Ben stood looking over Xilil's shoulder watching and hoping that soon Thorne's attempted usurpation would come to an end and that his control over the Commander would be quickly taken from him and returned to the Galaef. He wanted to get back to his research, but more than that he wanted to get back to Lyil. Being second in command of the Galactic Empire was not something he had ever hoped to achieve. It seemed a burden, which he could do without.
It pleased him that the city had fallen to the revolutionaries with little loss of life and in a short amount of time. It gave him hope that Thorne would fall just as fast. How could Thorne possibly hope to succeed? There were too many failsafe systems designed by top-level strategists and by the computer planet. It was only a matter of time before Thorne would fall into one of these traps, and his short reign as Galaef would be finished.
Philosophically speaking, it occurred to Ben that in the long run, evil cannot win, because evil always annihilates whatever it touches. That doesn't mean that good always prevails. What it means is that evil never self perpetuates, because evil is a destroyer and once it's on top, it cannot stay there. Since it destroys everything, it also destroys itself.
Thorne and his evil plans would go down, but would he take the Galactic Empire with him?
Hurd and his evil, little empire were destroyed, but Newusa remained intact, and now the good would take over and make the city prosperous and make life enjoyable for the people.
How abruptly Hurd's evil reign had ended.
Once the city militia was informed of the death of Hurd they quickly surrendered their weapons and patrol crafts. There were only a few who held out—four militia snipers and three patrol craft who were loyal to Hurd until the end. All the men in Hurd's tower surrendered immediately, making it easy to secure the building. And finally the holdouts were dealt with.
Dahms, Everette, and Sharpie marched triumphantly into Government Square with the revolutionaries behind them. The sounds of whooping and yelling filled the air with jubilant excitement as the men and women of the city congregated with the prison guards, the mountain people, and the city revolutionaries.
In order to keep the crowd under control, the Galaef stepped up to a microphone, which had been placed on the top step in front of Hurd’s tower. As he addressed the people the din grew quiet. "Today will go down in the history of Ar as a great victory for the people of Newusa." His voice was amplified and echoed off the buildings around them. The people let out a great cheer for truly today was a happy day. "Now you can rebuild your government," he paused, "one that will be for the people and not for the dictator." Another eruption from the overjoyed crowd. "Tomorrow there will be a meeting of the revolutionary leaders to decide how to start your new government. Since I know these people personally, I have confidence they will create the best form of government for your city." Another loud cheer. "Until then," he continued, "a huge stash of canned and frozen food has been discovered on the first five floors of the basement of Hurd's Tower. There are also fresh vegetables from the hydroponic gardens." He put his hands on the railing and leaned forward. "Shortly we will be distributing this food to all of you." The loudest cheer of all rose from the sea of people and pounded against the buildings like a wave against the rocks. The Galaef turned and limped as he made his way into the building.
The Galaef had ordered a floor-by-floor search of Hurd's tower to make sure all weapons were commandeered and all of Hurd's personnel had surrendered to the revolution.
It was during this search that the unexpected happened. A long range communicator was discovered on the top floor of the East wing.
Ben and Xilil could see the joy on the Galaef's face as the three of them, with Frosty guarding the rear, hurried to the communications room. Once the Galaef could communicate with the flagship's computer, Thorne's usurpation would come to an abrupt end.
Xilil finally finished putting in the code. He hit the 'send' button and sat back watching the screen. Several minutes later lettering appeared on the screen: "Incorrect code. Resubmit with target coding."
Xilil looked up at the Galaef. "Sir, there is something wrong with the password."
The Galaef frowned. "Put it in again," he growled.
Although Ben hoped Thorne's attempted usurpation would come to an end as soon as possible, he was beginning to have doubts. "Thorne has changed the code," said Ben.
The Galaef was quick to respond. "That’s impossible," he answered. “The reigning Galaef is the only person who can change the codes. He looked down at Xilil. "Resubmit," he said.
Ben watched over Xilil's shoulder as he punched in the code and then the coordinates. Because of the distance to the computer planet they had to wait several minutes before the message came up on the screen. "Sir," said Xilil, "the flag ship is orbiting Galactus VII, but it will not respond to the given code."
There was a look of disbelief on the Galaef's face. "That's not possible," he said. "Try it again."
Xilil punched in the code and the 'send' command. Several minutes later he looked up. "Same thing, sir."
The Galaef's face turned white. "It's not possible. I'm the only one who can change the codes."
Ben frowned. "Maybe he found something or some information on Galactus V showing him a way to override the codes."
"No," said the Galaef vehemently. "The computer on the flag ship is programmed so that only I can change the codes. There is no possible way . . . ." His voice trailed off into thought. "We'll use the emergency failsafe code. No one knows this code, but me." He put his hand on Xilil's shoulder indicating for him to get up.
The Galaef grimaced from pain as he took a step then sat down. He punched a new code into the communicator and hit the 'send' button.
A few minutes later, the Galaef, looking visibly shaken said, "It's been changed.” He thought for a moment. “There's only one thing left to try." He paused as he started punching numbers into the communicator. "It might be he wasn't able to change the codes to the Federation headquarters on Galactus VII."
He hit the button and sat back. Several minutes later he started shaking his head.
"I don't like what I think you're telling me," said Ben. "If he can change the codes, does that mean he can take over the Galactic Armada?"
"Not yet," boomed the Galaef. "First he has to get inside the computer planet and reprogram the computer, and as I have said before, he needs the key to do that.”
“Yeah,” said Ben, “but now I have to ask—where does he need to go to get the key?”
The Galaef paused. He was trying to decide whether or not to divulge this information. Finally he said, "Somehow Thorne found out that the Galaef's personal secretary wears a ring which is a key to the vaulted door of the computer planet. Once inside, the ring also acts as a map to the control room which is located several thousand miles deep within the computer through a virtual maze of corridors."
Ben's hopes of getting back to a normal life were quickly disappearing. "So now we can only hope that Myra didn't return to her home planet because if she did, Thorne would have been quick to grab her."
"Actually," said the Galaef slowly, "that's not the case. When Thorne came to visit me in prison he made it quite clear that the only reason I was still alive had to do with finding Myra. He had already tried her home planet and found that she had falsified her documents. The fact is she's from somewhere other than what her documents read."
Ben was outraged. "What the hell kind of people do you have working for you?" he yelled. "First Thorne has you thrown in prison and now you find out Myra lied on her documents?"
The Galaef was surprised that anyone would use this tone of voice with him, but considering the circumstances he decided to overlook it. "Are you reprimanding me?" he asked in a sour voice.
Ben calmed down a bit. "Sorry," he said, "I got carried away. But the whole situation is absurd. All these years I've been lead to believe that the Galaef is one hundred percent secure in his reign. The only threat he h
as to worry about is assassination. Now, suddenly we have Thorne doing the impossible—changing codes and taking over the Galaefship, and we have Myra losing herself somewhere in the galaxy with Thorne probably hot on her trail. All in all it appears we're not in a good situation.
"I can only agree with that," said the Galaef, "but the fact that she lied on her documents is a good thing. It means we have a chance of finding her before Thorne."
"How is that possible?"
"We will look for the flight of a lone, ten-man destroyer by setting up an internet with freighters and cargo ships. With this internet there's no doubt we'll find the planet. After that it's a matter of finding Myra before Thorne." He looked down at Xilil. "Get on it and let me know when you've found the planet."
"Yes sir."
A voice from the corner spoke out in a quiet and somber tone. "Sir?" It was Frosty.
The Galaef stopped in mid stride as he was about to leave the room. "Yes?"
"It's about my family, sir."
"Of course," he said. "In all the turmoil I forgot. Xilil . . . ."
"Sir?"
"Before you start the search for Myra's planet get the coordinates for Frosty and Mordrous' families, contact the command posts in those locations and have their families moved to a secure location."
"Yes sir."
Taul looked at Ben, “I doubt that Thorne’s even thinking about their families at this time.”
“Probably right,” said Ben.
And with that they left the room.
Chapter Seventy