Chapter 16: Dark Matters

Bear sighed as he tried to explain the need for a higher rotation in the shielding to the Chief of Engineering for the Defiance, "Kalon, if the shield is not at the higher end of the rotation, when it is hit by weapons fire it will take longer for it to come back into sync."

Chief Kalon understood the complexities of the rotation, but saw that at a higher rotation the shield itself was weaker. He liked the fact that at a lower rotation the shielding was almost 50% stronger. "But Commander Bear, we loose so much strength at the higher rotation, surly it would be better to have a stronger shield sir," he argued.

Bear stood on the engineering control deck looking at the diagnostic control screen. The Defiance was the first of the Super Destroyers that was being upgraded. Considering the Defiance had been sitting in the Dragnot for over 1,000,000 years, it was in pristine condition except that, like the other ships, the power supply had run out.

"Ok Chief, for now keep rotation where you have it until I get done with my little experiment," Bear said as he smiled at the upset Fergus.

Bear was eager to leave on his new shuttle that afternoon anyway. If things turned out right, the problem now would be obsolete when he returned from his experiment, he thought.

Bear had taken it upon himself to get every upgrade available from both the Dragnot and the Balask data bases downloaded into his now expanded and enhanced mind. Using the combined information, Bear found that both races had dabbled in the science of Dark Matter but had finally written it off as too unstable to use successfully.

"I think it will work if a stabilizer can be found," he told Buck and Father. "The problem is I need to experiment away from here just to be safe."

Both totally agreed with the big man, and Benny offered to act as his assistant since Bear was now the leading expert in engineering of all three races.

Captain Tomias had a small amount of Dark Matter in a containment field that was originally heading to a dead moon for disposal. Since they damn sure weren't going to the other side of the universe now, he agreed to give it to Bear for his startup experiments.

Once Bear and Benny had picked out the largest transport shuttle onboard the Dragnot, they set about redesigning it into a portable science vessel. With the latest scientific supplies from the Balask, they managed to build a complete lab including a massive set of containment shields. Two days later, the two men set off for the other side of the Moon to began their experiments.

"If they can succeed in stabilizing that Dark Matter, it will be a great benefit to us all," Father said as he, Buck and Tomias watched the shuttle disappear from their sight.

Tomias agreed, but Buck was more concerned about his two friends. "If they blow their asses up and survive, I'll wait 'til they're healed and then kick the living shit out of both of them," he muttered worriedly.

The others laughed and patted him on the back. They also loved the big man and the little AI. But in times of war they both knew that chances had to be taken and sometimes the cost was high.

Tomias laughed and whispered to Buck, "Don't worry too much my friend, I slipped a little insurance on board when they were busy. It will help keep them out of too much trouble, I promise," he added confidently.

Buck endeavored to find out what Tomias had put aboard the science shuttle that could help keep the two from killing themselves. Buck's eyes glowered at Tomias, but all he got back was an impish grin and a wink. "Sorry my friend, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for you upon their return," Tomias chortled. "Let's just say if they are not back in two weeks, then I'll be surprised," he added.

Buck looked at the green Fergus captain with annoyance. The man had been acting strange for the last two weeks. First he seemed filled with apprehension, then a few days ago it was like someone stuck sunshine up his butt. The guy just smiled all the time now, I mean all the time? Geez... he thought to himself.

"Raising forward armor plating," Bear said as the armor covering the forward window of the bridge slid into their hidden compartments and the view of space was open to them.

"Damn, now that's a sight I thought to never see with these eyes," Bear whispered as Benny turned the ship slowly letting Bear see his world in the distance.

"The view you see has only been seen by less than 100 of your race my friend. It is a beautiful planet and worth fighting for, don't you think?" Benny asked softly.

Bear's face went from awe to the hardened warrior as he thought of those who wished to destroy what he was looking at in front of him, "Yep little buddy, it's worth fighting and dying for to me. Now let's get a move on and save my ... I mean OUR little rock."

Benny nodded, turning the shuttle back on course to the moon.

Benny looked at the screen in front of him and saw a shift from his pre-programmed course setting. "Bear, did you change my course settings?" he asked, perplexed.

Bear shook his head. "Hell no! I'm no expert on navigation, why would you asked that Benny?"

Benny ran the numbers again to make sure of what he had found, "Well, did you add some extra equipment at the last minute then?"

Bear shook his head again, "Nope, I thought you set the course right before we left the Sanctuary."

Benny checked the weight in the hold and found it was 110lbs over the weight of what he had set the flight navigation for. It wasn't a major problem to correct the course, it just bugged the little man that someone had added the weight after he had done the Nav. Calculations, "Well someone put something in back in the hold and it changed our total weight and threw us off a bit on our navigational course."

"Did someone sneak aboard then? I thought the hold only had enough oxygen to keep decompression out of it, that's not enough for a person to breath is it?" Bear asked, as he pictured some kid climbing inside the hold for a joy ride that turned deadly.

"No, of course not my big friend. It's more likely that someone added more equipment that they thought might come in handy," Benny suggested.

Still, it did bother the little AI to no end. Surly someone would have realized that it would change the weight discrepancy and thus affect the course settings. Benny decided to put off checking the hold until later since he had already readjusted their approach for now.

An hour later the two found themselves gently landing on the dark side of the moon and ready to begin their experiments. "Everything is shipshape little buddy, ready to get to work?" Bear asked, as he watched the environmental screen that showed the oxygen level come up to normal in their hold.

While it didn't matter for Benny, the hold needed to be accessible for Bear to retrieve some of their equipment during experiments. So he wanted to make sure it was ready before they started. Bear knew once they got started the two men, no pun intended were machines in the way they both lost track of everything around them but the work.

Satisfied at the readings, Bear and Benny made their way back into their new lab. Benny carefully used a robotic arm to open the small container of dark matter inside the heavy-duty shield. He maneuvered a tiny shielded syringe close to the opening of the container and drew a minute amount of dark matter into the syringe. Moving carefully he used the other robotic arm to close the lid back onto the main container.

Bear used another similar arm to move their first miniature engine over beside the shielded syringe Benny was controlling. The sweat poured down the big man's face. This was the most dangerous moment for them, as Benny carefully slid the shielded needle into the tiny opening of the engine's containment area. The tiny amount of dark matter moved from the syringe into the syringe's container with no problems.

As Benny closed the opening on the little engine they both let out a large breath they had been holding without realizing it.

"Well that was surly enough excitement for a while, don't you think?" Benny said, finally smiling.

Bear grinned down a his little friend, "Yeah, I think we'd better work on a better way to transfer that stuff before we move anymore though. I almost passed out from holding my damn breath and didn't even realize I was doing it."

There is an easier way to transfer the dark matter. You simply move it within a neurotic shield Papa, came a voice into each man's mind.

Both men jaws dropped as they looked at each other in bewilderment. "Papa?" Bear exclaimed.

"Don't look at me buddy, I might have a pencil but there's no lead in it for that kind of thing," Benny said, clarifying his physical makeup.

Benny gave Bear the old Spock eyebrow treatment, "It would seem that you have been hiding quite a secret from me my friend."

An exasperated Bear shook his head fervently, "Nope, no way no how. If that had come up I would have known as soon as we got back home not to mention the fact that whoever it is spoke into our minds."