Abel III's Awakening - 12. Chapter 12 In Transit, Part 2

Chapter 12

In Transit, Part II

The next day at mid-morning we were getting prepared for the next transit point. Bill and Steve were on the bridge with dad and Kade. I was in my grandfather's cabin with him and Drew. We buckled up and locked down our seats with the magnetic clamps after dad provided the ship wide warning and the three of us hooked up to use our psychic power like the twins did to reinforce it and thus the group psychic force field around the ship.

I found that grandfather and Drew were content to let me drive and kept sending me power as I further worked on the force-field shield using interwoven layers to provide strength and resiliency. With their concurrence, I then sent out a single thread of awareness as inconspicuously as possible to peer outside. Grandfather and Drew had immediately strengthened their hold on me as they shared the view. The view was like before with the golden path we traveled clearly perceived. As I looked further afield we could see other pathways and even barely detect some ripples along them that were possibly other ships passing through this extra dimension outside of normal space.

Suddenly I sensed a powerful looming presence and I immediately began withdrawing the thread. The Guardian had pounced again and as I worked with grandfather and Drew to terminate the thread and escape, they too could feel the enormous pull the Guardian was exerting. I threw in all my reserves including my telekinetic power and forcefully chopped off the thread and withdrew behind the group psychic force field. At that moment, for the first time in our ship's history, we encountered turbulence during the transit. The ship rocked and rolled and literally seemed to bounce. And, it continued for a seemingly endless length of time.

Hal who was busy monitoring the ship during the transit but had maintained a light contact with us as well sent: {The ship appears to be maintaining the correct course and speed but the psychic blows to the group shield are so strong as to cause the turbulence we are experiencing. We should emerge into normal space on time. Perhaps further trying to observe during a transit should be avoided until we can determine how to do it without drawing attention?}

{Count on it} replied my grandfather as Drew and I could only agree.

About fifteen minutes later dad announced over the ship wide system: “We are due to emerge shortly into normal space and all hands should then immediately report to their alert stations in case of further trouble as we are unsure as to why we experienced turbulence.” A few minutes later he announced we had emerged into normal space and we headed to the bridge.

Kade was busy verifying we had emerged in the expected location and was busy observing for anything unexpected. After a careful scan with ship's array of sensors he sent to me, {Do a scan outside the psychic shield now that we are in normal space as discretely as possible to see if there is any psychic surveillance you can detect.}

I imperceptibly turned to my grandfather and Drew and we again formed our group scan and took a peek but could detect nothing but normal space. By this time the portal was several hundred thousand kilometers to our rear and nothing could be sensed from that direction as well. I then sent that to Dad and Kade. Then Dad made a ship wide announcement that everything appeared okay and the crew could stand down from alert and return to their normal routines.

Steve and Bill were wide-eyed and wondered what had happened, but had the good sense to keep quiet while Dad and Kade were busy monitoring the ship and our progress. Now that Dad had said the crew could return to their normal routines they could contain themselves no longer and both blurted in unison, “What happened?”

Dad replied, “The turbulence was something that was totally unexpected. I am glad that everyone was buckled in for it. We have never experienced anything like it before. I am having the computer check to see if there have ever been other reports of such turbulence while in transit through intra-stellar space. There are several hundred years of records to check so it may take a while and the search may have to wait to be completed when we get to Alpha Centauri where there are more complete records.”

Kade did some calculations and informed us that in twenty hours we would make our last transit point after which we would be close to our destination. Dad secured the bridge and suggested we get in our workouts before lunch.

During my workout I zoned out more than normal and spent it thinking about our latest encounter with the Guardian. As I replayed the event in my mind, I became convinced the Guardian had not initially keyed in on the slight probe outside the group psychic shield but had in fact been alerted by the group shield and then discovered the probe. I sent my conclusions to the others and grandfather in a reply send suggested we needed to work on tightening down the group psychic shield and see if we could contain it just inside the outer hull plates of the ship. We finished our workouts and headed to the group showers where there was an almost palpable sense of hope that our plan would work and spare the ship further unwanted notice from the Guardian.

The dining room was buzzing about the turbulence in our latest transit with the whole crew wondering what happened. Most of them had well over thirty years in space and had made literally hundreds if not thousands of transits and none of them could recall anything like that happening. There were conspiracy theories flying around that perhaps one of our competitors had managed to corrupt the flight computer programming. Another theory speculated that since the ship was past due for a refit that it was a sign of an incipient failure of some critical navigational component. Everyone was worried that we had one more transit before reaching Alpha Centauri.

I was listening as well as sensing telepathically what people were thinking and in the general hubbub of thoughts I came across one that almost made me laugh out loud. It seemed that one couple in our crew had strapped in for the transit in the same chair with one sitting in the other one's lap. The turbulence had provided an epic lap dance, which produced an equally epic orgasm

Dad and my grandfather were very aware of the crew's concerns and were privately communicating about it while my cousins were busy asking me what I thought. I was trying to reassure them that it was a one of kind event without any evidence of computer or navigational component failure based on what I had seen and heard. However, they too were hearing the conversations and theories and getting caught up in the heat of the speculation.

Dad left the dining room early heading for the bridge and the next thing we heard was the following announcement: “Attention all hands. Despite the rampant speculation, there is no evidence of any ship-based problem causing the turbulence. However, I am ordering engineering to immediately do a full system check of the navigational system, propulsion systems and the flight computer programming. Any problems are to be reported immediately. If the systems are operating optimally, that is also to be reported. I expect this to be accomplished before dinner. Gentlemen, get to it.”

With that the dining room emptied out fairly quickly and I headed to the engineering section to see what I could do to help with the systems checks.

My afternoon was spent assisting in running every systems check the engineering section could think of and of course Hal was queried and assisted as well. Everything checked out normal and up to specifications with no ship system found to cause or even to contribute to the turbulence we experienced. Our findings on each component or piece of programming were certified and sent to the captain as the tests were completed and every thing had been tested and retested prior to dinner.

Just prior to dinner, dad again made a ship wide announcement detailing the tests that were run and their results. The ship was certified as ready for the next transit, which would proceed on schedule early the next morning at 08:00 hours. That transit would last an hour and about two hours after we emerged into regular space we would dock at our refit location on the station at Alpha Centauri.

Our supper was a lot quieter as everyone was relieved that no ship problems were found, but there remained some underlying tension about the final transit. My cousins had occupied themselves with making last minute adjustments to their plans for the ship wide repainting of the interior which was a big job on a ship with miles of corridors spread over five decks and crew quarters and work areas besides. Grandfather and Drew spent the time working on the group psychic shield tightening it down to just inside the outer hull plates. They had sent progress report to me on our link and I had been supplying them some power through the shared links. We planned to get together after supper to work some more on that project.

Dad and Kade were going to keep Bill and Steve occupied by having them in their cabin to discuss other decorating options besides paint.

When I joined my grandfather and Drew in their cabin after supper, grandfather reported that they had made good progress in conforming the group psychic shield to the outline of the core of the ship but they were uncertain as to whether it was still apparent from an outside view of the ship by another telepath. I joined with them and together we looked at the psychic shield and I noted several places that the shield still did not fully conform to the ship and I took the lead in tightening it down. I started at the back of the ship and worked my way forward making tiny but necessary adjustments as I went.

I noticed that Drew and my grandfather were watching what I was doing with a sense of amazement, as I was able to lock down the shield just inside the outer hull plates along the entire length and breadth of the ship. It took about an hour with me drawing some small amount of extra power from each of them while relying primarily on my own power. I then slid a thread of telepathic awareness through the shield and outside the ship and surveyed what had been accomplished. I could sense the physical structure of the ship only and the group psychic shield was not apparent. Grandfather and Drew through my link also were watching and were greatly relieved at what had been accomplished. I tied down the shield one last time and kept the link open and monitored. With that we felt we ready for the last transit and our arrival at the station at Alpha Centauri.

I went to my cabin and followed my usual bedtime routine and after I finished my shower and meditations, I went to bed and decided to do a general scan of the crew to see how they were reacting to everything. I found that there continued to be an underlying current of worry about the next transit and for the first time I detected a general feeling of uneasiness and several crew members who were actively thinking about looking for other berths on another vessel. The scan of my family revealed that they too were apprehensive, especially my cousins who like the crew, had no idea why the transit turbulence actually occurred. They were sharing a bed and just holding each other.

I sent my cousins a very weak suggestion to come see me and see if I was asleep yet. I introduced it as stealthily as I could into their consciousness. A few minutes later they were in my bed and distracting themselves and me in the best ways possible. In fact, they were almost insatiable and provoked feelings of passion in me almost as strong as when I had engaged in relations with my telepathic father and Kade. I was extra careful to not 'leak' my psychic excitement to my cousins as the physical excitement had them already at fever pitch and none of us lasted very long. The two cock hounds slurped everything clean and we went to sleep easily, only slightly dreading the earlier 0600 wake-up call.

My dreams were vivid with the blackness of space with the spray of diamonds seeming to give both light and depth. It was both reassuring and made me somewhat more wary at the same time.