Prologue

Tharton Ambaerly, head of the Grand Health Council looked through the reports that had just come in from western Ilansia. He marked the new cases of the mysterious illness on a large map on the wall. 

Just a few weeks ago there were only a few areas that had reported the illness. Now reports were coming in from all over Ilansia. His Emissaries had visited most of Ilansia and submitted their reports. The situation was very grave. The illness was widespread among most of the elderly population in the northern lands and was rapidly spreading south towards Lorston. 

Their best medicine could slow it down but they had no way to stop it. 

He looked up when his assistant Tad entered his office. "We found something in the ancient scripts," he said. 

The scripts were historical documents that contained detailed information about all the major events in Ilansian history dating back thousands of years. 

"They refer to a plague that decimated the population over three hundred years ago. Erik Dromassian, a famous medical engineer invented a device that could replace infected cells and accelerate the body's natural healing process. His device cured the infection and stopped the plague. It was named the Sphere of Dromassian in his honor."

"Do we know what happened to this Sphere?" asked Tharton. 

"We have searched everywhere and believe the Sphere is no longer on this planet," Tad said. 

"Where else would it be?"

"The scripts mention several expeditions that were sent off world to search for rare minerals. The team members from one of those expeditions had become very ill and a team of doctors was sent to try to help them. They were said to have taken a healing Sphere with them. The records did not specify which of the twenty one expeditions became ill and there is no record of any of the doctors returning. We assume that the Sphere is still on the planet they went to," Tad said. 

"Assuming it still exists, the Sphere could be on any of those twenty one planets," Tharton said. 

"Yes, Sir". 

"Then we have to search them all. It's critical that we find the Sphere if it exists. The IDA will have to oversee the search. I'll contact them and let them know what we found."

Agents from the Ilansia Defense Agency (IDA) were assigned to search each of the twenty one planets. Cassaendra Laeshman was the Agent assigned to Earth.  A ceremony was held before her ship departed.

Her sister Riessa was the Master of Ceremonies.  She was the IDA Commander chosen to oversee the search for the Sphere on all twenty one planets. She was honored to serve in such a position but felt some disappointment each time she sent another Agent off world. Seeing her sister leave would be the most difficult of all.  She forced back the tears and finished the ceremony. 

Afterwards she met with Cassaendra and the rest of her family in a private room. "Oh Cassie!" Riessa said. 

"I know.  I wish more than anything that you were coming with me," Cassaendra said. "I will miss you so much!" 

"We all have our part to play," Riessa said, unable to hide her disappointment. "I just wish I could be there to watch over you. I know I shouldn't worry. You are, after all, the most capable agent we have. Just promise me that you will be careful." 

"I promise," she said and gave her sister a long hug. 

Riessa put a necklace around Cassaendra's neck. "Take this with you and every night you look at it and remember that I'm back here waiting for you." 

After a tearful goodbye to the rest of her family Cassaendra boarded her ship and headed for Earth.

Chapter 1

Part 1 Earth

 

It was late afternoon in the town of Los Cantos, New Mexico. Jake Allen was far back in the outfield. He hardly paid any attention to the game. He was so far out that no one could hit the ball that far. 

He looked into the forest behind the baseball field. He would much rather be exploring the forest than standing around on the baseball field. 

He heard the clunk of the ball as it was hit and looked back towards the infield. The ball didn't make it past midfield. He took off his mitt and tried to kick it like a hacky sack. When he got bored he walked along the fence, staring into the forest. 

There were dogs barking and growling deep in the forest. He pressed his face to the fence and tried to see what was going on. In a few minutes a large dog came out of the forest and stopped near a tree and buried something. It was too far away to see what it was. 

The school bells rang signaling the end of recess and the baseball game ended. He motioned for his friend Dan to come over. "I saw a dog bury something by that tree," he said when Dan arrived. 

"What do you think it was?" Dan asked. 

"Let's find out," Jake said. 

They climbed over the fence and searched the trees until they found the disturbed ground where the dog had buried the object. Something was sticking out of the dead leaves. Jake brushed the leaves away. 

"Wow!" he said. 

The object was a smooth opaque glass Cube about three inches square. 

Jake reached down and picked it up. 

"It's cold!" he said. 

After holding it for a few seconds his hands started to feel numb. He put it back down and Dan picked it up. 

"That's creepy! How come it's so cold?" he asked. 

"I don't know. This is awesome! I'm taking it home so I can look at it," Jake said. 

"But it doesn't belong to us. What if someone lost it? Maybe we should tell someone," Dan said. 

"I just want to look at it for a few days," Jake said. 

He picked up a stick and marked the tree by the Cube with an X. "We'll come back later and look for the rest of the treasure," he said.

 "What treasure?" Dan asked. 

"You've heard the stories about buried treasure in these woods. This has to be part of it!  What else could it be? The rest of it must be close by," Jake said.

 He took the Cube and put it into his backpack. 

"Don't tell anyone about this," he told Dan.

"Fine by me. I don't want to touch that thing," Dan said. 

"Come on, I'm going home," Jake said. 

"But we'll get in trouble for missing school," Dan said. 

"You can stay if you want but I don't want anyone else finding out about this," Jake said. 

"All right! I'm coming!" Dan said and hurried to catch up to him. 

Upstairs in his bedroom Jake opened the backpack and slid the Cube out onto the carpet.  "Hey, maybe we can put it in hot water to warm it up," he said. 

"What if it ruins it?" Dan asked.

"It will be fine," Jake said. 

He put his glove back on and carried it into the bathroom. He filled the basin with hot water and dropped the Cube into the water. After a few seconds he removed his glove and reached into the water and picked up the Cube. 

"The water's hot but the Cube's still cold," Jake said. 

"That thing's too creepy, Jake. Let's take it back to the forest," Dan said.

"Not yet. I want to find out what it is," Jake said.  

When Jake's Mom yelled up to tell him lunch was ready he grabbed a dirty shirt and wrapped the Cube in it and shoved it under his bed.

The two boys went downstairs for lunch and spent the rest of the day playing outside. 

After Dan went home Jake ran upstairs and looked under the bed to make sure the Cube was still there. He pulled it out from under the bed and uncovered it. It didn't feel cold when he moved his hand close to the Cube so he picked it up. It immediately became icy cold. He dropped it back on the floor. 

"That's so weird!" he said. 

He covered it back up and pushed it under the bed.

<><><><><> 

Cassaendra had just finished breakfast and was looking out the window of her hotel in Los Cantos, New Mexico. A light fog had settled on the town. She zipped up her coat and wrapped a scarf around her neck and went outside. 

She found the street where she had finished her search the day before and walked toward town. 

When her detector went off she looked down at it in frustration. Several types of minerals on Earth registered on the detector as power residue from the Sphere and forced her to spend too much time tracking down false readings. 

The engineers on Ilansia assumed that she would be able to use her ship to fly close to the ground and detect the Sphere. It would have only taken a few months to search the whole planet. She wasn't allowed to contact Ilansia until her search was complete so she would have to come up with another plan on her own. Until then she would have to check every reading on foot. 

She followed the signal into a forest near a school baseball field. 

She was tired and frustrated and found it hard to concentrate. She had been thinking about her mother Tessae all day. They had always been close.  She wished she could call her and talk to her.  Her advice was usually correct and she could really use some good advice now.

She thought back to her first lesson on using her telekinetic powers. A small block had been placed in front of each of the children in the classroom. 

"I want you to look at the block," Tessae said. "Imagine it floating in the air." 

"Right now you're thinking that blocks don't float. Well you can help it float by sharing some of your power with it. Remember how you reached out to the Cube with your mind? Try to do the same with the block. Now imagine it lifting itself off the ground. Don't be discouraged if you can't do it the first time. Just keep trying." 

She looked around the room and watched the children. A few of them were able to raise their block off the table. Cassaendra was sitting at her table with her head down. 

"Cassaendra, you haven't even tried the exercise," Tessae said. 

"I don't want to. Remember what happened when I touched the Cube? I don't want that to happen again," she said. 

During that exercise the children had been asked to touch the Cube and establish a connection with it. The lights were dimmed to make it easy to tell if the Cube glowed.  The brighter the glow, the stronger the connection. Most the children struggled to achieve even a dim glow. When Cassaendra touched her Cube the room burst into light, frightening the other children. 

She had never felt so embarrassed.  

"Cassaendra, they made a big deal about it because they didn't expect it to happen. You didn't do anything wrong. Now will you please try to do the exercise?" Tessae asked. 

Cassaendra nodded and focused on the block in front of her. She really didn't want to embarrass herself again but she didn't want to disappoint Tessae. After a few tries she stopped. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't make a connection with the block. 

"You can't do it because of your fear of feeling embarrassed," Tessae said. "Strong emotions can be debilitating. Try to relax and let the emotions flow out of you then try again."

She took a few deep breaths and relaxed then tried again. As soon as she made a connection the block shot into the air and slammed into the ceiling. Even Tessae was startled. 

"See, I told you something bad would happen!" Cassaendra shouted and stormed out of the room. 

When Tessae caught up to her they both sat down and talked. "Don't ever be ashamed of what you can do. You have to accept the gifts you have and learn how to use them, even if the other children tease you. I'm so proud of who you are and the amazing gifts you have. I know you don't see it that way but you really are something special." Tessae told her.

That was the last time she ever felt embarrassed by what she could do. 

Cassaendra's daydream was interrupted when she suddenly found herself slammed face first onto the ground. A large dog had pushed her down and was biting her through her coat. Three more dogs arrived and started biting at her arms and legs. She rolled on the ground to free herself from them and used her telekinetic power to throw them deep into the forest. They kept returning to attack her so she was forced to throw them against the trees and knock them out. The last dog ran out of the forest toward the baseball field. Cassaendra leaned against a tree and assessed the damage. 

"So stupid!" she said. "I should have noticed them!"

She used a healing tool to stitch up the wounds then checked to make sure she hadn't lost anything while rolling around on the ground. The necklace was still there. 

"No!" she said when she found the Cube missing, "That dog took my Cube!" 

She used her telepathic abilities to focus on the Cube's location and followed its energy trail toward the school. She sat down on the crest of a hill near the baseball field and put herself into a deep meditative state. She immediately sensed a dangerous presence nearby. 

"Darneons!" she said. "Oh Cassaendra!  If they have your Cube..." 

She opened her eyes and looked where she had felt them. There were two of them. The dogs that had attacked her ran over to them. The men looked in each of their mouths then started yelling at each other. 

"So you didn't get the Cube after all," she said, relieved. 

They had known that she could detect them if they got too close so they had sent the dogs instead. Their plan worked well enough to catch her off guard and cause her to lose the Cube. 

They walked back the way the dog had come, searching the ground as they went. She watched them, ready to confront them if they found the Cube. When they got close enough to see her she stepped out from behind the tree. 

One of the Darneons grabbed his gun and shot at her three times. She used her power to deflect the bullets and tear the gun from his hands and throw it deep into the forest. She lifted him into the air and threw him back in the direction they had come. He tumbled on the ground when he landed then got up and limped off. The other Darneon ran to help him and they quickly moved away from her. 

She waited until they were out of the range of her senses then focused on the Cube, reaching out in all directions. She found traces of its power by a tree marked with an 'X" and followed it back toward town.  

Chapter 2

Jake wanted to find someone to help him figure out what the Cube was but it had to be someone who would keep his secret. At lunch time he saw his friend Wendy and decided that she was the one. He went over and sat down next to her. 

"Can you keep a secret?" he whispered. 

"That's a silly question. Of course I can," she said. 

"You promise not to tell anyone?" he asked.

 "That's kind of what keeping a secret means, isn't it?" she said, intrigued by the mystery. 

"Meet me after school and I'll show it to you," he said. 

After school Wendy went with Jake to his house. He pulled the Cube out from under the bed and uncovered it.

 "What is it?" she asked, and instinctively reached out to touch it. 

He grabbed her hand. "Don't touch it!" he said. 

"Why not?" she demanded. 

"It feels icy cold and freezes your hand if you touch it," he said. 

"Where did you find it?" she asked. 

"In the forest by the baseball field," he said. 

Curiosity got the best of her and she reached out and touched the Cube when Jake wasn't looking.  "It feels warm," she said. 

"I said not to touch it!" he said. "Why is it glowing? It didn't do that when I touched it.  It just felt icy cold." 

"Well, it feels warm when I touch it," she said. 

"Look," he said, and pulled her hand away then reached out and touched the Cube for a few seconds. "Feel this," he said and touched her arm with his cold fingers. 

"That's cold!" she said. "How come it doesn't do that to me?"

"Touch it again and see," he said. She put her hand on it and the glow returned. "It feels warm," she said. 

Jake reached out and touched it while her hand was still on it. "It feels warm!" he said.  She moved her hand away and the Cube instantly got cold again. "It's only warm when you touch it," he said. "That's weird. It was cold when Dan touched it too. Maybe it's only warm for girls." 

"What if it's not safe?" she asked. "Maybe that glow does something to us." 

"Yeah, maybe we better not touch until we find out what it is," he said. "I don't know who to ask, though. I don't want anyone taking it away." 

They discussed all the people they knew, trying to decide who they should tell. "Let's think about it for a while. We'll come up with someone," she said. 

"OK, but you promised not to tell anyone, remember?" he said. 

"I remember," she said. "I better get home. My mom will be worried."

The next day at school Wendy found Jake in the hall. "I've got it!" she said. "Professor Grange!  He's the one we can ask!" 

"Who's Professor Grange?" Jake asked. 

"He teaches Archaeology at the college. He came and talked at our school last year, remember?" Wendy said. "He's young and dreamy looking." 

"That guy?" Jake asked. "The one you and the other girls can't stop talking about?" 

"Yes, him," Wendy said. "But we don't talk about him that much. Jake! Stop laughing at me! Do you want to find out what this is or not?" 

"All right, we'll go see him if you think you can handle it," he said. "Just try to keep your wits about you when you see him."

"Ooh!" Wendy exclaimed. "I always keep my wits!"  

After school they walked over to the college and went to Professor Grange's office. He wasn't there but the note on his door listed his office hours. He would be back at three o'clock. 

"Let's go to the dairy and get an ice cream," Jake said.

"As long as were back before three o'clock. We don't want to miss him," Wendy said. They walked over to the dairy and sat down at a table with their ice cream cones. 

"You really think we can trust Grange?" Jake asked while eating his ice cream. 

"Of course!" Wendy said. "Besides, we aren't going to show him the Cube, just ask him about it."  

"I hope you're right." Jake said. 

After they finished eating they walked back to Grange's office and waited. Just after three o'clock Professor Grange returned to his office. "What can I do for you?" he asked. 

Jake waited for Wendy to respond but she just stared at Grange, entranced, and said nothing. "We wondered if we could ask you about something," Jake said, pulling Wendy back so Grange could open his door. 

She turned and looked angrily at Jake who mouthed the word 'wits' to her. She composed herself then followed Grange into his office. 

"I have a few minutes," he said. "What can I help you with?" 

"We heard about a strange object and wondered if you knew anything about it. It's a square cube about this big," Jake said, showing the size with his hands. "It looks like glass but you can't see through it and it feels freezing cold when I touch it but warm when she touches it." 

"So you haven't just heard about it you have seen it," Grange said, smiling. Jake nodded, wishing he had phrased it more carefully. 

"Do you have it with you?"

"We don't have it with us," Wendy said.  "We were just wondering if you had heard of anything like it." 

"I would need to examine it or see a picture of it," he said. 

"We can get you a picture," Jake , relieved. 

"Professor Grange," Wendy said, "We don't want anyone to know about this. Can you promise not to tell anyone?" 

Grange looked at her for a moment, then said "I won't tell anyone. But if it turns out to be something valuable we'll have to talk about what you should do with it." he said. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have some work to do before my next class." 

"Thank you, Professor Grange," Wendy said.  

They left the Professor's office and walked back to Jake's place. "Glad to see you kept your wits about you," Jake said. 

Wendy blushed. "It's just that he's so...  oh, never mind!" she said. 

When they arrived at Jakes place they went up to his room. "Maybe I can borrow my parent's camera," Jake said. 

"No!" Wendy said. "I'll use my phone. We don't want your parents to know about it, remember?" 

Jake pulled out the object from under his bed and removed the blanket. Wendy took a picture of it.

"You should take one when you are touching it, when it’s glowing. Just don't touch it for very long," Jake said.

"Good idea," Wendy said. She reached out and touched it and the soft glow appeared.  She took another picture. "Let's go," she said. "We can show him today if we go right now."  

They walked back to the Professor's office. He was in his office. "Back so soon?" he asked. 

Wendy closed the office door. "We have the pictures," she said. "Remember that you promised not to tell anyone." 

"I remember," he said. She displayed the first picture on her phone and handed it to the Professor. 

The Professor was expecting some object that would only be interesting to a child. When he saw the picture he dropped his pen and leaned forward and grasped the phone with both hands. "That's amazing!" he said. 

"There is one other picture," Wendy said, reaching for the phone. She tried to take the phone from him but he wouldn't let go. She pulled a little harder and the Professor looked up at her. "The other picture?" she asked. 

"Yes, oh yes. Sorry," he said, releasing the phone. 

Wendy displayed the second picture. "This is what it looks like when I touch it," she said and handed him the phone.

Grange carefully took the phone and gasped when he saw the photo. He stared at it for what seemed like forever to Wendy then set the phone down on the desk. Jake tugged on Wendy's shirt to get her attention. She looked at him and he motioned for them to leave.  Wendy shook her head and turned back to the Professor. 

"It's all right, Jake," he said. "I will keep my promise. I won't tell anyone about it."

Jake sat back down in the chair, relieved. 

"I haven't ever seen anything like it," he said. "I really must see this in person. I'll keep my promise, as I said, but this is something extraordinary and I really must see it!" 

"You can see it but you can't have it!" Jake said. "It's ours and we want to keep it." 

"I understand," Grange said, "but I need to see it before I can try to find out what it is.  Can you bring it to my lab tomorrow at, say, four o'clock?"  

Jake looked at Wendy who nodded her head vigorously. "All right," Jake said. 

"Here's your phone," Grange said. "You had better delete those photos before someone else sees them." 

Wendy took her phone and put it in her pocket. "Thanks, Professor," she said. 

They left and walked back to Jakes' house. "He'll never let us keep it once he sees it," Jake said. "I could see it in his eyes." 

"We have to trust someone to find out what it is," Wendy said. "I trust him and believe he will keep his promise." 

"You would," Jake said, "but I'm not so sure. I guess we have to do it. You better pick up the Cube and put it in the backpack. It gets too cold when I touch it." 

Wendy picked it up and put it in the pack. Jake took the backpack and slid it under the bed. "I have to go, Jake," Wendy said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

After Wendy left Jake laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "He can't have it!" he whispered. "He just can't have it." 

Chapter 3

"Get up, Yord!" Blaard yelled. "We have to find that Cube before that Ilansian woman does." 

"Can we use the dogs again?" asked Yord. 

"No more dogs. Only one of them can even run after what she did to them. Besides, she won't fall for that twice."

"I can't believe that someone else beat us to the Cube. I thought we had it!" Yord said. 

"Just bad luck, I suppose. Some kid from that school probably picked it up," Blaard said. 

"I hope she's there when we find it," Yord said as he struggled to get up. "I owe her." 

"Don't be an idiot. You know that she can kill you anytime she wants. She chose not to last time. If you go after again she may not be so nice. I would stay away from her if I were you. It's her Cube we're after, not her," Blaard said. 

"It would be a lot easier to find if we could talk to it like she can," Yord said. "The trackers we have seem to detect everything but the Cube, or the Sphere for that matter.  How do we know they even work?" 

"We don't. Unfortunately they're all we've got. Get you're stuff ready, we've got to get moving. Our only chance at getting that Cube is to find it before she does," Blaard said. 

"What if she finds it first?" Yord asked. 

"Then we follow her and let her use the Cube to find the Sphere," Blaard said.

 The two Darnaeons gathered their things and left the motel room. 

"We need to split up. You cover the west side of town and I'll cover the east. We'll meet back here at six o'clock. She knows who we are now so stay away from her! I mean it!" Blaard said. 

Yord nodded in agreement and pulled out the tracking device from his pocket and turned it on. He strapped it to his wrist. It looked like a big wristwatch. When it detected something the bezel flashed. Unfortunately that happened all too often due to the false readings on the planet. 

Blaard watched Yord leave then headed east.

After walking along every street he stopped to rest on a park bench. He looked down the street and was drawn to a house with an old broken down tractor parked in the driveway.  It reminded him of the tractor he used when he was a boy on Darn. 

He was only twelve when his Dad let him drive it alone for the first time. He enjoyed it so much that his Dad had to practically drag him out of it at the end of the day. He smiled, remembering all the good times he had on the farm. After his Dad died things were never the same. He just couldn't find any interest in anymore. 

As soon as he was eligible he joined the military and was trained as a tracker. He soon regretted that decision. Killing people was not something he enjoyed, unlike most the other trackers. He tried to get out but they wouldn't let him.

He got up and walked down the road to the house where the tractor was and looked inside it. "Someday I'll find a way out," he said to himself. 

As he walked away from the house the tracker on his wrist activated. He looked down at it and shook his head. "Yord's right. You detect everything but what you're supposed to."  He looked at his watch. It was 5:30. "Another useless day." he mumbled and headed back to the motel.

<><><><><><> 

The next day Wendy arrived at Jake's just after three thirty. Jake grabbed the backpack from under the bed and they hurried to Grange's lab. 

"If anyone but Grange is there we don't go in, right?" Jake asked. 

"Right," Wendy said. "But I trust him. I think he'll be alone." 

When they arrived at the lab the door was closed and the lights were off. "Maybe he's not coming," Jake said.

Wendy tried the door and found it unlocked. She slowly opened the door and looked inside. No one was there.

They went in and closed the door behind them. The lab was full of machines and a few tables where the students sat. They sat down at the table and waited. 

It wasn't long before they heard footsteps outside the door. They ducked under the table and watched the door. Grange came in and closed the door. He looked around the room. 

"Jake, Wendy," he whispered.  "Are you in here?"

Wendy crawled out from under the table. "There you are," he said. He reached over and locked the door. "We don't want any uninvited guests," he said. 

He walked over to the other end of the room to a small table with a magnifying

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 09.07.2015
ISBN: 978-3-7396-0431-2

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