Terra Justa

Everyone froze as time stood still for those who were born and raised in Shiloh. No one could seem to grasp the reality of this incomprehensible act of barbarism. The silence was suddenly broken by a shout from the Governor.

“CAPTAIN!”

The Governor’s single word snapped Captain Holden back to reality.

Immediately the captain shouted, “NO! This will not happen again.”

Lenny was gripped with fear for his brother as the Captain yelled to Shadrix, “I want full power to the Hydrogen drives NOW!”

Shadrix replied, Sir, if we crash the engines we might blow them to pieces.”

The captain shouted with all the anger he could muster, “Crash the engines now! Sara, prepare to fly the ship. Our only hope is to scare the hell out of those men!”

The look of panic encompassed Sara’s face as she said, “Sir, I have never taken this ship airborne I can’t control it out of the water.”

The captain replied, “You have no choice the ship is going airborne.”

The Blue Star suddenly burst forward with a tremendous jolt. Everyone was strapped in and holding on.

The captain commanded, “Lenny take control of the grasping arms console and jettison the nose cone. Shadrix, as soon as we break the surface shut down the Hydrogen drives, and Sara get ready to engage the reverse magnetic propulsion the instant the engines shut down. Lenny, on my command I want you to open the arms completely then slam them shut as fast as you can. That should give them a blast they had never heard before.”

The Governor and Preston were entranced at the viewing screen. There was no time for Lenny to adjust the Orb so they could only hear what was happening; nevertheless they remained fixed at the screen. The captain and Sara had only limited vision because the view ports were small and had no magnification, but they were enough to let them see the surface rapidly approaching.

Bantam felt the blade press harder against his throat. He could also see blood starting to trickle down Kenton’s neck. Patrick was about to give into their demands when a rumbling noise, that seemed to be shaking the water and the Cradle, rapidly grew in intensity. Just then, at a distance of a thousand feet, the Blue Star broke the surface of the sea. The crashing noise was deafening and every man in the boat and aboard the Cradle was over taken by the giant ships fury. At that moment the grasping arms opened then slammed shut, creating a thunderous explosion. The ship then shot into the sky and ascended to three hundred feet. Shadrix shut down the hydrogen drive as fast as he could, but it was to late. One of the port engines exploded blowing a sizable hole in the side of the ship. The reverse magnetic propulsion was functioning well but the force of the explosion jerked the ship over to its side. Sara tried everything in her power to compensate, but she didn’t have enough time to gain full control of the ship. Patrick knew that the ship was going to collide with the Cradle, so he ordered the two men to jump into the sea, then he jumped in as well. Dog and Ethan were terrified by the events happening before their eyes. Ethan dropped his knife, and then forgetting that he couldn’t swim, dove into the sea. Dog stood frozen in place. Urine began to run down his leg as Bantam ducked out of Dog’s hold and covered the children with his enormous body. Dog finally went faint and fell back into the sea. Kenton lunged for the ropes that secured the boat to the Cradle in an attempt to separate them. With no time left Kenton cut the last rope free as the Blue Star’s grasping arms struck the side of the Cradle, ripping a huge section of hull from the side. The impact knocked Kenton into the sea and the Cradle hit the boat hard and sent it several feet away. The rest of the Blue Star followed ripping a much larger hole in the side as it slipped back under the sea. Pieces of the Roman ship were flying in every direction as it began to rapidly sink. A large portion of the mast fell straight down and hit Bantams right shoulder and ribs. Bantam let loose with a loud groan, he then struggled to lift his head attempting to see if any of the children were injured, or if any damage was done to the boat. Just then another piece of the hull struck him in the neck then deflected off and hit Hawk on his leg. Bantam was scarcely able to move his arm enough to put his hand over Hawk’s badly bleeding wound before he fell unconscious.