Roy Rocket - Beyond infinity

Escape Routes

Demorius' big diamond shaped ship plowed through space at the speed of light between the Grace Khalontron asteroid belt and the Marxia-Ammelia system planetoids. A fairly busy trade route with cargo ships frequently connecting the two systems, both heavily populated and very active in the production and commerce sectors.

It was easy to go unnoticed in that continuous coming and going, where you could come across deolian flying cargo saucers which regularly transferred wares between the system's planets and the most remote and disparate depths of the Universe.

Demorius felt safe on that ship because travelling on hyper-light vessels offered him protection from the Deolian Control Center, which was occupied exclusively with traffic equipped with the D-Trax device. Furthermore, his altered genetic conformation allowed him to go undetected by the long range sensors normally present in the astroports, so basically there was no way that the deolians could locate him, unless with a close range proximity scanner, a highly unlikely event, thereabouts.

In this precise moment he was waiting to transfer onto a flying cargo saucer which would allow him to cover the enormous distance which separated him from a strategically more favorable sector from where he could assess his future plans, and this undertaking presented significant risks. Demorius in fact couldn't hide from the D-Trax data collection on board the flying saucers, but he was capable, a unique trait of his, of altering his biometric data into making the devices believe that he was just a common deolian so that he could pass the controls without being noticed. The illusion required great concentration and a notable mental effort, even a small variation in his biometric range would alert the Control Center.

Sitting comfortably on a big chair in the diamond shaped ship's observation room, Demorius was meditating in an attempt to achieve the level of concentration necessary to face the imminent journey.

The access request signal rang out from the door in front of him. Without losing his composure, he opened his eyes slightly and sent out a mental command ordering the door to open.

Dymeus, his head bowed, entered.

«Sir, I apologize...»

Demorius, shut his eyes again, and with a gesture invited his servant to continue. «Sir» Dymeus then repeated, «I would like to confirm that everything is ready for your transfer on board the flying cargo saucer Satasius. Commander, Rasekkin, has always been an ardent follower of our philosophy. When he knew of your return, he didn't hesitate to humbly place himself at your service.»

A small flash of light and an almost imperceptible pulsing of the veins on Demorius' forehead signaled the beginning of a telepathic communication with Dymeus.

- What destination has been set for the journey on his ship? -

Dymeus, bowed his head with his usual devotion, before answering aloud.

«Rasekkin transports cargo to the Nova-En-Thar system. The star is in an ideal position, in the middle of many trade routes which deal in our sector of interest. It will be very simple to move somewhere else from there without any problems.»

«Excellent...» Demorius opened his eyes and, looking intently at his interlocutor, spoke with a low and powerful tone. «Any news on the object of our research?»

«Sir» the servant replied, visibly uncomfortable due to the fact that Demorius was addressing him so directly, «we are closely following the activities on the lunar base: the terrestrial scientist has met with Commander Garius.»

«So Garius has come out into the open?» Demorius said almost amused. «Interesting, they must be really desperate to go against their precious rules and speak to a terrestrial.»