Within the first year of Flux-Grav power production, Mike and the engineers had the design altered so that it was lying on its side, and buried deep beneath the surface to protect it from those who might want to disrupt this clean power supply. Recruits trained quickly, and the number of power plants was on track to increase exponentially, expanding from first world countries into second, and eventually all the third world countries. The biggest limitations included getting materials to produce the Flux-Grav engines, and the fuel and coolant to make them run. The engines were manufactured using precise contours in tolerances that took a great deal of time to perfect. They had tapped into the supply of fuel and coolant delivered to Mars, but did not really make a dent in it. It was a limited resource though, so care needed to be taken to assure a constant supply of power to the people on the three worlds, Earth, Uranus, and Mars.

Mars was using three of the Flux-Grav drives for a combination of producing power and ejecting mined materials like overburden from the equator of Mars.

…

“There is an intense gravity well in the big red eye.” Mike said as the smallest of the four saucer shaped ships scanned the surface of Jupiter as it sailed past.

Mike had named the small ship Pluto after the small object formerly known as a planet. He had created a simulator chair like he always wanted as a gamer, and plugged in an interface with the ship that had every safety protocol of which he could think. It was comprised of the same alloy as the saucer ships, and it could morph into any position on his demand. He had configured it to detect gravity wells like the ones created with Flux-Grav drives, but it would track any that came within sensor range.

Todd began to intensify the scans in the area as Rebecca reversed the pull from the engines to slow the ship and adjust to a synchronous orbit.

“Slowing for sync.” Rebecca responded calmly and automatically as she worked the controls.

“Lane, get up here.” Todd said into the automatic communication system.

“On my way.” Lane responded.

Mike zoomed in on the gravity well and put the computer in auto scan mode where it would analyze anomalous readings from the instruments.

“That’s been there for centuries.” Lane offered as he plopped himself in one of the seats that automatically appeared in the intuitive ship bridge.

“It’s artificial.” Mike observed as he zoomed in, and the computer put a grid type of lattice overlay on the big red spot.

“We’re going to have to loop around.” Rebecca stated as she altered the trajectory of the ship from reverse to a hard turn. She quickly projected the new path before continuing. “And orbit twice. We have too much steam to stick the landing in one pass.”

“We aren’t planning to land, are we?” Lane asked.

“It’s a figure of speech Einstein.” Rebecca said.

“We could.” Mike said. “But I fear doing that without having Rubin here. Let’s just see what we find but put in a call to Rubin. See if him and the minions can join us.”

Rebecca put some heavy G force on the engines pulling the smallest of saucers low enough into the atmosphere of Jupiter that it obscured their vision. Her piloting skills had risen since their first trip to Mars. Everyone in the program was sporting a Mike clone eye except Mike, and any aliens. They were shooting through the high atmosphere of Jupiter when they got the communication from Rubin.

“Don’t go there.” Rubin said over subspace.

“We are there.” Rebecca said in response.

“Abort.” Rubin requested urgently.

“Why?” Mike and Rebecca said simultaneously.

It took several long moments before his response came back.

“Meet me at the pad on Jordan’s Spire.” Rubin suggested. “You can pick us up there.”

Rebecca was adjusting their course adeptly as Mike responded. “BRT.”

She used the gravitational pull of the planet to sling them toward Uranus. The effect of the gravitational pull did little to affect the occupants of the ship, but it sped further beneath the cloud cap momentarily as it accelerated.

…

Jordan’s Spire had three large antennae set one hundred twenty degrees apart on the perimeter of the city. It was climate controlled and covered with a forcefield that kept the atmosphere of Uranus from coming in and killing all the inhabitants. The city had been given its name when it had initially had only one antenna used to communicate with subspace. Having three of the antennae could be used like an array when boosted with the Flux-Grav fields that made the communications nearly instantaneous across the cosmos. The dense particles from the frozen surface were suspended by the intense winds that perpetually blew them around. This was a trait that all the gas giants shared. Knowing what caused it did not diminish the experience of seeing the clouds from underneath the huge domes. Pluto picked up the three new passengers before making its way through the portal through the force field.

…

“There is a gigantic city there.” Rubin said.

“City where?” Lane asked.

“The spot?” Rebecca asked.

Rubin and the minions nodded.

“How gigantic?” Mike asked.

“About ten thousand miles.” Rubin said.

Lane gulped and turned to face Rubin.

“Ten thousand square miles?” Lane asked.

“That’s bigger than Maryland.” Todd said. Rubin and the minions shook their heads.

“Sure, it is.” Todd repeated.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Across.” Rubin said. “The area is Eighty million square miles.”

“Bullshit.” Lane said.

“And we can’t fly straight there.” One of the minions said. “We need to sneak in and out so that no one can see us enter or leave. Above the clouds.”

Everyone stared at the minion. Mike had thought that both were mute until this moment.

Rebecca moved from her console and motioned for the minion to pilot the ship. He took control and put them in a slow, wide orbit to keep Earth and Mars out of view as they approached the large planet.

“Will we be able to withstand the atmosphere and gravity?” Todd asked.

“Easily.” Rubin said. “This ship could enter the atmosphere of the sun if it needed to.”

“Baby steps to the bus Bob.” Rachael said half-jokingly.

The elongated approach seemed to take forever. Lane went back down below deck to work on his camouflage and disguise abilities. Mike had attuned the alloy surface of the training room to light up when more than two runes were aligned. It gave him a boost in training and focus. The invisible lines of force that were generated in his face were usually at angles that made them invisible to him as he trained so he had several parabolic mirrors that would give him a wider perspective. Lane had discovered that he could go invisible, or at least camouflage himself like the predator in the predator movies. He could also change his appearance to look like someone of similar height or smaller.

…

“Pluto is approaching Phydeaux.” Rubin said over subspace when they had entered the atmosphere at the northern pole of Jupiter.

“Fido?” Rebecca asked.

The minions nodded, but Rubin answered. “It is Phydeaux.” He spoke. “It means faithful.”

Mike started to laugh. “Because it’s a spot?”

It was hours until the ship had navigated the cloud to the great spot. The atmosphere was thick. Impossibly thick. And full of flying rocks, dirt, and dust. They skimmed the surface near the north entrance to the city. There was a gigantic airlock to fly through followed by another and another. The passengers could feel the slight changes in the gravitational pull as the ships Flux-Grav generators compensated for the changes in gravity and pressure. They waited in the void for several minutes as the air cleared and then another air lock opened in front of them, and then another, and another. There were five doors in all before they gained passage to the city. It had compartments that were separated by force fields. It was continually nighttime under the dense clouds, but the city was illuminated from every angle it seemed. When they continued forward to the inspection pad, they could see several huge guns trained on them.

Huge dark pipes crisscrossed across the landscape. It gave the appearance of the screen saver that was popular with Windows 98 other than the color of all the pipes were black. Steam bellowed from several areas, and there were several flare towers burning off some waste gases. Lane wondered why they didn’t exhaust the exhaust out into the environment.

“The solution to pollution is dilution.” He heard himself say. Nobody seemed to notice.

When they were coming through the entryway there were many bright lights focused on them.

Mike asked for an escort, and a moment later they had a small warship escorting them to their landing area. Rebecca put the guidance system in auto follow and they just sat back and tried to relax.

The ship eventually set down on a pad after they went through several more air locks.

The inside of the big city was gigantic. There were skyscrapers, lodgings, restaurants, industry, and everything that you might expect.

“This is the biggest city in the system.” Tour guide Frita told them.

She was a stunning dark haired alien woman who looked like she was in her mid-thirties. She was tall and slender. She wore a tight white miniskirt that accentuated her thin tone waist. She had a red sweater on top that clung to her upper torso that matched her heels and clutch. She finished her look with a white flower in her short glossy hair. Only her twelve long slender fingers set her apart from any other human woman.

“Why is this place such a secret?” Todd asked.

Frita stopped and turned to look at him. She scrutinized him. One of her eyes glinted and Todd blinked.

“Fuel.” Frita said flatly. “All the giants have it, but Jupiter has more than anyplace in the system.”

“Like the fuel for the spaceships and stuff?” Lane asked.

Frita nodded. “And coolant, but that is rare, deep, and hard to identify.”

“Why?” Rebecca asked.

Frita did not know what to think of these stupid questions.

“No one can see it.” The minion that spoke earlier said.

Lane about let a cat out of the bag, but he got kicked in the ancle just before he said it. Rubin was also in on the secret, but he was a stone.

“How is the coolant supply?” Mike asked.

“Frighteningly low.” Frita said. “We aren’t going to be able to produce many more Flux-Grav engines if we don’t replenish our supply.”

“Can we see it?” Mike asked.

“Probably not.” Frita said. “Why do you want to?”

“I have some that I could give you.” Mike said.

A speeder was approaching fast as Frita spoke next.

“Why would you do that?” Frita asked. “It may be the most valuable commodity in the galaxy.”

The speeder stopped near them and the Lambo type doors opened and four alien women got out. These ones were well dressed but large. Their facial features were delicate as well as their wrists and fingers, but they looked to have adequate strength to knock the crap out of any of the visitors.

“Is the coolant on your ship?” the one who was sitting in the front passenger seat asked.

The mega metropolis grew suddenly silent as they awaited a response.

“This is Michael Bennett.” Rubin said as he indicated Mike.

The posture of the security women changed from tense to really tense. They exchanged glances with the visitors. Lane disappeared as if he had teleported away. Todd was instantly covered in a grid of force field line patterns, and Rabecca tapped her fingers a couple of times followed by holding a softball sized lightning ball in each hand that crackled and popped.

“I’m the prophet.” Mike said as he stood there unmoving.

“It’s in the ship.” Frita said.

The leader of the security detail moved toward the ship accompanied by the largest of the other security guards.

“If you touch that ship, I will make it inaccessible to you.” Mike said as he turned to watch them approach his ship.

They kept approaching as if they had not heard what he said. Todd moved to intercept them and conjured his sword and shield as he approached. He blocked them but they moved to go around. As they moved past him, he shield bashed one of them down, and the other went flying backward and fell on the pavement. Lane had only appeared for a moment as the bolt of force hit the unsuspecting victim.

“Should I light them up?” Rebecca asked calmly.

Frita turned to look at Mike again. Maybe she was awaiting the answer as well.

“I was going to give you that coolant.” Mike said. “Now I don’t know whether to make you pay for it, or make you pay for it.”

The two guards regained their footing and looked to Frita for an indication of what they should do.

“Do you think that you could fight your way out of this city?” Frita asked.

“Do you want me to try?” Mike asked. “I’m going to get back on my ship. Have you read the prophecy?”

“I have.” Frita said. “And I don’t care if you are a prophet.”

“THE prophet.” Rubin said. “Are you familiar with the prophecy, or do you require a miracle?”

“A miracle?” Frita asked. The two guards near her looked wary of Mike but did not move from where they were rooted.

Mike bowed his head slightly and narrowed his eyes at the two aliens near his ship. When they saw him, they went rigid and fell to the cobbles. They bent backward and clenched their teeth and tightened their grips like they were suddenly overcome with lockjaws.

Mike then turned his gaze to the two that were close to him. He went through the same motions, and the other two women suffered the same fate as the first. One of them hit hard on her face and there was blood leaking from her mouth where her lip had been busted on a cobble. Mike moved to her and rolled her onto her side where she could be more comfortable. Their breathing had become labored as if they had to concentrate to breathe. When she was rolled to her side it exposed her teeth. Several were developing cracks from the extreme pressure from her jaw muscles.

“Make them comfortable if you can.” Mike instructed his crew, and he turned to Frita.

Lane popped back into existence and rolled one of the women over as Todd got the other.

Rebecca unloaded her lightning on the dome and helped the other woman to lay on her side. She was in bad shape too. The ones close to Mike got the worst of it, and the ones far away didn’t get it so bad.

Several speeders approached. Rubin and the minions hurried to the ship and waited for Mike to open the door. Everyone was waiting for Mike, but he was not in a hurry. He opened the door when he arrived, and they clamored on board and the door closed behind them.

The aliens that had been incapacitated were starting to loosen up as help arrived.

“Earthers cannot do that.” Frita said.