VENETIA: Isis Back On Artemis

Chapter twenty-three

The Amazon queen was primed and ready for battle. Within half an hour she was
in communication with Xanadu. She moored the Pegasus, and had the Pegasus outfitted
with a portal. She directed that when the construction is complete to have an elite crew
and a full complement of invasion supplies. The ship would then be sent towards Cygnus
at maximum speed. Her scientists calculated that the Pegasus would be inaccessible to
portal transportation after six months until re-materialization. At that time she would be
able to transport to the Pegasus before it accelerated far into the future as its velocity
increased. to reach Cygnus. She was warned of the time problems associated with
entering the black hole. Meanwhile she would tend to her current invasion plans. She
used a portal and initiated an inspection of her invasion fleet. She had to make plans now
to deal with earth, Jim, and John. She signaled to the flagship to prepare for her arrival.

No one on board on any of the fleet cruisers had ever seen the Pegasus before and
had been relieved to discover that they were no longer subject to its attack. The fleet had
been most concerned when their long range sensors detected the craft. They were equally
perplexed when the Pegasus disappeared from their screens. They were amazed to
discover that their queen had been on board and now she was giving orders from Xanadu.
How had the Pegasus moved so quickly. They were delighted to find that Isis was the
starship's mistress. The fleet expressed exuberant morale when the queen announced her
intended visit. Invasion was two months away, or so they thought. Isis would take Helen
with her. All wanted to hear Helen's tales by now. Everyone would want to hear her tales
about Jim's Genie.

Isis wanted Jim's genie. Helen had informed her on its responsiveness to voice
command. John's box had shown its capabilities, but he didn't use voice command. It had
appeared to be more of a trap than a tool. She knew that the men's magic would be
useless to her. Assuming now that her fleet could maintain its attack, she turned her
attention back to earth. She had three portals by which she could return. She would
need to get a progress report from her general staff on earth. Couriers were sent through
the portals in accordance with her commands. One portal was open but two had been
cutoff. Access to the yacht was now prohibited. A full guard was now placed on that
portal. She remained attuned to the fact that Jim could slip through undetected if the
portal activated. But if the portal activated she would send her own small army back
through the portal before it could close.

She was devastated by the news of the cruiser. A cruiser and its portal had been
destroyed. Most aboard had managed to escape to safety back through the portal while
the ship was breaking up. John had actually deliberately destroyed the ship so as to allow
the crew to escape alive. He figured they would all return to Artemis while the ship was
dying..

The remaining cruiser and portal were still active, but were remaining immobile
and undetected. Earth was to be blamed for the destruction of the cruiser. Isis was
infuriated. The President had assured her that she would take no action against her forces.
She blamed Jim for the episode. Apparently he had taken that infernal submarine and used
it to destroy the cruiser that she would have used to send him back to Artemis. She
discounted the Dutchman as being back in his hands. She was wise for the two cruisers.
The backup, she had kept secret and undetected. She used this portal to return to earth.

The second cruiser was off the coast of Florida. It had hit earth's atmosphere
disguised during its unpowered decent by the glow created by the heat of its decent. It
"crashed" into the ocean many miles from land. It then made its way underwater to its
Florida base while it waited her directions. A land based contact had been established
between it and the other crew. The first crew had the responsibility of making physical
contact while the other ship with the Antiope and Helen doubles were held back secretly in
reserve.

Shady had the pleasure of being the Florida expedition leader. Her function was to
set up a secure line of supply between earth ground forces and Artemis. Through a series
of boats, air craft, and other means she maintained a physical communication link between
an earth base and the reserve ship.

Lazarus Cain

Next chapter

Directory of chapters

Let me know what you think about my page. Send mail by clicking here.