The Search for Gram Read Free Page A

currently resides within you. If your spirit was captured and used to animate the sword Gram, it would explain why we weren’t able to find you.”
    “Blah, blah, blah, hero spirit this and hero spirit that,” said Calvin. “I still don’t believe any of that stuff. Besides, there is another issue we haven’t talked about that makes it difficult to help you right now.”
    “What is that?” asked the Aesir.
    “I don’t know how well you looked at our ship before you came down to the planet, but it is barely operational. It is in serious need of an overhaul to repair the battle damage that still remains from our last cruise. We stopped at Earth on the way here and replaced the personnel we lost in the war, but we’re still missing several of our fighters. If we are going into harm’s way again, I would rather do so with a full squadron. We have the pilots, but not the ships.”
    “I believe that is something we can assist you with as well,” said the emperor. “We owe the Aesir several favors, and it would not take more than a few days to replicate the fighters you need for this endeavor. That would also give our shipyards time to fix the remaining damage to your ship if we gave it head-of-the-line status.”
    “I would appreciate that,” replied Captain Sheppard. “One of our engines was a little twitchy on the way here. I would feel a lot better about going on this mission if we could get it looked at before we go. I don’t know how we will be able to repay you for the fighters, though.”
    The emperor smiled, showing a mouthful of very sharp teeth. “It is not a problem to have your ship looked at,” he said. “Nothing could be easier. As I said, we owe the Aesir. As to the fighters, just bring them back to us when you’re done with them. Without scratches, of course.”
     
     

Officer’s Mess, TSS Vella Gulf , Grrrnow, 61 Virginis, May 17, 2021
    “May I join you?” asked Calvin.
    Steropes looked up. “Certainly,” he said, seeing Calvin was carrying a golden rod and not a plate of food. “Not eating lunch?”
    “I had something earlier,” Calvin replied. “In all the excitement over the Aesir showing up, I never got to talk with you about this.” He held the two-foot long rod, a product of an ancient civilization, where Steropes could see. Calvin had been given the rod with the guidance to seek out rock formations like Ayers Rock on Earth. The computer avatar that had given him the rod had told him he would ‘know what he was supposed to do’ when he was near the formations.
    “What happened when you took the rod to Clowder Rock?” Steropes asked.
    “When I went up on the rock, the entire rod started glowing a bright red, and one of the buttons glowed too. When I pushed the button, the glow faded from both the rod and the button.”
    “And that was it? That was all the rod did?”
    “The only other thing that happened was this symbol appeared.” Calvin pointed to two wavy lines, one on top of the other, next to another symbol. The other symbol looked like a balloon with a string lying on the floor, with a cursive ‘n’ standing over it. “Do those wavy lines mean anything to you?”
    “No, not really,” replied Steropes.
    “Is that a ‘no,’ or a ‘not really?’” asked Calvin, who had long ago grown tired of the Psiclopes’ tendencies to avoid telling the Terrans everything they knew about a given subject. “Which is it?”
    “Well, I don’t know anything for sure,” Steropes hedged. “Before I answer that, when did the other symbol appear?”
    “Umm...I’m not sure. I don’t think the symbol was on there when I first got the rod, but I put the rod in my closet and didn’t pull it back out until we were headed to Terra for the final battle with the Drakuls. The symbol was there when I pulled the rod out, but I don’t know when it appeared.”
    “Hmm,” said Steropes. “My home world of Olympos had a formation like the ones you were supposed to find. I