Free Infinity by Charles E. Borjas, E. Michaels, Chester Johnson

neighboring stars.
    There was
no Quantum Cyber Connection deep into space where they ventured. The only thing
that mattered now was finding the Milky Way Galaxy, and the solar system that
contained Earth, in hopes that Cruise’s brother would be there by some
inexplicable miracle.
    Measuring
time by Earth’s calendars, a hundred and seventy three Earth years had passed,
which to Cruise and Millennia seemed like only a few years. By that time Dvora
had rescued her daughters from the clutches of base and lewd fellows on Planet
Eniam 22. The Black Hole nightclub was no more. The very unstable Xiattodians
had retaliated for what Dvora did to their warriors and stealing their vessel
by bringing devastation to the planet surface and all living things on it. Planet
Enaim 22 was now a desert wasteland. The trickle of survivors that were left
struggled to make their way.
    Dvora had
rescued her daughters and was long gone and on her way in the Xiattodian bird
of prey vessel to another star system, the Kreapis Empire
and the prison planet that had no name but Planet-X. They went from planet to
planet seeking refuge. Much time had passed for these who were now travellers
and vagabonds in the Deltanaff-Nizz Galaxy.
    The technology aboard the vessel she commandeered
guided her to Planet-X, as the location had been stored in the vessel’s
computer database. Once within range of the planet she locked into orbit around
it. The mining prison Planet-X had no spacecrafts and no need for many guards,
only armed ones. There was virtually no escape. Those who attempted to escape
only ended up in the land of volcanoes, or the dark, dead swamplands, which
bred giant snakes that swallowed them up whole. Escape only meant a horrible and
tortuous death.
    Dvora now had
her seven daughters, but her powers would not be complete unless she had the
Great Sorceress Caratrah Shadowfire. With “The Bird of Prey” vessel, Dvora’s
oldest daughter Vaneza locked onto Caratrah Shadowfire’s
coordinates deep in one of the Xetronium
Mines. A long and tedious life had taken a serious toll on her. Any normal
being would have died down there in ten years just from the dust eating away at
their lungs. But Caratrah’s magic only grew stronger with each task she was
made to perform.
    With her sorcery
she had been seducing guards and arranging for them to bring her certain herbs
and roots difficult to find, but were common to that area of space. With the
herbs and roots she conjured up potions that gave her more favour with the
guards and freed her from having to work on the lowest levels. She found favour
in their eyes as she bewitched them. However, her powers were weakening and she
grew older. She was not the young vibrant woman that she used to be. The
lifespan of her Fretharian race was much less than that of the Quewythians.
Dvora knew she had to work faster if she was going to salvage what was left of
the Great Sorceress.
    Having locked on
to her coordinates, Caratrah Shadowfire was teleported from the
planet’s inner caverns, to the one-man teleporting room. Dvora was there to
greet her.
    “I am truly sorry for all the years you
had to spend in the belly of that wretched planet, Caratrah.”
    “Why did you not just let me die down in
that infernal place?” The old woman asks.
    “But you live, and the Queen of Twelve
Galaxies Cluster needs your help to reclaim her throne. You shall be yet the
greatest sorceress in the Quadrant,” replies Dvora.
    “But I am old and wretched. What could I
do?” Caratrah replies.
    “I will take care of that. You shall be
youthful once more.” Replies Dvora. She instructs Vaneza to land the Bird of
Prey on the fourth planet of a two-sun solar system. The planet had three moons
and was temperate in climate and atmosphere. Vegetation grew over much of the
planet. Bodies of water were also detected by the Bird of Prey’s computer
system.
    They let the vessel down next to a fresh
water lake surrounded by mountains with