The Quantum Connection

CHAPTER 25

Opolawn lifted us with a warp field and flew us into his temple. We passed through a great hall that was larger than any stadium on Earth and then floated into a terrace about two hundred meters up on one of the giant columns. He set us down on the patio, which had one of the most amazing views that I had ever seen. The terrace overlooked the ocean many kilometers away at the base of the mountain chain. The sun was setting and shining in all sorts of reds, violets, and blues. It was magnificent, and Opolawn stood there for a moment taking it in.

"The universe can be quite beautiful at times," he said. "And sometimes it can be quite vile," he commented as he turned to Prawmitoos. It was obvious that Opolawn and Prawmitoos had a history and that it was bad . . . very bad. None of us had the nerve to pry.

"Help yourselves to anything you desire, Earthlings." He motioned and the room was filled with dancing naked aliens, both male and female, and there was a table in the middle of the room with nearly every type of food and beverage imaginable.

"No thanks," I muttered.

"Let's get down to business," Tabitha said.

"Very well, General. Why are you here?" Opolawn sat on a large fur-covered chaise lounge. Several naked aliens of both sexes doted over him, bringing him fruits and juices and fanning him.

"I want you to hand over the control device for the picophage that infects many of Earth's citizens," she said.

"Aha! How do you know about this picophage, as you call it?" Opolawn boomed.

"Simple," Anson answered. "Us monkeys figured out how to detect it, Al!" Anson continued to display his anger and disgust for this alien and he purposefully dumbed up his retort even more with his extreme redneck drawl. I would have to find out what this Albert Einstein stuff was all about—but not now.

"Really? Is this true, Prawmitoos? They had no help from you?"

"I only told them that there was a picophage," Prawmitoos said in a flat voice. "They came to me knowing that they were infected with something. When my soldiers tried to stop them these monkeys overpowered them, rather easily I might add."

"If that is so, Prawmitoos, then I should have attacked The Species ages ago. I find it hard to believe that mere monkeys could offer any sort of real fight. Really, Prawmitoos, you never cease to disappoint me," Opolawn taunted the Gray.

"Enough," Tabitha said. "Will you give us the control device or not?"

"What do you think you will do with this so-called control device if I give it to you?"

"We will keep it until the last of the humans with the picophage die of old age, and then we will destroy it. If we have it, at least then we will know you are not controlling us. Even if you can enter our dreams, you still can't control us when we are awake without the picophage and its controller." Tabitha stood strong and fast and seemed completely fearless.

"You think so, do you? It is your dreams that you are afraid of. It is your dreams that make you fear these miniscule Gray bugs," he said.

That's it, Mike! I thought. He implanted the alien abduction memories in us!

That makes a lot of sense, Steven.

I have no idea what to do with that information, but I know it's right, I thought.

"If I give you the controller, Prawmitoos and the rest of The Species will eat you alive." Opolawn laughed.

"The Grays have agreed not to attack us and to leave us alone if we can prove that you are not controlling us," I told him.

Opolawn laughed for several seconds. "And you silly monkeys believed him, did you? I'm sure he argued with Feyibi on your behalf too, didn't he?"

"Yes, so?" Jim asked.

"You've been duped. You monkeys aren't as smart as you think you are. Not yet, at least. You are nothing but trained lab animals, as you have discovered. Prawmitoos didn't tell you about the other countless species that they have destroyed, and under false pretenses I am sure."

"That is enough, Opolawn," Prawmitoos said.

"I don't answer to you, bug. I will say what I please," Opolawn continued. "Did he happen to mention how he committed genocide on the Thuans and the creatures of Thweh? I guess not. What about Eyivaes? Did he explain where they are? And what of Aa?" Opolawn pushed away a Lumpeyin girl who was offering him some sort of bright green round fruit.

"Ah, Opolawn," Prawmitoos squeaked. "You act as though you were perfect in the eyes of these Earthlings, and that you yourself have not committed your share of unspeakable atrocities to countless races as well."

"Opolawn, you are claiming that these Grays killed off no telling how many other E.T.s in the Teytoonise side of the galaxy?" Anson asked and shook his head.

"That is correct, my little monkey. You humans have duped yourselves into the belief that evil was in the heart of humanity. Well, I have a lesson for you. Evil is alive and well in the universe." He sneered at Prawmitoos and it seemed as though sparks would fly between the two of them.

Opolawn continued, "You have been ignorant of the great evils of this galaxy for far too long to travel across the galaxy and make demands of me. And you are very foolish if you think that the Grays, as you call them, want anything for you but death. The sole intent of The Species hive is to populate the universe and devour all that stands in its way—and I literally mean devour. Several species that have survived have only survived because the picophage means death to the Grays. You owe your survival this long to me! The only reason the Teytoonis ever had interest in you monkeys is because they knew that your infection might lead them to a means of attacking us, the Lumpeyins." Opolawn stood three meters tall and thumped his chest. "WE ARE THE TRUE PROTECTORS OF THIS GALAXY!" His voice boomed through the chamber and it appeared that fire danced around the periphery of his body. Perhaps this was my imagination but that is what it looked like.

"Nevertheless, Opolawn, Prawmitoos did argue with his people on our behalf and he has helped in bringing us here. Will you give us the controller or not?" Tabitha continued to be focused on the subject.

"I will not. I am afraid that you poor monkeys are not smart enough to survive without me controlling your evolution and keeping the bugs at bay. If I am not helping you then what will keep the vermin away?" Opolawn replied.

"We are now a threat to them. What will keep them away now?" 'Becca said. "How will you protect us from being annihilated by the Grays?"

"Is this true, Prawmitoos? Do you bugs plan to destroy the humans? Answer me."

"It is of no concern to you, Opolawn, as their space is not within your jurisdiction." Prawmitoos squinted his big black eyes at the light Opolawn was emitting from the surface of his skin. I decided that these Lumpeyins must be phosphorescent. As the sun set, the sky grew dark enough to notice their skin's glow. Opolawn's glow seemed to be slightly brighter than his dancing troupe's.

Mike, is he phosphorescing?

The Lumpeyins are apparently bioluminescent like the dinoflagellates, black dragonfish, fireflies, and many other organisms on Earth.

I see.

"I am sorry, humans. I cannot give you the controller, as it must not fall into the hands of the vermin Teytoonis." He held up a small device in his left hand and tossed it into his right. "A brilliant device forged from the same quantum connected material that the Himbroozya was, hence it works through the YIT at any distance. You see, the Himbroozya is fatal to the Gray monsters. This is why they developed nanomachines and scientist drones to study it. The actual regal line of the bugs would be destroyed instantly if they come into contact with the picophage. As long as you are not a threat to them they will use you as research animals in attempts to create a vaccine. Ah, but my scientist Tentalos designed a very good phage that the bugs have yet to be able to cure. The control is my bonus. Perhaps one of these days you backwater species can be forced to develop a weapon that will rid me of these vermin once and for all. This is not the day, and you are not that species; I fear you are doomed."

At warp speed, Anson plowed headfirst into Opolawn, knocking the controller free for a microsecond. I had caught Anson's planned motion from my enhanced eyesight and my peripheral vision. This microsecond was all I needed. I warped through the region of space where the alien's hand and the controller were and I did a quick lights-off lights-on maneuver. As I continued to fly forward I took Opolawn's hand and the picophage controller with me. I picked up the contoller and tossed his hand out of my warp bubble with a second off-on sequence. The hand fell into the ocean below. As I doubled back into the fight it was obvious that Opolawn was far stronger than we had suspected.

Opolawn grasped Anson in his left hand. His grip was around the neck of Anson's warp bubble armor. Anson tried to adjust the warp field but Opolawn held him. Tabitha, Jim, and 'Becca were on the bounce and got the squeeze on him. This forced Opolawn to drop Anson. Opolawn exploded in a flash of light that flung the four warp armored humans through the walls of the chamber. I couldn't tell what happened to Prawmitoos. I didn't really care, either.

I thought I would catch Opolawn in the back unaware but he sidestepped at warp speed and chased me as I missed him. We warped through the cityscape, flying through buildings and dodging each other's barrages of flung debris. Opolawn began flashing bright high-power energy beams of visible light at me. From where I wasn't sure, but I was beginning to believe that these were serious bursts of energy that I didn't need to be in front of. One of them hit my warp bubble and the next thing I knew I was in orbit around the moon of Lumpeya City. I warped back to the center of Lumpeya City as fast as I could to find the battle still raging. This was a dangerous affair and since I had the controller I thought we should make an attempt at leaving. I zipped to the Phoenix and had Mike fire it up. Prawmitoos was already there, trying to hack into the controls of the spacecraft. As I said before, the Grays have a lot to learn about hacking. I punched Prawmitoos in the head and tossed him out of the Phoenix payload bay onto the ground below. He landed right on his little gray ass. I then zipped the warp field closed and called the gang to converge on me.

Mike and I zigged, zagged, and dodged lightning. The Phoenix took some hits, but the alien condensed matter hull was tough. The warp field I applied helped also. I finally got the crew inside the Phoenix's warp bubble and they managed to make their way to the bridge. All the time the Phoenix was taking a great deal of fire from Opolawn and several others of his entourage that had joined the fight.

"Mike, engage the quantum drive and get us out of here fast!" I told him. "Warp bubble shield on!"

Just as the drive started to engage, a brilliant flash of light appeared through the view screens and the ship lurched to a halt.

"What the hell!" Jim screamed and fell forward face-first into the floor. The inertial dampeners were overtaxed apparently.

"They've caught us in that damn beam thing they got us with on the way in," 'Becca said.

"Can we overcome it?" Tabitha asked.

Mike?

Sorry, Steven, but no, we cannot.

"It looks like they caught us. But they can't get through the warp bubble," I told her.

"Damn! Okay, we keep the warp bubble on forever if we have to. It looks like we have a stalemate here," Tabitha said.

"YOU CANNOT GO ANYWHERE, MONKEYS. YOU MIGHT AS WELL COME OUT," Opolawn's voice boomed over the YIT intercom. Opolawn was floating above his city. He appeared as a brilliant ball of light, almost like a miniature yellow sun. The bright yellow beam of light passed from the temple below him up beside him and to the Phoenix. He pulled us down to his altitude and laughed in his booming voice over the YIT intercom. He looked like a small sun floating before us. Somehow that sun was going to have to set. I was wide open for suggestions.

We were trapped between a rock and a really, really hard place. If we gave up, we were dead and the Grays would destroy humanity. If we stayed here until we died of starvation or Opolawn figured out how to get in to us, we would be dead and the Grays would destroy humanity. If we destroyed the controller before we died, the humans back on Earth infected with the Himbroozya picophage would go nuts—the picomachines would be a control system with random gain and no controller—and the result would destroy humanity. We brainstormed and threw ideas around for the better part of an hour, but we had no clue as what to do. Opolawn grew impatient and it was our guess that he would eventually figure out how to crack our shell and get us out.

"Okay, anybody have any sci-fi scenarios that fit?" Anson asked us.

"I'm kinda drawing a blank, Anson," 'Becca replied.

Jim shrugged.

"Hey, I think I've got one," I said.

"Let's hear it, Steven," Tabitha ordered.

"There was an episode of the old Star Trek series where they bumped into the ancient Greek Gods and—" I started.

"Of course!" Anson slapped his forehead.

"Apollo caught them in much the same way, didn't he?" Jim rubbed his head in thought. "Spock found his power source, if I recall, and Kirk had 'em blast it with the Enterprise's phasers, right?"

"The scenario fits, but I think bright guy out there is too quick for us to just shoot out his tractor beam," Anson responded.

"Yes, Anson, but it is a place to start formulating a plan. Let's see what we can come up with." Tabitha nodded encouragingly to each of us.

"Well, Tabitha, the problem I see is getting out of our protective warp bubble without getting smashed," 'Becca replied.

"There must be a way!" Tabitha wasn't about to give up.

Stevie?

What, honey, I'm kinda busy right now.

I know, Mike told me.

Oh.

Use the YIT and get out.

What do you mean, Tatiana?

Quantum connect and teleport away.

We've never tried that and we aren't sure it will work.

It will work. You just need to know where you're going to teleport to. You need to go to another SuperAgent.

The only ones we are friendly with are Mike and Michelle that are both here and Mikhail that is with you. No good.

There must be a way, Steven.

Maybe. You are wasting energy, baby. Go back to sleep.