“That would be a drone swarm, Captain. You’re looking at thousands of drones; collectively … that’s going to be a problem,” Orion replied.

  Jason continued to focus on the ominous, widening patch of blackness, and the ever-growing number of incoming missile icons. “Options?”

  “We could turn back into the Craing fleet—perhaps …” Orion dropped that idea as she quickly realized it wouldn’t work.

  “Let’s get Ricket and Granger up here. Quickly as possible.”

  Ten seconds later Ricket and Granger, along with Toby Jackson, phase-shifted onto the bridge. Jason quickly brought them up to speed on the situation.

  “We have less than two minutes before that first wave of missiles hits. With substantially diminished shields those drones will cut us to pieces.”

  Granger stood with his hands on his hips, concentrating on the display. “Get me to the Zip Farm,” he said, looking at Toby, who’d accompanied him to the bridge.

  Toby looked to Jason. “What’s a Zip Farm?”

  Ricket moved fast and took Granger by the arm. A half-second later they both disappeared in a flash of white light.

  * * *

  They phase-shifted into one of five Zip Farm compartments, where multiple rows of equipment, similar-looking to large ten-foot-high by thirty-foot-long generators or turbines were located. Virtually every inch of the compartment was occupied. Ricket was familiar with this area of the ship and had, in his spare time, been researching the capabilities of the Alurian technology, from a distant planet in the Corian Nez constellation system.

  Granger took off at a full run down the narrow row of Zip accelerators. Close on his heels, Ricket followed. “What are you thinking? Using these Zip accelerators somehow?”

  “This technology is how the Caldurians crossed over to other planes of the multiverse.”

  “I know that. Are they operational?”

  Granger made a quick right turn down another row and increased his speed. Ricket, having much shorter legs, was having difficulty keeping up.

  “Perfectly operational,” Granger said over his shoulder. “The Craing hadn’t yet begun dismantling this section of the ship.” Granger finally came to a stop at a bulkhead at the end of the row. Here sat a console and, like the Zip accelerators, everything looked black and greasy. Ricket figured this was the Zip Farm interface, and though at first it looked like older technology, it was somehow different.

  Granger went right to work, tapping commands into a mechanical input device. The display, which was a strange combination of virtual holo 3D and actual hovering, materialized items, updated as Granger continued to input information. Granger suddenly stopped and looked down at Ricket with a frustrated expression.

  “I’d forgotten. We’re not using the Minian’s power base, are we?”

  “No,” Ricket replied. “Well, not completely. The Lilly’s power-coupled … supplying a substantial portion of the Minian’s drive propulsion … as well as supplying power to other systems.”

  Granger finished inputting. “Get us back to the bridge!”

  Chapter 38

  “Shields are holding at sixty percent,” Gunny said. “But Captain, The Lilly’s power reserves are being depleted at an accelerated rate. Carrying the extra load of the Minian is simply too much for her. There’s not enough power to phase-shift—at least not anytime soon.”

  Jason saw that the first wave of incoming missiles were taken out by the Minian’s plasma and rail fire, but now more and more missiles were getting through. Jason considered shifting The Lilly again, out into open space, but that could have adverse effects … most notably, leaving the Minian without power to defend herself.

  Ricket and Granger flashed back to the same bridge location from which they’d earlier left. Immediately, Granger moved to the left side of the bridge and tapped at a never-used open console. Jason and Ricket joined him there and watched as the upper portion of the console lowered and slid away, only to be replaced by a black, more mechanical-looking interface. As it rose up and clicked into place, Granger brought up another quasi-3D display, again with actual hovering materialized items.

  Ricket said, “You’re looking at Alurian technology. This is the bridge’s interface to the Minian’s Zip Farm, which we found down on a lower deck.”

  Jason returned a blank expression. “Okay …”

  “The means by which the Minian crosses over to the multiverse,” Ricket clarified. “The problem is raw power. As is, The Lilly is barely providing what’s needed for the Minian’s sub-light propulsion and phase-shift capabilities. Not to mention her weapon systems.”

  “Explain how this Zip Farm—the multiverse—helps us out of our current predicament?”

  “Captain, the drones are now twenty seconds out,” Gunny interjected. “And … as I mentioned, we have no power reserves to phase-shift.”

  Granger looked at Jason with mild annoyance. “We move this ship onto an alternate plane of the multiverse, perhaps a plane where there are no Craing warships in close proximity. It’s basically another form of phase-shifting, with several very important differences. You have access to alternate planes of existence, versus just your own, and you’ll have the option of staying there long enough to survive a bad situation. See what I mean? All our immediate problems disappear. It’ll give us enough time to clear this area of space.”

  “So what’s the problem? Why not just do it?” Jason asked.

  “I told you. Power. The way things stand—it would have to be a one-way trip.”

  Jason let that sink in. Yes, we could save our own hides, but that would still leave Earth and the Alliance to deal with the impending Craing attacks.

  “Think of another alternative,” Jason said.

  Granger stared back at Jason for several long beats.

  Suddenly Ricket’s head jerked toward the display, his attention focused on one of the nearest Craing vessels. “Craing dreadnaughts have modular power bales. Fairly transportable, they’re stored in sub-zero containment lockers. The power bales provide for replacement of antimatter, as needed, for the ship’s multiple drives.”

  “Can the Minian be adapted to utilize those, what did you call them … power bales?” Jason asked.

  Granger nodded and looked at Ricket appreciatively. “He’s right … it’s nothing that could be used long term but yes, you could adapt them to the Minian fairly easily.”

  Ricket broke in. “Give me two minutes and I’ll have an interface manufactured by the phase-synthesizer.”

  Jason asked, “So how do we get ahold of them?”

  “They’re modular,” Ricket replied. “Eight-inch cubes. Their sub-zero temperatures and high levels of radiation will make transporting them somewhat problematic. I suppose if you’re quick enough your battle suits will provide adequate shielding.”

  “Two questions: how many of these things will we need, and where, exactly, will I find them?”

  Granger chewed on that for several moments. “You’ll need no less than ten of them to accommodate a round trip.”

  “As for finding them, that’s the easy part. The containment lockers are positioned directly beneath the dreadnaught’s Engineering sections,” Ricket added.

  As if on cue, Perkins provided an enlarged schematic of a dreadnaught into a new display segment above them.

  “You’ll have to get close enough in to phase-shift inside that compartment there,” Ricket said, pointing to a now-enlarged section of the dreadnaught.

  “So we get in, grab up the power bales, and get out,” Jason mused.

  Granger shrugged, as if it were as easy as buying a quart of milk at the corner supermarket.

  “Go ahead … get cracking on manufacturing the interface, Ricket.”

  * * *

  Jason was rapidly going through his pre-flight checklist—readying the Pacesetter for the trip into space and also eyeing the closest Craing warship—an imposing-looking meganaught. Suddenly, The Lilly’s flight deck began to shake and he knew the Minian’s shields had just gone down. A moment later, everything resettled. The Lilly’s own shields were now extended out to fully encompass the Minian, but further depleting The Lilly’s own diminishing power reserves, which meant there would be no power remaining for either propulsion or weapons … So now both ships were sitting ducks, with mere minutes to survive the ongoing Craing onslaught.

  “Don’t even think about lighting that thing,” Jason warned.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” Billy replied from the adjoining cockpit seat, directly behind him.

  Jason double-checked the series of three phase-shifts that would be necessary to enter into the Engineering section of the last of the four—rearmost—dreadnaughts.

  “Ready?”

  “All set,” Billy replied.

  Jason initiated their first phase-shift into open space. By mere chance they reappeared at the precise coordinates of an incoming Craing missile. The Pacesetter’s mass superseded that of the missile, causing the remaining sections of the missile to spin off in separate trajectories into space.

  “Nice,” Billy said, “bet you couldn’t do that again if you tried.”

  Jason ignored the comment and within several seconds the second phase-shift was initiated, bringing them closer to the five-mile-long Craing meganaught.

  “One more. Ready or not, here we go.”

  The third and final phase-shift brought them into an area of total, pitch black darkness.

  Jason brought the Pacesetter’s exterior lights up, including its big, forward spotlight.

  “Looks like this dreadnaught’s unoccupied—deserted,” Billy commented.

  “Yeah. This one showed the least life signs and output power signals. We lucked out.”

  Jason took in the virtual icons on the ship’s 3D holo-display, with schematic-like outlines depicting the surrounding features of the still too-dark-to-see-clearly area. Jason took a moment to orient the position of the Pacesetter relative to the rest of the Engineering section. Ricket had provided excellent phase-shift coordinates—they were close to the containment lockers.

  Jason set the Pacesetter down onto the Engineering deck. Once the Pacesetter’s canopy was open, Jason and Billy climbed down. Each wore an empty rucksack slung over a shoulder and carried a multi-gun. The cavernous space seemed to swallow up all light—their helmet lights enabled them to see no more than two or three feet distance away.

  Battle suit proximity sensors, interfaced to their HUDs, allowed them to navigate around obstructions, such as large pieces of equipment and bulkheads. Jason, hurrying as quick as possible, was suddenly stopped in his tracks as he walked into something at head level, which he discovered was a low-hanging crossbeam of some kind.

  “You okay?” Billy asked.

  “Fine. But I’d duck down a bit lower here for the next few feet.”

  Jason moved as fast as he dared, knowing both the Minian and The Lilly would be without shields in a matter of moments—maybe less. They’d reached an opening in the deck that was surrounded by a two-foot-high metal railing. At an open section a stairway led down into another, totally dark area of Engineering. If Ricket was correct, this area was where the containment lockers were situated. Jason moved down the stairs first. It was a fairly long stairway, and Jason noticed his HUD external temperature readings were quickly dropping to near zero.

  They reached the bottom of the stairs into a narrow hallway with banks of equipment lining both walls. Jason could easily extend his arms and touch both sides. As they continued forward there was an ever-increasing icy fog encircling the air about them.

  Thirty yards further down the corridor, according to Jason’s HUD, the area opened up a bit. They entered into a larger, circular compartment where the fog was so thick their helmet lights could hardly penetrate.

  “We’re in the right place,” Jason said, slowly turning on his heels, taking in the compartment. Take your pick; we have floor-to-ceiling storage lockers all around us.”

  “Cap, we have company. Something just brushed against my leg.”

  Chapter 39

  “You’re imagining things. As far as I can tell, HUD’s not picking up any additional life forms in this vicinity,” Jason said, moving over to the curved wall. Seeing the rows of the vertical, rectangular compartments, he was reminded of what looked like old, high school-type lockers.

  Each locker had a security latching mechanism. Billy joined Jason and together they looked at the locker in front of them at eye level. “Ricket didn’t mention any security latches,” Billy said.

  “No, he didn’t.” Jason hailed Ricket.

  “Go for Ricket.”

  “Take a look at my helmet cam feed. The lockers have security latches.”

  “There won’t be time to figure that out, Captain. We’re in trouble over here. I’d suggest you blast the latch. Be careful not to actually hit any of the power bales, although antimatter containers such as those are usually stable … I have no idea what a direct plasma blast might trigger.”

  “How am I supposed to destroy the latch and not hit anything behind it?”

  “I don’t know, Captain, but please hurry.”

  Jason took a step back. “Okay, Billy. We’re going to have to blast them and hope for the best.” Billy took several steps backward.

  Ricket’s nervous voice echoed in Jason’s head: We’re in trouble over here …

  Jason made a best-guess plasma power level selection from his HUD, aimed … and fired. The locker directly in front of him disappeared in a thundering blaze of fire and black smoke.

  “Maybe that was a bit of an overkill setting, Cap. Let me try … use a somewhat lower setting.” Billy aimed and fired. The locker, two over from the demolished one, now had a clean circular blast hole where the security latch had been just seconds before.

  Jason rushed forward and opened the freed locker door. Stacked two high and four deep were eight power bale cubes. Blue and pulsating, each looked like a large glowing ice cube. As Jason reached for the top left one, he was stopped by a piercing alarm sound emanating into his helmet. He saw a coinciding, flashing, red warning message:

  ULTRA HIGH RADIATION – DEATH IS IMMINENT!

  Jason hesitated and looked over to Billy.

  “I guess we’ll need to move fast,” Billy said.

  They removed their rucksacks from around their shoulders, opened them up at the top, and prepared to grab. It was then Jason felt something smack into his inside right calf. He ignored whatever had hit his leg, as well as the ever-present alarms and warnings. In seconds, they each collected four bales and their rucksacks were filled.

  “Time to get the hell out of here,” Jason said, turning back in the direction they’d entered. They nearly made it out of the containment locker compartment when first Billy went down, and then Jason, a second later.

  Jason felt as if his ankles were tied together. Although it was difficult to see through the fog, darkness, and the continuing warning light messages on his HUD, he could see that something had indeed wrapped itself around both legs. Jason heard Billy cursing and also trying to free himself.

  “Snakes! Fucking, fucking snakes!” Billy yelled.

  Jason first got one gloved hand, and then his second, around the tube-like creature that had bound his legs together. Flailing and squirming, the translucent snakelike creature was actually more like a long centipede—a centipede with hundreds of barbed legs and a gaping, tooth-filled mouth—now trying to bite through his battle suit.

  Jason squeezed with all his strength. Immediately, he felt the battle suit’s powerful, strength-enhancing micro-servos engage. The creature, whatever it was, began to release its hold— uncoiling from around his legs. He continued to squeeze until he felt a definitive breaking, a snapping, of its internal bone structure. He’d no sooner dealt with that one, when another centipede-like creature wrapped itself around his neck and upper torso. Damn thing must be six feet long, Jason thought to himself.

  Getting to his feet, he saw Billy already standing and dealing with a centipede coiled around his waist.

  Jason continued down the narrow corridor. “Deal with it later … we need to get back to the Minian.”

  They ran, entangled in tightly gripping creatures, into the fog and darkness. Jason cursed the Craing’s bizarre means of security, as he’d done many times in the past. Hell … if it wasn’t Serapin Terplins, it was acid-spewing pill bugs, and now these frozen, radiation immune, centipede things.

  They no sooner made it halfway up the stairway to the Engineering level when the centipede slowly released its hold from around Jason’s neck. Not slowing, he watched as the two centipedes fully uncoiled and quickly slithered away, back down the steps behind them to the frigid containment lockers.

  Out of breath and feeling the mounting, nauseating effect of radiation poisoning, Jason was the first to reach the Pacesetter. He staggered and nearly fell backward. Billy helped steady him from behind. Taking in a deep breath, Jason swung himself onto the ship’s inset stepladder. One ridiculously slow step at a time, he inched upward. Somehow all his strength had dwindled away. And now … for the first time, he wondered how they could ever make it back in time. So tired. I’m so very, very tired. Jason had to stop. Rest for just one more second. Halfway up the ladder, he looked down at Billy. Two steps behind him, Billy looked like death warmed over. God, do I look that bad?

  The thought of pulling himself up even one more step … let alone managing to get into the cockpit, was too daunting. Maybe it was time to just stop … time to give up. He’d given it a good fight, but there was always a winner, as well as a loser, in war. The Craing had won. He’d lost. Jason felt his grip on the rung loosen … Confused, he thought he heard voices in his head. Was that Ricket? I don’t want to speak to Ricket right now. Everything was spinning … need to let go.