The Scalian Legacy
Chapter Thirty Four

“That’s it. Checkmate. Time to walk away in defeat,” the hideous, massive dog-like creature said to him, but Jack was confused. Where was he and what was this thing talking about? “Look. Don’t you see? It’s over.” The creature pointed down.

Jack looked down to see what appeared to be a chessboard, but the figures on it were unlike any he had seen before. There were spaceships and alien creatures on it. Some he recognized as future giant humans, others were Pendorans, yet others appeared to be Drumans, and still others he couldn’t identify.

“Accept your defeat gracefully and you can join your wife where you belong,” the creature spoke again and laughed devilishly.

Jack looked at the board again, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He could only imagine that he had indeed been beaten. He was about to admit defeat when his old friend, Chris, appeared behind the creature and spoke: “Really? After all you’ve been through to get here and you’re going to give up? You’re going to let this disgusting thing beat you?”

The creature turned violently to face Chris. “You stay out of this!” it yelled at Chris.

“Dude, back off. Your breath stinks!” Chris responded while waving his hand in front of his face to get the smell away.

Jack looked at the board again, but even if he hadn’t lost, he had no idea what move to make. What could each piece do? Which were his, and which were the enemy’s?

“Jack.”

A soft voice came from his left. He turned to see his wife, Ellen. She was as beautiful as he remembered her, and she was carrying a baby. Jack’s heart almost stopped. It was their child; he seemed to instinctively sense it. He wanted so desperately to leave with them now. Who cares about this game and who wins? Just enjoying time with her was all he wanted. He tried to move towards her but couldn’t. He was stuck in the chair.

“You can’t be with them until you lose,” the creature said to Jack. “So, will you give up now?”

“Jack, you need to do what you were meant to do,” Ellen pleaded with him. “We are fine.”

“But how?” Jack said. “I don’t know how to play this game, and he says that I’ve lost already.”

“Jack.”

A deeper voice sounded to Jack’s right. It was Jack’s father, joining the scene.

“Look closely. He’s lying to you.”

“That’s enough!” The creature slammed his hands down on the side of the chessboard. “You quit now! There’s no time!”

“Wow, I’ve never seen anyone who needed a manicure as badly as you!” Chris chimed in from behind the creature. The creature stood to start arguing with Chris. Jack then noticed that his brothers, Robbie and Kenny, had joined Chris to argue with the creature.

“They are distracting him so that you can focus,” Jack’s father said to Jack softly. “Look at the board.”

Jack looked at the board and slowly found he could identify what were pawns (the spaceships), what was a bishop (the Drumans), what was a rook (the Pendorans), what were the king and queen (the giant humans)…but what was a horse? He couldn’t make out the species. Regardless, as he began to put the puzzle of the game together, it became clear to him that he was not losing. He wasn’t in checkmate at all. In fact, he was just one move away from winning! All he had to do was move the horse….What species is that?

“You see…the answer is always there…you just need to take the time to look for it with purpose.” His dad smiled as he disappeared.

Jack looked around, and he was alone. There was no game…no Ellen…no creature…no Chris… no brothers….Just Jack.

He slowly felt a headache coming on. He lifted his hands to his head and pressed to see if the headache would subside, but it only got stronger. He closed his eyes and suddenly realized he was lying upside down.

He opened his eyes—he was still on the Pendoran fighter! He was still in his suit, hot, sweating, cramped and running out of oxygen. In addition, the headache was accompanied by aches in the backs of his shoulders and darting pain down his spine. He had been bounced around the fighter after he placed the battery in its slot. Jack was quite confused by the shift in scenes. He slowly realized that he had been dreaming, of sorts, and tried to assess his situation.

First, he adjusted himself so that he wasn’t upside down but sitting upright instead. He then looked around and realized that he was sitting on the forward-looking shield of the Pendoran fighter. The ship was facing downward to the hangar bay floor while its rear was leaning up against the back of the hangar and the left wing was resting on the side wall of the hangar.

Jack then turned to see that the shield was still in place. Even worse, more Scalians were coming towards the ship! Now what? He had played his only hand. Sure, he had a couple of little bombs and an FPE gun, but that wasn’t going to be much of a match against more than a dozen well-armed Scalians—and even if he beat them, he would still be on their ship, surrounded by their shield and they had hundreds more.

Jack felt overwhelmed.

Then, he recalled his dream and tried to remember his dad’s words. “The answer is always there…. You just need to take the time to look with purpose.”

Jack then realized he was staring at the battery that he had just put into place. He turned and looked at the floor of the hangar. There’s no shield protecting the floor! He thought. He turned back towards the battery. What if…

Admiral Tarza was still in his office and looking at the holographic display of the hangar. His new set of soldiers were nearing the fighter once more. He would soon have his final paradox in hand and could complete the mission he was destined to complete. Just then yet another communication came in from Rauug.

“Sir,” Rauug began, “sorry to interrupt, but the Pendorans will not leave section D47.” They are demanding to speak with you, as they say that they clearly received a signal from this area and have detected debris.”

“Tell them I’m busy,” the admiral replied. “I will get back to them when I can.” Admiral Tarza chuckled to himself. “In fact, tell them…”

The admiral stopped when the holographic display once again turned bright white and then went dark as the ship rocked violently. Tarza fell to the floor, as did his aides.

“What just happened?” the admiral shouted as he stood.

“Checking, sir,” Rauug answered. “It appears that the Pendoran fighter once again raised its shield and fired a blast, but this time the blast penetrated the hangar bay floor. We can’t tell the damage yet because we’ve lost power to that entire section of the ship.”

“Get power restored and get troops into the area to secure the fighter immediately!” Tarza yelled into the communicator.

“Yes, sir.” Rauug terminated the communication.

“Let’s go to the bridge,” Tarza announced as he stood. “I don’t trust that incompetent fool. We need to secure this cargo and complete our mission.”

Tarza’s aides simply nodded and followed him out of the office.

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