Keeper and the PLANTERS part 6

Copyright (c) 2020 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.

Keeper and the

 PLANTERS

Part 6

By R. Peterson

            “Mass and energy are not infinite,” Teuth told the forty-one students clustered around a hologram that showed tiny bits of matter swirling around and around much like water rushing down a drain. The Centurion and its crew were speeding toward a group of planets in the Geelo system called the Ice Worlds. The hologram zoomed out exponentially showing that what the students were looking at was a typical spiral galaxy. “And when matter reaches its constraint … it becomes …?” He gazed about the diverse group of space cadets looking for an answer.

“Dark energy.” A student with a large, orange swollen head answered.

“That is correct Clarence,” Teuth told the class.

The hologram began to zoom out, showing millions, billions, trillions and finally a zillion-googolplexian assorted-galaxies painted as tiny light specks on the outside of a huge black ball. Many of the specks were disappearing into black holes. “And the universe is filled with …”

            “Dark energy!” All forty-one students chorused.

“And when dark energy reaches its maximum we have a …?” The hologram showed that all the light specks on the outside of the ball had suddenly disappeared. Teuth who was a land-adapted cephalopod raised six of his eight tentacles in the air in a dramatic gesture designed to arouse the students.

            “Big Bang!” All forty students shouted just as the now-darkened ball depicted on the hologram vanished and became a tiny explosion of light specks …  spreading outward and eventually forming around a new ball.

            “And all dark energy once again becomes matter and that matter once again begins to form dark energy,” Teuth told them.

            “How many times?” A girl named Greina who resembled a walking plant asked. “How many times can this process repeat itself?”

            “We believe the process itself is outside the laws of infinity,” Teuth said. “But at least a zillion-googolplexian - to the power of 419 - times!”

            “What then?”  Greina asked. “What happens then?”

Keeper, the Captain of the Centurion, had just transported onto the engineering level. “We’ll just have to wait and find out.” He answered Greina.

A pair of students who resembled hyenas laughed. “No one lives that long!” they declared.

Keeper shook his head. “But we all do,” he said. “There never was a time when we were not here … and there never will be a time when we do not exist.”

The Captain stood close to the ship’s navigator and leaned toward one of the cephalopod’s artificial audio receptors. “I need you on command level,” he whispered.

            “Recess,” Teuth told the students. “But biosphere three is being re-nature configured, so use one of the other recreational areas.”

-------2-------

                First Officer Jeff Bland was attending the Centurion’s light beam navigation and control system when Keeper and Teuth entered the command level. The overhead hologram showed the vast spacecraft entering the Beku galaxy. “Strange,” Jeff said. “I already feel cold and we’re still three-hundred light years away from Geelo.”

            “Geelo, and the other planets they call the Ice Worlds,” Teuth said. “Appear to draw heat from neighboring star systems and even spacecraft like this one many light years away.”

            “This is because of their most unusual star Inversijas,” Keeper said. “Its core is made of dark matter and the dark energy it sometimes generates, along with light radiation, often draws away heat rather than compound it.”

            “Sometimes?” Jeff looked at the captain.

            “If it were continuous … no life forms would be possible,” Keeper said.

            “You appear to have a remarkable knowledge of the universe and its mysteries.” Teuth directed his comments toward the captain.

            “And you thought I was only good at basketball!” Keeper rose more than two feet into the air and pretended to shoot a basket. A feat most remarkable, because he appeared to have no feet.

            “Don’t try sucking up to him,” Jeff whispered to Teuth. “I tried that and it doesn’t work.”

            “There are other dangers to this dark energy,” Keeper said. “That’s why I’ve summoned an expert to this level. He will help navigate our course through these hazards and on to Geelo.”

The student with the giant orange head named Clarence stepped from the transporter. “Am I late?” he asked.

Jeff Bland looked at his watch and gave the cadet a mock stern-look. “Another seventeen seconds and you would have been.”

“Clarence Wortha studied on Zeba, one of the Ice Worlds when his mother was ambassador to the Inversijas systems. He has knowledge of the many dangers to watch out for.”

            “I’ll bet you didn’t go on many hot dates while you were in school,” Jeff quipped.

The cadet everyone called Pumpkin Head ignored him. “The most critical danger in approaching Zeba or the other worlds is a radiation-phenomena called shadows,” he said. “Since the light radiation from Inversijas is neither constant nor predictable and since there is sometimes a burst of dark energy there are certain areas near this star that cannot be seen nor detected with any of our known technology.”

            “Sounds like a perfect place for Gorwan to set up an ambush,” Jeff said.

            “We had better proceed with our shields at full power,” Keeper told Teuth.

            “Are there any other anomalies that we should be aware of,” Jeff asked Clarence.

            “Plenty,” Pumpkin Head said. “There are many even the top scientists on Zeba do not fully understand.”

Just then, the plant girl Greina who had temporarily been given Leika’s job as head Organic Science Officer came rushing out of the transporter. “That Maronian Saggoplatapus that was presented to the Planters and then appeared back on this ship after we escaped from the black hole!!!” she gasped trying to catch her breath. Her branch like arms, covered in leaves, appeared to flutter in a vortex wind.

            “What about it?” Keeper asked.

            “It’s loose!” Greina moaned. “Swimming in Biosphere 3 and Growing … growing like crazy … and it’s smart …. Very-smart!”

            “This is all we need,” Jeff told Keeper.

-------3-------

Huge waves were pounding the artificial beach as Keeper, Greina and Bland entered the Biosphere. Miles out on the vast man-created ocean, a monster sized reptile would occasionally break the surface sending another series of tidal waves growing in all directions. A few crew members, many wearing trunks and string bikinis, were still gathering blankets, umbrellas and coolers then dashing through knee-deep water toward the transporters. “Out of suntan lotion?” Jeff asked a terrified engine specialist as he ran past with his bawling girlfriend.

“Have you tried re-shrinking this thing?” Keeper asked Greina.

“I have,” she said. “Every time we use herders to get it under the reduction beams it breaks through the robot nets and escapes.”

“Have you tried drugging it?”

“We sent several large boats onto the water equipped with Goodnite harpoons. The Saggoplatapus attacked all the vessels and one crew member even lost his leg!”

“Sounds a lot like Moby Dick,” Jeff said.

Greina shot him a quizzical glance, and then continued. “The injured crew member is getting a new genetically-grown limb, but we still don’t know what to do with this thing.”

Teuth’s face suddenly appeared as a hologram above the incoming waves. “You were right about the ambush,” he said. “We have a command Gorwanian battle ship and at least a dozen fighters coming at us from all directions.”

Jeff’s heart raced. If those bastards want a fight, I’ll give it to them, he thought, and sprinted towards the transporter. Behind him, he heard Keeper order Greina and her group of interstellar zoologists to do whatever it took to restrain the monster lizard. Seconds later, Jeff and Keeper stepped into the transporter. Jeff grimaced at his friend and captain, and just before they were whisked away to the ship’s control deck, asked, “Why can’t we get one disaster at a time?”

-------4-------

            A blast shook the Centurion, made the light arrays on the control module blink several times and knocked all but Keeper to the floor. “What the Hell was that?” Jeff moaned.

Teuth recovered quickly and had his tentacles into the array. “Some form of impulse dark-energy … most likely a Delilah or another Dark Sister derivative!”

“Get us out of here!” Keeper commanded.

The Huge spaceship rotated one-hundred eighty degrees and tried to outrace several incoming dark-energy torpedoes. The spacecraft was jarred violently again.

The hologram showed the massive enemy warship and dozens of support vessels moving in from three sides. The space around the enemy armada was suddenly swarming with hundreds of fighters.

“How long can we hold them off with our shields?” Keeper was directing the ship’s propulsion while Teuth worked on defensive systems.

            “Not long,” Teuth said pointing with his tentacles. “That’s a Cruanium Battle Carrier, ten times as large as the Centurion and eighty percent of its technology is devoted to state of the art offensive weaponry.”

            “What’s the other twenty percent?” Keeper acted as if he knew the answer.

            “Experimental state of the art offensive weaponry!” Clarence, Pumpkin Head, told them.

            “Where did these lizards get the credits to buy something like that?” Jeff asked as he ran toward one of the weapons consoles. He now became one of more than two-hundred crew members returning fire on the attackers.

            “Probably selling interactive full-sensory holograms of Leika performing a Porosities mating ritual,” Teuth said in all seriousness. “Some of those artificial encounters are worth an entire planetary system … and she’s the most desirable female in half the known universe.”

            “When I was fourteen … I thought a Playboy was expensive,” Jeff said as he brought a dark-matter cluster-cannon to full charge.

            “Target the fighters,” Keeper ordered all gunners. “Their Battle Carrier is too well shielded.”

Bland focused on three incoming Gorwanian fighters all flying in tight formation. He blasted the center fighter nonstop until it finally exploded taking the other two fighters with it. “These lizards are dangerous,” he said. “But most of them don’t have any brains.”

The Centurion was once again rocked by a giant explosion from the Battle Carrier. Alarms began to go off. “That hit was critical,” Teuth said. “One more like that and we’re finished!”

            “Take us down to the planet’s surface,” Keeper said.

            “The entire ship? That’s crazy!” Bland was firing at more incoming. This time he failed to halt the incoming attack. There was a blinding flash of light and another explosion. More alarms began to go off.

            “If we can stay a few miles above impact we have a chance to survive,” Keeper said. “If we stay here … we’re finished!”

            “I think this is a battle that will be decided by who is the craziest,” Jeff sneered as he continued to fire.

            “You’re probably right,” Keeper agreed.

            “That’s why I’m glad I picked … your side,” Jeff said.

Teuth put the Centurion into an angled decent. Minutes later it had moved dangerously close to the planet’s surface. There was a noticeable chill throughout the vessel. They were pursued by more a dozen fighters but the Cruanium Battle Carrier stayed in orbit. This time Bland blasted more than six fighters in a row. “They seem to be slowing down!”

            “The Gorwanians are used to a much warmer climate,” Pumpkin Head said. “They and their technology do not function well in frigid climates.”

            “Neither do we!” Bland was rubbing his hands together. “If we stay here much longer we’re going to be popsicles!”

            “What’s a popsicle?” Pumpkin Head’s eye-brows made a v shape.

Band ignored him. “What’s the name of this planet?” The exterior hologram showed huge pieces of an icy mountain being pulled away by the gravity created by the massive space ship.

            “This is Geelo,” Teuth told him.

            “Geelo?” Bland used pent up rage to blast another fighter from the frigid atmosphere. “Why would Gorwan bring Leika to a place like this?”

            “Extreme cold like that which is found on the Ice Worlds is one of the few things in the universe that can prevent a Porosities from using her powers," Clarence said. “Gorwan obviously thought he was losing control over her.”

            “A Cruanium Battle Carrier and ten thousand fighters is no match for sex!” Jeff laughed.

            “The rest of the Gorwanian fighters are leaving the surface,” Teuth reported.

            “How long do we have?” Keeper asked Teuth.

            “Less than an hour,” Teuth said. “And that’s putting all of our power into our onboard environmental systems.”

            “How long to circumnavigate the planet, at this altitude, with our heat sensors fully activated?”

            “A little more than an hour,” Teuth told him. “If we’re lucky and we don’t crash into a mountain.”

            “We’re almost eight miles above the surface. Are there really mountains that high on Geelo?” Bland had already switched power back to the ships environmental drain. The defensive weapons were no longer operational.

            “Yes there are plenty,” Pumpkin Head Clarence shivered. “And some of them are in shadows!”

Greina’s plant-like face suddenly appeared on an emergency hologram from Biosphere 3. “We’ve got problems,” she moaned. “We’ve got some real bad problems!”

-------5-------

 By Keeper’s orders, all but the essential levels of the starship had been sealed off. The crewmembers were crowded together on key levels for warmth. Keep and Bland walked through empty corridors, with the atmosphere already below freezing. Their words came out as clouds of white. “Dang,” Jeff moaned. “It’s colder than a witch’s …” Keeper looked at him quizzically. “Heart,” Jeff said. “It’s colder than a witch’s heart.”

            “I imagine you’ve met quite a few,” Keeper said.

The door hung off its hinges on Biosphere 3. The vast ocean with beaches bordering its sides was frozen. The Plant girl who had assumed Leika’s job and others were hiding behind a small mountain of rocks. “The cold is slowing the growth of the Maronian Saggoplatapus,” Greina said. “But it’s also making it violent!”

As if to confirm her words, there was a distant thunder and crashing sound.  A Mesozoic-era monster one-quarter the size of the entire fifty-mile diameter Biosphere burst though the frozen surface, sending millions of tons of ice shards crashing into the ceiling of the clear dome … thirty miles above. It turned and stared at the people watching it from the beach. “My God! You do have a problem!” Jeff Bland told Greina.

            “Me?” the Plant girl said. “I had no idea something like this is what you people were collecting!”

The monster roared and began to break through the ice as it charged toward them. Greina moved behind a tranquilizer cannon designed to subdue any violent animal in the universe. “Shoot it now!” Bland insisted.

                        “Its size isn’t the only problem,” Greina said. “Ever since the Planters returned her to us she has shown a remarkable growth in intelligence.”

            “Her?” Keeper raised an eyebrow.

            “Makes sense, captain,” Jeff said. “Only females are this mean!”

            “It’s a she,” Plant girl said. “And she knows enough to stay just outside the effective range of our cannons. I believe that once we run out of power she will destroy us!”

            “This animal might have to be destroyed,” Keeper said.

            “We’ve tried that!” Plant girl waved her branches. Tiny ice crystals rained onto the ground. “Photon cannons, Energy Dumps even Dark Matter converters! The planters must have made her smarter … and invincible!”

Teuth’s face suddenly appeared as a hologram. “It’s Leika,” he said. “We’ve found her!”

            “Don’t feed her until we get back,” Jeff told Griena. “Do that, and we’ll never get rid of her!”

-------6-------

            “I have good news and bad news,” Teuth told Bland and Keeper. Stalactites made of ice hung from the ceiling.  “Leika appears to be in perfect hibernation in a sealed and unguarded encapsulated cell, the kind Gorwanians use to hold galactic criminals just eight miles below us.”

“What is the bad news?” Keeper was almost afraid to ask.

            “The capsule is sealed by an unknown technology and we are out of time.” Teuth shook his bulbous head. “We must return to orbit. Our systems are failing and unless we leave right now we won’t be able to. Whoever takes a shuttle to the surface and attempts to free Leika, will have no help from us. The extreme cold outside the capsule will kill them in three minutes … and that person will have to find some way to rendezvous with us in orbit.”

“Some way?” Bland was staring at the navigator.

“At these temperatures, our shuttles will only have enough power to reach the surface.   Once there, the poor soul who tries this rescue will have to find his own way back.”

“What are the chances of a rescue mission like this succeeding? Keeper gasped.

Teuth hung his head then turned away so no one could see his face. “Not good,” he mumbled. “Next to impossible! Not good at all!”

Bland was already running across the command level. “Where are you going?” Keeper yelled.

            “To grab a coat,” The Centurion’s first officer shouted back. “I hear it’s damn cold down there!”

TO BE CONTINUED ….