short of closing and turned off the lights in the ship’s landing bay. Jeek dragged the guard’s body back into the bay and used some material he had gathered to remove most of the blood. No reason to shock the teens. They needed to be focused. He pulled his Zecka down and collapsed to the floor, “Boy, it gets hot in here!”
Timmy and Tesa arrived in the clearing and Nathan met them. He said, “Do you have what you need?”
“Yes.”
“Then follow me.” The three started moving quickly through the trees. Nathan heard a noise and motioned the teens to be still. He looked ahead and saw a giant Torg. He couldn’t allow it to scream. The Magrum knew that there would be some kind of prey to cause it. He raised his bowgun, and though he didn’t have a straight on shot he hit the Torg directly in the ear, dropping it. He took two steps forward and saw six more to the right. He dropped five in less than ten seconds, and the small Torg ran away. He turned and motioned the teens forward. They arrived at the port and Nathan helped them up to the cargo hold’s edge. Jeek helped them in, closed the port the rest of the way, and turned on the lights.
“Follow me to the bridge.” The three arrived at the bridge and Timmy said, “They’ve been attempting to remove the console. Seven of the eight bolts are out.”
Tesa asked, “What about the eighth?”
Timmy sighed, “They have been drilling them out and the top of the bolt is smooth. Our driver won’t work.”
Timmy turned to Jeek and said, “We can’t remove this last bolt. We don’t have a power driver.”
Jeek shook his head. What else can go wrong? This could stop the whole operation. Then he thought, “The engineer left his toolbox on board.”
Timmy said ‘Take me to it!”
Jeek ran to the landing bay and Timmy dumped the contents of the box on the floor. He grinned and lifted two tools. “A power drill and a heavy hammer; let’s go!”
They rushed back to the bridge, and after an hour the final bolt fell out. “Help me, Jeek!”
Jeek and Tesa rushed forward and gripped the console. Jeek said, “On three. One, two, three.”
The teleport console broke loose and there, in new condition, was the null board. Timmy reached forward and pushed the red button on the top corner. The lights grew brighter, the air conditioning turned on, and the engine lights illuminated. Timmy looked at Jeek and said, “We’re ready to go. Tesa, get in the pilot’s chair and get ready to get us out of here!” Tesa ran and jumped into the main chair in front of the multiple displays. The small Cainth female looked tiny in the chair, but her four arms were moving over four different boards. “Anti-gravity is active, Tim. We can leave quietly as soon as you tell me.
Jeek said, “We’re ready.”
Jeek’s Flyer took off and Nathan joined it as they flew toward the four hundred Zord circling to the south. Vring said, “They’re ready to go.”
“That fast?!?”
“It seems you were right. They were one bolt away from removing the top panel. We couldn’t have cut it any closer.”
“Tell the flyers we’re headed to the compound.”
“They’re off and flying.”
Scotty, Jingo, and Julie flew toward the compound. Julie saw the wired prison she had spent her life in far below and felt her hatred for the Yellow Skinned Magrums. The compound was in a cleared section of land between two hills. The workers would walk out of the field and enter the large fenced in area. Beyond one end of the compound was the entrance to the Magrum’s bunker. The other end faced into deep forest where the Torg lay in wait. There was one guard with a blaster outside the bunker in a section that was cut back under the hill. He was the problem.
There was no way to move the prisoners without the guard burning them with his blaster. There was no way to shoot the guard from overhead. The shot had to be made from ground level. Three hundred archers dropped off their Zord at the edge of the forest bordering the hill next to the compound. They moved silently forward into the deep brush two hundred yards from the back wall of the prison. They formed a V and moved forward, killing any Torg they encountered.
Scotty and Julie landed in the clearing between the compound and the forest. Scotty stepped into the tree line to hit any Torg that attempted to enter the clearing. He then moved down the clearing until he could see over the top of the compound. There were two guards below the top of the hill surrounding the compound that would see the guard fall. They were on the two ends of the horseshoe-shaped hill and had a clear view of the bunker’s entrance. They had to be eliminated simultaneously with the guard. Scotty powered his bowgun and decided to hit the one on the right first. He was standing and appeared to be more animated than the one on the left. Vring and Zreeg lifted and circled overhead waiting.
Julie quietly walked toward the back wall of the compound. She saw many of the workers standing around talking. She had to find someone that wouldn’t get too excited when she spoke to them. She moved along the wall until she saw Greven. Greven was a little slow mentally and was a huge talker. He was at the back wall looking out into the distant forest. Julie walked to within six feet of him, and thought about how to communicate without scaring him. She saw Greven take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“You have always taken very deep breaths, Greven.”
The Spjeck looked around and tried to see who had said that.
“Matter of fact, I once put a pillow over your head to stop your snoring.”
Greven said, “Juliette?”
“It’s me, Greven.”
“I thought you were killed!”
“No, I was saved by friends. I need you to help me, Greven.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m here outside the compound. I need you to go get Champ and bring him here. Please do it as fast as possible. Just don’t make it obvious.”
“Why, Juliette?”
“Greven, you have always asked too many questions, and now is not the time for them. Do you understand?!?”
Greven heard the urgency in her voice and started to ask another question but caught himself, then moved out into the compound. Juliette waited and shook her head. She should have found someone else. Greven just didn’t command attention and he might not have understood what she wanted. Then she saw Greven carrying Champ over his shoulder with him to the back wall. They stopped with Champ calling Greven some foul names. Greven looked out of the compound and said, “Here he is.”
Julie said, “Champ!”
Champ stopped cursing in mid-word. Then he heard, “Champ, you have to help me.”
Champ listened, looked out of the compound seeing nothing, then looked at Greven and said, “Juliette?”
Greven said, “I told you.”
“Yes, Champ. I need you to help me.”
“I thought you were dead. Where are you? I can’t see you.”
“Champ, will you please hold your questions until later? I need you to do some things for me. It’s important you do them quickly.”
“What do you want?”
“I want you to get everyone in the compound to lie down on the floor. I also want you to get everyone to remain absolutely silent starting thirty minutes from now, and maintain that silence no matter what they see. Can you get that message to everyone?”
“What’s going on, Julie?”
“You’re going to be taken to freedom tonight, Champ, if you’ll help me.”
Champ’s eyes grew big, he looked at Greven who had a huge smile, then turned and ran back into the compound and gathered the other leaders.
The guard leaned back in his chair and watched the workers milling around. He often found a sense of order in their motions. The same groups always gathered. Often the different species would gather together. Tonight, they were really active with all different types of groups getting together. He started to go and see what was going
