Tommy and Cassie continued to dance.
Chapter 9
The Gardners were not the only ones affected by the psychic storm. Twig and Sprig were standing in the back of the room observing the wedding. Both had absorbed information that described the process of weddings but seeing it first hand was different. Wes and Linda Kay’s emotions were open to the telepathic plants and they were moved by what they felt. They both stood observing and saying nothing until the psychic storm front washed over them. They both jerked as it touched and then passed them. All of the data they had stored was undergoing a massive reorientation. They stood and felt the inner change but were paralyzed unable to move. Finally Twig thought to Sprig, “Did you feel that?”
Sprig answered, “Yes, I did. It seems I finally understand the data from that black hole incident and that it relates to the fields that operate in null space.”
Twig shook the leaves around her feet indicating her confusion and said, “I didn’t see that. However, I now understand how the Kosievs’ power cells came into existence.”
Sprig shook his leaves and said, “How do you see that? We have both absorbed the same information and I didn’t get that relationship.”
Twig was silent for a full minute which was equivalent to a week in normal time, “I think that something has happened during this ceremony to reorient all of our data into a different storage. The process must have been done differently for us because we do not look at information the same way. It appears that it made it easier to understand based on the differences between us.”
Sprig looked at the new relationships that he now could understand and thought, “I do not need more information. I need time to process what I now see and attempt to understand what it means.”
“As do I,” Twig said.
Tommy and Cassie left the wedding celebration and walked to the empty observation deck to talk. Tommy dispensed a caffeine drink for Cassie and a sweet drink for himself along with a bag of popcorn. He sat at the table and said, “Cassie, what just happened to us?”
Cassie sat there looking at him amazed at how one’s fortune could change so suddenly. “I really don’t know but what your mother said makes sense to me. I never wanted to hurt you at the academy but every time I came close I felt a driving desire to punish you and make you go away. I didn’t understand it then or later. I think now it makes sense. I was protecting us from each other. It may be that you still touched me a little too soon and that was why the shock was so severe yesterday.”
Tommy looked at her and wondered where the intense feelings of wanting to protect her were coming from. “I agree; I think that you and I were destined to eventually find each other. I even think that we were trying to get there even when it was dangerous for us to touch. Our inner selves fought us and caused the pain that happened. Now I’ve seen inside you and know what you are truly like and I must confess that I am totally amazed by what I see. I’ve never in my wildest dreams knew the depth of feeling you never allowed anyone to see.”
Cassie smiled and said, “Most everyone thinks I’m a cast iron witch and honestly I’ve not tried to change that image. I felt I needed it to be a good officer.”
“Cassie, I want to try something. Instead of voicing what you want to say, just think it.”
Cassie thought, “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Tommy thought back, “I thought so; as you were talking I was also hearing your thoughts at the same time.”
Cassie furrowed her brow. Tommy had not said a word but she heard his thought. She thought back, “Can you hear me now?”
“Absolutely.”
Cassie shook her head and thought, “I guess what Tgon-Gee said was true. Somehow your touch has given me some psychic skills.”
“I think it is a lot more than that. We need to see just what your skills are; we need to experiment and make that determination.”
Cassie smiled and said, “Can we save that for tomorrow. Tonight I just want to hold you. I’ve never felt so alive as when you kissed me tonight.”
Tommy smiled and leaned close to her and thought, “Then let’s just see if we can repeat the experience.”
Cassie leaned in to him and kissed him. They both felt the shock again but it was worth it. They stayed in their embrace losing track of time.
The old watcher saw plumes of the black field exploding out of the nexus and thought, “It’s still getting hotter. I hope this doesn’t destroy the universe.”
The warrior flew toward the closest nexus in a galaxy close to his home galaxy. He noticed as he approached the nexus that there was a planet located in the middle of it that was advanced technologically and had space travel. As he approached more than four thousand ships jumped in front of his approach. The warrior contacted the first male, “I have found a nexus that has a technologically advance planet located on its edge. They have sent ships out to intercept me; what do you think I should do?”
The First Male thought and said, “I wonder if they could be the cause of the nexus’ heat. Destroy them.”
The warrior fired one of his small beams into the ships that were in his path totally disintegrating all four thousand. The inhabitants of the planet watched as a brightly glowing red ship more than two thousand miles wide approached and stopped a hundred thousand miles out from its atmosphere. The warrior fired his main beam into the planet and watched as the planets core exploded blowing the planet into huge pieces that flew out from the center of the blast. A living planet that was home to a thriving civilization perished in less than three seconds from the impact of the warrior’s beam. Nine hundred ships jumped into the system responding to the planet’s distress call to find debris moving away from the planet’s former location. The ships immediately began attacking the huge ship that had destroyed the planet. The warrior ignored their attacks and tried to take readings on the nexus to see if anything had changed after the destruction of the planet. The nine hundred ships attacking the giant red ship had no effect on it. One of the nine hundred actually flew directly into it and was totally destroyed when it contacted the screen surrounding the huge ship.
The warrior contacted the First Male and reported, “I can detect no change in the readings coming from the nexus. Perhaps if this planet was the cause it may require some time before the readings change.”
The First Male asked the old watcher, “Do you sense any change in the temperature of the nexus?”
“There has been no change.”
The First Male said, “It appears that the planet was not the cause of what is happening in the nexus. Continue your search.”
The huge captor ship turned and accelerated out of the system leaving the attacking ships behind. The warrior did not even think about the damage he had done or the billions he had just killed. They were too insignificant to warrant his attention. For the civilization he had just destroyed he had doomed all the colonies because of the destruction of their food source. The chance of survival for the survivors was less than one percent which for them was not insignificant.
The day after the wedding, Twig and Sprig contacted Tommy mentally and asked for him to meet them in the library and to please come alone. Tommy left his quarters and went to the elevator to take him to the lowest floor of the learning facility. He wondered why the two Algeans wanted him to come quickly and to come alone. He walked into library and said, “Is there a problem?”
Twig said, “Duke Gardner, we have undergone a strange metamorphosis and have had our storage reoriented which has changed the way we view the universe. One of the changes is that now I have a much broader understanding of how energy works. As you know, we have our readers connected to the observational equipment that records astronomical data in real time and downloads the recordings. I think it was done just to keep our pain to a minimum, however, I’ve noticed something that Sprig agrees should be discussed with you to see if our conclusions are in error.”
Tommy furrowed his brow and said, “Twig, I have no idea what you’re talking about. You might need to tell
