 
### Time Storm

A Story By

Philip R Benge

Smashwords Edition

***************

Published by

Philip R Benge on Smashwords

Time Storm

Copyright Philip R Benge 2012

Cover Art Copyright Philip R Benge 2012

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

### Time Storm

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One: Intruders

Chapter Two: Time Storm

Chapter Three: Interplanetary War

Chapter Four: Into the Netherworld

Chapter Five: On the Planet Orion

Chapter Six: The Time Machine

Chapter Seven: The Jungle

Chapter Eight: The Heliots

Chapter Nine: The Planet of Orion

Chapter Ten: We Have Company

Chapter Eleven: We Will Have to Investigate

Chapter Twelve: To the Rescue Again

Chapter Thirteen: The Journey to New Eden

Chapter Fourteen: Into the Underworld

Chapter Fifteen: New Eden

Chapter Sixteen: Mr Burrows` Bad Habits

Chapter Seventeen: Victory in Sight

Chapter Eighteen: The Final Battle

Chapter Nineteen: The Heroes Return

About the Author

Other Books by the Author

Prologue

The Time Machine was made up of two separate units, first there was the part of the time machine that didn`t travel through time and space and was composed of a bank of super computers and a recall device. Then there was the other part, the Time Platform, which was the part of the Time Machine that actually travelled through time and space. It was comprised of many things; there was yet another vast bank of super computers. Then there was the communication link, which was a large square device made of a Crystillium material. This device was filled with a myriad of pathways that flashed excitedly up and down their extent sending messages at speeds well in excess of light to keep the Platform in direct contact with the Laboratory. Then there was the enormous device that made time travel possible, the Molecular converter, it was also constructed from Crystillium, that new amazing material developed here on Orion by Professor Jameson. The converter turned solids into atoms and back again, so matter was less than atoms when it travelled through time and space, and restored back to matter when the Platform arrived at its destination. Part of the Time Platform was the second part of the recall device, this included a glowing quivering device of silver blue light that allowed the travellers to keep in contact with Orion through a sliver of energy. It was connected at one end to the recall device on the main part of the Time Machine, and at the other end to the recall device on the Time Platform. This sliver of energy travelled through time and space, and as long as it was connected at both ends, the Time Machine would transfer the travellers through time and space to where ever they wanted to go, provided the Time Machine was connected to its primary power source. The primary power source was a nuclear fusion reactor. The Time Machine needed the immense power of the reactor to punch through time and space, this mighty river of power accompanied the fragile sliver of energy through time and space until it reached its destination, when it was reduced to just a trickle.

Chapter One

Intruders

8am June 21st the Year 2494

The events that would soon become known to all of the people of the planet of Earth, as well as its entire collection of colony worlds, began on one of the least populated of the colony worlds of Earth. The planet of Orion, a planet on the edge of the galaxy and colonised by the Church of the Universe one hundred years ago.

The colony was led by the Bishop of Orion, John Sinclair, a tall man of slim build in his early forties. His light brown hair had mostly disappeared from his now balding head, and his grey eyes looked forever sad. He was dressed as always in a light grey suit, white shirt and a striped tie. The temple of the Church of the Universe was set upon a hill, a flight of stairs led down from it to finish at the town square. On the other three sides of the square were the houses of some of the colonists, mixed with these were a multitude of shops and offices. In the streets behind these were many more houses and also the small factory units that made up the remainder of New Eden, the only town on the planet Orion. From the centre of the square the temple building looked very grand, especially to the native population of Orion; but then even the town was very grand to the native farmers of Orion.

A science complex was set two hundred feet to the rear of the temple building, but hidden from it by a screen of tall conifers; here there was a Laboratory, a fusion reactor and a barracks that housed a squad of Space Marines, these buildings made up a second town square.

The start of the scientist`s day was always early, but it was also an early start for Sergeant Henry Miles and Corporal Thomas Rankins of the Space Marine Corps, they had been away from the complex overnight, and were now returning after much too much celebrating. Sergeant Miles was what was termed a lifer, he had enlisted in the marines at the age of eighteen, married at twenty-two, divorced at twenty-eight, fortunately they hadn`t had any children, although Miles thought that this had been one of the reasons that Trudy had left him. That and the time a space marine spent away from home, giving all the local men ample opportunity to steal a marine`s wife away from him. Now at the age of forty he could envisage no other life outside of the Corps. He was still fit, of heavy build that was all muscle and, for his age, quick in action when the need arose. His hazel eyes took in everything and everybody, usually, except for the times that he had a bad hangover due to the night before. He had shaved his sparse head of hair after giving up trying to coax it to grow, but this was usually hidden by his Marine Corps black beret.

Corporal Rankins had only just arrived on Orion, having been transferred there as a replacement. He had just drifted into the corps, and now here he was, a young man of twenty-five years, still single, having had little opportunity yet to form any lasting relationship outside of the corps, and looking to be yet another lifer. He was as tall as Miles but not so heavily built, but he was just as fit and almost as strong. His grey eyes were decidedly redder today, and his short brown hair a little untidy, but this was due to a night filled with wild and wonderful partying. He enjoyed the life of a space marine and as yet yearned for nothing else. Women he had had, money, not for long, but as long as he had action, he didn`t care. Here on Orion he found things a mite quiet for his taste, but this would soon change, even if he did not know it yet.

They had been visiting the small village of Togo, a small native village near to the complex, which supplied the members of the complex and the township with fresh food, labour and of course many of their beverages. In turn the villagers derived a lucrative income from the marines, scientists and colonists. The two marines were now returning down the quiet country lane that was one of the many routes that connected the village to the town; a stranger would almost certainly be oblivious to it. It ran between a thick hedge of a shrub on one side, much like the Rhododendron back on Earth, and a steep hill on the other side. Yesterday they had accepted an offer from the local chief to try out the first of this year`s batch of the local firewater. This morning with bad headaches they were hurrying back to the complex so as not to be late for duty.

"Tom, I think that we should forgo next year`s party, their liquor is way too strong for a mere human." Sergeant Miles said. His hangover was the worst he had had since way back.

"Maybe you are just getting a little too old for such pleasures Henry; maybe it is time for you to take up gardening." Tom said laughing at his older friend.

All as usual was quiet as they walked up the side of the barracks building and through its doors, they didn`t see the intruders watching them enter into the barracks building from the trees.

All would have gone well for the watchers had it not been for the Togo celebrations. The arrival of the first group of four androids had not been delayed, for they had been hidden from the two marines by the Laboratory building, but the other three groups all had to wait for the two returning marines to enter the barracks so that they could continue with their part in the attack. The final three groups of androids, now some ten seconds late, sprinted across the open areas of the science complex.

The first group of six headed for the fusion reactor building, two more groups of four converged on the barracks come guard house of the space marines, while a further group of four waited some two hundred yards away in the surrounding fields with a group of technicians, all waiting for it to become silent.

Inside the main building of the science complex, the leader of the team of scientists, Richard Jameson, heard what sounded like the high-pitched whistling sound of weapon`s fire coming from outside of the building.

With a look of puzzlement mixed with quite a lot of concern Jameson moved over towards the intercom set on the wall to contact the two guards at the entrance to the Laboratory, which was the main building of the science complex.

"Stay at your posts everyone, I will find out just what is happening upstairs, it`s probably nothing anyway." Jameson said quietly to his fellow scientists.

Before he had even reached the intercom four armed figures burst into the room from the corridor that led to the stairs, that in due course led up to the entrance of the building. The four figures were androids clad in heavy duty black body armour and matching helmets, the colour contrasting with the white overalls worn by all of the scientists. The androids were over six feet tall and heavily built, but they were certainly not the giants of Marvel comics, as they had been built to operate in areas meant for men and women. This meant that they were be able to walk through a doorway without stooping or turning sideways, or damaging any of the expensive and sensitive equipment in the Time room, as the main part of the Laboratory was designated. They looked like normal soldiers or police officers when kitted out with body armour and each of them held an evil looking Mazeren Marine plasma weapon. All that Jameson could see of their faces were their black eyes, he saw these staring straight at him, and he also saw their large powerful hand weapons, one of which was pointed directly towards him.

That the scientists managed to stay relatively calm, despite the shock of the androids` sudden appearance, said a lot for them, as they were certainly not used to such things happening in their well-ordered lives.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jameson protested loudly.

"Stop all work immediately and leave this room now." The leading android ordered, ignoring Jameson`s question.

Johansson and Rogers, two of the scientists in the Time room, tried to resist but the androids were far stronger than they were. The androids simply pushed them towards the other scientists in the room, and then herded them en masse out of the Time room and into a store room, that was the only other room that led off the corridor. The Time Machine had just been turned on and was now about to be left to its own devices, and Jameson, who was the only person still in the Time room protested loudly

"What the hell do you think you are doing, we can`t leave the Time Machine turned on and running without adequate supervision, at least let me turn it off."

When the androids ignored his protests, he moved towards the controls of the machine anyway.

"Oh, come on at least allow me to turn it off for you, before you turf me out of my own Laboratory."

His warnings about the dangers of leaving the machine unattended, and his offer to help, brought a swift answer from the android in command of this group, a swift use of his armoured fist against Jameson`s chin, knocking Jameson down to the floor. He was then dragged unceremoniously to the store room and thrown in amongst the scientists, who had been waiting to see if Jameson could bring some sense to this nightmare, obviously he couldn`t.

"Keep quiet and do nothing and you will all live to see another day." The android`s metallic voice rang out in the confines of the crowded store room, making the men cower back from the monsters before them.

The door to the room was then locked, leaving a room of dazed scientists along with an even more dazed Jameson locked inside. The androids, their first part of their mission now accomplished, stood and awaited the technicians who would arrive when the whole science complex was completely safe and secure.

Colonel Charles Bragg, the commanding officer of the squad of space marines, was at that moment inside of the nuclear fusion reactor building, it was there to provide the immense amount of power that the Time Machine required when operating. He was a tough veteran space marine; of fifty years of age, just six feet tall with an athletic looking build, he had fair hair, and light blue eyes. With him was his junior officer Lieutenant Parnell, fresh out of WestPoint. With the two officers were four troopers. Bragg had only been passing by, and he was now about to walk out of the reactor building and over to the Laboratory to oversee today`s test of the Time Machine. What he saw stopped him in his tracks, for he saw the first group of androids as they surprised the two marines on guard duty at the Time building, as the Laboratory had been named by the scientists. He didn`t have time to prevent them from being killed by the energy weapons of the four androids, but he did have plenty of time to see and react to a further group of androids who appeared before the reactor building. This group delayed as they were, were caught short of the reactor building by ten vital seconds, which meant that when they reached the area in front of the reactor building, they were seen by Colonel Bragg, who now ran back into the main room of the fusion reactor to warn his men of the impending trouble.

"Our two men guarding the science complex have just been killed by a squad of androids, and there are six more mean looking androids coming towards the reactor building, set your weapons on their highest setting and blast them the minute they arrive here." Colonel Bragg ordered his men.

The androids were more than a little surprised to see that the marines were ready for them, and they didn`t have time to adapt their plan of campaign. Luckily, Colonel Bragg and his marines, had just been equipped by Richard Jameson with a newly upgraded Colt Plasma energy weapon, one that part of his science team had developed in their spare time, when not working on the Time Machine experiment.

Two of Bragg`s marines, the Rossini twins, went down almost immediately due to the fact that they had both rushed forward firing at the androids and taking out two of the androids in the process, before succumbing to the fire from the other androids. Bragg and the remaining marines were also lucky to be partly sheltered behind two of the room`s bulkheads, but they mainly survived intact because of the brave diversion caused by the Rossini twins.

Now though the androids began to fire upon the rest of the marines, and a powerful bolt of energy zipped by Bragg`s head while he took a moment to notice his fallen comrades, something he quickly realised he could not afford to do. Luckily the blast hadn`t hit him, although the sound of it made him duck as it zipped by him to blast away a section of the metal panelling above a bank of dials. Bragg took aim and fired at the nearest android, his shot destroying the android in a crackling of blue and white electrical parts, sparks of electricity ran up and down the android's body as it fell to the ground with a crash and lay crackling, but unmoving before him. Lieutenant Parnell got off shot after shot that finally took out the android at the other side, as he ducked away from bolts of energy aimed at him from another of the androids. Then he too fell to the floor wounded from a shot from yet another of the androids, but saved from the full force of the shot by the fact that the plasma blast from the android`s weapon had to come through a sign made of clear aluminium to reach him. Troopers Peterson and Ryan both fired their weapons at the same target to see it explode into a thousand pieces before Peterson was also heavily stunned from a ricochet that had been aimed at Bragg, but missed him when Ryan had pushed him aside. The remaining android was hit by fire from Bragg and Ryan, Ryan swearing angrily at the android for dropping Peterson.

"Take care of our two dead marines and also our two wounded comrades, Ryan and I need to look into the safety of our people in the rest of the complex." Bragg ordered the technicians in the reactor room.

Bragg and Ryan left a fusion reactor rooms badly scorched by the weapons` fire that had caused at least one circuit to be damaged, if the electrical sparks coming out of the wall were anything to go by, and a small fire in the unit that had taken a blast that had been aimed at Bragg. The last thing that Bragg saw on leaving was two of the technicians moving over to the bank of controls and dials with the first look of panic beginning to overtake them.

From across the yard sounds of battle floated across the open area as the other two squads of androids surprised the marines in their barracks. Unfortunately, for the androids, their unfortunate delay had meant that the space marines had heard the sounds of energy weapons being fired, the sounds coming from outside of the Time building, and so most of the element of surprise was lost and the marines had just enough time to arm themselves.

Marines are tough and there is no one tougher than Sergeant Miles is, but unfortunately not knowing what was exactly happening caused him to make a fatal error. Hearing the sound of the weapons` fire, he immediately collected his own weapon and moved towards the door.

"Set them on stun everyone until we know what is happening out there."

For himself and six other troopers this meant that their fire against the heavily armoured androids that rushed into the barracks building was almost useless, the body armour of the androids soaked up the energy bolts with little to show for it. Sergeant Miles and his comrades fell to the floor dead, some cried out as they died while others never even got the chance to realise that they were dying. Corporal Rankins however was behind Sergeant Miles and so was not amongst the first troopers to meet the androids ferocious attack.

"Change your weapons` settings to maximum men; stun is useless against these machines." Rankins ordered his remaining marines as he adjusted the settings on his own Colt Plasma energy weapon and re-joined the battle.

A blast of weapon`s fire tore by Corporal Rankin`s head to blast a hole in the wall behind him as he ducked down and swore loudly. Rankins fired at one of the androids directly in front of him, a gaping hole appearing in the android`s body, sparks of energy flying out undirected now by the mass of destroyed conduits within its severely damaged body, another bolt of energy from Rankins weapon finally finishing this android off and caused it to crash to the floor. A trooper to Rankins` right fell screaming to the floor, he was followed by another on his left before Rankins took out another of the androids to his right. Unfortunately for Corporal Rankins, the androids in turn were finally able to take out the tough Corporal, he fell to the floor after a fusillade of shots left him dead at his comrades` feet, joining the bodies of eight more of his comrades. Private John Cassidy, a tall bronzed Canadian with startling green eyes, then took over the depleted command and rallied the remaining marines.

"Come on space marines, let`s finish this here and now and avenge our fallen marines."

The appearance of Colonel Bragg and Trooper Ryan at the androids' rear took the androids by surprise, and now they in turn fell to the floor blackened and smoking from another fusillade of energy bolts and this without any of the remaining marines being hit. Even so there were only eleven troopers left standing after the team of eight androids was finally brought down by the heavy weapons` fire from the space marines. The inside of the barracks building was left blackened from the powerful energy bolts that had been poured in to it; the beds and other personal equipment were mostly in ruins or on fire, little went untouched by the attack.

Colonel Bragg, after delegating two of his depleted team of marines to put out the fires and to care for their fallen comrades, led the balance of nine marines over to the Laboratory, now the marines were wearing their full body armour to protect their bodies from the worst effects of any further weapons` fire. They were soon through the door at the entrance to the Laboratory and progressing slowly down the stairs when powerful energy bolts flashed out from the Time room, heavily stunning a further two of Bragg`s marines who might have been dead if the shots had not been ricochet`s from off the corridor wall before reaching them. Ryan narrowly escaped death when an energy bolt whizzed by his body to blast into a unit in the corridor. Bragg returned fire against the two androids guarding the doors, his fire taking out one of the androids and Trooper Ryan accounting for the second one. Bragg then led the charge down the stairs that led into the Time room.

Inside the Time room the remaining two androids fired at the marines as they burst through its doors. Luckily for the other marines the two androids both chose to fire at Cassidy. It was Cassidy that lost the battle for the androids, with his immense powerful frame combined with his extra strong body armour that he had purchased himself from Clarkson`s of London. He had been scornful of the body armour supplied by the Corps and thought that Clarkson`s, the leading manufacturer back on Earth, made better quality armour. His new body armour was able to soak up the power of the Mazeren energy weapons aimed at him by the remaining androids before he fell to the floor, heavily stunned from taking so many energy bolts. Bragg and Ryan now had time to aim their weapons and they fired together. Ryan destroyed the android closest to him and Bragg took out the last android. Unfortunately, this android fell back into one of the vast bank of computers that controlled the Time Machine. The dead android exploded against the valuable machine sending sparks of electricity everywhere, they filled this area of the room and made the marines hastily duck once more for cover. The dead body of the android was now a burning twisted piece of machinery, and Bragg could no longer see where the android`s body finished, and the damaged computer started, as the two merged and crackled together.

The leader of the final group of androids waiting with the technicians aborted his part of the attack; he decided to return to the sleek spacecraft that had brought the androids to Orion.

Chapter Two

Time Storm

Colonel Bragg soon located the scientists, and finding that the key to the door was still in the lock released them from the store room.

"I think that the attack is over Jameson, but shut the facility down now, and please keep your team under cover here in the Laboratory until you are told by me that it is safe to come out." Bragg said to the scientist.

Jameson called his team together, but he didn`t need to stress the urgency of the situation, or the need to shut down the facility immediately, for smoke from the Laboratory quickly filled the corridor where the scientists stood. There was so much smoke that it was causing many of them to choke, and it seemed that they would not be able to work, however, Rogers managed to turn the air conditioning unit on full and it blew most of the smoke away. Their joy at being released unharmed turned to panic as the smoke slowly cleared and the crackle of electricity from the Time room reached their ears. It was the sparking amid an electrical fire over by the main computer, that and the smell of its burning electrical components now filling the corridor with its acrid smell that caused their panic. Added to this the Laboratory`s alarm system was screaming out its own message of mayhem. Bragg as unfazed as ever snapped at Jameson and his team as he sought to bring the scientist`s quickly out of their various states of shock.

"Jameson, get your men working on the damage," and then complaining about the noise that the alarm was making, "and turn that bloody alarm off."

Bragg`s commanding voice had the effect of snapping Jameson and his team out of their temporarily dazed state, and back into action. The scientist delayed no longer and rushed into the Time room en masse, they soon saw the extent of the damage caused during the brief exchange of weapons` fire amongst their valuable, but delicate instruments and computers.

Although their initial actions had been slow, as they fought their way out of the dazed condition that events had put them into, they were quickly transformed back into a professional team. Jameson, his three fellow scientists and the four auxiliaries ran to the bank of computers and other machines with fire extinguishers and quickly brought the fire under control. Peter Simmonds, the electrical engineer of the team isolated the computer that had the android buried in it, and he slowly extracted those parts of machinery that were a part of the destroyed android from those which were part of the smoking computer.

Brian Goddard was a nuclear physicist whose expertise had expanded since he began working with Jameson on Orion some twenty years ago. Now he was more of a research scientist, and he could turn his hand to many of the various scientific fields that they had encountered while perfecting the Time Machine, and also a few other earlier projects. He had been to university with Jameson so long ago and was now forty-four years old. He was of African descent, short and stocky with wiry black hair and dark brown eyes which normally showed a sleepy expression, but which were now fully awake.

"My God, look at the energy that we are currently using Richard!" Goddard exclaimed.

He was studying one of the numerous readings on his computer screen upon the wall behind the work console that was his desk. Goddard`s face still showed some of the obvious shock that he was feeling from the androids' assault on the Laboratory, only now added to this was the shock he received from looking at the data that his instruments were giving him. From this data he knew that something far worse was happening at that very moment.

"Richard, somehow the Time Platform has been sent away from the main unit, and my god just look at the speed the platform is moving at!" Goddard exclaimed.

The Time Platform was normally situated in the large empty space that the other scientists were now looking at in amazement.

Tracy Goddard was a computer genius and it was she who had written the software for the program that ran the Time Machine. She sat at the desk next to her husband and her face showed a mixture of the fear inspired by her husbands` panic filled voice, and the damage that she could see all around her. She hurriedly checked the instrument dials on her own large computer screen set upon the wall behind the narrow worktop that was her work area.

"No wonder Brian, the reactor is working at one hundred per cent capacity." Her eyes expressing the fear she now felt, and very adequately so. She called across to Jameson. "We must bring down the power levels Richard, or god knows what damage it might cause to the Time Machine."

Another voice now joined in. "It will be some time before this computer is fully functional Richard, it certainly won`t be functioning while the Time Platform returns across time and space to Orion. There is no knowing what signals it sent out to the Platform, you should perhaps consider dumping the Platform while it is safely on the other side of the galaxy." Peter Simmonds called across the still smoke-filled room. Jameson looked at him and took vital seconds before replying, for his answer would affect the lives of everyone within the laboratory.

"Okay Peter, I will consider doing just that, but not until I am sure that no other option exists." Jameson said grimly.

Jameson stood before a vast bank of dials and switches, he was already battling with the computer to try and bring down the power levels but without any success.

"Something must have been short circuited by a stray plasma shot." He said angrily. He then looked over at Peter Swanscombe the tall blond New Zealander, an auxiliary, who had also been with the team from the start.

"Peter, will you run across to the reactor building and ask them to reduce the power to just twenty per cent, and also tell them that they should be ready to reduce the power output to even less at a moment`s notice from me."

Swanscombe was soon scooting out of the room, his long legs carrying him quickly up the stairs.

Josiah Parkes was serving as one of the auxiliaries, he was the youngest of the team and a relative newcomer following the unusual death of one of Jameson`s original party some three years earlier. Fear showed on his thin gaunt bearded face as he pointed towards the display in front of him, it indicated the many places that the machine was touching down.

"Look it has made multiple landings, almost like a pebble skimming across the water."

His skin looked even paler now behind his bearded face as he looked across to Jameson, perhaps in the hope of seeing the master scientist pull a rabbit out of the hat and make it all right.

"It is because of the damage to this computer Richard, there is no knowing just how many times the Time Platform is programmed to drop out of hyperspace." Peter Simmonds said grimly.

Ivor Johansson, the team's second expert on theoretical Physics, the first being Richard Jameson himself, was seated at the far end of the room. He was franticly pressing buttons to gather much needed information. It was his high alto voice that now added to the alarm present amongst the scientists.

"The holes in hyperspace Richard, they won`t be being sealed; there is no telling what sort of damage we could have caused to the space time continuum." Johansson shouted out, fear clearly evident in his voice.

Barry Rogers sat opposite Johansson. He had been monitoring the radiation readings constantly since the team had re-entered the control room.

"No, No, Johansson, the sensors attached to the transportation platform have recorded enormous amounts of Microwave Radiation, if these figures are correct then the holes are being sealed almost before they are being made. The automatic safety override must be working correctly."

Jameson then came to a decision that would change a certain twenty first century man`s life forever. His name was Tyler Burrows and he lived on the planet Earth.

"We must try and stop it from going any further, in fact we must try and return the platform back to Orion." One reason for trying to get the platform back rather than just severing their ties with it and leaving it to disintegrate in the depths of space was the considerable cost of the Time Platform; it could quite literally bring the research to a grinding halt until such time as they found some new funding.

The rest of the team although still mostly in various degrees of shock, agreed shakily, and they all moved to their allocated places to start on the procedures that would bring the Time Platform back to Orion.

A minute later it was Jameson who exclaimed with delight. "The recall system for the Time Platform is miraculously still undamaged. Josiah, stop its rampage across time and space and initiate the return of our runaway buggy."

Parkes looked up at Jameson in alarm as he read the year that the Time Machine had reached. "The time date recorder is saying the platform has gone back some fifty thousand years, surely it is impossible for it to travel so far back in time?" Parkes gasped out, not believing the data that the computer supplied him.

"Never mind that now Josiah, just stop its rampage through time and space and bring it back home." Jameson ordered.

"Okay Richard, I will try."

Thankfully, Parkes was able to stop the movement of the Time Platform back through time. Then he initiated the recall system that brought the runaway Time Platform forward in time, and back through space towards the planet of Orion. All seemed to be going well until Parkes spoke again.

"The Time Platform is still making touch downs as it comes back home, surely that isn`t supposed to be happening, oh my god it has touched down on twenty first century Earth now. The area that is being moved through time and space is immense Richard, if these readings are correct then the approximate amount is 64000-cubit miles, and it is not empty space that is coming back." Parkes exclaimed loudly, and in full panic mode.

"What do you mean, not empty space, what are we bringing back here to our facility?" Jameson exclaimed.

"If these reading are correct then an awful lot of solids, so maybe we should turn off the power and lose whatever it is in hyperspace before it reaches us and destroys this facility, the town even all life on the planet!" Parkes exclaimed fearfully. His answer, although consisting of a large dose of panic, also had a large dose of logic within it, considering the danger presented by the Time Platform and its present cargo.

"But all that cannot fit onto the Time Platform?" Jameson queried.

"With the amount of power the Platform is receiving from the fusion reactor I would say that anything is possible until proved otherwise." Parkes said shakily, and then he added another thought that had just occurred to him, fear ever present now in his voice.

"Maybe it`s not on the Platform, maybe with all the power that is being sent through to the Platform it is being pulled after it by magnetism, a very large dose of magnetism at that." Parkes replied.

"Can that be possible Jameson?" Bragg demanded, he had returned from checking out the base to ensure the scientists were obeying his instructions to power down the Time Machine, and he had been listening into the conversation.

"I don`t know Colonel, but something is making these readings on the dials." Jameson answered, uncertainty creeping into his voice for the first time since he had left university. "When are those technicians in the Fusion Reactor going to do something about the amount of power being sent to the Time Platform?" Jameson cried out in exasperation.

It did not take the scientists too long to decide on another solution to their problem. Jameson asked another of the auxiliaries, Adrian Powers a blond Australian, to go into the corridor and turn off the electricity supply to the Time Machine at the main power unit. They had no choice now, they would have to dump the Platform and live with the consequences. The unit was situated against the wall next to the store room that the team had recently occupied, but what they didn`t know was that the unit had received a glancing shot from a plasma weapon during the brief fire fight. The insulation that sealed the metal of the outer casing of the unit from the incoming power supply was damaged, it was an accident waiting to happen. As Powers hand moved up to the lever that would disconnect the Time Machine from the reactor, a bolt of electricity arced out and threw him bodily back against the wall. There followed a large explosion and the unit fused into one solid sparking mass, with the fusion reactor still pushing the full amount of power through it. Thankfully the walls and floor about this mass were made of a new material that insulated even this amount of power from the rest of the complex, or the whole place would have exploded. Now, instead of the power being cut off as was supposed to have happened, the power continued on its mad way. Bragg rushed over to see to Powers, but even before he had reached him, Bragg could see that Powers had been killed instantly by the large amount of electricity that had surged through his body

The Time Platform was still travelling towards them in the midst of a time storm that it had captured, and the fact that main power could now only be shut off from the reactor building sent Bragg up the stairs to see why nothing had been done to turn the power off at source. Bragg returned two minutes later.

"The reactor is not responding to orders, the controls to the reactor were damaged during the fire fight and it might be hours before they can power down."

Nothing it seemed could stop the Time Platform from returning to Orion, the only good news was that in all probability most of it would miss them directly and arrive spaced out over a large area of Orion, between the complex and up to five hundred miles away, out over the Aruba jungle area. Impact time was in ten minutes, and these minutes soon rushed by.

Bragg took this short time to send a short message to the President of Earth informing him of the abortive attack by the androids, and also to request more troopers be sent to reinforce his reduced force of marines. He also asked that a warship be also dispatched to stand guard over the planet, just in case. His message was to President Michaels and not the marine headquarters on Earth. The reason for this was because Bragg realised that the President would not want an Earth cruiser that was not under his direct orders coming here at this moment in time, as the President had plans of his own, and an Earth Cruiser of unknown loyalties could prove to be an inconvenience.

**********

One of the colonists from Earth had a farm that lay just behind a tall hill that overlooked the complex. Robert Lambert was now sixty-eight years in age with sparse grey hair and a slightly stooped body that had one time measured six foot in height. After living on a frontier planet for almost fifty of those years his body was old and tired. His wife Lucinda had died just four years earlier in a farming accident. He had a daughter Marcia, who was now a young woman of eighteen years with the blondest of hair, bleached all the more so by the Orion sun, her blue eyes showed her excitement as she walked up the hill to look down upon the complex in the hope of seeing marine John Cassidy. Marcia was a farm girl with full figure and skin tanned by the sun, and dressed in a light blue linen frock. When she got to the top of the hill, she stretched her five feet six inches of her body as high as it would go in the hope of seeing him. Down below she saw the wounded and dead marines and almost fainted from shock. She stood there breathing deeply, and waiting until her heart beat slowed. She watched as Doctor Springer moved amongst the wounded men and tended to their injuries. Marcia fought off the desire to scream and instead she tore down the hill in search of John. She found him lying unconscious in the ruined barracks with the colony`s nurse, Wendy Springer, tending to him, thankfully for Marcia, the bodies of the dead marines had already been removed.

"It is all right Marcia, John Cassidy has a strong body and he will soon recover, he was just stunned by an energy bolt from a space pirate. Why don`t you sit here and look after him while I attend to the other wounded men."

Marcia `s heart beat had risen again when she had caught sight of John Cassidy lying unconscious on his bed, and she once again forced herself to keep calm. She sat down by Cassidy`s bed, taking his hand in hers she bent forward and gently kissed his lips. Luckily the marines had a few spare beds in their storeroom out back, and it was on one of these that Cassidy was sleeping on.

Suddenly she realised that her father had no idea where she was, and that if he heard of the attack on the science complex, he would become worried for her, as he knew that she had fallen for one of the marines and might worry that she had been there during the attack by the space pirates. She let go of Cassidy`s hand and phoned her father, but he was out, so she contented herself by leaving a message instead. It would be three hours before Cassidy came around to see the angel who was looking after him.

Chapter Three

Interplanetary War

The Year 50,000 BC

While Mankind was still living in the Stone Age on their beautiful planet Earth, the leaders of one small quadrant of the galaxy were the people of the Planet of the Light. A mainly peaceful people, they had a small space fleet that they used to travel around the small sector of space near to their own planet. Unfortunately, at this moment they were about to meet the might of the barbarous Heliot empire who hadn`t thought about peace for some time.

The leader of Heliot was Generalissimo Divilio, and he and his motley band of Heliot troopers were more likes the pirates of Earth, than a space faring race from a technically advanced planet. They all stood around six feet in height and wore the latest in heavy duty body armour, emblazoned with bloodthirsty pictures across their chests. The mere sight of the troopers was enough to scare most of their enemies into submission, and those that resisted had to go up against a trooper whose body armour was protection against all but a heavy-duty energy weapon`s fire. A Heliot trooper knew no mercy, and as he was armed with weapons that were the best of his time this meant that he needn`t worry about such a concept.

The Heliot fleet of superb starships dropped out of hyperspace as planned just ten million miles away from their enemy, this massive fleet of starships then flung themselves towards the enemy fleet that was waiting to meet them, whose crews were all ready to die rather than surrender their planet and its people to the barbaric Heliot nation.

**********

Far-off in time and space, a massive space storm, crackling ferociously with energy, moved slowly through the loneliness of space. Its lonely passage through space was about to change when the rampaging Time Platform appeared in its midst, and its powerfully charged electro-magnetic envelope, energised by the full power of an out of control fusion reactor, wrapped itself around the storm like a lover and then disappeared with it into the depths of eternal time and space. It reappeared soon after, but now it was just behind the Heliot space fleet. Just when all had seemed lost for the Planet of the Light, the massive space storm swallowed the Heliot fleet up, and as suddenly as the storm had appeared, it and everything in it disappeared just as suddenly, leaving a bewildered fleet of starships jubilant but utterly bewildered.

This of course all happened a long time ago, when the Earth was very young.

Chapter Four

Into the Netherworld

May 24th in the year 2014

In a world totally removed from that of dealing with the problems of the universe, of Colonel Bragg, of Richard Jameson and his group, and whoever was behind the android attack on Orion, Saturday had arrived. Now Saturday is Tyler`s favourite day. Thankfully the world and, as far as Tyler was aware, the Cosmos, were running smoothly, well as smoothly as mankind would allow it to. It was only one little section of it that troubled Tyler. For this Saturday was different from the ones that had preceded it, for this was the first day following that eventful moment that had left him unemployed? It all started yesterday with his arrival at the office where Tyler was employed, an office which was set in the heart of Westminster, London, which had its finger on the pulse of governments everywhere. The firm always knew exactly what was going on, members of the government and business community consulted it on all and everything to do with the workings of the world.

On his arrival at this hub of research and communication, Tyler had been informed by his erstwhile bosses that the firm that had employed him for seven years as a research assistant was in financial crisis i.e. bankrupt, and that they could no longer afford to keep him on, sorry! Now, and like so many other poor and unemployed Londoners, Tyler would have to either find another place of employment or sign on the dole, as it was once termed. As a research assistant, maybe Tyler should have researched his own firm, but Tyler hadn`t. There had been no sign telling him to look to his future, and Tyler sure as hell hadn`t heard any dramatic music that always warned the audiences around the world that the heroes of the cinema screen were about to encounter impending peril. Nothing at all to tell him that he would be better off staying in bed for that day, and maybe the next few days as well. Sure, his firm had given him some redundancy money, not exactly a golden hand shake but something to live on for the next couple of months, and which Tyler had decided to pay into his building society immediately after breakfast on Saturday.

Tyler looked at the alarm clock that would now not be required to go off for some time. `Ten thirty already`, Tyler groaned loudly and moving a little too quickly for the state that he found himself in, immediately flinched, for a large bolt of lightning shot through his head. This was the onset of the worst headache, or was that hangover, that Tyler had ever had, and the light shining in through his bedroom window didn`t help matters at all. Tyler lay in bed afraid to move in case he set the lightning bolts off again. He had his head buried beneath the blankets to keep out the daylight while he tried to find hidden resources inside of himself. This was not for some dangerous mission into the unknown, it was so that he could drag his body out of his bed, but with even the smallest of movements there would come more of the shooting pains. Time went by and Tyler was slowly recovering, enough now for him to recall that he had to get shaved and washed, and then out before the building society closed, for Tyler was to pay his redundancy cheque into his account. However, every movement brought with it the shooting pains, and all of which then travelled around his head remorselessly, and without pity, so that all of his movements had to be very deliberate. Finally gathering up some hidden willpower from somewhere, Tyler slowly crawled out of his bed and into the small bathroom that led off his bedroom, only to see a haggard face looking back at him from the mirror.

Tyler was twenty-eight years old, not tall, about five feet nine inches in height and on the slim side, weighing only a shade over ten stone. He had dark brown hair, a chin that was a little too square and a nose that was just a shade to large, his normally big baby blue eyes were his best part, all the girls like them. That had been what had attracted Annabelle, though today he would not be able to attract a dead rat, he looked a state. His hair was a mess, his head ached, his blue eyes were red and haggard, and whilst only in his late twenties, today he looked more like fifty. Last night he shouldn`t have had those last few vodka`s, he knew his limit and had surely surpassed it some two hours before he had left the others of the old firm, all who were also trying to forget their woes now that the unemployment blues were upon them. He was unmarried and Annabelle had decided he would stay that way, 'enough was enough' she said, 'all you think about is booze and football.' Well maybe she was almost right in what she had said, although his main interest outside of those two things was archery. Since the age of two Tyler had accompanied his father to the archery range, and from the age of four he had been an active though minor member of the Coulsdon Archers. Tyler was now a star amongst the archers of Southern England, and had competed in many a competition. However, as far as marriage was concerned, he was still not ready to settle down, a steady long-term relationship, even with a girl as lovely as Annabelle, still stretched him. Annabelle had complained about the drinking, and maybe he did drink a little too much, but no more than most of his friends. Oh, and yes, his friends, they were another sore point with Annabelle, she didn`t like any of his friends either, for they were a poor lot and he was welcome to them. Goodbye.

This had happened halfway through last night and in his befuddled state Tyler had immediately resolved to forget her, for he could soon enough find another woman. Now, on a semi drunken morning, Tyler realised that he had rather liked Annabelle, and more than he had realised, maybe it had begun to be just a little more than that. He certainly felt much more for her than he had felt about the other women he had known. This afternoon he would go to see her and try to patch things up, to promise to cut down on his drinking, on his many nights out with the boys. They were beginning to tell anyway, because the boys were certainly younger than he was. Maybe Annabelle was right...maybe. Depressed as he was due to losing his job, he had noticed the added depression caused by the thought of losing Annabelle.

Finally, he washed and dressed in jeans and a white shirt, the next thing for him was to try and eat some breakfast, now breakfast for him was as always burnt toast and marmalade followed by a black coffee. Just as he sat down to eat his meal there was a clatter at the door of his small flat that he rented over a news agent`s in Coulsdon, Surrey. The papers had finally come, and he glanced at them while he munched on his toast and drank his coffee. The Daily Mail first, for the local free paper hardly had anything in it worth reading. It was the start of the summer months, so not much in the way of football, and after a half hour reading the mixture of sporting articles at the back of the newspaper Tyler glanced at the headlines. On the front page, 'hmm all doom and gloom again' this time regarding the weak Euro which was due to more behind the scenes deals by the German and French governments. 'Well enough of that for now, let`s see what`s in the local.' In the middle he noticed an advert and decided on the spur of the moment to take advantage of the offer.

The newspaper advertised a special offer from Bluebird Airways, half price introductory flying lessons. 'This is just what I need to brighten up my life when I most need it.' Tyler said to himself. Now maybe he shouldn`t have decided to take up the adverts offer, but his destiny had already been decided by the Fates, so what could a mere mortal do? Tyler walked to the front door and pulled on his black leather jacket, but as he left the room, he saw lying on the table a silver cigarette lighter that belonged to his friend, Jake. Putting it into his jacket pocket he decided that he would drop it off at Jakes house after seeing about the flying lesson, maybe they could have half a pint or two down at the pub.

With the trip to the building society forgotten, and before he could change his mind, Tyler was in his old second hand Peugeot coupe, and within a half hour was at Keston aerodrome. The aerodrome had been home to a RAF fighter wing during World War two, later a glider club took up residence and now Bluebird Airways had joined them. Tyler should have changed whatever sort of mind that he possessed that groggy morning as soon as he saw the office of Bluebird Airways. The office was in urgent need of repair and a new coat of paint, the one window which let in light was so covered with dust as to be as near to being opaque as to make no difference, and the door needed the urgent attention of a carpenter or glazier, or maybe both. The door opened as he approached it and someone stepped out, almost walking into him before realising that anyone was there. The man, for it was a man who had nearly bowled him over, was about fifty years in age and completely bald, although Tyler thought this was partly due to design than for any other reason. He was large, somewhat over fourteen stones and at least six-foot-tall, his oval face seemed tired, as if life had taken its toll of him, and worry was etched across his face. He looked up as he realised someone else was there, and his brown eyes forced a smile as he apologised.

"Sorry friend I didn`t see you for a moment." He stopped for a second and hope seemed to well up on his face as he continued. "I`m Captain Masters of Bluebird Airways; can I help you at all?" Masters was also dressed in a leather jacket, but his was brown, and he had on a smart pair of grey trousers to go with his own white shirt.

Before Tyler could speak or decide to run for it, for Masters had seen a look of apprehension in Tyler`s eyes as he looked at the mess of the office through the door, Masters carried on hurriedly.

"Are you here because of the advert?" Something in Tyler`s expression must have indicated yes, for Masters took his arm and began to walk him hurriedly away from the office.

"Good well you are lucky because although I was fully booked, I have just had a cancellation due to illness."

Tyler should have wondered about the other possible reasons behind the sudden cancellation, but he still needed cheering up. Anyway, he was not going to let a lack of decorating deter him, he didn`t like painting either which was another source of annoyance with Annabel, for she thought that his flat could do with a bit of brightening up, and this had led to another bout of arguments.

Masters led him towards a large hanger some one hundred yards from the office, parked in front of the hanger Tyler was presented with his first glance of the pride of Bluebird Airways, a single engine blue and white aircraft with the words Miles Finch painted just below the cockpit and Bluebird Airways along the fuselage.

"Well here we are, we have a nice little aircraft for you as you can see, and she will take four passengers plus a small amount of baggage." Masters said offering this free of charge information.

Now Tyler had little knowledge of aircraft, but it looked as if this was where Masters spent all his spare time, for the craft seemed in excellent condition.

"It is a Miles Finch as you can see." Masters said with some relish, and from his face Tyler could see that he was obviously very much smitten with the aircraft.

"I got her some five years ago, but she is still as perfect as she was when she was new." He stopped for a second as if waiting for some comment from Tyler, so with this feeling that maybe something was expected of him Tyler offered up a few words.

"Hmm Miles Finch aye, looks all right, a nice plane."

Masters seemed a bit miffed by Tyler`s apparent dismissal of his beloved craft. "She`s a bit better than all right friend, she flies like a dream, you`ll see." Masters said fervently.

"The flight plan was already booked for the cancelled flight, so if you will just fill in this form for insurance purposes, we can take off straight away."

Masters pulled out a form from the soft briefcase he was carrying, and after getting Tyler`s name and address, and of course the payment for the flight, which he almost snatched from Tyler`s hands, he smiled and indicated the door by Tyler`s side.

"No delay at all, Hey! Lucky aren`t you, your timing was just right my boy, we`ll take her up now, in you go." Tyler could see that the Miles Finch had indeed four seats, and looked a lot like his Peugeot car but with wings and a tail.

The Miles Finch engine caught immediately, and after the usual permission from the small control tower they were soon moving away from terra firma. Below them was a beautiful view of the countryside that stretched out like a gigantic multi coloured carpet. They flew over a castle of some ancient feudal baron, over farmhouses with their fields full of crops, then across gentle rolling hills. Quickly all this beauty began to get into Tyler`s very soul, lifting his cares and depression aside. Now Masters began to show Tyler the workings of the plane and allowed him to take a brief control of the aircraft. With the joystick in Tyler`s hand he could feel the wind and the air as the plane moved through this environment, normally so alien to Man. For the moment there was only the moment, and life was once more a joy. The rest of the world no longer existed up here. Tyler could feel his blood pulsing, and all he knew was the purr of the engine, the sound of the air rushing by the fuselage, and the feel of this marvellous new world through the joystick. Glancing towards Masters he couldn`t help the grin that spread across his face, even Masters seemed refreshed now he was away from the ground, away from civilisation, he grinned back at Tyler, happy to allow this man to share his world. Theirs was the freedom of the birds when they too spread their wings and flew higher and higher, over the hills, forests and streams. Tyler knew that come what may, he would have to do this again. Just when things couldn`t get any better Masters intruded on Tyler`s thoughts.

"I am sorry Mr Burrows but I will have to take back the control of the aircraft." Masters said in a worried voice, and with that Masters once again was controlling the plane.

"Look over there Mr Burrows and you will see the reason why; a storm front is racing in from nowhere." Masters said seeming rather agitated.

However, when Tyler looked in the direction that Masters had indicated he could see why. The sky was filled with black clouds, all racing towards them, black clouds with a strange orange glow, lightning crashed continuously out from within them, it seemed to be one very large and angry storm.

"What on earth?" Tyler began, his voice filled with consternation, but Masters cut in.

"I am sorry Mr Burrows, but this weather front has come from out of nowhere, when I logged this flight plan there was no mention of this kind of weather, it was supposed to be sunny and hot for the rest of the weekend." Masters` words came out in a rush as if to assure Tyler that it wasn`t any fault of Masters.

Masters was more than a little flustered, and to add to this feeling, fear was now also added, along with a little dash of disbelief. Masters quickly turned the plane back towards the aerodrome; Tyler could hear the voice of Masters, he was speaking shakily on the radio, but all Tyler could hear by way of a reply was static. The weather seemed to be interfering with the radio reception and flying was now getting more and more dangerous by the second. Tyler`s pulse began to race and he could feel a veil of sweat that had appeared on his upper lip. The plane was already beginning to be buffeted by the abnormally strong winds that had preceded the storm, and his stomach began to react to the motions of the plane. Now they were being tossed about as if the plane was only a paper bag, and he prayed that they would get down before he was forced to use the actual paper bag that was always there ready for the passengers to use, should it become necessary. From Masters` posture Tyler could see him visibly recovering from his initial panic. He no longer seemed to be the man that Tyler had met down by the dingy office, not even the man of a minute ago, now he was a man in control of his plane, in control of himself, and Tyler hoped, in control of the situation. As each second went by the wind speed increased, Tyler was now being painfully bumped against the fuselage despite the seat belts. As time moved by, time itself changed, it seemed to have been stretched out to an impossible extent, and it was almost as if time had been slowed down so as to maximize the amount of terror they were to endure. Although the plane was undoubtedly moving as fast as it could, only the storm seemed to be moving with any speed, and as it was moving at impossible speeds, it was now upon them. Tyler`s joy that had appeared not long before had turned into a nightmare, he too had been anticipating a sunny weekend, but no weather front in the world could travel like this, and at this speed, could it? The centre of the massive black billowing storm clouds seemed to emit a glow that flashed even brighter as a large bolt of lightning flashed down towards the ground. However, this was just a precursor for the tremendous crash of thunder that followed, confirming his worst fears, that they were about to enter into a very large and angry thunder storm, or rather it was about to envelope them, with no way for them to avoid it. The clouds were tearing along at an impossible low height now, almost as if heavily weighed down by their contents, or designs, for to Tyler they appeared to be filled with an evil that wanted nothing less than their lives.

"Can you get us down in this?" Tyler asked just a little nervously, his voice wavering a little as it conveyed his concern about their current situation.

"I don`t know Mr Burrows, I just don`t know, but if you know of any prayers then I suggest you say one for us."

Tyler didn`t know any, but soon made some up, for by now they were being forced to fly much lower than was normally considered safe as the storm clouds dropped further and still further. It was if the clouds didn`t want to let them escape, but wanted to hold on to them, to envelope them, to possess them, or maybe even to destroy them. When all seemed lost, there before them Tyler could just make out the thin strip that was the runway, but these strange clouds hadn`t ceded victory to them yet, indeed they seemed guided by a malevolent intelligence that wanted nothing less than their deaths, for the clouds had now dropped to almost treetop height! In turn Masters was forced to try and fly through these clouds and somehow miss the very top branches of the trees in his attempt to reach the small airstrip. Now this in any other circumstances would be considered plain suicidal, for at times Tyler was convinced that they were taking parts of the trees along with them. They were in the middle of this strange storm, they should have been torn to shreds but they weren`t, they should have been dead but they weren`t. The runway should be almost under them now, and although the winds would make the landing dangerous if not impossible, if they could see the runway there seemed at least a better chance of life down there than flying up here. That chance was snatched cruelly away from them when the blackest of the clouds decided to finish this uneven battle, and somehow the clouds seemed to actually reach out for them. For the clouds had dropped below them and with no other option left to him, Masters pulled up on the stick and took them up into the storm, they were now flying blindly towards what could only be their deaths.

Tyler was sure that they had now left the known universe and had entered into the netherworld beyond, they were inside unworldly storm clouds, the playthings of the gods. From out of nowhere Tyler and Masters felt a terrific uplift as they found to their awe that their terrors had indeed reached new heights, for they had been lifted further into this new and terrifyingly different world, they were now in a different universe with different laws to govern it. A world where the blackest of clouds could glow with a deathly life of their own, dazzling you with their glare, terrorising you as large shapes appeared from out of the swirling maelstrom only to disappear back into its swirling depths. The engine of the plane chose this moment to stutter as if it too was panic stricken, and finally it began to fade as if it did not dare to fly within this alien environment. Somehow, Masters managed to keep the engine turning over, but a very strong turbulence was in its turn impeding his efforts to keep the plane flying on an even keel. The fear on the face of Masters had returned twofold, and Tyler could feel the same fear and panic rising in him as well, how he was able to hang onto his own ragged nerves for so long he would never know.

"Captain Masters have you ever seen a storm like this before?" Tyler cried out in panic.

"Never before has the weather been like this Mr Burrows, it feels almost as if it is possessed."

Tyler now began to feel that something was watching them, moving them around like pawns on a chess board; he took a deep breath and attempted to rid his mind of this ridiculous feeling, things were bad enough without such thoughts filling his mind. He could feel the sweat rolling down his face; he was slipping down into a depth of fear so deep that he thought it would be impossible to return from it, he gripped the arms of his seat so hard that he knew that his knuckles must have turned white. He was certain that they were doomed to die in this storm of storms.

"I was made redundant yesterday Captain Masters; this flight was supposed to cheer me up." Tyler managed to say in an effort to throw off his feelings of panic and concentrate on getting through this nightmare.

"Cheer you up; you would need to have a strange sense of humour to find anything funny about our current position Mr Burrows." Masters replied with a hint of a smile appearing on his face as he tried to add a little humour into their situation, but failed.

All about them Tyler saw a nightmare vision that wanted nothing more than to attack their flimsy aircraft and it`s passengers. Tyler could see that he had two options, one pass out, or two get a grip on himself, for if was to die he may as well not be a quivering lump of jelly. How he still managed to turn aside from everything that was happening outside of the aircraft and talk to Masters he could not say, but talking to Masters helped both Tyler and Masters to keep on the right side of sanity. Maybe the situation was beyond hope, beyond despair, maybe.... but Tyler could hear himself talking calmly to Masters.

"Captain Masters, whilst we are still alive there is still hope." Yes, it was a platitude, but he said it to try and keep their hopes above rock bottom, just to continue on with the stunted conversation he was having with Masters, and because it was the only thought to pop into his mind.

Unfortunately, the weather outside seemed to disagree with this statement, and the light aircraft was hit by an even more violent gust of wind throwing the plane sideways and Masters head violently against the metal frame of the cockpit, knocking him out. Tyler screamed out his name in panic.

"Captain Masters, Masters come out of it." Tyler tried repeatedly to bring him around but he was knocked out cold and Tyler knew then that they must both die; something that seemed inevitable, for the plane must crash to the ground or explode deep within this strange storm. Tyler breathed deeply again and willed himself to keep as calm as he could within this nightmare world, this netherworld.

They had been careering on without anyone at the controls for some moments before Tyler grabbed at the joystick, as he attempted to regain some control of the plane, but his efforts were useless against the power of the storm. The whole of his body was now covered in sweat, and he was sure that he had lost a couple of pounds in weight since the plane had taken off from the small airfield. However, the inside of the plane was ice cold, far colder than Tyler had ever been before, his breath now froze as he exhaled, he shivered uncontrollably as the windows of the aircraft began to mist up. Masters was still unconscious, his head moving to the motions of the plane, Tyler realised that they were both puppets here, controlled by the will of the storm and nothing more. Nothing aboard the plane was working except for the stuttering engine that still refused to die completely, and Tyler was sure that it would also give in to the storm soon. They should have crashed into something but still they flew on intact inside the clouds, they should have been torn apart, but something seemed to want more from them, more than just fear.

It didn`t seem as if the situation could get any worse than it was already, but it did as from out of nowhere a pounding began to beat against Tyler`s ears. Tyler heard himself screaming as the noise increased tenfold. Tyler was forced to cease his feeble attempt to gain control of the craft and he released his hold on the joystick just so that he could cover his ears, anything to try and somehow block out the noise. However, it didn`t, for the pain of the mother of all headaches made itself felt now, until he thought that he must either faint or die as his head exploded, his headache had now grown one hundred fold, or so it seemed to Tyler Burrows. The plane was now vibrating to the beat of the noise until it reached such a pitch that it seemed the craft must shake itself apart. With the pain and the terror, Tyler had no time to realise that it was the sound of his own heart, and that of Masters, beating at fever pitch and somehow magnified to a terrifying level inside this strange alien world. The thunder storm of cyclopean strength chose now to unleash more of its venom against them, and as larger and brighter lightning flashes lit up their entire universe, they were accompanied by the roars of thunder so loud that it threatened what was left of his reason. A large rock suddenly appeared from out of the maelstrom, but how on Earth had it found its way up into the middle of a storm? This thought flashed through Tyler`s brain. The rock was heading directly for the Miles Finch, so finally they were to die, Tyler thought as he grabbed the joystick and jerked it violently to one side in the hope of missing the rock. This action coupled to a huge gust of wind that came out of nowhere jerked the small aircraft violently into a different direction, causing the rock to plunge on by the, narrowly missing the large wings of the aircraft.

It was the large wingspan of the Miles Finch that had kept it flying in the ever-decreasing atmosphere around it. How the rock happened to be flying through the air Tyler would find out one day, but for now he had other problems that needed his urgent attention. The colour of the clouds had become almost psychedelic, as a continuous flow of bright orange lights sped towards them at impossible speeds, only to shoot by them and disappear back into this terrifying cloud, making Tyler believe for a second that he was in an x-file movie. For a long moment Tyler was blinded by the glare of a lightning flash that was uncomfortably close to the light aircraft. Finally, his sight returned, but it brought more terror as he saw his skin changing colour to match that of the cloud, but it was not just a reflection of the clouds colour, his skin was really changing colour, then he noticed that the plane, Masters, everything, every atom of everything was changing, was in motion, disassembling from its neighbour. Tyler wanted to scream to relieve his stress, but by now nothing remained still long enough to allow him even this small amount of comfort. His body, that of Masters, even the aircraft, everything single atom was in constant motion. He was sure that he would soon pass out, but as his mind verged on hysteria everything stilled, Tyler stilled, the aircraft stilled, Masters stilled, time stilled. It was only Tyler`s heart and mind raced on ahead, and he likened it to being in a living nightmare, the sort where no matter how fast you run you seem to stand still, unable to reach the safety that you crave, unable to do anything but fear. His mind was the only part of him that was still working, and it shocked him as he began to realise a moment, or was it a lifetime later, that some part of him was begging for more of this action. The danger and excitement were making him thrill, making him feel more alive than ever before, craving the excitement, striving to go on living like this, the eagerness for it to continue now could have become an even greater danger to his wellbeing, if he had been able to control even the smallest of events that happened around them.

One piece of information not known by Tyler was that the aircraft was now nowhere near to the planet Earth, it had just passed Alpha Centauri in the twenty second century and was still moving forward in time and even further through space. They were flying within a large pocket of air that had been swallowed along with the small aircraft, and this together with a large amount of hydrogen gas stolen from the icy cold giant planet Jupiter allowed the aircraft to continue flying in the middle of the space storm. To Tyler it seemed to be a contest between the storm and gravity as to which would kill them, as yet another huge blaze of lightning lit up the sky directly ahead. They plunged straight into its fiery embrace, lightning rippling along the plane much as water does across a rock. Tyler was beginning to get very light headed. Normality had indeed left the room he thought as he began to lose consciousness, leaving only this supernatural storm that battled against the small aircraft, tossing it and its occupants about like so much flotsam.

Chapter Five

On the Planet Orion

June 21st the Year 2494

On the planet Orion, Colonel Bragg rushed into the control room of the Fusion Reactor to find the technicians assembled in a group, they were before one of the consoles loudly debating what they should do, but doing precious little actual work.

"May I suggest a little more action and a little less discussion might help us sort out the mess?" Bragg said, exasperated by the lack of activity before him.

Bragg turned to the technician in command of the reactor. Paul Swenson.

"Mr Swenson the only plasma fire within the building was firstly along the far wall when a shot narrowly missed me." Bragg indicated the wall opposite the entrance to the reactor room which had been behind Bragg when the androids had fired at him.

"The second place was when another shot missed me and ricocheted off of that unit there and hit Peterson." Bragg indicated the blackened and damaged unit at the end of the left-hand bank of machines and again opposite the entrance to the reactor room. This unit had been slightly ahead, but to one side of Bragg when one of the androids had fired at him. Along the rear wall there were none of the most sensitive machines that controlled the reactor, these were set along the three remaining walls. The only unit to be directly hit was the one that Bragg had indicated, and this didn`t seem to be in too bad a shape.

"May I suggest that you start there?" Bragg indicated the blackened surface of the rear wall that would have been just above his head when the fire fight was on. "And also, the machine that took a direct hit from a plasma bolt." Bragg then turned and left the reactor building, and after he had checked on his two marines posted outside, he walked the long way back to the Time Machine control room so that he could think over his options. As he was approaching the science complex, he reached a decision. Colonel Bragg entered the Laboratory and crossed over to Jameson who was at the far end of the room.

"I am going to going to destroy the Crystillium computer that sends power to the Time Platform, that will stop the monster from reaching Orion and killing lord knows how many people."

"You cannot do that Colonel, it has just occurred to me that as the fusion reactor is discharging its full power through that unit, to destroy it would leave the power with no place to go. It could destroy the laboratory and leave us without any control whatsoever, that or it might even cause the reactor itself to explode, at least we still have a chance that the Time Platform will return empty, the figures our computers are showing could just be an error reading caused by a damaged component in one of the computers. We will have to wait to see what does come back with the Time Platform... that and maybe pray. Adrian may have died for no reason what so ever." Richard Jameson was sick with worry for the planet, his team, his family and now his conscience was troubling him.

"I`m not interested in your Laboratory, Jameson, but what you say about the reactor scares me, are you sure that the reactor could explode if we disconnect the Time Platform from it at this critical moment?" Bragg asked. He saw that the death of Adrian Powers was weighing heavily on Jameson`s conscience and that the scientist was losing it, and losing the ability to think straight.

"No Colonel, I am not sure of anything anymore, you must ask Swenson, he should know, but you must act now as we only have minutes left."

Seconds later and only minutes before the Time Platform was due to return to Orion, dragging its retinue with it, Bragg`s telephone sprang to life, it was Swenson in the fusion reactor.

"We finally have a serving of good luck Colonel; the damage to the controls has in fact only been minor. What we told you earlier was in fact incorrect. What we had taken for massive damage has mostly been superficial; we only had one damaged system which we have replaced with a new one, the panic caused by the attack by the androids has turned trained men into scared schoolboys. We saw damage where there wasn`t any, and as soon as we got to work we realised this, I am reducing the power output back to normal levels Colonel, and you should see the results immediately."

The deafening noise that echoed around the main reactor room, seeming like the roars from an enraged monster, began to slowly subside, the dials on the console swung round to their more normal positions, the amount of energy leaving the reactor was now dropping, soon the technicians would once again be able to breath normally.

*********

In deep space, and at an earlier point in time, the Time Platform roared along through time and space, the immense amount of power flowing into it from the fusion reactor back on the planet Orion pulsated all around it. It had scooped up many things as it had journeyed back through time to the far side of the galaxy, and even more as it made its return journey back to Orion, and it was bringing it all back with it. The Time Platform rushed forward in time, back towards Orion, soon it would lose most of this power but not until it had reached Orion.

Chapter Six

The Time Machine

One Week Earlier, the Year 2494

The President of The Government of Earth, Ronald Michaels, was sixty years old but he looked older. Today he was thinking about the Time Machine, and he had just left his Minister of Defence who would cover for his planned space flight aboard the Space Cruiser Revenge. He would be away for just fourteen days whilst the Government of Earth was closed for its annual holiday. He was supposed to be going on a short holiday to the far-off resort planet of Almyra; in fact, he was going to the planet Orion.

One hour later and Archbishop Nicholas Collingswood, who led The Church of the Universe, watched as the space cruiser Revenge left Earth orbit. He was a tall dour man who was now filled with intolerance for anybody else`s views that differed from those of his own, he hadn`t always been like this, but power changed people. In fact, he had climbed to his position as the leader of his church through ruthlessness, vigour and later in his life through intolerance, and also by attacking all those who countenanced tolerance of differing viewpoints. This got so bad that no one in his Church dared have an opposing viewpoint to that which was voiced by Collingswood.

**********

8.00 am June 21st the Year 2494

Back on Orion, Bishop John Sinclair was for the moment unaware of the chaos going on around him. This morning he was standing at the windows of his temple on Orion; everyone thought of him as a kindly man and he was, but he was also a sad and lonely man. He liked to look down at the people walking across large paved square in front of the temple, busy in their everyday lives. At the moment the square was almost empty, almost except for a young mother with her family, but as he stood at the window looking down at this young family, all his old nightmares returned to haunt him, almost like a premonition of the troubles that were soon to come to Orion. Years before he had lived on the beautiful but tragic mining planet of Altera, the planet had been colonised by a confederation of industrialists with mining interests. The events had begun at a similar window, a similar square, a similar planet. That square had been filled with the bustle of everyday life, and amid it all a young mother with her family. The scene was as clear to him now, as it had been on that fateful day when the family had stopped to look up and wave to him, the youngest one shouting out a greeting of some sort that couldn`t quite penetrate the walls and glass of the temple. He knew he was shouting out to him, his father, the one person the whole family trusted with their safety, trusted beyond all else in the newly emerging group of planets ruled from Earth. He had known that he should not have felt so much pride in his family, but he had prayed that god would understand and forgive him this one sin. Tears streamed down his face as he recalled all that had followed this happy family scene, for it had only been seconds later that the first blast had come.

He had not understood immediately what had caused the sounds, not until he saw the looks on the faces of the people in the square; it was the blast of an explosion. Once more he was back on Altera on that terrible morning. He witnessed again the terror that appeared upon the face of his wife as she turned towards him crying to him for help, her eyes clearly showing the bewilderment that had so suddenly and terrifyingly come upon her. Then the second blast came and it hit her and the children, throwing them through the air like so many leaves caught up in an autumn storm. Blast followed blast; he stood there transfixed in agony as he saw the buildings around the square collapsing upon the people, upon his family who had been amongst the first to be touched by this horror. Slowly his mouth opened as a strangled scream escaped his lips; he called to his wife, the disbelief clear in his voice. "Karla, Karla." The word echoed about the room as he ran from it to the world below. Immediately outside the temple a burst water main sent forth its torrents of water drenching the rescuers as they rushed towards the tragedy that was still unfolding. Water streamed everywhere, making the attempts at rescue even harder than it already was. Alarms and sirens filled the air but he didn`t hear them, just the silent screams of his family, now lying dead beneath the rubble. The rescue teams soaked by the water, and all covered in dirt and blood, dug franticly through the rubble in search of the injured and the dying.

It had taken so much time for his pain to subside down to mere sorrow, but lately with the successes at the science complex, the local population had begun to complain, it was due to the sudden increase in the numbers of new colonists coming to Orion and building houses near to the native villages. The nightmares of the revolt on Altera had returned to haunt him, for this had been the complaint of the Alterans. His nightmares took him back to Altera, he was once again digging through the ruins with his bare hands, and then he was cradling his wife`s head as his tears washed away the dirt from her face, her dead eyes looking up deep into his were filled with questions that he would never be able to answer. Why oh why hadn`t he seen it coming, why had he not protected her and the children? Once more he was looking into the peaceful faces of his children, covered in a mixture of Karla`s and their own blood as they lay beneath her protecting body.

The planet of Altera was empty now, except for a few miners, for the industrialist who owned the largest of the mining firms had quickly turned the planet into one huge fully automated mining operation, only a few men were required, and none of them locals. It was funny how it had come about so quickly, so soon after the end of the troubles.

Bishop John Sinclair`s biggest fear was that the discovery of time travel on Orion would bring about the same carnage, but then he had never realised just what had happened on Altera, never found out the facts behind the carnage. It was because of this that he contacted the President of Earth constantly, to request that the Time Machine be taken back to Earth. This would drastically limit the number of people wanting to come to Orion and stop the unrest from growing on Orion.

Chapter Seven

The Jungle

June 21st the Year 2494

The Time Platform had arrived back in the vicinity of the planet Orion, now it seemed that it had only to travel across the Player star system, that was home to Orion, and move forward in time a few days to reach the planet and the town of New Eden. Once there it would destroy the entire science complex and all the people, buildings and countryside around about it, for when everything the platform was dragging hit the planet it would also hit and destroy the fusion reactor. That was a moment ago, a moment later the technicians of the fusion reactor had undergone a different sort of blast, a Bragg blast. The difference was immediate, as the sudden reduction in the amount of power feeding into the Time Platform meant that it could no longer hold on to all that it had stolen during its rampage through time and space, and some of it escaped in the depths of the Player star system. It was here that most of the enormous space storm evaporated almost as if its violent rampage through space and time had exhausted it. At last the Time Platform reached Orion, and as the platform moved across the surface of Orion it had almost lost its massive magnetic field. It was now that what remained of its deadly cargo began to drop from its embrace to crash onto the planet below. Much of its cargo was dropped into the large oceans of Orion to be never seen again, but as the clock ticked on some of it crashed down upon the single large continent on Orion. Minutes later and reports began to come in from the villages throughout Orion, reports that at any other time would have been unbelievable. `Objects, ` they were told, were falling out of the sky, and they appeared to be coming from out of large multi-coloured storm clouds that had suddenly appeared, and which were growing ever larger as the people watched across all of the land mass on Orion.

Many things appeared in the skies of Orion, such as huge rocks, that had been dragged from asteroid fields. These now crashed down onto the planet causing widespread local damage amid a massive thunder storm that had followed the platform on its journey home. Some other things rushed through the atmosphere of Orion, such as a storm of meteorites that burnt up in the atmosphere of the planet, and one small aircraft, battered and falling fast towards the ground below.

**********

Tyler was on the verge of losing consciousness when the fresh air of Orion rushed into the plane bringing him around. With his muscles on the verge of surrender to this House of Hammer universe, his mind about to flee this world of horror, the only thoughts now running through his mind were that the battle was over, the storm has won. However, it was not over, for like a cork from a champagne bottle the Miles Finch burst forth from the clouds and there was light, natural light, normal light, light that was not supernatural light, but unfortunately it did not completely fill the sky.

Ahead a towering cliff face devoid of any vegetation had exploded into instant existence, while Tyler, hoping more for a small runway froze with astonishment before screaming out an expletive. For those who don`t know Surrey, it can be firmly stated that this sort of natural creation is not present there. As Tyler sat there momentarily stilled in a state of shock, he realised that the craft was falling, falling towards the ground below, a ground filled with a waiting jungle! However, there was no time to wonder about the presence of the jungle in the middle of the Home Counties, for with a failing engine and no airspeed to speak about, pondering such matters was not high up on the list of priorities. As more and more jungle filled his field of vision, he did the only thing he could, he pulled back on the joystick with one hand while shaking Masters roughly with the other in an attempt to bring him round. Then in a moment of final desperation he began screaming madly at Masters.

"Masters, Masters, wake up will you, we are about to die damn you."

However, when it all seemed over, and as if to answer his silent prayers, Tyler was given a new shot of hope, Masters had finally come around thanks to the fresh air filling his gasping lungs. Masters awoke to see death moving towards him at an increasing rate of knots. "My God." Was all he had time to say before grabbing hold of the joystick and helping Tyler to pull back hard and at the same time giving the engine the extra something it required.

The Miles Finch`s engine began to roar again, and the plane slowly began its climb away from the ground. But the battle was not yet won, for with the cliff face looming ever closer it was in the lap of the gods as to whether they would live through the next few moments. They could now plainly see every detail of the rocky cliff face fast approaching them. Time and space were fast running out, and just as it seemed as if time had indeed run out, blue sky suddenly appeared before them as the cliff face disappeared from view. The aircraft had somehow managed to find an updraft of warm air and gain enough height to clear the top of the cliff and get them to safety. Tyler and Masters both screamed with delight, but it all seemed premature for a loud thud rang through the plane as the plane shuddered. It was as if it had been mortally wounded, the underside of the plane had hit a particularly solid piece of the vegetation that covered the top of the cliff top, doing untold damage to a lower portion of their now stricken plane.

Smoke began to pour out from beneath their speeding aircraft, and all they saw around them was 'wall to wall' jungle which spread out like an Amazonian rain forest. One thing was certain; this was not England, well certainly not the England that they had left behind only a short time ago. Tyler looked over to Masters.

"This cannot be real, surely we must have died and gone to hell" Masters looked over at Tyler and smiled.

"Well it seems very green to be the fiery depths of Hell, Mr Burrows, more likely one of us is having a nightmare, and if it is you will you please wake up."

Tyler gave a half grin to Masters at this attempt at humour at so grim a time, but he himself was seriously doubting his own sanity in this nightmare world of theirs. Captain Masters though seemed to be more at ease than Tyler, but then he hadn`t been conscious when he had journeyed through the mother of all supernatural storms.

"We will have to find somewhere to land, and fast, for we don`t have all that much fuel left Mr Burrows, and I think that the plane is very badly damaged from the sound the engine is making."

As if to reinforce this view the engine began to cough and splutter again, and the nose of the plane dipped sharply towards the waiting jungle.

"The engine doesn`t sound too good to me, will it last long enough to get us down safely?" Tyler cried out in desperation, panic was beginning to grip him by the throat once again, and he now found it hard to breathe as he searched desperately for the vanished airstrip, and his vanished world. He still tried to dismiss the absurdity of the images that his eyes were sending to his brain, to concentrate on searching for a piece of flat ground large enough for them to land safely. All he could find though were more insane questions without any sane answers. Feeling his reason and courage fast slipping away he somehow managed to find the strength to stop him from turning into a crying cringing coward. Tyler swallowed deeply and gripped the armrests firmly, and he thought of his father who had been a decorated soldier, Tyler didn`t want to die a coward's death and sully his father`s memory, rather the opposite, and so slowly his sanity returned.

"The name is Tyler, Captain Masters; I think we can be on a first name basis for the remaining time that we have left to us." Masters agreed.

"George Masters, Mr Burrows, or Tyler that is, my name is George Masters and I can only hope that the engine will last long enough to see us safely through."

Masters had thought for a moment that Tyler would become a problem, but now he saw that he must have been wrong. No sooner were the introductions over when the engine began to splutter with renewed energy. They looked fearfully at one another.

"It was nice to have met you George Masters." Tyler began but Masters cut in saying.

"It`s not over yet Tyler, look, look, over there, a meadow."

In front of them a pocket handkerchief sized meadow slowly grew as they approached it until Tyler was sure it would suit their needs just nicely, when in fact it would stretch Captain Masters` skills to the limit.

"Oh, thank you God, thank you, yes." His mood had improved immensely now that Fate had thrown them a chance. "Yes, it seems to be nice and flat George, can you land there?"

The Miles Finch answered the question for them when it`s engine finally gave up the battle, thus forcing Captain Masters to use all his skills as a pilot just to keep the plane airborne long enough for them to reach the meadow, and the hoped-for safety that it offered.

"Looks like I will have to Tyler."

The meadow was not very large by any standards, but it was maybe just large enough, and it did look flattish, anyway flat enough for their desperate needs, anyway what was the point in worrying now when the Miles Finch had made the choice for them? The aircraft skimmed over the tops of the trees, Masters had no need to lower the wheels of the Miles Finch as it had fixed wheels, Masters just hoped that they hadn`t been damaged when they had hit something as they climbed over the cliff face. The stricken aircraft was now falling quickly down towards the waiting meadow and it needed all his skills as a pilot to keep the nose of the plane up, and then they were clear of the trees and over the meadow. Masters had almost brought his beloved aircraft down onto terra firma, but it was still not all over, for the jungle was rushing towards them from the far end of the meadow. Finally, though, he got the craft down and they now bounced along this short-improvised runway. In fact, there followed a series of bumps and bangs that jarred their entire bodies causing Tyler to once again swear at this world in general, and to this place in particular, but Captain Masters needed all his concentration just to keep them alive. The craft was down though, with the long grass of the meadow flattening out beneath them, and leaving a long-crushed strip as the plane rushed along through it at what seemed a suicidal speed. Either side of them their view was blocked by the tall grass, giving the appearance that they were moving through a long green tunnel where the wall in front of them was rushing along ahead of them, as if to stop them from running over it.

Masters had got their speed down to a more sedate rate when the grass in front of them disappeared, and ahead of them appeared a massive rock wall with a large cave inset into it, and they were approaching it far too fast.

"I don`t think we can stop in time." screamed Masters.

Then Fate took another hand in the events when one of the wheels struck a large boulder shearing it from the plane and spinning the aircraft so that it finally came to a rest with a large crash that almost destroyed the rear of the plane. The plane had ended its days at the back of the large cave that they had been tearing towards just moments ago.

Tyler had hardly had the time to react to all the events, they had all happened so quickly, so he did not bother to try as he slowly let out a sigh.

"Well George, it was not what I would have called a really smooth landing but... I suppose it will do."

Both of them broke down in a fit of laughter, after all the stress of the last hour it was nice to be down in one piece, and finally safe.

They both opened the doors of the plane and stumbled, or maybe it was they fell to the ground, happy to feel something firm beneath their feet. Tyler sank to the ground, his legs no longer able to hold him, but thankful to be able to touch something so solid after their mad flight through hell. The cave went some six metres into the rock and so they were almost at the entrance. The sight that met their eyes was an improvement on what they had gone through, but not that much better, it being so unreal in itself. Ahead of them Tyler saw their improvised runway of flattened grass running some four hundred yards through the tall elephant grass. To either side of the cave the jungle fell silent after the roaring of the plane and the large crash as it had come to its final resting place, silent as if waiting to see what would happen next.

Both George Masters and Tyler had been frozen from the frightful experience that they had been through, frozen, exhausted and covered in sweat from the stress of their incredible journey through 'The Twilight Zone'. Now though in this strange land the sun quickly warmed them, and the sun beating down on them was certainly not the one that they had taken off in, on that cool May morning, a lifetime ago. It must have been in the nineties or beyond, here in this surreal world, so Tyler stripped of his jacket and George Masters nodded approvingly

"Yes, I think a little informality will be just the thing for the moment Tyler."

Masters looked around at the long grass, and then the jungle beyond, before taking off his old blue and white striped squadron tie from his time in the Royal Air Force, and then unbuttoning his shirt. He then turned back and took a moment to look at his Miles Finch aircraft. It had got them safely through hell and down onto Terra Firma before dying, for Masters had always thought of his plane as a living thing, something that he loved, and he was sure that it loved him in return, in its own way. Now, after getting them through that terrible flight, it would fly no more. With a sigh Masters turned to Tyler.

"You know Tyler, I really thought that we were going to die when that storm hit us, just to be here on the ground is a miracle in itself, someone up there is certainly looking after us." Masters would soon recall these words and laugh.

"I sure hope that you are right George, though personally I think he could do better." Masters smiled at Tyler`s ungrateful remark to the lords of the universe.

"Well what way do we go from here Tyler?" Masters asked looking around at the all-encompassing greenery. Tyler merely shrugged his shoulders.

"I don`t know George, all ways look bad from where I`m standing right now, maybe we are dead and this is some one's pathetic idea of paradise."

Maybe Tyler should have been a little bit more grateful to whomever or whatever had brought them safely down, at least a little grateful to Masters and for his skills as a pilot, but instead his cries of lament filled the forest. Tyler looked about them once again, expecting at any moment to see the men in white coats coming to take them away, for surely Tyler thought, if he was not dead then he must be stark staring mad. A scowl covered his face as he looked afresh at the meadow, and then the jungle. One thing was certain this was not his idea of paradise, to him paradise was the Seychelles, warm seas to swim in, white sands to walk along, the luxury hotel to rest up in, this was not a holiday island it was more like purgatory, and he told Masters so, Masters looked across at him and smiled.

"I understand how you feel Tyler, you haven`t been through the stress of battle as I have when I flew above the desert sands of Iraq, even though that was a lifetime ago I still remember it, and that was far worse than this, there people were firing at you." Masters looked at Tyler and Tyler could hear the unsaid words that must be going through Masters mind, that of the two of them, Masters would be the man to see them through whatever fate had in store for them. Well that was fine by Tyler, as long as someone saw them through this ordeal.

Masters glanced up at the sky above, the clouds were scurrying across the heavens, with at least the promise of offering them some protection against the stifling heat of this land, and the wind bringing them was already helping to cool them, for they were now feeling the heat as it baked them. This was in direct contrast to a few minutes earlier when they had welcomed the sun after being frozen by their nightmare journey. Tyler meanwhile stood staring at the jungle in the final desperate hope that it would change back into the world that they had left only a short time ago, it didn`t. Masters put his hand on Tyler`s shoulder and pointed towards a rough meandering track to their right.

"Well this way seems as good as any Tyler, come on, who knows maybe there is a luxury hotel just around the bend, and anyway I am very thirsty all of a sudden, as I suspect are you, so we need to find some water, and maybe something to eat." Masters led the way towards the trees which seemed to open up invitingly, unveiling a narrow track that led them into the dark foreboding interior that was the jungle.

"Well if there is a hotel nearby George, then either they are all deaf, or they must be very sound sleepers." Tyler silently added that inside that jungle there could well be something that was looking for something to eat as well.

With that Tyler followed Masters towards the jungle, stopping at the entrance to this world of trees with the feeling that maybe he should proceed no further. Tyler looked nervously back at the meadow which seemed so bright, almost comforting in contrast to the gloom within the jungle. He was hoping to see another way that was not so daunting, but the tall grass prevented him from seeing much, and anyway he remembered an old film he had seen long ago, and the people who had chosen the tall grass had all died.

"Okay George I am coming." Tyler called, and their next part in this adventure had begun.

The jungle had closed in around them, but even so for a while the going was comparatively easy as they followed an animal trail that meandered through the trees and ferns of this very green world. The trees of this land stretched up and up towards the sky, Tyler had never seen such tall trees except in National Geographic programs on television. If there was a tourist hotel nearby then these lords of the earth would certainly be one of the attractions, for they were indeed lords of their realm, a realm that unfortunately seemed to stretch forever before them. After ten minutes or so, the trail got narrower and narrower until it disappeared altogether, and they now had to force their way through the ever-thickening jungle. The gloom under the immense trees reinforced the insane situation that now encompassed the two men. In no time their clothes were being ripped and torn by the thorns and branches of this inhospitable land, their hands, bodies and faces were also being scratched and were showing signs of bleeding. Their spirits were dropping fast until they were at an all-time low that was matched only by the gloom of the jungle, but they finally reached a small clearing. Here the sun broke through to rule for a while after an old king had fallen, and in turn Masters dropped to the ground, resting his back against the old king.

"We must rest for a moment Tyler, for I cannot go on any further, I`m exhausted."

Tyler was glad of the chance to rest too, for the heat had always made his feet ache, and so the suggestion to rest had been happily received, although for some reason Tyler was not as exhausted as he knew he should have been. Tyler and Masters let the hot sun play on them, making them feel sleepy with its heat. They rested for about an hour, both dozing, both dreaming of their nightmare dash across eternity. Tyler woke thinking for a moment that he was back in his bedroom, but reality soon flooded in. Tyler broke the silence, repeating thoughts aloud that had been reoccurring to both men ever since they had come out of their nightmare psychedelic journey through hell, to finally come to this LSD land.

"I must be dreaming George for this cannot be real." He wailed in self-pity.

Tyler wondered whether some television personality might suddenly appear with his film crew to laugh at the two of them, for it was only another television reality show, and they were to be tonight`s stars in this 'delightful' jungle. Tyler rose and looked about them, the afternoon was certainly moving on, and here they were still lost in never-never land.

"Well George." Tyler said, "At least the weather is right for England, even if the rain is warm."

It had begun to rain, and now quite heavily, and so Tyler put his jacket back on and both men moved along the length of the fallen giant to seat themselves beneath the shelter of the forest canopy, and out of the worst of the rain. After a few minutes a small waterfall started pouring down the huge leaves of a nearby palm tree, and both Masters and Tyler happily got wet so as to be able to quench their thirsts.

Tyler was still sure in his mind that they would soon come across signs that they would recognise, signs that would point out some town in either Surrey or Sussex, for where else could they be. They certainly didn`t have enough fuel to reach any parts of the world where the rain forests were situated. Unfortunately, where they were now looked more like a rain forest than an English wood. The insects all seemed to be bigger, and their colours were certainly brighter than he remembered from his brief walks in the English countryside. They were certainly greater in number as they fluttered into the faces of Tyler and Masters, necessitating the continued use of their hands to push them away. The colour of the many birds also seemed brighter, some of their tail feathers much longer than any bird Tyler had ever seen in England. Could he have been this blind to the fauna of his home land? Even the space beneath the forest canopy differed, the flora seemed larger, greener, different, more exotic maybe; it was definitely not from Sussex, maybe Kew Gardens he thought facetiously. However, to think they had crashed into a botanical garden and had not found one sign of humanity would really be insane. Yes, there were ferns beneath the trees of an English wood, but definitely not like these ones, that he was forced to admit to himself. Everything here strained up towards the tree canopy, including the massive vines that wrapped themselves around the huge trunks of the trees, everything strained towards the patches of sunlight, towards the sky still noticeable in small clear patches amongst the almost unbroken canopy. This forest was wilder than the manmade dark forests of conifers back home, here they were still unshaped by Man. Tyler found himself a little bewitched by it all, the beauty of it lifting the depression that had settled over him, the very essence of life here getting into his very soul. If David Attenborough came around the next corner with a film crew following him, then he would not have been surprised. Thankfully, it finally stopped raining and the drips from the foliage above were lessening in their intensity. The forest was probably never quite dry, and the humidity beneath the tree canopy would stop their clothes from drying out completely, but it was something, for the heat of the day under the blazing sun was worse than the cooler humid dampness under the canopy of the trees.

George Masters had once been a hero, he had flown fighter aircraft for the Royal Air Force against the enemies of the United Kingdom, and then when the war was won, he had been rewarded for his courage by being made redundant. Defence cuts meant that he was a civilian again, unwanted by so many in the new England. For a while depression had set in and his wife had left him for a man in the motor trade, well the recession put paid to quite a few jobs there also, and he was overjoyed to see his wife`s new boyfriend out of work, which had perked him up for a while. It had been about then that he had bought his Miles Finch aircraft, cheap, also because of the recession. Soon the recession was over and his business was booming, but he had got old far too soon, and then slowly he had felt his spirit slipping away. He never went out now after dark, too many muggers about, he sometimes didn`t answer the door when a stranger called, today he had even thought of suicide. Masters chuckled to himself, suicide and here he was still alive after fate had offered him a suitable way out, still someone had to look after the boy; Tyler seemed a nice lad, better put off the suicide until later. Masters had been quiet for some time, lost as he was in his thoughts, but now he broke the silence that had descended on them.

"Time to move on Tyler, it would be nice to find signs of habitation before nightfall."

Tyler looked across at his companion and agreed, and so they got up from their seats on the forest floor and moved off. It was then that they heard a loud noise coming from somewhere in front of them, something was moving along the narrow track that had opened up before them, and it too seemed as if it was moving towards them.

"It could be loggers I suppose." Masters suggested.

Both men looked at one another as they queried the source of the noise, both still clinging to the forlorn hope that this was indeed somewhere in England. It wasn`t loggers though, and what they saw appear through the forest made them scramble in panic for one of the lesser trees, an extremely large black furry animal resembling a bear had appeared in front of them. Masters first thought was for himself; unfortunately, he had two left feet, and he got them tangled amid a vine that ran across the floor and up the trunk of a nearby tree. He promptly fell flat on his face knocking most of the wind from his lungs, what air was left Masters used up with a loud cry of terror. The animal thankfully was not as quick as a bear, but even so it was making short time of devouring the space between it and the two men. Tyler seemed to have changed somewhat from the panic-stricken man on the plane. He quickly pulled a complaining Masters to his feet and almost pushed him to a nearby tree that looked climbable. Masters` feet franticly searched for holds to help him propel himself up towards the safety of the tree`s branches, but without too much luck. This meant that Tyler was forced to spend valuable time shoving a puffing and complaining Masters up to safety. Unfortunately, the beast was too near now to allow Tyler to scramble to the safety that George Masters had found, and so Tyler did what was to become natural to him, he fought back. Tyler picked up a section of a branch that a storm had torn from a tree, and with the bear almost upon him he spun about and caught the bear a blow with the heavy branch. However, he had almost mistimed it for it only caught the beast a blow on its stubby snout, but the beast stopped its charge abruptly and howled out in shock and pain. Tyler followed this blow by jabbing the branch into the animal`s stomach, which made it give ground before him. Unfortunately, the animal then stood its ground and lashed out at the branch with its massive fore feet. It should have sent the piece of wood flying across the clearing, but Tyler found that he possessed more strength than he thought he had, for he was able to not only keep a hold of the improvised club, but spinning around he brought the added momentum into play, and with great satisfaction brought the club crashing round against the beast's head. The blow knocked the creature to the floor and stunned it long enough to give Tyler time enough to head for another young tree, which was some fifteen feet away, and he was able to scramble up it to safety. This finished any hope that they were anywhere within the British Isles, or indeed upon the continent of Europe. The Bear like animal was now back upon its feet, or to be precise it`s two back feet. It stood fully ten feet tall upon its hind legs, it was very mad at missing its dinner, and very angry at the treatment it had received at Tyler`s hands, so it roared its displeasure at them far into the night. It had been a close thing though, for in a final attempt to get it`s dinner, it had made a try at grabbing Tyler`s feet, but thankfully it`s claws just missed their target, brushing Tyler`s left shoe as he quickly drew his foot up to the safety the rest of his body enjoyed. For a while the bear pounded against the trunk of his tree as if attempting to knock him down, but tiring of this it then roared its displeasure, and Tyler just a little way above the savage beast could smell its fetid breath as it complained about missing its dinner.

"Thank you, Tyler, you saved my life without a thought for your own safety, you are a true hero." Master said to his new friend.

"Shucks, it weren`t anything." Tyler said copying a phrase he had heard on Looney Tunes, he then smiled at his friend, for he was very glad to come through their ordeal without turning completely to jelly.

Chapter Eight

The Heliots

June 21st the Year 2494

Generalissimo Divilio saw the light of one of the suns of the binary star system, that was home to the Planet of the Light, brightening as his starship drew nearer to the fleet of his enemy, the enemy starships filled his view screen, but that was just for a moment. Then his ship, indeed his entire fleet was swept up into a space storm of immense strength and size. It had appeared out of nowhere, his mighty starships were the playthings of the gods, who tossed and threw his fleet violently against the debris that the storm had swept up on its mad journey through time and space. Generalissimo Divilio saw that his mighty fleet was being drawn relentlessly towards a strange orange light that even now lit up his bridge, the light was filled with a myriad of objects of all shapes and sizes, and some of them looked as if they could destroy his fleet. As his fleet entered this area of the space storm, the strange light eerily lit up his ship, his bridge. Some of his battle-hardened crewmen began to scream for just the smallest instant, for they saw their very molecules changing second by second along with those of the giant starship itself. Divilio didn`t have time to ponder on what had occurred since exiting hyperspace, for he too was only able to watch in awe, unable to move as he saw his grand armada become the plaything of fate. His flagship had been violently beaten and rocked repeatedly by this interstellar gale; his fleet had been struck by large rocks that crashed against the sides of his ships, threatening to cave their hulls in and kill their crews. Thankfully the shields of most of his large fleet were still working, and so the hulls on these starships weren`t breached, but the men and equipment had been damaged as they had been thrown around with such a violence that even he found hard to comprehend. Through the view screen he saw that intermixed with the rocks were clumps of vegetation torn from the ground of some distant planet, and a myriad of other obscure objects, all being drawn across space by this strange space storm. When it seemed that the ship couldn`t take much more, the fleet shot out of the orange light and into another, much more real terror. Directly before him was a blue and green planet, but it did not look like the Planet of the Light, no somewhere entirely different, and this planet was only a few thousand miles away. Thankfully his fleet had not reached their maximum normal space speed when the storm had struck, giving his captains time to slow their starships, and so his fleet did not crash into the planet directly ahead of them at an insane speed. Divilio supposed that it must be the Planet of the Light, but they were so close now that Divilio wasn`t sure, and in any case he didn`t have much time to ponder the situation. Breaking jets fired again on each of the ships as their commanders tried to slow the headlong rush down towards certain destruction upon the planet`s surface. The outer temperatures of the hulls of the vessels, caused by entering the planet`s atmosphere at too great a speed, caused fires to break out on many of the ships. His bridge was full of noise, a mixture of screaming circuits that were not made to take this sort of punishment, parts of the bridge equipment had torn loose from their fixtures by the G force, and a cacophony of loud voices all asking the questions that he wanted answers too. What had happened? Where were they? Would they live through the next few seconds?

They were now moving at a suicidal speed towards the tree tops of the planet when a loud scream from his helmsman cut across all this noise.

"We won`t stop in time brace yourselves we are going to hit hard."

Somehow his helmsman managed to decrease their angle of approach to the ground rushing up at them, but they still hit hard, the helmsman giving the battle of a lifetime and earning his pay as he tried to miss the larger items dotted along their rough landing strip. The ship had bounced three times as it tore through the undergrowth and trees of the Planet Orion.

"Fire all breaking thrusters now." screamed Divilio just a little too late, for his helmsman had already applied them.

Divilio saw parts of his flagship break off as they hit a gigantic tree, his helmsman choosing this direction rather than the granite hill that filled the rest of his view. The impact caused the ship to slew around hard and it began to spin, but only the once, for the mass of the ship pushed its nose deep into ground finally stopping it. Its stopping threw Divilio hard against the decking of his vessel, a jagged piece of his once proud ship tearing into his flesh. Smoke now began to fill the compartment from the numerous fires caused by the ships electrical systems being damaged. These were caused either by the one of the bone breaking bounces as the ship had skipped along the hard ground, or the force hitting them when the ship in turn hit something large, or maybe it was the G force when the ship was finally spun around like a child`s toy.

Generalissimo Divilio, self-appointed Emperor of the Universe, was some forty years old, almost six feet in height with dark curly hair and muscles on his muscles, the very picture of a pirate, which at heart he was. He commanded through fear, ruthlessness and success, just like any pirate that ever sailed the seven seas of planet Earth. His family had ruled on the planet Heliot for generations, and he was a product of such breeding, never had he been denied anything, and he was not about to start being denied the Planet of the Light and all of its riches now. However, all around him Divilio saw his ship broken, his crew hurled to the floor, some obviously dead. One killed by a broken joist that had crashed down from the bridge ceiling to crush him, another with a broken neck caused by being thrown around the bridge like so much flotsam, still another impaled on a jagged piece of bridge that had been torn from the wall. The rest all injured by various degrees, included his first officer Aswan, who had a broken arm, but who was still the first to help him get to his feet.

Without acknowledging his help Divilio snapped out an order to Aswan. "See how badly off the ship is Aswan, quickly now I need to know when we can kill every last peace-loving slug on the Planet of the Light. When I have finished with that hole, they will have to change its name to the planet of the dead." However, then Divilio noticed that his first officer was wounded.

"But have the doctor look at your arm first Aswan; you`re no use to me like that. And have him come up here to tend to my wounds after he has done with you." Blood was staining Divilio`s tunic at the spot where he had been stabbed by a piece of his beloved flagship.

Aswan, too was a pirate at heart. Thirty years of fending for himself ever since his parents had died had shaped Aswan into a hard, independent man, one who would do anything to get what he wanted. He had been put into a workhouse to grow up, and grow up fast he did. His face bore the scars of this tough life, his eyes were hard and diamond blue, his hair long and curly, much as his leader`s hair was. No one except Aswan thought that Divilio cared for anyone or anything but himself, but Aswan knew that once there had been a real friendship between the two Heliots. That had been before Divilio had ordered the attack on the Planet of the Light. Aswan had warned against making an attack, without more information about what they would have to face when they launched their invasion, but Divilio wouldn`t listen to him and had ridiculed him in front of the other members of the fleet. From this moment on their friendship had finished, now Divilio had an enemy on his bridge, one who would take his revenge when Divilio needed him most. Because of Divilio they were marooned on this god forsaken planet, with their fleet almost destroyed, never again would they be the scourge of the universe, never again would he feel the touch of his woman`s hand upon his body.

Across the way from Aswan, Divilio let forth a scream of pure rage at the Fates, which rang down the corridors of his flagship. Then Divilio turned to Rada, his communications chief.

"Rada contact the other cruisers and find out how many men were lost on this pathetic planet."

"Yes Generalissimo, to hear is to obey."

Rada had anticipated his leader`s order, for he had already started to contact the other members of the fleet, to ascertain whether or not they were okay.

Divilio only waited a minute before demanding the information of his communications chief.

"Well Rada what is the situation out there?"

Rada looked up at his leader and with a look of abject dismay on his face, and he groaned out a sorrowful reply to his leader.

"The other battle cruisers that I have so far been able to get in contact with are all smashed up, nothing left of them except scrap metal. Most of their crews are more than likely dead as well, we were lucky." He added rather rashly for Divilio nearly shot him with his Death energy pistol there and then, so engulfed was he by anger, as the truth of the situation became tragically clear. In fact, Divilio`s face would have frozen the entire population of the Planet of the Light, had they seen it, thankfully for them however, he was the length of a galaxy away plus fifty thousand years in time.

"No!" screamed Divilio. "No! Not my magnificent fleet. Planet of the Light, I will turn your name into the Red Planet. All your people will die beneath my boots."

Rada was fearful for his own life after his rash statement about their ship being lucky, and especially so when he had coupled it to the fact that he had been the bearer of such bad news, so he decided that some good news was required.

"The troop transports look to be in reasonable condition, my leader, we can easily revenge ourselves with what they carry."

Divilio looked down again at Rada and seeing the fear on the other man`s eyes sneered.

"Don`t look so worried Rada, I only bite those who don`t obey my orders immediately."

Rada was grateful then, for always obeying Divilio without so much of a moment`s hesitation. Rada was quite short, only five foot five inches with the same dark curly hair of his leader, and a disposition to match Divilio`s. He was twenty-five years of age; all spent fighting and grasping for whatever he could get. Now though, he had made it, for nothing could ever surpass his position as a bridge officer of Generalissimo Divilio.

The reason behind the troop transporters relatively good condition was that they were built to a different specification to the battle cruisers; they had been designed to land on rough terrain amidst heavy fire. They relied more on their heavy armour than their shields, and added to that the keels of the transport ships had extra reinforcement to protect their cargo`s. This meant that their landing may have been rough but they had been through landings almost as bad before. The battle cruisers on the other hand hardly ever landed, so their primary defence was their shields, and the shields had been damaged by the treatment the ships encountered within the time storm, and the extremely rough landing on the planet Orion had finished them off.

Reports were quickly coming into the bridge from the surrounding ships, the men and equipment aboard the troop transports would be ready by the planet's nightfall. Already troops had set up a perimeter with defensive weapons at all key points around the damaged fleet. Aswan came back onto the bridge with his report, his broken arm felt a little better already after his visit to the doctor on board the Vega, one of the troop ships. The level of medical treatment aboard the Heliot ships was better than many a planet could hope to possess.

"This ship will never be operational ever again, even if we had a good many spare parts and a space dock, but we should be able to protect ourselves on this god forsaken planet with the portable weapons Generalissimo. The hyperspace engines on our ship are just so much scrap metal, they have been smashed to smithereens, the interplanetary engines haven`t been found yet and the ship`s main armament blew itself up. She is finished."

As if to prove the point the large view screen at the front of the bridge chose this moment to explode into a thousand pieces and crash down onto floor, covering it with even more wreckage. The only working piece of apparatus on the bridge was the radio, which Rada had fitted with surge protectors, backup batteries and anti-shock protection, had the other technicians...but no, nothing could have saved the gigantic warship from the moment that it appeared in the atmosphere of Orion.

Divilio turned to his first officer and snapped at him, anger taking over his mind completely now.

"How in hell`s name do you know what this hell hole is capable of, we have no idea as to where we are, or what technical level that they have on this planet."

Divilio half turned away before turning back to his first officer for he needed him badly now, so he controlled his temper and spoke almost politely.

"We will have to move to one of the transports Aswan, the Vega is a good ship she will do. Take some men, go and see if you can get any useful parts from this ship, and the other cruisers, and turn the Vega into a warship as befits me. Also arrange for the other transports to be similarly fitted out. Oh, and while you are there, ensure that you also arrange for any crew replacements that we will need for our new flagship, send any others along with any of our stores that are still in one piece over to the transport ships for use by the infantry commanders."

Rada was busy talking to any of the surviving officers on the broken space cruisers that he could still communicate with; Aswan was hard at work with the initial stages of turning the transporters into space cruisers, or as near to as possible given the current situation. So Divilio instead looked across at his navigating officer Trajo, a woman who it was said could fight as good as the rest of the crew, and even better than those that weren`t part of the warrior compliment. Her auburn hair still looking as if she had just come from the hair dressers, her skin was as smooth and pale as that of a Victorian maid, added to this were her long legs and full figure. No wonder Divilio had made her his own. Back on Heliot he had a wife and a family, but when in space he had Trajo.

"Get onto one of the transport vessels and have them send up an unmanned drone to see just what is around us, and to find out if there are any space ports that we can use to repair our fleet."

Trajo was soon speaking to the commander of the infantry, and she relayed Divilio`s orders regarding unmanned drones, and minutes later one small unmanned drone was soon seen by the Heliot`s to take to the skies of this alien planet. This was soon followed by a second, as the captain of the transport ship decided that one was not sufficient to get them the data, certainly not before the generalissimo demanded it. The drones flew completely around their position, with each completed circuit taking them further away. There later in the day aboard the transport ship Vega, Commander Vakas looked at the large view screen set on the forward walls of his bridge, and the planet of Orion opened up to him. The view from the first drone at first just showed the jungle, then some small villages that seemed to be just about out of the Stone Age. The second drone he sent down a steep sided valley that cut the mountain range, which they had landed alongside, in two. As the drone got further away from the space fleet, he noticed something that appeared to be a little more modern appearing on the horizon. Sensors on the craft came awake as power readings began to appear. He turned to his second in command.

"Patch this view over to the flagship, Generalissimo Divilio will want to see this."

Divilio was sitting on his broken bridge, and he did want to see it, and the first command he gave to the commander of the troopship was to send out patrols, to leave first thing in the morning, they were to bring back some local natives to interrogate, so that they could find out more information about the seemingly odd mixture of people on this planet.

Chapter Nine

The Planet of Orion

June 21st the Year 2494

High above the planet of Orion, a large squat space ship was currently in orbit around the planet. It was shielded from the planets sole geostationary satellite due to its stealth technology, such technology was invaluable to a starship whose crew were no better than pirates. Aboard the ship all was far from well, for alarm klaxons blasted out their warnings as the space around the cruiser was suddenly lit by a luminous orange light. Strange as this was, this light was followed by a black thunderous cloud made out of chunks of ice that beat against the sides of the ship. These clouds in turn were lit by the most terrific electrical storm any of the spacemen could remember. The ship was the space cruiser Indefatigable, a craft owned by the Galaxy Mining Corporation, and used by it to solve any problems that may occur anywhere in the galaxy. It had been lucky not to have been torn from its orbit and dashed upon the surface of the planet, as had been all but done to the once powerful Heliot fleet. What saved them were the powerful hyperspace signals that filled the area of space around the planet Orion. The cruiser was already moving out of orbit when the foremost harbingers of the space storm arrived in their vicinity. Captain Kruger was in command of the cruiser and he was a little fearful.

"Helmsman we need to get away faster than our interplanetary engines are capable of, take us into Hyperspace immediately, I don`t care what damage we do to the planets stratosphere, get us away from here before we are damaged, please take the ship to the outermost planet of this system, now."

Kruger now looked across the bridge to his first officer. "Raise our shields Karson."

All of the crew were dressed in similar attire, open necked shirt and trousers, in various colours, for the men were not obliged to wear more of a uniform than this.

Even as Kruger`s orders were being carried out, a mixture of rocks, metal and various other objects appeared suddenly above the planet, they had been torn from around the universe to be brought violently to the once quiet backwater of Orion. The large cruiser quickly responded to the helmsman`s instructions, but it was not quick enough. Just as the Captain thought that they were getting clear of this strange space storm, a large rock, one big enough to destroy the science complex below, appeared out of hyperspace without warning and smashed into the side of the Indefatigable. It strained everything that was fixed down, never mind those things that were not. Everyone who was not seated was thrown violently to the floor. Around the bridge delicate instruments were certainly strained to breaking point with fires breaking out, while crewmen were getting violent electric shocks from the damaged equipment. One serious result from the collision was that the hyperspace engines were knocked offline, along with the defence shields. This large rock was the last of the asteroids gathered up by the Time Platform, and for it to hit the cruiser showed that the Fates were still taking a hand in the drama that would make the planet of Orion a household name that would be remembered forever.

Together with the hyperspace engines, the normal space engines also coughed and spluttered for a very long moment following the heavy impact, but they returned to their normal hum at last. Reports were coming in from all decks on the space cruiser of damage to crew and equipment. Engineering was the first of the departments to contact him.

"This is engineering Captain, the hyperspace engines will be offline for at least forty-eight hours, at the moment we could be taken out by a rowing boat. It goes without saying Captain, that all our heavy weapons systems that operate via the hyperspace engines are out as well."

"All right chief, just do your best." Kruger replied. Ever since the android attack had been beaten off, Kruger had felt that this operation could only get worse, and it was doing just that now.

Around him the ship was filled with crewmen already working hard on the repairs, on the bridge and in all the other vital departments. These key departments all reported in to give him their damage reports; there was hardly any good news except from the medical department.

"You will be glad to know captain that we only lost one crewman, Jorgensen in engineering, it seems a beam crushed him, I am afraid that nothing could be done for him, he died instantly. Altogether the crew suffered ten other injuries, but none of them serious. I will be up to check the bridge crew over in twenty minutes, if you can wait that long?"

"Yes Doctor, we suffered a few knocks up here, along with a few electrical burns and such, but I think that we should be able to survive that long without your creams and lotions. The injured crewmen were all busy working, their damaged bodies being made to wait until later.

"Karson, put the aft cameras onto the main view screen, I must see what the hell is going on back on Orion, and turn those bloody Klaxons off someone." The main view screen showed the chaos unfolding down on the planet surface; it also showed the Heliot space fleet crashing down upon the planet that was fast disappearing behind their ship. As they now appeared to be well outside of the hell that was behind them, Kruger ordered all engines to stop so that he and his officers could study the situation.

"What the hell sort of storm was that sir, I have never seen anything like it before?" Karson exclaimed loudly.

"I don`t know Karson, but for it to happen soon after that botched attack by those bloody useless androids leaves me wondering whether we caused it, and I would also like to know where that space armada came from, and just how much of it will be space worthy. If we hadn`t been damaged quite so badly I would have demanded answers now, but with our ship in this condition we will just have to watch what happens."

Kruger sat quiet for a few seconds as he went over all that had happened, before deciding on a plan of action. He then turned to his first officer.

"Karson, will you launch two of our micro spy satellites to keep geostationary orbits above the planet, one is to be above the fleet of ships that crashed down upon the planet and the other over the science complex. Then at least we will know just what is going on down there and can then act accordingly, when our power is finally restored." Kruger ordered.

"What happens next is that Earth will send out a fleet to find out what the hell is happening, and the corporation will be very angry should that mean that they miss their chance at snatching the Time Machine." Karson lamented.

Karson modelled himself on his captain whom he admired more than anyone else. However, he was not yet as hard shelled as Kruger was. Karson, twenty-eight years of age, thought he needed only a little more time under his captain before he could look for his own command, maybe the Indefatigable, Kruger was showing the strain of all his years in space, thought Karson, and soon the corporation would be looking for younger blood. Kruger interrupted the thoughts of his ambitious first officer.

"There will be plenty of time after it all dies down Number One, plenty of time."

Kruger should have known that when things start to go wrong there is never enough time, especially after a time storm. He had been in space for thirty of his fifty years, and was battle toughened after years of working for the corporation. His conscience had all but been eroded away with each atrocity carried out by the Indefatigable. Once he had been a bright-eyed idealist, but with each promotion came more money, and this paid for his ideals. He knew all of this and was finally admitting to himself that all was not well with his life, this would be his last such action, he would have enough to retire on, somewhere quiet where he was unknown.

"Helmsman, take us into a stationary orbit behind the fourth planet of this system, with just our nose showing so that we can both see and hear what is happening down on that planet."

**********

At the science complex the Time Platform was now sitting quietly inside of the Laboratory and thankfully, Jameson thought, looking no worse for wear. This was thanks to its power regulator that had released all the excess energy it received from the fusion reactor into space, and had been the reason why so much had been snared by the magnetic field that had been generated. The scientists finally had a moment to relax. Brian and Tracy Goddard had contacted the school of Orion to check that their two children were unhurt, and on being told that they and the other children were fine, could finally put their arms around one another and thank god that they had come through this thing physically intact. Jameson and the others within the complex all contacted their families to ensure that none had been crushed by the falling space debris, and to reassure their loved ones that they were all okay, all except for Adrian Powers.

Jameson`s parents lived in New Eden itself, and had not realised the danger that had been all around them as they stood looking at the heavenly show above them, as the time storm had raged around the planet. Nor did they know about the android attack, hardly anybody in New Eden did. His wife of ten years had been with his parents when he had rushed over to his parents` house, and so he was able to assure her that everything was okay now, the android attack which he quickly told her about, was over, and they wouldn`t be coming back for more of Bragg`s hospitality. Sarah, his wife had laughed and replied that she wouldn`t like to receive it either, at last Jameson thought, a moment to relax, to laugh with his wife, to live again. Richard and Sarah Jameson had two sons, Paul aged nine and Simon aged seven, both would demand to know every gory detail over dinner, thankfully they were safe in their school while everything had come apart.

As the scientists got themselves together, Bishop John Sinclair burst into the control room. Having seen Powers body still lying in the corridor he asked urgently after the health of the other members of the complex.

"Yes," Jameson reassured him having returned to the complex. "the rest of us are fine John, it was only poor Adrian Powers who died, and that as a result of my ordering him to turn the electrical power off at the main electrical control unit." Jameson was suffering ever growing feelings of guilt because of Powers death.

"It was not your fault Richard." Tracy Goddard said gently, trying to offer some kind of comfort and support to her friend. "You were not to know the unit had been damaged during the fight between those things and the marines."

"I know Tracy, but it is such a waste of a young life."

"Where on earth did they come from," Sinclair asked of no one in particular. "And what did they want here."

They discussed these questions and others for some time, but without coming to an answer. John Sinclair though, thought back to Altera and prayed that what had happened there would not repeat itself on Orion.

Colonel Bragg then entered the room again with his remaining marines waiting in the corridor.

"I`ve removed the bodies of my dead marines to the church, Bishop, the walking wounded are recovering in the town`s medical centre with Doctor Springer and his wife looking after them. My men outside in the corridor will take Powers` body over to the church as well, for your care Bishop.

"Thank you, Charles." Sinclair said. "I know that Richard and the others here will appreciate your men taking care of him."

The scientists added their thanks to Sinclair`s, and Jameson`s face turned a deathly shade of white as he heard the talk about young Adrian Powers. He had come through it all virtually unscathed, while one of his orders had caused the death of one so young; his conscience was tearing him apart and would continue to do so until his dying day.

"Well I have some good news." Bragg stated. All eyes in the room turned to him. "As far as we can tell there was no damage anywhere in New Eden or the local surrounding areas, miraculously the meteors and other falling debris managed to miss the town and crashed down into the jungle."

This news had the effect of lifting the sagging spirits of the scientists, but Bragg hadn`t finished yet.

"Unfortunately, one piece of bad news is that our satellite was taken out by the meteor storm, and we cannot re-establish contact with the missionaries or the villages around Orion to find out how the rest of the planet faired."

With these thoughts Bragg left the Laboratory, and the scientists got down to checking strained circuits and repairing damaged hardware.

**********

Later that day Marcia was just finishing making her and her father`s dinner, when her father came home after toiling all day on the farm. Marcia could see that once again he had exhausted himself doing the job suited to a much younger man than Robert Lambert was.

"Are you well Marcia, I got your message, how is your marine?" Lambert did not hold with the romance between his daughter and the marine, he knew that marines moved around a lot and this one would be no different, in a couple of years he would be wooing another young woman on a planet many light years away from Orion.

"He has recovered a little; John is very strong and should soon be up and about again father. Our dinner is ready if you want to wash up, it will be on the table by the time you are done."

Lambert looked at his daughter busily working away, she was a good girl, and he knew that she shouldn`t have to keep house for him, but in life there are many such tasks that you are called on to do during the short time allotted to you.

Chapter Ten

We Have Company

June 22nd the Year 2494

Morning dawned rather painfully for Tyler and George Masters, as they had slept rather uncomfortably way up in the trees that they had hastily climbed the night before, and although the beast had finally departed, rather put out at missing its dinner, or so it seemed to Tyler, the two of them had not dared to descend to the ground. Now with the sun shining fully on them, and with a fierce thirst, they clambered back down to the ground. Tyler groaned and rubbed his aching body, it was pure relief to be away from his painful bed. Both men looked rather tired after their uncomfortable night up in the tree and their clothes were creased, and in George`s case a little dirty, following his fall on the wet ground as he had turned to try to escape the bear like creature.

"I really am glad to be out of that tree George, we really will have to find another place to sleep tonight, I can`t face another such night."

Masters groaned in agreement, but his first thoughts were of water, which they found nearby in the form of a spring gushing out of a large hole in a rock. After quenching their thirsts, the two men washed as well as they could, but of course neither of them could shave. Their next concern was for food, and this need took them a lot longer to satisfy.

"George, I am starving, didn`t you learn anything about surviving off the land when you were in the forces?"

Masters looked back at Tyler, who was following behind him, and replied rather condescendingly to the question put to him.

"Not a lot Tyler, remember that I was in the RAF not the Commandos, so I was in the air mostly and didn`t have much to do with such unimportant things such as finding my dinner, it was served to me each night in the NAAFI."

The two walked on with the jungle giving way to scrub and grasses, and it was well after noon, and the time had come and gone for breakfast and lunch, when from up ahead Tyler heard a commotion, raised voices and what sounded like a brief scuffle. Tyler and Masters edged closer, hidden behind the undergrowth that had always surrounded them since their forced landing on this strange planet. From between the leafy branches of a large green bush they looked down at their first group of Heliot troopers.

"It looks as if we have company George, although I am not sure if I like the look of those soldiers." Tyler said looking down from the low hill at the scene being played out below them.

Tyler and Masters looked down upon six heavily armoured troopers who had accosted two young men, who were obviously not troopers, and were rather annoyed at being treated rather violently.

"Who do the hell do you think you guys are, do you happen to know just who I am?" The taller of the two blond captives asked of the troopers.

For an answer the trooper shoved the taller of the two blond men, and then he said something in a foreign language that neither Tyler, nor Masters could not understand. The two blond men didn`t appear to understand it either. The man in command of the patrol then turned to two of the troopers and obviously instructed them to take their two captives back along the trail while they continued on in the opposite direction. Then the group broke up, with two of the troopers escorting their captives back along the trail, and the remainder of the troopers moving further along the trail in the opposite direction. The two troopers obviously had only contempt for their two prisoners and didn`t bother tying their hands, they just rammed the heavy assault plasma rifles into the captives` stomachs and gestured with their weapons the direction they wanted them to go. When the two captives delayed due to the Heliot`s treatment of them, the troopers threatened to shoot the two blond men if they didn`t move along the track, a track that curved around the hill that hid Tyler and Masters, and leaving Tyler and Masters looking on bewildered as the rest of the troopers disappeared in the other direction.

"Well George, the two civilians spoke English, but as for the soldiers, I have no idea what language they spoke."

"They seemed to be well protected by their armoured suits, and the weapons they carried were well in advance of anything I have seen on Earth, so they must be from a civilisation that is obviously more advanced than our own Tyler."

"Well George, those two guys are English, or at least they speak a form of English, and they are in need of some help. Help is what we are certainly in need of, and I think that we are more likely to get it from those two guys rather than your heavily armoured aliens."

Masters looked across at Tyler anxiously.

"I don`t think we will find many Englishmen here Tyler, I don`t even think we are on Earth. Look at the colour of the sun, it`s redder than ours surely, and look at the flora and fauna, they certainly don`t look Earth like."

Tyler was also concerned about these points, but hearing a man speaking English confused him even more, for what chances were there that they would have found themselves on a distant planet where the natives spoke English, and anyway how could they have travelled to some other world. Tyler was of course correct in his deductions, but the two men had spoken in English, as they had assumed that any strangers would speak the same language as the colonists from Earth. However, the two men spoke a form of English that had changed over the last five hundred years. This was something that Tyler and George Masters had both noticed, but had decided to gloss over, for they knew that they may not like the answer to such a query.

"Whether they are English or not, they will certainly help us if we help them, let`s go George."

Masters was not at all sure how the two of them could help free the two captives, but he decided not to answer this question for the moment and followed after Tyler. Tyler and Masters kept to a track that paralleled the track below, and Tyler fearing that they would run into more troopers, realised that they would have to act sooner rather than later, and so he forced the pace and was now ahead of the soldiers and their captives. They got their chance to act just after they had come around the next bend, Tyler saw that it offered a better than average chance of success. He quickly told Masters his idea who argued at first about the recklessness of the whole idea.

"Perhaps Tyler, we should leave it to the local authorities to sort out, for we are foreigners here, and we don`t want to get into any trouble considering our position." Tyler quickly squashed the objections raised by Masters.

"There is no time for that George, and anyway we have no idea just where the authorities are on this planet. No, with or without your help George, I am going to attempt to free those two men."

Reluctantly Masters agreed to the plan outlined by Tyler, but only due to Tyler`s insistence.

"George, my plan offers a chance of freeing the two captives, and if we are successful, we will also succeed in getting some much-needed help for the two of us."

Masters had quickly forgotten his previous thoughts about ensuring the safety of Tyler, and was now fretting about the safety of one George Masters. Even so he realised that Tyler had decided on both of their future actions and that he would have to comply, that or risk everything going wrong and both of them ending up as prisoners of the two alien soldiers.

The plan called for Masters to distract the two troopers giving Tyler the chance to jump them, and then give the two captives the chance to assist them in taking the two troopers out. However, Tyler had never been in the military so knew nothing of fighting, or of any of the many kinds of martial arts he had seen at the cinema.

As the two troopers followed their captives around a sharp bend in the trail, Masters called to them from the hill they had just walked by. As Tyler had hoped both troopers stopped and turned to face Masters, unfortunately for Masters their next action was to aim their weapons toward the tree that Masters had hastily hid his body behind, and they then fired at it. It did not take the two blond captives long to realise that maybe friends had arrived, they had come to a stop and begun to move back towards the two troopers to see what was happening. Before they had reached the two troopers, and before the two troopers swung around to stop their captives from getting too close to them, Tyler launched his part of the escape attempt. He threw himself down from a tree on the other side of the trail, to land fully upon the two troopers backs which sent them sprawling forward to the ground.

The captive who had argued with the troopers was the first to act, he moved forward and grabbed the trooper that had rammed the plasma weapon into his stomach, and he being a master at freehand fighting quickly took his revenge. The native put his arm around the trooper`s throat, throttling the large struggling trooper until he finally lapsed into unconsciousness. He then disarmed him and then let the trooper fall unconscious to the ground.

The second native out of respect for his rescuer held back from joining in the fight, and left Tyler to finish off the second Heliot. Now Tyler would have been quite happy to receive some help, but seeing none coming was forced to carry on fighting. At least the second trooper was face down on the ground and partially winded, and with Tyler on top, the chances of Tyler succeeding were slightly better than Masters, who was looking on from atop the hill, had supposed, but only just. Tyler had seen enough television to know that you never give a tough looking soldier an even break. The first thing he did on not receiving aid was to ram the Heliot`s head against the hard and very stony ground. When the afore mentioned trooper took umbrage at this and tried to rise Tyler, much to Masters surprise and the trooper's discomfort, rammed his knee hard into the trooper`s back. This made Tyler cry out "Ouch!" as his knee impacted the tough body armour of the Heliot trooper. However, it also forced the trooper back down and also brought forth a grunt of pain, Tyler followed this action up by putting his arm around the trooper`s neck and pulling the troopers upper body backwards while he screamed at the two natives.

"Well hit him then before he shoots one of us."

The trooper was already reaching out for his plasma rifle, and the first native seeing that their rescuer wanted help gave the Heliot a swift kick to the head that almost took off the trooper`s helmet together with his head, and that finished the fight there and then.

The tall blond native took in his rescuers with a quick glance and a smile, and then he was scanning the countryside about them to ensure that no more surprises were coming their way.

"Come we must leave here quickly and go to a place that is safer than this open track."

With that and nothing else, the two natives turned and made to head back along the trail. Tyler though stopped them from leaving the scene of the ambush and wanted to relieve the two fallen troopers of their weapons. Masters who had finally arrived down on the track was against taking anything with them.

"Those two sophisticated weapons will be all too easily traced by the owners of them, they will probably have a tracer built into them, or the technology of the owners will probably be able to find them as soon as you turn them on."

Tyler decided that maybe Masters was correct, and he promptly threw the troopers equipment into the dense undergrowth alongside the track. The tall blond native spoke again. He obviously thought that he should take command of the situation now.

"Come, we must leave now while we can."

Masters too was feeling a little anxious and wanted to be away from there as quickly as possible.

"I think our friend here is right Tyler, let`s go while we can." Tyler didn`t need long to think the matter over, and seeing that his new friends made sense, he agreed.

"Okay friend which way do we go then?"

Their two new friends took Tyler and Masters back along the track a hundred yards before turning off along what Tyler assumed was a game trail. Tyler looked across at Masters as they hurried along.

"Well it looks as if we may have found some friends George." Tyler then caught up with the tall native and introduced the two of them to their two new friends.

"Hi, my name is Tyler and my friend here is George, I tell you it is good to find a friend so far from home."

Tyler put out his hand and the native knowing the ways of Earth quickly shook it and grinned at Tyler.

"I am called Appolon; my friend is the Brave Tryon. We both thank you and your friend for saving us from those strangers. You are our friends for life Tyler, whatever you need, you will have." Appolon then studied Tyler for a moment.

"I have not seen you before amongst the other Earthmen, have you only just arrived here on Orion?" Appolon asked. Tyler looked sharply at Appolon before replying.

"Appolon my friend, are you not from Earth, when we heard you speaking English, we assumed that you were. Tell me, how many earthmen are there and how long have they been here on this planet?" Appolon looked at Tyler, his face showing concern.

"But Tyler, do you not know where you are?"

Tyler`s troubled face answered Appolon`s question, for with all the dangers Masters and Tyler had endured since the nightmare journey had begun, Tyler could not keep them from showing plainly upon his face.

"My friend and I only just arrived here yesterday. How we arrived here neither of us know, for only yesterday we were back on Earth, and yesterday there were no earthmen anywhere in the galaxy except for those on Earth. Appolon we were dragged away from our home by a storm that nightmares have nightmares about."

Tryon caught Appolon`s arm and stopped him.

"Appolon, my friend, the ancient legend, remember what it says, that a stranger would enter our land from the dream world and save us in our time of need. Tyler says that he came from the dream world that hurled rocks upon Orion yesterday, it is he who is to restore Orion to its rightful owners." However, Appolon was not as certain as Tryon about the destiny of Tyler.

"If you arrived in the terrible storm of yesterday, then you certainly came from the dream world mentioned in the stories by our old men, for it could have been nothing less than that, so terrible was it." Appolon stopped here for a moment so as to choose his words carefully.

"The legend talks of a warrior who is first amongst all others, and I hardly think that either of you fits that description." Appolon said looking over at Tyler, obviously studying his slim build and lack of Herculean features and his creased clothes.

"I am sorry Tyler, to disparage a proven friend, for the gods have obviously sent you here to Orion for some purpose of their own, but you don`t even know where you are, never mind what is happening here." Appolon said apologetically.

"That`s all right Appolon, because I have never thought of myself as a legend either." Tyler looked at Masters with a smile upon his face and a laugh at last appearing in his eyes.

"How about you George, are you a legend in someone else`s lifetime?"

"No, I don`t think so Tyler, but it is good to see you smile at me again, for I was worried you might be taking our recent disagreement, and all our other problems that have occurred on our trip, just a little too seriously."

Masters attempt at humour brought a laugh from everyone, and with this changed disposition amongst the four friends complete, they walked towards the village of the Orionist`s with lighter hearts and a smile upon their faces. Tryon was still not convinced, either by his chief`s argument, or by the earthmen`s banter.

"This may well be my friends, but the gods don`t always make their wishes clear to those they pick; only the actions of their chosen ones tell of them."

This was the final remark about the reasons behind Tyler`s and Masters journey to Orion, and the four friends settled down to their journey to Tryon`s and Appolon`s village.

Appolon was everything a warrior chief should be. He was six feet tall, blond and all muscle; he had been the leader of his village ever since the leader before him had been killed by a tigron, something resembling a tiger only bigger and fiercer. Appolon had piercing blue eyes set in a classic face, that wouldn`t have been out of place in ancient Greece or Rome. Tryon was two inches shorter than his leader and also blond, but he was stockier than Appolon, he also looked well capable of being able to take care of himself. The earthmen were a strange contrast to the two Orionists.

When Masters pressed Appolon again about the whereabouts of other earthmen, Appolon answered him.

"They live mainly in the town of New Eden, it is some forty miles away through the valley that divides the mountains." Appolon replied. Tryon then entered the conversation again.

"More of the earthmen live in the villages of the people of Orion, they teach at the schools they have built for us, and they provide us with the modern miracles that their machines` make."

The four friends went on to talk of the coming of the men from Earth. Tyler asked whether or not it was a good thing that they came to Orion. Appolon answered this question.

"Yes, on the whole it has made the life of our people much better, but our land is small, and so the council of the people have decided to speak with the earthmen and ask them to reduce the number of people who still want to come to live on our planet. Orion should be mainly be for our sons and daughters, and only for a few of the people from other worlds."

"Do you have any family Appolon?" Tyler asked. His question was answered by Tryon.

"Yes, a brother," Tryon burst out laughing and nothing would make them explain the joke to the two earthmen.

"I also have a beautiful wife and two equally beautiful daughters my friend." Appolon said answering Tyler`s question more fully.

"And you Tryon, do you also have a wife?" George Masters asked.

"Yes, she too is very beautiful, but she is always making me work, so I propose hunting trips to Appolon so that I can get away from such ideas."

"Tryon is a very brave warrior, but he is afraid of his small wife." Appolon scoffed at his friend playfully.

Masters went up in the native`s estimation when he spoke about his time in the Royal Air Force, and of the war in Iraq, for they now saw him as a warrior rather than just an elder. Tyler said he was a searcher after truth, for they would never have understood what a researcher was. After these revelations both of the Orionists` now saw them in a new light, somewhere between their ragged appearance and Tryon`s legend.

After what seemed an eternity for our two foot weary 'Legends', there came floating through the evening air the sound of a rhythmic drumming and the sounds of human voices.

The country about them changed from savannah to ploughed fields, fields full of some sort of wheat or corn, and then they caught sight of further signs of civilisation. Houses appeared amongst some trees to their right and then two barns; there was even a road of sorts, for it was only a narrow dirt track at best.

In a field on the outskirts of the village, two of the village children looked up from watching what to Tyler looked awfully like sheep, to wave to them and call a greeting.

The village that met the earthmen`s sight was composed of about one hundred small dwellings set on two sides of a river. The houses also followed some way along the narrow road that disappeared into the distance. The heart of the village was an open space that was between the road and the river. Houses followed the road on both of its sides until they came to the 'village green' and then the houses broke off for fifty metres on the side nearest the river before continuing on. There was a stone bridge over the river, and nearby the earthmen could see a water mill. The village green was currently filled by group of young women, they were dancing to the rhythm of the drums that the four friends had heard on their approach to the village. The women`s bodies swayed rhythmically to the music, their complete attention was to every nuance of the tune, they were oblivious to everything else. Nearby a young athletic looking warrior sang a ballad to the rhythm of the music, about the deeds of a hero and his quest for the love of a woman, about him sat many such young women who appeared all to ready to return the warrior`s affection.

The houses of the village were a mixture of buildings, the older ones were single storey homes built to a basic design, much as they had been since the natives of Orion had arrived at what was their Neolithic age. These took a lot of effort to build, especially the cutting, shaping and finally the transportation of the stone blocks. However, with the help of the colonist`s, they now built the houses out of cob, a mixture of clay-based subsoil, straw and water with some flint and sand mixed in to strengthen it. The roofs were of thatch, made from the reeds of the nearby lake, rather than large palm leaves held in place by thin slats of wood which made up the roofs of the older houses. Each home was composed of a large central room used by the family during the day, a bedroom, maybe two if the occupant could run to such luxury, and a new innovation for some in the village, a bathroom with water piped in from the small mountain range that was the backdrop to this Eden. There was also something that looked strangely out of place to Tyler, a large bank of solar panels that supplied the electricity to the village houses. This last item was supplied by the colonists to bring the native population out of the Stone Age. There was also a school house and a meeting hall which was used by the village council, but also used as a prayer house by the missionaries who lived in the village. The missionaries taught at the school, looked after the villager`s spiritual needs and supplied the villagers with some of the modern items that the villagers had come to rely on. There was also a local blacksmith, which told not only of the locals` prosperity but also of the size of the village, for the inhabitants of other smaller villages had to come here to be able to enjoy the use of the blacksmith.

On entering into the village, children flocked all around them and asked many questions, such as what success Appolon and Tryon had had in the hunt and who were the two earthmen, all of course in the native language, the earthmen couldn`t understand any of it. At the sight of his new friends baffled faces Appolon requested that all the villagers speak English so that the two great warriors who had come to their village could understand what was being said.

When the villagers had been told that the lives of their chief and his friend had been saved by the two strangers, the dancing stopped and the villagers crowded around demanding to hear their story. They wanted to be told exactly how they had accomplished it, where these enemy warriors had come from, and with Tryon reminding all who would listen to him of the legend, what great deeds their new friends were going to do.

The villagers asked these questions of the two strangers, the same ones being asked repeatedly by the never-ending stream of villagers, coming out of an endless number of doorways, until finally all were fully satisfied. Then Appolon came to Tyler and Masters rescue, and he took them away to the quiet of his home which lay opposite the 'village green' and where a room had been made available to them by moving the two young daughters of Appolon into the room where he and his wife slept.

The house that Appolon lived in was similar to many of the other houses within the village; his one was slightly larger than some houses and slightly grander than some other houses. The houses were each within a fenced enclosure, and within the enclosures the women of the various houses had their vegetable gardens to supplement the diets of their families. Around the inside of the fence were pig sties, enclosures for some goats and of course chickens. Well, they were the local equivalent of each animal anyway. All of these different animals made for a variety of noises and smells that the two earthmen would have to get used to, if they were going to live on Orion for any length of time.

One of the villagers was dressed in clothes similar to those wore by most of the other warriors of the village. That is in a jacket made from the hide of an animal that might have been a deer or some sort breed of cow, and cotton shirt and trousers, but this warrior was slightly different from the other warriors. This villager also wore a straw hat as protection from the bright sun, and underneath the brim of the hat a pair of the bluest of eyes watched as the strangers entered the village with Appolon and Tryon, and also hidden beneath the hat were the golden locks of a fairy-tale princess. She had listened to Appolon and Tryon describe how they had been freed from the strange aliens to their land by the two earthmen. Of how the earthmen had been unarmed, but had still attacked the two heavily armed aliens to bravely rescue her brother and the brave Tryon. When Tyler entered into the house of her brother, she still watched as the door closed behind them, a little bewildered by the strange feelings that affected her body and mind, when she had first caught sight of the younger earthman. She then remembered the words of a mystic who spoke to her some years ago. 'The spirit world will send a stranger to our land and he will save the life of not only your brother, but of all the people of your village. This stranger is the one destined to share your life.' She turned away annoyed with herself, she hadn`t taken the mystics words seriously then, why should she now? She looked away from her brothers' home and began working on her arrows again, but she found her mind constantly wandering from her arrows and over to the house of her brother.

The two earthmen on entering into the home of Appolon were introduced to Fleur, Appolon`s wife. She was a beautiful young woman with long dark hair and large grey eyes. She had also heard the two earthmen`s story from the back of the crowd, but had waited to meet them in the quiet of her home so that she could thank them properly.

"Thank you, Tyler, thank you George, for rescuing my husband and our good friend Tryon from the two off-worlders, for this I will not be able to repay you sufficiently enough to show you my gratitude." Fleur was dressed in the same clothes worn by the other women of the village, a linen frock, but each had put their own designs upon their own frock to show their individuality. Fleur had decorated hers with small coloured flowers embroidered onto the plain linen material of the frock.

"The friendship that you and your friends have all shown us will more than repay us." Tyler said. "For without it, I don`t know what would have become of the two of us."

George nodded in agreement. "Yes, what Tyler says is true, for we are two strangers who find themselves lost in this great universe, or maybe I should say shipwrecked upon your planet would be more correct, and so to be counted amongst your friends is more than sufficient payment."

George would have liked to carry on in this vein but Appolon`s daughters interrupted his flow when they appeared carrying food and drink for the two very hungry and very weary earthmen.

The two girls were smaller copies of their mother, although with fairer skin and lighter hair. The older girl Jasmine was eight years old and the younger girl, Collette was aged six years. Both sets of eyes watched the two strangers to their house, and so as not to miss anything they sat quietly in a corner, and out of the sight of both of their parents, or so they thought. As Tyler looked about the room, he was reminded of a medieval house he had once been to in England, it had been a replica of course, built on the site of a now vanished village, and the inside was much like Appolon`s house. There was a long table with benches on either side of it, a large chest underneath the window, but with glass in the window unlike the medieval houses of England. There were also two large cupboards which were also not part of a Medieval house, and a concrete floor, although Tyler thought, some of the poorer houses he had seen as he entered the village could well have had floors of compacted earth, just like the Medieval houses back in Ye olde England. To finish off Appolon`s main room, there was a collection of chairs spaced around a brick fireplace which had a brick chimney to match, something that was also of the future for medieval Britain.

After Tyler and Masters had finished their food, Masters asked whether they could borrow some shaving gear, so that that they could shave.

"Of course, I will go and get you some shaving gear." Fleur said, and she turned and departed in search of some razors. Fleur soon returned with the promised gear saying.

"These are a gift from friends of Appolon and Tryon; they ask that you accept these gifts as a token of their friendship too." Fleur said smiling at her new friends.

"Please thank them all for us." Masters said and then the two earthmen were shown to their room so that they could rest a while after their exhausting day.

The house they had found themselves in was a single storied building. The room they were to use as their sleeping quarters for the moment was a simple affair with whitewashed walls, two wooden beds, a large wooden wardrobe and a unit that combined as a chest of draws and a top to lay items on, as befitted the daughters of a tribal leader here on Orion. It had been emptied of some of the girl`s things while Tyler and Masters had fed. On the top was a bowl of water put there by Fleur before she had returned so promptly with the shaving gear, or maybe it had been put there by one of her daughters?

Appolon and Tryon had left them here while they spoke to the warriors of the village, who had become concerned on hearing of the appearance of the new intruders who had accosted their chief. Now Tyler and Masters at last had time to rest, to talk, and to try and sort out some sort of plan for their future. Later as they were still talking Appolon came in and joined in the discussions.

"Tyler, I have never before seen the men who your surprise appearance saved us from, and I don`t think that they could have been from the village of the earthmen for they spoke a different language, and they certainly didn`t behave like the earthmen." Appolon said to his two new friends.

"So maybe you have some new guys on the block, Appolon." Tyler said.

"Maybe we should travel to the town of the earthmen and tell them of the aliens?" Masters said, but Tyler amended this idea.

"Yes, that might be for the best George, Appolon can you spare a couple of your men to guide George over to the village where the earthmen are camped...." Masters now hastily interrupted his friend.

"But surely Tyler you will come as well?" Masters was feeling a little shocked at the idea that the two twenty first century men should part.

"Not just yet George, first I want to find the camp from which the troopers came from, and to see just what Appolon and his people are up against. I might be able to offer a different view to that of Appolon and his warriors. Our history is filled with such people, but here on Orion, I don`t think that sort of person is very common." Tyler said. Masters thought about this for just a moment.

"I will come too then Tyler, for it might be advisable for us to find out just what is going on here, before revealing our presence to the authorities in the town that Appolon spoke of, for who knows what sort of bureaucrats Earth breeds in this century, we may need to offer them something before they will help us."

Appolon immediately stated that he too wanted to have a look at the encampment from which the troopers had come from, and would welcome any advice that his new friends could offer.

"We can then come back here for my warriors and teach them to respect the owners of this land, we may even let them stay and work for us, if they plead with us enough." Appolon said feeling charitable for the moment. Had he known the size of the Heliot army, he would not only have laughed at his brave statement, but also thought about moving his people away for the moment.

For this evening though the village wanted to throw a party for Tyler and Masters, it was to thank them for saving their chief and their friend Tryon from whatever the strangers had had in store for them.

Night had fallen, and all the villagers had gathered in the village centre. Four large Rhygons, a beast similar to the cattle of Earth only much larger, had been put aside by the villagers earlier in the week to provide the feast for the planets worldwide celebrations which were to celebrate the arrival of the earth people. However, the villagers decided that their own celebrations took precedent, especially with the growing unrest due to the many new colonists arriving on Orion. The Rhygons were being roasted in the many ovens used by the villagers, and along with the other items gathered for the feast were now ready to be eaten. All the villagers immediately sat in a circle around a large fire, Tyler and Masters of course were the guests of honour, and together with the village elders and Appolon they sat upon thick goat skin rugs. The rest of the villagers completed the circle around the fire, sitting on whatever they had brought from their homes. Talk buzzed amongst the villagers as each caught up on the latest news. Then just for a moment, when the villagers caught sight of the sumptuous plates of food being delivered by the children of the village to the guests of honour, all was quiet. Whispered gasps of appreciation rippled around the circle as the people now saw their own plates coming towards them. Then after every one was served, all started to feast on the delicious meal. The local beer was served, and soon the village was again filled with loud happy voices.

One surprise Tyler and Masters got was when they were introduced to the `brother` of Appolon. A young woman came forward to be introduced; Appolon and Tryon gasped when they saw her, for it was Caroline, the sister of Appolon, and none of the village had ever seen her looking quite so beautiful, or so like a woman before tonight. She stood proudly before Tyler and said in a confident voice.

"Tomorrow, Tyler, man from the dream world, we will go and look at these `new guys on our block` as you call them, and we shall show them what kind of people follow Appolon, and what they can expect when they provoke them."

Accompanying Caroline was Morgana, the Aunt of Appolon, she was a middle-aged woman with jet black hair and a slim body, and her green eyes never left the person who was George Masters. Caroline and Morgana turned together and left to join the other people of the village. Tyler turned to Appolon questioningly.

"You never mentioned your sister Appolon?" Tyler said to Appolon who could not help smiling.

"Until just now I could have sworn she was my brother Tyler. Never before have I seen her dressed as she was just now. Always she has dressed as one of the warriors." Appolon explained.

"I think Appolon, that our new friend here might have something to do with her change; maybe she would like to get to know our `Legend` a little better, which is why she invited herself on to our trip tomorrow." Tryon said, joining in the conversation.

"If this is true my friend, then I would be only too happy, both for you and Caroline, and for my parents who have tried for so long to offload her on to some unsuspecting male." Appolon said looking very serious for a moment before first a smile appeared on his face and then he and Tryon burst out laughing.

"Unfortunately," Tryon added, "There were no unsuspecting males left on Orion, until you came along."

"It might be that she was just waiting for a real man to come along my friends." Tyler said, smiling at Appolon and Tryon.

Appolon and Tryon laughed with Tyler and Masters and agreed that yes this also might be the answer.

Masters then enquired as to whom the woman was who had accompanied Caroline.

"Why that was my Aunt, she is called Morgana, and if you are interested George, then I can tell you that she is a widow. Her husband was a brave man who died rescuing a drowning man some ten years ago, until today she has never looked at another man." Appolon answered.

"Then it would seem that there are two women of our village who are interested in our new friends, Appolon." Tryon said.

"Yes Tryon, you are right, and what better choices could any of the four make." Appolon replied.

The conversation then turned to the Earth of Tyler and Masters time.

"I live in a city called London along with ten million other people." Tyler said amid gasps of astonishment at how so many people could live together all in one place.

"What Tyler says is true my friends, in total there are over sixty four million people living in Great Britain, which is the name of the country where the great city of London is set." explained Masters. "Altogether there are seven billion people living on Earth." After explaining the term billion to their friends he had to reassure them that what Tyler and he were saying was true.

For the rest of the night Tyler and Masters told the Orionist`s, and by now the whole village had joined in the conversation, all about Earth, the continents upon it and the many nations that lived there. It seemed that the colonists had never told the people of Orion this much about Earth, maybe because they might worry in case a billion or so earthmen might suddenly turn up to live on Orion, impossible though it was.

During the whole of the conversation one pair of very blue eyes kept a very bewildered watch upon Tyler. Caroline wondered why she was so interested in this stranger, he was most certainly not built like a warrior, which was the sort of man she had assumed would attract her. Nearby Tryon had been restringing his bow while he listened to the talk about Earth, and when Tyler saw him, he mentioned that he was a fair archer, and with that the warriors rose and took him to a cleared space behind the houses. Here was where they practised with their bows, and here was where the entire village wanted to see him as the warrior that he had been portrayed as by Tryon.

The bow used by the natives was exactly the same as the longbow of Earth, and Tyler had no trouble using it. Earth has a mass some fifteen per cent greater than Orion, so the strength of the muscles in his arms was a match for the natives of Orion, and he was able to pull the bow string back as far as Appolon or Tryon. The warriors lit the course with burning torches so that he was able to see the target plainly. The target was a log, set swinging from the bough of a tall tree that resembled an English oak. Masters gulped with consternation for he foresaw Tyler failing dismally and putting them both in a bad light, but he also saw that the die was cast and nothing could stop this exhibition of Tyler`s archery prowess. Appolon, Tryon and Caroline lined the course near to the target, and as Tyler pulled back the string, he saw the anticipated failure in the eyes of Masters, and the great interest in the other`s eyes as they awaited his first shot. With his two new friends, and also a certain young woman awaiting the outcome, he had the best of reasons to fire straight. His eyes then took in the swaying log, all else disappeared as he concentrated on the shot, the arrow left the bow string, and with a swishing noise the arrow flew through the air to strike the target with a satisfying thud. The answering applause and the look on face of Masters, as he ran forward to congratulate him were nothing as to the look upon Caroline face, that of pure delight. Appolon, Tyron and Caroline joined in the clamour as the warriors ran to collect their bows and an Archery competition started.

Hera, the wife of Tryon now came across to them to thank the two earthmen for saving the life of her man. Hera was small and petite, and George and Tyler wondered just how she managed to scare the brave Tryon, but as Tyler said, Tryon could well have been joking as he had done about Appolon`s 'brother'.

Normally the party would have gone on until sunrise, but tonight it was only an hour after midnight when Appolon called a halt to the celebrations. There was serious work to be done that day, done by some of the warriors of the village, and of course their guests of honour, who were tired.

**********

Earlier that night and far away from the celebrations in Appolon`s village, John Cassidy was finishing his dinner, he had been invited by Marcia to have dinner with her and her father so that the two men could talk to one another about their common interests, Marcia of course was the primary interest, the other surprised Robert Lambert.

"I only became a marine Mr Lambert, as there was nothing left for me to do in Canada where my family still live. The family farm is being worked by my two elder brothers, and had I stayed to help them, I would have been a drain on their resources, so I enlisted in the Space Marine Corps and travelled the universe." John Cassidy said to the father of the girl he loved in the hope that they could become friends.

"And how soon will it be before you are posted to the other end of the universe to fight some space pirates?" Lambert asked hostilely.

"I was hoping Mr Lambert that that day will be a long time coming; they are going to need men here on Orion for as long as the scientists are here." Cassidy replied.

"After that attack on the complex do you really think they are going to want to stay out here on the frontier of space, no they will move to a safer place, and they will take you all along with them?" Lambert predicted, correctly as it turned out.

"There is another way for John, father. He could settle down on Orion and take some of the load off your hands; you know that it is getting too much for you now." Marcia said more in hope than expectation.

"I am quite able to work my own farm Marcia." Lambert protested, and there it was left for the moment.

Later that evening Marcia saw Cassidy to the door and they stood on the porch for a moment and kissed good night.

"I don`t think he likes me much, or likes the prospect of a marine for a son in law anyway." Cassidy said feeling a little down after his conversation with Lambert and his all too likely prediction.

"He will come around soon John, but until he does, I must stay here with him, I cannot leave to follow you around the galaxy as a marine`s wife, even if the corps allowed it. He needs me more than ever; you can see that for yourself."

"I do my darling, it is just so galling that we cannot get married, I am sure that Colonel Bragg would arrange for an early discharge, if there was the prospect of my being able to farm here with you on Orion."

Chapter Eleven

We Will Have to Investigate

June 23rd the Year 2494

The natives of Orion had been Neolithic farmers, one who had also hunted game and collected wild fruit and vegetables to supplement their diet when the first colonist`s from Earth had arrived. Now one hundred years on they had been helped into the Iron Age. The colonists who were all of the Church of the Universe, had all been trained in the many crafts and trades that turned Orion from a Neolithic world into a world comprising a mixture of times. They provided all the goods that made Orion a paradise for its native population, whose ancestors never dreamed of such conveniences, such as indoor plumbing, many roomed houses and a diet that included much more protein and fat than the natives could have provided for themselves. The farm land around the village was all ploughed by metal ploughs, made here on Orion, and pulled by horses now bred on Orion; there was even the odd tractor or two.

The natives were glad of the improvements to their lives, they were now literate, in English maybe but literate, and they would not want to return to the old life of their ancestors. Even so many thought that enough earthmen now lived here, and that the rest of their planet should be for the native Orionists, not the new comers. This was a difficult concept for a people coming from a planet of nine billion people, for there were probably only one hundred and forty thousand people on the whole of Orion. When the first Earth colonists had arrived on Orion the population must have been only about forty thousand people, but with the benefits of the improved health care provided by the colonists the native population on Orion had almost quadrupled. The planet was also ten per cent smaller than Earth but with a far greater percentage of water over land, there being only five per cent of the surface of the planet covered by land. The native population now said that they were beginning to feel crowded, a bit of an exaggeration maybe, but they feared that many more colonists would now descend upon them because of the fabulous Time Machine.

**********

Morning came around for Tyler and Masters, and after breakfasting they waited for Appolon, who soon appeared along with Tryon and Caroline, now dressed as a warrior, but to the natives` surprise still looking very like a woman. There were also two other warriors who Tyler and Masters had met during the party the night before, and who were going to accompany them on their expedition, Cimon and Argos.

"The fewer of us there are the less chance of our being spotted." Appolon said in explanation of their small number. "We don`t want to get into a fight just yet against such heavily armed warriors as we saw yesterday, not until we know just how many of them are here on Orion."

Tyler had a bow given to him by Appolon across one of his shoulders, with the wooden bow stave across his chest and the bow string across his back. He also had a quiver filled with arrows. In his right hand he carried a spear, given to him by Tryon, and a large knife thrust through his belt, this last item given to him by Caroline who stated that a warrior was undressed without such an item. Her five feet eight inches of body, dressed in buck skins, was similarly armed.

Masters was unarmed at that moment and happily so it seemed, for he told them that as he wasn`t a Robin Hood, he wouldn`t bother to carry a bow, something that the villagers didn`t understand and Masters didn`t explain. Just then Morgana appeared carrying a spear.

"This was owned by my husband and it never let him down George, take it now and keep it by you at all times to ensure you return back to our village safely." Morgana said. Her eyes locked into those of Masters.

"Thank you, Morgana, have no fear, no shame shall fall on it whilst it is in my keeping." With these words the small group of friends left the village.

**********

Appolon had reckoned on the likeliest whereabouts of the Heliots from the direction that they had been taking, before Tyler and Masters took a hand in the proceedings, and it was in this direction that the party headed. They walked towards a distant wide valley that ran alongside the mountain range before it met up with another valley that broke the almost continuous range of mountains in two. Appolon`s village was on this side of the range and New Eden was on the other side, Appolon thought that the newcomers camp must be somewhere in between the two.

The sounds of the village died away behind them and then the fields of wheat gave way to scrub and finally grasslands. They trekked for five hours through the grasslands of Orion, by small herds of antelope like creatures, over up thrusts of granite and across small rivers by way of rope bridges. By this time Tyler and Masters were both very tired and Masters said so.

"Appolon my friend I must rest, for I am not as fit as I used to be."

"I am sorry George; please forgive my lack of thought." Appolon said, "Yes, we will rest here and have something to eat."

Tyler added his thanks to that of Masters, for he too was feeling a little weary but had not wanted to broach the subject in case Caroline thought less of him, funny he thought that this should be important to him.

"New Eden, the town of the men from Earth, lies two more days walk through a valley, one that breaks the mountains that you see before us into two separate ranges." Appolon said pointing ahead to the large mountain range that was beginning to fill the sky.

After a short rest and a bit to eat Appolon was restless, for he wanted to be on his way again, he would not normally have stopped so soon, or eaten a snack, but he knew that this was how the colonists acted when out and about.

"If we don`t move off now we shall not get through to my favourite camp site until the moon has risen." Appolon said to them all, after they had finished their light meal and enjoyed a short break.

Therefore, they moved off, and finally with the mountains rising majestically in front of them they heard and then saw signs of occupation. Ahead of them Tryon saw a hastily built wooden fortification with what looked to be a large tank but was in fact a mobile heavy plasma cannon, it was guarded by a score of heavily armoured troopers. Tyler quickly explained what he thought it may be, and Appolon decided that they didn`t want to tangle with such a weapon, or with such a large number of soldiers quite yet, and they hastily backed off and took a second track that would take them about a mile away from this very formidable weapon. Walking up a slight incline gave them their first sight of the Heliot encampment, and the sight made the entire party stop in amazement. There ahead of them, were the wrecks of a dozen large broken space ships, they lay in the bottom of the long shallow valley, in and around them were the four huge intact transport ships that now comprised the Heliot fleet. The valley was filled with men working about these Behemoths, it was slow work for the Heliots, but slowly the transports were being converted into space cruisers, of a sort.

Tyler stood there open mouthed as he saw science fiction turn into science fact before his eyes, but only for a second as a moment later the five Orionist`s plus Tyler and Masters had to fling themselves to the ground as ten Heliot troopers came into view just fifty metres away from them. They were walking along a track that would take them down into the valley and the alien encampment. The reason that they had not been spotted was that the trooper`s attention was on their captives, a small party of bound natives from a village some twenty miles away from the village of Appolon`s. Tyler saw immediately that nothing could be done to help Appolon`s neighbours, not against such well-armed opposition, so he and his comrades had no choice but to watch the troopers head down to the space ships.

"That was Perseus and some of his people, Appolon." Caroline said in a whisper so as not to give their party away. "What do they want of them?"

"I don`t know Caroline, but soon I expect we shall see the fate that was to be ours if Tyler and George hadn`t intervened." Appolon said before turning to Tyler.

"Never before have I seen such ships as those before us Tyler." Appolon said in amazement at the sight before them. "The people of Earth have only small ships to journey to Orion in, never such craft as those down there." Appolon had only seen small freighters at the space port, only shuttlecraft ever landed on the planet from the larger starships, for they had always stayed in orbit above Orion.

"I can hardly believe my eyes Appolon; two days ago, the presence of such things was scoffed at, long distance space travel a thing that only science fiction writers wrote about." Tyler said in amazement.

"I must say Tyler, that all that we have seen and encountered during this past two days is hard to take in." George Masters said in amazement at the sight before his eyes. "I`m glad now that you decided to come here first, before journeying on to New Eden, for now we have some very important information to give to the authorities."

**********

Down in the valley Divilio was talking to Aswan, he was still in a rage at what had befallen his once mighty fleet and was ranting about it once again.

"We lost almost all our crews aboard the cruisers, lost them on this backward planet, Aswan. Someone on this planet will have to be made to pay for what it has cost me in men and equipment, and then I will make all those peace-loving cretins who live on the Planet of the Light pay dearly for it as well."

As the gleam of madness entered Divilio`s eyes, Aswan was grateful that he wasn`t the object of his leader`s wrath. All around them the Heliot ground attack troops had been busy since the fleet had crash landed on Orion. A portion of them had been hard at work since noon of the day of the crash, they had been busy cremating the many dead crewmen from the space cruisers. They were using one of the powerful ground assault plasma weapons to do the job, and they had finally finished the terrible task just moments before, the stench of burning flesh still hanging in the air and making more than one Heliot trooper rush into the undergrowth to be sick, much to the amusement of his comrades. More of the ground troops had been out scouting the local area in search of the locals, so that Divilio could ascertain what danger they were in from the modern colony that the remote drone had discovered. The balance of the troops were working with the few crew men who had survived from the space cruisers to arm each of the four huge transport ships with a powerful plasma weapon stripped off the broken cruisers and so turning them into ships of the line.

It was then that the Heliot troopers brought forth their prisoners, and Divilio chose to interrogate the native prisoners using a small portable universal language translator to do so.

"Which of you is the leader amongst you?" He demanded loudly of the cowering natives.

The translating machine was speaking in English, as many hyperspace radio messages had been picked up by the Heliots since their arrival on Orion. They including a report of the present emergency sent to the President from Barry Rogers, a message from Josiah Parkes to the Indefatigable, and finally a message from Paul Swenson to the Archbishop of the Church of the Universe. The airways had never been so busy around Orion, for never had so many people been so busy selling out Richard Jameson.

An elderly grey haired native moved towards Divilio hesitantly, his eyes moving between the huge space craft, the multitude of troopers and then to Divilio. He in turn now demanded of Divilio, but in a wavering voice.

"I am Perseus, and I lead the people of the golden hills. Tell me which great Lord is it that binds my hands and those of some of my people."

Divilio dismissed the demand of Perseus out of hand. "Stop your whining and tell me about the modern complex that my scouts reported to me, it lies some forty miles from this place through the valley that cuts through the mountains." Some of the words could not be translated as the machine had only heard a small amount of English, and so they were therefore spoken in the Heliot language, but Perseus got the drift of Divilio`s demand.

"I will tell you nothing my Lord, not until you cut these bonds around my hands and those of my people." Perseus stated in a voice that sounded more courageous than he felt.

"Then die old man." Divilio pulled out his plasma weapon, aimed it at Perseus, and vaporised his heart with one fiery blast of energy. Divilio looked down at the lifeless body of the brave old man and sneered, his contempt for the brave old man plain for all to see, he was happy to be able to vent his anger at something tangible at last, then he turned back to the rest of the captive natives. Divilio looked across at a young warrior who was quivering with fear at the sight of his leader being murdered without a second`s hesitation.

"Now are you going to give me the information that I seek, or do you wish to die also?"

Seconds later the young native was telling Divilio all the information he needed to know about the Earth colonists, and also about all of the native villages on the planet of Orion. Unfortunately, the natives knew nothing about modern technology, and so he got very little real information about what the colonists possessed in respect to this subject.

Aswan was standing behind Divilio, and after hearing of the Earth colony had a suggestion to make to his leader.

"Maybe we should visit this Earth complex Generalissimo, when we have finished our repairs to our fleet, we can commandeer anything of value they have together with the information that we need concerning the strengths of the planets in this quadrant of space."

"Yes, Aswan, we will await announcing our arrival for the moment, until our ships are ready to give battle and we can win a decisive victory. This planet will make a splendid addition to our empire, all the slaves that we could possibly want, with none of the troubles associated with those planets that have civilised populations. In the meanwhile, have Commander Vakas send out more drone ships to monitor the complex, the area around it and our immediate area."

**********

On the top of the incline Tyler and the others had seen the native leader murdered, and they could hardly believe the brutality shown by the strangers down in the valley.

"My God Tyler did you see that, that officer down there just murdered that man." Masters cried out in anguish.

"Yes, George, those soldiers down there have no regard for the life of anyone else except their own, we shall have to be careful not to fall into their hands." Tyler stated quietly.

Caroline could have wept when Perseus had been murdered but held back, she was a warrior and warriors don`t show their feelings, even so she was also a woman and it was hard for her to turn off her feelings completely, for she felt a single tear trickling down her cheek.

"Appolon, sometime soon we will have to avenge Perseus, so that his soul can rest peacefully." Caroline said, angrily wiping away the sign of feminine weakness.

"Yes, Caroline, I swear by the ancestors that I will avenge him, or die trying."

The others with them added their oaths to those of Caroline and Appolon, but they must have wondered just how they would be able to accomplish such a feat without some form of assistance.

"I think that the best thing to do now is to contact the authorities at New Eden and tell them all that has happened." Masters stated.

He was feeling more scared than he could ever remember feeling, after seeing the native so cold bloodedly slain, he also thought that the authorities would be far better suited to uphold the law than he ever would. Appolon was also all for travelling at once to New Eden and reporting the matter, and Tyler provisionally agreed, however.

"First we have to investigate a little more, and from just a little bit closer to see if we can find out a little more about those butchers down there." Maybe it was Tyler`s researching background coming to the fore, or maybe it was Fate once more pulling his strings.

"It is much too dangerous Tyler, you saw the way those barbarians down there acted towards that poor old man, and who knows how many more of those devils are hidden around this valley." Masters said, wondering just what had happened to the fearful young man he had met just two days ago. "Come on, we should be away as Appolon advises." George urged his younger friend.

"No, George, we need more information about those soldiers down there and there is only one way to get it."

Appolon however agreed with Masters and urged Tyler to leave before they too became prisoners.

"No, Appolon, leave me someone to act as a guide whilst you and George head over to the Earth colony and tell them everything that we saw. I will re-join you all in a little while."

Tryon was about to step forward and volunteer his services as guide when Caroline pre-empted him.

"I will guide you Tyler, and ensure that no harm comes to you."

Tyler first thought was to argue the point that he was in need of the protection from a young woman when Appolon spoke, for he knew better than to argue with his sister.

"Argo, I want you to return to our village and collect four more of our warriors. Tryon and Cimon, you wait here with George for Argo to return. I will lead Caroline and our friend Tyler down to the bottom of the valley, to see if we can find out anything more about this band of bandits." Appolon said, for he had decided to trust his new friend`s instincts.

Masters couldn`t believe the way things were going and he tried to change Tyler`s mind, but yet again he remained adamant and Appolon tried to sooth George Masters` fears.

"George, have no fear for I will ensure that no harm comes to Caroline or Tyler." Appolon promised Masters.

Appolon`s last instructions to Tryon were that if anything did happen to Appolon`s party, then he was to head for New Eden and tell Bishop Sinclair everything that had happened. Then the friends parted with the task that Tryon, Cimon and Masters had to carry out being the hardest task of them all, for they had to sit around waiting with nothing else to do but worry about their friends.

It was not long before the first of many problems occurred; it was twenty minutes into their trek when Appolon, who had taken the lead, lost his footing as the trio traversed a long wooded ridge to bypass yet another Heliot fortification. He tripped over and couldn`t stop himself from tumbling down the hill, before finally come to rest, his head striking against the trunk of a large tree, stunning him. When Tyler and Caroline finally succeeded in getting down to him, they found that he was unable to continue on without a prolonged rest, for not only was he badly stunned from the knock to his head, but he had also hurt his ankle.

Caroline had seen a stream further down the hill, as they had been descending, and so she was able to apply a cold compress to her brother`s ankle, but it was obvious that he could not travel on it for a while.

"All right Appolon, you hang on here and we will meet you here on our return." Tyler said. Appolon immediately argued that he was all right, but it was obvious when he attempted to stand that he was far from all right.

"No Tyler, I promised George that I would protect you, we will wait until I am able to travel."

"Don`t worry Appolon; I will look after the brave Tyler." Caroline said and after much debate and many further unsuccessful attempts on Appolon`s part to stand, Appolon finally agreed that they should go on without him, and that he would wait there until he felt able to continue after them. Never before had he felt so useless.

"Caroline, please see that nothing befalls our brave new friend, and Tyler, that is my sister with you, please ensure you bring her back to me in one piece." Appolon warned them both as they left him sitting with his back against a tree.

"Poor Appolon, he is unused to being injured, always he is the strong one of the village." Caroline said eying Tyler. "We will have to go carefully now that we are without his clever mind and strong body." Caroline warned Tyler.

"We will be gone from him for only a short while Caroline, I just want to have a closer look at your new guests." Tyler replied.

"I can think of no reason why we are risking our lives in this venture, Tyler, what is it that you wish to know?" Caroline asked quizzically.

"I don`t know Caroline, but I feel that we should find out more about these strangers, for to do otherwise could turn out to be a great mistake on our parts." Tyler replied.

"Then go we must." Caroline stated, for there had been times when she acted on her feelings without fully understanding them, as Tyler was doing right now.

More than once Tyler was sure that this young native girl was looking surreptitiously at him, but didn`t know the reason why. Back on Earth in the twenty first century he would have thought that she maybe fancied him. Here in this far off future he was not sure of anything, except that she was the sister of his new friend, so he aimed to treat Caroline as his sister and nothing more. Caroline on her part was finding herself drawn more and more towards this stranger from the dream world, why she didn`t know but she found her eyes drawn constantly towards him.

Quickly but quietly, Tyler and Caroline made their way through the barren foothills of the mountain range that rose snow-capped before them, and finally they were within half a kilometre of the nearest of the massive broken starships. All they had to do was cross a stretch of grassland and drop down through some trees and scrub to reach it.

"Tyler, there is a giant Magi bird, it`s by that broken tree in the middle of the grass land." Caroline pointed to one side of the route that they were about to take.

"Is it dangerous?" Tyler asked looking at the large ferocious looking bird.

"Not to a warrior Tyler, have no fear for I have hunted these before, should it attack us leave it to me, I will kill it."

Tyler and Caroline broke cover and set off across the Savannah, moving nearer but to one side of the giant bird. At first all seemed well but then it noticed them, and letting out a loud shriek it charged towards them.

"Wait here Tyler while I kill it." Caroline ordered as she began to move towards the giant bird.

Tyler felt very awkward just standing there while a girl defended him, but he knew that this girl was a warrior who knew what she was doing. Caroline was some thirty feet away from him when she stopped to dig the shaft of her spear into the ground and fitted an arrow to her bowstring. Then she drew the bowstring back to its further extent and aiming at the giant Magi loosed off an arrow. it flew the ever closing distance to dig itself into the bird`s large body. Unfortunately, as Caroline knew, you couldn`t kill a Magi with just one arrow, you needed to use your spear as well, which is what she reached for next. The bird was almost upon her when Caroline forgetting all her hunters experience felt compelled to glance, momentarily, back towards Tyler to ensure that he was safe. In that moment the Magi was almost upon her, its massive beak ready to tear her head off her young body, for even as she forced her attention back towards the giant bird it had closed the distance between them. It was now only feet from her, given another second her spear would have still been in its correct position but as it was the spear merely raked the side of its neck. This though was enough to cause the bird to raise its neck and head away from the sharp spear and so away from its intended target. This saved Caroline from being fatally injured, however she lost her spear when the body of the giant bird crashed into her and she was thrown painfully to the hard ground. The large bird dashed on by, carried by its momentum, shrieking out its own pain, but leaving Caroline badly stunned.

Tyler, on seeing the large bird come to a halt and then turn to continue the attack on Caroline, dropped his spear and ran forward shouting obscenities at the bird to draw its attention away from Caroline. As he neared the Magi, he fired off a rapidly aimed arrow, which thanks to Tyler`s skill at archery penetrated the bird`s neck. He had hoped to distract the bird away from the fallen girl, and this it did for now the Magi turned towards him, and letting off another of its terrifying squawks charged back across the grass lands towards him. The bird was fully ten feet high, looking like a super Ostrich, a nightmare bird from a nightmare world was approaching him like a steam train, and its intention looked anything but honourable. "Oh Lord." Thought Tyler as he contemplated running for his life, but with Caroline still on the ground and not yet recovered from her heavy fall to the ground that was impossible. With this thought in mind Tyler moved back to his spear and then used it to defend himself. He lunged forward with the spear, feeling it bite into the giant bird, the sharp metal spearhead forcing its way into the breast of the Magi and tearing into its vital organs, the momentum of the bird`s charge adding to the strength of Tyler`s earthly muscles. The Magi was not dead though and it lunged towards his head, and that would have finished things had it reached him, but Tyler managed to leap to one side and so kept away from its vicious beak. The Magi squawked its protest at its prey as Tyler grabbed his spear, that was still sticking in the bird`s breast and pulled it free and then pushed it forward once again into the breast of this gigantic bird. The bird roared out again in pain and again it lunged at him but he was too fast for it, its small yellow beady eyes glared out its hatred that Tyler almost felt, and it wasn`t finished yet. Tyler withdrew the spear again as the bird moved its neck snake like moving it from side to side, as it looked for an opening to continue the attack with its huge beak. At this range one successful kick from its feet could easily finish the battle, but thankfully it did not unleash this particular article of its arsenal yet. Tyler didn`t have time to think of this, or much else as he fought for his life, and maybe that of Caroline`s too. Tyler, using his spear managed to parry each of the bird`s attempts to reach him with its large beak. Time and time again he caught the bird a sharp knock against the side of its head or neck each time its head darted in towards him, desperately trying to find a way through his defence. Blood was running down its neck from these blows, onto its bloody breast when the bird tiring of being hit on the head all the time changed its tactics. It almost finished Tyler off there and then when it did let loose a terrific kick towards him, Tyler only just succeeded in leaping aside, the bird's sharp talons lashed towards him raking his side, had the blow connected it would have been fatal. However, with the bird having lost so much blood its final attempt to kill him was slower and so he managed to survive it. Tyler jumped to his feet again and thrust the spear into the breast of the Magi once again, the bird could only stand there and let cry with another terrific squawk as it began to retreat away from Tyler, but in a direction that would take it near to Caroline who was now coming to her feet again. Tyler wanted to finish things off quickly before the star troopers heard the ruckus from this battle and came to investigate. He thrust his spear into the bird`s knee joint sending it crashing to the ground. The head and long neck crashed down just inches away from Tyler who thrust his spear down for the last time to spear the giant bird through its head, finally killing it.

Caroline came across to Tyler, her eyes looking at the ground. "Now you have the gratitude of the sister of Appolon as well as his and Tryon`s."

Caroline hadn`t re-joined the battle for to have done so would have gone against the warrior code that the people of Orion lived by. To have done otherwise would have shown a lack of respect for a warrior as brave as she saw Tyler was. Had he asked for help she would have joined him instantly in battle, but he would also have lost her respect. Caroline could not think what had come over her to cause her to take her eyes off the giant Magi bird, what had made her need to look towards Tyler at that time in the battle. He was only another warrior and there were many like him in her village, many who were tried warriors. Caroline didn`t realise what was affecting her so, for she had never begun to fall in love before. Then she saw the blood on Tyler`s shirt from the injury he had sustained from the bird's talons.

"You are injured Tyler, we must see to your wounds or they may turn septic." Caroline cried out, her concern for Tyler going beyond what she had felt in similar situations.

"We should head back for the cover of the trees anyway Caroline, and wait there a while to see if our minor battle was noticed by any of the soldiers."

Caroline agreed and they moved back into the cover of the trees, and once there Caroline quickly bathed his wounds with water from her flask, and then she applied some healing lotion that instantly took away the stinging of Tyler`s wound.

Tyler and Caroline waited for ten minutes while they slowly recovered their strength before deciding that they were safe, and that no one had seen or heard them. Luckily the nearest broken hulk was too far away from where the Heliot troopers were busy working.

Therefore, they set off once again, walking by the dead Magi bird, moving from one piece of cover to the next until the broken hulk was before them. The Heliots seemed to have finally left this former space giant, having stripped all that was of any value to them. It lay with its back broken, its insides strewn about for all to see. Before them was a ramp up into the lower levels but it was not to here that Tyler ventured.

Chapter Twelve

To the Rescue Again

June 23rd the Year 2494

The Heliots troopers were all being made to work extremely hard and fast, and with little respite for things such as food and sleep. The transport ships would never become space cruisers, but they had to become more effective fighting ships. After the plasma weapons had been physically fitted into the transport ships, the necessary connections between the hyperspace engines and the plasma weapons needed to be put in by the skilled technicians of the fleet. As all of the technicians needed by Divilio had not all been killed when the fleet had crash landed so violently upon Orion showed, the gods of the Heliots had not forsaken them completely. Four separate teams were working flat out to get the Heliot fleet ready for action, sooner rather than later. At this particular moment Divilio had other things that needed his attention.

An earthman was shoved to the ground before him, to be followed by a woman and two young children.

"Well what do we have here trooper." Divilio inquired of the trooper in charge of the patrol.

"We found them walking in the direction of the modern complex beyond the mountains Generalissimo, they are dressed differently to the natives so we brought them in for your attention."

"Yes, they do seem a little different, a little dusty and tired from their walk, but maybe they can tell us more about the complex than the other natives." Divilio looked down at the man.

"Is this so, what can you tell me about it?"

The man in question was a vicar of the Church of the Universe, he and his family had started out their journey on the day of the space storm, they had been travelling to the town of New Eden. John Parsons was going to New Eden so that he could speak to his Bishop about the coming celebrations, and the rest of his family were travelling so that they could catch up on the local gossip with the other colonists on Orion. Unfortunately, a piece of space debris snatched up by the Time Platform had come roaring out of the sky, narrowly missing their land transporter, however, it still landed close enough to cause the land transporter to overturn. Some of the fragile components in its highly sophisticated engine were damaged by the accident; the vehicle would now need to be taken to the town for repair. So, the accident forced the family to walk on towards New Eden, it being the closest place to secure assistance. They had attempted to contact New Eden with their satellite telephone, but by then the satellite had been destroyed by a rather large asteroid, making all terrestrial communications impossible. The family was exhausted having been forced to spend three days and two nights in the Orion wilderness without food. When they had first seen the troopers land transport they had been overjoyed, now they were just plain terrified.

Parsons had been born on Orion forty five years ago, he was slight of build with short straight brown hair and the tanned skin of all the colonists, tanned by spending time amongst the natives who lived and worked mostly out of doors. His brown eyes showed a defiance that he didn`t feel, but he kept calm in front of his family.

"I demand that you allow me to speak to my Bishop, Sir, and just who are you people anyway, and what are you doing here on Orion?"

"I am your worst nightmare little man." Divilio snarled. "You will answer all of my questions quickly, and in full, or I will order my men to kill your family one by one until you do so, is that clear?"

Parsons` two young children, Michael aged ten and Emily aged eight, had been through a lot, but Michael was a proud boy, but one who had never encountered people like these before.

"Daddy, say nothing to them, order them to take us to New Eden." He said, his voice beginning to waver as he looked into the cruel faces of the troopers around his family, and heard their laughter. Mary Parsons though thought only of the safety of her family.

"Tell us what you want to know and we will give you your answers to all that we are able too." Mary`s voice was clear and unwavering and Parsons immediately agreed with what his wife said.

"Ask your questions Sir, we will answer them if we can." Divilio`s smile did nothing to lessen John Parsons` fear, which had become apparent to everyone nearby, for his defiant attitude had deflated as soon as he realised the sort of people that he and his family had met.

"Good, but first I should tell you that our drones have already told us much, so don`t lie if you value your children`s lives. Now we detected no starships of any kind at the place you call New Eden, tell me now are there any anywhere on this planet."

"There is a whole fleet of ships in our main base." Michael Parsons stated with all the confidence that he could muster.

"Michael, I will answer the questions, please keep quiet." Parsons said to his son. "Mary, please take the children away, if that is all right with you Sir." This last part was addressed to Divilio, alone.

"Yes of course little man, trooper, escort the woman and children into the space cruiser Hammer, and give them food and water, and also somewhere to rest up."

The cruiser Hammer had been the pride of Divilio`s navy, now it was just one more broken ship. Mary allowed herself and her children to be led away to one of the broken space cruisers, looking back at her husband, she prayed that they would be separated from one another for only a short period of time, but then Mary and the children were inside the ship, and poor John, she thought, was all alone with that monster.

With the family gone Parsons felt a little easier, as if his family were safe, now they were not actually near Divilio, and so Parsons answered Divilio`s questions as best he could, for to do otherwise risked all he held dear.

"We are a peaceful colony, and there are no starships anywhere on the planet. There are only a handful of soldiers based in New Eden to guard the Laboratories of the small contingent of scientists who have moved here to work."

Divilio smiled at this good news and continued on with his questions. "What communications do you have on the planet?" Divilio demanded to know.

"Normally we can contact New Eden by telephone, but that doesn`t appear to be working, the satellite could have been damaged by the meteor storm I expect." Parsons replied.

"What about interplanetary communications?" Division now asked.

"They have a hyperspace radio in New Eden, so that should still be working, as long as the town wasn`t struck by any of the meteorites." Parsons replied.

"You say that there are only a handful of soldiers, how are they armed, are there any heavy weapons on the planet?" Divilio wanted to know whether the opposition were a force to be feared, but his quiet voice gave nothing of this away.

"No there are no heavy weapons, they only have hand weapons, as I told you we are a peaceful planet."

Parsons was very naive, having never met people such as Divilio, he hoped to be able to ensure that these pirates, as he thought of them, would leave New Eden alone if it did not pose a threat to their lives.

**********

Tyler and Caroline moved through the debris of the space cruiser that lay all around it, keeping hidden behind its bulk from any who might be about, when suddenly Caroline put a hand on Tyler`s arm and stopped him. She pointed to a group of people on the other side of the broken cruiser, there some fifty feet from them was a group of the aliens, but they were gathered around a family, John Parsons and his family to be exact. Tyler and Caroline crawled along the ground until they had managed to get nearer to the group without being seen, all thanks to the broken cruiser and the cover that it gave them, and now they were hidden behind a broken bulkhead and only ten feet away from the Heliots and the Parsons family. Being so near they could hear all that was said, as the Heliot translator allowed them to hear Divilio`s part of the interrogation as well.

"That is the vicar and his family who live in our village Tyler; they set off for New Eden the day before you arrived at our village." Caroline whispered to Tyler. "You were right Tyler, when you insisted on coming nearer to the great ships, for we would never have known that they had been taken prisoner by these murderers, and we would have regretted it as you foresaw. We will have to find a way to free them from these monsters before they are murdered, as poor Perseus was." A sob almost escaping from her lips as she thought once more about the moment when that proud old man had been murdered.

Tyler was taken aback for a moment, for to try to secure the release of the vicar and his family would be fraught with danger, he didn`t know whether to feel smug or foolish as he heard his words spoken back to him by Caroline.

"That will not be easy Caroline. We will have to wait and hope for a chance to release them, and without any of them being hurt and ourselves being taken prisoner. Let`s fall back and watch until a suitable opportunity arises."

**********

With the departure of Mary Parsons and the children Divilio was able to extract most of the information about the complex from Parsons. He and Parsons had been talking for ten minutes when Divilio took the conversation onto small talk. He always found that the best way to extract everything was to become a friend of his prisoner, and this he did very well. They were becoming fast friends Parsons thought, Divilio was not too bad really when you got to know him, he had even promised the family a ride home, and the conversation progressed on to home comforts and electrical power, and now thirty minutes later.

"Of course, our power at New Eden is supplied by the fusion reactor, it was supplied by Earth when the scientists began to achieve some sort of progress in that massive white laboratory of theirs." Parsons said.

"So, John, the scientists must be working on something quite grand in that large white laboratory of theirs, if it requires a fusion reactor." Division remarked quietly.

"Well we have been told to keep quiet about it unless it upsets the natives, but most of them know about it anyway." Parsons replied.

"Yes John, but I need to know everything if I am to repair my fleet, and then travel back to my home world, and without any violence breaking out between my people and yours."

Divilio said this ever so sweetly but not sweetly enough, for as Parsons looked over to Divilio he experienced a shiver of fear, the same sort that he had experienced when the Generalissimo had threatened the lives of his family. He had allowed himself to talk too much, to think himself so important that even a Generalissimo would find him of interest, he saw that now. However, if he refused to continue giving the Generalissimo the information he requested, no that wasn`t quite right he had actually demanded it at the beginning of the conversation, no interrogation, he was being interrogated by the Generalissimo and his family`s lives depended on him continuing on to the end, or their lives could once again be threatened.

"I was told by the Bishop that the scientists there were working on a Time Machine."

Parsons heard himself betraying Earth, somehow, he felt the astonishment that his interrogator felt, and he knew with a certainty that he had betrayed all that he believed in, but he still couldn`t stop himself as he continued on.

"And only last week I was told that it was actually working, actually going back in time, incredible isn`t it." Parson said in wonder.

"Yes incredible, you are right John, incredible." Divilio said quietly as he took in everything that Parsons had quietly told him.

Of course, Divilio still didn`t realise the vast time that separated him from his own time period, but this fact was going to be revealed to him soon by his own navigational officer, Trajo. Even without this important information Divilio`s mind was blown by the information this cretin was giving him, he must really believe that he, Divilio, was the fool`s friend. Ah well it showed how good he was at his job, and it took all his self-control to keep the colonist from realising the importance that he attached to it, in case he needed more from this fool.

Divilio had immediately seen that here was a way of reversing his fortunes, simply by sending Aswan back through time to give him, Divilio, a message concerning the enormous space storm that rampaged through the planetary system of the Planet of the Light. Divilio of course knew nothing of the laws of time that would stop such a thing happening, namely that the past cannot be altered by the future.

Divilio`s parting words to Parsons brought the colonist down to Earth with a hard bump.

"The people of Orion need have no more fears about anything, anymore. You will become part of the Heliot Empire and the strongest amongst you will be taken back to the planet Heliot to serve her people." Divilio declared without seeming to know how this would sound to a free born person.

"You mean as slaves? "Parsons exclaimed in terror.

"Of course, although don`t you worry, we always need overseers and the like, to keep the rest under control, and as you have shown you`re willing to help me, I will reward you and your family." Divilio said condescendingly.

Parsons was then taken aboard the broken space cruiser while Divilio thought about the Time Machine at New Eden, one thing was certain, for the moment no one would be told about it, not even Aswan or Trajo.

Leaving Divilio, Parsons walked dazedly into the broken hulk and entered the room where his family were, his face ashen, due to the shock he was in after hearing Divilio`s parting words. Mary Parsons thought he looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and was so alarmed that she rushed into his arms asking fearfully.

"John, are you all right?"

The children screamed with joy at seeing their father safe and sound, they jumped up from the bunks that they had been resting on and rushed to him, demanding some of his attention as they threw their arms around him.

"Yes, Mary I am fine, I have even got a promise out of the Generalissimo for him to provide transport to take us back to the village." Parsons said trying to sound cheerful for the children.

"Why not to New Eden, John?"

"Well we will see tomorrow dear, for it is getting dark now, and I am sure that he will not want to risk a vehicle on a strange planet by travelling the tracks of Orion at night. First though I am starved, I see that they have provided food for us, I must eat and then we can sleep, and tomorrow we can talk to the Generalissimo about our travel arrangements."

Mary Parsons waited until the children had gone to sleep before speaking again to her husband.

"John, now that the children are asleep tell me what is wrong, and were you telling the whole truth when you said that we will be going back to the village, do you really believe that terrible monster truly wants to help us?" She asked fearfully.

"Maybe he will Mary, he said that all he wants is to go back to his planet, but I think that before that happens, he will first want to visit New Eden, and he will not want us warning them of his presence before he gets there." Parson said fearfully.

"If all he wants is to go home why would he delay John?" Mary asked quizzically.

"Because, Mary I let slip about the Time Machine." Parsons eyes were pleading with Mary to understand his fear, for her and the children, had he not answered all of the Generalissimo`s questions. "And because he told me just before I was brought here to this room that he means to enslave the planet and ship off all the strongest people to serve his people as slaves, oh but don`t worry I will be an overseer." Parsons broke down now and sobbed in his wife`s arms.

"We have to get news to New Eden; we cannot allow that monster to enslave the people of Orion." Parsons sobbed.

**********

On the space cruiser Indefatigable, Captain Kruger was getting impatient for the repairs to his hyperspace engines to be completed.

"Karson how much longer until the hyperspace engines are back on line?"

The breathless first officer had just returned from engineering by way of the access ladder, as the elevators of the ship were still not in operation.

"They should be ready in one hour Captain, and then apart from a few minor repairs we will be fully operational." Karson had spent much of the last forty eight hours assisting the engineering staff to repair the engines. Karson was in need of rest, as was the entire engineering department, but he was happy that they would be able to return to Orion and complete their mission. That hour wasn`t short enough.

"Captain, there is a starship exiting out of hyperspace!" Billings, the communications officer exclaimed.

**********

On the bridge of the heavy space cruiser Revenge, President Michaels sat looking up at the giant view screen. It showed the very blue planet of Orion, and in the midst of all this blue was a green continent, split down the middle by a long chain of snow topped mountains.

"The area seems clear Sir." First Officer Osborne said after checking his instruments. Peter Osborne was young and a little inexperienced for the post of first officer on the flagship of Earth, having been in the fleet for only seven years, but then his was one of the many Presidential postings that occurred throughout the space fleet in recent years. President Michaels wanted to ensure that he had enough support at all the levels of his administration, should he ever need it.

"The ship carrying the space pirates has either left in anticipation of the arrival of a space cruiser from Earth, or was destroyed by the space storm that Bragg told us about." President Michaels said. "Let me see New Eden on the view screen Captain, when your other duties permit that is."

Captain Stalker was also quite young, being only thirty years of age, to be the captain of the flagship of the space fleet of Earth but his father, Admiral Stalker, had been a good friend of the President for a very long time now. His father back in the distant past had been a captain of a space cruiser and had fought in the war against the Lyre Federation, which had happened twenty years in the past. He had been instrumental in saving the life of a younger Colonel Michaels of the Space Marine Corps, who at that time had been on a secret mission to Lyre. That was before it had been brought under the control of Earth; Michaels had also acquired a mammoth amount of free publicity from the actions of the small team that he had led. This had helped the political ambitions of Michaels, for he had returned to Earth as a hero. Some, were jealous of Stalker`s son, of his fast promotion, they said it was in reward for past debts, other simply saw in Stalker an officer who would obey any and all orders that came to him from the President of Earth.

Stalker first ensured that no surprises awaited the huge warship, and only then did he order his helmsman to put New Eden up on the large view screen.

"All seems to be well Captain." President Michaels said. "Contact Colonel Bragg and tell him that we are in orbit above Orion, but tell him to keep quiet about it. Then wait until the sun rises over New Eden, Captain, and contact Colonel Bragg officially to inform him once again that we have arrived. When you have done that, please contact the Colony administrator... a Bishop Sinclair, and inform him of our presence, telling him that we have only just arrived and that a shuttle will be landing within the hour with myself aboard. I will retire to my cabin now and try to get some sleep, goodnight Captain."

**********

On the bridge of the new flagship Vega, Trajo got up from her chair at the navigational computer and crossed over to Divilio.

"I must talk to you in private." She said, but only loudly enough for him to hear, no one else.

"I have discovered something that you need to know now; it is of the utmost importance."

Divilio looked up at Trajo, she had been his woman now for a year. To have lasted that long was beyond every one's expectations, especially Divilio`s. However, she was a good officer and he would hate to lose her skills at navigation, anyway she was also the hottest thing he had ever seen and he still could not get enough of her.

"Okay Trajo, let`s go to my Cabin." They had been in Divilio`s cabin for one minute, and this minute had been enough to stagger and bewilder him.

"Are you sure Trajo, this seems impossible."

"Yes, my darling, somehow, we have travelled forward in time, some fifty thousand years, and we have also travelled in space one hundred thousand light years. All that we knew is gone, all our families are dead, and we are all alone now."

Divilio picked himself up from the floor, mentally, and switched on his intercom.

"Aswan, come to my cabin immediately."

When Aswan arrived, Divilio had Trajo repeat her findings to an awed Aswan. His feelings of hate and contempt for Divilio almost overwhelmed him as he listened to the results of their disastrous attack on the Planet of the Light, not only were they across the other side of the galaxy, but they were fifty thousand years into its future. How could they take their revenge when in all probability the people of the Planet of the Light would no longer be in existence, or if they were they would be technologically so far in advance of them that they would be able to swat them like a fly. He silently swore on the graves of his ancestors to kill Divilio and erase all mention of him from the records of history.

"Aswan, go back to the navigational console with Trajo and rerun her findings, check and re-check everything, when you have done that report your findings to me."

Trajo was standing behind Aswan, and she was looking a little miffed at Divilio for not accepting her findings as one hundred per cent correct, so Divilio spoke to her.

"It is not that I doubt your findings Trajo, you are the best navigational officer in the fleet, better than Aswan or me. What you have discovered is just too awesome to believe, I need you both to re-check all your data before...." Here Divilio`s sentence trailed off.

"Yes of course Generalissimo." Trajo and Aswan both replied. Aswan was still a little dazed by the information. However, his experience allowed him to immediately carry out his orders.

There was a question to which Divilio wanted an answer; could the Time Machine at the Earth colony travel back in time over such vast distances in time and space.

**********

From the woodland that surrounded the battered fleet, Tyler and Caroline watched as darkness fell.

"The ship into which your friends were taken must be being used as a temporary prison, because those other villagers were also put in there." The other villagers of course were the people of the golden hills whose leader had been murdered just a few hours before.

"It all seems quiet now, let us go aboard the vessel and free them." Caroline boldly stated. "We have seen only a few soldiers enter the ship, and most of those left later to go aboard those larger ships."

Tyler looked at Caroline with amazement. "You want us to just walk into the Lion's den?"

"I don`t know what a Lion is Tyler, but if he is on that ship then yes, I do."

With that she left the cover provided by the broken space cruiser and headed towards the entry ramp of the second broken cruiser. Tyler looked after her in astonishment before hastily picking up his weapons and following after her.

"Oh well here I go to the rescue again."

Tyler and Caroline slowly crept up the ramp and were soon lost within the starship`s labyrinth of corridors, which were only partially lit by the emergency lighting of the ship. They had been walking around the corridors for some time, with their footfalls echoing loudly, or so Tyler thought, and for all to hear. Just when they were about to give up the search, and make their way back, they heard voices from a corridor that led off from the one they were travelling along. Ahead of them the floor was broken open to show the ground just twelve feet below them, and across this chasm they heard alien voices drifting towards them. It took but moments to cross over the broken floor by way of the broken bulkheads that should have carried it. Tyler and Caroline stopped at a corner and carefully looked around it, and there sitting at a table were two troopers with their backs towards them, body armour lying against one wall, and their weapons lying casually discarded against another wall, five feet from the troopers` hands. The corridor before them had many doors opening off of it, and from within one of the rooms they heard the voices of the Parsons complaining about being prisoners of such a monster as Divilio. Tyler and Caroline as of one mind stole silently forward, and when just inches away from the troopers they prodded the men with their spears causing the troopers to start in surprise, and then to try to stand up. Caroline, the more experienced warrior of the two, swung her spear around and hit the first trooper hard with the heavy metal ferrule that protected its end, knocking the trooper unconscious. The second trooper tried to stand but Tyler stabbed the point of the spear into the stomach of the trooper causing him to sit back down. Caroline seeing that Tyler had not hit the second trooper did so for him, much to Tyler`s consternation.

"Come Tyler, let us release our friends." With this she went to the nearest door and opening it called to the villagers who were inside.

"Come people of the Golden Hills, the people of the village of the red plains have come to free you." The colour of the plains was because of the large amount of iron oxide in this part of Orion.

"Caroline, what are you doing here, is our good friend Appolon also with you, for we the people of the Golden Hills want to thank you both for releasing us from our terrible imprisonment." The six villagers inside exclaimed joyfully. Tyler then appeared at the door to the room.

"We can celebrate later, for now I think maybe it is time to leave."

Caroline agreed and she then went to a door across the corridor and opening it said to the Parson family.

"Come my friends, you are free." Once again Tyler intruded.

"All right guys, time to go. Come on we must be quick before someone comes along and tries to prevent us from leaving."

The Parsons` family were a little disorientated by this sudden rescue, and also with Tyler`s appearance, for although he was obviously from Earth, he was not only a stranger to them, but his English was strange and his clothes different. This and many things had to wait though until after they were all safely away. They quickly moved along the half lit corridor, stopping before the break in the floor. The warriors amongst the villagers quickly dropped through the opening and down to the ground to ensure that it was safe for the rest of them to follow. Then Caroline and Tyler went down through the broken hull of the space cruiser, and with the other villagers, helped the Parsons` family down on to the ground.

Tyler and his enlarged group moved stealthily away from the wrecked space cruiser towards the safety of the nearby undergrowth, but then a challenge rang out from behind them. Two Heliot troopers had their plasma weapons lined up on the group and were moving towards them. What they were saying Tyler could only guess at, as it was in the troopers` own language. Obviously, they wanted them to stand where they were, drop their weapons and submit once more to captivity. The troopers had just got within arm`s length of Tyler when they all heard and saw a disturbance in the undergrowth; this disturbance distracted the two troopers enough for them to take their eyes off their captives. Immediately Tyler, Caroline and two of the villagers rushed in and knocked the two troopers to the ground. From the undergrowth the disturbance appeared, and with ease brought the metal sleeves of their spears crashing down upon the heads of the fallen troopers.

The disturbance was Appolon and Tryon followed by Argo and Cimon and two more of the warriors of the village, come to aid them in their adventure. The trooper`s helmet helped to lessen the blow, but Tyler being from the twenty first century suspected this, and so he didn`t leave things there.

"Appolon help me drag these two men into the undergrowth so that they are not seen, also we need to tie and gag them to stop them from calling for help."

To ask Appolon was to see a thing done, the two stunned troopers were hastily dragged into the surrounding trees. Once there Tyler tied both of their hands behind their backs with their own belts, and then cutting material from the trooper`s tunics with the knife that Caroline had given to him, he first gagged them with it and then bound their legs with a longer piece of the material.

"Quick Tyler, we must be away before any more of these off-world warriors appear." Appolon said, and the now quite large group of friends quickly disappeared into the nearby trees, and was soon far away from the Heliot ships. Moments later they met Masters who had waited further back from the starships along with two more of Appolon`s warriors.

"When you didn`t return by the time Argo had returned, I decided that we should move off and find you all." Masters said. "We finally met up with Appolon when we had almost reached this spot here."

"Yes, Tyler, for I too was worried, especially when I came across the dead Magi bird; I thought that fighting it may have given you away to the alien warriors." Appolon said.

"Tyler dispatched the Magi, Appolon." Caroline said and then adding sheepishly, "I allowed myself to be distracted, and if Tyler hadn`t rushed in, well who knows what may have happened to me."

"So, Tyler, you have my gratitude once again." Appolon said.

"You more than made up for it by distracting those two soldiers back there." Tyler replied. "And anyway, you told me to bring Caroline back in one piece." Appolon smiled at his new friend by way of reply.

"Now we must be on our way to New Eden, Tyler, while we still can." Masters demanded. Parsons also had a demand that he now voiced.

"Then I must come with you. I must see the Bishop and tell him what that monster wants to do with the people of Orion." Then turning to Appolon he asked.

"But can some of your warriors take my wife and children back to your village, for it must be nearer than New Eden."

"What does that monster want to do with the people of Orion?" Tyler asked. Parsons then told him everything that Divilio had promised for the people of Orion."

"Oh!" said Tyler and Appolon together.

"We need to get to New Eden and tell them the bad news, Tyler." Appolon said.

After just a moment`s discussion it was decided that the four newly arrived warriors would guide Mary Parsons and the children back to their village. The villagers of the golden hills would travel with Tyler`s group as far as their own village, which was situated in the foothills of the mountains, through which Tyler`s group would have to travel.

In the bright moonlight of Orion`s single small moon, it was a tearstained farewell for the Parsons` family, but one that had to be made, for Parsons knew that his duty was to go to New Eden and inform the Bishop of all that had happened.

The villagers of the golden hills led the way, as they knew of many trails that would be concealed from any search party that the Heliot`s might send out after them. Tyler and Appolon followed on behind them with Caroline, Masters, Parsons, Tryon, Argo and Cimon making up the band. It wasn`t long before they were resting up in the village of the golden hills, so named because in spring time the hills came to life with the golden blossom of one of its small trees. They had decided to sleep in late the next morning so that they could all get enough rest for the long trek to New Eden.

Chapter Thirteen

The Journey to New Eden

June 25th the Year 2494

Tyler and his band of brave warriors were finally on their way when the sun was well overhead, its light blazing down upon the valley below. Luckily, for Tyler and Masters, there was also a fair amount of cloud about, and this would shade them from the full heat of the day. The women of the village supplied them with food and water for their trip, and a young warrior from the village named Tocra, led them along the mountain slopes, along little trod ways that meandered through the foothills of the vast mountains above them. He stated in a very serious voice, that it would be far safer on the slopes of the mountain than walking in plain sight through the more open valley below.

The golden hills had been scorched dry by the long hot summer, the golden flowers of spring, long gone. There was still some snow on the higher peaks, but the main colour was a mix between the red sandstone rocks, the sun scorched yellow grasses and the green leaves of the golden trees, named after their spring blossom.

Tyler had never been one for trekking and Masters certainly wasn`t. If it hadn`t been for the lighter mass of the planet they could never had endured the pace that the natives set. As it was both of them were feeling the strain of the march, their newly discovered muscles aching all the more for being neglected in the past. At least there was a light breeze to cool them, and plenty of fresh water from the mountain springs to quench their thirst. Caroline had initially walked beside her brother, whose ankle was feeling much better, but then she dropped back to walk beside Tyler.

"Your world sounds very different to ours, Tyler." Caroline said. "Which one do you prefer, this one with space to live in, or your one which sounds very crowded?"

Tyler looked across at the young Neolithic princess, as he liked to think of her.

"Yes, at times my world is very crowded, but then I am used to city life and the throngs of people that live within it." Tyler said thoughtlessly, then seeing a hint of disappointment appear on Caroline`s face added as casually as he could. "But your planet is beginning to grow on me the longer that I am here, and I think that I am beginning to prefer it to my own world."

Masters who was just behind them said in the haughty manner he sometimes used.

"Well I would most certainly like to be back in my world, even with all of its faults. At least one doesn`t get chased up trees by ferocious bears, or have to dodge homicidal aliens." He complained.

"There are plenty of homicidal people back on Earth, at least here you can tell them apart from the rest of the population." Tyler stated, trying to soften Masters` ill thought outburst.

"We must be quiet here Appolon, for the people of the underworld don`t like people coming near to their domain." Tocra said.

It was at least an hour later when Masters began to really feel the pace of their hurried journey; even Appolon was in need of a break to rest his sore ankle.

"It is just superstitious twaddle, this talk of the people of the underworld." Masters whispered to Tyler.

"Look here Appolon, can`t we rest for a while, for my legs are just about giving out on me." Masters complained a little louder.

"It is not safe here earthman." Tocra warned. "We are right in the middle of their land."

"Whose land Tocra?" Masters demanded angrily.

"The people of the underworld, as I told you, they don`t like strangers moving about their land."

"What do you mean, people of the underworld, do you mean ghosts, spirits and such twaddle?" Masters demanded haughtily.

"No, they are as real as you are, they are called the people of the underworld because they live mostly in the caves and tunnels that run beneath much of this part of the mountains. They come up only to hunt, to gather food or to take the unwary down below for their pots."

"Good god, do you mean they are Cannibals?" Masters screamed.

"Quiet earthman or they will come and take us down for their banquet."

A hush fell over the group, to be broken by Parsons who joined in the conversation.

"Yes, it is true, the church has been meaning to stop their evil ways, but finding them is very hard, and anyway we really don`t have enough soldiers here on Orion to be able to do something about them."

"Well couldn`t the native warriors supply the help you need?" Masters questioned. Appolon finally agreed to enter a conversation that bored him.

"The people of the underworld leave all alone except for intruders, so we leave them alone."

"Unfortunately, today we are the intruders." Masters stated angrily, for it seemed criminal to him to allow such people to roam around, free.

**********

Divilio was on his new flagship Vega, around him his security officers were attempting to explain how a small group of primitives had managed to free his prisoners. Divilio wasn`t too bothered by the event; anyway, he would enjoy teaching his security team a lesson, one that would stop them from failing him again. He had lost no more men or weapons during the episode, and the prisoners had been of no further use to him.

"Send out some more patrols with orders to kill any of those responsible for this insult to my command." He ordered, but just then the minor problem of the escaped prisoners was dashed from Divilio`s mind.

"Generalissimo a ship has just exited hyperspace and is now in orbit about this overgrown asteroid." Rada exclaimed, interrupting the discussion about the quality of Heliot security men. "The President of Earth is on it and he is sending a message down to the military commander in New Eden."

"Have they seen us Rada?" Divilio asked.

"No, my Generalissimo, but unless they were actively searching for us, they wouldn`t have done so. The mountain chain has a high mineral content which for the moment is shielding us from their ship. But the four troop transporters should turn on their cloaking devices to ensure that they don`t do so, should they actively search the area around here, they might also help shield our broken cruisers."

"Okay, order the commanders of the four transporters to switch on their cloaking devices, oh and also tell them not to send any more drone aircraft out, they may give our presence away to the Earth vessel." Divilio ordered.

Aswan and Trajo had both reported back that morning after working through most of the night. Trajo`s results were correct, they were fifty thousand years in the future and they were on the far side of the galaxy. Divilio thoughts were now on the Time Machine in New Eden and nothing else, he would get it if he had to kill everyone on this miserable excuse for a planet.

**********

In the town of New Eden, Jameson, having no idea what was happening on and around Orion, was arguing with Colonel Bragg in the temple building. The argument of course was about restarting the Time experiments, for like most successful men he only had thoughts for his experiment and nothing else.

"There is no possible reason, now that the androids have been defeated, that we shouldn`t restart the experiments."

"I am sorry Professor Jameson but I only have thirteen marines left to guard the whole complex and five of them have been wounded. We don`t know that there aren`t more androids in orbit around this planet, and for all we know, they might be about to launch another assault upon us. Therefore, no Professor Jameson, you cannot begin your experiments again. In fact, I think it would be wiser to decommission it until we get some more marines from Earth."

"And how long will that take do you suppose, before you receive your extra marines." Jameson shouted at Colonel Bragg.

"Not too long, I have already sent off a request for substantial reinforcements."

Bishop John Sinclair had been a quiet but impatient observer of the heated exchange, but he now came in on Bragg`s side.

"Richard, I think that Colonel Bragg is correct, I also think that you should go over all your equipment and maybe put in some safeguards. Ensure that you can stop the catastrophic events that occurred out there in space from ever happening again, everyone in New Eden could so easily have died." He stated angrily.

Sinclair hadn`t realised just how much the past events had affected him, obviously, he thought, the stress caused by the worry of another Altera had been weighing on his mind more than he had realised. Then, with the android attack, and the violent space storm that had come after it, coupled to the deaths of so many young men, it had all added up to his present mood, that of the utmost anger at everyone and everything around him.

Then one of the scientists, Brian Goddard, added his thoughts on the matter.

"Richard, I tend to agree with the Colonel and Bishop Sinclair, maybe we should take the time to fit a power limiter to the Time Platform. We still don`t know just what the Platform dragged back with it, and until we do, well I for one would prefer waiting before we re-started our work." Brian Goddard had been deeply shocked when the rocks and other space debris had come crashing out of the sky to only narrowly miss New Eden and the science complex, he now turned to Colonel Bragg.

"When the relief ship turns up, we will need a full scan of the land mass of Orion, to check that none of the outlying villages were hit by any of the rocks brought back by the Time Platform." He for one would hate to think that this experiment had caused the death of anyone on Orion.

Behind Brian Goddard the rest of the science team nodded in agreement, and Bragg agreed with this request. Bragg wanted a full security scan in any case, to check if there were any more androids lurking about, so he had no problem in assuring the scientists that this would be done.

Jameson turned away in disgust and stamped away back towards the Time room, muttering something that made the other scientists feel guilty that they had not supported him. Tracy Goddard took hold of her husband`s arm.

"Don`t worry about Richard, Brian, when he finally gives himself the time to think things over, he will agree with you about adding safeguards to the Platform, rather than risk another near total disaster."

Bragg had stationed the injured Lieutenant Parnell, along with one of his remaining marines, at the fusion reactor building to keep an eye on things there. The recovering Canadian, John Cassidy, was barricaded behind the entrance to the Laboratory with another marine and Cassidy was told to rest up as much as possible while his partner did all the leg work. Troopers Ryan and the injured Peterson were stationed in the temple, with Peterson receiving similar instructions to those that Cassidy had been given. The remaining seven marines, of which two more were also injured after being hit by energy bolts from the Heliots` plasma weapons, were ordered to rest up, for they would be on duty during the Orion night.

It was at this moment that Colonel Bragg got a second call on his radio; the call was from the President`s starship in orbit above Orion. Bragg got his first call from the President`s ship the evening before, when the Revenge had entered into orbit above Orion, but Bragg had been ordered to keep that call a secret. John Sinclair, who had been just about to leave and get back to work, listened to Bragg, as the Colonel spoke to the Captain of the space cruiser above their heads. He was delighted and a little astonished to hear that the relief ship was already in orbit just above New Eden.

"The President of Earth will be landing in a shuttle in one hours` time, along with his team of advisers to see what help he can provide, John. It seems he was on a surprise visit to us when my call for help was received." Colonel Bragg reported.

"But that is great Charles, I had been thinking of cancelling the celebrations, but now they can go ahead, and with a special guest in attendance." Bishop Sinclair exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes, John, and his ship will stop over until the extra marines from Earth get here. With a space cruiser in orbit no one would dare to attack us."

**********

Divilio had sent out six patrols in search of Tyler and his band, but as he could not deploy his drone aircraft without giving his position away to the space cruiser orbiting overhead, he didn`t get any results from the searchers. On his own turf this wouldn`t have mattered, but as he was playing away it did. His troopers scoured the valley between the ships and New Eden, but of course found no trace of Tyler`s party, for Tyler and his band of men were on their journey to New Eden by way of the small animal trails high up in the foothills of the mountain, where only Divilio`s drones could have found him. Divilio knew that it would take the primitives of Orion, as he thought of Tyler and his friends, at least the best part of two days to reach the outskirts of the small town of New Eden, if they were even heading that way. If they got that far they would find his troopers waiting. They had been sent out in two armoured personnel carriers with orders to patrol the land between the mountains and the town, and to kill anybody they saw. Should the primitives still get through then, that would signal the launching of his fleet. His fleet would be moving during the morning of the second day anyway, he would commence his surprise attack against the large space cruiser and then crush the small town. He would then inform his wavering command about the Time Machine and use the scientists of Earth to make it work.

**********

From high up in the hills, Tyler and his friends watched as the two Heliot vehicles travelled along the dusty track that meandered along the valley below them. That they belonged to the aliens was obvious, as they could clearly see who was driving the two vehicles.

"Well there are surely not enough of them to be used as an invasion force against New Eden, so they must be out looking for us Tyler." Masters volunteered.

"Probably sent out to stop news of their arrival getting through to the town, the speed that they are moving means that searching for us is not their first priority." Tyler replied.

"If they do intend to try and take control of New Eden, then they will find it rather difficult when they meet up with the Space Marines there, for I wouldn`t want to go up against them." John Parsons said. Parsons of course didn`t know that there were only a few marines still left alive in New Eden and that even their full complement would have been unable to stop them.

"With the weapons that the aliens possess, your space marines had better be well equipped, never mind the fact that they will probably be vastly outnumbered." Tyler said contradicting John Parsons. His words had the effect of further dampening their spirits.

Down in the valley below them, Tyler and his friends saw a small group of natives appear from around a bend some fifty yards in front of the Heliot vehicles, the group of natives froze when they saw the strangers ahead of them. The natives` instinct was to run, which they did, the Heliots shouted to them in the troopers` own language, ordering them to stop, but as no one on Orion apart from the Heliots spoke their language, the natives continued to run. The troopers were not about to let a second batch of 'primitives' escape them quite so easily, so the troopers gave chase. The natives didn`t stand a chance, for as soon as the troopers got within firing range, they opened fire with the vehicles` weapons, the resulting carnage was terrible to see and to hear. The energy bolts high pitched whistling mixed in with the screams of the natives was too much for Tyler and the others. Caroline couldn`t believe her eyes; never did she ever think to see such evil actions carried out on Orion.

"Why did they kill them, that was Tolono`s band, they never hurt anyone." This time she couldn`t control her tears, this time she wept for her dead friends.

"They are without mercy." Masters agreed.

"Maybe we can bring them justice when we get to New Eden." Tyler said, although privately he thought that the authorities would have trouble dealing with so many well equipped soldiers.

The sun hadn`t made much of an appearance that day, but now it disappeared completely behind a large dark cloud, almost as if it were out of respect for the murdered people below.

"Come on, our journey just got more urgent." Appolon stated. Then motioning to Tocra he started the group of friends moving once again, but with a quickening of the pace.

But it was only for a few minutes as Tocra suddenly came to a stop, and seemingly sniffed the air before moving off once more, but he was moving very slowly now, and as they worked their way along a narrow trail his eyes, and those of the other warriors were constantly scanning the rocks about them. Then, from out of nowhere an arrow flew towards them to pierce the heart of Tocra, he fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Yells filled the air around them, and a dozen pale skinned natives seemed to pop out of the ground. More arrows followed but the trap had been sprung too early by one of their attackers, for the rest of his band of warriors were not yet ready, Tyler and his friends were able to take evasive action, the arrows noisily clattering amongst the rocks about them. Appolon quickly strung an arrow to his bow and unleashed it with devastating effect, taking out the nearest of their attackers. Tryon, Argo and Cimon were only moments behind him as they too unleashed their arrows. Then an arrow from Caroline took out a native who was lining up his arrow on Tyler`s back. Tyler himself was slower than the others were, for he could hardly believe his eyes, but the sight of Tocra slain without a chance of saving himself, and the other arrows soaring towards his friends, soon brought about his own response. He too unleashed his arrow as volley after volley left the bows of the band of friends to land amongst the ranks of the ungodly, as Tyler liked to think of them. Caroline`s blood was up, for she had seen too many of her friends die within the last few days. Taking off her backpack and throwing aside her bow, she chased in amongst their attackers as they retreated, her blood curdling whoops and yells must have turned their attacker`s blood cold. Tyler had no time to watch her as he continued the attack, and soon he and his friends ran out of targets.

"We certainly avenged our friend Tocra." Tryon cried. "Those beasts of the underworld will think twice before they attack people from our village again." Tryon then let out blood curdling cry of victory which was taken up by the other warriors, and tradition was satisfied.

"Yes." Appolon cried. "They paid a heavy price for their treacherous attack, but see Tryon, Cimon and Argo have been hit as well." Unfortunately, it was so, for Cimon had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder and Argo had one in his thigh.

"Don`t worry about us, Appolon; we can make it back to the village of the golden hills, where they will help us." Cimon said with a hint of a grimace as the pain of his wound began to grow. "And to think that I had welcomed the cool breezes of today, for I thought that they would aid us on our long trek, but I had forgotten about the sort of creatures that prefer the shadows." His friends agreed with his words and wished that they had been more watchful.

"But where is Caroline?" Tyler asked.

"I saw her chasing after two of our attackers over that way." Masters said. "But with all that was going on I didn`t see what happened afterwards."

Masters had kept his head down while the arrows had flown to and fro, but he had kept his spear ready to protect his life and that of Parsons, but he was not a Neolithic warrior as Appolon and his friends were, so had not joined in the action. Appolon was quickly on Caroline`s trail.

"There is a dead warrior hear, Caroline`s spear took his life." Appolon cried out proudly.

The Troglodyte warrior looked like any other man except for his pale skin. He was short too for a native of Orion, being only about five feet tall. His head was shaven and his physique quite undeveloped for an adult man. It was his eyes though that set him apart, for they were larger to cope with the darkness down in the underworld.

"And here is her spear, by this hole, she must have fallen down it!" Appolon exclaimed in surprise.

**********

Caroline had chased two terrified warriors through the rocks, her blood curdling screams chilling their blood. For she had seen too many of her friends die during the last few days and needed to relieve all her pent-up emotions, unfortunately for these two creatures of the underworld. Soon Caroline got into spear throwing distance and raising her arm she hurled her spear forward. It sped faster than she could run, to bury itself into the back of the nearest creature of the underworld. Caroline whooped all the more causing the remaining warrior to even greater speeds. Caroline saw him disappearing amongst the rocks and pulling her spear free from the dead body of the Troglodyte she gave chase, not noticing the ground beneath her feet. Suddenly she felt the ground give way and she found herself falling thirty feet into a pit. She expected to break a leg when she hit the ground below her, but luckily the centre of the pit was a deep pool of cold mountain water. She sank quickly down to its bottom and when it came, she thanked god, and pushed upwards towards the surface. She soon arrived back at the surface of the pool and swam gratefully to the side. Caroline checked her weapons, her spear was missing but she still had her knife, but how to get out of this deep hole, she looked up towards the small circle of blue sky, seeking a way out, and engrossed as she was, she didn`t hear the soft footsteps that came from the dark tunnel behind her. She felt the sudden pain at the back of her head, and then she was falling away into blackness.

The large hole had been covered with small branches and dried grasses as a trap for the unwary. It was a natural entrance way to the world peopled by those who spent most of their lives in the tunnels and caves of the underworld, and beneath the ground which was trod by those who preferred the light of the sun. A long time ago the roof of a large cave had given way to let the light into this section of the underworld. Caroline would normally never have fallen into it, but her blood was up and she wanted revenge for some dead friends. Other friends looked down into the dark pit now, but they could see no sign of her below.

**********

"George, you go on with the Appolon to tell the colony about the aliens, I will go down there and find Caroline." Tyler said indicating the deep pit.

Masters knew what Tyler didn`t know, that Tyler`s feelings for the cave woman, as Masters thought of Caroline, had grown rapidly in a very short space of time.

Appolon was also for going down into the hole before them along with Tyler, but Tryon interjected.

"No Appolon we two must go onto New Eden with George and John Parsons. It is urgent that we tell them about the alien warriors. Tyler has proved himself a warrior of the bravest heart on numerous times; let him now prove once again that he is a warrior of the first rank, the one our legends foretold."

Appolon fell to his knees with his head in his hands agonising as to what course of action he should take. Save his sister as his heart demanded, or warn New Eden of the imminent alien attack of their town. The aliens were more than capable of wiping out all those who lived on Orion; by himself he could not protect his village, let alone his wife and family. What use were bows and arrows against the four powerful ships that the aliens had, let alone the one thousand heavy armed soldiers that he had seen with his own eyes. If Cimon or Argo had not been wounded, he would have entered the tunnels before him, and with his friend Tyler, defeated any that tried to stop him from saving his sister. Appolon reached a decision that tore at his heart, he would leave Tyler to complete this task, and hope that maybe Tryon was correct in his thinking, and that Tyler was the Legend sent to help them, and more importantly to him, to save his sister.

"Cimon, Argo, tell the people of the golden hills to send word to our village for our warriors to come here and tear this mountain apart, they are not to stop until they find my sister and my brave friend Tyler." Cimon and Argo both pledged to do this deed with the utmost speed that their injured bodies could manage.

"I must journey to New Eden to tell the people there of the aliens that have entered our land, so that they can ask Earth to protect us. Then I will return here to find my sister."

Appolon didn`t need to add that as his journey to the town and back again would take three or four days, he would be too late to save his sister, if Tyler failed to do so. Turning to Tyler, Appolon said to him.

"I leave the fate of my sister in your hands my friend, if you are the one that our legend speaks about then I do not need to worry, if not then I know that you are indeed a brave warrior." Appolon said bravely, but the anguish he felt was plain to read on his face.

"Have no fear Appolon, I will find Caroline and bring her back to you."

Tyler took off his jacket. "Look after this for me George; I think I need to be stripped for action." Tyler said and handed it over to George Masters.

"Don`t worry Tyler, I will look after it for you." Masters said weakly as he watched the young man he had become fond of, drop his spear together with his bow and quiver of arrows down into the deep pit. Tyler had purposely dropped them to one side so that should he fall, he would not drop onto them and damage them.

"Appolon, can you make a torch of some kind, it looks to be rather dark down there?" Tyler asked his friend who immediately began to gather what he would require to make the torch.

Masters with a desperate feeling welling up inside of him feared to try and say anything, so he could only raise a hand to wave a weak farewell to his companion. Tyler looked up at the bright sun that was already beginning to dip behind the mountain, the evening breeze had sprung up and was already beginning to cool him, and then he dropped to the ground and slipped slowly down into the cavernous pit. He climbed down a foot at a time, his feet searching for a place that would support his weight, his hands holding tight onto the roots that had forced their way through the rock walls. The cavern was some thirty feet deep, and he had got to about half way when the roots he was suspending all his weight on, while his feet searched for a ledge, broke. Tyler dropped the rest of the way down to the bottom of the pit, but instead of a solid thump he hit with a splash. The bottom was not the solid ground that he thought it to be, but deep water with a green covering of algae giving it the look of green grass. Tyler shot to the surface and called up to his friends.

"Don`t worry my friends, I am fine." He dragged himself from the slime that covered the surface of the water and stood up. Before him was a long dark tunnel, black as pitch except for where the thin beam of sunlight reached it. Looking up Tyler called to his friends.

"Tyler" Tryon called down. "Here is some of the food and a water flask for you; you don`t know how long it will take you to catch up with us."

Appolon had quickly fashioned a torch for Tyler, made of the grasses and twigs wrapped around a small broken branch of a tree and he tossed it down to his friend. Tyler lit his makeshift torch with the cigarette lighter that his friend had left behind in his flat, then he gathered his weapons and with a final glance up, bid his friends farewell.

**********

There were two tunnels that he could choose from, one he saw ended only after one hundred yards, he could see the light shining into it and it was this one that he tried first. The tunnel rose quite sharply but it ended abruptly overlooking the valley far below him. To climb out of here was impossible for below him was a sheer rock face that fell hundreds of feet to the valley bottom, there was no way that Caroline could have gone this way, and if she had, then he would be able to see her. The track that they had come along must be just above his head but there was no way that anyone could climb up to it, the rock was smooth as glass and devoid of any handholds. Left with only one other alternative, Tyler walked back to the green pond and the second tunnel.

************

Before leaving for New Eden, Appolon needed to tend to the body of Tocra. He and the others made a funeral stack upon which they put the body of their dead friend. Then, John Parsons said a prayer over the body while Appolon set fire to the stack, they then said good bye to their fallen comrade.

Now there were only four of the friends left to get news of the alien presence on Orion through to New Eden, Appolon and Tryon along with Parsons and Masters.

Cimon and Argo, with arrows still sticking from their battle-scarred bodies were limping back towards the village of the golden hills at a very slow pace due to their wounds. The arrow heads had to be left in, for to have removed them would have made the blood flow from their wounds, but their wounds ached so much that they were forced to rest more than they wanted to. At least Appolon had treated them with the medicines that Caroline always carried with her in her pack, this ensured that the wounds did not become infected.

***********

The Shuttle landed in the central square of New Eden from the Earth ship currently orbiting Orion. President Michaels walked down its short ramp to the cheers of the colonists who now crowded round it. Bishop John Sinclair walked forward to greet him and thank him for his timely arrival.

"We are very happy to see you here at our small outpost, your presence here will have certainly chased away any survivors of the pirates who recently attacked us."

"Think nothing of it, I also have a further piece of good news for you. At this very moment Captain Stalker is already getting ready to launch a replacement satellite into orbit above your lovely town. Colonel Bragg told us that your original satellite had been destroyed in the space storm that wreaked havoc around your delightful planet."

Sinclair could have hoped for nothing more, for now he could get back into contact with his colonists spread all over the continental land mass of Orion. Colonel Bragg kept to the shadows in front of the temple building, he was a soldier and not a politician and it was going to get very political very soon.

"Bishop may I talk to you and Professor Jameson, preferably in the privacy of your offices in the temple?" President Michaels asked.

Richard Jameson was also there to greet the President, for he wanted the President to instruct Colonel Bragg to let him resume his Time experiments, so he was delighted at the chance offered by the President to speak with him.

"I will be delighted Mr President, for there is a matter that I wish to talk to you about. Maybe Colonel Bragg had better join us as well." Jameson said with a glance over to Colonel Bragg.

"I was about to invite the Colonel anyway, so your wish in this case is my command." President Michaels said with a smile on his face, for he had always wanted to use this very old and tired phrase.

For some reason that the Bishop of New Eden didn`t understand, they were also joined by two other members of the Presidents party, who looked as if they would be more at home in Colonel Bragg`s Space Marine Corps than as advisors to the president.

The President did not waste any time in small talk, he came to the point immediately they were all seated in Sinclair`s large plush office on the first floor of the temple.

"Because of the attack by the space pirates I have decided to take the Time Machine back to Earth, it can be taken back on the Revenge, which is the ship now in orbit above Orion."

Jameson exploded when he heard the President`s words. "There is no way that the Government of Earth is getting its hand on my Time Machine, you will only get it over my dead body." Jameson now looked over to Sinclair and Bragg. "Did either of you know about this attempt to steal my Time Machine?" From their reactions to his accusation he knew that they had known about the president`s plans.

"Richard, I didn`t know that the President was on his way here, or of his plans, but I for one think it would be a very good idea to remove the Time Machine from our small planet. For one thing the native population would also be far happier if it left Orion, they have been getting a little unsettled by the prospect of many more earthmen arriving to settle here, just so as to be near to it. The colonists will also be a lot safer if so, valuable invention was moved to a more secure environment, don`t you agree Colonel?" Sinclair words spilling out at a rate of knots, as if they had been well rehearsed.

Colonel Bragg then answered the charge brought against him by Jameson. "I did know that it was on the cards, and I suspected that there was more to the President`s visit than just to say hello to the smallest planet in the Federation."

"So, you two will not back me up, I might have guessed." Jameson sneered as he stood up. "Well Mr President I will not agree to your taking my invention aboard your ship. For all I know the android pirates may have been sent by you to give you just such a pretext to allow you steal it legally."

President Michaels smiled patiently and as if he were dealing with a naughty child said. "Now Professor, I am sure that you did not mean to insult the office of the Presidency." As he spoke the two other members of the Presidential party who had not been seated moved one step nearer to Jameson. "Did you?"

"Are you threatening me?" Jameson stormed.

"No, I would never do such a thing, but I will have no dissension regarding this matter, if that device were to fall into the wrong hands the consequences could be catastrophic."

"Catastrophic? You know that we cannot travel forward in time, and we cannot change past events, how can it be used to endanger anyone."

"It nearly destroyed our Town." Sinclair said angrily, interrupting the discussion between President Michaels and Professor Jameson.

"But you know we are putting safeguards in to prevent such a thing ever happening again. You even agreed with Brian Goddard when he demanded that we do so." Jameson protested.

"Professor Jameson, the discussion is over, I have made my decision and that is final." President Michaels said.

Jameson went to storm out but the two men that accompanied the President stopped him from leaving.

"I think that you had better remain here until you have had time to reconsider your position Professor." The glare that Jameson sent towards President Michaels would have cut glass.

"But is this really necessary Mr President?" Sinclair protested.

"Yes, I believe it is Bishop," President Michaels answered looking across to Jameson. "In fact, Professor Jameson, you will be taken aboard the Revenge where you will be held in one of the guest quarters. The technicians aboard the Revenge will come down and arrange for the transfer of the Time Machine." President Michaels wanting to finish on a high note added, "But of course the fusion reactor will be staying here to hopefully help this planet and your people to flourish."

Colonel Bragg had said nothing, for he was the President`s man anyway, and with the Time Machine being taken away from Orion, it looked like it would be a very quiet planet. His squad would no longer be required now and so he would be going home, and that also suited him.

**********

On the other side of the mountain range, Divilio knew nothing of these developments, he only knew that until his fleet was ready, he had to skulk there and hope that no one saw him.

**********

Up in space on the space cruiser Indefatigable, Captain Kruger now had a fully operational ship but he too had to skulk behind the fourth planet, as his ship was no match for the President`s large space cruiser.

Chapter Fourteen

Into the Underworld

June 25th the Year 2494

Tyler moved forward along the second tunnel and into the stygian darkness of the underworld of Orion, he held his torch in his right hand, his bow and quiver of arrows were over his right shoulder and his spear was in his left hand. As he moved slowly ahead with his torch throwing a cone of light before him, he felt a deep fear consume him, would he be in time to save Caroline or would he get there too late. A week ago, he sat behind a desk, now he was a warrior; a few days ago, he was made redundant, now he had the job of rescuing a Neolithic princess. If he found Caroline, would he be up to the task of rescuing her? The tunnel went on forever before him, but he wouldn`t allow the fear of getting lost down here in this labyrinth of eternal night to affect him, or he would never succeed in his mission. In any case he was following a mostly straight tunnel with a strong breeze blowing down it, one that had been beating cool against his back from the moment that he had entered the tunnel out by the deep mountain pool, and he was certain that it would take him to where he wanted to go. He had come across numerous side tunnels and thought that he had probably missed others, but he had always followed the direction that breeze was blowing. Tyler had been in the tunnels for some twenty minutes when he thought he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

Tyler quickly extinguished his torch and stepped into one of the side tunnels, that luckily had appeared just at the right moment, to await his tracker. Twenty seconds later and he heard the heavy breathing of someone coming quickly along the tunnel. Tyler decided immediately that if it were a Troglodyte tracking him, then he would have to kill him. He couldn`t allow anyone to get in the way of his mission to save Caroline. The main tunnel suddenly became brighter as the Troglodyte warrior approached the side tunnel where Tyler was concealed, and then the warrior stopped immediately in front of Tyler, Tyler could see him clearly in the light of the man`s torch. The warrior began sniffing the air for the scent that he had been following since he had entered the main tunnel. Tyler knew that with all of his recent exercise, and the swim in the deep algae topped pool, that he probably smelt some. The warrior`s eyes swivelled round in surprise, but this soon turned to agony, for Tyler did not wait to give the warrior a fair chance, he thrust violently forward with his spear right into the troglodyte`s throat. Tyler didn`t want the warrior crying out and alerting his tribe, for that could prove fatal not only for him but also for Caroline, for then there would be no one to save her. Tyler pulled back on his spear and thrust again, this time in the general direction of the warrior`s heart, assuming that it was in the same place of an earthman`s heart. The torch that the native carried fell to the floor and then the warrior`s weight dragged the front end of his spear down as the warrior collapsed dead upon the ground.

This was the first man that Tyler had killed from close up; the ones that he had shot with a bow earlier had all been from a distance, while this was much more personal. Tyler stood looking for a long moment at the dead man. Last week he had been working in an office, this week he had killed a number of people, including the man before him. Then he saw Caroline`s body lying there in place of the slain Troglodyte and he became even more afraid, but now it was for Caroline, and whatever might happen to her if he, Tyler, failed her. Tyler quickly pulled himself back to the business in hand, and he dragged the dead warrior into the side tunnel that had concealed him so well. Tyler was about to leave when he noticed the dead warriors quiver of arrows still slung about the dead man`s shoulders, and realising that he might need more than he was carrying appropriated them for his own use. Tyler walked back into the main tunnel and picked up the Troglodytes torch that was better than his own was, and just as he was about to leave the dead man, Tyler`s eyes lit on the dead man`s cloak. It could come in useful later on to use as a disguise, and so he quickly removed it from the dead body. It felt greasy and smelt even worse than he did, but if he held his breath for the next hour, it would be okay.

Now he was finally ready, so he moved off along the long dimly lit tunnel in continuance of his quest. Up ahead he finally saw the blackness becoming lighter, and then he heard alien voices coming from ahead of him, so Tyler extinguished his torch and crept forward, keeping the torch for use later on. Light danced upon the walls before him, and he soon saw that the tunnel turned sharply to the right, and finally the pathway went down to the floor of a large cavernous chamber. In the middle of the chamber thirty Troglodytes danced about a large fire, looking like witches from a medieval scene, it had been their voices that he had heard. Smoke from the fire drifted up and up, the roof of the chamber was coated with a thick layer of soot that told Tyler of its centuries of use. The smoke finally left the chamber through some lava vents that also told Tyler that in periods in its far distance past this mountain had been in fact a volcano. Then water had come along and created the vast chamber. A large fallen rock at the edge of the pathway concealed him from their view and he was able to look around the dim chamber without too much chance of being seen.

**********

As Caroline finally started to regain consciousness, she first felt the pain coming from the back of her head, this had been caused by one of the Troglodytes coming up behind her and striking her on the back of her head with a rock. Then she found that she couldn`t move her arms so she now opened her eyes. Dimly she saw that she had been bound and tied to a large rock, and that she was in a large dimly lit cavern; of course, she had been chasing after a Troglodyte and had fallen into one of their pathetic traps. She struggled with her bonds, angry with herself for being caught so easily, but they had been tied too tightly for her to be able to free herself. Then as her head cleared, she saw the vile creatures dancing about their large fire, screams and shrieks coming from their filthy mouths as they worked themselves into a frenzied state. They were preparing themselves for their disgusting feast and she, Caroline realised, was to be the main course. She started her struggles with her bindings again, but only got torn skin for her pains. Appolon and her friends would soon realise that she was missing and find her, or maybe it would be Tyler who would save her again. Why had she thought of Tyler when Appolon and Tryon were up there on the surface, but were they? It was extremely important that they get through to New Eden, to get the help needed to fight against those murderous strangers who thought so little of the life of the people on Orion. However, Tyler wouldn`t leave without saving her, that she felt deep down, Appolon would have to do what was good for the peoples of Orion, but not Tyler, he would save her single handed as he had before, as he had Appolon and Tryon, as he had the Parsons` family and the people of the golden hills. Caroline strained her eyes as she searched the cavern for any sign that he had already reached here. Maybe he was already looking down upon her, and then she saw movement by an entrance, it was ten feet above the cavern`s floor, at the top of a pathway and behind a huge boulder, hope now bloomed within her breast.

Tyler could hardly restrain himself as her saw that Caroline was still alive. How to release her though, when between them were thirty bloodthirsty Troglodytes who he would have to kill in order to get to her. He had been distressed by the earlier deaths at his hands, and now he was considering killing thirty more souls. However, the thirty souls beneath him were going to eat Caroline unless he stopped them somehow. All he had was his bow and two quivers of arrows and of course his spear, and as he knew of no trickery to scare them away, he would probably have to wage war upon them. First though, he would try a more silent approach, he had to cover fifty feet to reach Caroline without being seen, and the cloak he had taken from the dead Troglodyte might help him there. Tyler put the disgusting piece of clothing over his head and pulled it down over his own clothing. Now is as good a time as any other, Tyler thought, and making his move he slipped down the ramp that led from the tunnel to the cavern`s floor. Once there he began to sidle around the wall with his knees bent to conceal his true height, keeping to the shadows when he could, brazening it out when he couldn`t. He was now only ten feet from Caroline, who had seen him and thrown him a smile that made all his dangers seem insignificant. Tyler quickly covered the last few feet and cut her bonds, the blood began to flow normally in her veins as pins and needles affected her arms and feet, but Tyler almost carried her towards another tunnel on the far side of the large cavern, and through which the breeze continued on its way to its journey`s end. Somewhere ahead of them there had to be an exit that would allow them to escape from the labyrinth, and to allow the breeze to also escape.

They had almost made it when a loud cry went up from behind them. A Troglodyte was pointing at them, and screaming out something in his guttural tongue in anger at seeing his meal escaping. The whole mad dancing bunch of warriors turned in mass and chased after them, but by then Tyler and Caroline had reached the tunnel at the far end of the cavern. Taking out an arrow he put it against the bow string, aimed at the nearest Troglodyte, and let fly the arrow. It whistled through the air to bury itself into the chest of the warrior. He crumpled to the floor, and then another arrow was flying from Tyler`s bow followed by another. Caroline had taken the spear and thrown it, all her anger and disgust at these creatures adding to her natural strength, its head sank into a half mad screaming warrior killing him instantly. The Troglodytes had left their weapons lying against the far wall, and as their numbers were being depleted by Tyler`s bow, and one warrior had died by the spear cast by Caroline, they stopped en masse, turned, and ran back for their weapons. Tyler turned to Caroline and said one word, "Run!" and they rushed into the tunnel where Tyler stopped to take a moment to light his torch which would light their way through the dark tunnels before them.

"Okay Caroline, we will have to risk the dangers in front and hot foot it out of here, but be of good cheer, for we will soon be away from these monsters."

They both bolted away from the cavern`s entrance, but from behind them they could hear the Troglodytes` feet pounding after them, luckily Tyler and Caroline both had longer legs and soon out distanced their chasers. Fortunately, the walls were quite smooth in this part of the complex of tunnels, and with the light of the torch to light their way they didn`t hurt themselves against the hard rocks of the tunnel walls. The tunnel seemed to go on for miles, but at least the sounds of their pursuers had now faded away into the distance. The tunnel now began to narrow until its width was only enough for one person, and the breeze had strengthened and was now blowing them along, when all of a sudden, the tunnel seemed to end at a solid wall of rock.

"I don`t understand it." Tyler said. "We have been following the wind all the time; there must be a way out?"

"There is Tyler, look above you, it`s a chimney, but it must go up forever." Caroline cried in exasperation.

Tyler thrust his burning torch up into the small opening above their heads and the strengthened breeze took the flames up into the chimney, the flames roaring now as the breeze fed them even more oxygen.

"No." Tyler answered. "Don`t you see its night outside now?"

"Of course, Tyler, come on, then let`s climb out of here." Caroline yelled jubilantly.

The sound of their pursuers had grown while they had stood there looking for a way out, and Tyler hoped they could climb high enough to get away from them in time. Tyler threw the burning torch to the floor and then slipped his bow over his shoulder, he didn`t need to urge Caroline to go first for she had climbed up into the narrow shaft above Tyler`s head and was some ten feet above the floor already. At first the going was comparatively easy, although Tyler had to depend on what his fingers told him, until his eyes gradually adjusted to the blackness of the chimney. They had both covered another thirty feet before their pursuers finally arrived at the bottom of the chimney, their torches throwing a flickering light up the narrow chimney. The Troglodytes tried to send their arrows after them, but the chimney was too narrow to allow it to be lit up by torches as well as to allow a warrior to draw his bow. Coupled to this was the all-consuming blackness, this meant that their arrows kept on hitting the walls of the chimney and then fell back down upon the warriors. After many attempts they gave up and decided on a different course of action. Half of the natives went to collect some firewood to smoke their prey out, whilst the rest ran back towards another exit from the tunnels, so that they could catch Tyler and Caroline when they attempted to climb out. Caroline looked down at Tyler, she now knew that she was falling in love with this man who had so recently entered into her life. She then promised herself that if anything happened to him, that she would kill every Troglodyte on Orion, and anyone else who got in her way.

Tyler and Caroline hearing the sound of running feet fade into the distance knew that the Troglodytes were probably going to try to block off their escape route, and so they redoubled their own efforts to scale the chimney. Tyler`s shoulder muscles ached as he climbed ever upwards, his back was cut and sore from the constant rubbing against the rocks. His leg muscles ached even more as he pushed upwards from one foot hold to the next; his hands were cut and bleeding from searching for yet another handhold.

"Tyler, whatever happens, thank you for risking your life again to save me." Caroline called down to him.

"That`s all right Caroline; it was on my way, so no problem." Tyler quipped.

"Well that`s all right then." Caroline replied with a smile that was hidden by the blackness around them. "As long as you`re sure that it wasn`t out of your way." Caroline said lightly in response to his words. She now looked upwards and searched the blackness above her for a sign that they were nearing the top.

"Tyler we`re almost at the top, I can see the stars... and the moon." Caroline cried excitedly as the moon came from out behind a cloud to cover them in its light.

Tyler thought he could smell smoke, and looking down saw that the Troglodytes had made a fire at the bottom of the chimney, and it was smoking quite badly, for the Troglodytes had used green wood for just this reason. The smoke was caught in the terrific up draught of the chimney and it was swirling up towards them, they could hear the roaring of the fire which was fed with so much oxygen by the breeze that had now strengthened into a gale. The Troglodytes were attempting to make them choke and lose consciousness, and then they would fall back down the chimney to die when they hit rock floor below.

The chimney widened out now and Tyler moved slightly to the left while Caroline who was above him had climbed straight on up its steep walls. Her hands were bleeding from grasping the sharp rocks, her back torn, her muscles complaining, but she struggled on up the chimney. When it seemed as if things couldn`t get any worse she found herself unable to continue upwards.

"Tyler, I have run out of handholds, can you climb up and then help me up too." For the first time since Tyler`s arrival that night her voice showed the first hint of fear.

Tyler looked up at his fearful Neolithic princess. "Sure, don`t worry."

Tyler slowly drew level with Caroline and smiled across at her before turning again to look for more handholds on the wall above him that would help pull him up to the top, which he could now see just out of hands reach. Tyler now realised that he too had run out of hand holds; the nearest thing to grab on too was a long thick root growing out of the rocks just to one side and slightly above him but unfortunately it too was just outside of reaching distance, and with no accompanying foot hold to take most of his weight. Unfortunately, with the natives rushing around to capture them from the outside, and with the smoke starting to make them both cough from below them, he had run out of options. Tyler leapt up to grab hold of the root, his earthly muscles adding to the power of his thrust. His hands grabbed the thick root tightly when the rocks around the root crumbled beneath his weight and dropped him a further foot down the chimney, scaring the life out of Tyler and Caroline both. Caroline couldn`t stop herself from whispering his name in horror of what could have happened. Tyler hung swaying on this precarious hold; the root subjected once again to all his weight when his downward motion was brought to such an abrupt halt, began to tear. Caroline looked away now, too scared to look any more. Tyler`s muscles were almost at straining point, sweat now covered his entire body, and he looked desperately for a new handhold that he might have missed but without any luck for the nearest one was a ledge, some four feet directly away on the other side of the chimney. As the root began to tear again, his feet found the smallest of footholds that stopped him from dropping any further. It was barely wide enough for him to turn around, if only for the moment when he would have to launch himself upwards and across towards their last hope. He summoned up his last batch of courage and looking across once again at Caroline he smiled at her, and then twisted round so that for that one moment he faced the far wall and then he threw himself forward and up. For one heart stopping moment Tyler`s hands and feet were all free of the chimney and he was in effect flying, maybe the terrific up draught was assisting him at last, catching inside the troglodyte cape to lift him upwards. His body crashed against the rock, his hands reaching up scrambling for a hold as for a moment he just hung against the bare rock wall of the chimney. However, the gods were with him, and finally his hands found the smallest of holds as his feet scrambled against the rock wall to find the smallest of foot holds to take his weight, and then miraculously he was hauling himself up to the safety of the ledge that ran upwards to the top of the chimney.

"Tyler, you made it." Caroline screamed in delight amid a bout of coughing. "For a moment I thought that we only had death to look forward to, but I am still stuck Tyler, can you help me."

Thankfully Orion`s mass was around fifteen per cent less than that of Earth and this difference made Tyler that much stronger, much more able to perform super human feats such as the one that he had just performed. He knew nothing of this, he had just attempted what was required of him to save Caroline`s life, and he had won through. Tyler though, couldn`t even give himself a moment in time to take a breath. He moved swiftly across to a position just above her, she was three feet below the ledge and so further than he could stretch, and the smoke still rising was making them both cough violently now.

"Caroline, don`t worry I will get you up here." Tyler promised.

With that he took off the filthy cloak that he had taken off the dead Troglodyte and cut it down the whole length of it. Now with a much longer piece of material he tied one end of it around his right wrist and getting a firm hold of it leant forward down the wall of the chimney and dropped the other end of it down to Caroline.

"Grab a hold of this and I will pull you up." Caroline immediately grabbed the filthy cloak and tied it around her own wrist before gripping it firmly; she now called up to him.

"Okay Tyler." Caroline pushed up with her feet and Tyler, ready for her weight, pulled her to the top of the rock wall, and so she was finally safe.

"You have put me and Appolon in your debt so many times that we shall never be able to repay you, Tyler." Caroline said while untying the knot that bound the Troglodytes cape to her wrist.

"I promised your brother that I would bring you back to him, and I intend to keep that promise." Tyler said, also untying the cape from his own wrist and letting the cape fall back down the chimney.

"Have you done all this just for my brother, Tyler?" Caroline almost whispered, her face looking towards the floor. This was a leading question if ever there was one and Tyler was not about to flunk it, especially not under the romantic influence of a full moon.

"It was not only for Appolon, it was mostly for me Caroline."

Caroline looked directly into Tyler`s eyes. "On Earth when a man answers as you have done, do they normally do nothing else?" Caroline asked.

In the bright moonlight Tyler could see the Troglodytes scaling the walls of the mountain behind Caroline`s back, but even so he took her in his arms and kissed her swiftly.

"No, we normally do this." Tyler said with a grin upon his face.

"But unfortunately, now we should get away from here as the Troglodytes are almost upon us."

With that Tyler released her and pointing behind them he took his bow and sent two swift arrows on their way, both of which found their mark in the breast of a Troglodyte. The Troglodytes returned Tyler`s fire, but all the shots went wide of their marks. Tyler and a smiling Caroline hurried off down the other side of the mountain, and the Troglodytes decided to give up the fight; too many of their warriors had died at the hands of so mighty a warrior as this one.

Tyler and Caroline moved slowly down the mountain slope with the light from the full moon lighting the way. After they had travelled for almost thirty minutes Tyler halted and looked back along the trail, but it was clear of pursuit. Tyler pulled out the flask of water that Tryon had thrown down to him and offered it to Caroline, who drank deeply to wash away the effects of the smoke. Then Tyler took a drink before turning to Caroline.

"Thankfully they seem to have broken off their pursuit Caroline, so we can now take it a little easier; for I am not as fit as your people." He said and smiled at his Neolithic Princess

"You seem to be able to cope with whatever fate throws at you Tyler." Caroline replied. She was quite content to rest here with him for as long as he liked.

Tyler took her in his arms and looking deeply into her eyes, his lips just an inch away from hers, and he searched for the right words to ask the question that had been running through his head.

"Caroline, I have only been on your planet for a few days so I don`t know the customs of your people, I hope I haven`t broken any of your customs by kissing you back there, should I have met with your parents or something before kissing you?" Tyler said half in jest but partly serious.

"You have not broken any of our customs Tyler, it is true that in the past that a single woman would mostly never kiss a man before they were officially engaged, and that most marriages were arranged by the parents of the couples. However, Tyler, even back then a few couples sealed their union with a kiss, and without their parents being involved. Now there are very few arranged marriages, but if you want to kiss me again you should understand that on Orion, a woman would take a second kiss to mean that the man had strong feelings for her, and that the next step would be to inform their families that they wish to become bound to one another."

Caroline was trembling ever so slightly as she waited for a reply from Tyler. Tyler knew that things were moving very fast, but as he looked down upon her face, which was lit up by the bright rays of the moon, he knew that he wanted to look forever at her beautiful face. He wanted to kiss her soft lips, to lose himself within her blue eyes, and so Tyler`s answer was swift, he kissed her for the second time. As they parted after their kiss Tyler saw her sweet face smiling up at him and then she spoke to him.

"Tyler, I could rest here with you for eternity but we should be moving on, oh and it is the custom on Orion for the girl to inform her family of her decision to join with the man of her choice. So, I will tell Appolon as soon as we find him and he can tell my parents."

Caroline`s sudden change of mind about resting there a long while with Tyler was because she now wanted to tell the world of their growing love for one another, and here in the emptiness of the mountain no one would hear her cries of joy, or see how happy she was. Tyler gazed down into her eyes and marvelled that he could have won such a prize as this, it was a much more confident man who stood before Caroline now. One that had saved his woman from a giant Magi bird and also rescued her from a tribe of Troglodytes, Tyler knew that nothing was beyond him now that he had won the fair Caroline, and as he stood there quite content, a thought occurred to him.

"Where are your parents Caroline, I didn`t see them in your village?"

"It is your village now Tyler." Caroline corrected him. "And my parents are visiting friends in another village about thirty miles away, they should be back by the time that we all return home, and we should really move off now Tyler, for poor Appolon will be worried sick."

Therefore, Tyler did as he was told, and after just another hour they saw ahead what looked like a small camp fire.

"It could be the camp fire of Appolon, he always camp`s around here." Caroline said.

"It could be Caroline, but let`s move in slowly, so as to make sure." Tyler cautioned.

"That Tyler, goes without saying." Caroline replied smiling across at this new man in her life.

Tyler in turn looked across to his Neolithic princess and smiled as they quietly crept in towards the camp site just ahead of them. When they were still some thirty feet away from it Appolon stepped out from behind a tree, a grin upon his face.

"Is that a new scent you two are wearing or do you both stink? I could smell you both for the last one hundred yards." Appolon might have sounded as if everything was normal, but relief was flooding through him as he looked at them.

"Oh yes, we know about our body odour my friend, but tell me is there any place around where I can clean up." Tyler said laughing.

Masters came out from the camp site and added his thanks for their safe return.

"I thought that I would probably never see you again, Tyler, but once again you prove Tryon right. You must surely be the chosen one of the gods." George Masters almost sobbed.

"I don`t know about that George." Tyler replied. "If I was, we wouldn`t keep on getting into all of this trouble." Of that Tyler was sure.

"Yes Tyler, you are indeed a warrior amongst warriors, and as George says, the chosen one of the gods." Tryon said. "Do you not agree, Appolon?" Tryon asked looking across at his friend.

"If Tyler said he could walk on water, I would now believe him." Appolon said. "Once more my family is in your debt my friend."

"Twice more my brother, for Tyler has saved my life twice today. Appolon, there is one more thing." Caroline said, her hand moving to her knife, which for some reason the Troglodytes had failed to take from her, and she moved across to stand next to Tyler.

"You can tell our parents that they are finally rid of me." Caroline was referring to a jest with which Appolon and Tryon constantly teased her. "Tyler and I kissed back there in the hills."

The reason behind Caroline putting her hand on her knife went back generations. It was meant to signify that she would protect her chosen mate, even against her family. Now it was just something a woman did when she proclaimed that she was in love with a man. To the eyes of someone brought up on Earth it may have looked ludicrously melodramatic but thankfully, the people of Orion were not as sophisticated as those back on Earth.

Appolon looked at Caroline and saw her proud look, and he knew that she was stating her claim to Tyler. Joy leapt to his eyes, but he quickly hid this as he decided to tease his younger sister just one more time before she became a woman in the eyes of the tribe.

"Then he is either in love with you or, he is suffering from a disease of the brain, but either way he is my friend and I forgive him."

Caroline knew that her brother was teasing her, for she had seen the look of joy on his face that he had so quickly hidden, but she decided to play along with him for one more time, and so she crossed over to her brother and looked him in the eye.

"My beloved brother, I shall pay you back for your insults, tit for tat, and at the earliest possible moment, mark me well." With that Caroline turned away from him contemptuously.

"First though Tyler." Tryon said with a smile spread right across his face as he listened to his friends' banter. "I think we had better get you some new clothes, for those ones are only fit for the fire, they smell, they are filthy and they are so badly torn that they are only just about hanging on your back." The camp erupted in laughter and all was well, for now they were safely back together, a band of the best of friends.

"Tryon is quite right George; we are both in need of a change of clothing and especially underwear." Tyler said.

"That is the least of your worries Tyler." Parsons said smiling. "After all you have both done since crashing on Orion, and especially for my family, the Church will pay for everything through our emergency fund, and if Bishop Sinclair were to refuse, then I would gladly pay for everything that you both need."

Tyler and George both said their thanks to the young vicar, who was yet another of the people who had befriended them since their nightmare journey to Orion.

Chapter Fifteen

New Eden

June 26th the Year 2494

In the morning, with the sun shining through the leaves of the trees amongst which they had camped the night before, both Tyler and Caroline walked thirty feet across to a fast running cold mountain stream. Caroline always carried soap with her on her excursions and this trip was no difference. Tyler was behind one bend in the stream and Caroline behind another. They first washed themselves and then their clothes, getting rid of as much of the grime and dirt, and of course the smell from their dip in the pool, and the sweat and grime from their tortuous climb up the rock chimney, as was possible. Tyler had also picked up quite a stench from his Troglodyte cape, and even though he had dropped it back down the rock chimney to the fire below, the stench had remained on his body. They were cold now but cleaner, as they faced the others. Caroline was in her spare set of clothes that she always carried with her when going on a trip that would keep her away from home overnight, while Tyler was dressed in his bedraggled tattered and wet rags. Tyler was hoping for a hot day to dry him off a little, but for the moment he sat by the fire. The sun seemed to look down favourably on Tyler, for it shone down brightly and, as there was only a light breeze, he soon became a little warmer, and so a little more cheerful. Caroline then applied some healing balm to most of their cuts and scrapes, a more comprehensive attempt would have to wait until they reached New Eden and the colony doctor.

"We should arrive in New Eden sometime this evening, if things go well." Parsons said to Tyler. "Don`t you agree Appolon?"

"Yes, if as you say things go well, but so far on our journey they haven`t, so I will not tempt the fates and go so far as to promise such a thing." Appolon said looking very serious today.

He had in fact seen so much go wrong so far on their journey that he was expecting the worst. He was also just a little worried for the safety of his family. With the Heliot troops so near to his peoples land he would only be happy when he was on his way back to his home, so that he would be in more of a position to protect them.

Masters, impatient as ever to be on his way to New Eden, harried them until they all got moving again. Tyler once more had his leather jacket on, hoping that it would warm him and stop him from coming down with a cold. Tyler had slept near to the fire the night before for the same reason, and he felt a lot better for the sleep, even though his bed had been a little hard, once again. They had camped down in the valley in a spot that was a favourite of Appolon`s whenever he was out this way, now they walked back up into the hills once more so as to bypass any bands of Heliot troopers who might be waiting to waylay them. Tryon led the way some twenty feet ahead of the rest of the party along a narrow track, and then came Appolon, after him were Masters and Parsons deep in conversation about the twentieth and twenty first centuries, a favourite part of Earth`s history for Parsons. Tyler and Caroline brought up the rear, both watchful for any dangers, but both also deep in each other`s company. If Annabelle back in the twenty first century could see this new Tyler, she would have been deeply jealous of Caroline, but then Annabelle had David in her life now and hardly ever thought of Tyler.

**********

On board the Vega, Aswan was overseeing the refitting of the transport ships when the alarm went on his sensor console. A quick look was enough to show that it signalled more bad news. He quickly contacted Divilio in his quarters.

"Generalissimo another space cruiser has just arrived in orbit about this planetoid, as it is of a similar design to the first one, I assume it to be of Earth origin also."

Divilio was in his cabin passing a pleasant hour with Trajo, but this ended all thoughts of pleasure.

"I will be right there, Aswan."

Divilio and Trajo quickly got dressed and hurried to the bridge of the Vega where Aswan quickly filled him in.

"I am using an old-fashioned surveillance camera to keep check on the region of space above the small town, you can see the new comer on this screen here Generalissimo."

On the old-style monitor two space cruisers were now revealed in orbit above New Eden. Rada then added more information about the newcomer.

"The new ship is sending greetings to their President, it seems that an Archbishop, that is some high-level priest I believe, well he is aboard the new ship along with some members of the Government of Earth, and they are requesting an audience with the President down on the planet. From their tone I don`t think these new earthmen are friends with their President."

"This means that we will have to take out two of their space cruisers Aswan, how are our repairs progressing?" Divilio demanded to know of his first officer.

"We were just about ready to blast that first ship out of orbit but now there are two ships up there. I think that we should wait until this evening when the last two transporters should be more fitted for battle, I only hope that the upgrades we have made to the transports will hold up under actual battle conditions, they have all been made at great speed and with few experienced technicians to oversee the work carried out."

"You are too pessimistic Aswan; of course, they will be okay; for our crew are the best in the galaxy. Rada, if the Earth colony or either of those two cruisers up there gets word of our presence here, ensure that you also get to hear about it." Divilio ordered his officer and then he turned back to Aswan.

"Have all the land troops disembarked immediately Aswan, along with all of their equipment; they can use the broken cruisers as their new headquarters. Then prepare all our ships to be ready for immediate lift off, ready or not. A moment after we hear that our presence is known, we must be already taking off and starting the attack on those two space cruisers above us, before they can prepare to launch an attack on us while we are stuck here on this damned planet."

**********

On the Indefatigable Captain Kruger had just about given up hope of successfully stealing the Time Machine now that a second ship from the space fleet of Earth had arrived. However, he was intrigued by what he had heard on the radio, and maybe with so many interested parties here he could still end up a winner, when all the cards were finally played.

**********

President Michaels smiled as he took in the crates that stood within the Time room, they contained the Time Machine, everything was going as planned. His smile disappeared when he heard a shuttlecraft fly over the Science complex and touch down on the edge of the small space port which was situated at the edge of the town of New Eden. Wondering who had arrived he walked across to the space port. At the space port, Michaels saw Archbishop Collingswood being greeted by Bishop Sinclair, with the Archbishop were four senior members from the Government of Earth. Sinclair then escorted his guests to his offices above the temple, and on the way, Collingswood explained why he had arrived.

Sinclair smiled at his guests through gritted teeth, just as he had thought his problems had ended with the removal of the scientists and their experiments, his Archbishop arrives to try to disrupt the plans of the President. Yes, the Time Machine must be taken back to Earth, but not on his ship. The Saviour would transport the Time Machine back to Earth, along with the geniuses that had invented it. The device would be under the protection of the Church, but also of the Government of Earth in the personages of the four members of the government who had travelled along with the Archbishop. The President of Earth arrived at the Sinclair`s office soon after, and when he heard just why the Archbishop had arrives at Orion, he angrily rejected the Archbishop`s suggestion.

"No, my Archbishop, you and your four flunkies can return to Earth aboard the Saviour, or stay here if you so choose, but the Time Machine and the scientists who are responsible for it will travel back to Earth on the Revenge." He finished off his salvo with a threat.

"I have two squads of marines aboard the Revenge, plus Colonel Bragg and his remaining troops down here, and they are all loyal to me and they will do exactly what I ask of them." Michaels eyes, blazing with rage, was triumphant before the Archbishop and the four members of the government, for them to think that he would let anyone disrupt his plans at this late a stage was just ludicrous. The Archbishop was speechless for once, so President Michaels carried on.

"The various parts of the Time Machine have already been disconnected and are all ready to be taken aboard the Revenge for transport back to Earth." Turning to the four ministers he said. "I think you have had a wasted journey here, and you Archbishop." He had turned once more to Archbishop Collingswood. "Should use your time to speak to your flock on this delightful little planet rather than meddle in things that do not concern you."

The four Government Ministers were furious at the President for refusing to abide with the decisions of the Government of Earth, and for so completely disregarding its Ministers, and said so in words that made Bishop Sinclair gasp in shock.

Sinclair was keeping well to the back of this heated argument, and just wished that they would all disappear and leave the planet in peace. President Michaels had excused himself for a moment and when he had returned the arguments carried on as before but without any change of mind on the President`s part.

The scientists on Orion had just finished making sure that the Time Machine was ready for transportation when the Archbishops party had arrived, but they had of course heard nothing of the conversation that had taken place in the temple. They had wondered what was happening, but as Brian Goddard said. "They are probably just here to make the Presidents orders move a little smoother."

The Archbishop, in a blazing temper at the President`s intransigence, turned about and with the members of the Government left the room and made for the main doors of the temple, meaning to walk back towards his shuttle. Barring his way was a squad of marines led by a captain of the space marines, they had just travelled down from the Revenge.

"I am here on the instructions of the President. He has changed his mind and asks if you will all kindly accept his offer to stay aboard the Revenge as his guests, he thinks that you will be far more comfortable aboard her than on the Saviour.

"Thank you, Captain, but I think that we will all be far happier if we stayed on the Saviour." The Archbishop replied, and the four government ministers quickly agreed with his reply.

"I am sorry gentlemen but the President insists that you do as he asks." The marine captain insisted.

"Do you happen to know who you are talking too Captain, I am the Archbishop of the Church of the Universe, and these four men are senior members of the government of Earth."

"I am sorry Archbishop, but the President`s orders are that you are not to re-board the Saviour."

"We are your prisoners then?" Collingswood asked. His voice rising, but it had lost its normal vigour. The four members of Government were all obviously shaken by this turn of events for they were noticeably paler in complexion.

"If that is how you would like to see the situation, Archbishop, but I am sure that the President would say that for the moment only, you are to be his guests for the return trip to Earth, so as to free the Saviour for more important tasks."

*********

Tryon was still leading the party, and he had reached a section in the path where he would be revealed to any alert sentry down below on the valley floor. Far below him Tryon could see the track that took a traveller to New Eden, and the town was visible now, some two miles ahead. Also, below him was a small group of trees, under their branches a party of fifty Heliot troopers were concealed from view but not from the ears of Tryon, for they made enough clanking and knocking to alert everyone within a mile of their position. Appolon and then the rest of the band soon caught up with Tryon, and they immediately saw the difficulty of trying to pass the troopers during the daylight hours. They had made excellent time, even if Parsons and Masters were almost exhausted, and Tyler was also in need of a rest after all that he had been through.

Appolon finally decided that, as there wasn`t any immediate hurry for most of them to get to New Eden, except for his desire to get home as soon as possible, that those who chose to wait could hold up here until the coming night. The moon was not due to rise tonight until the early morning and so under the cover of darkness they would be able to cross the open land below unseen, unless that is, they accompanied him now along a more dangerous route, if they didn`t mind getting very cold and wet that is. After Appolon revealed his alternative plan to his waiting friends, Masters and Parsons opted to wait until nightfall, as they considered themselves unable to complete such a perilous plan as Appolon had lain out before them. Even Tyler and Caroline were a little apprehensive about the proposed journey, but both of them knew of Appolon`s fears for his family and so agreed with the plan. Tryon agreed to wait with Masters and Parsons, so as to guide them by the troopers waiting down below, while Appolon, Caroline and Tyler went by the quicker but more dangerous route.

Appolon told Tyler and Caroline to leave their weapons behind as they wouldn`t be able to take them along with them, not and safely reach the other end of the underground river, which was the route that he had proposed using, they could only keep their knives. Tyler also left his jacket with George Masters again, as Appolon had told him the way before them would be a little cramped for such a bulky jacket, for Tyler`s leather jacket was fully lined and designed to keep out the cold. With their weapons lying on the ground, Appolon led the way, with Caroline and Tyler following behind him, their route took them up the hill some one hundred yards to a small cave entrance. Now both Tyler and Caroline had had enough of caves, and of being cold and wet, but the alternative was a four hour wait, and Appolon had said that even if no one else went with him he would go, for he was impatient to complete their task and then to return home to ensure the safety of his family.

"Won`t we need a torch to light our way Appolon?" Tyler asked for there was no way that light could get further into the cave than the mouth of the cave before him.

"No, my friend, we will have no need of a torch, come let me show you nature`s own lighting system.

The cave was long and narrow, Appolon led the way, as he was the largest of the three, and if he could get through then the other two would have no problem. As Tyler`s eyes grew accustomed to their surroundings Tyler realised that the entire cave system was lit by some sort of bioluminescence, and they could see the way ahead quite clearly. The cave system narrowed quickly to a small narrow tunnel, as it dropped down sharply and took them deep into the mountain. The three of them had to crawl and worm their way along it for what seemed a very long time, and Tyler was worried now that he would become claustrophobic by the enclosed space that they were in. Tyler and Caroline`s bodies quickly protested as their sore bodies were again squeezed and rubbed by the unyielding rock, thankfully this part of the journey was just for a short time, and then they were able to move a little easier again. Tyler and Caroline had attempted to keep the sore spots on their bodies away from contact with the narrow rocky tunnel, but at times it was impossible and they had no choice but to bear the pain of it, but finally they came to the part of the system where they could once again stand. It was thirty minutes since they had entered the mouth of the cave, and after walking and crawling downhill for all of this time they heard in the distance the sound of rushing water, and then around a sharp narrow bend they saw an underground river rushing along before them. Appolon had been down here before, it had been during a very dry spell, and he knew that the water carved tunnel before them would lead them to a point beyond the troopers' position. The river then surfaced which would make the final part of their journey easier, but they would still be concealed from the Heliot troopers by a high river bank carved out by the river when in full flood, as it almost was today.

Unfortunately, in this corner of Orion, the other side of the mountain range, it was not a dry spell just now, so they would have to swim down the tunnel in icy cold mountain water, and sometimes for long stretches under water. Tyler and Caroline had agreed to accompany Appolon because they knew how anxious he was becoming about his family; otherwise they would have advised against such a plan unless really necessary.

Tyler decided to take off his black leather shoes as they might impede his progress through this water highway, and he left them on a ledge in the hope that he might be able to reclaim them at a later date. They entered the cold water and slowly swam the first fifteen or so feet with the cold as the only discomfort that they had to endure. Tyler who was leading them hurried the pace, to get some warmth into his body. He was also afraid that if they were to stay in the cold water for too long then one of them might get cramp, and if it happened while they were swimming under water, their trip might come to an end with disastrous consequences. Then in next section the roof of the tunnel dropped dramatically to only six inches above their heads, which made breathing much more difficult because if you misjudged the height above your head you could easily crack your head against the hard rock of the tunnel, something Tyler did twice, and he was not keen to repeat it. He now took great care when he wanted to breath in, in some instants drinking the water as well which then caused him to cough violently, greatly to Caroline`s distress who being a better swimmer she was afraid for him. Appolon was a very strong swimmer and had taken last place to assist the other two should it become necessary, but during the final stretch under water it was he who got cramp in his legs. Caroline, who kept a careful eye on both of the men, was the first to notice her brother`s distress and swam back to him to assist him. Tyler being the weaker swimmer of the three had been concentrating on his own problems, and he only realised that Appolon was in trouble when Appolon and Caroline finally broke water at the end of the tunnel system to breathe the fresh air under the blue skies of Orion. He immediately swam back and helped Caroline in assisting her brother to a rocky ledge that protruded out into the cold river.

"Oh, I really thought that I was about to meet our ancestors, Caroline, thank you for coming back for me and thank you both risking your lives on this insane journey of mine." Appolon said while thanking the gods for their safe deliverance from the cold mountain river.

"We both know that you are worried about Fleur and the children, Appolon." Caroline said. "And we will both do whatever it takes to help you get back to our village as swiftly as is possible so that you can assure their safety." Caroline assured her brother

"Caroline is quite right Appolon, we will do whatever it takes to get you home."

With all three of them safe, but chilled to the bone, they continued along the cold waters of the river until they reached a place where the river widened, and finally they were able to climb out of the cold water and scale the high river bank. They had reached New Eden, and Appolon saw that they had left the river somewhere between the town square and the science complex. Their clothing now looking very wet and bedraggled and also, in Tyler`s case, not even suitable for a tramp.

They were first noticed by trooper Ryan who was standing just outside of the temple, he and trooper Peterson moved over to intercept them.

"It is Appolon and... Caroline isn`t it." Ryan said. "What ever happened to you two, and to your friend here?" He said with a quizzical look at Tyler, his mode of attire and to the condition of the same.

"We must speak to your Colonel and the Bishop at once; it is of the utmost importance to all here in New Eden, and indeed the entire planet." Appolon said.

"Of course, at the moment they are both inside the temple; I believe they are talking in the Bishop`s rooms." Ryan said beckoning them inside the temple.

Ryan quickly escorted them up to the first floor of the temple, and asking them to wait a moment, knocked on the door of the room where he thought his Colonel and the Bishop were talking. Inside the two men were discussing the present situation.

"I think that the President acted improperly when he instructed his men to detain the Archbishop, he is the most senior man of our Church and a very influential man back on Earth, in fact on every colony world set up by the Church." It was now that trooper Ryan entered the room.

"I am sorry to bother you Colonel, Bishop, but Appolon, the chieftain of the village of the red plains that lies beyond the mountains, asks to see you both on an important matter, and from the look of his clothing it must be very important for him to go through so much to come and see you." Private Ryan reported.

"Of course, Ryan, bring him in." The Bishop and Bragg both said almost together.

When the three friends entered both Colonel Bragg and Bishop Sinclair were a little surprised at their condition, and especially of Tyler`s ragged clothes and lack of shoes for Appolon and Caroline had retained their moccasins for the swim through the cave system. Water dripped off the clothes of the three friends forming puddles around their feet, making them look more like orphans than three people on an urgent mission.

"What can we do for you, Appolon?" Bishop Sinclair asked.

Appolon quickly told them of the one thousand alien troops beyond the mountains, of the plans that the alien general had for the people of Orion, and of the four large powerful looking space vehicles and the broken hulks of the other starships. Tyler, Appolon and Caroline were hardly experts regarding space ships, but even so the sheer size of the transport ships and the cruelty of the Heliots had made a lasting impression on each of them, and they tried to convey this impression onto Colonel Bragg and also to Bishop Sinclair. Tyler also told his own story.

"I will have the starship Revenge scan the area immediately for signs of these aliens, if they are there, they will make short work of them." Bragg said.

"You doubt our words, Colonel, we are not children to come here and tell you about figments of our imaginations." Appolon said angrily.

"Appolon, we don`t doubt your words we are just amazed regarding the extraordinary way in which your friend says he got here." Bragg said pointing to Tyler. "And these aliens could have arrived in that space storm too, it just seems so.... farfetched, I will have your information checked by the Revenge, but only because the information did come from you and your sister." Bragg replied in a conciliatory way.

"You must agree Appolon, it is all very strange." Bishop Sinclair said.

"Yes, Bishop Sinclair, very strange." Caroline said before her brother declared war on these ridiculous men from Earth. Why couldn`t they be more like Tyler, a real warrior, not at all like these stupid fools before them?

Colonel Bragg left the room and went in search of the President of Earth who was taking in the warm sun of Orion.

"You can`t expect me to believe such nonsense, Colonel." President Michaels scoffed.

"I think it would do no harm to have the Revenge scan the area for signs of a number of ships in the vicinity of the area mentioned by Appolon." Bragg answered. "I was going to ask you to arrange that in any case, to ensure that all of the androids are gone from Orion." Colonel Bragg recommended to his president.

"All right Colonel, I will contact Captain Stalker and ask him to do as much, but I hardly expect him to find anything."

**********

Behind the mountain range the troops had finally disembarked from the transports, and together with all their equipment had taken up residence within the broken armada. Rada was still listening out for any transmissions from the ships of Earth when he heard President Michaels speaking to the captain of the Revenge.

"Generalissimo, word must have got through to the Earth colony about us, they are instructing one of the space cruisers to begin a search." Rada reported immediately he heard the president`s instructions to the Revenge.

"Those useless troopers must have let those primitives slip by them. Aswan, inform the other three transports, we lift off immediately, and that they are to assist us in attacking the two space cruisers in orbit, ready or not."

Aswan immediately contacted the Commanders of the other three transport ships and told them that the earthmen would soon become aware of their presence. They were to lift off immediately to attack the two space cruisers in orbit above them.

Now Divilio was about to attack the two Earth ships he was back in his element, no more skulking about on this overgrown asteroid, now he could do what he did best, fight a war, and win a glorious victory against the two Earth ships.

**********

On the Revenge, Captain Stalker had only just issued instructions to scan the area beyond the mountain chain, and near to the large valley that stood out even in space, when his first officer spoke.

"Sir, four large starships are taking off from the planet, if they are the ones that we are supposed to be looking for then we have found them." He reported.

"Raise our shields Number One." Stalker ordered before turning to speak to Lieutenant Paul Jones who was the Communications officer.

"Jones, instruct the Saviour to do the same, I think we might have a battle to fight, but scramble the message and all future ones in case our friends down there are listening in on us." Captain Stalker ordered.

"Arm all our weapons banks and await my instructions to fire at the leading ship." Captain Stalker ordered. "Mr Jones, contact those ships taking off from the planet and ask their intentions."

Jones immediately attempted to contact the four Heliot starships, who of course ignored him.

"They are not replying to our hails Captain." Jones called across to his captain.

"Captain, they have raised their defence shields and they are arming their weapons." Peter Osborne, the ship`s first officer called across to his captain.

"Send a message to the President on Orion, tell him that we have located the alien ships, and as they arm arming their weapons and also seem to be getting into an attack formation, we are opening fire on them first, before they commence their attack on us." Captain Stalker ordered his communications officer.

"As I said in my message to the President, Number One, their intentions don`t appear to be honourable, and I think that as there are four of them and only two of us that we can be forgiven for firing first."

Peter Osbourne was in agreement, for he did not want to die during his first battle with an enemy that looked to be a match for their ship.

"Mr Jones let the Saviour know that we are going into battle and suggest they do likewise." Captain Stalker ordered.

"Aye, Aye Sir." Jones replied.

"Mr Woods target the leading ship and take out her engines." Stalker ordered.

The Revenge`s plasma weapons sent twin lines of pure energy towards the leading Heliot ship, the Exterminator. The Exterminator was the last of the four transports to be turned into a space cruiser, and its defence shields were still to be upgraded. The plasma beams from the Revenge hit it full force, knocking the crew of their feet, but the technology of the Heliot ships was more advanced than that of Earth, so the ship shrugged off the powerful energy bolts and continued upwards towards the Revenge.

"Return fire." The commander of the Exterminator screamed out. A thin line of bright energy shot out from her broad bows to strike the Revenge near the bridge. Those of the crew of the Revenge who were standing were thrown to the floor by the power of the Heliot plasma fire, but on the bridge of the Revenge the crew quickly recovered from the hammer blow to their ship.

"Many more like that Sir and we will be in trouble." Osborne said.

Stalker grinned, he had hoped for a quick victory over the lead ship so as to shorten the odds some, but he hadn`t banked on it.

"We aren`t finished yet Number One, send two torpedoes away Lieutenant Jackson." Jackson was at the weapons console and was looking forward to basking in all of the glory that he was sure would surround them when he returned home after his first battle.

"Two torpedoes away Captain." The two torpedoes travelled some five seconds apart, firing this way ensured that the second torpedo would benefit from the damage caused by the first."

Divilio was in the second of the two war ships.

"They only have class two plasma weapons, Aswan, this should be an easy victory."

Aboard the Exterminator, the commander ordered his plasma weapons to open fire again, unfortunately his ships sensors were not operating correctly and he did not see the two torpedoes coming towards him. The energy beam from his single but very powerful plasma weapon hit the first of the torpedoes micro seconds before it was due to make contact with his shields, the resulting blast caused a black out of the electrical circuits feeding his defence shields. This allowed the second torpedo to come through unopposed. It hit the bridge of the Exterminator causing a massive explosion that killed all of the starships bridge crew and caused the crash doors throughout the ship to close, trapping the crew in each section.

"Number One aim for her engines again, we will stop this ship from participating in this particular battle right now." The twin beams of plasma energy shot out, and this time with no defence shields to protect the Exterminator, her engines exploded, killing many of her crew and stopping her acceleration instantly. The ship slowly came to a halt, and because they were travelling comparatively slowly, having only just left the atmosphere of Orion, gravity soon made itself felt and slowly began to pull the ship back down towards the planet it had so recently left.

Over on the Saviour her Commander, Captain Lawrence, had targeted the third of the four Heliot ships and ordered his weapons officer to take out the plasma weapons of the Heliot ship, the Degussa.

The commander of the Degussa had seen how ineffectual the plasma weapons from the Earth ship were and had little to fear, for his defence shields had been upgraded. The twin beams from the Saviour crashed into the Degussa making the ship shudder under the impact, but the energy bolts did not get through her defence shields. Unfortunately, during the upgrade one of the technicians had been feeling extremely tired from all the long hours put in by the few remaining technicians of the fleet, and so had inadvertently fitted one of the circuits incorrectly on the hyperspace engine. The jolt given it by the powerful energy bolt jolted it out of line, and even though the ship was not in hyperspace they were using the engines to power the defence shields. This caused an explosion that ripped through the ship destroying it in an instant and sending it remains careering down upon the fourth ship in line destroying it also.

Divilio could not believe it, he had lost three of his ships to this pair of Earth cruisers, but even so, as the bow of the Vega came around to face the Revenge he cried with glee.

"Aswan, when our plasma weapon come to bear on the first ship, fire on her." The energy beam from his plasma weapon struck powerfully against the Revenge`s engines, her defence shields already shaken had not been strong enough to stop this beam of vengeance that tore into her side. The power of the Revenge was turned off; the ship still moving forward, but it would soon yield to the gravity of Orion unless something was done very soon to help her survive the battle.

On board the Saviour, Captain Lawrence gave his orders.

"Number One, target the remaining alien vessel, fire our plasma weapons before he can finish the Revenge off."

Twin beams of energy soon reminded Divilio that there were two Earth cruisers up here. Captain Lawrence then ordered his crew to carry on with the attack.

"Send away two torpedoes now, Number One. Keep her stern to us helmsman, we are far more manoeuvrable than she is, this day belongs to us." On board the Vega, Divilio had also just realised that the sluggishness of the converted transport ships made them no match for a space cruiser, and so quickly he formulated a new plan.

"Viranco put the ship into orbit around the planet and lock the controls. Quick Aswan set the auto destruct and then you follow after us. Come on Trajo, Rada and you too Viranco, we must get off the ship before we are destroyed with it, our strength now lies with our troops below."

The ship shuddered as the plasma beams from the Saviour hit her again almost destroying her already buckled defence shields. Had Divilio had a space cruiser left under his command, he would have made short work of the Saviour, unfortunately what he had was a transport ship that handled like a pig.

A small escape pod left the Vega to take her bridge crew away back to the planet far below them; the remaining crew never even knew that they were gone.

Aboard the Saviour the commander instructed his communications officer to send a message across to the alien starship. He was to order the alien vessel to surrender now, either that or they would destroy them. Before the message could be sent though, there was a massive explosion on the Heliot spacecraft. The explosion had been so powerful that there was nothing left of the Vega, and this power reached out to the closing Saviour and shook it like a rag doll leaving it badly damaged and in need of help.

Captain Lawrence pulled himself up from the floor, shocked that the enemy vessel had decided to commit suicide rather than except defeat. All around him his bridge crew looked at their instruments to see how badly damaged the space cruiser was, departments throughout the ship were reporting damage and injuries to the first officer, who was compiling a report for his captain.

Not waiting for the report, Captain Lawrence quickly summed up the situation and came to a decision. "Helmsman, head over to the Revenge, maybe we can help each other."

The Saviour slowly limped across space to the Revenge, and with most of their systems down they didn`t even realise that the Indefatigable was approaching them from their stern.

Kruger, on board the Indefatigable, ordered his weapon`s officer to fire upon the Saviour`s engines, seconds later a beam of energy impacted against the hull of the Saviour and destroyed its engines in a brilliant explosion of light. Kruger then watched as the Saviour was pulled by gravity towards the planet Orion, The Saviour was powerless to do anything, she could not even send a message back to Earth, for the Indefatigable was jamming all transmissions from this area of space. The Saviour began to burn up as she entered the atmosphere of Orion, and then she plunged down to her death.

Richard Jameson on board the Revenge had felt the shock waves surge through the ship as the plasma beams from the two Heliot ships made their presence known to all aboard her. Then there followed a short period of darkness when the main power went out, to be followed by the dim lighting given off by the emergency lighting. He could do nothing but sit and wait, locked inside his cabin as he was. What followed was a tense ten minutes while the chief engineer battled to give his captain enough power to save the ship. Finally, the engineer was able contact his captain to say that some power was about to be restored but it was too late.

Kruger turned his attention to the Revenge, and he now ordered its destruction. Aboard the Revenge there was a series of tremendous crashes that cumulated in one terrific explosion. Richard Jameson, the inventor of the Time Machine was no more, next door to him Archbishop Nicholas Collingswood and the four ministers from the Government of Earth had been screaming to be released from their cabin, and in a way, they were; the brave crew of the Revenge died fighting to the very last moment.

In New Eden, President Michaels and the others had counted the four explosions in the sky above the planet, and seen the remains of the Heliot transports tear down through the atmosphere of Orion to burn up, then a fifth ship hurtled down to the disbelief of those watching and the gasps of pain. There followed a tense period without any message from either of the ships from Earth when a colonist gasped and pointed up into the sky, there was the tell-tale sign of a sixth ship plunging down through the atmosphere, and then it too burned up, just as the other five ships before it had done.

Brian Goddard looked up at the clear Orion skies and exclaimed. "My God, Richard Jameson must have been on one of those burning ships, I believe that maybe we weren`t supposed to mess about with time, maybe this is Time`s way of saying no."

Tracy Goddard looked up at her husband and agreed. "Maybe you are right Brian, that we shouldn`t have been experimenting with time, but maybe it is God that is talking to us, telling us to stop before any more people are killed by those who would want to control time." Brian had forgotten for the moment that Tracy had converted to the Church of the Universe since coming to live on Orion, but whoever was right, he meant to find another line of science to look into.

The other members of the scientific community on Orion were also shocked by what had happened in the heavens above them, and they too added their agreement to what Tracy had said.

Chapter Sixteen

Mr Burrows` Bad Habits

June 27th the Year 2494

The sun had just risen and yesterday`s events were behind the people of New Eden. There was of course the problem of how to deal with the Heliot troopers, but as of yet they hadn`t moved from their encampment on the other side of the mountains. They could be clearly seen by the new satellite, launched by the space cruiser Revenge, before it met its sad end. President Michaels was still in New Eden but looking very pale now. He had tried unsuccessfully to contact the space fleet of Earth late yesterday and report what had happened, and to request a further space cruiser together with sufficient troops to deal with the Heliot soldiers. He also wanted to report the sad loss of four ministers plus the Archbishop aboard the space cruisers Revenge and Saviour, savagely destroyed in a battle against the Heliot fleet, which thankfully was destroyed in turn by the space cruisers of Earth. He couldn`t though because of some sort of interference, maybe the effects of the battle in space was causing it, although he had never heard of it stopping a hyperspace message being sent before. No, Michaels thought, there is only one way that he had heard of it happening, and that was when someone was jamming your signals.

Tyler meanwhile had been putting on some new clothes; Colonel Bragg had taken him to the marine`s storeroom where he found a trooper`s uniform that fitted Tyler perfectly, and the uniform was certainly better than the rags that Tyler had worn into the town. The only problem was his new shoes, well marine`s boots, and they pinched just a bit. He had been forced to leave his shoes behind at the place where they had entered the underground river; he now promised himself that he would collect them sometime, as they were quite comfortable. He now looked presentable, and not like the figure of a tramp that he had represented just minutes before.

It was still very early when Bishop John Sinclair convened a town council meeting to discuss the situation, and as soon as everyone was settled down, he started the meeting.

Back in orbit above Orion the space cruiser Indefatigable knew that it had about six days to complete what would take it only a matter of hours to accomplish. However, his spy down on the planet informed him of the council meeting, so Captain Kruger decided to use this meeting to reveal his presence, and he contacted New Eden to give them his ultimatum.

"People of Orion I am the commander of a space cruiser currently in orbit about your beautiful planet, I am sure that if you train your telescopes up into the heavens you will soon have me in your sights. Now for my reason for calling you, I wish to send a small cargo vessel down to your fair town, and I am notifying you in advance. Why, you might ask, well it is because I want to ask you to assist the crew of the cargo vessel to load aboard it the Time Machine that is currently awaiting transportation off your beautiful little planet. The cargo vessel will then return to my ship and you will be left unharmed. Should you disobey these instructions then New Eden and then the rest of the planet will be systematically destroyed. As a bonus, if you agree to these demands, my ship will aim its plasma weapons at the alien army already moving towards New Eden. If you are not convinced of the threat the aliens pose, then I suggest you study these latest pictures that I am sending down to you via your own satellite. You have thirty minutes to respond."

The message had come over the town`s communications system which was in the room next to where the meeting was being held. The town council were already in a state of panic after hearing about the Heliot troopers from Tyler and his friends. However, when they saw the pictures of the Heliot troops now beginning to move en-masse towards New Eden, they were plainly terrified about what the near future held in store for them. Following the threats from above them, they decided that they had no option but to yield to the pirates` demands, the only person who disagreed was President Michaels.

"You can never agree with the demands of pirates, and the twenty nine tough marines that are currently on Orion, led by the good Colonel Bragg, will safe guard the interests of law and order."

"How do they prevent the ship up there from reducing the planet to rubble and then simply coming down here and taking what they want?" Sinclair asked, pointing up towards the sky.

"They will not risk destroying the very thing that they want; they are simply trying to scare you into obeying their demands." President Michaels argued.

"Well they have scared me, and I am sure that they will also scare the rest of the people of New Eden, especially when they hear about the twin threats to our safety." Sinclair stated. More and more of the colonists of the town were coming into the council chamber following reports of the Heliot army moving towards them, and they were all in agreement with the Bishop`s views, and many of them said so, bluntly. Another voice now entered into the argument regarding the safety of Orion and its people. Tyler had been standing at the rear of the room and had chosen this moment to intervene in the discussions.

"They state that they will stop the alien army in its tracks, and as it consists of around one thousand highly trained killing machines, those same killing machines that your satellite shows so plainly, I for one believe that you should accept their offer. I have seen them from close up, and your few marines do not stand a chance up defending the people of this town against them. I would also stress that they are even now only forty miles away and getting closer by the second, I would say that agreeing with the pirate, at least for the moment, makes sense."

Tyler had been following the proceedings, and he had come to the conclusion that only the complete annihilation of the Heliot army would safe guard the people of Orion. For Tyler, the proposed murder of one thousand souls was a bitter pill to have to swallow. However, he also realised that anything less than that would mean that the innocent population of the planet would suffer a fate last seen on Earth when Nazi Germany was at the height of its power, with the Orionists being cast in the role of the Jewish people.

"You sir, are not even a citizen of this planet, and if you are too believed, not even of this time period." President Michaels scoffed. "In fact, how do we know that you are not in league with the pirates, acting as a fifth columnist down here to fan the fears of the people of New Eden?"

The citizens now eyed Tyler with suspicion, easily swayed the towns people were now afraid that Tyler was a pirate, sent by down to Orion from the space ship in orbit above them. They slowly edged away from him, one amongst them mumbling that he had thought that Tyler`s strange story was a bit farfetched, and that he had never believed it.

"I may not be a citizen of New Eden, but neither am I in league with the pirates, and I do know common sense when I hear it, and anyway just because you agree to their demands for the moment, it doesn`t mean you cannot use the time earned to work out a better plan." Tyler replied and his reasoning had the effect of returning to him the support of most of the scared colonists.

"I heard that you were planning to run out on New Eden, Mr Burrows, why don`t you do just that." Colonel Bragg asked.

"You heard wrong Colonel, Appolon is keen to get back to his village to ensure that his family is safe, something I am sure these people here can sympathise with." Once again Tyler carried the town`s people with him; they were now not so sure where his sympathies lay.

"But with the alien army approaching New Eden and soon to be knocking on its doors, I figured you needed as many able-bodied men here to help you to protect the town and its people, even more so now with the pirates up above threatening to destroy the town." Tyler replied.

"I am sure we are grateful for whatever aid that you can provide to the people of New Eden." President Michaels said in a more conciliatory tone.

"I am also sure that everyone now agrees that my decision to remove the Time Machine to a safer location has been proved right by events. For we have in orbit above the planet what we must assume is the ship that landed the androids that attacked the science complex, and caused the time storm that the brave Mr Burrows was himself caught up in. This storm must have also brought the Heliots to Orion." President Michaels said. He was feeling his way, a little unsure as to how to proceed, and this allowed Tyler to step in.

"There appears to be one way out of our predicament." Tyler suggested. "Let us send the Time Machine up to the pirates, but without any of the sophisticated parts that actually make it work, these we can destroy so that the Time Machine can never be used again." Tyler`s words brought agreement from many of the towns` people.

"An admiral suggestion Mr Burrows, but I don`t know if we have the time to do as you suggest." President Michaels replied, for although he didn`t want the pirates to have the machine he didn`t want it lost to him forever either.

"It will only take a matter of moments, Mr President, as we had already isolated the parts that Tyler mentioned." Brian Goddard said. He had just come into the room to join in the discussion.

The radio on Colonel Bragg`s uniform sprang to life and when he answered it, he found that it was the space pirate.

"Unfortunately, Mr President I have been listening in on your discussions and I must now demand an instant Yes or a No! I will commence firing on New Eden in exactly thirty seconds time." Captain Kruger demanded. "And Mr President, I hope that you don`t pick up any of Mr Burrows` bad habits, they could be painful, and you now have only ten seconds left." Kruger warned.

"Captain, this is Bishop Sinclair, head of the planetary council, and you have a definite yes, Captain, yes, we agree to all your terms, all we ask in return is that you stop the alien forces that are at this minute moving towards our town, as you promised to do." Bishop Sinclair burst out before President Michaels was given the chance to plunge New Eden into a disastrous situation.

"Good, by the way bishop, something on my ship must have been damaged by that space storm, as it is causing interference to all hyperspace channels and making contact with Earth impossible."

Bishop Sinclair, as Tyler had before him, had been doing some soul searching. He didn`t want Orion to go the way of Altera, with him once again powerless to prevent the deaths of his parishioners. He could only hope that God would forgive his decision to press for the deaths of so many souls, even if they were ones that were tainted by the devil.

*********

Appolon had left New Eden the evening before with Caroline. They had met up with Parsons and Masters at the spot where they had left them the day before, and before they could attempt to move down to New Eden.

"Where is Tryon?" Appolon asked on reaching them.

"Tryon has returned back along the ridge above the valley to try and meet up with the warriors of your village, Appolon, as John assured him that he would be able to guide the two of us down to New Eden without approaching the troopers` position."

Appolon then told Masters and Parsons all that had happened, of the destruction of the alien space fleet and also of the loss of the two Earth cruisers.

"With the alien troops almost certainly going to move on New Eden, Tyler has suggested that you George, stay here with John Parsons, and that you both spy on the aliens when they finally get this far. You will be able to contact Tyler on this short-wave radio which Tyler asked me to give to you, George. There are also these binoculars to help you see what is happening."

"Is the satellite phone system working again, Appolon?" Parsons asked.

"It is working now John Parsons, but as the aliens may be listening in on any calls that go via the satellite, you are to use this radio only, it doesn`t need the satellite to work and it will work quite well without the need for modern technology. I have one also with which I can keep in contact with you, and you can then pass on any of my messages to Tyler, for I may not be able to contact New Eden directly because of possible interference from the mountains. The scientist Brian Goddard supplied both the radios and the binoculars after Tyler asked him if he knew if such things were still available anywhere in New Eden. It seems Brian Goddard collects twentieth century gadgets, maybe you should speak to him one day George, I am sure that he would love to talk to a real life twentieth century man." Appolon said lightly, but then he got back to the business in hand.

"Anyway, we can use these to keep in touch with one another without having to hope that the satellite is still up there and working, and also know with some certainty that no one is listening into our conversations or tracing the position of the caller." Appolon advised.

"As you say Appolon, they probably won`t be able to listen in to anything as antiquated as these radios seem to be." Parsons stated.

"What are your own plans, Appolon?" Masters asked of his new friend.

"In the morning, Caroline and I will travel back along the ridge to try to contact Tryon and any of our warriors he may have found, and return to our village to protect my people. As for you two, will you be all right here by yourselves?" Appolon queried.

"Yes, well we can stay up here as long as you and Tyler think advisable, that is as long as we don`t run out of food and water." George replied.

"I have brought you some more food as well George, and there is a small mountain stream further along the ridge which will provide you with fresh clean water." Appolon replied.

"You have been quite busy this evening Appolon, bringing all this gear up to us." Parsons said.

"Yes, well it was Tyler`s suggestion really." Appolon said, for he would never take the praise which should go to another.

Caroline had been quiet all this time, she was worried about leaving Tyler alone amongst the Earth colonists, for none of them measured up to the warriors of her village, it appeared that even the marines needed their satellite to back them up. Who would ensure that Tyler was safe from an attack from their enemies, should the aliens launch an attack on New Eden.

Masters could see that Caroline was worried about something and guessed what it was. "Do not worry about Tyler, Caroline, I shall warn him in plenty of time should anything develop here. With the equipment that you and Appolon brought along we shall be his eyes and ears."

Caroline smiled at her new friend George Masters.

"Thank you, George, I know that you will keep watch, but down there in New Eden, well I don`t know who to trust, except maybe Brian Goddard. The man they call Mr President seems as slimy as a Saline centipede, and in the past whenever something had to be decided, the colonists constantly changed their minds, they never can make a decision and stick with it."

With that, Appolon and Caroline tried to settle down to sleep, for tomorrow would be a busy day, but Appolon worried about the fate of his family and Caroline couldn`t stop herself worrying about Tyler. When she finally dropped off to sleep, her dreams were filled with a Saline centipede creeping up behind Tyler and firing one of the many plasma weapons that it carried in its many legs.

The morning sun rose, and as Appolon and Caroline were preparing to take their leave of George Masters and John Parsons, they heard Tyler`s voice coming from the short-wave radio.

"Appolon, Caroline come in please, this is urgent." Caroline picked up the microphone.

"We are here Tyler, with George Masters and John Parsons, how are you?"

"I`m fine thank you Caroline, but I have some urgent news for you all, the alien troopers have abandoned their encampment and they are all now moving towards the valley and their obvious destination must be the town of New Eden. In addition, there is another space pirate in orbit around Orion, and it has demanded that the Time Machine is loaded aboard a cargo vessel which the pirates are sending down. In return they have promised to destroy the alien army."

Appolon took the microphone off Caroline and spoke to Tyler.

"Tyler, this changes things my friend, it now seems that my family will be safe where they are for the moment, and so Caroline and I will go in search of Tryon who in turn has returned back along the valley in search of my warriors. When we find them, we will bring them back to assist New Eden, for if New Eden falls under the control of the alien army there is no knowing what would happen to our people."

**********

Divilio, after a bad night's rest, was in a very sour disposition, snapping at everyone including Aswan. Aswan and Divilio were still smarting from having their fleet shot out from under them. How long would it take for the two Earth cruisers to get under way and revenge themselves on the Heliot troops? He could guess, but he didn`t know for sure, he only knew that when their army arrived at New Eden in two hours` time, they would be in a much better position to resist any actions taken against them, but he thought that it would be a near thing.

The large land transports were soon moving, forty of them, they had been unloaded from the troop transports before the transports had made their ill-fated flights yesterday and they were working perfectly. Each held twenty five troopers plus all of the fighting equipment necessary to make this a short land battle. There were also twelve trucks with stores and eight plasma attack vehicles. Nothing could stand against them.

**********

The small cargo vessel standing near to the Laboratory was slowly filling up; soon it would be ready to take off with a complete Time Machine aboard it. The ship was an ugly low slung flat rectangular shaped vessel. It had been built specially to fit into the specially designed hold of the pirate vessel. It stood on hydraulic legs that descended from the side of the ship to take up any irregularities on the ground beneath it, and at the moment it stood just two foot off the ground.

Bishop Sinclair was talking on the radio to Captain Kruger. "We have assisted you in loading the Time Machine onto your cargo vessel Captain, and we are almost done now. However, as yet you have not lived up to your side of the bargain and taken out the alien troops, if you don`t start soon I will order the marines down her to destroy your cargo vessel, and the Time Machine with it."

Kruger replied to Sinclair`s threat contemptuously. "I am about to fire on them Bishop, don`t worry, if you live up to your side of the bargain they will not get near to New Eden."

Kruger turned to the android behind him who was awaiting his instructions.

"I will commence firing on the alien troops to keep the good Bishop happy. You take your squad and ensure that the cargo vessel and our men are safe. Make sure this time, kill anyone who gets in your way. When you are in command of the situation down there, let me know and I will destroy the satellite to cut their local communications."

The android had his orders, and so it turned about and left for the hanger bay where his fast and very sleek stealth assault vessel was ready to depart. The android commander was not supposed to have feelings, but he was in fact feeling very happy to be taking his squad back to New Eden, happy to get the chance to avenge his comrades. As the assault vehicle left the Indefatigable, he saw the lighter weapons of the starship`s arsenal lancing down to crash amongst the Heliot troops, causing them to hurriedly move to cover beneath the shelter of the mountain. The Indefatigable could have simply moved position and destroyed them in a matter of moments, but Kruger wanted the small Earth fleet to be too occupied with the aliens to have the time to look for his ship, which in any case would soon be sitting deep within their massive bunker within the planet Altera, hidden and untraceable.

The sleek assault craft slipped silently through the atmosphere and down over the vast ocean of Orion. It was soon over the single land mass and approaching New Eden along a wide channel carved out by a small mountain stream. Looking at it through his binoculars was George Masters.

"Tyler can you hear me, this is George Masters." He called.

"I hear you George. What`s up?" Tyler replied almost instantly.

"There is a black stealth spaceship approaching New Eden along that river channel that you so recently swam along. It is big enough for a couple of dozen men. Hold on its landing." Masters time in the Royal Air Force meant that he knew a stealth aircraft when he saw one, even one as large as this one and able to fly in to space.

"Okay, I am on my way now to talk to a Colonel Bragg of the Marine Corps, he seems to be in charge of the military in New Eden. George, keep me updated as to its movements and to any troops that might be inside of it."

Tyler met Colonel Bragg in front of the temple and quickly told him what Masters had seen, it was a moment later that Masters called again.

"Tyler, are you there?" He called.

"Yes George, you got some more info for us, I`m with the Colonel now." Tyler replied.

"Yes Tyler, twenty four men just got out of the craft, they are all dressed in something that resembles body armour, jet black in colour with helmets to match, and they are all armed with some sort of hand gun that looks like something out of Star Trek." George Masters reported.

"They sound like the androids that attacked the town causing the time storm that brought you here Mr Burrows; it seems as if our friend in space is up to something. We had better gather my men, and then you can show us where they are." Bragg said. They had just picked up the marines when they met up with President Michaels, who Bragg soon put into the picture.

"Well what do you suggest we do now Mr Burrows?" President Michaels asked, for he was developing a respect for this twenty first century man.

"First have those boxes of key components moved away from the rest. Secondly, Colonel, do you have any C4 explosive?" Tyler asked.

"What is C4?" Michaels asked quizzically.

"It is a shaped explosive which only explodes in the direction that you want it to." Tyler replied.

"Yes, but we have moved up the alphabet since then it is now designated MI7." It was Colonel Bragg who answered this question.

"Good, well have one of your marines put it around those key components and should things go badly for us, then threaten the man up there with their destruction." Tyler then added as an afterthought.

"Oh, and thirdly, we should stop these androids from entering the town."

The marines along with Tyler and President Michaels had been moving rapidly over to the river whilst discussing what to do, and now they arrived at the river bank where it curved sharply away from them. Forty yards away from them they saw the androids approaching.

"Mr President, you take Corporal Charles here, he is our explosives man, because I think that maybe you should do as Mr Burrows suggested regarding those key Time Machine components." Colonel Bragg said.

President Michaels obviously agreed with the suggestion for he moved quickly off towards the pirate`s cargo vessel accompanied by the marine corporal.

Colonel Bragg had left six other marines behind guarding key areas; this left him with twenty two marines, plus himself and Tyler against the twenty four androids. Tyler was of course only armed with his knife but the marines had the advantage of surprise, or they did have before Josiah Parkes informed Kruger that the marines were up to something, as he had just seen them moving en masse towards the river. Kruger`s informer had stayed constantly in touch with Kruger since before the android attack. It had been his satellite telephone that had allowed Kruger to listen in to the town council`s meeting, and so stop Tyler`s plan regarding the key Time Machine components. Parkes was in the pay of Kruger`s boss, Sir Charles Fulbright, industrialist and Trillionaire, and who desired the Presidency of Earth and all the power that would come with it. This time Captain Kruger had no need of the spies information, for the small satellite he had put into geostationary orbit above New Eden had already shown him the team of marines moving quickly towards the androids` position.

**********

Appolon and Caroline had been moving quickly for some two hours when they heard the high pitch whistling followed by the explosions caused by the Indefatigable`s plasma weapons.

"We will climb up to the top of that ridge Caroline; we should have a clear view of what is happening from up there." Appolon said pointing out a ridge that was right above them.

The climb took five exhausting minutes up a sheer rock cliff at a speed that would make even a goat blanch, finally they could see for miles along the wide valley bottom, they could see the ineffectual plasma fire that appeared to be designed to slow the advance of the Heliots, but not to actually harm them. Appolon immediately radioed Masters to put him in the picture who then contacted Tyler.

**********

The androids immediately broke their Indian file formation on being informed that they had been detected, they fanned out across the grassy field that followed the river. When the androids saw the marines, they immediately opened fire against the marines` position. Bolts of energy whistled by the marines` heads as they sought cover behind a slight incline that led up towards the river bank. The surprise had been taken away from the marines, and the androids laid down a murderous fire that allowed them to gain whatever cover there was. Colonel Bragg ducked down out of the way of the powerful energy bolts coming his way and he immediately ordered his marines to return fire. Tyler could do little to help from such a range, and against such armoured troops as he was only armed with a knife. He felt odd man out when his radio sprang into life.

"Tyler, are you there?" It was Masters.

"Yes George, what`s up?" Tyler asked.

"Appolon has just been in contact with me by radio, he says that he can see the alien troops moving along the valley bottom, their moving in large vehicles of some sort. However, the real reason that he called was to tell us that the plasma beams that we can see coming out of the sky are proving very ineffectual. Appolon thinks it is just meant to contain the aliens until the pirates get hold of the Time Machine, then the pirates will simply leave Orion and we will have one thousand angry space troopers knocking on our doors."

"Understood George, our only lever is the Time Machine, and to use it we must prevent these androids that you saw landing from winning their battle against the marines. I`ll put the good Colonel in the picture, speak to you later."

Tyler moved up to the Colonels position, and over the noise of the plasma beams and the subsequent explosions, filled him in on the bad news that Appolon and Masters had passed on to him.

"Our position is getting better by the minute, Mr Burrows, but for the moment I don`t see what more we can do." Tyler was of that opinion himself.

The android position was certainly not as strong as they would have liked. Bragg had outfitted the new batch of marines with the updated plasma weapon developed by Jameson and they were proving very effectual against the androids. So far, the marines had accounted for ten of them against only the loss of three marines, and now Tyler saw that he would be able to get into the fight. He ran low along the slight incline through a field of blazing plasma fire towards a plasma weapon laying upon the ground, its owner now lying dead upon the ground. As he reached down to pick it up an android fired at him, the blazing hot energy bolt shot across his shoulder leaving a red-hot painful line that made Tyler groan in agony. However, had he not been stooping down to pick up the plasma weapon dropped by the dead marine, then he would have died there and then. Tyler scooped up the Colt plasma weapon and fired at his attacker, stopping his android foe in its metallic tracks, sparks of blue lightning blazed across its body as it fell to the ground, it wouldn`t rise again. The androids seeing their position worsen still more, began to fall back towards their assault vessel. The advantage of the position that the marines had taken up was nullified as soon as they began to pursue the androids, and it became even worse still when the assault vessel itself lifted off and actively laid down covering fire. This allowed the final thirteen androids to escape. From here the assault ship lifted off again to return back to the Indefatigable. With the finish of hostilities, Tyler added the other two fallen marines` weapons to his armoury, putting them both inside of his backpack within which he carried his shortwave radio.

On board the Indefatigable, Captain Kruger commiserated with the android commander.

"I am sorry that I couldn`t blast the marines out of existence, but to do so might have lost us the Time Machine, anyway, you should have approached New Eden without being so easily detected. They appeared to see you almost before I saw you on the satellite picture."

Tyler and Colonel Bragg now told Bishop Sinclair about the ineffectual plasma fire. Bishop Sinclair once again was forced to bury his massive feelings of guilt about ordering the deaths of so many people as he made contact with the pirate captain.

"I have been informed that far from destroying the alien troops, you are doing no more than creating a smokescreen so as to deceive us. If you don`t hold to your end of the agreement, I will order the marines to destroy the Time Machine, and also your cargo vessel with it.

On the bridge of the Indefatigable Captain Kruger was pacing its small deck as he tried to work out how the people of the small town were getting their information; he looked over to his first officer.

"Somehow they seem to be getting intelligence that should be beyond them, we are monitoring everything that their satellite has passing through its circuits and there is no way that they could have known about our subterfuge."

"They are able to pass information quite effectively Sir. Could they be using some form of antiquated land line?"

Captain Kruger gave Karson a rare smile. "Land line, number one? Where on earth would they find such a thing, let alone be able to set it up, and why would they. No, please scan the area around the alien troops, and also around New Eden, to see if you can find out how they are getting their information, Number One." Captain Kruger then looked over to his weapons console. Lieutenant Masterson was sitting there patiently awaiting the expected orders.

"Mr Masterson it seems that just this once we will have to partly abide by our agreement. Take out all of the vehicles that are in the valley, let`s make the aliens walk, for it seems we are now in need of a bigger smokescreen."

**********

Appolon had changed his position, he was now camped within a deep cave high in the foothills of the mountain. Appolon and Caroline had first checked it out to ensure that it contained no hidden surprises inside, but it came to an end some twenty feet inside the entrance and so they were safe here from troglodytes and tigrons. Careful to keep out of sight from the valley below, they saw and heard the new lines of attack reach down from the heavens behind them and to hit the first of the Heliot plasma assault vehicles, destroying it in a blazing explosion. This attack left the other Heliot troopers momentarily stunned, but only for a moment, for then the veteran troopers responded to the orders from their sergeants and quickly leapt from the other vehicles and sought cover wherever they could find it. The plasma assault vehicles were quickly deployed, and their weapons began to target the sky above them, but they didn`t have the time to fire these powerful weapons, for Masterson could plainly see them in the barren valley and targeted them, destroying them easily. None of the crew that were still valiantly manning them while they waited for their mobile scanner to identify their target, survived to join their comrades crouching for cover along the steep valley walls. With the only effective weapons destroyed, more bright lines of energy soon followed until all of the vehicles in the valley were nothing more than twisted pieces of wreckage, along with the bodies of some of the slower moving troops that were spread about the valley bottom, the assault finished as quickly as it had begun.

Appolon immediately conveyed this information on to Masters who lost no time in contacting Tyler.

"Tyler, are you there?" He asked urgently.

"Yes George, what do you have for me this time?" Tyler asked.

"Appolon has just informed me that the pirates have destroyed all of the alien`s vehicles, but stopped short of killing any troops en masse, they are still coming on. Fortunately, they will have to walk the last twenty miles, they will be without much food or water and with, I assume, only a limited amount of ammunition for their plasma weapons. However, they are still a force to be reckoned with, when they arrive in New Eden, they will be extremely angry and will probably kill all of its people." George Masters declared in a grim voice.

"So, you should see them about sundown, George, unless they decide to camp earlier and then march in under cover of darkness." Tyler said.

"Yes, Tyler, that is how John Parsons and I see things happening." George Masters replied.

"Okay, George, how are you doing out there, are you in need of anything?" Tyler asked his friend.

"No, Tyler, we are fine, oh by the way, the fifty odd aliens in the trees outside of the town are beginning to get restless, if they have heard from the main group of soldiers and know what we know, it would explain why they seem to be getting rattled." George Masters said.

"Well I don`t blame them because they must realise things are not going well for their side, Perhaps I will suggest to the Colonel that he post some of his marines opposite them in case the aliens get even more restless."

Tyler did just that, and the Colonel who had clean forgotten the aliens on the outskirts of town due to all that had happened, ordered ten of his most experienced marines led by Lieutenant Parnell, and backed up by trooper Ryan, to covertly find somewhere from where they could keep an eye on things.

Captain Kruger chose this moment to contact Bishop Sinclair, President Michaels being kept out of the loop as irrelevant.

"My cargo vessel crew tell me that everything is loaded except for ten crates which, they tell me, are surrounded by a circle of MI7 explosive and five marines, when will you fulfil your part of the agreement and give my men those last ten important crates?"

The marines mentioned included Captain Stevenson, who along with the troopers had come along with the President, but who was now attached to Colonels Bragg`s command. They had been ordered to stop the cargo vessel from leaving without the express permission of the Colonel himself, or failing that, President Michaels or Bishop Sinclair.

Tyler had appeared at Sinclair`s side, just before Kruger had called, and brought him up to date as regards the still living alien troopers.

Bishop Sinclair was beginning to see just how Tyler had managed to gain the trust of so many people on Orion, President Michaels, the scientists, now it appeared even the good Colonel Bragg, and finally of course himself. He supposed it was because out of all those present in New Eden, only Tyler, had managed to keep one step ahead of the pirates, and of the alien troops within the valley. The most level headed native, Appolon, looked on Tyler as a brother, and even the colonists of New Eden were listening to Tyler now, beginning to believe that he might be the one to get them out of this mess.

"When you finally keep to your side of the agreement and rid us of the alien army, we will fulfil our side of it. Your plasma weapons have certainly destroyed all of the alien`s vehicles, but for the most part, all of the troopers are still alive and still marching towards New Eden." Sinclair said in reply to Kruger`s question.

Bishop Sinclair knew that his soul was in danger of journeying to hell with each new demand he made for the total destruction of the Heliot army, but what other choice did he have. To turn the other cheek as Jesus said he should do, but that would only mean he would have to journey to a different sort of hell, one where he would be forced to watch as his people were tortured or murdered when the Heliot army took over the town of New Eden, and finally the rest of the planet. He was simply not strong enough spiritually, to allow that to happen.

Kruger finished the call to Sinclair and turned to his first officer.

"They have up to the minute information regarding everything that is going on down there, even in a valley some twenty miles distant from the town, how in heaven`s name are they getting it, Number One?"

"I don`t know sir, I have scanned the area, and except for a large party of warriors who have only now entered that particular area of the valley, there doesn`t appear to be anyone else about, and there are certainly no calls being made via the satellite concerning the alien troops. There are no drones in operation, we would have detected the signal each time that the units were controlled remotely."

"Well someone is giving them Intel, unless you believe in the paranormal, Number One."

"No sir, I don`t believe in spirits and such like, I am at a loss how to explain it. However, this expedition has gone wrong from day one, not only for us but also for every one interested in that dammed Time Machine. Maybe that guy down there named Tyler Burrows could have something to do with it." Karson had hit the bull`s eye, but at the moment he did not know it.

"Well it is someone down there that is getting us to do just exactly what he wants us to do. As soon as I heard that Mr Burrows speak out down there in the temple, I knew he was trouble, and now because of him or someone anyway, we must destroy the alien army and do it now, before whoever it is turns their mind to the Time Machine. I am almost tempted to send a team down to the planet just to kill Tyler Burrows."

**********

Appolon and Caroline hadn`t been seen because they were not in the actual attack area, and anyway, they were hidden within the safe confines of the thick walls of the cave. Appolon had originally wanted to find his warriors and to get news of home, but he could see that by providing this important information about the alien troopers to Tyler, he was in fact helping to protect all that he cared most about, his family.

Appolon watched as almost one thousand lives were snuffed out by the ship in space; the Indefatigable had slightly changed its orbit and now stood with a clear view of the entire valley. Its plasma beams lanced down through the atmosphere of Orion to kill the men that made up Divilio`s army. Divilio moved away from the walls of the valley where he had cowered for safety and screamed his rage at their attacker, he didn`t see the hate filled face of Aswan as he turned his powerful plasma weapon upon him and fire a killing burst that caused the armour of Divilio`s suit to sparkle like a Christmas tree. Then Divilio crashed to the floor, the last of the Heliots to die, he died cursing the Planet of the Light, cursing the bones of its people, and finally cursing the gods for allowing him to be defeated by the ones that he was born to rule. Neither Appolon or Caroline could say anything for many minutes, although they had wanted the Heliot army to be destroyed, seeing one thousand lives snuffed out in mere minutes had affected them both badly, finally it was a grim Caroline who gave George Masters the news.

"The alien army is no more, they were exterminated like so many rats by that scum up in space, tell Tyler that we are coming back to New Eden with one hundred warriors, they are not only from our village but also the many other villages who have been touched by the alien army. We will help Tyler, to finish off the remaining alien troopers who are camped just outside of New Eden."

The remaining Heliot troopers had seen and heard the terrible bolts of energy raining down upon the valley that lay behind them and they knew what it meant and they wept and prayed for their fallen comrades, and also maybe for themselves. The last word that they heard from the main part of the army was a message from Rada who announced the death of Divilio and all of the army, only Aswan, Trajo, Viranco and himself still lived, the patrol was to wait until they re-joined them, then they would march in to the town and destroy it.

*********

Captain Kruger was back again on the radio speaking to Bishop Sinclair.

"I have done as you requested, Bishop, you will now release the final ten crates or suffer the results of my anger." Kruger threatened angrily.

"What about the fifty Heliot troopers camped near the edge of town?" Bishop Sinclair asked, damming whatever was left of his soul to hell.

"Damn them, and damn you, you either load the crates onto the cargo vessel now or I will not only take out the aliens, but first I will also fire upon the town until you beg me to stop, then my men will come and get my crates." Kruger roared angrily.

"Okay Captain, the final crates will be loaded onto your cargo vessel, have no fear, we will abide by our agreement." Sinclair replied fearing to push the pirate captain any further, lest he carried out his threat.

Tyler was standing beside Bishop Sinclair and could see that the man of god had aged twenty years since he had first seen him. Tyler also felt the same ravages of guilt eating away at his own insides, but he also couldn`t see any other way around their problem. Leadership brought with it many things, and the main one was the obligation one had to those whom you led or in his case, advised.

The five marines plus Colonel Bragg watched as the crew of the cargo vessel supervised the loading of the final ten crates. It galled Bragg to be finally beaten, but he was grateful to still be alive. President Michaels stood by his shoulder thinking much the same.

"What about the final batch of alien troops who are camped just outside of town, can we deal with them without the help of the pirate ship?" President Michaels asked.

"We will have to because I don`t think the pirate ship will help us any further." Colonel Bragg replied grimly.

"Shouldn`t Sinclair have demanded that they finish off the remaining aliens, I mean it is their fault that the aliens are here anyway?" President Michaels complained.

Sinclair turned from the cargo vessel and walked towards them. "I heard what you said and yes, I did ask. He told me that he had helped as far as he was going to, and that should we stop assisting his men then he would begin firing his plasma weapons at New Eden and its people, and would wait to see how long it was before we begged him to come and collect the remaining crates."

"Then we should attack the alien troops as soon as night falls." Bragg stated. Tyler turned up to join in the discussion; he had with him the latest report from Appolon.

"Appolon and one hundred warriors from his village, and also a few of the other villages, should be here by nightfall, if you want to co-ordinate your attack on those fifty alien troops with Appolon, then you should contact him on my radio." Tyler said indicating his backpack over his shoulder.

"To think that we all owe so much to such an antiquated piece of technology, and of course to you and your friend Mr Burrows, who journeyed from the time when this technology was the state of the art to fight by our side." President Michaels said.

Captain Stevenson, the marine officer came over to them with marvellous news.

"The cargo vessel can`t take off, it is having trouble with its engines, and they think it will be at least three hours before they can fix them, although it doesn`t give us very long to turn the tables on them, maybe we can still win through." He announced joyfully.

"Win through against the starship above us at the same time as winning through against the aliens; we are going to do well aren`t we." President Michaels groaned, a cynical smile spreading across his face.

"There might be a way." Tyler said thoughtfully.

Chapter Seventeen

Victory in Sight

June 27th the Year 2494

"The thing that we need to do is to get rid of both of the threats at exactly the same time, right?" Tyler said thoughtfully.

"Well of course that is the problem young man, but we already know that, what we need is a new plan that will allow us to accomplish it, not mere musings." President Michaels said condescendingly.

"Well Mr President, that is just what I might have for you, but first I need to talk to Brian Goddard." Tyler replied with a patient look upon his face, as if he were talking to a child.

"I will come with you; I need some good news, so tell me your plan, Mr Burrows, Colonel Bragg will you also join us." President Michaels asked, his heart beating faster at the thought that they might yet win through.

"After we have seen Brian, for without his help it will not work." They found Brian Goddard in the almost empty science complex. Brian Goddard almost jumped to attention.

"Hello Mr President, how may I help you?" He asked excitedly.

"It is Mr Burrows who wants to speak with you, Professor Goddard." President Michaels replied. All the other scientists plus Tracy Goddard, moved forward to see what help Tyler needed, and whether they could possibly provide it.

"First things first Brian, will you please turn on that jamming device of yours that prevents any sort of radio or telephone communication." Tyler requested.

"Of course, I will do that, but why do you want me to do it?" Brian replied.

"Because the pirates seem to have too much knowledge about our plans, and this plan is our last chance at surviving the next few hours. Brian, can you limit its scope to just this building, and so allowing the cargo vessel to communicate with their ship, in case their captain calls them and gets annoyed when he can`t get through to them. Bishop Sinclair will have to stay over by the cargo vessel so that should the pirate captain call, he will be able to receive the call."

In between working on the Time Machine, Brian Goddard has also been working on some ideas of his own; this device although ancient had been modified by him.

"Yes, I can calibrate our device to just prevent limited communications, Tyler." Brian Goddard said. He then went to a unit standing on the far wall, threw a switch on the device, and then set the dials to do just that.

"There you are, now you can talk without anyone listening in or sending a message out." Brian said.

"Good, now all of you hand in your mobile telephones, cellular phones, communicators or whatever you call them in this day and age, to the Colonel here, so that it won`t be possible for anyone to communicate with the pirate ship. Oh, and you will all have to stay here, together, because all of this trouble is to do with the Time Machine, and only one of a small select group of people could have kept our attacker so very well informed."

There was a fair bit of grumbling, about being treated as fifth columnists or traitors, and that sort of thing but finally all the phones were handed in.

"But surely if one of these people here was a traitor, then he would have informed the space pirate about the short-wave radios?" President Michaels asked.

"No one here knew that Brian had given them to me, for there was no one about when Brian did so, I made sure of that. When we were first threatened by the space pirate, I became concerned about a possible traitor, for the pirate captain showed that he was listening in to the town council meeting. I then asked Brian to keep the short wave radios a secret between us. They are quite compact, not at all similar to the earlier models that I saw. Also, I always carry the main unit in the backpack that the Colonel gave me, the earpiece is small and I keep the microphone inside my jacket. When I use the radio, I make sure that none of the scientists can see me. The radio is set at a low volume so that incoming calls can only be heard by me, and then I find a place to answer the call without anyone snooping on me, except for the time when we were under fire from the androids when I had little choice." Tyler explained before turning to Colonel Bragg.

"One more thing Colonel, have this machine guarded by one of your best men to stop any one from inadvertently turning it off." Colonel Bragg grimly nodded his agreement to this request, anger building up inside of him at the thought that one of the men before him was a traitor.

"Okay, if you really think it necessary." Bragg finally replied after getting control of his feelings.

"You really suspect that we have a traitor amongst the people of New Eden?" President Michaels asked in astonishment.

"Not all of the people in New Eden, only those who could operate the Time Machine for our friends up there, when they finally manage to get their hands on it. Brian, please confirm something for me, the Time Machine is not an easy instrument to operate, if I wanted to operate it, I wouldn`t have a hope, would I?" Tyler asked looking across at Brian Goddard.

"Good lord No! Only someone amongst us scientists here could safely operate it, it isn`t a toaster you know, a whole range of things have to be done before you can so much as turn on a single switch." Brian said and around him the other scientists gasped as the enormity of what Brian Goddard was saying dawned on them.

"My God, there could well be a traitor amongst us, for as you say Tyler, they will need a trained operative to show them how to use the machine. It may well be one of us who caused Richard and Adrian`s death." Peter Swanscombe said. Anger making his New Zealand accent more evident than ever.

Silence descended on the room as the scientists all looked at each other as if deciding whether this friend or that friend was capable of such deception.

"Brian, don`t talk rot." Parkes exclaimed. "This caveman doesn`t know what he is talking about." He said indicating Tyler.

"I think the man does protest too much, Gentlemen." President Michaels` six sense was going into hyper drive.

"I always thought that there was something wrong about the way Colin Randall died." Peter Swanscombe said eyeing Parkes with distaste. "And when we try to get an old friend to replace him, he also dies. Then the Dean of Harvard College asks us to take you on, you are the son of an old friend. You have heard about the project that we are working on, and of the opening here on Orion, he tells us that you would really like to come and work with us, so we take you on like fools."

Fear showed in Parkes eyes as he sought to assert his innocence. "Listen to yourselves, without any evidence at all you want to hang me." Parkes voice was a cross between a whine and an attempted sneer.

Tyler hastily interrupted the inquisition.

"Whether it was Josiah or someone else doesn`t matter for the moment, what does matter is that any of our future plans stay secret." Tyler looked steadily at the group to see if his message had gone home before continuing on.

"Right no one from this group can be allowed to leave this room or communicate in any way with anyone outside of the room, is that understood?" The scientists all agreed, very quickly, even Parkes who didn`t dare look into the eyes of anyone else in the room.

"Maybe the man that you are leaving here to guard Brian`s device can also ensure that no one leaves the room, Colonel." Bragg quickly agreed to this demand, looking distastefully at Parkes.

"It would be best I think, for all our sakes Mr Burrows."

Tyler quickly turned the conversation around to his purposed plan of action.

"Brian when you and I were passing the time this morning, you stated that one of the experiments that you and the rest of the guys here had worked on was a universal translating device, and you intimated that it was not only working but that you have been using it lately." Tyler asked.

"That is correct Tyler, why what use can you possibly put it too that could possibly help us out of our present problem?" Brian Goddard asked, and all the others including President Michaels and Colonel Bragg listened for the answer.

"First tell me Brian, is it our alien friends outside of the town that you have been listening to, when they spoke with their HQ?" Tyler asked.

"Correct, and with some success, we could even have a limited conversation with them, although you might have to fill in with some sign language Tyler. Their last conversation between the remaining troopers and four survivors from the slaughter up in the valley was that they were going to march on New Eden and destroy us, in fact I was just about to come and find you Colonel, to tell you of their plans." Brian replied.

"Well if we are to survive the next twenty four hours, we will have to offer them something a little more valuable than mere revenge for their fallen comrades, and that machine will help us to do just that." He now outlined his plan.

The night was an hour away and Tyler had been in contact directly with Appolon who had made good time and was now kneeling next to Masters, both men were carefully studying the valley below and awaiting instructions from Tyler.

At this same moment, near the outskirts of New Eden, were half of the remaining marines, President Michaels, Colonel Bragg, Brian Goddard and Tyler.

"I still think it is madness, but at the moment it seems to be our only chance of coming through this mess intact." President Michaels stated.

"It certainly seems strange, but on the plus side it is the pirates who have been killing the aliens, not us." Colonel Bragg added.

"And we don`t have to tell the aliens that it was at our begging that they did so, do we?" Tyler put in.

"No." Everyone said, almost together.

"Because the pirates did it to stop the aliens from getting their hands on the Time Machine, what with their cargo ship breaking down. That is to say, this is the reason we will give as to why the aliens had been targeted." Tyler explained and then it was time to move off.

"Right then Brian, we should move out while there is still enough light for the aliens to see that we are unarmed, and only have this box of tricks of yours."

The box of tricks of course was the translator and it was mounted on a small vehicle resembling a land rover. They got into the vehicle and slowly drove towards the trees that were about a mile away, and when they had almost reached the trees Tyler instructed Brian to switch on the device and call out their peaceful intentions to the aliens. All was quiet, the aliens making no move to show themselves until Brian and Tyler were almost amongst the trees, and then Aswan stepped forward.

"What is it that you want earthmen; talk fast, for it might be your last chance?"

Aswan was still very angry at losing his fleet, almost all his troops, and his equipment, and had been about to move out with his remaining troops when Tyler had arrived with Brian.

"Thank you for talking to us. We know that even with the few men left to you, after the pirate ship above decimated your troops back there in the valley, that you pose a great risk to our town and people." Tyler began.

"What pirate ship, are you trying to tell me that it was not one of your cruisers that murdered my people?" Aswan replied angrily, for he believed that Tyler was trying to trick him.

"No Commander, if we still had a space cruiser, and it had been responsible for the annihilation of your troopers, we would have had it turn its weapons on your position here wouldn`t we? No, both of our cruisers were destroyed by another ship. One that had already attacked this planet before your arrival, and it was simply waiting for another opportunity to do so again. I presume our cruisers were damaged in the engagement with your four ships?" Tyler asked the commander of the aliens.

"Yes, in fact I thought that they had been very badly damaged in the battle." Aswan replied.

"Well the pirate ship took advantage of the damage to the starships and finished them off." Tyler said

"Even should all this be true, what is it that you offer us in exchange for your lives?" Aswan asked suspiciously.

"Firstly, I would stress that a lot of your men would also die if you choose to attack us, rather than capturing the pirate ship for yourselves. The colonel in charge of the marines has armed all of the citizens of New Eden, and I believe that you would find it a hard nut to crack." Tyler said embellishing the facts.

"Capture the pirate ship? How would we do that, and if it is so easy, why don`t you capture it for yourselves." Aswan asked suspiciously yet plainly interested.

"Because you have fifty highly trained men at your disposal, whilst we would have to split our force between attacking them and defending against you." Tyler replied.

Aswan moved away and talked with Trajo and Rada. "This deal the earthmen mention sounds too good to be true Aswan." Trajo warned.

"Yes, but if we pass up on the chance of capturing the space cruiser, then we will still be here when another space cruiser from Earth shows up with sufficient troops to kill us all." Rada reasoned.

"Then we have no choice but to go along with the earthmen, but both of you ensure that you keep a watchful eye for any signs of treachery on their part." Aswan said before turning back to Tyler and Brian.

"Okay earthman; please let us know how you plan to give us the space cruiser?" Aswan attempted to sneer, but his obvious interest got in the way.

Tyler inwardly sighed with relief, for the first dangerous point in his plan had gone by successfully, and he proceeded to impart his plan to the Heliot officers. Aswan thought furiously about all the points of Tyler`s plan, but although obviously dangerous, it did sound possible, but first he had a question for the earthman.

"Earthman, before we go ahead with your plan for capturing the space cruiser, I want you to inform me why the pirate ship is here, what is it after?"

Tyler knew that at some time he would be asked this question, informing the alien about the Time Machine was not an option, so he had prepared a story in advance. Luckily for him Divilio had never got around to telling any of his officers about the Time Machine.

"They came here planning to kidnap the President of Earth, who arrived here on Orion for a secret meeting with four of his ministers and the Archbishop. Unfortunately for all of us, a massive space storm interrupted all of our plans and even the pirate ship was damaged, by the time they had repaired their ship a second space cruiser arrived and changed the odds. It was only when you attacked the two space cruisers that they were able to take advantage of the situation. Unfortunately for them, the people they wanted to kidnap were on one of the crippled space cruisers, and as they had destroyed both of these, they were left with nothing. They have sent a small cargo vessel ship to take away all of the colony's supplies, so that at least they can leave with something for all their trouble. However, the cargo vessel has developed engine trouble and they are still trying to repair it even as we speak, so you see we must get to it before it completes its repairs and moves off. It is because of the trouble with their ship that they fired upon your troops, it was to stop you arriving in New Eden and capturing their cargo vessel and its crew."

**********

Captain Kruger was getting more and more impatient with the crew of his small cargo vessel, the ships engines were still not working and it would be at least another two hours before they were finally fixed.

"In two hours, it will have been dark for sixty minutes, which means that the remaining alien troopers will have probably started their attack on New Eden, Karson; they could either capture or destroy the cargo vessel and its valuable cargo."

"The assault vessel could approach from the other side of New Eden, away from whomever or whatever is keeping the President advised about our operations. From there they could hover over the cargo vessel and drop the androids directly onto it to secure it against any attack upon it." Karson suggested.

"I wish that I had your confidence in the abilities of the androids, they couldn`t even hold their own against the marines. Okay, Karson, when darkness falls over New Eden, order them down again, but order them to use infrared when they approach New Eden, no other lighting is to be used in the vicinity of the town, we cannot afford any more foul ups."

*********

Brian Goddard had returned in the land transport to New Eden, this left Tyler with the fifty Heliot troopers and their officers. They had all slipped quietly along the banks of the river under cover of darkness until they were able to drop down to the river bank and onto the mud below. They now moved alongside the same river as Tyler, Appolon and Caroline had the night before, Aswan was very alert while his men were out of sight of the ground above, but he also knew that secrecy and surprise would help in winning the coming skirmish, battle would be too grand a name when so few men were concerned. The sun had set ten minutes before they had set off, and they were all in the hands of this one man, Aswan hoped he wasn`t making a mistake in trusting him, but what choice did he have, glory if they won, otherwise death, but he had defeated death before so he was not scared of what was to come.

What he didn`t know was that in the darkness behind him, hurrying along the land that followed the river, were one hundred warriors, all eager to kill a Heliot, or die trying. The native warriors knew that their weapons were useless against the body armour of the Heliot trooper, unless you hit him in a vulnerable spot with your arrows. They had decided to aim for their eyes, if they were skilled enough to be able to accomplish such a feat, and if the arrows could shatter the small plastic visor and were not deflected away. However, not one of the warriors had refused to accompany Appolon on his perilous journey to New Eden. Appolon had felt justly proud to accompany such warriors, but put his hope in victory in being able to get close to the aliens under the cover of darkness, thereby nullifying the advantage the aliens had in body armour and weapons, and thereby allowing the warriors to simply overwhelm them.

**********

The lights of New Eden were all blacked out as the black stealth assault craft glided in towards New Eden, and the cargo vessel. Its engines made hardly any sound at all now that it was in stealth mode, even the crew of the cargo vessel didn`t hear it glide to a stop, just feet above the top of the ship. The darkness was due to Captain Kruger who had also sent some of his own men down to Orion, the stealth assault craft had landed them first before proceeding onto the cargo vessel. The destination of the team of men that Kruger had despatched was the fusion reactor of New Eden, and there they had entered unopposed, for now all of the marines were either down by the cargo vessel or else they were moving silently along a parallel course to the Heliots. Their orders were to force the technicians to cut the power for just sixty seconds and then turn it back on again.

**********

Robert Lambert was returning from New Eden to ensure that his daughter Marcia was safe, as she was alone in the house which was near to the science complex, and that at a time like this when no one should be alone. As he approached the hill that stood between his farm and the complex, he almost walked into the team sent down to disrupt the power supply. Luckily, he was in shadows provided by the fusion reactor they didn`t immediately see him, in fact had he stopped still they might never have seen him, it was because he feared for the safety of his daughter that he turned and made to run back. It was now that they saw him, and the commander of the team fired his plasma weapon that hit Lambert as he was lit up momentarily by the light from one of the windows of the reactor building, Lambert moaned as the energy bolt hit him and he crashed to the ground unconscious. Thankfully the weapon had been set on its weakest setting so that its use would go unheard.

**********

The team from the space cruiser were able to carry out their designated task unopposed, and moments after the power went out, the stealth ship arrived above the cargo vessel and thirteen androids slipped down ropes to alight behind the cargo vessel, from here they ran to the entry ramp and slipped unseen into the depths of the ship. Unseen that is except for Caroline and Appolon, who minutes earlier had left the other warriors, to come to fight by Tyler`s side.

***********

Tyler finally sighted the cargo vessel and halted the Heliot troopers fifty feet away, and concealed from view by the banks of the river.

"We are here Commander." He said to Aswan. "Let`s see what the situation is at the moment, Colonel Bragg should be nearby keeping an eye on things here."

Aswan had brought along the lightweight and super advanced Heliot universal translator, and the two were able to talk freely using it, Brian Goddard had returned to New Eden in the land rover with his more cumbersome invention, that up until the moment that he saw the Heliot version, he had been justly proud to call his own. Tyler pulled out his old-style radio and soon got hold of Colonel Bragg.

"Colonel, are you around?" He asked.

"Yes, I am here, we had a scare two minutes ago when the power went out, but it is back on now, it must have been a glitch in the circuits. I have sent one of my men back to check on it. Mind you I have taken advantage of the glitch to keep the area around the ship down to a low level of light; anyone watching from above will be positively blinded by the glow from all the extra lights that I have put on all around the rest of New Eden." Colonel Bragg reported.

"That was quick thinking Colonel, Tyler out."

Tyler was impressed by the Colonel`s addition to his fragile planning, things like that could make all the difference between success or failure, and he was also thankful that he had Brian Goddard supply one more of his short-wave radios to Colonel Bragg, for the satellite phone system was obviously far from secure.

Just as Tyler made to move forward towards the cargo vessel, two figures slipped out of the shadows and glided over to him and the Heliot troopers.

"Tyler, you are okay?" Caroline asked anxiously.

"Yes, I am fine, but what are you two doing here?" Tyler replied just a little concerned, but even so Tyler`s face lit up when he saw his friends again. Aswan was getting impatient suspecting a trap, but Tyler reassured him.

"It is okay Commander; these two warriors are my friends."

"Tyler you are hurt." Caroline said sounding very concerned on seeing the sore red weal on his shoulder caused by the android that had tried to kill him at the river earlier on.

"It`s nothing Caroline, one of the androids took a pot shot at me when they tried a sneak attack earlier on, it was his last such attempt." Tyler said.

"I`ll put some cream on it when time allows Tyler, to take the soreness away."

Appolon now intruded into their conversation.

"I am sorry to interrupt you two love birds but unfortunately I must. Tyler just as we arrived the power went out and what do you think we saw, thirteen of those androids slipped down some ropes from the quietest craft that I have ever seen, and as it was during the power cut, I would imagine nobody else saw them. I think that the pirates on their ship up there must have had something to do with the blackout." Appolon said pointing up towards the black skies, but now he imparted the most important of his news.

"They slipped inside the cargo vessel when no one was looking, so your new friends had better be extra careful when they go in there." Appolon`s satirical comment thankfully went unnoticed.

"Thanks, Appolon, will you radio Brian Goddard and ask him to stop any messages from leaving the cargo vessel until I say otherwise?" Tyler asked of his friend.

"Caroline will do that; I will come with you my friend." Appolon said.

Caroline immediately protested that she was also coming with Tyler, when Aswan cut in.

"No one is coming aboard the cargo vessel except this earthman," Indicating Tyler with his finger. "And that is final." Both Caroline and Appolon protested so strongly, against both Tyler`s arguments and Aswan`s refusal that Aswan was finally forced to give way.

"Okay, if you both want to risk your lives that much, you may come along as well, just keep out of the way or I will kill you myself."

During the fight with the androids, Tyler had picked up three plasma weapons dropped by the dead marines, and to every one's amazement he now dug these out of his back pack, and showing Appolon and Caroline how to use them, handed one to each of them.

"A regular walking arsenal aren`t you, is there anything else in your pack, earthman?" Aswan queried suspiciously, but after a long searching look at Tyler and his two friends he decided to allow the 'primitives' to keep their antique weapons, for what danger could they present against his fifty heavily armoured troopers, all trained in the art of warfare for so long that they now lived and breathed it.

"No Commander, it is now empty." Tyler replied, relieved that the alien had not ordered him to hand over the plasma weapons, but Tyler had banked on this, for they would seem to present no danger at all to the troopers, and to have brought them out later would have been a little chancy.

With his friends coming with him, Tyler contacted Brian Goddard himself, and gave him the instructions he had asked Appolon to give earlier. In the gloom of the entrance way, Appolon and Caroline could both see a number of the androids lurking there to prevent anyone boarding the craft? Aswan was impressed with their vision, for he could only see them with the help of his infrared goggles that he had now put on, as for Tyler he could see nothing, but it was he who came up with a match winning idea.

"Commander if we train two bright arc lamps onto the area just inside of the doorway and then turn them on, we should gain crucial seconds of advantage, for we should be able to blind and then take out any of the androids lit up by the arc lamps." Tyler suggested.

"Can you get these arc lamps?" Aswan asked.

"Let`s see." Tyler replied taking out his old-style radio.

"Brian, are you there." He asked.

"Tyler, how are things going with you?" It was Masters on the other end of the short-wave radio, he had made the journey down to New Eden with the warriors of Orion, and then moved across to the temple square to see if there was any help he could give. The help he was asked to give was to man the short-wave radio, and listen in for messages from Tyler.

"George, how are you? You got through to New Eden safely then." Tyler said before carrying on with the reason behind his call. "I`m afraid that our friends up in space have sent down another squad of androids during your recent blackout, see if anyone can scare up something resembling a couple of arc lamps, and if they can be hooded so that the light will not be too noticeable from space so much the better. I am hoping to blind the batch of androids with the lights and then take them out, if you can help us out let me know. Oh, Appolon and Caroline are here with me, George." Tyler said.

"Good you needed some reliable help Tyler; I will call you back about the other matter as soon as I can." As soon as he could took only a couple of seconds for Colonel Bragg was nearby after sending Corporal Charles away to take charge at the science building with the assistance of the marine who was already there, and he was also to ensure that Josiah Parkes didn`t slip away and inform his masters of Tyler`s plans for them.

"Yes, Mr Masters, there are two portable arc lamps in the stores across the way and they were made to my personal specifications, so yes they can also be hooded."

Masters radioed back immediately with the good news about the arc lamps being nearby and that they were hooded.

"That`s great George, can you and the good Colonel have them brought to my position so that they can be trained on the cargo vessel`s doorway. Please ensure that the androids don`t catch sight of them until it`s too late. Oh, and also get a couple of dozen of Appolon`s warriors nearby, just in case we need them." Tyler said.

"Don`t worry Tyler, I will see to it."

Tyler then told the others of the new plan he had formulated to get aboard the cargo vessel without making too much noise.

Two long minutes went by and then the short-wave radio around Tyler`s shoulder squawked ever so quietly at him.

"Tyler, it is me, George, the lights should be with you any second, two of the townsmen are bringing them to you, and also the warriors are on hand if needed."

Aswan had taken ten of his troopers to one side of the entrance and Trajo had taken a further ten troopers to the other side, all of them were told to ensure that they kept out of sight until the arc lamps were turned on. Rada stayed behind to lead the remaining troopers, and thought Tyler, to kill him if all this was an elaborate trick. Two men that Tyler knew to be local townsmen appeared from behind him carrying the portable arc lights; they were escorted by a couple of burly Heliot troopers. Tyler now flashed a small torch that Aswan had lent him, it was on for one brief second only, the androids would see it but not know its significance, it was to tell the Heliots assembled across the way from Tyler, that the arc lamps were about to be switched on. Tyler warned Appolon and Caroline that the area in front of them would be lit up by two very bright lights and that they should cover their eyes, and then he spoke to one of the townsmen.

"Train the lamps on the open doorway and only the doorway, for we don`t want to blind our own men, and then switch on both of the lights."

After giving them these instructions, Tyler and the others all looked away for a moment as the entrance to the small cargo vessel was suddenly illuminated by the two powerful lamps. In the doorway the androids were keeping watch with their infra-red vision, and so they were blinded by the sudden bright lights and weren`t able to see anything when the twenty Heliot troopers rushed in and quickly killed the androids by pushing a long sharp knife into each android, right through its eyes and deep into its mechanical brain. Tyler had seen these long knives attached to what he liked to call the aliens utility belts, as they had made the journey along the river bed, it was partly this that had helped him to formulate his plan when he had heard from Appolon about the new threat of the androids. Six of the androids had been taken out, the rest of the androids seemed to be unaware of the attack on them. These could be taken out by more normal means, such as with plasma weapons.

Tyler now told the townsmen to kill the lights and then in the darkness that resulted from the lights being turned off, Tyler and the others who had remained behind, now moved across to the entrance way and boarded the craft to re-join the other Heliots who were impatiently awaiting them. The plan had gone smoothly, although there almost was a problem with the Heliots, with their reasonable desire to get to grips with the people who had killed so many of their people, they almost got in each other's way. Tyler realised that he had used too many men, but then he wasn`t a trained soldier and Aswan was, he should have realised the possibility and taken fewer men, but in the end it didn`t matter.

Colonel Bragg couldn`t believe that the operation was going quite so smoothly, even when the androids threatened to kill the plan, Tyler had got around them. Now the Heliots were all on board the cargo vessel as planned, if the rest of the attack went as smoothly then the only problem that he could see was getting the explosives aboard, for the alien Commander had left six men on guard just inside the entrance, lose six androids, gain six aliens, somehow life was not fair. The Colonel saw that for the moment this problem was all his to work out, at least he had the twenty native warriors with him, led by Tryon, Appolon`s friend, to supplement his marines.

Masters was worrying about his friend`s safety when the radio squawked and he found to his delight that it was his friend.

"Hi George, will you ask Brian to limit his device to just the area around the science block, let the cargo vessel use its communications equipment again in case the pirate ship tries to get through to their cargo vessel and smells a rat." Tyler ordered.

"Okay Tyler, I will tell Brian now." George Masters replied.

"Thanks George, I have got to sign off now, much to do, bye." This final word worried Masters for it had seemed far too final to him.

Tyler then signalled to Aswan that he was ready to proceed with part two of the plan, to take control of the rest of the craft without killing all of its crew except for the androids, who must be terminated promptly, and without any of the crew using their radio. He knew that he could have kept up the radio blackout of the ship, but he also realised that the commander of the ship up there must be getting very edgy by now, and was likely to call at any time to ask how the repairs were proceeding.

Tyler and the others were moving quickly through the ship's storage area, and they had reached the end of the storage hold where it ended at a lift with a flight of stairs next to it. Aswan stationed twelve men here to guard the exit of the lift and the stairs, while he and the rest of his troopers started up the stairs to the upper level with the three 'primitives' being taken with them. Here the way gave you the option to turn either towards engineering or towards the bridge. Somewhere up here were seven androids, and for them not to have run into any of them yet was surprising, this was very bad security indeed on someone`s part.

Aswan indicated to Trajo to take half of the men to engineering, starting her attack in exactly two minutes time. Trajo moved off along the corridor checking the four cabins in turn, but they were all empty, she came to engineering and looked back to Aswan, he stood before the door that should lead on to the bridge, with his party were the three primitives. Trajo liked the leader of them, he was good looking and from the way his plans were going, a clever tactician, he could easily have replaced Divilio, for her dead leader was not noted for his brains, just for his violence.

Aswan stopped before the entrance to the bridge and made way for his shock troops, no point in getting killed when others were prepared to take the initial risks. He turned to look down the corridor and was pleased to see that Trajo too had made way for her shock troops, if they got away with the audacious plan of the primitive, then maybe she and him could get it together. He jerked his mind back to the moment and signalled to Trajo and the two teams of Heliot shock troops entered through their respective doors.

In engineering were six crewmen who were busy putting the final touches to their ships repairs and it would now be able to finally take off, and earlier than promised. Also, in there were four of the androids, the androids caught by surprise as they were, didn`t have a chance against the superior plasma weapons that the Heliots carried. They fell to the floor almost together with a mighty crash amid the high-pitched whistling sound of the plasma bolts and the electrical crackling of the androids` components when the plasma bolts destroyed them, this part of the battle was over. The six crewmen quickly signalled their peaceful intentions by throwing their hands up towards the roof of the engineering compartment and pleading for their lives.

On the bridge it was a similar battle except for here there were only three androids to destroy, it was all over in a flash. Tyler moved forward and spoke to the Commander of the ship.

"Have you completed your repairs yet Captain?"

The commander looked up at him despairingly and answered with a hint of resignation in his voice.

"No, if we had you wouldn`t have caught us, for we would have been long gone." Aswan turned to move off towards engineering but stopped as Trajo burst in.

"They have just finished repairing her this minute Aswan; we can lift off whenever you want."

Trajo had carried a second of the lightweight translators with her so that she was able to speak to the stunned crewmen in engineering. Aswan had brought them with him from the carnage that had once been his army so that he would be able to speak with the earthmen.

"I want to leave, now." Aswan turned to the ship's commander. "Okay Commander, take us up towards the ship in orbit about this Planet." He ordered.

"You want to go up to the ship?" the commander repeated, quite baffled by this unexpected order.

"Yes, and unless you start obeying my order now, I will have another of your crew replace their dead commander." The silence lasted only for a second and was broken by the ship`s commander shouting out to his bridge crew.

"All right you heard the man, take off stations please. Engineering this is the bridge; we are taking off as soon as you are ready."

In engineering, the chief engineer replied to the order. "Okay, Captain, we need to go through our check list to ensure that nothing else is wrong. Only then will we proceed to fire everything up. As the engines are cold, it should be ten minutes before we are ready to lift off."

Tyler then stepped forward and spoke to Aswan.

"Okay, we have kept to our part of the agreement and have given you the chance of capturing the starship, how about letting us three go now."

*********

Moments earlier, outside of the cargo ship, George Masters arrived to see if he could assist Colonel Bragg. "Ah! Colonel did you get the explosive aboard the cargo vessel?" George Masters asked moments after Tyler had disappeared within the cargo vessel.

Masters had arrived at what Bragg liked to call his forward HQ; for he wanted to be where the action was.

"No Mr Masters, the alien commander has posted six men to guard the entrance, and I cannot see how to get around the problem." Colonel Bragg replied.

"Yes, I see." Masters said. "Could we not entice them off the ship for just a few moments to allow us access to the hold of the ship, say with something that would appeal to them?" George Masters said with a smile.

"Mr Masters, do you have a suggestion to make?" Bragg asked, because he was very interested in solving his problem.

"Well, back in the twenty first century, women normally did the trick." George Masters suggested.

"You expect me to ask the towns women to act as women of the streets!" Colonel Bragg said in a shocked voice.

"Colonel, you are old fashioned." Masters said before continuing on in a more forceful manner. "I expect women of the twenty fifth century to be as brave as they were back when I grew up. It is not as if I am asking them to prostitute themselves, simply to lead the soldiers on until you have completed your task, then we can rescue them, from themselves as it were, and no one will be any the wiser." George Masters demanded.

"Yes, Mr Masters of course you are right, and I know just the women for the job." In a town where the population was six hundred and growing, finding six young teenage girls who would be willing to do their part in keeping New Eden safe was not all that difficult, and Colonel Bragg realising the urgency of the matter lost no time in getting them.

"Right ladies, you know what to do, simply entice the sentries round to the other side of the ship and keep them there for a couple of minutes, just don`t be too subtle." Colonel Bragg explained.

Six pretty, young women moved over to gaze in at the sentries, each smiling the sexiest of smiles that she could find, while they talked and giggled with one another, giving the sentries enough side long glances for the sentries to be able to guess at what they were saying. Then the girls slowly walked around to the far side of the cargo vessel, they kept up the laughter and chatter and finally came to a stop some six feet in from the rear of the ship. They continued on in this way ensuring that the noise they made could be heard by the sentries, but not the other troopers in engineering or on the bridge.

When the first of the six Heliot sentries deserted his post, the other five sentries immediately followed him, but at an even quicker pace. The entrance way was open to Bragg, who asked for forgiveness from God as he heard the laughter that was coming from the far side of the ship.

Very quietly he ordered his two men who had been delegated to take the bomb on board to move quickly, but silently, on board the ship and plant the bomb. In a matter of seconds, they were back, mission completed.

"Okay, ladies." He said to the girls` mothers and sisters, let`s break things up." Colonel Bragg said.

The women marched on round to the other side of the ship and shouting loudly, dragged their 'bad' daughters away, and to help the plan along they slapped the poor women hard enough to bring tears to their eyes and cries of repentance. As soon as the women were far enough away the elder women apologised for their harsh treatment towards their respective daughters and younger sisters, but they hadn`t minded, it was for their town and the people who lived in it. The end result of all this was that a large explosive device was sitting just under the roof of the hold of the ship, concealed nicely upon two of the last of the special crates to be taken aboard, and put directly under the ships engines.

President Michaels belatedly joined them, but he looked a broken man, he had aged ten years over the last twenty-four hours, and with this aging came the knowledge that he had a lot of explaining to do, to everyone. He would have to convince everyone here on Orion to back his version of events. His version being that the Archbishop and the four Government Ministers were working together with him. Otherwise, after all of this became news, he feared that he would quickly fall from power, and all he would be able to hope for was to be allowed to live a quiet life on some planet far away from Earth, far away and hopefully forgotten. Just then Corporal Charles arrived with more news.

"Parkes tried to make a break for it, and before anyone could stop him, he was halfway to the cargo vessel here, luckily I am still a very good shot, so you don`t have to worry about there being a traitor amongst us anymore."

"Now all we have to do is sit here and wait for Tyler, Appolon and Caroline to leave the ship and we are almost there. I feel we finally have victory in sight." Masters said gleefully.

It was seconds after his happy statement that the large door that was the cargo entrance to the ship closed up and the cargo vessel took off, leaving a stunned group behind to watch as its lights slowly faded into the night.

**********

It had been John Cassidy who had been told to check the reactor building regarding the short loss of power experienced in the town. He had arrived at the fusion reactor to find the team tied up with a strong adhesive tape, but this he soon ripped painfully from their bodies and reported back to Colonel Bragg on the radio. It was as he left the reactor building that the light in the entrance way lit up the shape of what looked to be a body. Cassidy walked across and found that it was Robert Lambert; thankfully he had only been stunned and would soon wake up. Cassidy carried him back into the reactor building and laid him down on the floor before calling Marcia on the phone, Marcia took just five minutes to reach him.

"Thank you, John, for tending to him, you get back to ridding Orion of these murderers while I look after my father." Marcia said giving Cassidy a swift kiss before she put the cushion beneath her father`s head and a blanket over his body. She had picked up both items as she had hurried from her home, as she hadn`t expected to find such items at the reactor building.

Chapter Eighteen

The Final Battle

The Night of June 27th the Year 2494

Tyler was silent for a moment, stunned by the Heliot commander`s betrayal, but he realised that it should have been anticipated.

"What do you mean we have to stay aboard until you have finally taken the pirate ship, that wasn`t the agreement?" Tyler complained.

"Well it is now. I respect you very much earthman, the way you planned all this, and the way you improvised when things hit a snag. The way your two friends here risked their lives for you, rather than go when the option arose. Why do you not leave this planet behind and join us, I need a good strategist, stay with me as my first officer." Aswan offered.

"I thank you for the offer, Commander, but I am far too soft to be a pirate. I would always be on the side of the people you were trying to screw; you would only end up trying to kill me, before I killed you." Tyler replied.

"I had hoped you would take up my offer, but I thought that you would refuse, anyway I promise that I will release all three of you when we have won the battle for the ship up there, for who knows, I might still need your mind, one last time." Aswan replied sadly.

Time crawled along, however, finally the ship began to vibrate, ever so slightly, as the engine began to warm up, then, finally, engineering said that they could lift off when ready. The order was given and they lifted off from Orion and the cargo ship began to climb away from the surface of the planet. Aswan now leant over the Commander`s shoulder.

"Commander, inform the ship up there that all the repairs have been completed, and that you have lifted off from the planet, that and no more or you will be the first to die."

Captain Kruger felt that things were finally coming right and he could breathe again as he heard the message from his communications officer.

Ten minutes later, Aswan saw that they were making their final approach to the space cruiser Indefatigable, and so ordered the commander to report in again.

"Remember Commander, that some of my men will be left behind on this ship to guard you, should I walk into a trap, you will all die, if everything goes smoothly there is no reason why anyone should get hurt. Do you understand this Commander?" Aswan threatened.

"Yes, I understand, don`t worry, I am not prepared to die for my captain, and neither is anybody else here on this ship." The commander hastily said.

"Good, then we see things the same way, Commander." Aswan said, thinking that this man would willingly work for him, except he didn`t want him, whilst he had asked Tyler to join him, and he wouldn`t, and to cap it all, he understood why. Maybe, Aswan thought to himself, I am getting too old for this kind of life, but then what sort of life could he turn to now, it was far too late for him to change. Anyway, with Trajo to pass the time away with, things wouldn`t be too bad.

Tyler watched in amazement as the huge squat ship that was the Indefatigable loomed before them, he could now make out every pimple and dimple upon its dark hull and also the huge door at its rear that now slowly opened to reveal a massive hanger deck built to receive this small cargo vessel and the stealth ship. The cargo vessel came to a halt before the Indefatigable and slowly turned around so that its rear was towards the open hanger deck. Then Tyler felt a judder run through the cargo vessel as the space cruiser`s tractor beam grabbed a hold of the vessel and gently pulled it backwards, the cargo vessel slipped slowly through the opening in the starships massive hull to land quietly on the equally massive hanger deck of the ugly pirate ship. The ten crewmen of the cargo vessel were all bundled into the small mess room on the upper deck, there they were told to take off their uniforms and then to sit down. Rada and four armed guards watched over them with mean looking plasma weapons, ensuring that the crew sat quietly in their underwear, and all of them hoped for this to end quickly and painlessly.

The door of the cargo vessel opened wide, and from inside a party of ten of the Heliot troopers, all wearing the uniforms of the crew of the cargo vessel, moved out to take up firing positions, but there was no one to fire at, everyone was friends on board the Indefatigable.

Part of this team now went to the cabinets that lined one wall of the Indefatigable and took out the pressure suits that were stored there. They took the suits back to the cargo vessel, while the others went to the pressure door on the hanger deck, this led through to the remainder of the ship, and they ensured that it was kept open. Aswan immediately had a squad of his men led by Trajo, all dressed in the pressure suits, rush to the pressure door to reinforce the first troopers and secure it. Once there they tied a lifeline to whatever they could find so that if they were discovered, the captain of the ship could not simply open the outer door and blow them all into space. Now that all was secure, Aswan, also dressed in a pressure suit, stepped out of the cargo vessel. He had left the cargo vessel under the command of Rada to ensure that their prisoners behaved themselves. Aswan moved quickly across the deck of the hanger and over to the air lock door, he was accompanied by Tyler and his two friends, who were dressed in their ordinary attire, from here they went through the airlock, and out into the corridor.

"Well Appolon, Caroline, we are in need a new plan, for my original one seems to have gone a little awry; I just hope that I haven`t led the two of you to your deaths." Tyler said.

"The final battle is yet to be fought Tyler, who can say yet whether your plans have gone awry, for the future keeps a jealous hold upon its secrets." Appolon said in reply to Tyler`s apology.

"We are three warriors, Tyler, and if we must die then at least it will be as warriors and not the serfdom that the Heliots promised to all the people of Orion." Caroline said, her hand going to Tyler`s hand and holding it gently. "Also, our people will be safe."

Tyler smiled at his two friends, he knew now that his new friends would not hold anything against him, they would follow him whatever the future had in store for them. Caroline was looking at Tyler`s new clothing and frowning.

"Tyler your clothing is obviously better than the rags you had on before, but when we return to the village, I will make you a set of clothes befitting a warrior, they will suit you far better than these ones."

"I do feel a lot like G I Joe, thank you Caroline I would appreciate that." Tyler said smiling at the woman he loved, who wondered what a G I Joe was.

**********

On the bridge of the Indefatigable, Karson had just that second turned to look at the security monitor that had just that second switched to the ship`s hanger deck. The view showed the rear of the small cargo vessel as it rested beside the sleek stealth attack craft, and looking out from inside the cargo vessel Karson could clearly see a group of troopers putting on pressure suits, for Aswan wanted to ensure that his men were available for instant use and also safe. Karson cried across to Captain Kruger.

"We have intruders Captain, from the look of them they must be the remnants of that alien force that was camped outside of New Eden." Karson exclaimed.

"Damn and Blast, they must have got by those useless marines down on the planet and taken the ship, what the hell good are those androids, they appear only to be able to subdue aboriginals, they have fouled up every part of this operation that they have taken part in." Kruger said angrily.

"Number One, we must gather all the available crew together and arm them, luckily no one should be down on the lower deck. Close all the crash doors now, it should slow them up when they try to move up to one of the other levels."

Huge doors throughout the Indefatigable moved across corridors to make individually armoured and sealed compartments throughout the ship.

"Mr Billings open the hanger deck outer door, let`s see if we can blow all of our uninvited guests out into space." Billings tried to follow his captain`s orders but came up against a problem.

"I can`t Sir, the air lock door between the hanger deck and the lower deck is open and the safety program is stopping me from opening the outer door."

"Number One, try to override the program. I while go down to the middle deck and organise our crew." Kruger ordered.

"Mr Masterson, be ready to open individual crash doors as and when I ask you to." Kruger said.

"Aye Aye Sir." replied in the customary nautical manner of Masterson`s long departed ancestors.

"Come on Billings let`s see if we can throw our unwanted guests off our ship."

Their first stop was to open the heavy door of the armoury and take out two heavy duty plasma weapons. Also waiting at the armoury were two more officers, they had been at the officer`s galley which was set on the other side of the crash door that had just closed. Seeing the crash door closing they had thrown themselves through the narrowing space and had just been about to enter the bridge when the captain and Billings had left it. Kruger thrust two more of the deadly plasma weapons into their hands.

"Come with us you two, we have a lot of intruders on the lower level to deal with." He also gave them each a bag filled with more of the deadly plasma weapons, plus extra power cells, as they would almost certainly be needed.

They were stopped by the large crash door that the two bridge officers had just thrown themselves under, so Kruger yelled out to Masterson.

"Mr Masterson, will you open the upper level crash door for ten seconds, and then close it behind us."

The huge door slowly opened to allow them through and then closed behind them trapping them in the officer`s galley. Before them was a lift, but when the crash doors were shut it too stopped working, sealing off the ship at whatever floor it happened to be on, as there was no access to the lift other than through its door, it was a very effective barrier. Beside the lift was a heavy door, and inside this door was a sealed access hatch set in the floor. Kruger now took out his communicator and called the bridge.

"Mr Masterson, first check that the access tube is empty of the intruders and then open the security door on the upper level and then open the access hatch inside."

Masterson quickly checked the appropriate camera that was set in the wall of the access tunnel and seeing that the tunnel was still secure, he opened the security door followed by the access hatch which by way of a ladder took you down from the upper level to the corridor in the middle level of the ship. Here Kruger, once again called on Masterson to first open the security door to allow them access to the middle level deck, and then to open the crash door that would enable him to enter into the science and medical section of the ship. Here he found ten more of his crew awaiting developments; he gave each one a plasma weapon and filled them in on the problem that they faced in the shape of the intruders.

Billings meanwhile had been in touch with Masterson once again, and it was now the crash door to the engineering section that opened to allow him entry, he looked in and told the eight men trapped inside what the situation was, and for them to come out into the corridor where the captain would give them their orders. Kruger now armed these crewmen, and with his full force before him, he spoke to them.

"We aren`t going anywhere until we sort this problem out, so I need you all to help kick these aliens of our ship." Kruger explained.

"Understood Captain, you can count on us to kick their butts." The chief engineer said accompanied by nods and grumps from the other crew members.

"Okay men, first we have to secure the lower deck level, then we will see about kicking the aliens off the ship."

**********

Down on Orion, Masters and Tryon, together with Parsons were shouting at Colonel Bragg.

"Tyler, Appolon and Caroline are still on board the cargo vessel, so what is the rush to set off your explosives, you will just have to wait for a little longer, until Tyler contacts us to advise us what he wants us to do." Masters insisted.

"Wait until that ship up there starts to fire down upon us you mean. Whoever wins the battle for the ship is just as likely to renege on the deal and start shooting down at us just for kicks." Bragg stated just as forcibly.

President Michaels then entered the argument. "Colonel, I am sure that we will be safe for a little longer. We owe Mr Burrows and his friends so much; surely we can run a few of our own risks to repay in part what we owe them." He argued.

"If that is how you want to play it Mr President, then I will follow your instructions, just don`t leave it too long."

*********

Tyler kept close to Caroline to ensure that he would be able to stop any plasma bolts that came her way, Appolon, he thought, was old enough and tough enough to look after himself. Next to Tyler, Caroline was thinking along similar lines except that it was she who would do the protecting. The Heliot troopers moved along a narrow corridor with doors leading off it on both sides. Each one was easily opened by pressing a metal plate inset into the wall of the corridor, each one was investigated, and all of them were empty of their occupants. Then from ahead came a mechanical groan, followed by more human groans that originated from the Heliot Troopers when they had seen the first of the crash doors begin to close. The leading Heliot troopers were carrying a large plasma cannon between them and seeing that they would be effectively locked out from the rest of the ship they thrust the cannon between the closing door and the bulkhead. The door almost won the contest by crushing the large cannon into so much garbage, but it failed to close across completely, although the gap got smaller all the time. Aswan immediately ordered two of his biggest troopers to take a hand, and with these two large Heliot soldiers using all their muscles in an effort to stop the crash door from closing over, the heavy door finally whined to a stop when it got thoroughly jammed by the twisted parts from the heavy plasma cannon. The Heliots were then able, with the help of some tools which they appropriated from the hanger deck, to open the door a little wider, allowing them to pass through. Once through, Aswan saw that there was a lift which was obviously not working, although he tried pressing repeatedly on the call button, and a heavy metal security door next to it, this housed the narrow vertical ladder that led up to a sealed hatch set in the ceiling at the top of the ladder.

"Trajo, get some explosive and blow this door off of its hinges, let`s see if there is an access ladder behind it." Aswan ordered, for on the Heliot space cruisers they had a similar system to what looked to be before them now.

Trajo used a small amount of plastic explosive which she put around the locking mechanism. Then she called out a warning.

"We are blowing the door now so please take cover everyone." Trajo bellowed this out over the suit radios.

Tyler, Caroline and Appolon were much further back from the centre of operations, and of course they had the smaller translator provided by Aswan, but as the warning was given over the suit radios, they didn`t hear it, but Tyler understood what was going on anyway, and so he warned Caroline and Appolon to cover their ears. Trajo detonated the explosive and the door flew open with a crash as it hit the surrounding metal of the walls. Before her was the access ladder that ran up to the hatch that sealed off the floor above. Aswan moved forward to have a look at it and after a moment he turned around and ordered Trajo to blow the hatch,

"Be careful Trajo, for on the other side of this wall is outer space, so use the Kamet directional explosive, set it to blow upwards and away from the rear wall."

Trajo moved to the ladder, she had been anticipating such an order; she slowly clambered up the ladder, her pressure suit reducing her manoeuvrability somewhat. Taking the Kamet explosive out of her pack she attached it to the flat ceiling above her head so that the lock of the hatch would be destroyed along with a portion of the ceiling. She now took out a detonator which incorporated a timer and after attaching the detonator to the explosive she gave the timer a flick of the dial, which was now set into the side of the Kamet explosive everything was ready. Moments later she was back down the ladder and motioning everybody back around the corner and into cover.

"We are blowing the door now." Trajo bellowed out once again over the suit radios.

Tyler, Caroline and Appolon were still almost at the rear of the twenty Heliot troopers but once again Tyler understood what was going on, and so he warned Caroline and Appolon once again and they all quickly covered their ears. From ahead there followed a loud explosion, and smoke billowed out of the opening, and debris rained down upon the floor directly beneath the hatchway.

On the floor above the Heliots, Kruger, was monitoring everything through the surveillance cameras and knew what to expect when he saw Trajo clamber up the access ladder.

"They`re going to blow the access hatch, move back."

The resulting explosion was deadened by the heavy door that sealed off the access hatch, even so the ship shook with the power of the explosion, but the heavy door held. Kruger knew that it would not keep them out for long and had already formulated a plan to deal with any alien troopers who were foolish enough to try and climb the ladder. He ordered Masterson to open the door and then Kruger pitched a grenade down through the hole that had once been the access hatch. Kruger knew the strength of his ship more than anyone else alive did, and so had no worries about the grenade blowing a hole through its outer wall.

The grenade exploded into the face of a Heliot trooper killing him instantly, the rest of the Heliots immediately moved back into cover.

"We are trapped down here Aswan, so much for the plans of the earthman, we might have died down on the planet as warriors rather than to die up here in space as rats caught in a trap." Trajo wailed.

"We are not going to die Trajo, just give me a moment to think things over." Aswan said patiently.

"And while you take your time thinking of a way around our problem, the captain of this ship that we have trapped ourselves on will come up with even more ways to kill us, such as opening the hanger door and waiting us out." Trajo screamed out for all in pressure suits to hear.

"Quiet Trajo, we can always return to the planet if need be, in the two crafts waiting for us in the hanger."

"And be destroyed by the plasma weapons of this ship." Trajo replied scornfully. "Divilio may have had his faults but he would never have led us into this trap." Trajo wined.

"Divilio led our magnificent fleet into the trap that brought us here." Aswan responded angrily, to this retort Trajo had nothing more to say, she simply hung her head in shame and apologised to Aswan.

"I am sorry Aswan, you of course are correct, no blame can attach itself to you, whatever the outcome of this final battle by the once great army of Heliot."

Tyler who had seen the dead body of the Heliot trooper carried by him, had requisitioned his damaged helmet so that he could now listen into all that was said by the Heliot commander, and on hearing what had been said between Aswan and Trajo, Tyler had decided to step into the Heliot breach.

"Aswan, this is the earthman here, can I speak to you."

Aswan immediately brightened up, for hadn`t he offered this same earthman the position of tactical officer, maybe the earthman has a solution to their present impasse.

"I will come back to you, earthman. Trajo you take command up here while I speak to the earthman."

Aswan was soon back with Tyler who switched off the radio within the helmet that he had taken, and while warning Aswan to be quiet indicated that Aswan was to turn his radio off too. Aswan couldn`t understand all the secrecy, but decided that he needed a sit down anyway and so was about to lead the way into one of the cabins when Tyler said that they should talk back aboard the cargo vessel.

"I am fighting a battle earthman, or haven`t you noticed. So, I am a little too busy for all of this."

"The captain on board this vessel has a liking for listening into other people`s conversations, Commander, and as you are all wearing pressure suits that you took from his ship`s hanger, he is very likely listening in to everything that is said over these radios," Tyler explained indicating the radio inside of the helmet he carried. "And as you seemed to value my advice so much that you offered me a senior position in your army, maybe you wouldn`t mind listening to some of it now." Tyler said patiently waiting for Aswan`s answer.

"I am sorry earthman; yes, I would value your advice if you have any to offer me." A chastened Heliot replied.

"Okay then, I may have a plan that will get you out of the jam that we find ourselves in and move things along nicely." Tyler said happily.

"I had hoped that you did when you asked to speak to me, but quickly, for I don`t know how much time the captain of this ship will give us."

Tyler led the way back to the safety of the cargo vessel. He had no fear that the captain of the space cruiser would open the hanger door and release all the oxygen out into space, as the middle deck where the ship`s crew were located was now open to the lower level of the ship. For Kruger had left the main door open just in case the aliens approached the access ladder, then he could toss more grenades down. Also, Tyler assumed that all the space suits that were aboard the space cruiser were in the hands of the Heliots. "Okay, here goes, and Tyler told Aswan the newest adaption to his plan."

Kruger had indeed been listening in to all that had been said over the suit`s radio frequency, and he had laughed when he had heard Trajo whine so beautifully, but then he heard a voice that he recognised.

"It`s that man Burrows down there, I knew he was trouble from the first moment that he spoke in the temple down on Orion." Kruger screamed. "Not only does he give advice to the President, but now he is here with the aliens."

"He may be here, Captain, but what can he do." Billings said.

"Do, he can try and screw us again, that is what he can do."

*********

Down below on Orion, Masters was looking at a large monitor that was receiving pictures via the satellite. Ivor Johansson had been able to reprogram the satellite to change its orbit and turn its cameras towards outer space.

"There Colonel, the pirate`s ship hasn`t so much as moved an inch, obviously a battle is going on inside for control of the ship, and until it is over the ship will stay in orbit, just above our heads."

"Yes, just above our heads." Colonel Bragg agreed, and then continued on with his argument. "And they are just as ready to blow us all to hell and back." However, he did have the grace to look slightly guilty.

"Should they be foolish enough to fire upon us, it will be the last thing that they will do, for we shall then detonate the bomb that you managed to get aboard their craft." Masters replied angrily. "Anyway, I am sure that Tyler has everything well in hand."

At that precise moment in time the satellite phone on Colonel Bragg`s belt sprang into life.

"George are you there, it`s Tyler, come in if you can hear me." Colonel Bragg answered.

"Mr Burrows it is Colonel Bragg here, how are thing up there."

"That is what I want to speak to George about, is he there." Masters took the phone from out of Bragg`s hand with a smug look upon his face.

"I am here Tyler, what can we do for you." George Masters asked.

"The Commander of the Heliot forces has agreed to let Tryon, Fleur and myself go, so we will be travelling back down to the temple square in that small cargo vessel, so please don`t fire upon us when we land, understand George, we should be leaving quite soon."

George looked at Colonel Bragg, and the others that were in the Bishop`s private room in the temple with the earthmen were Tryon and John Parsons.

"Well gentlemen, what do you make of that? He obviously did not mean for us to take what he said literally, did he Tryon?" Colonel Bragg asked.

"As I am here and Fleur is still in our village and not with Tyler in that space ship above our heads, then what he said must have been meant for someone else`s ears." Tryon replied.

"Well do we take it that the cargo vessel is about to make another trip down to Orion, then?" Bishop Sinclair asked of everyone.

"I really don`t know what that call was about; it was most unlike Tyler, especially as it was over the satellite phone, which Tyler knows is being monitored by the pirate captain." Masters lamented.

"It was just like Tyler." Bragg said. "He is scheming schemes again and someone up there is going to be on the receiving end of this particular one." Bragg was feeling a lot better now, for it was obvious to him that Tyler was still very much in control of their new situation.

**********

Captain Kruger had ordered the crash doors on the middle deck to be opened so that he could easily move from the science department to the galley area of the middle deck level and into the engineering department. He was installed inside of the science department keeping an eye on the Heliot troopers via the close circuit cameras that were installed all over the ship. He was a little bemused following Tyler`s conversation with Masters, and even more so now when he saw that the Heliot Commander was taking time out of this important battle for the ship to repatriate the three captives back to the planet`s surface. On the bridge of the starship Karson had still not been able to get the computer to open the outer door on the hanger deck, and he wondered if he should continue as at least one of the crash doors was jammed open as well as two access hatches and a security door.

The first part of Tyler`s plan had called for Aswan to interrogate the ten captive crewmen to find out if the Indefatigable had any portable force fields anywhere aboard the starship, although Tyler did wonder if they had been invented, this far forward into the future. Aswan left this part of the plan to Rada who had been left in charge of the cargo vessel, and also of their prisoners. The crewmen had so far refused to co-operate with him, so Rada showed them what to expect if they didn`t, he shot one and then another crewmen dead, after that the remaining crew men couldn`t help him enough. Such was the level at which the Heliots held the value of their captives' lives.

The next thing that Kruger saw was a further ten troopers quickly donning pressure suits taken from the ones on the wall of the Indefatigable, and leave the cargo vessel, they carried with them a further supply of them to the troopers who were still dressed in the clothing taken from the captive crewmen.

Aswan then commenced his part in the stage production, he pointed up towards the cameras that were videoing everything that happened on the crew`s lower deck, and was watched by Captain Kruger up in the science department on the floor above. Shouting out an order over the pressure suits radio he called for all of the cameras to be destroyed, which the Heliot troopers took great joy in doing. Now Captain Kruger could only listen in on the pressure suit radios, to hear what was happening on the lower deck level. All of Aswan`s orders were now given by the laborious method of writing it down on paper and showing it to all who needed to see it.

Next the hanger deck was decompressed in readiness for the supposed take off of the cargo vessel, which seemed about to return Tyler and his friends back to Orion. When all the Heliot troopers were ready, the pressure door that separated the hanger deck from the remainder of the ship, and which had been closed during the de-pressurisation of the hanger deck, was blown open to ensure that the captain of the ship could not close it again. All the air from the lower deck immediately rushed out into the hanger deck and then into outer space, if the Heliot troopers had not been wearing pressure suits they would have been dead by now, but they were wearing them. However, it didn`t end here for the air in the access tunnel connecting up to the middle deck level also rushed out into space, as did the air in the galley area where six of Kruger`s crewmen were keeping watch. In micro seconds the ships computer registered the decompression on the two lowest decks and immediately closed the heavy crash doors that led from the middle deck galley to the science and engineering departments. The six crewmen in the galley area died very quickly in the vacuum that followed the blowing of the airlock. It also trapped Captain Kruger and nearly all the rest of his crew inside the science department.

It had been because of this deliberate decompression that Tyler had insisted on the need for the hanger deck to be decompressed beforehand. Otherwise the decompression of the rest of the ship would have been far too violent, and also the ship would have lost a valuable amount of air that would be needed when the troopers had control of the ship. The Heliot troopers had already been told what to do after the decompression, they were to count to ten and then climb up the access ladder and secure the galley area up above them.

Once up there, Trajo moved over to the heavy door that housed the next access tube and quickly blew that door open. She next scaled the ladder to the upper level and made short work of the access hatch. Aswan now had control of that galley area as well, all he had to do was get access to the bridge and the ship would be his. Trajo then fixed Kamet explosive onto the wall that formed the inner part of the captain`s cabin and blew the wall apart. The zero atmosphere now extended up to this floor and even into the captain`s cabin. Aswan now ordered his men into the cabin, and then Trajo erected a force field using one of the portable devices taken from the ship`s stores to prevent the bridge area from also becoming a vacuum. Aswan particularly wanted to take at least one bridge officer alive to show them how to open all of the crash doors without having to resort to blowing them all open. Aswan and the troopers now prepared to open the door of the captain`s cabin that led directly out onto the deck of the bridge.

*********

On the cargo vessel, Tyler, Appolon and Caroline followed Rada up to the bridge where upon he boasted of his killing of the two captives, and the way that the rest of them had vied with one another to answer all of his questions. Tyler felt revolted by Rada`s attitude and realised that what he now had to do would be that much easier. On the bridge besides themselves and Rada were two other Heliot troopers. Tyler turned away from all of the three Heliots seemingly to speak to Appolon who looked at him in expectation. It said a lot for him not to show the surprise that he obviously must have felt when he saw Tyler take out his plasma pistol from his belt where he had pushed it, turn and shoot Rada and then turning the pistol slightly he then shot the second Heliot soldier. Appolon had the benefit of that split second when Tyler turned and fired, to take his own plasma weapon out and shoot the third Heliot soldier. Caroline was stunned for a moment and then she said.

"Oh, we`re going home then are we?" Caroline`s lack of interest in the killing of the troopers was because it was part of this squad that had shot down Tolono`s people without any reason in the world, and so as far as she was concerned, they deserved nothing less than death for their crime.

Tyler looked across at Caroline smiling. "Yes Caroline, home, but first pick up those three plasma pistols and stuff them in my backpack."

When they were securely inside his backpack Tyler turned and opened the door, by his side was Appolon, outside the two Heliot soldiers had heard the plasma fire and assumed that Rada had fired upon the primitives who were on the bridge. Even so, as they saw the door open, they moved towards it whilst attempting to draw their plasma pistols from the holsters attached to their belts, much like gun fighters in the old American west did. Unfortunately, they wouldn`t have won any gun fights for as they became visible to Tyler and Appolon, both men fired hitting the Heliots at point blank range, taking them out of the battle. The other twelve Heliot soldiers were too far away, being down in the hold of the ship, and making far too much noise as they played dice amongst themselves, to be concerned with what was happening up on the flight deck of the ship. Tyler went to the door of the cabin that held the eight remaining captive crewmen while Appolon and Caroline quietly kept watch on both the lift and the stairs, to ensure that Tyler was not interrupted.

Tyler had first requisitioned the Heliots two plasma pistols and jammed them into his belt, he now felt like a pirate, before he opened the door and on being seen by the crewmen motioned for them to be quiet.

"Are there any pressure suits on this deck level?" Tyler asked. When the crewmen looked questionably at him Tyler added. "Do you want to be rescued or not?" This brought about an immediate response.

"Yes, in the store room opposite." The Commander of the cargo vessel answered.

"Right then, whoever works in the engineering department go there now and do not leave it as the rest of the ship will soon be depressurised. I want to rid ourselves of the Heliot troopers on the lower deck, but remember to move quietly so that we do not alert those twelve Heliot troopers. Oh, and first of all pull those two troopers into this cabin."

Five crewmen slipped down to engineering leaving Tyler and the remaining three crewmen, who quietly moved out of the room and across the corridor to the store room; here the Commander showed him the pressure suits. They were the latest lightweight models, and quick to put on.

"All right put them on." Tyler ordered.

Within two minutes the three crewmen were all dressed in pressure suits and had full oxygen tanks fitted onto their backs. Tyler went to the door and called to Appolon and Caroline, Caroline who on seeing them dressed as they were asked.

"What do they need those for?"

"Later, first put these extra plasma pistols into my back pack and then quickly put these two suits on." Tyler then turned to the three crewmen.

"Right you two go to your galley, and you Commander you stay with us to assist us in putting on our pressure suits." Tyler ordered, his plasma pistol always pointed ahead of him so that the all of the crewmen knew that he was the one in charge aboard this vessel.

Appolon and Caroline had noticed the way he never took his eyes of the crewmen and never let his plasma pistol drop, so they did likewise. Soon all three of them were in pressure suits and heading for the bridge, having collected the two crewmen from the galley. Once there he spoke to the Commander.

"The hanger door of the starship is wide open, Commander, prepare to take off as covertly as possible on my command."

"Yes Captain." The Commander replied. He was very impressed by the primitive.

"Caroline, I need to speak to Colonel Bragg, down on Orion, so you keep an eye on these guys, and if they as much as scratch shoot them." Tyler said.

"Don`t worry Tyler I will ensure that they do as they are told." Tyler smiled at her through his helmet, and then walked quietly into the cabin where the crew had been kept after their capture. Tyler now called Colonel Bragg on the short-wave radio.

"Colonel, are you there?" Tyler asked.

"Yes Tyler, I am here, what can I do for you?" Colonel Bragg answered.

"Colonel where is the bomb, I need to unload it onto the mother ship, as we are using the cargo vessel to come home in?"

Colonel Bragg knew the whereabouts of the bomb.

"It is on top of crates left of the entrance; it says Handle with Care, Fragile." Colonel Bragg replied.

"Thanks, Colonel. Tyler Out"

Next, Tyler returned to the bridge and spoke to the Commander.

"We must all switch over to our oxygen bottles now because I want you to open the rear door of the ship and let our Heliot guests breathe vacuum. Then decompress the rest of the ship, including the bridge, but not the engineering department, as I need to be able to move about without any problems."

"Captain it will be my pleasure." The Commander replied.

*********

On the bridge of the Indefatigable alarms were constantly screeching out their messages of danger, and the computer flashed up warnings of drops in air pressure from all over the ship finally culminating with a warning regarding the captain`s own cabin. Karson was up to his neck in work when from behind him he heard the whoosh as the air pressure dropped dramatically on the bridge as it rushed into the captain`s cabin, for Aswan had opened the captain`s cabin door behind him. Karson`s hand reached for his plasma weapon, he never made it; for the leading Heliot trooper fired his own weapon and stunned the young officer with a plasma shot to his body. Lieutenant Masterson on seeing more Heliot troopers entering the bridge behind the first one quickly threw up his hands and screamed out. "Don`t shoot, I surrender." The computer reading the drop in air pressure on the bridge flashed up another warning and set off the alarms once again, but when the drop in pressure stopped almost as soon as it had begun, the computer quickly compensated and pumped in more air so that the two gasping officers could breathe normally again.

Aswan finally entered the bridge in triumph and exclaimed. "The ship is ours." To all the Heliots within earshot.

Down in the science department of the Indefatigable, Captain Kruger hadn`t surrendered his ship yet.

"They must have taken the bridge by now Mr Billings, but we still control the engineering section and of course this section."

"Yes, Captain but how long will it take them to get one of the crewmen that they now hold captive, to show them how to operate the computer and then they can open the crash doors whenever they want."

"Yes, I guess that we have only minutes to come up with a plan that will guarantee our success, or we will have to surrender to the mercy of those barbarians." Kruger replied. Everyone looked blank, for no one could foresee any way to win through in the current situation.

"That bastard Burrows is to blame for all this, should I come through this alive I swear that I will kill that man." Kruger groaned, mostly to himself.

*********

On board the cargo vessel the man causing Captain Kruger so much trouble then asked the Commander to switch on the close circuit cameras to ensure that no surprises were in store for them, but only the dead bodies of the twelve troopers could be seen on the monitor that was beside Caroline. It showed all that happened down in the hold of the cargo vessel, and Tyler had waited just one minute following the full depressurising of the ship before acting.

Tyler now turned the close circuit monitor off by the manual switch beside it, and then he moved Caroline over in front of the dead monitor.

"Appolon, Caroline, there is something that I must do, you stay here and take charge, I will not be long."

Tyler didn`t like leaving the bridge at a time like this, but he had no choice, so he walked down the stairs to the hanger deck. Down at the front of the ship`s hold, Tyler soon found the crate which he had been looking for, but he had to struggle to carry it off the cargo vessel. First though, he looked covertly about to ensure that all the other crewman were out of sight, they were, they were all on one of the upper decks of the space cruiser and of course all the close circuit cameras on this level had been blasted by the Heliots at Tyler`s suggestion.

"Right where to put the bomb, somewhere that will do the most damage to this space cruiser." Tyler said to himself, a brief look at the ships schematics neatly placed upon the hanger wall quickly told him. He now knew exactly where to put the bomb, beneath the Hyperspace engines, and soon he was back on board the small cargo vessel.

As he made his way towards the staircase, he tripped over a plasma pistol lying near a dead Heliot trooper. He now paused to collect the twelve plasma weapons that had belonged to the dead troopers and put them into one of the storage lockers set along the side wall of the ship. He did not want one of the crewmen to be tempted by them, should they get the opportunity to come down here, and he also put his backpack into the locker with them. When Tyler returned to the bridge, he gave the Commander his orders.

"Get the hell out of here Commander, before that Heliot Commander cottons on to what we are up to and attempts to stop us, but leave the rear door open so that when we take off, we will lose the Time Machine."

Tyler had decided to destroy the Time Machine when he saw all the death and destruction that had occurred, all due to the powerful megalomaniacs of the galaxy trying to acquire this fantastic technology that the scientists on Orion had produced out of their minds. However, the technology was too far advanced for Mankind to have, better it be left for a future Earth to find.

The Commander smiled, they had done everything possible to get hold of the Time Machine and the primitive was ditching it without a second thought, well maybe it was for the best, for now no one would have it. The cargo vessel`s engines swiftly engaged and the cargo vessel lifted gently off of the deck of the space cruiser, there before them were the open hanger doors.

"Take us out Commander."

"Aye, Aye, Sir." The commander responded.

*********

Aswan was on the bridge looking at the security monitor that was now showing the science department.

"Captain I demand your immediate surrender or I will order the opening of all of the crash doors, this as I am sure you know will cause all the remaining members of your crew to die, I will give you thirty seconds to decide."

Down in the science department, Kruger realised that the moment had come to surrender.

"Yes, Commander you can have my surrender and that of my crew, if you will promise to allow them to live."

"I will allow your crew to live Captain, but you yourself, your actions I am told created the time storm that destroyed the Heliot fleet, and then you exterminated almost a thousand of my men, for that you will have to pay. Now, decide, do you surrender the ship to me or do you and all of your men die."

Kruger rested his head in his hands to gather what strength he could before answering.

"Yes, if you will allow me to speak to the whole of the ship, I will order the remaining members of my crew to lay down their arms."

Aswan looked across at Masterson, who indicated to one of the Heliot troopers how to make it happen, and so it did.

"All right Captain, you may now speak to the entire ship." Aswan said.

"This is Captain Kruger, crew of the Indefatigable, we tried to repulse the alien troopers but have failed, lay down your weapons and ready yourselves to be taken prisoner."

On the ships security scanners Aswan could see the dejected members of the Indefatigable crew lay down their arms in both sections of the ship not yet under his direct command, and he smiled.

"Close the hanger deck door and then be ready to re-pressurise the ship, and then to open the remaining crash doors" Aswan ordered Masterson.

"Trajo, order our troopers outside of the two crash doors on the mid-level deck to be ready to take the crewman to the lower galley and keep them there. Then have the Captain brought up here."

"Corporal Riga, contact Rada and tell him to take his prisoners to the lower galley. Have the troopers stay on that ship for the moment, we will be too crowded over here, Oh and have the primitives brought here." Riga was newly promoted, for all the other minor officers had been killed, he was also one of the only enlisted men who had any vestige of intelligence.

*********

Just moments after Aswan gave his orders, the Commander of the cargo vessel screamed out a warning. "The hanger door is closing."

"Well hit the after burners and get us out while you can." Tyler ordered.

The Commander didn`t know what after burners were, but he got the gist of what Tyler meant, and he pushed the emergency booster button. Flames leapt out from the rear of the ship and they blasted out into space with literally only inches to spare, so much extra power had been added that the sudden jump in speed almost knocked Appolon, Caroline and Tyler from their feet.

Down below in the hold of the ship the crates containing the Time Machine flew out from the open door of the ship along with the dead bodies of the Heliot troopers and anything else that was not firmly held down, following, but much slower, the flight of the cargo vessel. Tyler grinned across at Appolon and Caroline.

"We are going home." Then his face became grim as he pulled out his short-wave radio and called Colonel Bragg.

"Hello Tyler, Bragg here, what can we do for you." Colonel Bragg asked.

"Colonel, we are on our way home, do what you have to do, Oh, and tell George to put the kettle on."

"Don`t worry Tyler, I will." Masters shouted out from behind Colonel Bragg.

The resulting explosion less than a minute later was felt by Tyler aboard the cargo vessel, he had a grim smile upon his face, for he knew that the people of Orion, indeed the galaxy were now safe both from the pirates and also from the Heliots, but so many of them had to die to accomplish it. The Commander of the cargo vessel was looking across at him.

"What in hell`s name did you do while you were away from the flight deck, that explosion back there, just what caused it?" He demanded to know, although he must have guessed from the anger on his face.

"What you just felt was justice for all the innocent people who have died and would have died if either your bunch of pirates or that alien bunch of pirates had lived a moment longer." Tyler snarled. "I am here because of your actions. Their death is because of your actions. And I have to live with the deaths of so many men on my conscience because of the likes of you, the Heliots, your Captain and crew, the bloody President of Earth and who knows who else, so don`t you dare have a go at me Commander, because I will not take it."

The Commanders face paled under Tyler`s blistering attack and paled even more for Tyler had now drawn the two plasma pistols from his belt and had pointed them directly at the commander`s head.

Looking into the barrels of the two plasma pistols that were held in the hands of the primitive, the commander knew that he was a millimetre away from death. He was an intelligent man, but one that had buried all the deeds that the Indefatigable had done deep within his sub conscious. However, after Tyler`s violent outburst, they all burst to the surface, the attack on the peaceful planet of Altera, the attack on Rigel Five, the annihilation of the Heliot army down in the valley of Orion, a groan escaped from his mouth and he almost wept for all the dead. Across from him the other two members of the bridge crew hung their heads in shame.

Caroline, seeing the pain on Tyler`s face jumped in to protect him.

"Tyler don`t let these Monsters dare to accuse you of anything, you did what had to be done, what no one else on Orion could do, especially that President of Earth, I hope that he gets all that he deserves, as this scum here will get when we land back on Orion."

Tyler smiled at Caroline and touched her arm, but then he returned to business and he contacted Colonel Bragg on the short-wave radio once again.

"Colonel, will you please ensure that a team of your marines is ready to come aboard the cargo vessel the instant that we land to take the crew into custody."

"We will be ready Tyler." Colonel Bragg said, highly delighted at how everything had turned out all right.

Down on Orion they saw the exploding space cruiser, and so many of them who knew what it meant went into the temple to say their thanks to God.

*********

Robert Lambert came back to the land of the living to see his daughter sitting next to him. He was lying in one of the beds of the medical centre, Cassidy had called them as he had left the reactor building and Doctor Springer had responded quickly, as the centre was only five hundred yards away from reactor building.

"How did I get here Marcia?"

"John found you and called me and then Doctor Springer."

Lambert looked up at his young daughter and it occurred to him that he could easily have had a stroke or worse when the plasma energy bolt hit him, she would then be forced to look after both him and the farm, all alone until he died, and all because of his opposition to the young marine. The marine said he loved her and he knew that Marcia loved the marine so he came to a decision.

"Marcia that young marine, do you love him, and does he love you?"

Tears came into Marcia`s eyes as she realised what her father was about to say. "Yes, Father we are very much in love."

"But you stayed with me anyway, Marcia will you please tell him that we need some help on the farm, and tell him that it`s a permanent position."

"I will Daddy." Marcia replied. Her face was all smiles as her tears now slipped down her tanned young face. "I love you Daddy."

"And I love you Marcia."

Chapter Nineteen

The Heroes Return

The Early Morning of June 28th the Year 2494

The small cargo vessel landed back on the same spot that it had taken off from, amid wild cheering, a far cry from the lament when it had taken off with Tyler, Caroline and Appolon still aboard. Tyler had the ship re-pressurised as soon as they had landed, and then ordered that the ship`s hanger door be opened to allow the marines to enter.

Tyler and his two friends were the last to leave the ship, after the eight crewmen left under arrest, ten space marines led by Captain Stevenson ensuring that the crewmen did so quietly. The plasma pistols were then delivered into the hands of Colonel Bragg and his space marines. The space marines also had to take care of the dead Heliots as well as the two dead crewmen murdered by Rada, but at least he was dead now, as all the Heliots were. The heroes were taken to the temple building by Masters; he had pushed in front of President Michaels to welcome them home. Masters first act was to give Tyler back his leather jacket which he quickly donned. Some amongst the colonists called for Tyler to be made First Minister of Orion, a new post springing up all over the galaxy, but he was mentally and physically exhausted so all he wanted to do was to rest. Brian Goddard and his wife Tracy insisted that there was room enough amongst the houses of New Eden to accommodate them, so that they could rest up before they journeyed back to the village of the red plains. Parsons pushed himself to the front of the crowd now, with his satellite phone held high above his head, his wife had Fleur on the other end of it who desperately wanted to speak to her husband and to ensure that he was safe, and that he would soon be coming back home to his daughters and to her.

"My darling wife, I promise that I will leave New Eden tomorrow morning, John Parsons has another land transporter and he will bring us all home, Caroline, George, Tyler and Tryon. We will be there soon after mid-day tomorrow, I promise. Oh! Tyler has asked me to say that he will get me back home tomorrow without fail, hell or high water, whatever that means Appolon laughed."

Tryon finally got to speak to Appolon, and he had smiles all over his face.

"Did I not say that Tyler was the one that the Legends spoke of?" Tryon was so elated by all of the events.

"Yes, Tryon, and now I believe that what you say is true." Appolon replied.

"Did Tyler really dump the Time Machine out into space?" Tryon asked excitedly.

"Let us just say that he inadvertently forgot to close the rear door of the ship." Both men laughed out loud bringing every one's attention to them, but they didn`t care, for now Orion would not be getting very crowded with the arrival of more off worlders.

President Michaels had found himself frozen out of the merriment, but he was at least happy about one thing. That as long as Tyler Burrows stayed far away from Earth, in a backwater such as on a planet named Orion, he would be satisfied, for to have Tyler back on Earth would be far too dangerous for the likes of him. For just a second, he had thought that the Time Machine was still on the cargo vessel but no, Tyler may have lost him the Time Machine but maybe he and Fulbright could develop a Matter Transporter, this would be far easier than trying to resurrect the time experiments and far cheaper. When the Matter Transporter was a fact, maybe Fulbright could have an accident, one far away from Orion and Tyler Burrows. Soon the Time Machine would be forgotten. If word ever did get out about it, people would say it was a myth, one more thing for the fiction writers to tell tall tales about.

Masters finally got Tyler alone for a few moments to tell him of his own good news.

"Well George I could do with some good news to lighten the mood that I have found myself in since we left the Indefatigable."

Masters explained why he was so very excited. "I have had a conversation with Doctor Springer; he says that the colony must salvage my Miles Finch aircraft. I can use it to ferry people quickly around Orion. He said that it would also make reaching and treating patients far quicker and much easier for him, he was sure that Colonel Bragg would arrange to salvage it before he returns to Earth, and there are enough engineers on Orion to help me to repair it." Masters turned quite serious now.

"Tyler, that Time Machine could have taken either of us back to the Earth of the twenty first century, it could have been used to explore so much of our history, we could have even listened to people such as Jesus or Buddha."

"Mankind isn`t ready for the kind of power that the Time Machine represented George. If we had been able to travel back into the past and listen to Jesus, do you think that the answers that were brought back would have been told to the masses, if they were not the answers that the authorities wanted them to hear. Half of Mankind would have taken to arms in protest whatever the result of the trip. No, George, if we had been ready to have the power of a Time Machine, then so many people wouldn`t have been trying to steal the same Time Machine away for their own personal use, and the fates wouldn`t have taken a hand and created the space storm that brought the two of us to Orion."

"Yes, Tyler, you are so right, and I for one will go on record that I agree with your decision to do so, it was for the good of all the people of Earth, and all the other people spread across the galaxy. What you say did also occur to me when I thought a bit more about your actions, but still I would have liked to have gone back to meet him, to listen to him." George Masters stopped talking for a moment as he thought about actually being in the presence of Jesus, but the moment was soon over and he looked back at Tyler.

"Tyler, I arrived here on Orion as a terrified old man, but you showed me by your example how I should be acting, and I would like to think that during the last couple of days that I have lived up to what the younger George Masters would have done."

This was quite a speech for Masters, and Tyler thought for a moment before replying.

"George, you were never more terrified than I was when we first arrived here on Orion. I grew up here on Orion, maybe it is something in the air, as for returning to Earth, I think that that lady over there has different ideas on the matter regarding you, and of course I have my Neolithic Princess." Tyler said looking across at Caroline who happened to turn their way at that moment, and seeing Tyler looking across at her, she smiled at him, and then motioned towards the doorway mouthing for him to go to the door so that they could meet outside, Now.

Meanwhile Masters had turned to see who Tyler meant, and saw that it was Morgana; she was at that moment walking across the room towards him, so he quickly excused himself, thinking just how lucky he really was to be here on Orion, in the twenty fifth century.

It was almost daybreak now and Tyler finally got Caroline to himself and taking her into his arms kissed her, but Appolon appeared from out of nowhere and interrupted them.

"Tyler, my good friend, on Orion anyone who kisses a woman must keep her for life."

"That suits me fine, Appolon, because I had already decided not to give her back." Tyler said kissing Caroline again, who then turned to her brother with a look of annoyance upon her face, and pushed him away before returning Tyler`s kisses.

The End

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Also, why not visit my author page by clicking on the link. Smashwords Books.

About the Author

I was born in London, England. Like most of the world I had to work hard to pay my mortgage and all the other bills so I only had the time and the energy to write some short stories. My wife and I have a son who is now married to a lovely wife and they have five children of their own. Since retiring to the Greek island of Crete I have finally found the time and the energy to write some full-length Science Fiction stories.

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Other Books by the author

Colonies of Earth Series in order

Galaxy Spies

Time Storm

Rebirth

Trial by Ordeal

Horror Stories

Strange tales; three short mild horror stories

The Vampires of Cymru-- coming soon

Rob Hinds black magic stories

Kidnapped and Bound for Hell

The Satanists

Dreamscape

The Return of the Bitch from Hell

David Charlton stories, a science fiction series

Rescue Mission to the Stars

The Treasure of Altaraus

Return to Mazere

Other science fiction stories

Quasar

The Venetou

Invasion Earth

Lost and Far from Home

Journey to the Stars

Rebellion is in the Air

Short children`s stories

Three Journeys of the Scary Kind

