LUCK OR A GUIDED FATE?

                                   by Enad

The force of the blast forced the Cantible further into space. Megan slowly regained her consciousness and became cognizant of the situation. The emense force of the blast overloaded the shields. Megan felt very lucky that she was responsible for keeping auxilary life-support on a separate power block. The main power blocks were dead, leaving the ship virtually lifeless. The solution was simple enough, though. Megan in almost no time had bypassed the main power blocks, feeding the ships systems from the small one on which auxilary life support relied. The solution would, however, not be able to withstand the drain too long.

From the first moment of consciousness, the thought of Enad held fast in Megan's mind. "Had he made it? If so, then how?" Nothing could deprive her of the little spark of hope she had. Quickly when the bypass was completed a sensor scan was made. Enad was hurling toward other debris totally out of control.

Slowly Enad pulled himself off the wall of the little pod. It did little good to survey matters. The craft wouldn't be able to change its course with the tiny retro-engines. The huge mass drew closer and closer. Enad, as if for the sake of having a few more seconds of life, put full power into the combustion engines. Then his physical body began to change. The pod burst into a multi-colored aray of energy.

The drain on the power block was immense. The lights dimmed as the figure materalized in front of Megan. Enad collapsed into her hands. After a brief moment, Enad composed himself and examined the ship. "No doubt about it. In transporting me back into the ship, you almost ruined the back-up power block. We lack the power to return to Earth for repairs, and I even seriously doubt Titan.

"When I was searching for you, I noticed there were still a few remnant outposts on Phoebe that were not affected from the blast. Perhaps an alternative power source can be derived from those old abandoned facilities."

"You mean that Phoebe is still there?"

"Look for yourself. If the whole moon blew up, there wouldn't be much of you and me left. The blast blew an area of about a 100 kilometer radius. We were indeed very lucky to not have been near the center.

"The fate of life twists its way through many mazes. Good analysis prevents the following of a dead end route."

"Am I to assume that is a compliment?"

"Sort of. Actually it is more of a thanks to you for your quick actions. So, where to land?" Megan quickly replied with an area on the opposite side. She was beginning to hate that place. It took all power to land the ship. Enad and Megan had to get into the space suits so that the ship would have enough power by shutting down all life-support systems as well as many other systems.

The ship landed near a small outpost because of a sensor-scan indicating functioning life support. That meant a place to breathe and a place were there was a power source. Within moments, the couple headed off to the little outpost. Unexpectedly, the airlocks were functional and even in extremely good shape. After pressurization, the hatch slid open revealing something quite shocking.

He was a short man, dressed in black. Age had caught up with him. His face was covered in a wirey black beard, and his head held a large bald spot. "Father?" Enad cried. "I thought you were dead."

However, the son did not embrace his father. He was alien to Enad. As a child, he never really knew his dad. He was always away from home. He never really understood how his mother could love that type of person. However, he never truly felt any type of prejudice towards anyone. Enad the Great told his story to his son. It seemed that the ship T. G. Taft had given him was aimed at his destruction. It was lucky that he found the bases on Phoebe. He explained that the original constructors of most of the facilities are anonymous. He vaguely knew anything about Bronson's discovery and take over. "I sometimes feel like a failure, not having been able to help Yamna's people. I think of this place as my punishment and prison. The rest of the time, I work on constructing a new ship from scraps of this place. It has a long way to go."

Enad explained all he needed was a new power source for his vessel. It wouldn't take too long to take his father back to Earth after repairs. He was much too unstable to aid his son in any manner with his mission. Megan, feeling a bit uncomfortable, went to find a way to repair or replace the power block. Within the hours it took Megan to repair the ship, Enad the Great did a great deal of talking. Unfortunately, his son could decipher very little of the crazed talk. What he did understand was why his father kept glancing at the beautiful figure of Megan. Not seeing a woman in a long time, well....

The trip back to Earth was relativly short. The Cantible landed on Able near a unique machine. It took Megan only seconds with her astute skills to release Enad the Great's last and only true friend. As Enad prepared to leave, he walked up to his father. While many might have thought it comic, seeing the contrast of the dark and dreary father embracing the tall and lean albino son, there was a sense of family reunion. "I'll be back father."

The ship lifted off to the heavens and in moments was out of the solar system.