CHAPTER TWELVE

Charlie had been trying to contact the Commander of the Warrior ship for some time now.

“That Commander is either to pre-occupied with the operation going on down on the planet or is flat out ignoring me! Either way, it will be coming out of her pay!”

Charlie just got the words out before she was rocked out of her seat. Before she could reach her communication devise to yell at the Captain, she was knocked to the floor again. Now absolutely livid, she wobbled, staggered, and crawled her way to the bridge. All of the bridge crew were in a full out fight with an unidentified ship.

“Where did it go?” the weapons officer called out?

“Did it cloak?

“Sensors, don’t indicate a cloak signature.”

“Ships that size do not disappear! Find it!” The Captain ordered.

“There it is sir.” One of the officers called out.

The Captain rushed over to his screen.

“That’s imposable. No ship can travel that distance without doing some sort of hyper-jump.” The first mate stated.

“That smacks of Chambers.”

All turned to see Charlie standing at the entrance of the bridge with a big smile.

“It appears that his technology has been upgraded also. While we were thinking he was still on the surface, he tried a sneak attack.” Charlie stated.

“It is the same old game of cat and mouse. He is truly a worthy opponent. You see my dear Captain, his tactics are not unlike my own. A quick kill is no fun. I have been waiting for this game to come back around, however, I now have the superior equipment, and when I have had my fun with him, he will be the loser. He is baiting us to chase him. cloak your ship Captain and hold your position. We are changing the game. Charlie said with a huge grin.

The Captain nodded to his defense officer, and the ship cloaked.

Near several deserted Islands out in the Pacific Ocean. Sinbad in his ship, along with a few small canisters that Mr. Chambers had loaded on board, were carrying out Chambers instructions.

“This is the craziest thing I have ever done. Sinbad is the best sailor, that ever was. I have never sailed in such fashion in my life!”

Sinbad continued to fuss and fume but carried out Mr. Chambers instructions.

“I do not understand how my sailing in this crazy way part of an illusion is, whatever that is, but Mr. Chambers has never let me down. So as long as know one else sees me, I guess, I am okay with it.”

Two Hours went by as Charlie sat waiting for Chambers to make his next move.

Suddenly again the ship appeared out of nowhere and fired several times, then disappeared.

“Get a fix on that ship! Something, anything!”

“Sir, all I get is fishron traces and kelp samples.”

“That is rubbish!” the Captain stated.

“Wait, there it is again!”

Neville and Kattie were doing the best they could to learn and do, what Conner was instructing them. Kattie had the least trouble, because she had indeed done some functions that were close to what Conner was asking her to do now. Neville on the other hand was really struggling. At one point Neville was sitting, and just staring at one of the machines.

Suddenly there was the sound of a stiff breeze, and Mr. Chambers was standing next to Neville.

“Unless you have developed some kind of telepathy that I am not aware of, you are not going to be able to get that Neo-Converter up and running in time.” Mr. Chambers stated.

Neville about fell out of his chair because of the sudden appearance of Mr. Chambers.

“You have to stop doing that!” Neville complained.

“You’ll get use to it, now you need to make an effort to get that unit working.” Mr. Chambers said firmly.

“Why me?” Neville complained.

Mr. Chamber let out a sigh.

“This may not be easy for you to understand, but this equipment can not be operated to its full potential, by just anybody. Yes, there are technicians that could easily figure out its basic functions, but…”

Mr. Chamber paused,

“Your grandfather created machines and the like, that were light years ahead of their time. However, more than his ability to create these things, he believed they were capable of doing even more than what he designed them to do.”

‘Yes, and that is why father had him put away.”

“No Neville, your father did not want to believe what your Grand father was telling him. He was afraid that all his friends would tease him and make fun of him. He had “seen firsthand some of the things your Grand father was able to do with some of this, but he turned his back on all of it. That is why when you were beginning to get older, your father stopped you from visiting your Grand father anymore.”

Mr. Chambers paused and looked a Neville.

“This equipment has to be operated by someone who believes, like your Grandfather did, I know you do, but you have to admit to yourself that you do. Just remember what your Grandfather would tell you when you sat next to him. All you have to do is be five again and have the belief that five-year-old had. When you do that, you will operate this machine to where it can preform as your Grandfather knew it could.” Mr. Chambers said with a smile.

It was Kattie that now had a concerned look on her face.

“What if this does not work?” She asked.

Mr. Chambers pondered the question for a few moments.

“Then all time, space, reality, and unreality will be all vanish in a poof.”

He then quickly added,

“Or it will suddenly start to rain green eggs and ham. I always seem to mix those two scenarios up,” he replied shaking his head.

“Regardless, we have a lot of work to do. I will check back with you later.”

He walked to the center of the room and then disappeared in a poof of smoke.

“Okay team, you heard the man. Neville, you have to believe you can do this. When Kattie has all her equipment, and programs set, it will be up to you.” Conner stated.

“Great!” Neville mumbled.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and placed his hands on the Keyboard that his Grandfather had designed. At first all his fears and apprehensions filled his brain. Slowly, those began to melt away, and thoughts came in his mind that he figured had to have been stored away somewhere. He began to manipulate the program that was in the machine. He put into the program everything that was now flooding into his mind. When he was done, he sent everything over to Kattie. She made sure that all her programs were in alinement and then took what Neville had sent her and hit the run button

“What…what did we just do?” Neville asked slowly.

“Hopefully, we have created an illusion of an armada of highly advanced ships that are bearing down on Charlie’s command ship. Now comes the tricky part. What we just produced was an image the will appear as real on all Charlie’s ships screens. Now we have to make these, come to life, so to speak.” Conner said, as he lead them over to another machine.

“Neville, your Grandfather died before this machine could ever be tested.”

As Conner went on to explain what he knew about the machine, Neville listen in fascination. Something about it was remarkably familiar. It reminded him of an arcade type machine that he was given to him as a kid, but when his father has learned it came from his Grandfather, he had it stored away, and Neville was told he was forbidden to have it.

“Neville, are you telling me that your Grandfather gave you an arcade machine, that would manipulate really space ships?” Kattie asked.

“Not real space ships, but illusions of ones that you two have just created.” Conner clarified.

Neville, turned over one of the controllers and on the back was scratched the word “Wizard.”

“That was my nickname, I put them on the back of all my controllers, I don’t remember having the chance to put it on this one, before my father had it put away.” Neville said in amazement.

“So here is the plan, boys and girls. I will send the illusions you two made to the proper location. They will appear on this screen as the blue ships, and Charlie’s ships will appear as the red ones.”

“Are you saying this will be a real space battle?”

Conner smiled.

“No, it will only appear that way to those in space. Now I have other things to attend to. You only have to do battle until Mr. Chambers has the rest of his plan in place.”

Conner now also disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Neville and Kattie just stared at the spot that Conner was standing. Finally, Kattie broke the spell as she looked at Neville and said,

“Well partner, I guess its ‘Game on.’” She said with a smile.