Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time) by Saxon Andrew Page A

charge.”
    Bret got excited, “Extremely powerful magnets take tremendous force to bring them together, if they have the same charge. That’s how our high speed trains operate.”
    Dizzy tilted her head and nodded, “And we all know the power of the new force fields. I really think the ships can’t hit each other. I’m not even sure you could make two ship’s force fields make contact.”
    Angel looked at Arve, “Let’s find out. Go to your ship and get ready to trial this.”
    Arve smiled and jumped up. He sprinted out of the room and Dizzy looked at Angel, “Is he always this energetic?”
    Angel shook her head, “You have no idea.” She stood up and said, “Let’s adjourn this meeting for the moment and go to the bridge.” The four Union Officers stood and walked out of the conference room.
    • • •
    Arve arrived on the Bridge of the Melbourne and yelled at his Executive Officer, “Battle Stations!” The klaxons began wailing and he buckled into his chair and put on his combat helmet. He activated the visor and saw the Wellington had its force field at full power. It was using the standard field to cover the ship’s entire hull and he left the Melbourne’s force field in standard combat mode. He saw all decks had reported in and he looked at the microphone on his visor. A list appeared and he looked at the first one on the list, “Angel, we’re ready when you are.”
    Angel saw all the other members of the team had buckled in to a chair on the bridge and said, “Let’s try this slowly. Pull your ship up beside the Wellington and use your thrusters to push it toward me.”
    Arve looked at his helmsman, “I have the ship.”
    “Yes Sir.”
    Arve moved the Melbourne two hundred yards out from the Wellington and activated the side thrusters. The giant battleship began slowly moving toward its twin. The Helmsman began saying, “A hundred and fifty yards…a hundred and twenty…a hundred…seventy five…fifty…twenty five…”
    Arve listened and said, “Distance?”
    “Sir, it’s holding at twenty yards.”
    “We’re not moving?”
    “Yes Sir, we are; it’s just we’re pushing the other ship with us.”
    “Angel…”
    “I know. I’m activating my thrusters and start resisting your push. The two battleships stopped in space and moved to eighteen yards separating them. “Arve, I’m at ten percent thrust.”
    “So am I, Sir.”
    “Alright, I’m going to start increasing thrust and I want you to match me. I’ll call out the power level and a second later go to it. Try to move your level at the same moment.”
    “Call it out.”
    “Twenty…thirty…forty…fifty…” Angel felt the Wellington start to vibrate.
    She looked at her Helmsman, “Fifteen feet, Sir.”
    “Arve, are you getting vibration?”
    “I am.”
    “Attention all crewmembers, buckle in tightly.” The crew looked at each other and wondered what was going on. A Jukebox was just outside the ship’s force field. “Sixty…seventy…eighty…” Suddenly, the Wellington rolled over the top of the Melbourne and shot away at near maximum speed. Angel fought the controls and heard the gravity compensators whine; however, they weren’t close to being overloaded.
    Arve stopped the Melbourne’s roll and brought the ship to a stop. “What happened, Admiral?”
    Angel blew out a breath as Dizzy said, “What happens when two magnets with the same polarity are pushed together?”
    Arve nodded, “They’ll try to slide away from each other.” Arve thought for a moment and said, “I’d like to try something, Admiral.”
    Angel looked at Bret and Dizzy saw her roll her eyes, “What is that?”
    “I want us to activate the cone force field and hit each other head on.” Angel started laughing and kept her microphone shut off so Arve wouldn’t hear her. Arve said, “Admiral.”
    Bret kept his tone neutral and said, “Give us a moment; we’re discussing it.”
    “Standing by.”
    Dizzy watched Angel and Bret