The Bonding (24 page)

Janet had to think fast now. “I’ll speak
with my boss, when he gets here, and he can make the arrangements with your
boss. He should be here within the hour. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have work
to do before they arrive.”

“Commander, I’m sorry, but I can’t let
you get back on board until I get some answers. You see, I don’t believe you,
and I think that if you get back on board, you, Tarku, and this ship are going
to disappear. And I can’t let that happen.”

“What?” she said, outraged. “How dare
you. I’m giving you an order to step aside, Major, or face a court martial.”

“I’ll have to take my chances,” he said.
“You see, my boss outranks you, and he said that you are not to get back on
board until he gets here and questions you himself. Guards, do not allow
anyone, and especially these two, to get on board this ship.”

Janet looked over at Tarku. They could
feel each other’s thoughts and knew that the situation just turned very bad.

Tarku spoke up. “This is my ship, and you
will not tell me what to do.”

The Major quickly snapped back at Tarku.
“If you attempt to board this ship, I will have you restrained. If your story
is as you say, then we’ll have all of our answers as soon as your team arrives,
and you will have my apology. Until then, no one is going on or off this
vessel.”

The sun was beginning to rise and the
huge ship was becoming quite visible. It covered nearly an entire city block.
The weather was windy, but the ship never moved an inch or made even one sound.
To see this immense object floating over the town was an unbelievable site.
Additional teams had arrived to secure the town, and Homer’s gas station was
temporarily the headquarters for this operation. Two hours had passed and, of
course, no team showed up for Janet and Tarku, but Major Barton’s boss arrived,
General Thomas Redding. He walked into the gas station where Janet and Tarku
were waiting, under guard.

He immediately noticed Tarku and walked
up to him first, completely ignoring Janet. “You must be, Tarku.”

“That is my name, and what is yours?”

“I’m General Redding.” He extended his
hand and took notice of Tarku’s large clawed hands and very firm grip. “I’m
pleased to meet you, Mr. Tarku.”

He looked over at Janet. “And I recognize
you Commander Shelby.” He reached out to shake her hand.

“Pleased to meet you, General.”

The general looked out the window.
“That’s some spacecraft you have there, Commander. I thought that I knew about
every UFO involved with our government, but it seems that somebody did a good
job of keeping this one secret, even from me. I think we need to talk.”

“I agree,” Janet said, “but we need to do
it privately, General.”

The General looked over at Major Barton
and nodded one time. “Guards, outside and stand by the door. No one but me or
the General goes in or out,” Barton commanded.

Immediately the guards assumed a position
outside the door. Barton stood beside the General.

“I said privately,” Janet repeated,
looking over at Barton.

The General motioned his head for Barton
to go, and reluctantly he went outside. “Okay, Commander. It’s just us now.
What do you have to say?”

Janet knew that her bluff was called, and
that she needed to tell the General the truth. She told him the whole story
about what really happened to her shuttle, and how she came to know Tarku and
the events that led up to where they were now.

“That is one incredible story,” the
General said.

“Then you know that you must let us get
back on board our ship and leave,” Janet replied.

“In due time, Commander. But first, I
have to request a favor of you and Mr. Tarku.”

“It’s actually Mr. Zivok, General,” Janet
said. “His name is Tarku Zivok.”

“My apology, Mr. Zivok. But as I said, I
have a favor to ask.”

“What kind of favor?” Tarku asked.

“I’d like you and Commander Shelby to
come with me and see something. It’s something that I believe will interest
both of you.”

“Area 51?” Janet guessed.

“Yes! There are things there that we have
many questions about, and perhaps Mr. Zivok could help us before you leave our
planet.”

Janet and Tarku looked at each other and
nodded. “Okay, General,” Janet said. “But then, you must allow us to leave.”

“Agreed,” the General said, as he shook
Janet’s hand. “My chopper is waiting.”

Chapter Fifteen

The chopper took them to Carswell where they boarded a black
jet for the ride to area 51. Along the way the General had nonstop questions
for Tarku. He sounded like Janet when she first met him. She could tell that
the General was envious of her, and wished that he could also travel the
universe with them. Tarku also had many questions for the General. He wanted to
see the cockpit of the jet as they were flying, and was amused at how the craft
was propelled, a form of propulsion that Zintandu had stopped using over two
hundred millenniums ago.

The sun was shining brightly over the
desert as the jet dropped onto the long runway. It taxied up to a large hangar
that looked very old, but as they walked into it, Tarku noticed that the
building was only painted to look old, and wondered why anyone would do that.

“This is a very top-secret facility,”
Janet said. “There are things here that many people wonder about, but few
actually know about.”

“Well, you’re about to join the ranks of
the few,” the General said. “I know that for ages you’ve heard stories about
this place, and most of them are true.”

They got into an elevator and descended
to what Janet estimated was about two hundred feet below the ground. When they
stepped off the elevator there was a huge, cavernous opening before them. It
was so large that two or three space shuttles could be moved around with ease.
The entire area was well lit, but Janet couldn’t see any lights anywhere.

“Interesting lighting system, General.
It’s as though the walls and floor themselves are lighted. And no matter where
you move, there are no shadows.”

“Yes. It’s supposed to simulate actual
sunlight, but on a cloudy day. Personally, I don’t know how it operates, and
I’ve never asked anyone. There are other things here that are much more
interesting. Let me show you.”

They boarded a small, electric transport
that took them into the cavern. Along the way, they passed several different
types of craft. One was long and teardrop shaped, with an extremely polished
exterior. It was literally enclosed with scaffolds, and there were people all
over it like a swarm of ants.

Several of the other craft were saucer
shaped and also had shimmering, highly reflective skin. The General stopped at
the largest of them, and the only one that didn’t look damaged.

“This is my first question, Tarku. Do you
recognize any of these vessels, and could you tell us where they come from?”

“They all look familiar, but many species
have similar craft. This one looks like Annunaki design. May I see the interior?”

“Certainly,” the General agreed. “Sir,
you may see anything you want.”

A small ramp went from the ground up into
the craft. When they got inside, Tarku began reading the symbols adjacent to
each instrument.

“This is definitely Annunaki. They are a
race as old as mine, and just as advanced.”

“You can read these symbols?” the General
asked.

Tarku looked at him oddly. “You cannot?”

“No!” The General seemed surprised. Tarku
said that as though he wondered why. “We have spent decades trying to decipher
this language.”

“I would have thought you’d already know
it, since the Annunaki used to live on this planet,” Tarku said.

“They lived here?” the General questioned
with amazement.

“They are a race of very large beings,
and many of them have wings. They have inhabited planets throughout the
universe, although I think they left the Earth many eons ago. Most Earthlings
actually resemble the Annunaki. I believe that they had experimented with DNA
sampling to improve the physical and intellectual capabilities of your race, by
mixing their DNA with yours.”

“This is fascinating!” the General
exclaimed. “Do you know how to operate this craft?”

“Oh yes! This is actually one of their
very old models. Even Janet knows this language, since we trade technology with
them.”

The General looked at Janet. “You know
this language?”

“Yes, and the languages of many other
planets. Tarku and I just learned another language while enroute to the Earth.
The Zintandians learning systems are incredible.”

“They must be,” the General said.

Tarku reached over and touched a series
of instruments and suddenly the instruments energized. The General was beside
himself with emotion.

“Oh my God! You’ve just done in seconds
what we have not been able to do in nearly a hundred years.”

“It appears that this craft can still
operate. This is a light speed craft. How did you come to have it?” Tarku
asked.

“We found it hovering over a very remote
area. The ramp was down and several of the crew was lying outside dead. The
remaining crew were inside here, but were also dead. We have no idea what
killed them, but they obviously new that there was something wrong and landed.
We think, that because they tried to get outside, but still died, that perhaps
there was some kind of virus on board.”

Tarku began touching other instruments
and a video appeared on the monitor. One of the aliens was speaking, leaving a
log of what was happening.

“It seems that they accidentally opened a
canister of lethal gas. Something they were experimenting with. They were in
orbit when this occurred and set the ship’s autopilot to bring them to a
preselected coordinate here on Earth. Since the Annunaki breath oxygen, just
like us, they tried to get to the Earth, to fresh air, but failed.”

The General stared in awe at the monitor.
“You said that you could fly this craft?”

“Yes! Even Janet knows how to operate
this. It is of very simple design and completely automated. You set coordinates
in here.” Suddenly a three dimensional hologram of space appeared. Tarku
selected a coordinate, a planet that was shown on the star map. “Then activate,
although I won’t do that right now, for obvious reasons, and the ship does
everything automatically from there.”

“This is absolutely amazing!” the General
said, still staring at the hologram.

Tarku pointed to the planet that he had
selected. “This is where the Annunaki came from. It is only one of many planets
that they inhabit. This one is called Arken and is two thousand light years
from the earth.”

“How fast can this ship travel,” the
General asked.

“This is an old ship, only ten thousand
times the speed of light. They can go much faster now. My ship travels at over
thirty thousand times the speed of light.”

“Th-thirty thousand,” the General
stuttered.

“Yes, and mine is nothing like the ships
of the Koltai.”

“The Koltai?”

“That is the universal policing force,
made up of representatives from over one hundred planets. Their ships can go
approximately one hundred twenty thousand times the speed of light, and are
very heavily armed, to preserve universal peace.”

The General had a blank expression and
didn’t say a word. This information was overwhelming, and Tarku could see that
his mind was racing.

Tarku continued. “The most advanced race
that we know of is the Quar. It is believed that they are the first race. They
are so advanced that even we cannot trade with them. We would like to, but they
will not. They are to us like we are to you. Their ships are believed to travel
at over one million times the speed of light. They simply disappear from one
point and reappear at another, millions of light years away. No one knows
exactly how they operate.”

“Can you show our scientists how to
operate this ship?” the General asked.

“You should not even have this ship,”
Tarku replied. He touched some instruments and the ship powered down. “The
Annunaki should have come back to get it long ago. Although they probably
thought that you would not be able to figure out how to make it operate, and I
see that their assumption was correct. When your scientists do figure it out,
then your technology will be getting close to light speed travel. Our
scientists predict that you will not reach light speed travel for nearly three
hundred Earth years.”

“So that would be no,” the General
surmised.

“It is forbidden for me to trade
technology with you until your race achieves light speed travel. As Janet
explained before, the only reason we are here was so Janet could contact her
parents.”

“I understand,” the General replied. “I
have some other things to show you.”

They left the spacecraft and got back
onto the electric transport. They went down a long, but huge corridor to
another large room. Inside was some form of spacecraft engine that was the size
of a 747 body.
Tarku’s eyes widened in disbelief.