Chapter 8

Ben's timing in dealing with the missiles appeared to be impeccable. One thing the water twins didn't realise however, was that as they were 'watching' events in the security room at the cave, the ship's AI had broadcast an emergency mayday message.

"Mayday, mayday. This is the WS Reaper orbiting planet P73197. We have three enemy missiles heading directly for the ship and no way of defending ourselves.

"We request immediate assistance from any Woden ships in this or nearby galaxies.

"Mayday, mayday. This is the WS Reaper I repeat our ship is under attack and we request immediate assistance."

After launching the escape shuttle the AI had time to execute just one more command before the missiles hit the ship — it ordered the ship's engines to perform an emergency shut-down procedure.

The first missile damaged the computer and the AI could do nothing more after that. The second and third missiles had caused extensive damage, but hadn't breached the inner skin of the hull.

The escape shuttle was programmed to fly away from the mother ship as fast as it could to avoid any debris from a possible explosion. Thereafter its onboard computer scanned for habitable planets and a safe place to set down.

In this instance planet P73197 was directly below its flight-path and in particular the fourth continent showed no signs of potentially threatening life forms on it. The shuttle steered a course for that continent as being the safest place within reach.

The landscape on the continent was the most rugged the planet had to offer. Mountains ran in ranges at various points and deep valleys and canyons had been formed over the centuries, as icy glaciers had inched their way down towards the ocean. Several long-dead volcanoes also added to the scenery.

Most of the rock was reddish sandstone and the soil was also a deep red in colour. The sun hitting the rock made little particles of silicon crystal glint and sparkle, almost as if glitter had been sprinkled all over the area by a giant hand.

Several major rivers were fed by the rains that fell on the mountains and they cut their winding paths through the continent and eventually down to the ocean.

The climate here was similar to that around the caves where the Stellarites were based, but this continent was in the opposite hemisphere of the planet and so, as the caves were enjoying Spring, here it was Autumn.

The shuttle identified a likely spot to set down — a broad valley that one of the rivers snaked through — and it landed so gently that Kadesh remained sleeping.

Several hours later the bright sunlight streaming through the shuttle's window caused enough discomfort that the pilot did begin to rouse himself. At first he grunted and tried to turn over to block out the light — almost as if he was in bed and he could burrow down under the covers.

The chair he was in didn't allow that and eventually he tried to open his eyes to find out what the problem was. The bright light was excruciating and Kadesh closed his eyes again pretty rapidly and with a curse. The pounding in his head reminded him that he had managed to get himself royally drunk and now he was paying the price.

Several deep breaths later he tried to open his eyes again, this time shielding them a little by raising his hands to the sides of his face. A minute or so of rapid blinking helped him adjust and focus and he found himself looking at the inside of what could only be the emergency escape shuttle.

"How the fuck did I get here?" he asked himself out loud.

It was only at that point that he realised that 'here' was even worse than he thought. Not only was he inside the shuttle, but the shuttle was clearly not on board the WS Reaper any longer.

Through the window he could see trees and further off in the far distance a range of mountains.

"Somehow or other I've managed to end up on the surface of the planet. What the heck have I done?"

Getting up from the pilot's chair was a trial, but he managed it and then walked from the cockpit to the rear of the shuttle.

"Painkillers and a glass of water," he ordered from the ship's replicator.

He washed the pills down with some of the water and then made his way to the cot that was fixed to the hull. Kadesh collapsed on the bed and let sleep take him once more. His last thought was that he hoped the headache would be gone by the time he woke up.

Thomas examined the components in front of him for about the tenth time. Try as he might he couldn't find anything wrong. He had tested every chip, every circuit and there was nothing faulty.

Adam told him that one of the satellites had been working earlier and that had allowed him to watch while the missiles had struck a space ship that was orbiting above them.

"Then it stopped working again. Maybe the blast from the explosions knocked it out," Adam explained.

Thomas was suspicious. It sounded altogether too much of a co-incidence that a satellite that hadn't worked for years would suddenly start sending pictures again just in time to show the missile strike.

"Somebody is controlling my satellites, they must be. I've always thought it was incredible bad luck that not one, but two of them managed to achieve a stable orbit and function for several hours before then just dying on me. I've pored over every bit of the design and can't find a single flaw. Why would they work for hours and then cut out? What if somebody has tampered with them? If David has developed the ability to build space craft, then it's entirely feasible that he's been able to somehow disable my babies!"

The thought really annoyed him. It had taken countless hours to build the satellites and for someone else to have interfered with them to stop them from working was just too much!

"Okay, let's think about this. If David's developed space capability, what does that mean for us and what do we have to do to go one better? Nobody is going to outdo me when it comes to technology, so I'm just going to have to come up with something that trumps what they've got. He's got space ships and powerful tractor beams so I'll have to build faster, better ships and find a way to counteract his weapons."

"Adam, we need to ramp up our mining operations. For what I'm planning we're going to need a heck of a lot of materials," he said.

"Tell me what it is first, I'm not just going to authorise access to tons of valuable resources unless I agree it's for something worthwhile," Adam replied.

"Oh I think you're going to like this," said Thomas.

Thomas explained what he had been thinking. Adam frowned as he thought about the possibility that David and his people were controlling space around the planet. The frown changed to a wide grin when Thomas explained what he planned to do about it.

"How long do you think it will take you to design and build something?" Adam asked.

"If you give me unlimited access to the replicators — maybe a couple of months. That's not necessarily the difficult bit though, I can build a ship, but who are we going to get to fly it?" Thomas answered.

"David's managed to come up with an answer to that — so we should be able to as well. Couldn't we build some simulators or something and test people's abilities?" asked Adam.

"Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?" laughed Thomas.

He knew there were several of the younger members of the tribe who had shown they were gifted software specialists. He would spend some time with them and describe what was required then leave them to write the programs.

"What about weapons?" Adam asked.

"I've been thinking about that ever since I saw the rifles that David's people use, but especially after I saw the beam lifting Hannah up. You gave me a clue when you said there was no noise when they fired shots at you. I think that probably means they're using some kind of light beam that's fired in bursts or pulses — a modified version of the pulse rifles you've got. You know that the propagation pods have their own little tractor beams fitted? Well, I took the one we have apart and I think I understand how it works. Now I just need to find a way of scaling it up so it can be used as a weapon."

Adam smiled and slapped Thomas on the back.

"Excellent, excellent. Okay, I'll authorise you to have the access and the resources you need. We'll have to make some sacrifices elsewhere — maybe cut back on some of the 'luxury' items we're producing, but it'll be worth it. Let's make sure we're better than they are!"

As well as having the ability to work wonders with technology, Thomas had developed another skill. He had discovered that it was possible to use his inherited memories to help him pass the time whenever he was lazing around.

By concentrating hard, he found he was able to read whole books that had been written back through the ages on Woden and do so all in his head. He certainly had plenty of practice over the years — it was one of the most enjoyable ways of spending a few hours lying on his back. His favourite genre was science fiction — sci-fi — and many of his ideas for technology were actually drawn from the stories he read.

Now his mind was buzzing with the kind of things he could build into the designs for his first space ship.

Ben looked out of the window of the great house and saw that Sarah was once again showing Hannah around the community. They were currently examining one of the sets of solar panels that helped generate the energy they used and Ben realised that it was unlikely that Hannah would have seen such a thing before.

A lot had happened over the past few days since 'the crisis' and Hannah now looked as if she had adapted to life at Aetherkraal. She liked the heat and particularly liked the fact that she could walk around wearing next to nothing — something that no doubt appealed to the exhibitionist streak she had.

'The crisis' had come about due to the fact that Hannah still had difficulty in comprehending just what Ben could do using his metal nuggets. She was convinced that she had been carried from the caves by some new technology that the twins were using. In an effort to convince her, Ben had to put on a number of demonstrations.

His first example had been to take the silvery-white nugget from Hannah and mentally carry it back to the caves so that he could deposit it in the jar of rice for Elizabeth to find.

"When Elizabeth uses the nugget you'll have your proof that what you just 'saw' was real — I really did carry that nugget from here all the way to your former cave," he said.

Hannah shook her head in disbelief.

His second demonstration was on a much larger scale, as he really tried to impress her. This time he linked with her and let her watch as he went in search of the escape shuttle from the Woden ship.

"It's important that you don't speak or make any noise that the pilot might hear," he warned her.

From high above the planet, Ben used his worldview to try to pinpoint where the shuttle had landed. The fact that there was a point of light signifying a life form on the previously uninhabited continent made his job much easier than he had expected.

He zoomed his perspective down to the planet's surface and quickly found himself looking at the shuttle. There was no sign of the pilot and Ben slipped through the skin of the craft to try to locate him.

Kadesh was still sound asleep and that gave Ben the opportunity to do what he had planned all along. He focused on opening the shuttle's door and then mentally lifted the pilot and quickly carried him across the miles to Aetherkraal.