Beyond the End of the World, Lokians 1

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

The following morning came abruptly for the spec ops team. All the members of the crew woke simultaneously with a feeling of urgency. The traveler quite simply snapped them awake. It was time to get moving; migraines, nausea, nor fatigue were his concern.

O'Hara ran off to find the admiral. The old man was conversing with Bragg just outside the Phoenix. Groans and snores sounded all around.

"Just go get that ship, and come back in one piece, son," Lay said. Laughing, O'Hara asked if that was really it. "I need your friend, Yon, to stay behind and help build relations. She'll be indispensable in communicating with the Carrier as well as transitioning the colonists into a multi-racial society," Admiral Lay explained.

"Copy that."

O'Hara relayed the message to Yon. At the end of the exchange, the admiral took it upon himself to wake the rest of the Phoenix's crew. They all pitched in to dismantle camp, so O'Hara dashed past Yon on his way to the traveler ship.

With everyone onboard, Day connected and shot off the ground. The rest stood there, looking at each other. Some of them ate or quietly talked about the previous night.

"So, now we wait in orbit," Swain asked.

"That is one approach," Jor-Tune said.

Nandy shot him a look. He knew the Thewl had been sarcastic, which made him chuckle.

"There are systems the Lokians stake out. In fact, we may be able to go to our old home world," Flem suggested.

"I thought the Lokians destroyed it like eighty years ago or something," Fitzpatrick remarked.

"Well, we might as well start there and work our way out," Korit replied.

Day was on her own, no guiding hands, eyes, or otherwise. She took deep, slow breaths and worked her way through the ship's systems. She found the Thewlian home world in a data archive. After honing in on its location, she activated the warp drive. The ship rocketed out of Eon's orbit.

It was a fantastic experience, a thirty second thrill ride through space and time, after which, the ship emerged on the other side of the space-time tube in a vast expanse of darkness. Peering through the ship's perspective, she saw a damaged satellite listing by.

"I wonder what that does," she murmured.

"What what does," O'Hara asked.

"There's a busted satellite out here."

"Grab it, get it inside," Swain clapped.

"Uh, okay...let me see...."

It took her only a moment to locate a tractor beam, which protruded from the cat's head. By releasing a simple, electron field, Day engulfed the object then pulled it in. Everyone heard a clang ring through the vessel; the satellite had struck the fuselage. Frowning, she rummaged through more programs before finding a secondary bay door.

"Okay, hold on."

First, she regulated pressure and lockout systems. Next, she opened the bay door, and she finally brought the satellite inside. Once secure, she re-pressurized, and set off through the expanse in search of the Thewlian home world.

"It's in, so you guys can check it out."

"Roger that, Miss Day," Swain said.

He invited others to inspect the item. Jor-Tune and Korit were intrigued. When they ran off to have fun, the captain asked what was out there. She explained that all she saw was an immense, frozen rock, not unlike Marduk. Beyond the rock, were other planetary bodies. It dawned on her then that with the sun being out, there shouldn't have been any light with which to see planets, yet there they were.