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  “My fault,” came a familiar voice from within the living room. Captain Dickson stepped into the entrance hall with the rest of them. “It seemed prudent to get here as quickly as we could,” he said smiling.

  Mike stepped forward and took the captain’s hand. “It is good to see you again, Captain. And thank you for getting here a bit sooner. We could sure use the help,” Mike said.

  “Mister Wilkes, I offer the resources of the Lexington in any effort to get your son back, and we will take any steps you deem necessary in the process,” Dickson said in all seriousness. Mike gripped his hand even more firmly. He knew the captain meant it. Ashley Wilkes chimed in.

  “Good,” he exclaimed. “We should begin our search immediately. I will get landing parties set up...” He got no further.

  “We already have things going here, father,” said Mike. “I’m sure the captain has already begun scanning the surface,” he said looking at Dickson, who simply smiled and nodded. “And besides, we have no clue as yet which direction these people may have taken. I am sure we will hear from them shortly. Until then, we must be patient,” Mike said.

  “You can’t just sit here while...” Wilkes protested, his face getting a bright red. The looks from Jo’s parents belied their inner assessment of Ashley Wilkes. They stole a “here he goes again” look between them.

  “I believe your son is correct in his assessment,” said Dickson, sensing the tension building. “I spoke to the Alliance Security Chief this morning and he filled me in on their efforts. He agrees with Mike that there really isn’t much we can do,” Dickson said calmly.

  “You just sit down and calm yourself, Ashley,” Mary Wilkes said to her husband. “You look like you are about to explode,” she chided.

  Ashley Wilkes grunted and sat down in an armchair with a thud. It was clear that he did not like the way things were going, or the fact that he was being overruled.

  “Besides, you seem to have forgotten we have a new granddaughter,” Mary said. “And I, for one, am glad she doesn’t look like you,” she said with a grin. That broke the tension in the room and all of them had a chuckle. The center of attention was turned to little Mary and the dimples in her cheeks. The rest of the morning was spent in a more relaxed mood, with three families getting reacquainted.

  Chapter 7

  History Revealed

  Bruce Springer was sweating heavily by the time he reached the window, but he hadn’t noticed it. Even before the tractor had come to a stop he had jumped from the wagon and was heading up the hill. Some sheriff’s deputies were keeping the onlookers away until the area could be investigated. In only a moment, Springer, Olan, and Honle were standing in the room. Springer, like Olan, gently pulled the blanket back to look at the body of the little girl. Then, looking over at the others he said, “Do you fella’s mind if I use some of my equipment?”

  Honley nodded. “Go to town, Bruce.”

  Springer reached into his bag and produced a scanner. He quickly scanned the body, then pointed it at the other two men; something that caused them to step back. He then looked hard at the readings and scratched his head.

  “I hate to disappoint you guys, but this is no Alliance home. According to this instrument, this girl is Theran,” he said.

  “Can’t be,” said Honle. “I’ve never seen anything like this house or this kind of furnishings even in my son’s science fiction magazines.”

  Springer hadn’t listened. He was too busy scanning the room itself. The readings were astounding and consistent. After a moment, he closed the case and pulled out his radio. “Springer to embassy security.”

  The response was rapid. “Cook here, Bruce, do you have a problem?” Cook responded.

  “We may have us a situation at my location. I was called in to investigate an anomaly and it’s much more than I can handle. I’d like to request a science team with full gear to my location immediately.”

  “I understand Bruce. I’ll have a team there in a few minutes. Cook out,” he said signing off.

  Olan and Honle stood there, not knowing what to do.

  “What did you mean by anomaly?” Olan asked.

  Springer took a sigh and looked at his friends. “It means we have something I can’t explain guys. But I feel like we need to get to the bottom of all this. Do you guys mind leaving while I start this?” he said.

  “But what can’t you explain?” Honle asked.

  “Well, according to my readings, this little girl and this house...” he paused to take a breath, “are nearly 5,000 years old.”

  The look on the other men’s faces was a mixture of surprise and skepticism.

  “You have got to be kidding,” Olan said slowly.

  “I wish I was guys. I can’t lie to you. But at the same time, I can’t explain it. The only thing I can do is get some of my people here to really study it. I hope you understand,” Bruce said solemnly.

  Honle looked at his friend and sighed. He had known Springer for several years and he had never once tried to put one over on him. Even now, he could tell by the look on his face that Springer was troubled. It was best to let him try and get some answers. “You go ahead Bruce. If you say you don’t know, you don’t know. I can live with that. You promise to let us know what you find?”

  “Every bit of it.”

  “Then get to it. We’ll go back to the trailer and wait a while. If you need us, give us a call,” Honle said. Then he turned to Olan. “Come on, let’s us go on out for a while.” Olan nodded and both men climbed out the window.

  Within another minute three figures beamed into the room. They were not recognized by Springer and you could tell it by his look. One of the men stepped forward and introduced himself.

  “Mister Springer?” he asked.

  Springer stepped forward. “I’m Springer.”

  “Commander James Thompson from the starship Lexington. We arrived this morning and your security officer just called and asked us to help out.”

  Springer smiled and shook his hand warmly. “Just in time, Commander. One of the local farmers here owns this property and found all this just yesterday,” he said.

  “Olan and Honle, the two men I met here this morning had some thoughts that all this was from some previous Alliance intrusion. We have us a real puzzle here and eventually I think they need to know what we find,” he said. Then he opened the scanner again and showed Thompson the readings. “Look at the time lapse indicator.”

  Thompson studied the readings a moment, then pulled out his own, more advanced instrument and took additional readings. He looked at the readout and whistled.

  “Four thousand eight hundred and seventeen years to be exact,” he said. “And you say they found this yesterday?” he asked.

  Springer nodded his head.

  “There is more, you should follow me,” one of the men said leading them down the hall and down the stairs, using his scanner to actually lead the way. As the men went down the hall, the crewman in the lead even stopped by the switches and flipped on the lights as they made their way. At first, Thompson was skeptical, especially when the lights came on, but there was no doubting the body of a man sitting in the easy chair. More readings were taken, matching the first. Then Thompson noticed the front door and opened it. They all stepped onto the front porch to watch an artificial sunrise illuminate the block of homes. Thompson detailed his men to take further readings as he and Springer began to work their way down the street, house by house.

  Mike, his dad and his father-in-law were sitting on the porch after lunch. The “meeting” was at his father’s request so he could outline his plans. Both Mike and James Ramey looked beaten. Ashley Wilkes had been talking for an hour without letting anyone get a word in. His plan had called for swarms of Lexington teams combing through every part of the planet, looking for life signs matching that of a 5-year-old Earth boy. Then he had outlined how they would either beam the boy away or assault the place with phasers. He had even suggested using the Lexington’s mai
n phaser banks to burn though any defenses encountered. At the end, he sat back in his lounge chair, took a sip of his iced drink and asked what the others thought.

  Neither Mike nor James Ramey could speak for a moment. Then Mike took a sigh and started. “It won’t work,” he said. “I will not subject these people to such a flagrant violation of our own directives or disruption of their lives,” he said. James Ramey simply looked at Mike and smiled. “That makes two of us,” he said.

  “Look,” said Wilkes, turning beet red and standing up from his chair. “That’s my grandson out there and nothing is going to stop me from finding him and getting him back!” he shouted at Mike. “And if you don’t have the guts to fight for your own son...”

  Mike jumped up and glared at his father. “That’s right,” he shouted back. “He is my son, and I do have the fortitude. But I also have the patience to wait for the right time and the right place,” he said gathering his composure. “Look, Dad, I was here and I saw what interference can do to a planet and its people. It nearly destroyed me and them at the same time. But I believe it was Captain Dickson’s patience and thoughtful hard work that brought it all back without getting everyone killed. Now you may be anxious to get things done, but here, on this planet, I have the authority. And I am going to wait until I have the right information to make my plans, and then you will see what kind of fortitude your son has,” he said, turning to head back into the house. Then he stopped and turned back. “And besides, I don’t recall you storming the bastions when I was the one kidnapped,” he said, then turning and stomping off the porch into the house.

  “He’s right, Ash,” Ramey said. “You would go in there blazing away and probably get both you and the boy killed. Besides, if you recall, I was one of the people that did the follow up report five years ago. The damage to this planet and its population was nearly complete. In good conscience, I can’t go along with you either. I really doubt you could do it anyway. The Captain would go crazy at the mere thought of it,” he said calmly.

  “I’ll talk to the captain,” Wilkes said sharply.

  “Suit yourself,” Ramey said. “But in the mean time I want you to think about something. In the past five years, your son has been able to nearly reverse everything that fellow Levid did in 50 years. He is bright, resourceful and meticulous. Not to mention having the good taste to marry my daughter,” he chuckled. “I think you should trust your son. I am definitely proud of him.” Ramey finished his drink and walked into the house, leaving Ashley Wilkes alone to stew.

  Ramey walked to a side door and went inside, closing the door behind him. Inside was a set of steps down to the basement. Normally there would be nothing but a set of wine bottles and old musty equipment, but Mike had opened the hidden doorway and was sitting in the next room at his computer console. He had just finished setting up the link with the embassy system when Mr. Ramey entered the room.

  “Nice set up, Mike,” he said walking over.

  Mike smiled at his father in law. Since he had met him, Mr. Ramey had impressed Mike as a thoughtful and intuitive man, dedicated to his work. He enjoyed Mr. Ramey’s company. “You wouldn’t expect me to go totally native would you,” Mike said with a smile.

  Ramey chuckled. “Well, I guess our toys have their uses,” he said. “What are you doing?”

  “Setting up the link with the embassy computer systems. Jim Cook says at some time the people that did this will call. When they do, I will know exactly where to find them,” he said tapping the screen.

  “I told your dad you probably had a plan,” he said.

  Mike rolled his eyes back. “My dad,” he sighed. “He never has listened much, and I doubt he cares about anything but himself,” he said disgustedly, throwing a small disk down onto the table.

  Ramey pulled a chair over and sat down. “I’ve known your father off and on for 10 years,” he said sitting back in the seat. “He’s as bull headed as any man I ever met. That’s probably why he never got a command of his own. I’ve told him many a time he should slow down and be objective, but I guess that’s just not him,” he said looking at the ceiling. “You are more like your mother. How she can control that temper of his I don’t know, but she does. And she usually gets her way too,” he chuckled. Then he looked at Mike again. “But don’t get your father wrong. He may be arrogant, pig headed and rough as a cob,” he said, “but when you were abducted five years ago, he tried to move heaven and earth to find you. His section scanned every inch of this planet to try and find out where you were. His efforts stopped only when you saved yourself,” he said placing a hand on Mike’s shoulder. “So despite what you think, Ash really does care about you Mike. I just don’t think he really knows how to show it,” he said.

  Mike looked up at him without speaking. It was something he never knew about his father. The words wouldn’t come. Mr. Ramey just smiled at him. “Oh, and one more thing,” he said. “You just handle this situation the way you see fit. As far as I can see, you have everything well in hand,” he said as he started back up the stairs.

  “Nearly five thousand years?” asked Dickson from his seat at the end of the conference table. “How could that be possible?”

  “Same question we started asking,” Thompson said looking seriously at his captain. “But every scan says the same thing. More interestingly, the mummified bodies we found all have the same DNA as modern day Therans with few modifications.”

  “So what you’re telling me is that about 5,000 years ago, an advanced race of Therans actually lived on this planet.”

  “That’s correct Captain. And that technology is still active and functioning on the planet’s surface, or more precisely, under the surface.”

  “But to think anything would be operating continuously for that long seems more capable than even our own abilities,” Dickson said.

  “Our thoughts exactly, until one of their repair machines went by us to replace a burned out element in one of the street lights. We actually watched the thing open the equipment, replace the bulb and then close the equipment and return to its repair shop,” Thompson said.

  “A repair facility, did you see it?” the captain asked.

  “Followed it to a building three blocks away. It’s incredible. There is a sort of replicator unit there and a larger conveyor type system for larger objects. These repair machines line the wall and plug themselves into a centralized unit. My guess is that when the unit senses something wrong, it dispatches the repair machines to fix the problem.”

  “I believe that merits more study, Number One,” Dickson said.

  “Already taken care of, sir. I have three teams down there right now trying to answer our questions. The only problem we had was getting them inside the cavern.”

  “What problems did you come up against?”

  “Well, it appears the caverns were made by a system of force fields surrounding the area. They actually make up the caverns themselves. On our scans, we identified more buildings surrounding the others inside the mountain where the force field system malfunctioned. The ones in this area are still operational,” Thompson explained.

  “Is there some centralized power system there to feed these fields?”

  “There obviously is one, but we have yet to find it. We did, however, find a plasma conduit leading from what appears to be a power distribution substation back into the mountain. If we can follow that, we might get some answers. Again, we have to work around their shield system to trace it.”

  Captain Dickson sat back into his seat. He had thought the Therans were getting over their brush with Levid’s technology. How then could something like this be there, he wondered. He looked over at Thompson.

  “I believe we need to talk to someone with a great deal more knowledge than we have, Number One.”

  “I totally agree, Captain,” Thompson said with raised eyebrows and an exasperated look.

  The captain tapped the com panel. “Dickson to Ambassador Prentiss.”

  “Prentiss here
captain. Have you found anything out about that finding?”

  “More than you can imagine Ambassador. Can you arrange a meeting with King Raterc as soon as possible? I believe we need some answers that only he can give us.”

  One hour later Dickson, Thompson and the ambassador were standing in the King’s office warmly greeted by the King.

  “Captain, it has been too long. I trust you and your crew are well,” he said happily shaking the captain’s hand.

  “Very well, Your Majesty. You remember my First Officer, Commander James Thompson.”

  “Indeed I do,” he said taking Thompson’s hand and pumping it warmly. “You still have to teach me more about that game you called handball.”

  “I was hoping we could find time for a game, Your Majesty,” Thompson said smiling.

  “Excellent!” the King replied. “Now what may I do for you gentlemen today. It seemed from Ambassador Prentiss that there was some urgency. Please sit down,” he said motioning to the chairs. After being seated, Dickson led off.

  “Your Majesty, we were asked to take a look at something a farmer found in the midsection of your country. After some heavy rains this object seemed to be sticking out of the side of a hill. When we got there, we found evidence of a very advanced civilization,” Dickson said.

  “Some leftover outposts of Levid?” the King asked.

  “No sir, there were several mummified bodies found there and all of them appear to be Theran.”

  The King sat back almost shocked. “Therans?” he exclaimed. “That would be impossible. My ancestors go back over two thousand years and we have good documentation on the advancement of our people from a small ice age until today. At no time did we ever surpass the technology we currently have.”

  “Interesting,” the captain said. “Since the site we examined consists of an underground community whose technology is still functional and in some ways in advance of our own. What about before your family history, say about five thousand years ago?” he asked.