Free Reformation by Mark Henrikson Page B

are putting out a scrambling signal that will not allow any transmission to leave this system.”
    From across the forty million miles of barren space between the two planets Kuanti was impacted by a devastating wave of anger from Goron ’s mind.  Yet through the anger he got a glimpse of another emotion – admiration.  Deep down the Captain admired his Novi counterpart and his resourcefulness.  As soon as he detected the errant emotion it was sealed away once more behind Goron’s formidable mental barriers.
    “Too clever by half,” Goron managed. “Damn that Novan!”
    Goron brought his attention back to Kuanti.  “Let me guess.  Since discovering this interference you have just sat in a corner brooding.”
    Kuanti’s mood perked up at the accusation of inaction.  He was afraid the initiative he took would not be well received by Goron, but he now saw inaction would have been a far greater failure.  “Not exactly.  I felt the best course of action was to construct a craft that could transport an assault team to your planet to terminate the interference so that the signal can be sent.”
    “Excellent,” Goron said in a rare display of commendation.  “What sort of timeframe are you facing?”
    “At least ten generations,” Kuanti divulged and counted his blessings Goron did not have the physical ability to harm him, but his mental assaults could still be devastating. 
    Kuanti decided to explain himself before Goron had the chance to rip him apart in front of the collective.  “We need to develop new materials to construct a spacecraft.  We must invent and build a new fusion reactor to power that ship.  We need to . . .”
    Goron erupted with rage.  “Have. You. Lost. Your. Mind?  Why spend hundreds of years reinventing the wheel when you have a perfectly functional fusion reactor right now?  Why can’t you use the original reactor housed inside the engineering section of my ship that you crash landed aboard over two thousand years ago?” Goron insisted.
    “If you had not allowed an unarmed collector class ship to get the drop on you in the first place perhaps we wouldn’t be in this situation at all,” Kuanti challenged.  He knew it was imprudent, but it needed to be said.
    “Your captain is waiting for an answer to his question, Ensign,” Goron demanded.
    Kuanti could feel the half million life forces mentally circling the two in the hopes of seeing a leadership challenge to entertain them.  Goron was still the better man, even from forty million miles away, so Kuanti acquiesced to the order.
    “That reactor powers the colony and our entire industrial complex. Most important of all, it powers the environmental barriers that allow us to maintain a habitable environment within these caves.  We cannot survive without it, therefore another must be reengineered and built.  Unfortunately that process will take a considerable amount of time.”
    On the fly, Kuanti thought of a way to save face.  “A quicker solution would be for you to locate the signal and use the locals on your planet to attack and destroy it.”
    “Yes , it would,” Goron conceded, “I am working tirelessly to do exactly that as well as disrupting the Novi’s progress and influence on this planet in any way possible.  In the unlikely event that I am unsuccessful, your efforts will be the backup plan.  Now, with that settled, let’s put our collective minds together and document everything we can recall about refining materials for a ship’s hull and building a fusion reactor from the ground up.”

Chapter 13:  Beware the 99 Percent
     
    “ Clay pots with copper and iron electrodes dipped in an electrolyte solution,” Dr. Holmes read back from his notes.  “You’re describing a Baghdad Battery right?  Like the ones discovered a few years ago in Iraq dating back to the first century AD?  Are you telling me these devices were used by humans to attract and harness their life force after death just like