Chapter 5
Flight to Freedom
After being returned to his room, Landen flopped onto the bed. He felt physically and emotionally drained by the first two tests. A long sleep would help to prepare him for the final ordeal. Before he slept, though, Landen thought about the means by which he could return to earth. He doubted that the Tragadomians would be willing to serve as his chauffeur for a voyage across the galaxy.
Someone knocked on the door. "I have your dinner, sir," a Noelmian said to him telepathically. "May I come in?" "Yes, please do come in," Landen replied.A Noelmian woman carrying a tray of food entered the room. She wore a green tunic. Landen recalled that, in his telepathic vision of the previous month, the Noelmian women who served the Tragadomian war council were attired in this same manner. Although Landen did not recognize this woman, he understood that, if she was the one who projected the vision, he would not have seen her because he would have been seeing through her eyes."Thank you." Landen continued to use telepathic speech because of the language difference. There had not been sufficient time for Triamber to teach the Noelmian language to Landen. "What is your name?""Kalena.""My name is Peter Landen." He shook hands with Kalena. "I want to compliment you on your outstanding performance on the first two tests," Kalena said. "Earth must be a marvelous planet for it to produce such exceptional men. Even our Noelmian men could not perform feats such as yours."Landen grinned. He wanted to confide in Kalena. It was likely that she was the woman who had projected the vision all the way to earth. If so, she was responsible for Landen's presence on Noelm.However, Landen realized that he would be irresponsible to tell Kalena too much. Perhaps she was not the woman who had sent the warning to earth. She might be a collaborator who would betray him to the Tragadomians. Landen decided to proceed with caution."The Tragadomian war council certainly designed some arduous tests for me. Do you know what they've planned for the third test?""No. Although I serve the war council and overhear most of their deliberations, I don't hear everything. Unfortunately, I wasn't present when they discussed that test.""Were you present when they discussed their plan to send a spacecraft to earth in order to capture a human?" Landen asked."Yes. I was there.""Kalena, it is important that you trust me and not question what I am going to tell you. Even though we are speaking telepathically, there might be an enemy on this planet who is capable of hearing what we say. I simply want to tell you this: the warning that was sent has been received. The message has been heard and answered. I am the answer."Kalena stared at him. Her expression told Landen that indeed she was the message sender. This woman deserved to be honored for her meritorious actions. That would have to wait for a latter day, though."I have a plan," Landen said. "Do any Noelmians know how to operate a battle cruiser?""Yes," Kalena replied. "Our people work in the factories that build battle cruisers. A few Noelmians are test pilots who take newly-constructed cruisers on their first flights. Sometimes these new cruisers crash because of a mechanical malfunction. In recent years, several Noelmian pilots have been killed in crashes. The Tragadomians use our people for test pilots because the Tragadomians do not want to risk their own lives.""Aren't they taking a great risk by allowing Noelmians to fly battle cruisers?" Landen asked."No. The Tragadomians are cautious. They disable the weapons systems on the cruisers before allowing our pilots on board. And the Tragadomians only place enough fuel in the craft for the test flight. Last year a pilot was killed when his cruiser ran out of fuel and crashed. The Tragadomians had underestimated the amount of fuel that he would need to complete the flight."Landen's eyes flashed with anger. "The next Noelmians to fly battle cruisers shall take as much fuel as they need. I want as many of you as possible to escape with me. We can flee to earth, then formulate plans for the eventual liberation of all Noelmians on this planet.""Could such a wonderful thing possibly happen!" Kalena exclaimed. "For many days, some of the old ones among us have been prophesying that our day of deliverance is at hand.""Go then and tell your people to make all the necessary preparations for their departure from this planet. They must be ready for battle when I begin the uprising tomorrow." Kalena appeared worried. "My people might not believe that you are capable of seizing a spacecraft. They would be reluctant to join you because failure would result in their being executed.""Tell the old ones that I have been sent by a man named Triamber. I'm confident that they will follow me upon hearing this message.""But why? Who is this Triamber?""Some of the old ones are certain to know him. He is a wise man who holds an important office.""I shall convey your message at once," Kalena replied and quickly left the room.The next day, Landen was taken by two guards to the room where he had originally met Salurm. The Tragadomian leader again awaited him there."Today is your third and final test, human," Salurm said."There will be no third test. I demand to be taken back to earth immediately.""Are you insane, human? Your planet will be attacked if you refuse to participate in this last test.""You must think me stupid, Salurm. Indeed, until a short while ago, I was blind to your devious plan. I'm now certain that you rigged this final test so that I am bound to fail. You never expected me to survive the first two tests. You wanted to convince your people that earthlings are weak and can easily be defeated. You wanted to gain popular support for your campaign against earth. However, I did well on the first two tests, causing your support to dwindle. Now you're in serious trouble; now you must make sure that I die on this test in order to rejuvenate the enthusiasm of your people. This is all just a public relations scheme." Salurm was livid with anger. "You will die slowly and painfully unless you take part in this test!""I demand to be returned to earth!" Landen shouted.Moving like a cougar, Landen pounced at Salurm. Landen tore the laser pistol from Salurm's belt, then flung the Tragadomian leader against the wall, rendering him unconscious.Before either of the two guards could raise their rifle, Landen fired laser beams through them. He took the rifles from the corpses before dashing from the room into the hallway. The unarmed Tragadomians in the hallway who had witnessed the entire scene fled in terror, and Landen permitted them to escape unharmed.To his great pleasure, three Noelmian men came running up to him. They had undoubtedly been waiting nearby for Landen to make his move against the Tragadomians. Landen gave them the handgun and two rifles. Seconds later, dozens of Noelmians were running from the building with Landen. The insurgents disarmed numerous guards as they forged ahead toward the base for Tragadomian warships. Sirens were now blaring over the entire area, causing the number of soldiers attacking them to increase. However, Landen and his allies successfully tore through the Tragadomian ranks. They met with the greatest amount of resistance at the entrance to the warship base. Three Noelmians, two men and a woman, were killed after the group blasted away the main gate and advanced toward one of the warships.The remaining sixty Noelmians, including Landen, rushed aboard the spacecraft. Just as they sealed the door of the ship, an organized Tragadomian military unit of almost a thousand warriors entered the area and attacked the ship. The laser beams from their rifles did little damage, though, because the ship was constructed from an extremely hard alloy.One Noelmian turned on a viewscreen in order to watch the Tragadomian attack. Landen became worried when he noticed that some Tragadomians were running toward other warships."They're going to send up other battle cruisers to shoot us down!" Landen warned. "When can we take off?""The pilot is ready," Kalena told him. "We will lift off at any second."As the ship surged with power, it rose steadily into the sky."Blast all the battle cruisers before the Tragadomians can get them off the ground," Landen told the pilot, who nodded his assent.A Noelmian seated next to the pilot pressed the buttons which fired the laser cannons that were mounted on the cruiser. The beams struck two warships that had begun to rise into the air. Both ships went reeling back to the surface, smashing into cruisers that had not yet left the base. A chain reaction explosion resulted in the destruction of several other cruisers."We were fortunate to seize a ship that was fully armed," the pilot said. "There will be no pursuit from that base. The Tragadomians have many other bases, though. Cruisers from those bases shall come in pursuit of us, but I'll attempt to elude them.""Do you know how to get to earth?" Landen asked him. "Yes, and that is probably the best place for us to seek sanctuary. The Tragadomian vessels will remain in orbit for a while, searching for this ship. They will expect us to land somewhere on Noelm, not to fly to a distant world." Soon their craft had passed the two moons that orbited Noelm. As the cruiser continued to accelerate, Noelm itself appeared as a small orb on the viewscreen. Within minutes, it was no longer even visible to them."Your Loremaster will be overjoyed to see all of you," Landen told his fellow passengers as his thoughts turned toward their arrival on earth. He was glad that it would take several weeks to reach earth; there was much that he needed to teach his fellow Noelmians about the world in which they would be living.
