his fellow Glod warriors at home did not understand that concept and were thus weaker as a result. The President of the Academy was speaking and his mind drifted back to the day of the challenge when he was forced to choose for his race whether or not to accept Queen Danielle as their ruler. He could still see the determination in her eyes and her fear for his safety if he had to fight that demon husband of hers. He did not fear death and he knew he would die if he fought Thomas Gardner but her fear for him changed him. He saw the greatness of her spirit and it made him feel small. It was that feeling that brought him to this academy to try and become more than he was. He had worked hard during his studies and being first in his class helped him begin to feel whole again. Then he heard his name and noticed all his class mates were staring at him. Then the President said, “Ron-Dar is number one in this graduating class and he has been ordered to his first assignment; standup Ron-Dar.” He stood and the President lifted a sheet of paper and began reading, “Ron-Dar is hereby promoted to the rank of captain and will report to the Megaship Retribution immediately after this celebration to assume the command of that ship.”
His classmates jumped up and began cheering his good fortune. No one had graduated from the academy with that high a rank. He was being pounded on the back and hugged but then he heard over the noise the President calling for order. The graduates finally quieted down and the President said, “There’s more to this assignment that we all need to hear.” Ron-Dar was numb from the news but then he heard, “Retribution is the Flagship of Thomas Gardner and it will be leading our war against the Algeans. One of our own will be in the forefront of that fight.”
Whatever was said after that was never heard, his classmates hoisted all 540 pounds of the stunned Glod and began parading around the campus. Ron-Dar had finally found what he was seeking and for the first time since the day of the challenge he felt whole again.
Tgon-Gee stood at the rear of the crowd and felt his pride swell for the Glod Champion that had just been promoted. His success at the academy would cause other Glod Warriors to enter now that they knew they could compete head to head with the humans. Ron-Dar’s example would be the first small step for his culture to become greater than it had ever been. He moved into the crowd to assist the graduates in lifting the heavy Glod classmate. Somehow, he felt much lighter than he should have.
Misty Nicole sat at her desk with the top scientist from the Directorate’s Labs. “I need you to drop what you’re working on and try to find a way around this dampening frequency that the Algeans are using to prevent our ships from jumping inside the star drive limit.”
Gerald Nelson looked at the Director and said, “We have looked at the problem and unfortunately we have come up empty handed. The stars gravity already makes the resonance of the drive field difficult inside the limit and it’s only those ships with the most powerful Coronado screens that can overcome it. It only barely overcomes that gravity and it only takes a small disturbance to prevent the drive from being able to hold a resonance. That dampening frequency doesn’t even have to be strong to stop the drive from working. Outside the limit the frequency has no effect.”
Misty looked at Gerald and said, “Explain to me so that I can understand how that is a problem.”
“Director, Douglas discovered accidently that every place in the known universe has a certain resonance frequency.” He pointed at a cup on her desk and said, “That cup resonates at a frequency that no other place in the universe resonates and that frequency is the coordinates of that cup’s location.” He reached forward and moved the cup a tiny bit then said, “Now the frequency has changed with its new location. Douglas discovered that if you surround an object with a field resonating with the same frequency of another location, then that object instantly moves, or as we say, jumps to the location of the matching resonance and it doesn’t matter if its six inches away or six light years.”
Misty had her head tilted and said, “Where does it go when it jumps?”
“We honestly don’t know. Some scientists have speculated that the resonance field is actually no larger than the size of the universe just before the big bang which was the size of a small atom; so the distance traveled between jumps is actually too small to measure which is why the jumps are instantaneous. That concept however, is conjecture. We do know that using the field reader one can read the resonance frequency of any point in the universe and strangely, the field is instant and is not bound by the speed of light.”
Misty then asked a question that would change the course of the war, “Well what is the frequency of the space you go thru to make a jump?”
Gerald Nelson looked at her and Misty could see lights go on behind his eyes. “I have no idea, Director. I have never thought about that and I don’t know if anyone ever has.” Gerald’s mind was running away with him. What a concept, why hadn’t he thought of this before. “Director, please pardon me but I need to call my assistants together to explore this concept. Would you mind if I go to work on it.”
Misty smiled and said, “Get out of here, and let me know what you find out.” Gerald left the room running.
Danielle sat in the play room watching Rose play with her dolls. Danielle loved her little girl and could feel her presence no matter where she was. She was worried about her future happiness because it was clear her psychic skills were growing every day and finding someone to match her was probably not going to happen. She watched Rose move her dolls from chair to chair without touching them and she laughed when Rose sent one out of the room to find a missing teacup. She stopped laughing when the doll walked back in holding the teacup in her stuffed arms. The stuffed doll walked up to the table and placed the cup in front of another doll and then sat down in one of the little chairs. Danielle looked at Rose and said, “Honey, how did your doll know where to find that teacup?”
Rose looked at her mother and said, “I told her to find it and she did.” Rose looked at Danielle and then got up and walked over and put her little arms around her mother’s neck and said, “Mommy, what are you sad about?”
Danielle knew her daughter could sense her moods and she was not going to ever be less than honest with her. “Honey, I just wonder who your husband will be some day. I want you to be as happy as your father and I are.”
Rose looked into her mother’s eyes and said, “Don’t worry Mommy, he was born two years ago and we know we will be happy.”
Danielle was stunned. “Tag,” she thought.
“Yes dear,” Tag answered.
“Rose just told me that her future husband was born two years ago.”
Danielle could hear Tag’s silence in her mind. Then he said, “She did what?”
Rose looked at her mother and said, “Mommy, let me tell him.”
Danielle nodded and Rose thought at her father, “Mommy was worried about who I was going to marry and I wanted her to feel better so I told her that he was born two years ago. I am older than him just like Mommy is older than you.”
“Rose,” Tag thought, “How do you know he is going to be your husband?”
“The same way you and Mommy knew,” Rose said matter of factly.
Danielle thought to Rose, “How does he feel about it, Rose.”
Rose giggled and said, “He doesn’t think about it yet but he feels me and it makes him happy. We will talk when he learns how to talk better.”
Tag was amazed and then he had a thought, “When can we meet him, Rose?”
“When I meet him; I think that will be when I am eighteen.”
“Why do you have to wait until then?” Danielle asked.
Rose looked at her mother like the answer was obvious, “Because we won’t be ready for each other before then.”
Danielle and Tag shared a thought, “Perhaps that’s exactly the way we did it.”
Danielle took Rose into her arms and hugged her tight and Rose could tell that her mother’s worries were gone. “I love you, Rose,” Danielle said.
“And I love you so much Mommy.
Chapter 17
Ron-Dar sat in the Captain’s chair on board Retribution. The chair had been specially built for the physical
