“Oh my God,” she thought. Then she saw herself in Tgon-Gee’s eyes and saw her aura boiling. She also immediately noticed that it was larger; she watched Tgon-Gee look at each of the Gardners and recognized that all of their auras were expanded.
Tgon-Gee thought to Rose, “What does this mean?”
Rose shook her head and said, “I have no idea. This is beyond me.”
The First Male watched on his sensors as the warriors swarmed throughout their galaxy. Suddenly, the old watcher accelerated away from the nexus point at his fastest speed. “What’s wrong,” the First Male asked?
“The nexus point is releasing heat into normal space,” the old watcher replied. “The nexus is now approaching the temperature it was at the time of the original explosion that started this universe and the temperature has not stopped rising.” One of the young warriors that was only twelve hundred miles wide, turned and attacked the nexus to protect the old watcher. Before the First Male could stop him he entered the area in space that held the nexus and fired his energy beam into the nexus. A black field erupted out of the nexus and followed the energy beam back to the attacking warrior. There wasn’t time for the warrior to scream. The huge ship’s bright red screen collapsed and the entire vessel shrank so fast that as the black field seemed to suck the attacking ship into the nexus, the young warrior disappeared from view. The Old Watcher called over and over for the warrior but there was no response. The First Male ordered, “All warriors, come no closer than five thousand miles from any nexus until ordered otherwise. What is happening,” he wondered and began to experience an emotion he had no words to define, fear.
Tommy and Cassie continued to dance.
Chapter 9
The Gardners were not the only ones affected by the psychic storm. Twig and Sprig were standing in the back of the room observing the wedding. Both had absorbed information that described the process of weddings but seeing it first hand was different. Wes and Linda Kay’s emotions were open to the telepathic plants and they were moved by what they felt. They both stood observing and saying nothing until the psychic storm front washed over them. They both jerked as it touched and then passed them. All of the data they had stored was undergoing a massive reorientation. They stood and felt the inner change but were paralyzed unable to move. Finally Twig thought to Sprig, “Did you feel that?”
Sprig answered, “Yes, I did. It seems I finally understand the data from that black hole incident and that it relates to the fields that operate in null space.”
Twig shook the leaves around her feet indicating her confusion and said, “I didn’t see that. However, I now understand how the Kosievs’ power cells came into existence.”
Sprig shook his leaves and said, “How do you see that? We have both absorbed the same information and I didn’t get that relationship.”
Twig was silent for a full minute which was equivalent to a week in normal time, “I think that something has happened during this ceremony to reorient all of our data into a different storage. The process must have been done differently for us because we do not look at information the same way. It appears that it made it easier to understand based on the differences between us.”
Sprig looked at the new relationships that he now could understand and thought, “I do not need more information. I need time to process what I now see and attempt to understand what it means.”
“As do I,” Twig said.
Tommy and Cassie left the wedding celebration and walked to the empty observation deck to talk. Tommy dispensed a caffeine drink for Cassie and a sweet drink for himself along with a bag of popcorn. He sat at the table and said, “Cassie, what just happened to us?”
Cassie sat there looking at him amazed at how one’s fortune could change so suddenly. “I really don’t know but what your mother said makes sense to me. I never wanted to hurt you at the academy but every time I came close I felt a driving desire to punish you and make you go away. I didn’t understand it then or later. I think now it makes sense. I was protecting us from each other. It may be that you still touched me a little too soon and that was why the shock was so severe yesterday.”
Tommy looked at her and wondered where the intense feelings of wanting to protect her were coming from. “I agree; I think that you and I were destined to eventually find each other. I even think that we were trying to get there even when it was dangerous for us to touch. Our inner selves fought us and caused the pain that happened. Now I’ve seen inside you and know what you are truly like and I must confess that I am totally amazed by what I see. I’ve never in my wildest dreams knew the depth of feeling you never allowed anyone to see.”
Cassie smiled and said, “Most everyone thinks I’m a cast iron witch and honestly I’ve not tried to change that image. I felt I needed it to be a good officer.”
“Cassie, I want to try something. Instead of voicing what you want to say, just think it.”
Cassie thought, “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Tommy thought back, “I thought so; as you were talking I was also hearing your thoughts at the same time.”
Cassie furrowed her brow. Tommy had not said a word but she heard his thought. She thought back, “Can you hear me now?”
“Absolutely.”
Cassie shook her head and thought, “I guess what Tgon-Gee said was true. Somehow your touch has given me some psychic skills.”
“I think it is a lot more than that. We need to see just what your skills are; we need to experiment and make that determination.”
Cassie smiled and said, “Can we save that for tomorrow. Tonight I just want to hold you. I’ve never felt so alive as when you kissed me tonight.”
Tommy smiled and leaned close to her and thought, “Then let’s just see if we can repeat the experience.”
Cassie leaned in to him and kissed him. They both felt the shock again but it was worth it. They stayed in their embrace losing track of time.
The old watcher saw plumes of the black field exploding out of the nexus and thought, “It’s still getting hotter. I hope this doesn’t destroy the universe.”
The warrior flew toward the closest nexus in a galaxy close to his home galaxy. He noticed as he approached the nexus that there was a planet located in the middle of it that was advanced technologically and had space travel. As he approached more than four thousand ships jumped in front of his approach. The warrior contacted the first male, “I have found a nexus that has a technologically advance planet located on its edge. They have sent ships out to intercept me; what do you think I should do?”
The First Male thought and said, “I wonder if they could be the cause of the nexus’ heat. Destroy them.”
The warrior fired one of his small beams into the ships that were in his path totally disintegrating all four thousand. The inhabitants of the planet watched as a brightly glowing red ship more than two thousand miles wide approached and stopped a hundred thousand miles out from its atmosphere. The warrior fired his main beam into the planet and watched as the planets core exploded blowing the planet into huge pieces that flew out from the center of the blast. A living planet that was home to a thriving civilization perished in less than three seconds from the impact of the warrior’s beam. Nine hundred ships jumped into the system responding to the planet’s distress call to find debris moving away from the planet’s former location. The ships immediately began attacking the huge ship that had destroyed the planet. The warrior ignored their attacks and tried to take readings on the nexus to see if anything had changed after the destruction of the planet. The nine hundred ships attacking the giant red ship had no effect on it. One of the nine hundred actually flew directly into it and was totally destroyed when it contacted the screen surrounding the huge ship.