The Pyramid Builders (15 page)

Jillian looked back at the map, and knew Chris was right. “We need to get back.”

Chris said, “There’s more, Jillian.” Chris worked the controls and two screens appeared on the wall. Chris moved the view in on the Egyptian standing next to the Sheera at the table. The Sheera pointed at the block going in on the fifth layer and the Egyptian looked up at it. Chris froze the frame. Chris then pulled up the picture of the man that had been hiding behind the green loader and froze his face as he looked up at the loader. The two pictures were then placed side by side and Jillian said, “Oh, my God.” It was the same man. “How is this possible?”

“Well, I suspect the Sheera didn’t want to have to replace their translator often. When they downloaded their information, they also extended his life. Hemiunu has survived since the Sheera left.”

“Why didn’t he warn us much earlier? Why didn’t he let us know what was coming?”

Chris smiled, “Ok Jillian, I walk up to you and tell you I’m five thousand years old and that aliens are going to destroy the Earth. What would you do?”

Jillian stared at Chris and shook her head, “I’d have you committed.”

“Exactly, but I suspect there was more than just that reason.”

“What else could there be?”

“He could have always gone to visit an engineer or physicist and showed them the plans for the stardrive. He also had the anti-gravity gun. He could have proven who he was.”

“Then why hide?”

“Because I’m sure he did not want to release an aggressive species into the cosmos that would be no better than the Moet. It was only in the last fifteen years that Earth has come to terms with the value of peace and cooperation. He may have finally decided to release the tablet. By the way, how was it found?”

Jillian thought a few moments and said, “It was discovered when a television crew in the Great Pyramid found a small cave-in at the bottom. The government was called in and I was asked to investigate the collapse.” Jillian looked at Chris, “He caused the cave in.”

“Yes, he did, and I suspect he was there at the excavation to make sure the right people were finding it. Once he made that determination, his job was done.”

“We need to go home.”

“I agree, but don’t you want to see the other building project at Puma Punku?”

“No, now that I know where it is, I know where to look if there’s a message.”

Chris stared at her and tilted his head, “Where?”

“On the bottom of the largest stone object; it won’t be hard to find.”

“All right, let’s head back. I’ll move the ship into green space and follow the trail back. Then we’ll move back to our departure line to get here.”

The Cheops moved back along the trail until it veered hard right. They oriented the ship to the trail and Chris set the distance to five light years. The Cheops entered Sierra space and moved forward. Jillian was studying the recordings of the great pyramid and Chris was reading about Puma Punku when he glanced up and saw that the Cheops had entered a huge green cloud. “Jillian, get over here!”

Jillian stood and walked over and saw the green featureless cloud they were in, “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I looked up and we were in this cloud. The trail is gone and I don’t know what direction we’re moving.”

Jillian stared at the screen and said, “We can’t change direction. We know we flew five light years on the line we’re currently following. At least, when we emerge, we’ll be where we started looking for light from Earth.”

Chris started thinking and said, “What could have muddied the trail this much?”

Jillian shook her head, “I have no idea.”

Chris looked at her and said, “It had to be done by something that also makes trails. I’m not certain about this.” Chris stared at the display and then decided, “If there are starships present when we break into normal space, I want an immediate jump programmed ready to happen. We’ll continue on this line two light years, then reverse our course seven years to take us back to where we found Earth’s light.”

Jillian nodded and began entering the data into the jump board. The Cheops board started flashing, indicating normal space entry, and then they were back in normal space. Chris held his hand over his jump button but saw the giant grey ship in front of him broken into three pieces. He also saw two more ships off to the right of their location that had been destroyed. Jillian stood and walked up to the wall display and stared at the carnage. Chris continued to rapidly read his scanning fields for any indication of other ships. Finally, he sat back and said, “We’re alone, for now.” Chris reached up, rubbed the stubble on his chin, and narrowed his eyes as he stared at the giant grey ship. “We were followed, Jillian.”

Jillian jerked her head around, and then looked back at the ships, “How do you know that?”

“That grey ship is a Moet Ship. It must have picked up our trail as we moved here and followed it. There’s no other way that it could have arrived here unless it was following us.” Chris stood and walked up beside her, staring at the display, “Once it arrived it here…” Chris paused and stared at the screen.

“It was followed and attacked here.”

Chris nodded, “Evidently, the attackers have found a weapon that can kill a Moet Ship. We need to take one of those smaller ships back with us if we can.” Chris looked at Jillian, “Can we?”

Jillian stared at the display and slowly nodded her head at the ship that had its nose shot off, “We can hit it with our gravity beam and make it weightless to remove its mass. We’ll fire a cable into the opening at the front and hook it like a fish. It might take several shots but we should be able to hook it up.”

“How far does our jump screen extend?”

“It will cover our two ships. The thing that concerns me is that both parties in this battle left ships here. Do we want to take part of the Moet ship instead?”

“I’m worried that they will be able to detect it if we take it home.”

Jillian looked at Chris and started shaking her head, “Chris, how can we go home if we know we’ll be followed? We could cause Earth’s destruction if we lead a Moet fleet there.”

“I’m going to try something Jillian. I’m going to use the rear negative gravity emitter and have it hit the trail being left behind us. These ships muddied up the trails by running rapidly through them. This also tells me that we don’t have to program a distance in the stardrive. We can just find a trail and follow it however long it goes and emerge into normal space there.” Chris looked at the ship and said, “Let’s get moving. You set up the cable hook and I’ll take the rear of the Cheops over in front of that ship.”

Jillian moved toward the exit, “What do you think is going to happen if you hit our trail with positive gravity?”

‘I’m not sure, but it should have some kind of effect. We’ll try negative gravity if the positive doesn’t do anything. We need to find a way to erase our trail.”

Jillian nodded and left the bridge. Chris used the thrusters and backed the Cheops up to the blown away bridge on the silver ship. “Jillian, what do I need to do?”

“Nothing, you’re fine. I’m aligning the air compressor with the opening and lubricating the spool for the cable. Just hold it right here.” Jillian inserted the tri-hook into the chamber and attached the cable coming out of the chamber’s wall. The clip snapped into place and Jillian closed the chamber. She looked out of the viewport and saw they were very close to the damaged ship. The compression chamber appeared lined up on the bridge of the damaged ship.

She turned the firing knob two clicks right and pulled it out, “I’m firing the cable.” She pushed the knob in, and the cable and tri-hook shot out of the chamber and entered the other ship’s bridge. Jillian put the chamber on safe, then pulled the retract lever. She watched as the cable began winding into the chamber and the loops being pulled out. The cable finally tightened, and the Cheops started moving toward the damaged ship. Jillian immediately fired the gravity beam at other ship and it remained stationary as the Cheops moved in on it.

“Chris, ease us forward.”

The cable had developed slack as the Cheops moved toward the damaged ship but as Chris used the thrusters, the Cheops moved slowly away and the cable went taut. Then the other ship turned and followed the Cheops as it moved away. Jillian adjusted the gravity beam from weightless to slightly negative. The small positive gravity pushed the damaged ship away from the Cheops and kept the cable tight. Jillian shook her head at the ship that moved as easily as a small rubber ball. Chris announced over the PA, “I’m aligning the ship on the star we used to view Earth. I want you to extend the bottom control arm and spray the trail behind us with positive gravity.”

Jillian hit the announce button and said, “Why positive?”

“I’m hoping it will cause the trail to collapse in on itself. Obviously, how gravity works in this space is a mystery, but I think it’s worth the risk to see.”

“Let me know when we’re leaving.”

Christopher dropped the ship into Sierra Space and hit the intercom, “Starting our move now.”

Jillian extended the control arm below the ship being dragged behind the Cheops and fired the gravity beam. The trail that had started to form behind them seemed to whip madly in several directions and then fall apart. “It’s working, Chris! The trail is being erased!”

Chris heard Jillian and sighed. Good, now he had to find a way back home. There was no way they could find the trail from Earth that had taken them to the site of the battle. He worried that his scanner would not find the way back home. He sighed and then remembered that he had taken a scan of their solar system when they were in Sierra Space. He pulled up the scan in his computer and saw the frequency he had recorded. He extended his scan fields and set the frequency to match. He closed his eyes and pushed the button. His display beeped and a small black ball appeared off to the left of the Cheops. Chris couldn’t believe it. The frequencies matched. Surely it wasn’t going to be this easy. “Jillian, will you come to the bridge for a moment?” He stopped the forward motion of the Cheops and waited for Jillian.

She came running in the door, “What’s wrong?”

Chris explained what he had done and she looked at the small black ball off to the left of the ship. “Can that be our solar system?”

Chris tilted his head and nodded toward the dot on the display, “You remember that all the planets, moons, sun, and everything else was in that black mass outside our ship. I took a frequency reading of that mass and that object on the display matches that frequency. I just don’t see any other solar system matching that frequency.”

Jillian thought and suggested, “Why don’t you just scan and see how many different frequencies you can find, and see if any of them match?”

Chris leaned back, “Great idea. I should have thought of that.” He removed the frequency and scanned again. Frequencies began filling the display and began running off the screen. “We’re at a million and still counting.”

“Stop and see if any of them match.”

“Let’s get several million. It won’t take much longer.” After ten minutes Chris froze the scan and typed in a query. After fifteen minutes the computer printed on the screen, “No Matches.”

Chris reentered the frequency and said, “That’s got to be home. I’m taking manual control and fly us there.”

Jillian went to her chair, “What happens if it’s not?”

“We go looking for light from Earth. It may take quite a while to find it, since we won’t know where it is.”

Jillian shook her head and said, “Just do it. I don’t want to think about it.”

Chris took the steering wheel, turned the ship hard left, and aligned the nose on the black dot in the display. He pushed the speed control forward and the Cheops, followed by the damaged ship, began moving rapidly forward. Chris steered around the black places in Sierra Space, but kept his direction toward the designated frequency. Jillian looked out of the viewport and said, “I notice that the black places are much more numerous off to the starboard side.”

“That makes sense if you think about it. The center of the galaxy is overcrowded with stars. I suspect that is the direction of the galactic core. Remember, we left on a path toward empty space.”

Jillian sat back and watched as Chris flew the Cheops. The black places were starting to increase in number, but Chris maintained speed and moved smoothly between them. After two hours the black space they were flying toward grew larger. Chris saw it directly ahead, slowed the Cheops, and then stopped.

“What are you doing?”

“Remember, there is probably a Moet scanner above the solar system’s plane. I want to exit Sierra Space under the sun and I’m trying to determine where that would be.”

“Scan that black ball and see if any details are visible.”

Chris scanned the ball, and then increased the power. Suddenly he saw the solar system in miniature. He saw the planets moving counter clockwise and he brought Earth into a tighter focus and saw the small icecap, “We’re on the wrong side; we’re looking down on the North Pole. We need to go around it.” Chris moved the ships around, scanned again, and saw the much larger continent of Antarctica, “Are you ready?”

“What exactly is your plan?”

“I was foolish taking the Cheops into Sierra Space with only the Earth blocking our jump. I’m going to jump directly below the sun and move into normal space there. I don’t care how good the Moet are, I don’t believe they can scan through a star. Once we arrive in normal space, I’m contacting Dolly to find us a place to take this ship on the Southern Hemisphere.”

“Won’t they be able to see you take the ship to Earth?”

“I’m going to hit our thrusters and arrive at Earth in less than seven minutes. I believe we’ll be traveling too fast to be seen as anything more than a light wave. We’ll come to an immediate stop when we arrive under the planet. I need you to use the gravity gun to make sure that ship stays pushed away from us when we stop.”

Jillian grabbed the arms of her chair and nodded. “Chris pushed the jump control and the Cheops emerged into normal space. They looked at their display and Chris saw Earth off to the right of the sun. “We’re home.”