“Probably, but they will not know from where they are coming if you stay outside. You should anticipate a rather large reaction if you go forward with this venture.”
“I will be satisfied if I can just get a ship count on what’s coming.”
The three Reg were silent and then one thought, “Be careful.”
“I’ll do my best.” The three Red disappeared.
“Matt, you’re not planning to go to their galaxy?”
“Al we have to know what we’re facing and I have the only working psychic ship. I sense it is something I must do.”
“You do recognize what your loss would do to the Realm, I hope.”
“Yes, but I still have to go.”
Al was silent for several minutes and finally thought, “I hope your ship is all it’s cracked up to be. Melanie will be with you.”
“That is the only thing that makes me hesitate. Let’s go home, Al.”
Matt appeared in AG’s room as Melanie was rocking her to sleep. The baby immediately opened its eyes when Matt appeared and stared at him intently. “She knows what you’re planning. It has her worried.”
Matt came over and picked AG up and hugged her. He saw she still had the intent look, “Look at my thoughts little one and see what I see.”
AG tilted her head and continued to stare at him. Melanie asked, “What are you doing?”
“She has twice the power of you and me; I’m letting her sense what I’m feeling.”
AG continued to stare and then she smiled. Matt handed her back to Melanie and she went to sleep quickly. Melanie looked at Matt, “Well, when do we leave?”
Matt looked at the Woman he loved so much and said, “After you put her down we’ll tell Sprig what we’re doing and then go.”
“You are going to do what?!?” Sprig yelled.
“It’s something I sense we must do.”
Sprig sent a thought, “Tag, Danielle, I need you in the library. Matt and Melanie are planning a trip to the dark galaxy.”
Tag and Danielle teleported in immediately and Tag looked at Matt, “What are you planning to do?”
“Tag, I sense that I must go and see what we’re facing from that galaxy. Use your sense and tell me what you see.”
Tag closed his eyes and after three minutes he opened them and looked at Danielle and Sprig, “He’s right; he has to go.”
Danielle looked shocked, “Tag, that’s entirely too dangerous. We don’t know what technology they possess that could kill them both.”
Tag shook his head, “That’s one reason why he should make the trip; however, my sense of danger goes down if he goes.”
Sprig thought, “Does it go up if he stays?”
Tag shook his head, “No, but that reduction is significant. I suspect that it will take them longer to find us if he goes. We aren’t even close to finding all the crews and we need all the time we can get. I fear for them as much as you do but Matt is right, they must make this trip.”
“Do you know if they survive it?”
“No.” Tag looked at Matt, “Do you know?”
Matt shook his head. Then Matt was surprised when Melanie said, “AG thinks we’ll come back.”
Danielle, Sprig, and Tag just stared at her. Finally, Danielle asked, “How do you know that?”
“She looked in Matt’s mind and saw his plan. She then smiled and went to sleep. You know her psychic field is stronger that anyone in the Realm. We can’t see it but she could. We’ll be back.”
“Melanie, she’s just a baby; how can she possibly know that?”
“How could Rose get that mobile above her bed to mimic the Ross solar system? Remember, her power is much higher than Rose’s was as a baby.”
“How did you know about that?”
“It’s still hanging in the Ross observatory and still showing the exact positions of all the planets. I asked the curator and she told me about its creation.”
Danielle smiled as she remembered the day it happened. She shook her head and said, “Don’t stay long. We’ll be worried until you return.”
Melanie smiled and embraced Danielle and Tag, “As long as you two are alive, the Realm is safe. You have meant so much to us and I know how much you mean to the Realm.”
Sprig added, “She’s right.”
Matt and Melanie stepped together and Matt punched his bracelet. Danielle looked where they had just been standing and said, “Just like us, they don’t understand the impact on the Realm if we lost them.”
Tag took Danielle’s hand, “I think they know. They’ll be careful.”
Sprig leaned forward, “Why do you say that?”
“Who other than Matt communicates with the Reg?”
Sprig and Danielle both flinched. Sprig said, “I didn’t think of that.”
Matt looked over at Melanie and said, “We can only use the smallest setting on our screen when we enter space around their galaxy; the Reg insist that anything higher will be seen.”
“Did they say anything else?”
“They said that we can go close to their galaxy but we must not enter it. Anything that enters that galaxy’s influence will be detected by those creatures. We can scan from outside its borders and they will probably see our scans but will not know where we are located. The Reg also said to expect a massive response.”
“Anything else?”
“They said be careful.”
Melanie started laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“That is so out of character for the Reg. Usually they have an answer for everything.”
Matt smiled and shook his head, “Are you ready.”
“Let me look at the drives just a moment. I know there is a dimensional drive in our inventory but I’ve never used it. Give me a few moments to learn how to use it.”
“You’re amazing, Love.”
“Actually, the ship will teach me. It feels like it has a life of its own.”
Matt watched Melanie’s chair and saw a deep purple color wash through it and go into the walls surrounding them. The color changed to violet and then orange. “Ok, I’ve got it.”
“That quick?”
“Yes, we’re going to have to leave our universe and enter the space between dimensions. The color of that space is orange and our ship had to adjust its hull to withstand the energy. The tricky part is we are going to have to use a high energy screen to move through that space and I’m going to have to reduce it instantly upon emergence into the dark galaxy’s space.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“I’m hoping nothing but stay tuned to your weapon console. This is just a fly and spy mission and that is what my chair is built to handle. You might want to watch things through my thoughts but keep your weapon panel ready.”
“It’s your ship, Melanie.”
Melanie smiled and thought about AG. Then she energized the drive and the blue glowing ship appeared at the blue barrier surrounding the edge of the universe. “We’re going through.”
The small blue ship moved forward and picked up speed. It reached the edge of the barrier and as it crossed the color of the ship changed to orange as it emerged into dimensional space. Matt could feel the ship pick up speed but nothing changed in the orange color surrounding the ship. After twenty minutes, he felt the ship begin to slow.
“Are we there, yet?”
“We’re approaching the border and I have to change the energy of the ship as we cross. Now be quiet, this is
