Ancient Birthright (31 page)

Anika shifted the sleeping Dantee to a more comfortable position. “Dantee says she was tested by a whole panel of souls, her words, and the results couldn’t be measured because they were so far above the normal curve. Tuuan and Reedn would have developed as normal luzzon young if Dantee hadn’t been around. She’s found a way to stimulate them to try to keep up with her abilities. I think that was part of the reason they were sent on this mission with her. Her parents, or maybe Command Prime, didn’t want to interrupt whatever she was doing to train the other two.”

Striker could hear friendly conversation from the mid deck cabin as work continued.

This is one strange crew, five Americans, three Russian girls, and three luzzon children all crammed together for the next year. Either we’re going to come out of this the best of friends or the UE will find a shuttle orbiter and PTO ship devoid of life. We are definitely living in interesting times
.

Chapter
-35

“Ladies and gentleman, I assume you’ve all read the brief sent to you yesterday,” the President said as he scanned the people seated before him in the Oval Office. “I assure you this is not science fiction. We do have an alien spacecraft approaching Earth.” Senator Breathsword, DHS Director Rashid, and General Norwell from the Joint Chiefs were the only ones in the office beside his wife, who had prior knowledge of the alien craft. “I want a free and open discussion on our options and how we should handle this threat. ‘Wait and see,’ is not one of the options.” He gave each of his advisors a long stare.

An hour later, with few choices and no clear path forward, the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth said, “The public will soon forget the name Dumas and things can return to normal. After all it’s an election year, and we don’t need the distraction of an alien ship arriving when the American people should be focused on selecting their government’s leaders.” The President looked to his wife for her opinion, which was the only opinion he really needed to make his decision. Her slight nod sealed the deal and the fate of the aliens. They would be destroyed along with all evidence the Dumas family ever existed.

The President rounded his desk and settled in his custom made chair.
After all
,
nothing is more important than maintaining my family’s position as the first royal family in American history. I have a dynasty to build.
“I’m ordering a launch of the modified ICBMs.”

The President dismissed the assembled advisors, but indicated General Norwell should stay. “General, I don’t feel that you support my decision or my administration, I want your resignation on my desk by this evening.”

“Why wait until tonight,” General Norwell said as he pulled his resignation letter from a document wallet and presented it to the President. “I’ve served this country proudly for thirty-five years under six presidents. This is the first time that I have felt humiliation and disgust for the Commander in Chief,” he said as he tossed the document on the President’s desk and walked out, back straight, head high.

The President slowly stroked his jaw. He turned his chair, and stared out the bulletproof windows, finally swiveling back to the desk, he reached for the phone. “Connect me with DHS Director Rashid… Rashid, Norwell resigned. Once the ICBMs have done their job and destroyed the alien ship, I want all traces of the Dumas problem to disappear. Have I made myself clear? You had better send Hooker and his team, the fewer who know about this, the better.”

The President leaned back and thunked his right foot on his desk.

“Now, what have you found out on the news leaks? Where is Fox getting their information? Hold it. HoI don’t want to hear about freedom of the press and protected sources. Stop that leak and shut down that nest of vipers. I want to send the strongest message possible to anyone else in the fourth estate who thinks they can go up against
me
. Just get it done, or I’ll find someone who can.”

Chapter-36

Endeavour
: Transjump plus 6 years, 222 days:

“Dantee, are you sure you calculated our course correctly?” Rishly asked for the fifth time that day. “We still don’t have the
Universe Explorer
on our instruments.”

“I checked it again and had Tuuan and Reedn check, too. We are where we need to be. We is in front of
Explorer
’s course, so they catch up pretty damn quick.”

“Are. ‘We are in front of the
Universe Explorer
’.” Rishly automatically corrected her speech. “And please leave out the cuss words like ‘damn,’ just say ‘they will catch up pretty quick,’ or ‘they will catch up quickly.’”

“The
Explorer
is decelerating but still has big speed over us, so we now getting up to speed in direction they are going while they are slowing down. They catch us in little more than a day. Maybe have other PTO ships get to us first to help boost speed to match
Explorer
.”

“Is that why you’ve spent so much time on the radio lately? You were arranging with the
Universe Explorer
to send out additional craft to help bring us up to speed.”

“Yup, you betcha pardner,” Dantee said through a wide grin.

“No, don’t tell me you found the one old John Wayne movie in our DVD collection?”

Dantee pointed into the airlock toward the PTO ship. “Yup, sure did, Cookie. I’m going up on yon hill and do me some thinkin’. I’ll be back for supper,” she said in a gruff voice as she tried walking away stiff legged in the light acceleration induced gravity.

Rishly doubled over holding his sides laughing.

“What’s going on, Major?” Becca asked.

“Find that John Wayne movie and either hide it or get rid of it, and if you want to know why, ask Dantee to do her John Wayne impersonation for you.”

“Majors, I have contact with two targets at five-hundred miles,” called Reedn from his position in front of the radar console. “They are too small for one of them to be the
Universe Explorer
so they must be planet-to-orbit ships.”

The radio Dantee had grown for them screeched then reduced volume as the automatic gain control adjusted to the signal strength. “
Endeavour
, this is
Boost One
approaching your position. I have
Boost Two
with me to assist in accelerating your ship to match speed with the
Universe Explorer
.”

Rishly grabbed the radio. “We have you on our instruments,
Boost One
. Dantee told me you might be arriving.”

“We should join with you within the hour and be ready to start acceleration shortly after we arrive.”

“I don’t understand how you plan on increasing our speed?”

“It will be easier to show you once we arrive. We’ll be there shortly…”

Rishly dropped down into the mid deck cabin and alerted the others that they had company arriving within the hour. “They have a plan to help increase our speed to match the
Universe Explorer
. The
UE
is coming up behind us at a high rate of closure so we need to get up to speed to match their velocity,” he explained.

“Here they come,” called Reedn.

Rishly climbed back to the flight deck and strapped into his acceleration couch. Becca was already in hers, and Reedn had pulled the restraints on the chair he was using to their tightest setting.

Rishly watched out the pilot side window as a PTO ship three times the size of the one the luzzon children had arrived in, sailed into view with its engine pointing in their direction of travel.

“I have one on this side, too,” Becca told him.

The two PTO craft continued past the
Endeavour
for what Rishly estimated to be several hundred yards. Both ships then tumbled one-hundred-eighty degrees so their noses were pointing in the same direction as the
Endeavour
. The continued acceleration provided by Dantee’s ship slowly brought the two larger craft alongside.

Rishly noticed that the newly arrived ships had a framework attached to their hulls.

“
Endeavour
, please do not use your attitude controls while we move into position.”

“Roger...eer, understood,
Boost One
. Attitude controls are off and locked,” Rishly answered.

“The one on this side is getting closer,” Becca said in an excited voice. “It looks like that framework on the hull is meant to slip over our wings.”

“It’s the same on this side.”

“
Endeavour
, we are in position and cradles are locked. We will begin acceleration when you are ready.”

Rishly pushed the intercom button. “Everyone strap in where you can. We are about to begin acceleration.”

Striker climbed into the flight deck and took the remaining acceleration couch. “Beldon and Cindy are in their couches and Tuuan is with Cindy. Katya is coming up here to use the couch where Reedn is sitting. He can strap in with her. She’ll be here in a minute, after she helps Nadya and Anika rig hammocks.

Katya entered the flight deck and released Reedn’s restraints then took the couch and placed him on her lap. She reconnected the straps. “Ready.”.

“Dantee, will you be able to keep up with the added acceleration, so you don’t put too much strain on the docking module?” Rishly called over the radio.

“Should be no problem, I have position lock on both ships and should be able to match their acceleration.”

“
Boost One
and
Two
,
Endeavour
is ready for acceleration.”

“
Boost One
is applying power—now.”

The increased acceleration was so gradual no one noticed it until it approached half a gee. This was the most weight they had felt in months.

“Crew, report your status. Is anyone having difficulty breathing?” Rishly called over the intercom.

“Beldon here, I’m okay.”

“Cindy reporting. I’m okay. Tuuan says she’s good.”

“Da, same here, is Nadya.”

“This is Anika. I’m ready for more.”

“No problem with my breathing but it feels like I have a bowling ball sitting on my stomach,” Katya reported as she shifted Reedn to a new position.

“I good. Softest seat in the house,” Reedn said as he patted Katya’s chest.

“I’m using muscles I haven’t used in months. I’m okay for now, but I think we are all going to be sore tomorrow,” Striker said.

“Dantee, how are you doing?” Rishly asked over the radio.

“Just fine, Cookie. Got me a good horse and my belly’s full. What more could a man ask for?” Dantee answered.

“Enough with the John Wayne talk, Dantee, time to be serious and pay attention.”

“Yes, sir.”

“
Endeavour
, we are going up to about two gees for the next four hours. Let me know if you need us to back off and give you some relief. I know you’ve been weightless for months, and your muscles have atrophied, but we need to get to one-hundred-thirty-six-thousand miles per hour to match velocities with the
Universe Explorer
.”

“Roger,
Boost One
. We’ll take it as long as we can.”

“Get comfortable people. This is going to hurt,” Rishly said on the intercom.

Rishly felt the pressure continue to build to the point that each breath felt like he was bench-pressing a hundred-fifty pounds. “Beldon, keep an eye on Nadya and Anika. They’re going to have the most trouble lying in those hammocks.”

“I’ll let you know if one of them looks like she’s in trouble. I’ll trade places with her when I get a chance.”

An hour later. “Rishly, I know it’s only been a short time, but Nadya’s starting to have real difficulty breathing, and Anika doesn’t look much better,” Beldon reported.

“
Boost One
, we need to drop the acceleration for a while. Two of our people have developed breathing problems from the jury-rigged acceleration support they used. I’ll let you know when we have them moved to one of the acceleration couches.”

“As you say, roger,
Endeavour
.”

#

The acceleration pressure slowly diminished to about half Earth’s gravity. Beldon released his restraints and tried to stand. His knees buckled, and he had to use the combination of his arms and legs to stand up. He hooked his hands in the grips on the equipment console to steady his body. He forced his knees to lock so he could make his way the four feet to Nadya’s hammock. Beads of sweat ran into his eyes as he tried to use muscles that no longer had strength.

Nadya’s feeble attempts to rise caused her muscles to quiver and spasm. “These hammocks were not a good idea. They cause the body to bend in the middle and block the abdominal muscles so you can’t breathe. We would have been smarter to lie against the rear bulkhead. That way the entire body would be supported.”

“I’ll try to get you into my acceleration couch and then take your advice and use the rear bulkhead. Come on, let’s try it. I’ll swing your legs over the edge of the hammock and support you as you try to stand. It’s a good thing you aren’t any bigger, or I’d never be able to support you.”

Beldon almost dropped Nadya several times before she collapsed on his couch. When he turned to check on Anika, he found Cindy and Tuuan already helping her to Cindy’s couch. Beldon stumbled over to help get her settled and restrained.

They worked together to stow the hammocks and add blankets and additional equipment console padding to that already on the rear bulkhead.

Tuuan worked her way through the airlock and joined Dantee on the PTO. Reedn no longer had that option since he could not fit through the airlock.

“Ready for acceleration down here,” Beldon called to Rishly.

“Okay,
Boost One
. We’re ready.”

“Roger,
Endeavour
. Throttling up.”

Beldon felt the pressure building worse than before. He rolled his head to see how Cindy was doing and found her watching him.

#

The next relief break was called by Katya. The pressure of Reedn on her chest had become unbearable. Reedn moved to Striker’s chest and his complaints about losing his soft bed drifted into the lower cabin.