Annihilation Series-Searching for a Hero (7 page)

“Wait! Why are you leaving?”

“I have to confess that I’ve wanted to get to know you better after we won our first armor exercise but now I see I’m no different than all the male cadets that bother me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m constantly having to tell would be suitors that I’m not interested and I don’t enjoy doing it. Now, here I’m forcing you to come see me. I’m just like them.”

Ping shrugged and said, “But there’s more than just interest now…isn’t there?”

Nicole stared at Ping and after a long moment said, “I wonder why you’re trying so hard to avoid a telepath.”

“Are you telepathic?”

“I am…but for some reason, I can’t see your thoughts.” Ping thought about ending the conversation but he knew she might run in to Jodie or Mios. He struggled with what to do. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m struggling with whether or not I should be honest with you.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Before I do that, who are you?” Nicole was immediately nervous and Ping saw it. “It looks like I’m not the only one hiding something here.”

“I’m not going to tell you.”

“Then I’m not going to tell you, either.”

“That’s fine.” Ping rolled his eyes and Nicole said, “What?”

“I can keep my secret but you can find out by looking at my friend’s thoughts. That’s not a level playing field.”

“Alright, then let’s do it this way. You tell me your secret and I promise to keep it to myself. If your secret is of a nature that is big enough to warrant it, I’ll tell you mine.”

Ping rolled his eyes, “Your secret must be doozy.”

“Yours will have to be for me to reveal it.”

Ping stared into Nicole’s eyes and knew he had to remove the threat of discovery. He leaned forward and said, “Have you ever heard anything about the Cats searching for someone?”

Nicole was stunned by the question, “How did you hear about that? No one knows about that.”

“You’re aware of it?”

“Yes.”

“And you know why they’re looking for this person?”

“I do.”

“How do you know about it?”

“I heard the thoughts of someone that knew.”

Ping looked in her eyes and said, “It’s me.”

Nicole’s mouth fell open and she started shaking her head. Ping waited and after a minute Nicole was able to say, “You must be wrong.”

“Why? And by the way, I really hope you’re right.”

“The Cats are looking for a super being to save Creation.”

Now it was Ping’s turn to be stunned. She stared at him and said, “You really think it was you they’re looking for?”

Ping shook his head, “Oh it’s me. I just didn’t know the part about saving Creation.”

“How can you know that?”

“I have a sense about things that has never failed. It’s me they’re attempting to find.”

Nicole looked him up and down and started shaking her head, “I just…I mean…you can’t be serious.” Ping smiled and she said, “What?”

“If you honestly believe I’m delusional, you won’t feel you have to tell anyone about me, right.” Nicole nodded. “Well, I’ve been able to convince my two friends so they’re just victims of my deception, right?” Nicole nodded again. “Great, no harm, no foul.”

Nicole said, “I’m King Gardner’s oldest daughter.” Ping’s face showed his shock. “Do you believe me?” Ping tried to gather his wits and looked at his sense of right and wrong; he slowly nodded. “You sense I’m telling the truth?” Ping could only nod. Nicole blew out a breath and shook her head.

Ping said, “What are you thinking?”

“You’re telling the truth as well and I promised not to reveal your secret.”

Ping stared at her with those intense eyes of his and softly said, “How can you not tell the King?”

“Because I promised not to do it and my word is the most important thing I possess.”

Ping stared at her, “You mean it.”

“I do.”

“Nicole, tell me what you know about the one the Cats are seeking to find.”

“I really don’t know much, but I heard them tell my father that you have been predicted by the Creator and you are critical to Creation’s survival.”

Something clicked in Ping’s mind, “Our Creation?”

Nicole was surprised by the question and thought intently about the conversation she overheard, “I’m really not sure about that.”

Ping stared at Nicole and finally said, “I’ve avoided being found because I want freedom to become whatever I choose to be. The talents I have are changing radically over time and I know I’m not fully developed…yet. However, I will make this promise to you; if you will keep my secret and if you find out in the future that your Father needs me; I’ll turn myself in.” Nicole stared into Ping’s eyes and he said, “I keep my promises as well.” Ping smiled, “Your secret is also safe with me.”

Nicole sighed, “You have a deal.” She put out her hand to shake on it and, as Ping reached for it, he was violently pushed into the air over the back of the booth he was sitting in and slammed hard against the far wall. Nicole rushed up and forced her way through the people surrounding Ping and heard him say, “Don’t touch me.” The hurt in her eyes was instant. Ping looked up at her and said through gritted teeth, “It’s not because I don’t want to, it’s because it’s too dangerous.” Several students knelt and helped Ping stand up. He was stunned and had difficulty keeping his feet under him; they helped him walk out of the center. Nicole watched him go and kept hearing, “It’s too dangerous,” playing over and over in her mind.

J
odie waited in the cafeteria for Nicole to show up. She had taken a seat at a table close to the entrance and began to wonder if she was coming to dinner. Finally, ten minutes before the serving line closed, Jodie saw her enter the doorway. Nicole instantly saw her and Jodie nodded toward the chow line for her to go and pickup her dinner. Nicole picked up her tray, moved across the cafeteria, and took a seat across from Jodie, “How’s Ping?”

“I don’t know what you did to him but he was in bad shape when he arrived at the dorm.”

“I didn’t do anything! I swear; he just flew away from me like a leaf in a gale!”

Jodie stared at Nicole, leaned forward, and said in a lowered voice, “He told you who he is?” Nicole nodded. “Mios tells me you have promised to keep that information secret.”

“I have.”

“Good.”

Nicole said quietly, “You appear to have a close attachment to Ping.”

Jodie smirked, “I chased him for six years during our middle school years.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t get your pants in a wrinkle; he was nice to me but he never gave me a chance. It was during the effort of trying to get him to take me as his girlfriend that I came to know Mios. I love, Mios. Ping’s like a big brother.”

Nicole nodded, “I suspect Ping was chased a lot.”

Jodie smirked, “You have no idea; but no one ever won his heart. Mios says no one has ever touched his heart.” Jodie looked around and said quietly, “He’s asked me to tell you something.”

“What is that?”

“Before I start, you need to understand that this is his message. It makes no sense to me…but he says you will understand it. I really doubt you will.” Nicole tilted her head and Jodie looked up remembering Ping’s words. “He says to tell you that you and he will not see each other again and if you stumble upon each other, both of you should leave.” Jodie saw the hurt in Nicole’s eyes as she suddenly stood up, “Wait a minute; there’s more.”

“What more could there be?”

“Just sit down and listen. You’re as hard headed as he is. Besides, you need to finish your dinner.” Nicole sat down and Jodie said, “He said that you would understand why.”

“Well, I don’t!”

“Hang on; this is the part that really confuses me.” Nicole nodded for her to continue. “He says you should look up the history of the two humans who founded the Stars Realm. He also said you should look at their children closely and then think about what happened last night. Now doesn’t that sound crazy?”

Nicole squinted and said, “Give me a moment.” She didn’t need to look up the Gardner’s history; she had been forced to memorize it as a little girl. She knew every detail, chapter and verse. She looked at Thomas and Danielle’s history in her mind and didn’t see anything that clarified what Ping was saying. She looked at Rose, their first born daughter, and again came up empty handed. Then, she thought about Tommy Gardner and you couldn’t look at him without seeing Cassandra. Suddenly, her mind rushed out an incredible speed; pieces began falling into place and she fell back in her seat with a stunned expression. She started shaking her head from side to side as Jodie said, “What!?!”

“This can’t be true! It just can’t!”

“What can’t be true?”

Nicole looked at Jodie, “He doesn’t want anyone to know, Jodie. I can’t tell you.”

Jodie stared at Nicole and finally said, “I’m surprised you didn’t just take the information from my mind.”

Nicole sighed, “Something happened to me as well last night. I’m now able to control my telepathy and I chose not to violate your privacy by looking at your mind.”

“You’re kidding me.” Nicole shook her head. “You understand his message?”

“I do; but I don’t know if I believe it.”

“Nicole, I’m lost here. I have no idea what the two of you see.”

Nicole replayed everything that happened the night before and she started shaking her head again. She looked at Jodie, “What we see is each other and how we’ve arrived at this place in time.” Jodie looked confused. “Tell him I understand but just don’t believe it. Tell him I’ll stay away.”

“You want to avoid him?”

“No; I want to confirm what he’s told me…but…he might be right.”

“May I assume you’re not going to tell me what he’s right about?”

Nicole smiled, “You may.”

“Drat, I was hoping you would. This is going to drive me crazy.”

Nicole laughed, “Ahhh, we women just can’t leave things alone.”

“Amen to that, sister.”

Nicole knew that she, and Jodie, weren’t going to find out what was going on…at least not anytime soon.

• • • • •

Rider looked at the young Cat and saw his fear. “Relax, it’s decreasing in magnitude.”

“What caused the pressures to build up to that level? I’m shocked they managed to hold.”

“The vibrations are starting to atrophy; in another month they should be back to normal.”

You haven’t told me what caused them to start vibrating that violently?” The elder Cat shrugged. “You must have some idea. Creation could have fallen apart if the vibration continued at the highest level.”

“Some of us think it has something to do with the one we’re looking for; but there is no evidence to support that. It’s pure conjecture.”

“I want to live long enough to have a family.”

“Then perhaps you should start that process now.”

“Are you serious!?!”

Rider looked up at the sky, “One never knows what will happen next.” The huge elder turned to the young Cat, “Tory, you shouldn’t delay any longer.”

The Cat nodded and contacted the young female he had been courting telepathically for ten years, “Grabby, will you…”

“Come now and let’s be joined.”

Rider saw the youngster disappear. He looked back up at the sky and saw the violent vibrations running through the pressures that held Creation together.

• • • • •

Teg-Lar looked at his display and saw the star’s instability had now grown since the last reading. It was going to go nova but it appeared it was going to not happen soon. He started the scans of the inner core of the star and waited for them to arrive.

• • • • •

“Alright, we start moving in now. Keep your field at maximum power and go in at one tenth of our maximum speed; notify the attack wing we’re going in.”

• • • • •

Teg-Lar saw the scan was complete and he looked at the star one last time. Suddenly, his alarms went off and he saw two small ships on his display less than ten miles from his location. How did they manage to get that close without being detected? He hit his panel and his force field activated and a feed of what was happening immediately went out to fleet operations.

• • • • •

“He sees them; jump in and fire.”

Six small ships appeared surrounding the Searcher and opened fire. The small red ship held their beams at bay for several seconds and managed to get off three shots before its force field failed and the Searcher blew up in a massive explosion. One of the attackers was hit by two of the Searcher’s beams and had the rear end vaporized. The five survivors turned their weapons on the damaged comrade and blew it into tiny molecules. “Get out of here!”

The seven small ships disappeared just before fifty Searchers arrived on the scene. They began scanning for jump tracks but nothing appeared in their scans. Greg Hamil contacted Admiral Kosiev, “We’ve lost a ship, Sir. It appears one of the attackers was killed as well but there’s not enough material remaining to determine what did it.”

“Scan the residue of those two ships and get the results to the Algeans.”

“Yes Sir.”

Lex pulled up the mission the Searcher had been sent to perform and knew that whoever attacked him was determining their capabilities against a ship of the Realm. It wasn’t going to be long before hostilities started. The Realm was vulnerable.

• • • • •

“Hey Ping.”

Ping looked up from his computer, “Yeah?”

“I think the upperclassmen you beat in the war game exercise today are somewhat hostile about their loss.”

“Why do you say that?”

“One of my Cainth buddies overheard them complaining about your tactics.”

“I didn’t do anything against the rules!”

“I know that but it appears they feel using teleportation to jump backwards to take your shots was not something that should be allowed.”

“They’re just mad they didn’t think about it first.”

Mios shrugged, “Actually, no one has ever used that maneuver.”

Ping stared at Mios, “How do you know that?”

“Because one of them complained that the Academy Instructors had not prepared them for it and their failure was due, in large part, to the failure of their trainers to adequately prepare them.”