“Why ask Rose what’s going on.”
Cassandra smiled and said, “Great idea. This should prove interesting.”
“Rose,” Tommy thought.
“Yes, Tommy. I thought you needed some time before we meet.”
“I do, Rose, however, Dad has just ordered me to come to Ross immediately.”
Tommy was silent waiting for Rose’s reply. After ten minutes Tommy thought, “Rose, are you still there?”
“Yes, I am Tommy. Tommy, I’m scared.”
Tommy had never felt his sister feel as she did at that moment. “Rose, what’s going on?”
“I think our father is going to risk his life to find a ghost. I can’t stop what he’s planning and I can’t order you not to come. He’ll come to you if you don’t come here. Get here as soon as you can.”
Cassandra turned and hit the ships com, “Attention all hands, jump in thirty seconds, jump in thirty seconds. Prepare all sections for jump.” She then looked at Lt. Ortiz and said, “Jump to Ross now.”
Tommy keyed his com and said, “Captain McAnn, please take command of the fleet. I’ll return as soon as possible.”
Wes said, “Yes, Your Highness; safe travel.”
Chapter 17
Tag, Danielle, Rose, Tommy, Cassandra, Sprig, and Twig were sitting in the map room of Castle Gardner. Sprig had explained how there was a possibility of Kosiev and the bridge crew having been blown into the skin of the Moscow. He had shown the recording of the Moscow’s destruction and pointed out that it was the top section of the ship that had been blown away by the first blast that had hit the lower levels of the doomed ship. When the video was slowed to one ten thousandth speed it was clear that the blast had pushed the bottom of the ship upward. Sprig stopped the recording and said, “You can see here that the lower decks were not blown out of existence but were pushed into the ship. If this push forced the decks above it upward, then the bridge could have been pressed into the skin on the top of the ship where it had undergone the metamorphosis of what it is today. That skin could have absorbed all of the contents of the bridge including the personnel.”
Tommy looked at Sprig and said, “It could have also killed the crew before they entered the skin.”
Sprig shrugged and said, “That is true, too.”
“So you really don’t know if Kosiev is in the skin or not?”
Twig interrupted saying, “We have said all along that it was only a possibility, although it is more than just a remote possibility. The possibilities are not so far reaching as to be impractical. I ran several simulations and in four of twenty the bridge was pushed into the skin.”
Tommy looked at his father and said, “That is still an eighty percent probability of it not happening.”
Tag looked at Tommy and said, “If there was a twenty percent possibility of Cassandra being inside that skin, what would you do?”
Tommy looked at his father and then at Cassandra and then sighed heavily. “I would go and look, but that would be an emotional decision not one made logically.”
Danielle looked at Tommy and said, “The best decisions are emotional; that is what makes us who we are. I would hope we would make this decision if there was a possibility of anyone being in that wall. The fact that it is Alexander Kosiev only makes this decision easier. He is an asset that we can use in our current situation.” She paused, looked at Tag, and then said, “I don’t want my husband going into that skin looking for him. I fear that I might lose him but I know who he is and know I cannot stop him.”
Rose was shaking her head and said, “Don’t you remember when I pushed you into that skin to remove the links Atlas had placed in you? You said then that it was an awful experience.”
Tag leaned back in his chair and said, “It was; but that won’t stop me.”
Cassandra looked at the group and said, “I hope you realize that the Kosiev is due to fight the Captors in a couple of months. When are you going to do this?”
Tag said, “Time inside the skin is basically non-existent. Once I go in it could take a while to search for him.”
Cassandra said, “Mr. Gardner, I cannot take the Kosiev into battle with you inside its skin. If the Kosiev is hit, we could lose you.”
“I appreciate your concern, Cassandra, but I can’t allow you to take the Kosiev into battle for the same reason; we might lose Alexander.”
Danielle stood up and looked at Tag and said, “What chance do you think we have against the Captors if Cassandra and the Kosiev are not leading us in the next battle?”
Tag tilted his head and said, “Then she must take the Kosiev into battle even if I’m still in the skin.”
Danielle’s brow furrowed and she said, “Then she’ll be going into battle with both of us in there because I will not allow you to go without me.”
Tag said, “This is my burden, Danielle, not yours.”
Danielle looked Tag in the eye and said, “Can you sit there and look me in the eye and say that?”
Tag took a deep breath and said nothing.
Tommy looked at Rose and saw her fear for their parents.
Cassandra looked at the Gardners and said, “If we are going to do this, then we have to try and make sure we have the best chance of success. Twig, have you thought about how we go about finding him?”
Twig said, “There is literally room for a galaxy inside that skin. We can’t just jump in and expect to run across him. There is also the possibility that he might not be there. I have talked with Sprig and we think that we should enter the skin at the area that was directly above the Moscow’s bridge.”
Tommy thought a moment and said, “That original skin has miles of new surface melded into it since it was brought back by Cade McAllister. How can we possibly know where that section might be?”
Sprig said, “Sten recorded every step of the Kosievs’ construction. We made close-ups of the skin as it was blown away from the Moscow and we know that it extended from just behind the nose to the elevators behind the conference room. We also know that the bridge was approximately seventy feet from the leading edge of the part that was blown away. The leading edge was also narrower than the rear section. We have to look at the construction recordings and see how the subsequent hull was added and mark very closely where it was located. We should have an answer on that in another two days. If the group doesn’t mind, we would like to go continue that process.”
Rose said, “Go ahead and continue your work. We will discuss what we will do once that determination is made.” The two Algeans ran from the room. Rose then looked at her parents and said, “I don’t suppose as Queen of the Stars Realm that I could order both of you to stop what you’re planning?”
Tag smiled at Rose and said, “Only if you tell me honestly that you wouldn’t go in there looking for Tommy if it was him that was lost.”
Rose sighed and said, “Do you always have the answer to those types of questions?” Rose then looked at Danielle and said, “Have you tried to talk some sense into him?”
Danielle shrugged, looked at Tag, and then back at Rose and shrugged again.
Tommy broke the silence by asking, “How long are you going to look before you decide that he’s not in there?”
Tag smiled and said, “As long as it takes.”
Cassandra shook her head and said, “Time is not what you have; how many worlds have to be destroyed before you give up.”
Tag looked at her with a furrowed brow and said, “How do you come up with that?”
“I can’t go back in to the nerve centers of energy space without exploding the particle into a new universe and I know that now is not the time for that to happen. In less than four months those centers will have cooled off enough for the Captors to look into them and see every part of our civilization. Each of their ships can destroy a planet and there are four million of those ships. The Kosiev must lead the attack against them before then and I know that neither Tommy nor Rose will allow this ship anywhere near a battle with you in the outer skin. So I ask
