The Pyramid Builders (23 page)

“I’ll do it or die trying, Sir.”

Arnold stared at Chris and saw Jillian’s expression as she looked at Chris with love in her eyes, “I believe you.”

Dolly stood and looked around the table, “Well, there is so much to do for those of us that are staying behind but tonight, Thursday night, we are going to Romeo’s and dance. You are all expected to be there.”

Arnold shook his head, “I have to meet with the President. Someone took a photo of the Alliance Starship when it was taken to Sydney. The World Government has been barraged with questions about what it is and has denied everything. However, three more videos have appeared and the insurgents are using them to claim our government is hiding the truth from its citizens. We have to plan how to respond to these questions.”

Dolly smiled, “Oh, so he comes ahead of your daughter now?”

Arnold stared at Dolly and shook his head, “You certainly have the…uhhhh….”

“Don’t say it, Dad. Just be there.”

Arnold looked at Jillian, took a deep breath, and nodded.

Dolly smiled, “You know, you could invite the President to join us.”

“He’d never come.”

“He certainly won’t if he doesn’t know about it.”

Arnold watched the room clear and thought about Dolly’s remark. He decided, why not? He activated his communicator, “Hello, Mr. President, are you doing anything tonight?”

L’grae watched the Alliance ship jump out of the system, turned to his navigator, and asked, “Where should we go to hide from the Alliance and the Moet?”

“We’ll go above the galactic plane and wait until enough time has passed.”

“Plan to leave in two days.”

“I have it plotted, Sir.”

L’grae knew that their chance of finding a habitable planet to replenish their stores was remote, but what else could he do?

The Project Command Team was on a military carrier headed toward the United States from Sydney. Hemon looked out the viewport and said, “What is Romeo’s?”

Dolly smiled, “Just a college restaurant and bar. It has a certain nostalgic feeling for us.”

Sasha smiled, “Perhaps it will now have one for us as well. I love to dance.”

Hemon snorted and smiled. “And I love dancing with you.”

The carrier landed and the group exited into Romeo’s. The regulars saw Chris and Jillian enter and a cheer went up. It was like old home week. Everyone found a place at the bar and ordered drinks. Suddenly the huge screen over the dance floor went blank and the music video disappeared. Everyone saw the Emergency Broadcast network logo appear and the place grew silent. Chris looked at Dolly, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”

Then President Suh appeared on the screen and the silence deepened. The President looked out at the camera and said, “I am saddened to have to bring you some disturbing developments. We have been attempting to work so that we would not have to disturb your day to day lives. However, we are now getting too many questions to continue to hide what we’re doing. I am going to share with you what we learned two years ago, and tell you what we’re doing about it.

Dolly looked at Chris and nodded toward the exit. Chris shook his head. She shrugged and turned back to the screen.

After forty minutes the world knew that the universe had just gotten much smaller. They also learned that much progress had been made toward the planet’s defense, and much of that progress was because of a small group of individuals that had been involved in developing the tools for survival. Everyone in the room turned and looked at the group sitting at the bar. As they stared in silence, they heard a loud voice say, “I thought there was going to be a party here to send off our brave warriors. Am I wrong?” Everyone turned and saw President James Carlyle enter the room with the ten Alpha Agents of his security team.

The room exploded in cheers, and James crossed the floor and sat down at the bar with the Command Team. Word travels fast in the modern communications age. Even before the President arrived, the Tutors had been notified that Chris had returned to his dance haven. They put that information out on the university net and right after President Suh’s remarks, everyone knew where the heroes of humanity were located. There was a rush to the area. It was anticipated, and there were more than twenty thousand security forces already arriving to control the rapidly growing crowd. Jillian looked at Chris and shook her head, “I don’t feel like a hero.” She nodded toward Jeff, “He’s the real hero here.”

Chris smiled, “You risked your life to go five thousand light years away to collect information that might save us. You had no proof that you would make it back, and now you’re going more than 65 million light years. Oh, I think you qualify to be a hero.”

Jillian reached over and hugged him, “As do you, my love.”

Chris shrugged, “Ya gotta have your priorities.”

Jillian remembered the first meeting with the Presidents when Chris said the same thing and laughed out loud, “Yes, you do!”

Within an hour, cameras and video monitors were brought in to show the heroes dancing inside Romeo’s. The streets were cleared for a fifty block area. Loudspeakers were hooked up, and the entire city became one huge dance floor. The party shifted into high gear when President Suh joined the Dancers at Romeo’s. Soon the video was being broadcast on all the world’s news agencies, and people around the world took their monitors outside and started dancing. There was fear, but this day the world was celebrating those that were working hard to save them. Sasha looked into Hemon’s eyes, “Did you ever envision this when you carved your tablet?”

Hemon looked around, “Well, absolutely!”

Sasha punched him on the arm, “You did not!”

“Well, I guess I saw people running around like they were crazy and it wasn’t much different from this.”

Sasha laughed and looked around, “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course, I’m right. I have more experience than anyone else here.” Hemon tried to keep a straight face, but then laughed.

Chris held Jillian tight and smiled, “Are you ready to go?”

“I’m scared about the distance, but it is what it is.”

“The longest distance for us will be how far you are from me. I’m not worried about the other. If we don’t make it back, at least the planet is now on task getting ready.”

Jillian looked seriously at Chris, “Do you think we won’t find our way back?”

Chris put his finger on Jillian’s lips and said, “That’s for tomorrow. Tonight we celebrate”. Jillian nodded and Chris said, “We do have a reason to make sure we do come home.”

Jillian tilted her head, “What is that?”

“I am going to marry you as soon as we land.”

Jillian’s eyes grew wide, and she hugged him tightly. After a moment she leaned back with a mischievous smile and said, “How do you know I will accept?”

Chris looked out over the crowd and said, “Because I won’t dance with you anymore if you don’t. Let me see…who could take your spot on my dance card.”

Jillian punched him in the ribs, “Then I accept. I would never want to lose my dance partner.”

Chris leaned in and kissed her hard. When they separated, he said, “Tell Dolly about our plans for a wedding, and allow her to handle the details.”

Jillian looked over at Dolly dancing with Jeff, “I guess you’re right. We don’t have time to do it since we’re leaving tomorrow. Do you think she’ll have time to prepare?”

Chris restrained his smile and said, “Oh, I think so.”

“We’ll, I’ve always wanted a big wedding. A small one will do.”

Chris looked away and bit his lip to keep from laughing, then danced with her. Dolly never did anything small.

C
hris and Jillian looked down on Earth and stared at the beautiful planet. The response to President Suh’s announcement had brought the different populations of the world together like nothing else could. Every group that was involved in insurrection sent announcements that they were joining the effort to defend their planet. Every government began construction of shipbuilding facilities. The movement was massive and growing. The news agencies couldn’t keep up with the support being promised to the new World Government.

Chris keyed the communication panel and said, “Any last words before we leave?”

Dolly said, “Just make sure you come back. Life won’t be the same without you.”

“Did you ever go by and see your Mum like you promised?”

“Yes, I did; and I took Jeff with me.”

Chris tilted his head and Jillian wondered what was going on, “How did that go?”

“Welllll, he’s not in a hurry to go back.”

“Poor boy. How about you?”

“We’re going to visit George next week and see if we can get to him.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“Mum seems to think that the reason he left is because there was nothing to distract his intellect. She insists that this new situation might be enough to get him to focus on the real world.”

“What do you think?”

“I think the idea has merit. If we can get him back into reality he could be a huge help in developing tools for our survival effort. We’ll see how it goes.”

“We’ll miss you and we’ll be careful, as much as we can.”

“See that you do.”

Chris turned off the board and Jillian raised her eyebrows. Chris smiled, “Her mother is just like her children, absolutely brilliant. She’s a handful to deal with.”

“I thought George was a danger to Dolly.”

“He is, but I think her love for Jeff keeps her anchored in reality. Dolly didn’t have much of a challenge when she nearly lost herself with George. She may be right about bringing him back. I hope so.” Chris looked at his navigation board and looked at Jillian, “Are you ready?”

“Where are we going?”

“The Nobel Committee plotted a course for us. You know that the Milky Way is basically a flat galaxy with two major spiral arms?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we are going above the galaxy to the place where Earth was located 65 million years ago. They’ve given me a star chart to guide me there. I’ll be using three of the largest stars in our galaxy to find the right place to leave.”

“Which ones?”

“Herschel’s Garnet, which until recent discoveries was considered the largest star, Betelgeuse, which is the heaviest star in our galaxy, and Ky Cigni, which is now the largest star. I’m going to triangulate on them as the point of our departure. I’ll also use them to get us back to where we started this voyage.”

“You’re the driver. Lead the way!”

Chris began pushing controls on his flight console. He looked over at Jillian and took her hand as he pressed the jump button. The Cheops disappeared.

Dolly sighed and replayed the video of the destruction of the Moet scanner just four hours earlier. She shook her head at the magnitude of the explosion, then she hit her board, “Jeff, it’s time.”

Jeff keyed his board and said, “I’ll be back shortly.”

The UE ship Jukebox disappeared. Dolly knew that now the Moet would have to come in from outside Neptune’s orbit to investigate the destruction of their probe. Sierra Space would now be blocked into the solar system. She looked at her display and prayed that Chris and Jillian would survive their voyage. She also prayed that they wouldn’t destroy Earth’s existence by making a mistake with Jillian’s device. She smiled. Only time would tell. She giggled. Time would tell. Now that’s a good one!

The Cheops broke back into normal space in less than two minutes. Jillian looked at Chris and he saw her confusion, “Did something go wrong?”

“No, I set the drive to take us the necessary distance. If you do that, it’s much faster than finding your way.”

“Wow! What now?”

“I have to take some readings from here to try and make sure we can get back. It shouldn’t take longer than an hour. I’m extending our sensors now.”

Jillian watched the display on her console as Chris began taking frequency readings of surrounding stars. She casually glanced at the secondary board and was shocked, “Chris, there’s an Alliance Battleship ten million miles away!”

Chris looked at the readings from the opposite direction of the galaxy and saw the blip. He focused the light and saw the giant Alliance ship, “What are they doing out here?”

“How should I know? What do we do?”

“I can’t leave until I complete my readings. Keep an eye on them and let me know what they’re doing.”

Jillian focused in on the giant silver ship, then saw it turn and start their way, “They’re coming this way.” Jillian watched the ship closely and said, “They don’t have their force fields on. They are also moving in at half their normal speed.”

“Do you think they want to talk?”

“I don’t know, but it will take them about an hour to arrive. You should complete your readings so we can leave.”

Chris nodded and continued to work on his board.

L’grae heard his Navigator yell, “Ship breaking into normal space!” He jumped up from his chair and went to look at the Navigator’s display.

“Bring all engines on line, ready the jump drive, power up the weapons.”

“Sir, that is not a Moet ship.”

L’grae stared at the image and said, “What kind of ship is that?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.”

L’grae thought a moment, “Do not bring weapons on line.”

The Navigator looked at him and he said, “If they aren’t a Moet ship, then they may not be aggressive. Take us toward them at half speed.”

L’grae studied the ship and saw that it was smaller than a destroyer class vessel. I wonder if it’s armed. They moved to within five hundred thousand miles and he ordered, “Bring the ship to a stop.”

Jillian watched her monitor and leaned back, “They’re stopping.”

Chris said over his shoulder, “It appears they want to talk. Do you have the frequency used by the ship we captured?”

Jillian looked in her database and said, “Yes.”

“See if they’ll tell you what they’re doing.”

Jillian shrugged and set the communicator to the frequency. She spoke in the language of the Sheera, “I see that you have stopped moving toward us. What is your intention?”