The Shimmering Ship

By: Radio Rancher
(Copyright 2015 by the author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 13

The boys had stayed up watching movies late into the night. Jimmy, Johnny, and Timmy had all decided to stay overnight. They had been sleeping in the family room on various couches. Del had awakened with a feeling that something was wrong. He scanned the area to check for trouble.

There was no sign of Timmy.

Del widened the search, and called with his powerful mind. "Timmy, Where are you?"

There was no answer. Del was worried, and that was unusual, in fact, this might be the first time, ever, that Del was worried.

Del came running into Jamie's room.

He shook Jamie and called him.

"Jamie, Wake up! This is Important! Timmy is MISSING!”

Jamie woke up and stretched, as he looked into Del's deep blue eyes.

"Well, just scan for him," said Jamie.

"I did, and I still am scanning. In fact I have awakened my large body and set it to scanning as well. There is absolutely no sign of him. It is like he doesn't exist, not anywhere," said Del.

"Let's think about this. Is there anywhere he could have been taken that you or I couldn't read his signature?" asked Jamie.

"There are a few places that I know of that have certain shielding elements that our minds can't read through. The atmosphere of the third planet that orbits the star, Regulus has some of those elements. Lethisite is one of the elements that has those properties, and is abundant on Regulus three. They mine it for fuel there.As it is mined, the fumes that result, rise into the atmosphere and hang there. That is probably why no one detected the psi abilities present in the people who live there, till we rescued the party of six,” said Del. “This is still another sign that I am not fully concentrating.I should have been conscious that I was  not reading an individual’s signature from that planet. I suspect that someone from there has kidnapped Timmy, and is possibly holding him hostage,” said Del.

"Isn't Regulus a member of the council of planets?" asked Jamie.

"Yes," said Del, "But they have never been very active in the affairs of the council. They keep pretty much to themselves. Their DNA is very similar to that of earth people's as well, so I would not be surprised if similar results would come from a union of an earth person and a Regulan, as happened with Arphoans.

"Do you think Timmy could be part Regulan?" asked Jamie.

"Well, thinking back to what he was like before I reoriented his mind, he had some of the same thought patterns as the six people on the death ship. He didn't know how to use the psi abilities that he had, to hurt others, but, I am sure if he had been taught to use them, he would have misused them, as well, given what we saw in the six." said Del."He has a very keen mind and learns very fast."

"We need to talk to the authorities on Regulus." said Jamie.

"Yes,” said Del, "and we should tell Bish, and see if he will help us find Timmy."

"Yes," said Jamie, "and we need to tell Marsh, Greg, Fred, Mr. Bailey, and Johnny and Jimmy, too. Let's get started."

Jamie went to wake Johnny and Jimmy in the family room.

Del contacted the others telepathically. Of course everyone was ready and willing to help. All that was needed now was a plan of action. Ellen and Dorn were sitting on the love seat, with their arms intertwined again, as Jamie watched them, He felt the world was a good place, and all things, or at least most things, were right.

The love between Dorn and Ellen was so strong, that you could feel it. Jamie thought to himself, "At the rate Ellen and Dorn are making love to each other, it won't be long before I have a little brother or sister to help take care of. It's nice to be part of a family. The rescue party will find Timmy, and make sure he is part of the family, too."

"I love doing this,” thought Bish, as he carefully set the Dawntreader down on a little landing spot near the high school. It was fun watching the kids, and adults, for that matter, look around, knowing there is something different, but not quite able to figure out what it is. So far Bish only knew of four earth people who could detect the cloaked ship with the naked eye, and three of the four were related to Arphoa, in one way or another. Fred Braxton, however, was, as far as anyone could trace, a pure bread earthman. He could see the ship, and he had no idea why. A theory had been postulated to the effect that Fred had somehow been attuned to the Arphoans themselves. And had assimilated the ability through his telepathic connection with Arphoans. This was somewhat substantiated when Gerald Bailey stood by the park bench and admired the craft landing in all its beauty and splendor. He and Bish had become very close, and now shared something a lot more than friendship.

As Bish stepped out of the ship and greeted Bailey eagerly, Bailey asked Bish why he had landed the Dawntreader, uncloaked. Bish smiled and hugged Bailey.

"Well, Gerry, this is very interesting. It was cloaked and it still is."

"I don't understand,” said Bailey.

"Well, I think I might just understand it now, if my theory is right, it could explain why Fred Braxton could see it, too." said Bish. " As I see it, there needs to be a pretty direct connection to someone from Arphoa, for a non Arphoan, to see the cloaked ship. The fact that you can now see it, lends credence to my theory, and, if the boys can see it now, that will go a long way toward confirming my idea.

Twenty minutes later, Jimmy, Johnny, Jamie, Marsh, Greg, and Del arrived at the landing site. They all ran up to Bish and Bailey, exclaiming how beautiful the Dawntreader looked to them, as they, like everyone else, who knew about the craft, remarked, that they were surprised, that it wasn't cloaked.

Bish greeted them warmly, and announced that he was now sure that his theory was sound.

"The ship is cloaked," he said, with a grin that threatened to split his face in two.

"The mystery is solved, as to why Fred could see the ship. He was attuned to Ellen and Jamie. Greg and Marsh were not nearly as directly connected as Fred was. You two could only see it with polarized glasses on. I have since noticed other people, wearing similar glasses that were unable to see the ship when it was cloaked. Seeing a cloaked Arphoan ship is directly connected with the viewer’s ties to Arphoa or Arphoans." Bish was positively beaming with pride, and his grin widened even more.

Ellen and Dorn finally arrived, looking like they had been cats that had swallowed a canary farm.

"You two sure look happy," Bish said as the two love birds entered the ship.

"We are happy, but, we won't be completely happy, till we get Timmy back." said Ellen, her smile suddenly fading.

"Let's get going, then,” said Bish."Everyone, find a seat, and strap yourselves in."

Hack was nervous.He hated leaving Carla on Arphoa without him. He had responsibilities, and he was aware of those responsibilities. He would do his duty. He didn't have to like it, though. He couldn't help wonder what was troubling her. He knew there was still something she wasn't willing to tell him, and he also knew that he had to find it out. Something kept nagging at his mind, as though there was some connection that he was missing, and he had to try to piece it together. Needless to say, his morale was not too high at the moment.

Del came up to Hack.

"Did you and Carla have an argument?" asked Del.

"No," said Hack. "I just have a feeling that there was something she didn't tell me, something important, and, yet, she couldn't, or wouldn't, tell me, and, it bothers me, that's all. I've been thinking about it, since before we left Arphoa."

"Would you like to talk to her?" Del asked.

"Oh, God! Yes! Why didn't I think of that?" said Hack. "I forgot you could do that."

Del made the connection.

"Carla, This is Delaren, now Del for short. Hack wants to talk to you, and I seem to be the fastest connection, at the moment, so I am going to make the link. I won't listen if you don't want me to."

"You are always welcome, Del." said Carla. "Go ahead."

"Carla, I love you, and I know I had to leave in a hurry, but I know there was something you weren't telling me, and I really need to know what it was because it is tearing me apart, not knowing. Please trust me. I can't concentrate on the mission when I am worried. I am worried enough about Timmy without having to worry about what you aren't telling me. We are on our way to find him. He has been taken, and we believe he was taken to Regulus.I know it is your home world and I know that you can't return there, but that shouldn't keep us from going. We are not sure how or why someone kidnapped him, but we have to find him. He has become very close to all the boys in the group. Everyone is worried sick about him."

"Did you say Timmy?" asked Carla. "Oh! Hack! No! My son's name is Timmy, and he is on earth. It isn't possible, that Vern could have found him! Oh God! I can't believe he found out where we took Timmy. Timmy was just a baby when we left him on earth, with that agency. I was sure we had covered our tracks."

"Well, at this point, I would guess, that you might not have been as successful as you might have hoped." said Hack. "I wish you had told us earlier. At any rate, we need to find him, and get him back. I know that Bish is a skilled negotiator, and while it will be a daunting task for Bish and Del to survey the area, and determine the layout, and the amount of danger they will face,I believe we will get him back. Despite his early years as a total bully, he has become a very warm, loving, friend to all of us. We won't stop till we bring him home. We need to figure out who we can talk to from Regulus." Said Hack, "Can you tell us who is in a position to help us find and free Timmy, Carla?"

"I would suggest you talk to Virgil Tabbs. He is the negotiator to external affairs on Regulus, sort of their counterpart to Bish. I think He and Bish can come to some arrangement,” said Carla. "You won't be able to reach him telepathically, from outside of Regulus space, due to the dampening fields, surrounding the planet."

"I have a lock on his coordinates right now," said del. "He is currently talking with some minor beaurocrat, from Marcose prime. Their discussion has something to do with a shipment that seems to have gone missing.The Marcose prime minister is livid about it. He thinks it was never delivered, and that Tabbs, or his people, know what happened to it. He wants the shipment or his money back, and compensation for his lost time, etc.

Tabbs insists he and his men know nothing about what happened to the supplies, and that they were shipped, as ordered.Ah now there seems to be some compromise reached. Tabbs has agreed to investigate. I guess they both want to get the situation taken care of, because of the extremely high temperatures, there at the moment, even though it is the middle of the night. The minister was screaming, "Virgil, I want this taken care of now,"

Tabbs just yelled back at the Minister.

"They call me “Mister Tabbs."

He sounded upset.

To be continued...

Well, Can our friends find Timmy in time to rescue him?
Will Tabbs help them?
Is this Virgil real?
Read the next chapter to find the answers to these and other questions.
 

Re-posted  9/11/2015