Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

Chapter 16

“This is really bad. AI, hide us behind the nearest moon.”

I looked at Janna. She was spooked.

“Do you think we were spotted?”

“I sure hope not. I don’t think we can out run them. This ship is not made for speed and we have no weapons.”

“Great! Do you know if the gate is still there?”

The AI spoke up.

“I am receiving a signal from the gate. It is intact but is powered down.”

Janna nodded.

“At least that is good news. The trouble is, with those ships stationed around the planet, we can’t get to the gate.”

I thought a minute.

“Can we send a signal to the gate from here?”

“Yes, but I don’t know if it will be forwarded with the gate powered down.”

The AI chimed in again.

“No message can be forwarded through time without physical access to the gate.”

I sighed.

“So, what now?”

“Let’s wait a bit to see if we have been detected.”

We set for a nervous hour or so. Nothing had come for us. Janna pounded the arm of her command chair.

“We can’t stay here much longer.”

Suddenly, the AI sounded an alarm.

“The gate has powered up and several drones have come through it.”

I shook my head.

“God, what now?”

Janna was smiling.

“They must be from my people. Let’s poke our heads out.”

We moved to where we could observe the planet. A bright flash of light almost blinded me. Janna squealed.

“One down!”

“You mean they are attacking the alien ships?”

“They sure are and are too small for the ships to target.”

Just then another flare lit up.

“Whoopee!”

I had a bad thought.

“What about us?”

Janna looked puzzled.

“I mean, are we next?”

She appeared shocked.

“AI, send out a signal as to who we are.”

“Already done. No response as yet.”

We went into a high orbit. So far, nothing had confronted us. After a couple of hours, the AI gave us some welcome news.

“The probes have left this area of space.”

“Janna, should we go down to the gate?”

“I don’t know. It looks like we have gone to war against those aliens. Let’s hang out here a while.”

A few hours later, one of the probes returned and went back through the gate.

“I think it is reporting in. We should hear something soon.”

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The woman suddenly looked up as if hearing something. She turned to me.

“Sorry, Karen, I’ve got to go. Please remain here until I return.”

She hurried out the door. Before the door closed, I heard a lot of commotion. Maybe their attack was starting. About 30 minutes later, she came back in with a big smile on her face.

“It’s going to work! We need to get you back home in case there are significant timeline changes.”

“OK but that doesn’t sound good.”

She just shrugged.

“One never knows.”

We went back to the gate. The room was now filled with dangerous looking probes. She nodded.

“These will be used to defeat the aliens. Please enter the gate.”

I had a lot of questions but realized she was in a hurry. I walked into the gate. It was already at full power. She fiddled with something in her hand. A woman walked up and they appeared to be arguing. The woman took the device from the other woman’s hand and punched something. I was about to come back out of the gate when there was the familiar flash. I was once again on Prowhiness. Unfortunately, the only other thing around was the gate. The ruins were still gone and now the wrecked house was also gone without a trace. There were no ships here either. Could it be that the time line was changing? Whatever the reason, I was now stuck here with no food or water. I tried the gate but, of course, it was now completely dead.

“This is just great!”

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After a few hours with nothing happening, I lay back down. This time line changing thing was weighing on my brain. If I got back home, what would I find? I was now female but in my old world I was male. OK not all the time based on appearances but male none the less. Plus, what if changes occurred that caused me to never have been born. This stuff could drive one insane. I guess I went to sleep because I was aroused by Janna.

“The AI just told me that a swarm of probes has come through the gate and disappeared into the same direction as the other probes. I’d say this is the main attack on the aliens. My big question is why?”

I sat up.

“It would seem that your race is wiping them out in the past. That could only mean that they perceived a threat from them in your time. The question I have is what will this do to the time line; especially in my time. Those attacks are happening in my sector of space.”

Janna looked thoughtful.

“It could be pretty extensive. Let’s see if we can access the gate now.”

We landed beside the gate. Janna went over to it and tried to contact her people. She seemed to be talking to someone. After about 15 minutes, she came back to the ship.

“OK, we can go in a few minutes. The ship will just fit through the gate. It is how we brought it here in the first place.”

I was a bit startled.

“You mean we’re going into the future?”

She laughed.

“Of course but the woman I talked to was a bit vague on how far. I get the feeling we are going to go further in the future from the time I left from. It may have something to do with the attack.”

“Did you mention me?”

She frowned.

“Yes. They already know about you. There seems to be some concern.”

This surprised me. How could they know I had gone to Earth in the past? The ship suddenly lifted and started easing into the gate. Janna nodded.

“The AI is bringing the ship into the gate. The tolerances are too close for me to do it.”

After the ship was entirely inside, there was a bright flash. I then saw a brightly lit and very large room. Janna smiled.

“We’re home! This is the gate room on my planet.”

“Wow, it’s huge.”

The ship exited into the room and settled down on the floor.

“Jonnie, let’s see when we are.”

I laughed. That statement sounded so foreign. As we left the ship, a woman came into the room through a door to our left. We walked over to her. She hugged Janna.

“Welcome back. Your mission was a complete success. The aliens have been eliminated.”

Janna smiled but hesitated.

“It looks like some years have passed since I left.”

The woman nodded.

“Yes, a few.”

She turned to me.

“So this is the infamous Jonnie Harper. You probably don’t know it but you are a hero. Your actions saved your civilization and ours.”

This took be back.

“Uh, thank you but what actions?”

She just laughed.

“Come on. We have a lot to discuss.”

She exited the room and we followed. She stopped at a door after walking a few minutes.

“Jonnie, please go in there and make your self comfortable. We will bring refreshments in shortly. She opened the door, I walked inside, and the door closed. I waited a minute and then tried the door. It opened.

“Well at least I’m not a prisoner.”

Of course, she did call me a hero. What’s up with that? I sat down and a few minutes later, a woman entered with a tray of food. She just smiled, sat the tray down, and left. I was famished and dove in. Shortly after I finished eating, two women came in. One was the one that had met the ship. The other one was very tall and beautiful. She looked me over with her hands on her hips. Finally, she shook her head and smiled.

“Well, you are not what I expected.”

“Uh, sorry to disappoint. I don’t have any other clothes.”

She held up her hands.

“No, no, you are lovely, just not what I was expecting.”

I huffed.

“Me neither. Your gate and ship caused me to look like this.”

She shook her head.

“They only did what your genetics demanded. However, we need to talk seriously. The defeat of the aliens now 1500 years ago will cause significant changes in your time line.”

This, while not surprising, was something I did not want to really face. My life was screwed up enough already. She went on.

“The reason that the Putarks, that’s the race you were working with, needed their planet saved by you was because they were under attack from the aliens. We have now destroyed them. Do you understand what that means?”

“Yeah, all I have done for them now has never happened.”

“Correct almost. It will never have happened as soon as the time waves arrive. But, for you and us, there is an even greater problem. We have determined based on information from you and your sister, that our race is an off shoot from Fledora. In fact, many of us are direct descendants from you two.”

“Wow, that is heavy.”

She laughed.

“I think I know what that means. OK, here is the bad news. It has been determined that the reason your father’s ship crashed on Fledora was that it came under attack by a scout ship of the aliens.”

This stunned me. I could see immediately what that would mean.

“In other words, no crash: no Karen and I.”

“Yes and no us either.”

“Shit!”

We sat there a minute in silence. Finally, she smiled faintly.

“But we have a plan. We have already sent Karen back. You are to take the ship you came here in back in time and join up with her. She knows about the aliens but not about your possible demise. It will be up to you to save us all.”

“How will I do that from my time?”

“That’s just it. We must send you back to before your father crashed.”

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I had been on Prowhiness for a couple of hours. I thought about walking but decided there was no where to walk to. The resort was clear on the other side of the planet. No chance I could make it there. I was really getting down when I suddenly heard the gate power up. As I stood up and turned around, a small but sleek ship was coming out of the gate. I started to run but what was the point. So, I just stood and watched it settle down on the ground. A couple of minutes later, a hatch opened and a beautiful woman emerged. She spotted me and headed my way. When she got close, I thought she looked familiar. Then, it dawned on me.

“Jonnie?”

She laughed.

“In the flesh.”

I rushed to her and we hugged tightly. Tears were flowing freely.

“How on Earth?”

“It’s a long story.”

“God, I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

She laughed.

“Me either.”

“From the looks of that ship, you must have been in the future.”

“Yep”

I shook my head.

“I can’t get over how you look. Well, I’m glad you’re here. I was stuck for sure. Let’s go find Mary.”

She frowned.

“Uh, as much as I wish I could, there is a bit of a problem. You see, we’re not in our time.”

I didn’t like this at all.

“What do you mean? This is Prowhiness.”

She sighed.

“True but let’s just say we haven’t been born yet and, unless we change the time line, we never will be.”

I sat down hard.

“Shit!”

{Author's note: Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned in the future for Beyond Galactic Marshall II. Thank you for reading and commenting.}