hand over her eyes, intermittingly shaking her head in disbelief.
After a few failed attempts she said, “Come on, John, let’s have a break.”
“Oh, thank goodness for that,” I replied with a gasp of utter relief as we both sat down to have a drink and a bite to eat before I regrouped for the next instalment of my never-ending ordeal. I wasn’t looking forward to that.
“Ready to try again, John?” Freema asked.
“All right,” I replied, hesitantly.
She reached over with both her hands to clasp both of my hands. “John, listen. Control your thoughts and by controlling your thoughts you can control your actions. Concentrate on what you are doing; not on what other people are doing.”
I smiled. “I will try.” Once again, as my mother would say, I was off like the clappers, in the thick of it, giving as good as I got and after a few attempts and taking on board what Freema had said, like Reginald Molehusband, I actually got it right. I was hitting every holographic target first time, then placing and detonating the charges as required. After a while, Freema took the numbers off the detonation points. She also very slowly started to increase the speed of the holograms as well as timing me with a stop watch. My completion time slowly improved as the day wore on and then, after what seemed an eternity, Freema said, “Excellent, John. Let’s have a well-earned break.”
“I will second that,” I replied and with a smile and great satisfaction on my part, we took a well-earned break, this time with only positives to talk about.
Meanwhile, Chris and Alana were busy working in their laboratory, preparing for the attempt to break the Transdamping barrier, when who should pay them a visit? Yes, it was their boss, Professor Zinnerman head of the scientific directorate and chief scientific advisor to the Prime Minister.
“Good afternoon, Chris, Alana, “the Professor said. “I thought I would pay you both a visit to see how you are both progressing.”
“Good timing, Professor,” Chris replied. “We were just going to have a cup of tea and a biscuit. Can we get you one?”
“Yes please… milk and two sugars.”
After Alana had brought the tea and biscuits she carried on with her work, leaving the Professor and Chris to talk shop.
“I think Alana is sweet on you, Chris,” the Professor said as they enjoyed their tea and biscuits. “Don’t leave it too long to ask her out; she won’t wait for ever.”
“I think you have an over-active imagination, Professor,” Chris replied.
“Now, down to business, Chris,” the Professor said. “Will you be on schedule to make the attempt at breaking the Transdamping barrier tomorrow evening as planned?”
“We are working right at the limits of our knowledge, Professor, but yes, we will be ready to make the attempt.”
“Good. I am so proud; I should be working for you and not the other way round. You are the son I never had.”
“Thank you, Professor. That means such a lot to me. I have always regarded you as my mentor since you plucked me out of obscurity to work on this project. I will try my best not to let you down. But I will be honest with you, Professor, it has been playing on my conscience. If I succeed, I will be sending Kronos and John on a one way trip. They will not be able to Transport themselves off Tyros until the Transdamping barrier has been deactivated I could be sending them to their deaths.”
“No, I won’t hear such talk,” the Professor said firmly. “You are doing your duty, the same as everyone else is doing theirs. The Prime Minister and Commander Vadoran would not even contemplate sending them unless they thought there was a good chance of getting them back safely.”
“I hope you are right, Professor.”
“Now, Chris,” the Professor said, moving on, “I am privy to some very sensitive information. I have been speaking with the Minister for War Production. He tells me that as far as armaments are concerned, the war can go on for another six to eight months. After that, everything will start to run out because we have abandoned our rich mineral producing systems to shorten the front line and create reserves of troops to help the Hellertrons, who are in a desperate position themselves. Fuel will be the first thing to run out as the synthetic fuel plants are starved of the raw materials they need to maintain production.”
“I didn’t know things were that bad,” Chris replied. “I will be ready tomorrow evening come what may; no looking back, no self-doubt. I will just be focusing like a laser on the job at hand. You can count on me, Professor.”
“Good man. I know you will do your duty the same as everyone else in the Solaran Commonwealth and Hellertron Empire. Now, I think I have taken up enough of your time already so I will leave you in peace to make your final preparations. I will see you again tomorrow evening as planned.”
At the training facility, Freema and I were just starting to wind down for the day, when who should come walking in just as we were about to lock up… yes, you guessed, it was Commander Vadoran and Kronos.
“Oh look, it’s Kronos and the grim reaper,” I said very sarcastically.
“Did you say something, John?” the Commander asked, his usual stony expression fully visible for us all to see.
“I said good afternoon, Commander Vadoran.”
“Anyone would think you are not pleased to see us, John,” the Commander replied.
I said, “It is the highlight of my day, you coming to visit us both. In fact I knew it was you because I could see the mice throwing themselves onto the traps when you arrived. Kronos told me once he saw four guys beating you up. I said, did you help? He said no, I thought four guys would be enough to do a good job on him.”
By now, Freema and Kronos were struggling to stop themselves bursting out laughing.
The Commander started to give a slow hand clap. “Ah, you are missing your vocation, John. You should be a comedian on Tyros; the Kaytons would literally all die of laughing. The war would be won and we could all go home to lead normal lives again, secure in the knowledge that you had brought them down single-handedly and everyone would be eternally grateful to you. But alas, it is actions, not words that will ultimately produce results. With that in mind, I would like to have a private word with you. Freema, please excuse us. Kronos and I will lock up.”
“Okay,” Freema said. “I will meet you in your quarters in three hours’ time to accompany you to the theatre, John.”
“Thank you. I will be ready.”
“How are things progressing, John?” Commander Vadoran asked, “after two full days of training?”
“Well, thanks to Freema I am a lot more proficient now than I was before. In fact I have been a model pupil. Teacher’s pet… you ask her, I’m sure she will back me up.”
“Maybe you are getting a bit too close to each other,” the Commander suggested, “going on nights out together, brawling in the bar with Drexler from Military Intelligence. I have already received a complaint about that from his superior.”
“We only went out the once. I needed to unwind and forget my worries. You wouldn’t deny me that little bit of pleasure, would you? Anyway, that guy was well out of order. He got what was coming to him and I don’t think anybody in that bar would disagree.”
“Anyway, John,” Kronos said, “we are here to discuss the forthcoming mission, not personal matters.”
“I am all ears,” I replied.
“We have to inform you,” the Commander said, “that the Solaran rear guard in Earth’s sector has now disengaged. This does not affect the overall timetable of the forthcoming operation; we still go ahead as planned tomorrow evening, making the assault on the command bunker the following morning. We estimate that will be a full twenty-four hours before the Kayton battle squadron reaches Earth.”
“Not much room for manoeuvre though, is there?” I replied. What happens if Chris is not ready or Adema cannot get us into the Bunker complex as planned? I do wonder about the wisdom of the whole enterprise sometimes.”
??
?Well, John,” the Commander retorted, “you can always go over to the Kaytons. I’m sure they would welcome you with open arms. You might even get a special dispensation for Earth to be spared so you could then go back home, pulling bank jobs to finance your extravagant life style once again.”
I gave Kronos a dirty look. “Oh, has someone been telling tales behind my back?”
Kronos said, “The Commander beat the information out of me.”
“Now that I can believe,” I replied as we both started to smile.
“Now John,” Kronos said, “I hope you are going to be on your best behaviour tonight for the gala performance at the theatre. The Prime Minister has arranged it especially for you; we don’t want a repetition of what happened with the Hellertron ambassador.”
“You can count on me. I will be on my best behavior; I am a reformed character now.” I gave them both a cheeky grin with my fingers crossed behind my back.
“The Prime Minister has gone to a lot of trouble to make you welcome,” Kronos said, “considering the weight of worry he has to bear. He has an important cabinet meeting in about one hour’s time and then he has to face a vote of no confidence in parliament tomorrow. If he loses the vote the government will collapse, causing a general election which the opposition would probably win. They, in turn, would probably abandon the Hellertrons and seek to make a separate peace with the Kaytons. So you cannot say we are not keeping you