Titan Encounter (8 page)

She swallowed then
said, “I think Mara is afraid of me.”

He agreed.

“I am glad that I do
not frighten you.”

Poking at the lettuce,
he said, “I know you’re not going to hurt me.”
That came out wrong.
“And
besides, I can take care of myself.”
That didn’t sound right either.

She shrugged. “Does
Mara believe I will hurt her?”

He tapped his hand
on the table several times. “She accepts that you were made from Titan DNA.” He
paused. “Everything we know says they were an idea that went badly wrong.
Hundreds of millions died as the war went on.”

“But she is not
afraid of you.”

He sighed. “I’m not
sure that she believes I’m a Titan.”
I’m not entirely sure that I do.
“But
she knows me like, well, a sister—even though we’re not.”

She nodded.

“You don’t seem
surprised.”

“That she is not
your sister?”

He nodded. “We’ve
never told anyone the truth.”

“You showed me the
truth that day in the passageway. Remember, just before you threw me up against
the wall…”

She had stared at
him and suddenly memories flashed through his mind. “That was you?” He wiggled
his fingers over his head. “What? You probed my mind?”

“I had to know the
truth.”

“How much did you
learn about me?”

She smiled coyly.

His face flushed.

“I had to know for
sure that you were not a
Nephilim
or….” She let her
sentence die. 

Oh, this is so
unfair.
Desperately
he recalled what had passed through his mind. He remembered imagining Naomi in
the dress that Mara wore to dinner and staring at her when she was first
brought in, unconscious. He cringed. “Do you remember everything?”

She giggled. “My
recall of your memories will fade over the next few days, well, most of them
will.”

His face was still
hot as he remembered what had flashed through his mind.
Yeah, I can imagine
which ones won’t be fading.
His heart pounded in his ears as he sat in
silence. Desperately he wanted to change the subject. “So, other than
embarrassing me, what did the
Nephilim
plan for you?”

Her eyes drifted to
the table. Her demeanor sobered. “Over the years they told me of several
missions they wanted accomplished.”

“Such as….”

Without emotion in
either face or voice she said, “My first standing order was to kill any Titans
I encountered.”

Justin’s muscles
tensed. “Uh…you can understand how that statement might make me a bit nervous,
can’t you?”

Naomi nibbled at her
food. “Because you believe you are a Titan?”

Sensing no malice
from her, he nodded. “My abilities pretty well establish my ancestry.”

“You’re not like any
Titan I’ve ever read about.”

He tried to smile.
Neither
are you
.

“That day you nearly
killed
Ferren
, I thought....” She smiled and shook
her head. “It was silly but, I thought you were a
Nephilim
.”

Justin managed to
grin. “You only had two choices,
Nephilim
or Titan,
why is one choice sillier than the other?”

“The
Nephilim
seemed to avoid me.  Usually they were so far
away I could barely sense their presence.  On those rare occasions when
they
came
a little closer, all I could sense was cold
darkness.”

Justin pushed the
now empty plate aside.  “What do you mean?”

“Unfeeling
maliciousness and their minds seemed old.  Older than anyone I’ve ever
met.”

“How
old?”

“I don’t know. You
did not ask
them
questions—you obeyed.  The
Nephilim
are supposed to be the saviors of humankind, but
all I ever sensed was coldness and once…”

“What?”

 “Only once did
one ever get close enough for me to see into their mind.  It radiated evil
like a fire.”  She reached out, took his plate, and set it on her now
empty one. “I have never sensed evil from you. It was silly of me to think you
were
Nephilim
.”

“Well then I guess
I’d rather be a young, good Titan.” He Stared into her eyes and was glad she
was there. “So, when you fled from the
Nephilim
, it
was because you didn’t want to kill Titans?”
I hope, I really hope.

“No.” She took in a
deep breath.  “The idea that I am made from Titan DNA is disgusting to me
and I could have, would have,
completed
my mission to
destroy them.”

Deliberately
repeating himself he said, “You can understand how that might make me a bit
nervous, can’t you?”

She looked confused

“So, would you kill
me? Apparently, I’m a Titan.”

Frustration covered
her face, but sadness filled her voice. “Our common DNA gives us abilities, but
it is not what makes us Titans. They were a badly carried out plan, a hateful
and cruel creation that attempted to enslave the human race.” Staring at the
bulkhead, Naomi paused. “There is no hate in you, no cruelty.  You’ve
protected Mara. That is why I asked to come with you. I knew you would help
me.” She took a deep breath. When she continued, anger tinged her voice. “I
fled from the
Nephilims
for many reasons, but when I
did, I stopped obeying their orders.”

Dinner was finished
in silence.

*              
*              
*

Suffocation.
Just before they
crossed the event horizon Justin gulped air, but it didn’t help, it still felt
like drowning. Disorientation and weightlessness immediately followed. Suddenly
slammed into the harness he gasped for air.
I hate FTL travel.
  

The image of Mara
seemed to exhale and then smile. “We’re back in standard space. 
All systems normal.”

Justin hoped that
the contents of his stomach would remain where they belonged. He breathed
deeply. “Let’s find that jump gate.”

Naomi looked down at
a panel.  “Starting sensor sweeps.”

“Which of those
search patterns you told me about will work best?”

Mara spoke up, “I
can put us in an elliptical orbit that will allow us to search the system using
no fuel.”

“How long would it
take to complete the search?”

“Just over
thirty-two years.”

He grinned “I’d like
to find it sooner than that. We’ll need to use the little fuel we have left.”

Mara shook her head.
“The two planetoids are on opposite sides of the system. We don’t have enough
fuel to reach all the planets.”

“Then we need
another plan.
NavSys
on.”
Justin watched intently as the various planets,
asteroids and comets appeared before him. Slowly he moved around the display
occasionally pausing to stare at some point in space.  With the image of
the gas giant before him he stopped.  After several moments he gave a nod.
“If I were going to hide a jump gate this is where I would do it.”

Mara stepped beside
him. “A ringed gas giant, a dozen moons…”

“An abundance of
sensor targets,” Naomi added.

He folded his arms
across his chest. “And plenty of Lagrange points.”

“Lagrange points?”
Naomi asked.

“Places where the
gravitational pull of the star, planet and a moon balance out.” He grinned.
“The jump gate would stay in a fixed position.”

“Oh. In the empire
they are called
libration
points.”

“Whatever you call
them,” his eyes darted between the women, “we need to find and scan those
spots.”

*              
*              
*

Justin tapped the
display.
Location 39 negative
.
He rubbed his
tired eyes.
Twelve more to check.
  With
the many large moons around the gas giant it had taken hours just to plot the
locations and it was taking much longer to scan them all.

Naomi snored softly
in the corner.

Maybe there is no
gate.
 
He walked to the food table and selected what, hours ago, had been a muffin,
but now was as dry as a cracker. He washed it down with lukewarm coffee.

Naomi snored loudly
and turned on her side.

Mara appeared in the
center of the bridge.
“
Mmmh
.”
She stared intently as her head slid closer to the sensor console.

“Did you find
something?”

She stared at the
panel for a moment then hesitantly said, “Yes.”

Justin walked
casually toward her. 
Why does the hologram of Mara stare at the
console?
  

She shouted, “Yes!”

“Huh?” Naomi sat up.

Justin ran to Mara’s
side and peered at the readings.  There was something out there. 
Quickly he directed the sensor data to the holographic display and watched.
“Two?
There’s
two objects.”

Mara, smiled. “I’ll
have a course plotted in moments.
Slowing to 35,000 KPH.”

As they approached,
it became clear that both a derelict ship and a jump gate slowly orbited the
Lagrange point. The steel ring, just visible at that distance, but big enough
for a warship to pass through, formed the gate.  The power source, a
fusion reactor, glowed at the end of a long shaft extending from the circle.

 “The gate has
power, but I don’t detect any power sources on the ship.  Why do you think
it was left here?” Naomi asked.

He shrugged.
Maybe
the crew died there when the gate didn’t work—just like we might.
Images of
some future explorer finding the jump gate with two ships
nearby,
blazed through his mind.

“We’re on
approach. 
ETA, 20 minutes.”

As they drew closer
Naomi’s gaze fixed on the sensor readouts. “The ship is a frigate.
Very old design.”
She paused, looked up at Justin, and
continued.
“Probably from the
Titanomachy
War.
The FTL engines are gone, but I can still see missile launchers and
particle weapons.”

Justin watched the
image as it grew slowly larger.  “We should see if the gate
responds.  Send the activation sequence.”

Mara nodded.

“When you’re ready
go ahead and send it.”

She turned. Worry
etched her face. “I already did.”

Everyone watched the
main screen while nothing happened.

That confirms
it.  The gate doesn’t work.
  He sighed.

“What are we going
to do?” Naomi asked.

Justin waved his
hand for her to stop. “I’m thinking.”
Anti-matter fuel is all but exhausted
so we can’t jump to another system. We can try to fix the gate.  Surfeit
has a skiff.
He shook his head.
No spacesuits—we can’t fix it.

The objects ahead
now filled the main screen.  “Mara, reduce the display magnification.”

“Display
magnification set to normal and reducing approach velocity to 10,000 KPH.”

As Mara continued to
slow their approach, Justin attempted to come up with a workable plan and
failed. He glanced at both of them, but not wanting them to see the worry that
he felt, avoided eye contact. He walked to the food table and, while nibbling
on anything that presented itself, he continued to formulate plans in vain.

“Why is it warm?”
Naomi asked.

Confused, Justin
turned and saw Naomi holding her pendant in her hands.

“Because it’s been
against your skin,” Mara sneered.

Naomi rolled her
eyes. “No. It is warmer than that.” She cupped it in her hands and stared down
at it. Her head popped up. “Surfeit lights, off.” Again she looked down into
her cupped hands and, for a moment, her face was illuminated by a golden
glow.  Slowly she pulled her fingers away revealing the pulsating pendant.

Justin
watched.  Not only was it pulsating, it grew brighter with each pulse. He
returned the lights to normal.

 Mara’s eyes
went from Justin to Naomi, “What is that thing?”

“I don’t know. 
Dr. Galen gave it to me and empathically told me to keep it.” Naomi took it
from her neck and laid it on her lap.

Justin stared at the
glowing orb. “We can be sure of two things: Dr. Galen gave it to you for a
reason, and somehow it’s connected with this gate.” He walked about the bridge,
deep in thought, then stopped and watched the pendant for several
moments.  “It pulsates every two seconds.”