Chapter 24

            Catt University included a planetarium in one of the larger stone buildings designated as the science hall.  The planetarium itself was an amphitheater with a holographic projector in the center.  At the moment it displayed an image similar to what Ricky had shown Will in his bedroom back on Earth.  Only in this case the main system of the Bloc of Planetary States had become a dot surrounded by a dozen other dots of varying sizes. 

            Each of the dots represented a star and around these stars were planets and asteroids that until the arrival of the Black Ships had been populated by dogs, raccoons, and cats.  Most of these Bloc citizens had been scientists or miners seeking knowledge and minerals respectively.  Another layer of dots surrounded these colonies.  These were systems as yet unclaimed by the Bloc but explored by robotic probes.

            Nina Barker touched something on the projector to bring up yet another layer.  "These are the unexplored systems of the quadrant.  We have surveyed these with telescopes, but not with probes as yet."

            "That's where they're hiding," Tom said.  He and Will were the only live occupants of the amphitheater, with Spot II, Buster, and their chief of staffs attending by remote.  "We have to get some ships out there pronto to root them out."

            "It's not that simple," Spot III said.  "We don't have the ships."

            "Can't you send more probes?" Will asked.

            "They would take months to get there—if they survived long enough to make it."

            "We can't just sit here," Tom said.

            "We're not," Buster said.  He nodded to his son.

            "We're planning an information gathering raid.  One of the colony systems came onto the screen.  Will recognized it as the one Ricky had showed him destroyed from orbit by the Black Ships.  "We'll take a task force into the D5 system and hope to find one of their patrols.  While the task force lays down covering fire, a commando team will board one of their ships and download the information from its computers."

            "Sounds dangerous," Will said.

            "Very.  There's a good chance we won't find anything or we won't be able to decode it," Spot II said.  From the tone of his voice it was clear he wasn't enthused about the plan.

            Nina cleared her throat.  "That's only if we can't locate them another way."  Cattatonia came onto the screen, a multitude of red lines emerging from it like the tentacles of some electronic beast.  "These are the exit vectors taken by the Black Ships after the raid on Cattatonia."

            The display pulled back to indicate a half-dozen colonial systems.  "Their initial jumps took them there.  Unfortunately our sensor arrays couldn't follow their second jumps, but we assume they've undertaken at least one if not more jumps to confuse us."  Nina cleared her throat again.  "We're working with Dr. Ruff and our observatories on Bulldogovia and Muttlandia to try and glean any important information."

            "Yeah, sure.  And we'll all be dead by the time you eggheads figure it out," Tom said.

            The projector went dead for a moment.  When it reactivated, a giant version of Dr. Ruff's head appeared.  "I believe I have something to contribute to these proceedings."

#

            The projector turned to two humanoid forms, one surrounded by a yellow aura and one with a red glow.  Will recognized these from Dr. Ruff's lab as his graphics for beta and theta radiation.  The doctor explained again about beta energy surrounding those created by Will, Tom, and Jessie and theta energy surrounding the Black Ships.  "This led me to believe that we have a fourth Creator in our midst," Dr. Ruff said.  "In studying the tapes of recent battles, I was able to isolate the theta energy exuded by the Black Ships.  This energy not only surrounds their warriors, but their ships as well—including the drive emissions."

            "So we can follow the theta energy like a trail of bread crumbs," Will said.

            "In a manner of speaking, yes.  I believe I can program the sensors of the Mutt or Bulldog or any of our ships to track this theta radiation through hyperspace."

            "But we won't have any idea where we're going," Spot II said.  "Or what could be waiting for us when we get there."

            "You have a better idea?" Buster snapped.

            "No.  I'm just urging caution."

            "You're always urging caution.  What happened to that rebellious spirit?"

            "We didn't free ourselves from Bulldog tyranny by being impulsive and foolish," Spot III shot back.  His father put a hand on his shoulder.  "I apologize."

            Buster only laughed at this.  "Seems like this one has been eating more than kibble.  Maybe you should be the chancellor."

            "Why, you—"

            "Stop it!" Will said.  "This isn't going to get us anywhere.  Our friend is out there.  And so is your wife, Buster.  We have to work together if we're going to find them and rescue them."

            "You're right," Buster said after a moment.  "We have to focus on what's important.  The rest we can hash out later."

            "That still leaves us with the problem of dealing with the Black Ships once we find their lair," Spot II said.  "It would take months to even rebuild a fraction of our firepower."

            "Not quite," Buster said.  He turned to his son.  "Upload File 227X."

            "Are you sure?  That's Most Secret."

            "We're talking about your stepmother here, lad.  Do it!"

            Max pushed a few buttons on his computer terminal.  An instant later, a ship appeared on the holographic projector.  It had the silver hull of a Bloc ship, but not the smooth, graceful lines.  This ship was built more in the bulky style of the Black Ships and from what Will could tell, it bristled with weapons from batteries on the engine blisters to evil-looking spikes and racks of missiles on the bow.

            "What is that?" Tom asked.

            "This is the Cerberus," Buster said.  "It's five miles of sheer firepower, enough to blow a planet into atoms."

            "What good is this going to do?" Spot III asked.  "By the time it's built—"

            "It's already built.  Or most of it.  The hull, engines, and primary systems are finished.  The niceties like backups and mess halls and crew quarters aren't finished.  If my teams work around the clock, we should have it ready for combat within a week."

            "Just a moment," Spot II said.  "If it's that complete then you must have been building it before the Black Ships appeared."

            "Yes.  I—"

            "You were going to use this monstrosity against us."

            "Not against you.  Against our enemies.  And a good thing I did too."

            "I can't believe you'd undertake something like that without consulting me," Spot II said.

            "I was planning to tell you."

            "When?  When it was in orbit over Muttlandia?"

            "Knock it off, you two!" Tom shouted.  He stood up, gesturing to the Cerberus.  "Look, if we really can get this thing working, then we can use it to save Jessie and Whiskers.  I don't care who built it and when, all I care about is that we have it here, now, to use and maybe put a stop to all of this."

            Spot II looked down as if someone had whacked his snout with a newspaper.  "I'm sorry," he said.

            "I'm sorry too," Buster said.  "But the lad is right.  We can use the Cerberus to spearhead the rescue operation.  If Dr. Ruff can calibrate the sensors."

            "That shouldn't be too difficult."

            "Then let's do it," Tom said.  Heads nodded in agreement.

#

            Once the planning session ended, Dr. Ruff terminated his link to the planetarium.  He switched back to his terminal to begin preparing a data file for Nina to ferry to the Cerberus in its hidden construction facility.  He would leave the actual uploading of the file to her; it should be easy enough for her to handle.

            Once he finished that, he opened his notes on the Creators, including the mysterious fourth Creator.  In studying the difference between the beta and theta energy, Dr. Ruff could only conclude that the fourth Creator was not human.  That meant the Creator behind the Black Ships was someone within the Bloc.  During his meetings with Buster, Spot II, Whiskers, and other of the Bloc's major players, he had covertly scanned for theta energy without any result.  Clearly none of them were the fourth Creator.  That still left him with millions of suspects.

            Though by using the Mutt's sensors, Dr. Ruff hadn't found any theta energy in the entire system except that generated by the Black Ships.  That meant the fourth Creator had already fled from the system, presumably to wherever the Black Ships had constructed their base.  Screening a list of colonists and military personnel turned up little meaningful data.

            More concerning to Dr. Ruff was how theta energy came into being.  By studying the human Creators, he had found no physical abnormality that led to creation of beta energy.  He could only surmise that the humans had found a way to subconsciously tap into a realm beyond detectable science, into what most would label as the occult.  As a scientist, Dr. Ruff had long disbelieved anything concerning psychic powers or witchcraft.  Yet he had to admit in this case, having eliminated all scientific explanations, what remained were the fringe sciences.

            He had downloaded all data on psychic phenomena from the libraries of Bulldogovia, Muttlandia, and Cattatonia.  In particular he concerned himself with altered states of consciousness.  He theorized that the humans had inadvertently entered such an altered state, a beta state, which had led to their fantasies becoming reality in an alternate dimension.  Somehow, one of these creations had in turn mastered another state, the theta state, to create a power capable of destroying that reality. 

As yet he was unsure how this could have happened.  It would first require the creation to understand the nature of its own construction.  Then it would have to somehow find a way to alter that construction.  None of this seemed possible, even for an intellect like his.

            A warning tone sounded in his ear.  Information streamed before his eyes to indicate someone was attempting unsanctioned access to his neural network.  Dr. Ruff attempted to isolate the source of the attack without success.  He attempted to shunt the attacker into an unused subroutine that could then be jettisoned.  The attacker was clever enough to avoid this ruse, skillfully avoiding Dr. Ruff's security routines.  In desperation, he attempted to terminate all systems, but it was too late.

            The world around him faded to black for a moment.  Then a cursor appeared before Dr. Ruff's eyes.  Words began to form.  "Execute Directive 42."  Dr. Ruff searched his memory banks for a Directive 42.  He finally uncovered a file embedded deep within his systems, a file disguised as a harmless memory file.

            His vision exploded into violent red.  "Engaging combat systems," he said.

            "Good.  Procure both targets and bring them to me," a voice hissed.

            "It will be done," Dr. Ruff said.  He unplugged himself from the terminal and stood up unsteadily.  Then like the Frankenstein monster he lurched towards the door to carry out his orders.