This is one of the duties I hate doing, thought Terri. She preferred her solitude, but now she had to do what was necessary. It was time for her to go to the botanical greenhouse. Her power to generate and regenerate sunlight at the exact frequency as it is on Earth was remarkable.
This part of the ship was exposed to space, except the ceiling was checkerboard with panels of plexiglass and solar panels to absorb and disburse sunlight. It was 175 steps to the top to sit in her high chair and meditate. It was almost like she was the sun. She climbed to the top and sat down. Now it was time for Kimberley and Tasha to come along.
Kim didn’t really need Tasha, but they both always danced together. Kimberley’s natural ability to accelerate plant life was always amazing. In just a few minutes, sometimes seconds, she could turn seeds into full-grown plants or produce plants from nowhere, if the soil was fertile.
Sometimes it was beautiful to watch them, and sometimes she just wanted to go back to Earth.
“Are you okay up there?” said Tasha. No, she wasn’t, but she didn’t want to spoil their positive vibe.
“How are my children doing today?” said Kimberly. The plants responded. They bloomed healthy and pretty.
* * *
Joseph came into the lab where Tony, Maurice, and Brian were working. “Maurice, you have an urgent call in the strategy room. It’s Victor from Planet Eris. He specifically wants you.”
All four of them ran into the strategy room.
At the head of the table was a holographic projection of Victor.
“Greetings, Maurice. I need to tell you about what you’ll be facing. As you know, you’re all heading to Planet Topaz. It’s the second planet from its sun. There were two other human planets here called Jade and Pearl, but they were both destroyed recently.
“By what?
“By The Devil’s Comet. Most scientists aren’t sure what it is, but I’ll tell you all, I know about it. As the story goes, centuries ago, a piece of hell was ripped out to wander the universe, jumping from galaxy to galaxy, solar system to solar system, wiping out entire races at a time to produce a stronger universe. The facts are that The Devil’s Comet has only destroyed populated planets, no rock planets, no ice planets, no dead worlds . . . It’s as if it has conscience.”
“Do you think it does?” said Maurice.
“As a scientist, yes,” said Victor. “But that’s not important. My intention is to tell you what you’re up against. The comet is dangerous. It’s not even a real comet. Comets are like dirty snowballs flying in and out of the same solar system. This one in particular functions like a neutron star. Here, I’ll punch up its picture.”
Victor’s image punched up an image of this monster. At a glance, it looked like a huge, bright object, like a small star with three rings swirling around it. Like a giant white atom.
These three rings were purple, red, and white; whatever it was, it looked menacing.
“These three rings produce negative, positive, and neutral energies, and give the comet its propulsion, the comet itself is made of neutrons, the heaviest of all atoms. When it smashes into a planet, its incredible gravity crushes the planet, and it keeps going.”
“How can we stop it?” said Maurice.
Victor continued, “Well, the comet will hit Planet Topaz in seventy-two hours or three days from now. I have sent Brian the plans to build six photonic torpedoes. You can load them into three of your starjets and hit the positive atom ring. My theory is, the positive ring could be hit with these artificial photons, thus photonic torpedoes, and the comet will not be able to consume this manmade energy and stop its course before it reaches Topaz. I know it’s complicated, but this is our best plan. Are there any questions?”
“Yes,” said Maurice. “If the planets Jade and Pearl were destroyed, how did Topaz survive up to now?”
“Good question. Topaz is a postapocalyptic mess with a population of less than fifty thousand people. Years ago, there was a war between science and magic. A super collider exploded and covered the planet with enough radiation to wipe out its population. Only two cities survived—the city of Omen and the city of Kai. The planet will basically have to start over.
“Three years ago, I had chosen two test Karpenters to help Topaz get back on its feet. They were from Earth like you. One was a black male named Robert Mergez, whom I gave the power of good luck, and the other, a Caucasian girl named Cassi Phea, whom I gave the power of intangibility. So far Cassi’s power has stalled The Devil’s Comet, but now I fear this will be the last time she or he will be able to help Topaz.”
“Victor, you’ve been very helpful.” Maurice said. “Thanks for the knowledge. I know it took a lot of power to transmit this, so I’m singing out. Goodbye.” Maurice turned off the transmission
“We’ve got to hit that thing!” Tony was anxious for action. As the Karpenters hurried down the corridor toward the bridge, all of a sudden the ship went wild. Lights blinked on and off. Maurice knew something was wrong. He wanted to keep the group together, but Linda was far ahead of everybody and made it to the bridge first.
Suddenly again, there was another jolt.
Outside of the ship, The Devil’s Comet had passed Starcutter. Its powerful gravity field had flicked the heavy ship into Planet Pax’s atmosphere. It was basically too late. No one could react fast enough. Starcutter was out of control!
* * *
Down the hallway inside the ship, the Karpenters were being slammed down the corridor. Maurice grabbed Tony and Tasha. Then, to make matters worse, the artificial gravity generator shorted out. Everyone became weightless by this time. Linda had made it to the bridge and strapped herself in Maurice’s command chair.
Instinctively, Maurice opened one of the emergency storage cabinets and got out one of the space suits.
“What good will that do?” exclaimed Tony. “The ship’s plunging into Pax’s atmosphere. We’ll never be able to fight this giant’s gravity.”
“Okay, watch and learn,” said Maurice. At that moment, he detached the boots from the space suit and used the magnets in the soles of the boots to inch his way down the hallway. Slowly he crawled over to Linda, who was panic-stricken.
Then he pressed several buttons, and gravity began to return. Everybody hit the floor. Slowly everybody crawled and walked to their spots on the bridge.
“Okay, everybody, take your positions. The ship is doing a barrel roll into Pax. Here’s what I’m going to do. We stabilize the ship.” The crew obeyed.
He continued, “Instead of fighting Pax’s gravity, we’re going to circle the planet and move along with its rotation. Pax is another gas giant like the planet Jupiter, which means it rotates fast, about thirty-seven minutes. When we reach the other side, we punch it to full throttle. The extra boost will throw us back into space like a penny being flung off a record player. When we’re flung out of its gravity, we do a small space warp, and we jump in front of The Devil’s Comet.”
It seemed like a good plan, but even Tony was wondering how he could figure this out so fast.
The crew went through it. After a tense thirty-seven minutes, Starcutter put on its burst of speed.
“Okay. Tasha. Tony. Warp. I’ve already set the controls.”
In a few minutes, they were right back on course and ready to face the devil.