Captain Avery The Galactic Bank Heist

11.1: Wild Cat Pick Up

  Frank was not used to passengers in his Cheetah Firestone as he only flew it at racing events in the Diso System. He had only used the hyperspace drive once, when he had purchased it and fired it back from the Vebein System. It was custom built from the basic Cheetah by Firestar, the racing team, who had won more Galaxy Cups than any other. It was very quick in open space and could outrun anything the Federation Police could put into action. That was partly why Frank had bought it direct from the company. No one else could help with the purchase of such a high-end machine, than the son of the founder of Firestar, Bruce Star, whose father, Alex had started the business a half a century ago.

  Frank had been a promising racer, racing shuttles in his teens. Bruce went on to have a lucrative career as a racer; Frank had crashed into an asteroid on a very dangerous course in the Oltiou System and had not been able to race professionally again. Bruce had stayed in touch, and had offered Frank his past season’s trophy winning craft, at a knocked down price, some ten years ago.

  Marie noticed the shear power of the triple racing tuned engines that thrust the craft forward at such a rate, that it felt like they were entering hyperspace when really they had just been using normal thrust.

  ‘That is some thrust you have there Frank,’ said Marie realizing after she had said it, what it might be misconstrued as.

  ‘Thanks, I’ll take that as a complement,’ returned Frank.

  Marie and Frank laughed, probably the first time he had for months. It felt good, good to be back behind the controls of the Cheetah. His wife would only let him enter the annual Diso System Cup, which was for local craft, and was mainly an exhibition event for local manufactures to show off their wares. Frank did not mind too much and knew the risks of racing, having lost many friends to the sport.

  ‘Are you ready to send this baby into hyperspace?’ Frank asked.

  ‘Ready as I’ll ever be,’ replied Marie with a look of apprehension at the exertion of a jump in such a craft.

  Frank leaned forward, and set the spider web like coordinates on the racing dash to the Zeandin System and fired the Cheetah’s enhanced hyperspace system into action.

  A yellow translucent window opened up, and the Cheetah entered into it, as fast as Frank could say ‘hyperspace,’ they were gone.

  Zeandin was quiet and the craft re-entered as quickly as it had disappeared.

  ‘I can see you are impressed,’ said Frank as he slammed the normal controls back into action.

  ‘Frank, I must say that it takes a lot to impress a girl with a passion for spacecraft; but I must admit you have done much more than that.’

  Frank raised an eyebrow and set the coordinates to lock onto Andrew’s Station.

  ‘I guess you’re missing Captain Avery?’

  ‘Yes, I’ve not seen him since, well, you know, since the accident.’

  ‘I’m sure you will meet up soon, once all these loose ends are tide up.’

  ‘I hope he is okay, and not getting into too much trouble, especially on my behalf.’

  ‘If I know him, I reckon he’s involved in some money-making scheme or in a way to clear his name.’

  ‘I don’t know Frank, how are we going to be able to settle somewhere with The Council, of all people, looking for us?’

  ‘They think you are dead?’

  ‘No they surely know I was brought back to life.’

  ‘But that is just a technicality. You’re officially dead, and your crimes are probably void.’

  ‘I guess.’

  Frank swung the Cheetah in a large arc and thrusted up to full power to take them to the outskirts of Andrew’s Station, They flew forward at a tremendous rate and the sound of the three engines were like a small pride of large cats roaring in unison.

  In no time, they were requesting landing permission from Andrew’s Station and proceeded to their designated bay. Frank lowered his pride and joy slowly into position as the Cheetah protested at going slow - which it did not do easily.

  Marie pulled out the papers from the overhead locker and proceeded to undo her safety harness. The envelope contained the entry key to the Wild Cat and Marie was desperate to get flying again, especially since Frank had wetted her appetite with his impressive custom-built Cheetah.

  ‘Are you ready to get back flying again? Not too many nightmares about being blown to smithereens I take it?’ Frank asked.

  ‘No, I’ve got my head around that now. I just need to feel the controls in my hands again and I reckon I will be just fine.’

  Marie got up, pressed the door controls, and began stepping down the lightweight steps. Frank called to her and she turned her head back in his direction.

  ‘Good luck Marie. I would stick around, but I need to be getting back home.’

  ‘Oh, I thought you were going to escort me back to the Diso System?’ Marie asked.

  ‘I thought you were going to look for Captain Avery?’ Frank asked in return.

  ‘I would if I knew where to look. He could be anywhere for all I know. He could be somewhere avoiding detection. I guess the best place to be is back home, where he knows where to find me.’

  ‘Okay Marie, I’ll do that, but I’m not keeping your craft at Frank & Louis. You will have to park it off world on New Station, at our new place Louis & Franks. It is less likely that there will be anyone looking for such a rare ship up there. Then we could do a bit of a custom job on it so it would look totally different.’

  ‘Could you make it into a racing craft like yours?’ Marie asked.

  ‘Yes sure, that would be unique, a racing Wild Cat, I can see it now,’ he said raising his hands. ‘Wild Cat NXF, the “F” standing for Frank of course.’

  ‘Not bad not bad,’ repeated Marie.

  ‘I’ll see you back at New Station,’ said Frank as the steps rose up.

  Marie could just nod. There was no way that she could have kept up with Frank in his Firestar and took time to look around the station, just in case she spotted Avery’s ship, but it had left, only hours before.

  ‘Where would have Avery gone?’ Marie said to herself, as she made her way past rows and rows of interesting and strange ships she had never seen before.

  There were all types of craft, from all over the galaxy, and Marie had difficulty recognizing the Wild Cat even though she had the right floor.

  ‘Ah, this is it. I remember it now. What a lovely looking ship.’ She said rubbing her hand across the shinny pointed nose from underneath. A shiver went down her spine at the thought that such an attractive craft could have ended her short run career as a pirate, and reduced her previous body into a thousand pieces.

  She excitedly slid the entry card into the slot by the stairs and the door slowly lifted. Her hand hovered over the rail as she tentatively stepped up to the entrance.

  Inside it was all calm and peaceful. There was a young person’s feel about the space, as if she had entered a teenager’s bedroom at their parents’ house.

  ‘So this was the place,’ Marie said looking at the controls, ‘I guess Avery took care of you?’

  There was a faint rustle of static noise from the controls as Marie fired up the throaty engines. She looked down at the controls and was surprised to see a message waiting for her.

  ‘Hello Marie. If your watching this, then you’ve made it this far. I’m sending this to you from the home of the Empire, Stein 2051. I cannot tell you why I’m here but meet me back on Radian. Your name has been cleared and I’m here to clear mine and Rackham’s.’ The message faded and disappeared.

  11.2: TCR Headquarters

  Marcus sat in a large studio type room with cameras hanging from the sealing, watching every square inch from every angle. They had named the place The Observation Room, but it was commonly known as “The Box”.

  He was waiting for Judy-Lynn, Reginald’s old boss, to finish talking to Captain Phillips. The two were at Judy-Lynn’s desk:

  ‘So Captain Phillips is it?’

  ‘O
h, thanks for reinstating my title. That Jessica Thompson referred to me as Mr.’

  ‘No, you are a captain alright; a pirate captain but still a captain to us. We need someone like you if this machine is what we think it is.’

  ‘So where does it come from originally?’ Phillips asked.

  ‘It comes from another galaxy, more advanced than this one. It’s a place that we have allowed certain freedoms to and unlimited technology potential.’

  ‘What are these people called?’ asked Phillips.

  ‘They are neither totally human nor animal; they derive from a lab-experiment conducted here thousands of years ago. We were attempting to create a humanoid that could go beyond our level of thinking and surpass our abilities, which they have. But now they are attempting to colonize all of their galaxy and have even entered ours at times.’

  ‘At Veedfa?’ asked Phillips.

  Yes, but they know they must not enter, as they will forfeit their promise to us not to go beyond the fringes. We must find a new challenge for these souls.’

  ‘What has this all to do with me?’ asked Phillips.

  ‘We want you to be our god figure on Earth.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, we have had this idea about creating a paradise for those that sit at the centre of the universe; you know the ultimate power.’

  ‘I see, said Phillips gravely. ‘I still don’t get it though.’

  ‘Okay, here’s the deal,’ said Judy-Lynn spinning a writing implement between her fingers. ‘If this device is what we think it is, then we can play God on this or any other planet. All we need is a collection of souls to feed into the machine.’

  ‘Right, how do I test this for you then?’ asked Phillips.

  ‘You’ve done it already. But this time we need to set the coordinates for Earth.’

  ‘All right, but as you probably know, I have been there already.’

  ‘Yes, we know that. However, we will need you to go back and experience Earth with two feet on the ground.’

  ‘All right, if that’s all I have to do?’ asked Phillips.

  ‘Nope, we want you to do one more thing for us in the future.’

  ‘Sounds reasonable, this god thing is it?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right.’

  ‘Well I’m not really in a position to argue or say no.’

  ‘No Captain Phillips, your are under the control of The Council now. Let’s go and have a look at this contraption,’ said Judy-Lynn.

  The two rose up and headed for the hanger like room at the end of the connecting corridor. The doors to the room said “Observation”.

  Phillips was surprised to find Marcus sat on a fold up style chair, which had seen better days. Judy-Lynn took one from the sidewall and Phillips followed suit and unfolded it, parking himself on the opposite side of Marcus to that of Judy-Lynn.

  ‘Is it all set up,’ she asked.

  ‘Yes, just waiting for our star performer,’ replied Marcus.

  He had managed to activate the screen at the front of the capsule, and gone some way into decoding the strange swirls and pictographs.

  ‘I think I have managed to decode this language and if I plug this in,’ he picked out a small pencil like drive from his pocket, that slotted into the control panel. ‘Then, all should come clear.’

  The pencil device glowed red then started to flash, whilst the transaction between it and the operating system relayed information. Then all the symbols flickered and changed to readable numbers and words.

  ‘Very impressive Marcus. There might be a job for you here at HQ yet,’ said Judy –Lynn.

  ‘So, explain this to me, what does this thing do?’ asked Phillips.

  ‘Well,’ said Marcus, ‘you have already experienced the test mode. This proves that it works. The functioning mode allows souls to enter a pre-life experience. This they carry out and then, once they have lived that pre-life, they can go on to live that life for real so to speak.’

  ‘So how many souls can enter this device at the same time?’asked Judy-Lynn.

  ‘Millions,’ said Marcus triumphantly.

  ‘So what is the purpose of it?’ Phillips asked.

  ‘It is to protect a planet from problems. Make adjustments to the population and to have some way of measuring cause and effect,’ said Marcus.

  ‘So won’t souls know that they have already been through this machine and then re-lived the life they think they have just lived?’ asked Phillips.

  ‘Their soul memory is wiped, but there are problems at times where remembrance occurs, which some people call déjà vu,’ said Marcus.

  ‘So they don’t know that the life they’re living is a repeat of a virtual one?’

  ‘No,’ answered Marcus.

  ‘Okay, so you want me to go into this machine and live a life before I live a life for real?’

  ‘That’s right, but the problem is that it is not yet ready for you yet. We want you to do another test to make sure it works on the Earth coordinates,’ said Marcus.

  ‘Fine, let’s get on with this, if you want me to go back to your Earth.’

  Phillips rose up from his seat and walked reluctantly to the door at the end. Marcus set the coordinates for Earth, and fired up the machine and selected ‘test mode’.

  The door swung inwards, as before, and Phillips stepped into the machine for a second time; standing aside to allow the door to close behind him. Again, the space went black, and Phillips stood in the dark. This time, he knew that this was just a temporary phase.

  Then he was back on planet Earth, standing on a gravel bank by the sea. He noticed the waves and tide pulling at the small pebbles. It was night and he could see from the light of the moon and realized, as any good space pilot would have, that the gravitational pull of the moon was causing the waves and the tide to reseed. The sky studded with stars and the unmistakable sounds of nothing but the ocean.

  He walked up the beach, and stopped to listen. The sounds of waves crashing gave way to some large creatures feeding on the bulrushes in the freshwater marshland attached to the beach.

  ‘This place is really quite beautiful,’ he said to himself and had to pinch himself to remind him that none of this was real.

  He crunched his way towards the large silhouettes that stood in the freshwater feeding. As he approached the huge long necked herbivores, he noticed that some had young who watched his approach with interest. Some stopped feeding and moved away, whilst others just observed for a second and then carried on pulling at the rushes and eating.

  Phillips suddenly realized that he was not alone. To his left, he could just make out the figure of a large two legged lizard, moving stealthily through the tall grass that separated the beach from the marshland.

  Phillips froze in his steps and watched the creature enter the shallow water, and then with a sudden turn of speed, the Tyrannosaurus Rex leaped across towards a mother and her calf. The mother saw the predator too late to protect her offspring, and could only make a futile swing with her long neck to knock the killer off its stride.

  The Tyrannosaurus leapt into the air and sunk its sharp V-shaped teeth into the back of the young Diplodocus. It made a shrieking cry, and its mother tried again to fend off the attacker, this time by attempting to swing her long tail to knock the foe off its clawed feet. Juvenile Tyrannosauruses had joined the kill, and had managed to help to roll the calf over and drag it into the shallow waters to dispatch it quickly by drowning. Outnumbered, the mother could just wander back to the herd - it was soon over.

  Phillips moved forward to get a better view of the lizards’ frenzied feeding, but could only feel a door and a handle in front of him, and exited.

  11.3: The Empire’s Rejuvenation

  ‘So what do you want for this machine?’ said Donald Christopherson, the Empire’s Minister for Technology to Sam Humphries, CEO of Corporation X.

  ‘It is not for sale,’ he said confidently.

  The three, Sam, Tony and Do
nald, stood back stage of the conference hall. Sam and Tony, were just fifteen strokes away from going on stage to reveal all to the galaxy’s leading lights and representatives from corporation X’s eager competitors.

  ‘Name your price, we have read enough to realize the potential, and our exchange with Anthony here means we are convinced that we want this exclusively,’ insisted Donald.

  ‘All we can sell you are the plans; we have drawn up of her to re-create such a device. However, there are certain parts and elements that cannot be found in this galaxy; meaning that this machine has most likely come from a different civilization and technology,’ explained Sam.

  ‘We want the working device,’ repeated Donald.

  ‘We can’t sell you the original unit, until we can find a way to replace those components with known ones,’ Sam insisted.

  ‘We will take what you have got so far, and instruct our labs to get to work on this straight away.’

  ‘Okay, this is the deal I wish to strike,’ said Sam. ‘We want to set up Corporation X here within the heart of the Empire, and work on this project directly. We don’t want to share our technologies with any other company.’

  ‘And you will offer us exclusive rights to this technology?’ asked Donald.

  ‘Yes exclusive, with us producing the units,’ replied Sam.

  Donald paused and rubbed his blond and red beard considering the financial outlay and potential outcomes. ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘you have a deal. We want you to open premises here, within our main city, as soon as possible.’

  ‘Well,’ said Sam, ‘Anthony here,’ he said patting him hard on his back, ‘will be staying on to start-up our first venture in Empire territory; isn’t that right Anthony?’

  ‘Ah, yes if you say so,’ said Tony, a little shocked at the promotion to General Manager (Empire Division).

  ‘Good, good,’ said Donald shaking Sam by the hand.

  ‘So, do you have the plans on you?’ Donald asked Tony.

  ‘We have rough electrical diagrams of how things connect up and fire, but nothing solid as yet.’

  ‘Can I have a look at that?’ asked Donald.

  ‘Yes, certainly,’ Tony pulled a large tightly folded sheet from his jacket pocket, and spread it out on an available table.

  Donald leaned over it, pressed hands on hips and faked knowledge of the diagrams.

  ‘Ah yes, I see. This is very interesting; so how is it powered?’ he found himself asking.

  ‘It has its own self-generating power unit. It seems to take its available atmosphere and transfers that into a form of energy, in this case carbon dioxide. It constructs a carbon compound and produces energy from this. We do not quite understand how this all works yet, but we will get to the bottom of it.’

  ‘Right, right, let’s get going as soon as you have finished at this conference.’

  ‘You’re up next!’ said an organizer from the stage entrance.

  ‘That’s my curtain call,’ said an excited Sam.

  He had been waiting for this moment since gaining his first degree in Science. Sam was a failed researcher, but got into management and elbowed his way to the top with the help of underhand tactics. He seemed to relish the idea of giving his fake “aren’t I the greatest” talk in the heart of the Empire. Although, he had nothing to do with the Empire, it appeared to attract a certain type of person that enjoyed power and had a self-deluded notion that they were superior; being good at bullying, or as Sam would say, controlling and managing. However, it was apparent to intelligent people, that this was base behaviour reminiscent of monkeys. Therefore, it wasn’t really a trait that many at Corporation X aped.

  Sam straightened his hair and tie and stepped out to be introduced by the Compare. The applause lasted and it was clear to him that they were there to see this now famous machine.

  ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,’ said a now almost humble Sam Humphries. As the applause died down, he began by giving a brief history of Corporation X, showing his own rise through the ranks. Sam tried to play-up his time spent in the laboratory. ‘I try my utmost to divide my time between research and duties as CEO. I was glad to push the boundaries and start investing in alien technologies and employed the best brains to work on and to source some of the most unusual things that this galaxy has ever seen.

  ‘One of the stars of this project, Anthony Reeves will bring in the device that has grabbed the galaxies attention recently. . . Anthony!’

  Tony wheeled in the device and to mumbles and some gasps of excitement from the assembled attendees. He wound a handle to lift the rejuvenation device to display the top towards the audience.

  ‘Here we have the most advanced piece of equipment in the galaxy. We can with only a strand of DNA, rebuild a person and more importantly retrieve an individual’s soul. So we can bring them back from the dead.’

  Certain sections of the audience began to murmur at this claim.

  ‘What is even more exciting is the possibility of using such a device in the prison systems of this galaxy; where as before, a prisoner could cheat their sentence by dying, by natural causes, disease and suicide. This machine will allow the authorities to bring back a prisoner to their current state by regenerating them allowing them to live out their sentence, and to be released with a healthier body than they went in with.

  ‘It really is a win-win situation for all involved: the state gets their justice and the prisoner, a chance at a new life with a healthy new body.

  ‘Of course there are downsides to all these things, and for us, it is the use of such a device to breed clones of people - possibly from those already born.

  ‘As you can see,’ as Tony pressed a button on the side of the machine that altered the glass’s tinted surface to a clear one. ‘You can reproduce a version of yourself if you wish.’

  Inside the chamber was a perfect replica of Sam Humphries being formed, the skin was almost complete and the light was moving up and scanning was revealing more skin on the flesh. The body’s eyes blinked.

  ‘But unlike me, this reproduction has no soul. It is just an animal if you like. I can teach him how to eat and be, but there is just a mind and body.

  ‘A perfect bodyguard or double for me. I could stay in bed one day and send my double, my other self, to work for me if I liked.’

  The audience laughed, as if a little unsettled by the fact that there were now two Sam Humphries on stage. As the audience began to take in this phenomenon, two figures entered the hall from the rear. It was Captain Avery and Reginald, rushing towards the stage. Reginald had his hands in the air waving them up and down like a large bird trying to take off.

  ‘Stop, stop stop! I order you to stop in the name of The Council, we’re taking over here.’

  Avery had his gun in his hand aiming it at Sam Humphries’ head.

  ‘What are you playing at Reginald?’ said Tony, recognizing his colleague.

  ‘What is the meaning of this interruption?’ said Sam.

  ‘We’re here to take that machine,’ replied Avery.

  ‘Captain Avery, you sold this machine to us!’ said Tony.

  ‘I know and now I must take it back.’

  Avery grabbed one side, whilst Reginald the other. Reginald drew his gun, the pair wheeled the machine down a side slope and left to a stunned silence.

  11.4: Captain Phillips’ Mission

  Captain Phillips sat in the canteen of TCR, enjoying his first cup of tea in weeks. He was contemplating his fate, and how he might survive this experience. It was clear to him that he had no choice but to follow instructions.

  ‘So if I play god for this planet, pretend to act all holy and advance them, I can come back here and carry on my life where I left off.’ Easy really, he thought as he poured more tea from the generously sized teapot, which was really for two people.

  Marcus had joined him after a visit to the men’s room, and had bought over a coffee from the self-service machine and sat down.

  ‘I’m not sure
about this place,’ he said to Phillips contemplating his future. ‘I mean, take this coffee for instance; you can’t get any fresh stuff out here. All the food is in packets and there is nowhere to go outside the confines of this facility.’

  ‘So what is your point Marcus?’ Phillips found himself asking as if Marcus’ concerns and worries were a match for his own.

  ‘My point is that at least on Andrew’s Station you can see the planet Zeneel and have different views of the system as the space station rotates.’

  ‘So stay there,’ Phillips felt like a careers advisor.

  ‘But the chance of promotion maybe offered to me here.’

  ‘It’s your life,’ replied Phillips.

  ‘What would you do?’ asked Marcus.

  ‘What would I do?’ said a surprised Phillips. ‘I would probably leave this cafeteria, march down to the parking bay, break into the fastest ship I could see and get myself back amongst the stars where I belong.’

  ‘That’s not much help,’ said a down faced Marcus.

  Phillips poured another tea and thought about asking what Marcus would do in his situation, but thought better of it, as he was not ever going to be in his position of having to play a god. Then he suddenly realized something.

  ‘There are no humans on Earth yet are there Marcus?’

  ‘Well, not yet, as far as I am aware. All I know is that there are large lizard type creatures, which will need getting rid of, if Earth is ever going to become the paradise that The Council want it to be.’

  ‘So how long will that take?’

  ‘I don’t know; quite a while I would have thought, If we were to direct a large meteorite strike on the planet, then that would kill them all off.’

  ‘Why don’t you suggest that to Judy-Lynn, your prospective new boss? I’m sure that would secure you a promotion, if that is what you want.’

  ‘I might just do that. Who knows, this place might lead me off in a different direction.’

  ‘- It certainly did for me -,’ said Phillips with a certain amount of irony in his voice.

  Marcus did not notice, he was thinking of his next move: out of TCR and into a field worker. Yes, that would be it, next stop: anywhere.

  Phillips still could not get an answer out of Marcus, so he left it until his briefing with Judy-Lynn.

  ‘The problem is,’ explained Judy-Lynn, ‘that we will have to put you into suspended animation until the conditions are right for you to carry out our task.’

  ‘How long will that be for?’ asked a concerned Phillips.

  ‘Hard to tell,’ said Judy-Lynn bringing up a predictability chart on her screen, that offered a range of times and scenarios.

  ‘Are we talking about ten years?’ asked Phillips hopefully.

  ‘No much longer than that.’

  ‘Hundreds then?’

  ‘No, more than that.’

  ‘Thousands,’ said a smug Phillips.

  ‘No we are talking more like millions of years for this place to evolve until it will be ready for you to take a visit. We reckon that if we allow the dominant creatures to die out naturally and for humans to evolve,’ she did a quick calculation on her program, ‘ten or so millions of years.’

  ‘What? I can’t wait around that long. That is insane!’

  ‘Yes quite. But time is infinite,’ said Judy-Lynn philosophically.

  ‘Marcus had a good idea to speed this process up.’

  ‘Did he now, and what was that?’

  ‘Why don’t you ask him yourself?’ Phillips grinned enjoying the small amount of control that he now had - if only momentarily.

  Judy-Lynn flicked a switch, and swung to her right to view a second monitor, which connected a video link to Marcus’s sleeping quarters.

  A light flashed on top of Marcus’s monitor, which sent out a high-pitched sound in his room, he leaned over from his bed and pressed it to activate the communication.

  ‘Hello Marcus, it’s Judy-Lynn.’

  ‘Hello Judy. I was asleep, what do you want?’ said Marcus scratching his head and trying to make his hair flatten, but to no avail.

  ‘I have Captain Phillips here, with me and he reckons that you have an idea about shortening the wait, that he may be subjected to, if the lizard like creatures are allowed to carry on being the dominant species on planet Earth.’

  ‘Yes, yes, that’s correct. I have two ideas in fact. One we send a sound vibration that would culminate in all the volcanoes on Earth erupting simultaneously, creating a toxic atmosphere that would wipeout life at the top end of the food chain by destroying their food sources. This would leave a gap that could be filled by man, with the first instance being apes.’

  ‘That sounds like it would take too long for all that to occur; besides man would need to be introduced at some point,’ replied Judy-Lynn.

  ‘Well that leads me on to my second idea.’

  ‘What is it Marcus?’ asked Judy-Lynn eagerly.

  ‘A meteorite packed with coded DNA. This could kick-start all kinds of animals, which would be more useful and practical to man once we have established him and her there.’

  ‘Good, good, I like it. That will wipe out the lizards as well, but we cannot go around sending rogue DNA samples. No we need to make sure we have a controlled set of strands, and understand that this could manifest itself into multiple different creatures.’

  ‘That would take time.’

  ‘Less time than man to evolve independently on Earth?’ asked Judy-Lynn.

  ‘Yes most definitely.’

  ‘Then it is decided then. Come and see me in my office when you are ready.’

  The line went dead, the screen turned off and Marcus swung his feet out of the bed and headed for the shower.

  ‘This could work out well for you Captain Phillips,’ said Judy-Lynn smiling for the first time in his company.

  ‘I still think that this is a harsh sentence for what I did, and besides I have given you the pre-world observation device,’ protested Phillips.

  ‘True, true, but look upon this as an honor, and not a punishment. You get to elevate your soul. Not many people get the opportunity to do that. We like your attributions and think you are the right person for this job.’

  ‘Okay, so what happens after I do all this?’

  ‘We will have to wait and see, I will not be around of course - not in my current form anyway - so these decisions will be made as they always are along the same lines of natural law, so just carry out this mission and all will be good, when the outcome is assessed.’

  ‘What if I refuse to do this?’

  ‘You don’t have a choice in this matter Captain Phillips. It is your fate, your destiny. Don’t fight it. It will only make things worse for you. Just go with the flow and carry out all we ask. This is for your own good.’

  ‘I can’t escape this place. But a part of me doesn’t want to leave. So, I haven’t even thought about it. I’m kind of interested in this now and can’t seem to draw myself away from the idea of becoming a god.’

  ‘It is your fate, your identity,’ repeated Judy-Lynn.

  12 THE RETURN