Space Trippers Book 1: Trippin' (29 page)

She spotted a small black button below the pulsing light and after a few seconds of hesitation, she gingerly pressed it.

A light immediately came on behind the button and a thin white beam of light scanned from the top to the bottom of the button Valesque had just pushed.

“Fingerprint Authentication Confirmed. Authorizing, Doctor Valesque Rhaugh.” the computer voice established as the machine whirred to life and the flat-screen monitor flashed on.

Valesque was a bit puzzled as the computer announced her full name and title, she had only been known as plain Engineer Valesque to Dr. Warner and the rest of the construction crew.

Dr. Warner’s personal computer knowing her real name was definitely a surprise.

A picture glowed to life on the newly activated monitor in it was a youngish man with an unruly mop of curly, sandy-blond hair.

“Well, Val, if you are seeing this message then I can bet on two things: One, I was right in assuming the General was up to something and Two, you are still alive.” the recorded message began.

“I am going to the meeting with General Gorbok in the morning, but just in case anything happens I am recording this message to let you know a few things that have been going on.”

“First, I have to tell you that when we were introduced by the Scientific Association on Saturna 3, it was not really the first time we had met.” the man said apologetically, “I am sure you were too distracted back then to remember, but the first time I met you was actually way back when you were on Roscetta Station working on your space warp project.” he explained.

“I knew General Gorbok back then as well.” he admitted regretfully.

“In fact I was one of the Scientists he had forcefully ‘persuaded’ to be on his research team. I hated working with them on their underhanded projects, but it was either play along or get black listed.”

“It was at that time the General gave me, what I considered then, an irresistible offer. He volunteered that if I got him your Space Tripper device that he would let me out of the contract and I could be totally free of the I.P.A and work on whatever projects I wanted.”

The image of Dr. John Warner paused for a moment in an repentant shrug. “I…am the one who stole your project.” he announced to Valesque’s utter shock.

The man who had acted completely innocent and open, eager to make her acquaintance and work with her on the Magellan project, was the same person who had gotten her into so much trouble all those years ago.

The lying, cheating sneak!

“I guess you can blame me for your home planet’s issuing a death warrant for you, and for your character being besmirched in every Science journal and tabloid for months afterward.” he continued with a slight wince as if she was going to slap him through the screen.

Which she wished she could!

“But you have to know that I was not working with the General any longer when we started this project.” he insisted earnestly. “It was pure coincidence the two of us wound up paired together by the I.S.A for the building of the Magellan.”

Valesque made a disbelieving face at the video. How can she trust that now?

After his admitting to the theft of her device, after that same device ended up on their ship and his initials scratched into the surface of the unit that was hamstringing the engine’s power for the Tripper to use?

“By now you may have discovered the preparations I have been making in case the meeting with the General tomorrow is ineffective.” he continued. “I still have a few friends on the General’s science team, not friends exactly, more like acquaintances as our ideals don’t exactly match. They still willingly work with the power hungry man, while I am relived every day at my escape.” he explained.

“Anyway, these people still seemed to treat me like a member of the team, even inviting me to their top secret laboratory and telling me all about the research the General had ordered on your Space Tripper device that I had delivered to them five years before. Gorbok had ordered space warp tests with live subjects.”

Valesque grimaced at the thought, she had absolutely refused to test her device on live subjects before it was perfected, and even then, she would not do a full test, as that would strand the poor soul somewhere light years away. The General of course had no such qualms. He did not care what happened as long as he got the results he wanted.

Dr. Warner’s message continued, “It seems our General ‘Warlord’ as you so aptly named him not only tested the device extensively the first four years, but also devised a way to create a return path! He was using the Tripper to search into uncharted areas of space.”

“ One return trip resulted in the first exchange between the General’s team and a new alien race. The people he had contacted were just as war minded as himself, if not more so.” the curly haired man continued scornfully.

“His science team started to boast about his plans and how they had actually sent another ship back to the same coordinates and it returned with an emissary of this aggressive race. They then made a pact that the General would allow them to have access to the best and mightiest populations of people in our sectors in order for them to increase their own power.

It seems these creatures can assimilate other beings into themselves and gain their strengths. And who are the strongest, sturdiest and most amazingly resilient beings known to man? And with whom the General has been waging a losing battle for ages in the Corseccan Galaxy?” he prompted.

“That’s right, the Virrilians.” he agreed with her silent conclusion.

“He has asked the Meterions, that is what they are called, to help him destroy and assimilate your people so they can get stronger and work with him to take over all of our known space before using your Space Tripper’s abilities to spread their tyrannous reign throughout the Universe. That war mongering General intends to rule the whole universe!” Dr. Warner laughed incredulously at the absurdly egotistical idea.

“But unfortunately, with these people behind him and your technology in his hands he actually has a chance of succeeding. And that alien race’s battle fleet is already on its way here.” he added ominously.

“The only thing that could possibly stand in his way is the Magellan and her invincible weapons system.” the Doctor informed her. “This explains his dogged interest in the construction project. However, he came up against you once again.

First, you refused to sell him your space warp, and now you reject every offer he made to get your ship on his side in his new war.” John Warner laughed amused at the sheer irony.

“No matter where he turns, you keep showing up to spoil his plans. His team, believing I was on their side, tried to get me to agree to hand over the completed Magellan to them. It seems he either wants the ship on his side, or destroyed.

There is no middle ground.

He cannot let the construction be completed or this ship with your weapons system will be the one thing capable of ruining his quest for universal domination. Of course,” he corrected himself, “This ship and you are the two things in his way of that plan. Therefore, he has to find a means to get rid of you both.”

“I played along enough to get access to their confidential files and download all their research data, plus everything else I could, into this computer. I even was able to steal one of the copies they had of your Space Tripper.

In anticipation of the worst case scenario, General Gorbok’s attempt to destroy the Magellan project, I have installed the Tripper clone on our ship and programmed one of their jump sequences into it. I made sure you could tell what bits of ‘sabotage’ were my works in case the General had some of his own done.

I am not sure if the jump program I installed was the exact one they are using now, but it should get you close enough to their fleet by either waiting for them to catch up or by jumping forward to their location.” he advised the dumbfounded Engineer.

“While hacking their system I also found a transmission about the coming fleet being unable make the jumps all at once because they are down to using just one Tripper to jump their entire convoy. It seems that scientist they had kidnapped to work on figuring out your device in order to jump faster has escaped as well, taking their Tripper plans along with other vital information.

Our only chance to beat them and save your people, as well as the rest us, is to make contact with that scientist and stop the alien fleet from reaching here.” he spelled out very seriously.

“Remember they are a very dangerous race, they can take on the appearance of anyone they assimilate with and can blend in anywhere. Do not trust anyone.

Do not mention your mission to anyone on the ship.

You can never tell who is loyal to the General and will stop at nothing, even if it means their lives. He may even have planted his own people on board to make sure his plans succeed.”

“It is quite ironic when you think of it, Val. Your people’s most wanted criminal is the only one who can save them!” he chuckled at the thought. “The despised Virrilian criminal will be the savior of the universe!”

Valesque was not nearly as amused as he seemed to have been. What he was asking was nearly impossible. Out in the vastness of space she was not only supposed to find one lone fugitive, but then use an incomplete ship to some how stop a violent armada?

Impossible.

“So you got it, Val? The return trip jump record logs are in this computer, as well as some other useful information. You can use them to follow your path back as you get the ship finished, find our only ally and stop the invasion. It is all up to you.”

“If my assumptions prove true about the General’s intentions to destroy the Magellan project, I will be going into hiding to attempt to work on things from this side. If I don’t see you before then, try to keep safe, Val.” he said with a somber look in his blue eyes. “So you can come back here and kill me for doing all of this to you. … You and that ship.” he repeated in conclusion, “Are our only hope.”

The video ended and the monitor once again turned black.

Invasions, universal conquest, space warp chases, an incomplete ship, a mysterious ally, orders for utmost secrecy and her recent near death experience with the Patchwork Pirates, this promised to be a very challenging trip!

He had sure staked a lot on her.

But he was right about one thing…she was going to kill him for sticking her out here with all of this when she got back! He could count on that!

Join the crew in the next book:

Space Trippers Book 2

Just Passing Through

The adventure continues as Tim rescues an alien damsel in distress.

With the ship in need of food stores, thanks to Lola and her

fiasco in the hydroponics lab, the green girl leads them to a nearby trade planet.

But the trade aliens seem a little too interested in Valesque for Tim and Sanic's comfort.

When she goes missing it is up to them to retrace her last few hours aboard ship,

and they become quite disturbed when they find much more than they bargained for in the secret recesses of the ship’s twisting corridors.

"Who dares disturb my lair?" an eerie, watery voice demanded from behind them.

Tim and Sanic spun in alarm at the unexpected sound, only to be confronted by an even more unnerving sight.

Floating in the air was the dark figure of a woman, hands raised with pointed,

claw-like nails aimed at them as they stood in shock below her.