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Ross Richdale

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Infinity Drive

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Infinity Drive

Ross Richdale

CamCat Publishing, LLC

Brentwood, Tennessee 37027

camcatpublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

© 2020 by Ross Richdale

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address 101 Creekside Crossing Suite 280 Brentwood, TN 37027.

Hardcover ISBN 9780744301328

Paperback ISBN 9780744301038

Large-Print Paperback ISBN 9780744303544

eBook ISBN 9780744301052

Audiobook ISBN 9780744301618

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020937863

Cover design by Maryann Appel

5 3 1 2 4

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Epilogue

For Further Discussion

About the Author

Time Machine

Excerpt: So You Had To Build A Time Machine

CamCat Books

Dedicated to my wife, Kay,

for her support over the years.

Prologue

The Internal Monitors of Peace and Citizen Tranquility, more commonly known as IMPACT, ruled the city-state of Sympia with an iron fist ever since the continental wars four decades earlier. Their authority now superseded that of the original police force, who were relegated to directing traffic and keeping streets tidy. Everything within the hundred-kilometer periphery wall was under their control. At first, they were welcomed to Sympia and the other five city-states within their jurisdiction. They provided the security that the weary locals needed. It was only after the military enforcement policy was given another five-year mandate that the all-powerful organization began to step over the thin line between protector and ruthless enforcer of IMPACT ideologies.

A year earlier, an unexpected pronouncement was made by the Grand Marshal of the United IMPACT Commonwealth. He stated that two hundred years before, the humanz—the z added to distinguish loyal citizens—of their land had been polluted by invaders. These invaders had contaminated the genes of loyal citizens by interbreeding. The only way to stop further pollution through future generations was to halt it now.

By default, all male citizens over a meter eighty-eight in height and females over a meter eighty were declared as possible bearers of alien genes and were ordered to have DNA samplings.

During the following months, random arrests were extended to full-scaled roundups. Very few talls, as the unfortunate citizens became known, passed the test. Those who did were from prosperous families who were rumored to have bought their right to freedom. Talls declared as having defective genes were sent to internment camps that were set up on the coastal badlands. What happened there was unknown but those who entered a camp never came out. The official news stated that they were sterilized, while still being treated humanely, and deported to offshore islands to live out their lives in peace and tranquility. This news was not believed by even the most loyal citizens.

The other intelligent species that lived in and around Sympia was ignored in the midst of the xenophobia that reined over the land. There were few of them, and they were known for their neutrality in all the intercontinental wars. The so-called “silfs” that stood for Spherical Intelligent Life Forms were creatures the size of a large orange who had the power of flight without having wings. Four body openings expelled air under pressure to propel them along. They had small arms and legs, eyes and a mouth, but all other organs were hidden by a fuzzy fur that covered their bodies. They were highly intelligent and spoke in high pitched, almost squeaky, voices. Humanz had difficulty telling whether individual silfs were male or female for there were no external differences in their appearance.

But, the silfs were not as docile or harmless as the IMPACT leaders believed.

Chapter 1

A cold mist hung over the ancient city, so thick that the streetlights appeared as hazy circles along the narrow street. By three hundred hours, only the most foolish citizens would be out of their homes, even if they could bear the near zero temperature. This was the time the IMPACT forces were on patrol.

The wind blew through the silf Quig’s fuzzy hair as he flew above the street, observing the IMPACT forces below. To him, it appeared that their movements were unusual in that everything was quiet and done in the shadows. The sirens, loudspeakers, floodlights, and hovering helicopters were absent. Instead, IMPACT military police sneaked from building to building until only one was surrounded. Usually a whole block was surrounded, and the citizens within were brought out. Residents were usually examined, and those within the gene criteria and with no criminal or political points against their names were allowed to return home. Everyone else would be forced into closed vans and taken away for more interrogating.

“It’s going to be close,” Quig muttered to himself.

The tall girl he was assigned to protect lived in the attic of this building, hiding. He knew that it was imperative that the humanz never interrogated Brittany Forbes. The silf gritted his small, spiky teeth and dropped down on the dark roof of the building, trying to conceal himself from the surrounding IMPACT forces.

Brittany tossed in a fretful sleep. Since the new laws became official, she had to give up her college studies and felt almost like a prisoner in the attic apartment. Two men, who could be considered as talls, lived below her, but rather than providing a security shield, they scared her. Innuendoes and comments had been superseded by frank demands from the younger man for inappropriate favors, otherwise he’d notify the authorities that she lived in the building. She had double locks, a security camera, and other precautions but knew this would not stop the men if they wanted to enter. In fact, it was the Gridmyres, a humanz family on the first floor, who really protected her. Old Neechon watched the two guys like a hawk, and Brittany had heard him once telling them that if she was designated a tall, their own heights would also become suspect.

She woke from a deep sleep when something shook her toe. Immediate thoughts were that of panic. Why hadn’t the alarm rung? She forced her eyes open, but in the dull, reflected light from outside, she could see nobody.

A cough made her heart leap. “You must get dressed, Brittany,” a high-pitched voice whispered. “IMPACT has this building surrounded. Hurry! There’s not much time.”

The girl turned and saw a silf standing on the end of the bed. His dark fur was almost a perfect camouflage,

“You’re Quig from that group that patrols the city, aren’t you?”

It was the silf’s turn to look surprised. “You know?” he said.

Brittany managed a smile.

“You are one of our few allies in the city. Whenever I see you or one of your friends flying above me, it gives me the strength I need.”

Quig nodded, well really his whole body vibrated above his tiny legs, but Brittany understood the movement.

“You must get dressed and come now!”

She followed a well-rehearsed plan. Within seconds, she was in her street clothes and stared at a small wall monitor. It was linked to infrared cameras that switched on when there was any movement in the hallway or foyer. It now pulsed green to indicate that the area was empty.

“Nobody’s downstairs yet,” she whispered. “What way? Down the back steps to the alley?”

“No. Every entrance is covered. We have to go out the way I came in.” Quig glanced around. “Bring a blanket.”

Brittany frowned. “But how?”

“I came down the chimney. There are iron rungs that go up the inside.”

A buzzer sounded, and the monitor light changed to a pulsing yellow. Someone was out there!

Brittany nodded and grabbed a small backpack from under her bed, strapped a blanket on the top, and slid it onto her back.

She moved across to the monitor and pressed in a code. The words Armed flashed on the screen.

“A couple of hundred volts are going through the door handle,” she explained. “It’ll take them a while to get around it.”

“Good for you,” Quig whispered, “but we must go.”

Brittany knew the chimney towered above a steep tile roof but had no idea what would happen when she reached the top. The iron rungs were freezing to touch, and every movement she made brought a cloud of soot down on her.

But she kept going.

A small rectangle of light gray appeared above her; she was almost at the top. In the center, she saw a circle of black with two shining eyes as Quig looked down at her.

“Almost there,” he whispered.

Below, the alarm beeped; there was a shout and the hiss of a laser pistol.

Brittany shivered and increased her speed. Soot stung her eyes. She sneezed. Surely someone must have heard the sound! A light flashed below, and she heard more thumps and crashes. Voices echoed up the chimney.

“She’s gone, Commander.”

“Look at the bed. It’s still warm. She’s here somewhere . . .”

The voice became indecipherable when Brittany turned her head up and reached for the next rung. Soot tickling her throat threatened to create another sneeze. She swallowed and willed herself to keep quiet. Fresh air replaced the soot when she reached the top. Now her fear returned. What would happen next?

She slung one leg over the top ledge and pulled her slim body up so she straddled the chimney top. Freezing air engulfed her, and the lights in the fog below appeared close, too close. A patrol wagon at the front door had its lights flashing. Four IMPACT guards stood on the sidewalk; their black oval helmets and dark glasses recognizable even in the gloom.

Without warning, a beam of light shone up the chimney, and someone shouted. A pistol fired, and the bricks across from her cracked open. Pain, like a white-hot needle, shot through her leg. Brittany stifled a scream and slung her inside leg over the ledge. Oddly enough, the pain from the laser beam that hit her disappeared as quickly as it came. Now, she was outside the chimney but not out of danger.

“Your blanket!” Quig whispered in an urgent tone. “We need it, Brittany. I called for help and my friends are here.”

“It’s tied to the top of my backpack, but I can’t reach it.”

Her position was precarious, and she was too afraid to let go. Another laser beam hit the bricks where her leg had been seconds before.

“You are surrounded, Miss Forbes,” a voice called up from inside. “If you surrender peacefully you shall be treated with respect. We know you are there.”

“Bastards.” Her voice shook. She clung to the bricks while tiny hands undid her backpack straps and lifted the blanket off.

She glanced down. A search light on the patrol wagon’s roof cut through the white fog only a few meters away. In seconds, it would find her.

“Roll forward, Brittany,” Quig directed. “Do it now!”

The girl turned and saw eight silfs hovering below her. They held her blanket out like a stretcher.

“But!” Brittany was terrified. How could these tiny creatures hold her weight?

“Go!” Quig shouted. “You have no choice.”

Brittany shut her eyes and let go of the chimney just as it was illuminated by the searchlight.

She stifled a scream as her body descended three stories, expecting to crash onto the cobblestones below.

But it didn’t!

She landed on the blanket unharmed, apart from her racing heart.

The eight silfs held the edges with tiny hands. Quig gave an order, and the tiny creatures propelled themselves up into the night sky. Brittany could feel a freezing breeze buffeting her. She saw the swirling fog and the shimmering searchlight off to her right.

“Thank you,” she whispered when they slowed and moved across the city. “If it wasn’t for you . . .” Her voice cracked. “May the power of a galactic cruiser help you all.”

“Why do you say that?” Quig asked.

Brittany swallowed. What had she said? Of course . . . “It’s just an old saying we have. It’s a charm of good luck, I guess.”

“And it has helped us, Brittany,” another squeaky voice said from near her left ear. “That and your courage.”

The girl moved her eyes and saw a speckled black and white silf studying her.

“Meet Pepper,” Quig said. “I guess you’d call her my partner in human society.”

Brittany noted the absence of the zee sound at the end of the word “human” and allowed her tense body to relax a little.

“Hi Pepper,” she said. “You don’t know how pleased I am to meet you.”

“I do,” Pepper replied, her manner serious and focused. “We couldn’t allow another human girl to be taken. Our reports . . .” She left the sentence unfinished, and her tiny lips turned up in a smile. “It’s the least we can do.”

As they were flying across the city, the silfs showed no signs of weariness or distress. Aside from a few curt commands from Quig, they remained quiet during the journey. Brittany could see a patchwork of streetlights like pinholes in the fog. Ahead, darkness showed that they were almost above the security wall. She had long ago realized that the wall, and the more recent the security fence surrounding the newer suburbs, was to keep citizens in, not undesirables out. She swallowed and took a cautious glance over the side of her blanket.

Yes, they were over it. A long strip of floodlit soil appeared in front of the high stone wall. This was the neutral zone that citizens were not allowed to cross. Armed IMPACT patrols shot first and asked questions later if anybody or anything ventured in the area. This security was the one thing that had stopped her from leaving the city months before. Some of her friends had tried to escape but were never heard from again. The rumor of internment camps and a fate worse than death didn’t help when one had to decide whether to stay and hide or try to leave.

“We’re safe, Brittany,” Quig said. “Oh, they know we’re here, but they will not risk trying to shoot us down.”

“Why?” Brittany asked.

“A balance of power,” Pepper said. “We have the power to wipe half this city off the face of this world, and they know it. That’s why they tolerate us. It’s not by any act of kindness, I assure you.”

Brittany lay back, deep in thought. So, there was truth in the old stories? But what about the story that silfs never interfered in the affairs of other species? She had known silfs all her life but really knew so little about them. In some ways, they were like moths fluttering around a light at night. You knew they were there, but they never harmed you, so you ignored them.

But now it seemed that the moths had grown teeth.

“We’ll reach our destination in twenty minutes,” Quig said. “There will be food and a bed you can rest upon, so relax Brittany. You need never return to the tyranny of the city again.”

Brittany looked back and saw the city as a square of light in the distant fog. Something deep inside told her she was in safe hands, even if those hands were hardly more than two centimeters wide and connected to little balls of fur.

The man who sat behind the oaken desk was a typical officer of the IMPACT military arm. If the word wasn’t banned in the city, Colonel Slovinof, like the rest of the humanz, would have been called a zaric. He stood a meter seventy tall, had wide shoulders, and a full white beard that jutted out like an inverted broom.

His dark green uniform carried a row of colorful, triangular awards that signified his bravery and ruthlessness. At the moment, his eyelashes were creased in a frown cemented across his leathery face.

“Your troopers allowed her to escape?” His volume was a mere whisper, but the tone was like poison.

The major who sat opposite still managed to appear to be at rigid attention.

“Your orders could not overrule the directive to avoid hostilities with any silfs, Colonel Slovinof,” he explained. “We tried to get clearance to shoot them and the girl down, but all communication was blocked.”

Slovinof leaned back in his chair and nodded. “I believe you, Major Kross. You are ordered to tell nobody, but we know the silfs have the ability to block out radio and video transmissions over all frequencies for up to ten minutes. No doubt that is what they did tonight.”

“And the border guards at the main gate?”

“By the time orders could be transmitted to them, the girl was beyond the city.” Slovinof clenched his fists in suppressed anger. “We are about to reestablish landlines to use, not that it will help us now.”

“So, what are my orders, Colonel?” Kross asked.

“Search and apprehend, Major. All clearances are through. You are to find that woman and bring her back here. She is of no value to us dead. The electronic chip she carries is programmed to delete itself if her heart stops beating.”

“That makes it difficult, Colonel.”

Slovinof’s expression turned into a determined grin. “The kid gloves are off, Vlademyre. If any silfs get in your way, they are expendable.”

The major’s eyebrows rose slightly. “And risk breaching the treaty? Is the girl that important, Colonel?”

“Not her,” Colonel Slovinof nodded at the monitor on his desk. “It’s what she carries. I doubt if she even knows she has the microchip embedded in her body.”

“But why has it taken us so long to find her, Sir?”

Slovinof reached down and placed an electronic book on his desk, used his forefinger to flick through a few pages, and turned it around for Kross to see. The words “Top Secret. For Officers’ Eyes Only” were written in red across the top.

“Read this.”

Kross read the contents and grimaced. He had heard vague gossip about the contents but didn’t realize that there was any truth in it.

“Oh, it’s true, Vlademyre. Her ancestors were clever. If a carrier is killed before the microchip self-erases, it sends all the information to a dormant receiver and is then activated. To find anyone with a dormant microchip is as valueless as it is to kill the carrier of the active one. We think there is only one microchip active at any given time. We have found other dormant chips on talls. The last active carrier died under interrogation before we could download information from the chip. Forbes became the active carrier at that time. It took us two months to trace her.”

Vlademyre ran a hand over his chin and stared at the colonel. “Can I ask how, Colonel?”

“No, it’s classified, Vlademyre.”

“So, the silfs will use the microchip information and all will be lost, Sir?”

The colonel shook his head.

“We believe they have no knowledge of the actual microchip. Their new policy seems to be that of helping any talls. This is a disturbing change from their former neutrality in our affairs.”

“So, where will they take her, Sir?”

“As you know, the silfs have no mechanical airplanes or helicopters at their disposal. Nor do they use animals, such as horses. They can only carry the girl a short distance. They will need to land and accompany her as she walks.”

“So, an interception should be easy.”

The colonel looked annoyed. “Through the eastern forests and mountains, Major Kross? They won’t be foolish enough to keep to roads or open land.” He stared at his monitor again for a moment before looking up. “Oh yes, there’s another point; most of your electronic tracking equipment will be useless within a fifty-kilometer radius of the girl.”

“I shall pick my men and be ready to move at dawn, Sir.” Kross took out his electronic phone but hesitated when he saw the colonel frown.

“And by then, you’ll be six hours too late, Major. I want yourself and your three best operatives ready by midnight,” Colonel Slovinof spat. “That’s a direct order from the Grand Marshal.”

Kross paled. “It shall be done, Sir.” He saluted again, stepped back the mandatory six steps, turned, and marched out of the room.

Chapter 2

The eight silfs carried Brittany for half an hour before Quig called a halt, and they landed in a clearing in a forest. The fog had been replaced by darkness. Stars shone, and a cold breeze blew through the trees.

She stood up and smiled when her tiny companions stretched out their legs and arms and walked around the nettle-strewn ground.

She was glad for the chance to stretch her own limbs and restore circulation in her stiff shoulders and back. As she took a few steps around, Quig and Pepper flew up and landed on her shoulders.

“I notice that we aren’t heading for your village,” Brittany said. “Isn’t it south of the city?”

“Yes, but it would be too dangerous there,” Pepper replied. “Anyway, you wouldn’t fit in our burrows.”

Brittany nodded. She knew the silf village was similar to a rabbit warren with only a series of holes built along a steep hillside. These burrows were far too small for a human to crawl into.

“So, where are we going?” she asked.

“Have you heard of The Abbey?” Quig asked.

Brittany frowned.

“Isn’t that an ancient ruin that historians can’t agree about who built it or what for?”

“Yes,” Pepper said. “The zarics don’t like the idea that it was built by humans almost six hundred years ago.”

“Zarics? Who are they?”

“The proper name for humanz. You’re both humans, but they were originally known as zarics who came from the planet of that name. Zaric was also called New Earth by your ancestors. They didn't like being humans like yourselves, so they added the ‘z’. They became humanz and your kin, talls.”

“So, we are not a different species as we were taught at school?” Brittany asked.

“You’re all humans, but we believe your ancestors came from Old Earth. Being an older human species, you are taller because of this. Every generation of humans are taller than their parents. Over many generations, this can grow into a meter or more,” Pepper added.

“The differences aren’t precise,” Quig said. “For many years, humans from both Earths interbred, and the zarics gradually became taller. Our ancestors came from a third planet in the Milky Way and, until recently, have always been friendly with humans from both Earths.”

“Milky Way! What's that?”

“The galaxy that the solar systems containing our planets were part of.”

“So why are we being discriminated against now?” Brittany whispered. “I never ever thought of myself as being different. Okay, I’m tall.” She swallowed. “I wish I wasn’t. My parents were quite ordinary.”

She noticed the two silfs glance at each other, but they made no comment until Quig spoke again.

“It helps to have an enemy to blame for everything,” he said. “Before the intercontinental wars, the humans were the leaders. The sheer numbers of zarics overwhelmed them. The new laws are harsher because the zarics are scared of you.”

“Scared of us?”

“Perhaps jealous is more the word,” Pepper added. “As you know, they banned inter-marriages, then they found that many of the younger children were growing quite tall. That was when they decided to trace every family back for signs of tall ancestors.”

“And with DNA sampling, it is now easy to trace our ancestry,” Brittany added. There was bitterness in her voice.

“That’s about it,” Quig said. “Anyway, we are heading to The Abbey.” He smiled. “We have the ability to alter the appearance of objects that are seen from a distance. Anyone in patrol helicopters flying over The Abbey only sees ruins.”

“Instead of what?”

“Wait and see,” Quig replied. “We need to be there before dawn.” He glanced at the watch on his wrist. “That’s less than two hours away. We’ll have something to eat and do the last leg.”

Silf food was similar to food Brittany ate but smaller in size. Tiny loaves of bread the size of Brittany’s thumbs were passed around. They were accompanied by little containers holding butter, honey, and other spreads. There were slices of apples wrapped in plastic and tiny cans of a sweet wine.

“We have food and utensils your size back home,” Grizz, a ginger colored silf said. “Please eat as much as you need. We brought plenty.”

Brittany only ate a little but felt quite full. Perhaps there was more in the food than she realized, for she became quite relaxed and talkative.

“Oops,” Grizz said. “I forgot. Sorry.”

“What?” Brittany gave a chuckle and gulped down a can of wine in almost one swallow.

“That wine you’re drinking is eighty percent pure. Humans and zarics are both affected by alcohol.”

“And you aren’t?” Brittany questioned. She did feel quite hot and lightheaded.

“No,” Grizz said. “It warms us but doesn’t alter our energy flow.”

“Energy flow? What’s that?”

“I think humans call it getting drunk,” Pepper said. “You start talking too much and act silly. Sometimes humans become aggressive.” She sighed. “The zarics are worse.”

“I see,” Brittany said. “I guess I’ll switch to water. Have you any, please.”

Quig smiled and handed her a little plastic satchel.

“It’s compressed,” he said. “Just take two drops and hold it in your mouth before swallowing.”

Brittany let three drops land on her tongue and immediately burst into a fit of coughing. The drops expanded, and she felt her mouth fill with water that ran down her throat and back up her nose. She gulped and swallowed. The light-headedness disappeared, and her hot face cooled.

“Oh yes,” Quig said. “We believe compressed water neutralizes the alcohol. There is one side effect, though.”

“What?”

“You’ll fall asleep,” Pepper said.

“But I’m not the slightest bit sleepy. I . . .” Brittany gave her companions a strange look and sighed. Without even realizing, she shut her eyes and slid onto the grass, sound asleep.

“Strange creatures,” Grizz retorted. “For all their size, they’re pretty delicate inside.”

“True,” Quig replied. “But let’s roll her back onto the blanket and get going. We’ve stayed here too long.”

A moment later, the silfs held the blanket around the human, rose into the sky, and headed toward two towering mountains. Beneath them, pine forests stretched in every direction. This was well away from the humanz highways and farmlands and would normally be a safe area. But Quig was worried. Events in Sympia were happening too quickly. Danger lurked everywhere across the silent land.

“Wake up, Brittany,” Quig said as he gave the girl a shake. “I want you to see something.”

Brittany rubbed her eyes and turned to gaze over the edge of her blanket. It was dawn. The pine forest was now intermingled with bare, deciduous trees that covered steep foothills. One cone shaped tree rose higher than its neighbors did. At the summit stood crumbled ruins covered in foliage. It had no roof, and the windows were just gaps in the brick walls. Sheer cliffs surrounded the ruins on three sides while the fourth had a steep hillside and the remains of a zigzag stairway. The stairs had fallen into disrepair with rotten wood held by twisted wire dangling down the side. The trail further down the hill had slipped away. The whole scene appeared quite desolate.

“Is that where we’re going?” There was a quiver of disappointment in her voice. “It’s worse than I expected.”

“Is it?” Pepper said. “Shut your eyes, count to three, and look again, Brittany.

“Okay.” The girl yawned, stretched, and shut her eyes. She counted to three and opened them again. “Oh my stars,” she gasped. “But how . . .”

The building in front of them was in perfect condition. Bright electric lights shone out from three floors of bay windows. The blue tiled roof looked crisp and clean while in front, the zigzagged stairs appeared brand new. Bright yellow handrails led down to a small roadway that disappeared out of sight. The building reminded Brittany a little of the college campus she had attended before the laws against talls made her an outcast.

“A memory mirror,” Quig said. “The Abbey is surrounded by a bubble of reflective light that creates a fog when seen from the outside. Anyone flying over or gazing up at it from the plains below has their vision impaired, so they only see this fog. A second signal replaces this vision with the old photographs of the area. It happens so quickly, humans and zarics believe the vision is the real thing.”

“And when I shut my eyes a moment ago?”

Quig smiled. “We dropped you down below the bubble. You see The Abbey as it really is—a completely restored building that is self-contained with solar electricity, a water supply, and enough food in its cellars to last several months. The original rooms are still there, so there will be no trouble with your size. Actually, the rooms are huge with four-meter-high ceilings.”

“I’m impressed,” Brittany said. “We’re still flying quite high. What would happen if a humanz helicopter flew at this level?”

“One came over a while back,” Grizz cut in. “We made the bubble retreat until it almost touched the chimneys. If they flew lower than that, they would have seen The Abbey as it really is. We were worried for a few moments, I must admit.”

“I know so little about you silfs.” Brittany bit on her lip in embarrassment. “You aren’t really called silfs are you?”

Quig laughed. “Well, I guess not, but after we decided to speak your common language way back in my grandfather’s time, we found the name quite appropriate, and it stuck. Our original name is hardly ever used nowadays. You’re a tall human, we’re silfs, and we can both be proud of what we are.”

“I guess,” Brittany said. “It’s hard being different from nearly everyone else, though. It seems so unfair, you know.”

“Never be ashamed of yourself, Brittany,” Grizz said. “You have heritage that goes back hundreds of years. There are billions of your kind in the known galaxy. One day, perhaps you will meet some of them.”

“Known galaxy? What’s that?”

“Other worlds, Brittany. Even the zarics came from another world. They won’t admit it, but our old records tell us a different story from the ones they portray.”

“I don’t know what to believe,” Brittany whispered. “It’s as if my whole life was a lie.”

“Possibly,” Quig agreed. “We’ll talk about it soon. Right now, let’s get you down to The Abbey.”

He turned to his companions, gave a command, and they dropped down onto a small porch at the top of the stairs. Brittany scrambled to her feet and looked around. The front door was so high, she didn’t even need to stoop to walk through. It opened, and inside stood a man about a decade older than herself. He was at least two meters tall with a short beard and piercing blue eyes.

“You must be Brittany. I thank the stars we got you out of Sympia in time.”

“This is Zane Bidwell,” Quig said to Brittany. “He’s a tall human like yourself.”

“I can see that,” she muttered.

“Come in. We have breakfast waiting,” Zane said.

He stared intently at Brittany. “You are a real human, Brittany.” He shook his head in amazement. “You resemble your mother so much. Everything about you from your height to your red hair.”

Brittany frowned. What was he going on about? Her mother was only a meter sixty tall and had deep brown eyes. “You must be mistaken, Mr. Bidwell,” she said. “I’m nothing like my mom.”

Zane looked back at her. “I’m not speaking about Madeline Forbes, Brittany. She was a wonderful person and one to be proud of, but she was not your birth mother.”

Brittany stared at the man. Something Zane Bidwell said reminded her of a reoccurring dream. In it, she was a child who had been crying for some unknown reason, and a beautiful tall woman came and cuddled her. This woman had long red hair, dangling earrings, and eyes as blue as the sky.

“Just remember who you are, my sweetheart,” she always said. “It’s the only way.”

The dream always stopped at that point and she woke up. Once she’d even subconsciously tried to remain asleep but never succeeded.

“So, it is true?” she whispered.

Zane frowned and glanced up at Quig and Pepper.

“Didn’t you tell her?” he said in an almost angry tone.

Quig sort of nodded, but Pepper spoke up.

“And destroy all the trust between Brittany and us?” she said. “We’ve done everything else, Zane. Don’t you think you can take some responsibility now?”

Zane nodded. “Of course,” he said. “You are quite right, Pepper. I apologize for being so insensitive.” He turned back to face Brittany. “After your foster parents were killed in that last uprising, we wanted to come and get you but were dissuaded. They said you would be safe in the humanz world, but they were wrong I’m afraid.”

“But you just said—”

“Madeline and Jonathan were your foster parents, Brittany. Our records state that your birth parents were two talls. They were reported as being killed in an airplane crash twenty years ago.”

He frowned. “There are no official records, but we think that the airplane was sabotaged by a humanz terrorist group that was active at that time. Many tall children were left in the care of liberal zarics throughout the cities on this continent. Our kind was spread around so the authorities wouldn’t become suspicious. Too many families with children of a drastic height difference couldn’t be explained as a natural occurrence.” He sighed. “That was before the present laws were enacted of course.”

“But I’m not the only tall in the city,” Brittany said. “There are dozens of us.”

“We all have similar genes, Brittany. Except for Pepper and Quig’s kind, we are all human.”

Brittany nodded. “I know that much, but I thought I was a freak of nature.” She stared back at Zane. “My parents, my foster ones that is, always made me feel proud of what I was. They would never ever let anybody tease or hurt me. It was only after they died that I began to lose confidence in myself.”

“But weren’t you protected?” Zane said. “You were a young lady but still needed someone to keep an eye on you.”

“Oh my stars, you mean old Neechon and Martha Gridmyre?”

“I think that’s their names.”

Brittany pouted. “I want the full story, Zane. Can I call you that?”

“Please do.”

“I want to know everything about myself, my family, other talls, and you.” She tightened her lips and turned to look at Quig and Pepper who were hovering near her face. “I want to know everything about you silfs, too. It was no coincidence you got to me just before the IMPACT force arrived was it, Quig? I wasn’t just one of the talls around you were helping. You were specifically assigned to watch me, weren’t you?”

The silf wiped a tiny hand over his lips and raised his eyebrows. “That’s true, Brittany.”

“So, tell me everything,” she retorted. “Everything, no matter how bad it is.” She sighed. “I know you are all trying to be kind, and I appreciate that, but I need to know.”

Zane caught the silf’s eyes and nodded.

“Okay,” he said, “but let’s have some of that breakfast I prepared while we talk, shall we?” He reached out and squeezed Brittany’s arm. “I’m sure that spirit you’ve just shown has come from your Irish ancestors.”

Irish? Brittany frowned. That was another word she had never heard before.

“Don’t worry,” Zane laughed. “I don’t know everything, but what I do know, I’ll tell you, Brittany. I’m sure Quig, Pepper, and Grizz can supply other details, as well.”

Zane’s story intrigued Brittany. He was a human like herself and had spent the last five years trying to piece together historical evidence of their ancestors’ arrival on this planet. No written records had been kept, but he had managed to access an ancient computer disk and made several new discoveries.

“Strabo was the name of a giant spaceship. The records called them galactic cruisers,” Zane continued. He slid a bowl of fruit across the table, and Brittany reached for a bunch of grapes. “I’m not sure how big it was nor its reason for being here. The records only state the crew was both human and spherical—”

“Our ancestors,” Quig interjected.

Brittany nodded.

“It seems that only one in tens of thousands of planets are capable of sustaining life as we know it. Of these, less than five percent have creatures with the power to speak and reason. Most, but not all of these, are oxygen breathing species that range from our silf friends to two-meter tall humans. The zarics, or humanz as they now call themselves, are all part of this life form. A different record stated that the galactic cruiser was transporting a colony of zarics when it arrived here. There were several thousand zarics compared to the human and silf crew of a few dozen. That is why they outnumber us by so much now.”

“And the other life forms?” Brittany questioned.

Zane shrugged. “Some conflict with a different species was the reason Strabo arrived here. The survivors were stranded and out of communication with other Old Earth ships. We believe there are other planets or galactic cruisers out there somewhere where humans live, but for some reason, our ancestors never tried to contact them.”

“Why?”

“We think they wanted to remain hidden from this other life form.”

“The angels of destiny in the old religion? Could they be more than a superstition too?”

“Throughout history, our kind has tried to explain the unknown. It seems that the original crew decided not to tell their children about themselves. Over the generations, oral mutterings became the basis of the religion we were taught. Myths and historical truth became intertwined.”

“How long ago did all this happen?” Brittany asked.

“Probably five or six hundred years. Again, the exact time is unknown. We do know by working out birth-rates and so forth that it was not the three-millennium stated in the old religion.”

“So that’s where we are now,” Quig said. “For generations, the zarics and humans lived together and interbred. This new IMPACT philosophy is quite new. It rose out of fear of the unknown and the suspicion the zarics had that talls would gradually supersede them.”

“What about your ancestors?” Brittany turned to gaze at the silfs sitting on the table.

Quig nodded his little body. “Interbreeding with such large mammals as yourself was impossible, so we haven’t changed over the generations. Our defense was to remain out of any wars and remain neutral.”

When he flew up and landed on Brittany’s shoulder, she smiled at his reflection in a nearby wall mirror and listened as he continued his story.

“Our ancestors never trusted the zarics, so they secretly designed a series of vacuum bombs that were buried beneath the cities as ultimate weapons. Once in place, the IMPACT predecessors were invited to attend a demonstration.”

“So, what happened?” Brittany asked.

When Quig laughed, his fur tickled her shoulder.

“The vacuum bomb actually dissolves the molecules in a physical object. We placed one beneath a rocky outcrop in a harbor and set it off. The whole outcrop melted like butter in a frying pan and disappeared beneath the waves.”

“So, why didn’t the zarics just find and remove or disarm them?”

“Oh, they tried but were unsuccessful. Finding something the size of a pea in a labyrinth of caves that only silfs can fit into became too difficult.”

“So, there is a stalemate.”

“Exactly,” Quig replied with a smirk across his face.

Chapter 3

Major Kross was frustrated. When the silfs disappeared with the girl, all electronic surveillance equipment had closed down, and visual sightings by people in the outer lands only confirmed she had not been taken to the silf village. She could be anywhere in the vast forests that surrounded Sympia.

He walked through the massive underground complex into yet another tracking room. This room was filled with screens that registered changes in the temperature across the forests. Normally, any humanz, talls, or silfs would show on monitors as blips of red against a pale blue background. The sophisticated equipment even had the ability to follow animals in the forest or to wipe them from the screen, so it didn’t detract from other sightings.

A lieutenant glanced up as Kross walked in. “Why don’t we try to trace them at their own game, Sir?” the lieutenant asked.

“Meaning?”

“Our systems crashed for twenty-five minutes when they left the city then came on as if nothing was wrong.”

“I know that Lieutenant Lester, but what is your point?”

“Outlying stations also reported crashes ranging from a complete closedown like we had to a partial blackout on their screens. Now if we can coordinate these closedowns and run a crosscheck back, we may be able to triangulate where the originating transmitter is. We have already ascertained that it moved, so isn’t it logical that it was being carried by the silfs who flew the girl out?”

Kross felt a glimmer of hope as he stared at the lieutenant. “Do it.”

Orders were passed onto operators, and within moments, three screens at the end of the room showed recordings from three outlying stations. All of them had partial failures that appeared like a white cloud against the computer-enhanced colors of the background.

“Bring them together,” Lester ordered.

The three patterns were transferred to one. There was a definite overlap and the “cloud” contracted into a small triangle. This was the only area where all three stations received no signal for those vital moments when the girl was carried away.

“Now bring in the time element. Start from when the tall left the house and run it over the next few hours. Run the time frame, but freeze it just before this station came online.”

The screen changed and Kross grunted. The “cloud” became a line that moved northeast from the city. It continued over the northern forests, halted for a while and began again in a slightly different direction.

As programmed, the screen froze just before the city transmitter came back online. A small diamond shaped gap remained.

“Size and position?”

“It’s an area one point three kilometers by five hundred meters in size, Lieutenant,” an operator replied. He reached forward and typed on his keyboard. The screen above them changed to show a topographical map of the area.

Kross glowered. The area was deep within the forest, and the only item of significance was a cone shaped hill sticking up higher than the other hills.

“I’ll program in any buildings or vehicles,” the operator said. A black square appeared at the crest of the hill.

“What is it?” Kross asked.

The operator typed in a code on his keyboard, and the screen above turned to an aerial photograph of the area. The ruins of an old monastery showed. It was enhanced until the building filled the screen.

“So . . .” A smile appeared across Kross’ leathered face. “You did well, Lieutenant Lester.”

“There’s more, Sir,” the operator said. “Look closely at the screen, Sir.”

Kross peered, but nothing appeared to be wrong. He could even see an old faded curtain blowing in behind the remains of a window.

“Look at the edge of the screen, Sir.”

The major’s eyes shifted, and he grunted. An outer circle around the building was blurred as if the camera was out of focus.

“Our equipment is finely tuned. There should be a crisp view of the whole scene.”

“Explain!”

“I don’t rightly know, Sir. I’ve never seen anything like this. I can only guess but—”

“Then guess,” the major retorted

“I’d say something is transmitting a fake picture to us, Sir. Look!” The screen faded for a second before it reappeared. Except for the sunlight and shadows, it had not changed. “That’s a live view, Sir. We are seeing it in real time.”

“But the blur is still there. Can you bypass it?”

The operator returned to his keyboard, and for several moments the screen changed between many views of the building. However, nothing altered in its appearance.

“And you still think these views are a fabrication?” Kross whispered.

“I’ll try one more thing, Sir.”

The screen changed into an infrared mode, then just a scramble of pulsing colors before the original scene reappeared.

“Got you!” The operator froze the screen and moved it back one frame at a time.

Major Kross tugged his white beard in astonishment. In one frame, and one only, the old ruins disappeared. On the hillside stood the monastery in pristine condition, a beautiful building that shone in the sunlight.

“That’s how it really looks, Sir.”

“The talls’ secret headquarters,” Kross muttered almost to himself.

He reached forward and squeezed the operator’s shoulder. “You did well, son,” he said almost with affection. “A mention shall be made in your performance report about this.” He turned and barked at a sergeant standing behind him. “I want an attack squad ready to leave within twenty minutes. Full platoon strength with seize and destroy equipment.”

The man saluted. “Yes, Sir. Do we call in an aerial bombardment as well?”

Kross glowered. “That can wait. My orders are to take this tall woman alive. That is our first priority. Now move, sergeant, we’ve wasted too much time already.”