I know it's been like three months, and I'm so incredibly sorry! I've had so much schoolwork it's unbelievable, and I'm shirking a book report on Pride and Prejudice to write this now. Lol. Hope you guys like it…
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He had gathered the materials slowly and carefully. No one had noticed yet, and it had been more than a month since he'd started. It was now three months since Harper's passing, and the whole crew seemed happier. All except for Trance, her dark brooding worried them all. Hohne took the hint that his deadline was fast approaching, and pulled himself out of his daydream to continue his work.
XXX
Trance headed toward the Obs deck. She knew that was where Dylan would be. The end was fast approaching, and she had to warn him. Two years after Harper's death, the Magog Worldship was supposed to arrive. However, she had reason to believe that it would be here within three months. She had no idea what was influencing the acceleration. But she had to let the captain know, it was time.
"Dylan, we need to talk."
He always hated seeing that innocent looking face so serious, it never meant anything good.
"To my quarters, then?"
They walked in that general direction.
"The Worldship is almost here, isn't it?"
She bowed her head. "Yes."
"Trance, how do we defeat it? You must know a way. Obviously, the key is Hohne. But how?"
"It's simple, Dylan. He can hide things from Rommie and the rest of us, and Harper couldn't."
Dylan did not like the sounds of that at all.
XXX
He couldn't finish it. One final touch needed to be made, but Hohne couldn't figure out what it was. The one thing keeping him from destroying the Worldship. He needed it to go undetected, so the Magog would not have time for countermeasures. Anything they did would deflect the bomb just enough to have them survive. The Andromeda and the Commonwealth would still win, but the Magog Worldship would survive. And they could rebuild, and the universe would have to go through all this again. That could not happen.
XXX
Trance knew it was time. Time for her final play. She rose off of the floor, surrounded in a golden glow. Luminescent colors swirled about her, and she seemed more supernatural than ever.
"Just as this universe has a gateway for us to leave it, so can people come through a gateway into it. Harper is dead to this universe, but not to many others. It is now time for that gateway to open, and for the one to save us to come through. Come, now, Harper, and do what you must. For without you and Hohne working together, this universe will not survive."
The glow became so bright that any organic watching would've been blinded. She seemed about to explode, but the colors faded and she descended to the ground. Descended to land right in front of Seamus Zelazny Harper.