“I will. Is Matt going to come out of this ok?”
“I don’t know. He’s changed. Like Fly Girl, it’s going to take some time.”
“Will you send me one of those shards that struck Angel?”
Al reflected a moment and then made a decision, “I’ve just teleported two to your location. Handle them carefully. I’ve sent it on the condition that as soon as you determine how it hit Angel through the ships walls that you’ll tell Matt. The last one will remain in the box beside Matt’s command chair; no one may have it. Do we have a deal?”
“Yes, and, Al?”
“Yes, Stem.”
“I do count you as my best friend.”
“Thank you, Father.”
“You’re welcome, Son.”
Chapter 11
It was two days after Angel’s funeral and Matt was sitting on Aladdin reflecting on all that had happened. He was still feeling despair and was struggling to understand what had occurred. As he reflected he thought to Al, “I know you’re troubled and don’t know why this had to happen.”
Matt’s control board’s lights flickered. Matt had a brief smile and thought, “So that’s what it looks like when you’re surprised.”
“Caught me again, I didn’t think you saw those thoughts.”
“I didn’t. I’ve been having them so I knew you must be seeing it, too. I don’t have an answer either, Al. However, I know that it had to happen or we would all perish. I still wouldn’t have let her die if I could have stopped it.”
“Are you so certain you couldn’t have prevented it?”
Matt paused and thought, “I’m here, Al, and some of the most powerful minds in history tried to prevent it. I saw Angel dying in my arms. I didn’t know what caused it but I knew it was going to happen. There are forces operating here that are unimaginable. I have learned that the Kings psychic power protects him and will cause things to happen to insure his survival. I contacted him and asked him about that power and he confirmed it. He gave me enough examples of it from his meeting with Atlas to the death of Kosiev that convinced me that he is being accurate and honest. That forces me to examine myself. The King insists that my power dwarfs his and if that is true then consider this; my power can look at not only the present but also the future and force events that insure my safety. She had to die in order for something to happen that is important to my survival, and I think that includes the Realm’s survival.”
“I’ve arrived at the same conclusion. I just have no clue as to what it could possibly be.”
“Me, either.” Matt looked at the floor and after a moment thought, “Knowing it still doesn’t reduce my anguish.”
“I know.”
“I gave two of the green shards to Stem, Matt.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure. I just felt compelled to do it. I did tell him that the last one will remain in the box beside your chair and may not be taken. He agreed.”
“Thanks, Al. There it will remain.”
“Speaking of weeds, Sprig has just requested a meeting at a planet in the Algean Galaxy.”
“Do you have the coordinates?”
“Yes, but he did say that if you want to delay he would understand. That’s why he didn’t contact you directly.”
“Al, I’ve got to do something to try and stop this downward spiral I find myself in. I think I need to stay busy; tell him we’re coming.”
Aladdin disappeared and reappeared over a barren planet. “Looks like another world the Algeans conquered,” Al thought.
“Remarkably enough, Al, this planet has been barren since a time before my people started having to destroy planets.”
“Hello, Sprig. I understand you want to see me.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, Searcher. I would not have called you but I need your assistance on a project we’re working on.”
“What project is that?”
“The ship we’re building for you. Now that the final system has activated, your development is at a point where you should be able to operate the ship.”
“I sense something is troubling you, Sprig.”
“The ship has stopped developing and will not go any further.”
“When did that happen?”
“As soon as your last system activated; we quite logically thought that it should have proceeded forward at an even faster rate but it has stalled and come to a complete stop.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“We would like for you to come and enter the ship and allow us to see if that starts it moving forward again.”
“Where is it?”
“I’ve sent the coordinates to, Al. You can just land your ship next to it.”
“On our way.” Aladdin teleported and landed on a barren plain next to a large facility. As soon as they landed both Matt and Al both thought, “HOLY GROAD!”.”
“What’s wrong,” Stem thought?”
“Where did you get the material to build this ship?”
“It was buried several miles under this planet’s surface. We only found it after we developed the instrument that measures psychic power. One of our vessels passed through this system and the instrument measured a huge psychic wave. We came back and dug it out of the ground. We tried to cut it with a Coronado power cell and the energy from the cell caused it to start morphing into what you see.”
Matt and Al looked at a ship that was made from the same crystal material that they had seen when they had contacted the Reg. It glowed with the same translucence as the towers they had seen on the Reg’s planet. Matt was stunned and he thought, “What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to sit in the command chair and see if it activates the ship.”
“On my way.”
Matt teleported to the crystal ships open port and saw Sprig and Stem waiting on him. He walked forward and followed them into the ship. “Matt, this is the control room for this vessel. This chair is the command chair and we want you to sit in it.”
Matt looked around and saw another chair. He also saw a section of the wall behind the chairs that was recessed and strangely shaped. He walked toward the command chair and as he approached a golden light began emanating from it. “Don’t worry, that light only comes on when the person that the chair was designed for approaches.”
“How do you know that?”
“We discovered that when we found who the other chair was designed to fit. However, please sit down and tell me what you feel.” Matt furrowed his brow and sat down in the chair. The chair immediately started shifting colors rapidly from gold to blue to violet to red. “How does it feel?”
Matt sat there and the chair felt like it was made for him. It fit him exactly and when he placed his hand in an indentation on the chair arm it fit exactly. It fits me perfectly, Sprig. What is that indentation in the back wall?”
Sprig looked at Stem and then thought, “That indentation was the last thing to develop. Our engineers had no idea what it was so they called me in to examine it. I wouldn’t have known what it was six months ago but as soon
