think we have a solution to the alien mind control problem. I would like to introduce the newest member of our team."

Calek extended his hand and said "Jarvick, you have the floor." All eyes in the room turned to him.

"Good morning. My name is Jarvick, and I was a detective with the Directorate Police on Gavilon. I think I have a way to cancel out the alien's way of controlling the population. On a recent trip to Gavilon, Terand and I were able to collect enough Pyka seeds to produce enough oil to immunize most of the Western Province."

A pilot on the other side of the room asked "How does it work?"

The majority of the Gavilonian population did not know about the telepathic problem with twins, so Jarvick explained the history of separating them at the beginning, then how a drug was developed to counteract the telepathy.

"The reason why their mind control doesn't work on some of you is because you are part of a twin. Terand, you and your brother frequently travel to Gavilon, yet you do not fall victim to the aliens. That's because you and your brother have taken these pills all your lives. Your telepathic connection is blocked by the properties of the oil from the Pyka seed. People who are not twins never did take this drug and they all are under alien control. All we have to do is put this oil in the water supply and it will break the connection and the population will then fight back."

Sorac stood up and asked "How do you propose we do that? The entire infrastructure on the planet is under heavy security. The electrical plants, the water treatment plants, everything."

Jarvick smiled and then said "I have a way. I'll be right back." Then he walked out of the room carrying his box.

A minute later, something strange occurred. The glass of water that was sitting in front of Calek slowly lifted into the air, appeared to pour itself out onto the table, then returned to where it was. Everyone was astonished, and then Jarvick's voice could be heard near Calek.

"This is how we do it. They won't see us. We can walk right up to the water supply and just dump it in. In two days, the population will wake up and start fighting back."

The room erupted in chaos.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were twelve water treatment plants in the Western Province and there were enough people to form twelve two-man teams. The oil was evenly divided between them and distributed in small glass vials. Jarvick had enough of the orange asteroid material to make one member in each team invisible. The spray cans were handed out and they were warned that the invisibility powder can wash off with water, so if it rains, they were to abort the mission. The teams were to land at the base in northern Vendorra and spread out to their individually assigned targets. Jarvick wanted to participate in this clandestine activity but Calek insisted he stay on Eos. The men that were going in have been in the fight on Gavilon and were experienced enough to ensure success.

All of the water supply was drugged at the same time; and within 2 days, radio traffic being monitored on Eos was picking up and the alien's grip on the population was beginning to slip. Within two weeks, an organized insurgency had formed and the people were fighting back; and the first alien ship was destroyed on the one month anniversary of the water being treated. Within two months, a total of four ships out of the eight that were orbiting the planet had been destroyed, so they left.

Gavilon was free again and the process of rebuilding began; with the first task of setting up a new government. Calek was elected unanimously as the new Directorate Leader who then appointed Matea as his Vice director. Jarvick was asked to be the Chief of Directorate Security, which he gladly accepted; then he and Cindy settled into a modest home near the center of Vendorra. Several months after Jarvick began his new job, he came home to a smiling Cindy, who greeted him at the door.

"I have some good news, Jarvick" she said.

Taking her in his arms, he said "What is it, dear?"

"I'm pregnant" she said, then paused. "With twins."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won't you please take a moment to

leave me a review at your favorite retailer?

Thanks!

John Jonas

Connect with me on Facebook

Link
