The Collective continued to correlate the collected data, “Military, are you ready to offer your conclusions?”
“There are many unknowns. Whoever destroyed the green ships obviously had a weapon that penetrated their hulls. Our hull material is much harder than the Green Hulls, but we don’t know if that would stop whatever weapon was used. That uncertainty causes great distress in deciding the next step.”
“Science?”
“I agree with Military; we don’t know enough to determine just how big a danger we face in that universe. I did see one thing in the scans that bears discussion. They showed large numbers of ships very similar to the one we destroyed at the farm.”
The Collective gave a mental agreement, “I also saw that. I also see that there is not one race that pilots those ships. The thoughts were diverse, and there were thousands of different creatures in those vessels. It would seem that no one race controls that universe.”
Sociology interjected, “I see that the Green Creatures are no longer living in ships but are on planets. Is it possible that after they were conquered they were made slaves?”
The Collective stopped its data analysis, “I did not see that. That is an interesting proposal.” There was a half second of silence while the Collective looked at all the data again, “I think we need to go see what is happening on those planets. We should eliminate them to prevent them from giving information about our capabilities.”
Military replied, “I would think they have already done that long ago.”
“Not if they are slaves. If they are not slaves, then they would represent our biggest threat in that they understand the technology of our ships’ hulls.”
There was silence. Production broke the silence by saying, “Then you are planning to send our forces into that universe?”
“We have killed one of their ships here. Do you not think they are a real threat to us?”
Again there was silence.
Military asked, “How do you envision this happening?”
The Collective hesitated, “We will send a hundred thousand ships to destroy the planets of the Green Creatures. We will evaluate our success or failure and then decide the next step. Military, when are all the ships due to come back?”
“They are arriving now.”
“Are the requisite number here now?”
“Yes; more than double that number.”
“Send the hundred thousand and have the others prepared to follow if needed.”
“Your orders are being issued.”
“I also noticed another interesting bit of data from our scans.”
“What was that, Biology?”
“The three races at the farm where we destroyed that ship have others of their kind in that universe. Their thought frequency matches the inhabitants of many worlds.”
The Collective thought about that, “I want no further harvesting of the farm where the ship was killed.”
Military and Production both thought, “Why? We need the food.”
“If those races at the farm actually came from that universe then that explains why that strange ship was there. I want options available in the event things don’t happen according to plan. We will use those races as hostages if needed and the more of them living there, the greater their value in bargaining.”
“What about our garrison there?”
“They have enough stores to survive a long time. Send them their instructions.”
Production was concerned about the direction the Collective was taking but replied, “They have acknowledged their orders.
“Edison!”
“Yes, Newton.”
“The Searchers we stationed at Hallago’s jump limit have detected thousands of ships coming out of universal drive and moving in-system.”
“Are those Searchers coated with the telepathy coating?”
“Yes, and they are also in stealth mode. It appears they have not been seen by the incoming ships. They will arrive at the planet in twelve hours.”
Edison thought for a moment, “We need to use this to get them to doubt their scanners. When they arrive ten hours out from the planet start having ten percent of the population teleport away every hour such that when they are an hour out, the remainder of the population leaves.”
“What do you think that will do?”
“If it were me in their place it would cause me to question why I see a huge population and as I get closer it disappears. Perhaps it would make them think we can trick their scanners into seeing nonexistent populations.”
Newton thought a moment, “We’ll have the last ten percent teleport from the side of the planet away from them so their teleport screens won’t be seen. I’m sure they will see the thoughts of the last group through the planet, but the teleport energy should be blocked.”
“Do it just that way, Newton. You might also get those teleporting away to move to the other side of the planet to leave. Notify the planet and make sure they know the plan.”
The Director of the Keepers Fleet watched his board as his ships moved in-system from the jump limit. He could see the huge population’s mental signature and knew there were billions of Green Creatures. Two intervals into the system the population’s mental signature appeared weaker. He directed a thought to his sensor operator, “I think the strength of my signal has changed.”
“It has; about ten percent weaker.”
“What caused that?”
“I’ve checked the sensor system and it appears to be operating normally, but there is no doubt; the signal is weaker.”
An interval passed and the Director saw another signal reduction, “What is happening here?”
“I cannot account for the change, Director. It is now twenty percent weaker.”
The Director watched his board all the way in to the planet and the signal dropped ten percent every interval the fleet moved closer to the planet. At one interval the signal disappeared completely. “Scan that planet visually.”
The sensor operator scanned with the ship’s optical system, “There are no inhabitants on the planet.”
“But I see buildings and vehicles and everything that would indicate this planet is heavily populated.”
“Perhaps, but nothing shows up on my scans.”
“Send ten scouts down to the surface. Now!”
The huge fleet of a hundred thousand brown ships waited in orbit as the ten scouts flew down and scanned the surface. “They report nothing, Director.”
“Have them land and check the buildings.”
The ten scouts landed and the fifty Keepers moved into the buildings. “Director, there is no one here. The buildings all have power and appear to have been occupied, but there is no one here now.”
The Director was at a loss as to what was happening. Who would construct an entire planet with buildings, vehicles, and all the other elements of an advanced civilization just to deceive our scanners? That would also suggest that his fleet was expected.
“Edison?”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“My Searchers have been looking closely at those ships as they moved in-system and report that their drives seem to have a different color on the edges than the hull.”
“Show me what you’ve recorded, please.”
Joseph Gardner pushed a button on his console and Edison saw the close up of the ships’ drives. “It is a different color, and now that they have stopped in orbit I can see that it appears that the inner wall of those drives is also a different color.” Edison thought a moment and said, “I know you are probably tempted to fire a penetrator up one of those drives to see if we could disable one of their ships, but if we do we will give away the fact that we can hide from them. We need to use this when we can do the most damage, and that would not be now.”
Joe smiled, “I agree. We’ll plan how to use this, but for now let’s try to keep them jumping around. What do you think they’ll do next?”
“Why, go to another planet and try again. Do we have Searchers at all of our planets?”
“Yes, and they have optical scanners placed far enough in-system to see if any stars have their light disrupted. We may not see them initially, but we’re confident we will see them. The problem will be if they decide to go to a planet of another race. We only have the Spider planets covered now. There are not enough ships coated yet to use for all our members.”
Edison continued to look at the picture of the brown ship’s drives, “I feel reasonably certain that their instructions are to eliminate us first. I will be surprised if they violate those.”
“We have also placed some stealth probes to follow their jump tracks, so we should be able to know where they’re going. Between the probes and the Searchers we should be able to keep the populations of most planets safe for the moment.”
“What about those planets that are not members?”
Joe was silent for a long moment, “Then there will be a huge loss of life. Those populations will not be able to teleport away. Let us hope that doesn’t happen.”
Edison looked at his screen again and agreed with Joe Gardner. “We can only hope.”
The Directors of all the invading Keepers ships were connected telepathically and had a common intelligence. “How do we account for this event?” After a few minutes of reflection the consensus of all their opinions replied, “Either all of our sensors are defective, which is highly unlikely, or the beings in this universe have a way of deceiving our scans.”
A secondary consensus commented, “Or the population evacuated as we approached the target planet.”
The sum of the Director’s thoughts reflected on that thought. “That would indicate a level of technology that is so far ahead of us that they would not need to evacuate. It also begs the question of how a population could jump away inside the barrier to star travel. It must be a means of deceiving our scanners; notice that as we moved closer the true surface of the planet was revealed. The Sensor Operators consensus asked, “Then how do we find a planet with a real population? I cannot distinguish the difference.”
The Lead Director ordered, “Pick another planet and we will go investigate.”
“The selection is on your screen, Director.”
“Edison?”
“Yes, Einstein?”
“What happens when their fleet moves out of the system and they don’t see any population on the planet? Won’t that give them a suspicion to believe the population was moved?”
Edison jumped up from his board, “Contact the leader of Hallago and have him teleport the population back in at ten percent per hour.” Edison looked at his board receiving the feed from the Searchers in the Hallago system, “They just started moving away; we have fifty minutes to get ten percent back on the planet.”
Einstein pushed his com.
“Director, my scan shows the population rising on the planet as we move away.”
“Then it must be caused by a technological device.”
“Should we send a ship back to investigate?”
The Director thought a moment, “No, we saw there was no one there. Keep me informed if the numbers increase as we move away. That will confirm a mechanism that deceives our scanners.”
After five hours the Sensor Operator thought, “The population is now at the identical level when we were here on the way to the planet.”
“We are going to have to find a way to defeat this technology. Perhaps it is only this planet that possesses it. How long before we jump to the next target?”
“Five intervals to move outside the star drive barrier, two more to organize for the jump. The next planet is fifteen intervals inside the barrier.”
The Director leaned back on his four legs, “This has been a waste of time so far. Perhaps the next target will offer an opportunity to destroy the ancient enemy.”
Jackson Grant was puzzled. The community had replaced all those taken with new births and now the population was fifty over the limit set by the Keepers. The population had never grown more than twenty over the limit without the Keepers coming to take the surplus. This was unheard of in the community’s history. How was this happening? He found his thoughts kept going to the Good Luck Man. There was just no way the two could be related, but nothing different had happened. He thought about it for an hour, then sent a messenger to bring Kathea. Kathea arrived and Jackson said, “Sit down, Kathea.”
Kathea knew Jackson and highly respected him. All the Humans gave great respect to their chosen leader, and Jackson was one that everyone liked immensely. Kathea sat down on a rocker outside Jackson’s quarters and smiled, “Hello, Jackson. Why have you called me to come here?”
Jackson looked at her and felt a love for one of his children. “Kathea, it is my understanding that you were the first to touch the Good Luck Man. Tell me about what happened.”
Kathea thought a moment, “He dropped his shovel and I noticed that he touched me on my shoulder when I bent to pick it up.”
“That’s not unusual, Kathea. Did he touch you inappropriately?”
“No, he didn’t, but he is a very good looking man and I watched him in the fields as we worked. I noticed that he touched many other women during the day. He also volunteered for water detail and continued touching other women.” Jackson nodded and continued to stare at Kathea. “I approached him that evening when we were gathered to eat and asked him why he was touching so many of my sisters.”
Jackson sat up straighter, “What was his response?”
“He said that his father told him that he was a good luck baby, and that every woman he touched would have good luck. He also said that his father believed that if he could touch every woman in the community, that the entire community would have good luck.”
“And you believed him?”
“Not really, but something happened that made me wonder.” Jackson remained silent and waited. Kathea reached up to her neck and pulled a string out of her dress and showed Jackson the small metal ring. “This ring has been handed down in my family since we first landed on this planet. It was the wedding ring of my original ancestor.” Jackson looked at the ring and furrowed his brow.
“The string broke one day several weeks before and I lost this ring in the fields. Within an hour of him touching me, I was pulling weeds from the crops and the ring came up with one of the weeds. What are the chances of that happening, Jackson? I also discovered that more than ten of my other sisters had found lost items and ten others received proposals from the ones they were hoping to marry. There was just too many coincidences, and I told others about what had happened. The rest you know about. It seems that everyone who touches him has something good happen. The community sees that we are over the limit on our numbers and the Keepers have not come to take us. There is a growing sense that all of our women want to touch him to see if what he says has any truth in it. What do you think about all this, Jackson?”
Jackson rocked and slowly shook his head, “Quite frankly I find it difficult, if not impossible, to believe he is a Good Luck Man. I also don’t remember ever seeing him before he touched you.” Kathea furrowed her brow and tilted her head, “But that doesn’t mean anything, Kathea. I’m sure there are many that I don’t know.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Jackson. Your memory is legendary.”
“Perhaps.” They both continued to rock in silence then Jackson asked, “What do you think we should do, Kathea?”
Kathea started nodding her head slowly, “I would have every female in the community touch him as quickly as possible. I’ve seen too many things happen that just can’t be explained and maybe, just maybe, there is good luck for us if we do.”
Jackson nodded and said, “I think I need to speak with him before we set that up.”
Kathea nodded, “You should. I think you’ll like him.”
“We’ll see.”
“Cynthia, a ship is moving in from the jump limit.”
“I’ve wondered why they haven’t taken any of the population. It is now higher than the established level by more than fifty.”
“So you think they are coming to receive colonists?”
“Don’t you?”
“No, I don’t.”
Cynthia was quiet for a few moments, “If they’re not coming here for that, what do you think they’re doing?”
“I don’t know, but in every instance except provisioning for the invasion fleet, when the ships came to receive food the colonists were taken four days prior to the ships’ arrival. It must take some time to prepare them for shipment, and that time frame has remained constant in all of their arrivals. That ship will arrive in ten hours, and the Keepers have not taken any colonists since the invasion started.”
Cynthia sat and thought about what Junior had said. If they weren’t coming for food, why were they coming? She had a moment of fear that they had been detected, but that fear vanished when she remembered the three ships that had come when the Searcher had been discovered. If they were not detected and they were not coming for food, then what were they doing here? Then she knew, “They’re coming to set a trap, aren’t they?”
“That’s what I suspect. They must have seen races in their scan of the stars Realm that matched the races on this planet. I think they rightly suspect that if there are any other incursions into their domain that it will happen here.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Nothing but wait and see where they go. I suspect that we will have a neighbor on this moon shortly.”
“This is not good, Junior!”
“Tell me about it.”
The brown ship moved in-system, and ten hours later arrived at the moon. It changed course and moved toward the moon’s surface, landing on top of a crater wall less than six hundred yards from the Realm’s ship. Cynthia saw the ship settle with the bow facing toward the planet. She saw the drives of the Keepers ship directly above her at the top of the crater. “Hey, Junior, those drives don’t look brown to me.”
“I just noticed that myself. I wonder if they are surrounded by the brown material or something else.”
“How can we find out?”
Junior was silent for more than a minute, which Cynthia knew represented more than a year of thought by human standards, “I’m going to use a one-way teleport and send a microprobe inside one of them.”
“Junior, we’re really close to these creatures. That probe will use energy to move around. Are you sure this is a risk worth taking?”
“Well, if something was inside our ship’s drive tubes, would our scanners see it?”
Cynthia thought about that question, “I don’t know.”
“Where are our scanners set to scan?”
“Everything around the ship.”
“And they are located just under the hull of our ships looking out from that hull. If anything is behind the scanner, it won’t be seen.”
“What about internal scanners?”
“The will be in the walls of the ship looking inward. I don’t think you would have scanners looking in at the drives of a ship. We certainly don’t engineer our ships that way, and there are some constants in ship construction that transcend all ship builders. If the ship detects it then it would have to turn its bow toward us, and we could teleport away before that happened.”
“Or they could call in other ships to hit us like the first Searcher.”
“We still have the passive scanners on the other side of the moon to warn us. I think it’s worth the risk. This is information that could prove invaluable to the Realm.”
“Is there a possibility that they will detect the teleport screen?”
“I’ll orient the screen away from them. There will be nothing to scan on their side of the screen.”
Cynthia patted her feet on the floor, “How do I let you talk me into these things?”
Junior laughed over the speaker, “Because in your heart you are a warrior and actually live for the fight.”
“Just do it, Junior.”
The micro probe appeared in the drive tube of the Keepers’ ship and recorded the surrounding surfaces. It moved from one end to the other, then found what it was programmed to find. The fuel lines feeding the drives came through the brown wall at the front end of the drives. It attached itself to the wall and waited for the signal.
“Junior, how are we going to collect the probe’s information?”
“I’m going to take a small risk.”
“Uh oh.”
“That ship is close to where the Searcher was killed. There is a passive probe across the crater from them, and I am going to have it reflect light at the rear of their ship. The light will enter the drives and the probe will see the flash send its information is less than one millionth of a second. The power it will use is less that a hundredth of the light being reflected. I don’t think they will be able to see both on their scanners. The passive sensor will then melt. If they investigate the source of the light they will see a melted scanner. I hope they attribute it to the Searcher they killed.”
“Let’s get this over with.”
The passive probe oriented itself to the sunlight hitting the moon’s surface and flashed a brief light at the Keepers’ ship. The probe detected the light entering the drive tube and sent its information.
“Director, something has just hit our hull with reflected light.”
“Did you determine the source?”
“Yes, I’m zooming in on it now with our optical sensor.”
The Director looked at his display, saw the melted scanner, and asked, “How did that get here?”
“The ship we destroyed created this crater we’re on. I suspect it was blown out when it blew up.”
“Does it look worth retrieving?”
The Sensor Operator examined it, “No, it’s burned badly. The sun probably hit it at just the right angle to cause that reflection.’
The Director turned back to his console, “Keep me informed if anything else happens.”
Cynthia raised her shoulders and waited for the Keepers’ ship to lift, but it didn’t move. She lowered her shoulders and looked at her board, “The fuel line comes through the wall.”
“Yes, it does. If we detect that ship starting to power up we are going to fire a high powered penetrator into each of their three drive tubes and move away.”
“How much longer are we going to give Jake?”
“As long as it takes.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
Jake walked up the hill toward Jackson Grant’s quarters. Kathea had found him in the northern field and said Jackson wanted to speak with him. He was worried. He did not want to deceive the leader of this colony, but knew that was exactly what he was going to be forced to do. There was no possible way he could tell him the truth. He thought about what he was going to say, but then decided that the best course of action was to clear his mind and just go with the conversation. He saw Jackson rocking outside his quarters. As he approached Jackson said, “Take a load off your feet. Come sit down.”
Jake forced himself to relax, sat down in the rocker, and started rocking. Jackson looked out at the people working in the fields and didn’t say anything. Jake also looked out at the fields, rocked, and found peace in the rhythm of the chair.
“So you’re the Good Luck Man.”
Jake smiled, “I’m probably more mystified by that title than you are, Jackson.”
Jackson smiled and looked at Jake, “Why is that?”
“I woke up one morning and remembered my father telling my mother that I was a good luck baby. She told him that if I touched every woman like I touched her that they would all feel the good luck. He replied that if I touched them all then good luck would have to follow.” Jackson said nothing. “I don’t know if she meant that I was touching her in her heart or actually touching her, but I decided to see. I moved to my new quarters and started touching every female I could. I know you must think I’m crazy to try and touch every female.”
“I do. Why don’t you have a mate?”
That question surprised Jake. He answered honestly, “I haven’t found her yet.”
Jackson didn’t know what to think. Everyone had a mate by the time they were this young man’s age. Jackson’s expression said it all. Jake continued, “I don’t know why, Jackson, but I feel that if I touch the one for me I’ll know it immediately. I may be wrong, but I have to see.”
Jackson stared at Jake and knew he was telling the truth. He could tell when someone was not being honest, and he saw that Jake really believed what he said. “Well, we have to help you find her. Five days from now we are going to assemble the community and every female that has not touched you, will. You should have a mate and it is my responsibility to make sure everyone does. Do you really think this good luck thing has any truth to it?”
Jake shook his head, “I honestly don’t know, but so many have claimed that touching me brought them luck. I don’t know if my parents were a little crazy about me or if I just misunderstood what they were saying, but something is going on.”
Jackson felt better about the Good Luck Man. He wasn’t crazy as he suspected, but just giving in to a whim. Something was happening; the Keepers were staying away. That still had him bothered, but that had to be totally unrelated to this young man. It had been years since everyone in the community had gathered, and he actually looked forward to the assembly. “You can go back to work now.”
Jake smiled and said, “I really enjoy the view from your rocker; we have to do this again.”
“Anytime; just not during work hours.”
Jake smiled and left for the fields.
The Director of the Keepers invasion fleet was frustrated. Three weeks had passed and every planet the fleet investigated was empty of life. Something was going on that he could not fathom. He called the other ships’ Directors to conference and asked, “Is there anything else we can do to find these Green Creatures?”
“Perhaps they no longer exist, and these planets are where they once lived.”
“But all of the technology on those planets is still operating.”
“We must send a messenger back to the Collective and see what it would have us do.”
A Sensor Operator interjected, “I would like to propose an option.”
The Lead Director thought, “What is that?”
“I have scanned this universe and have found some planets that have the same species as the farm where we destroyed that strange ship. Maybe it is only the Green Creature planets that have no population. Perhaps we should go see a planet with one of those species that live on the farm where the ship was attempting to hide.”
The Director thought about that proposal and could hear the agreement from the other Ship Directors. So far the fleet had nothing to show for their actions. “Where is the planet with one of the species?”
“It is not that far, and the star drive barrier is only eight hours from the planet.”
“Prepare your ships; we will be jumping to this planet.”
“Valerie?”
“What is it, Joe?”
Joe was silent.
“What is it?”
“The Keepers Fleet has jumped from Webbering.”
“And?”
“The stealth probe read their jump track and they are not going to one of the Spider’s planets.”
“Where are they going?”
“Gambia.”
“Oh no, Joe! Is there anything we can do to save that planet?”
“No, Sis. The Searchers that have the protective coating are all assigned to the Spiders’ planets. The Keepers Fleet has already entered the jump limit at Gambia and will be at the planet is less than six hours. We are not equipped to undertake any kind of response quickly enough that would allow us to move even a small part of the population. The Keepers Fleet is close enough to see optically if we tried to teleport in and start moving the population; it would reveal to them how we are hiding our own populations if we tried. We can’t risk revealing what we’ve been doing.”
Valerie could see in her mind the vision she had years before. She had seen the massive killing but she did not recognize the planet where it was happening. Now she saw the rags the bulk of the population was wearing and the decrepit condition of the buildings. She closed her eyes and wished she could forget. It made sense that the Keepers would go to Gambia. Now, after the fact, it had to be Jake’s psychic self that brought them. This was another avenue to get Jake to the Keepers’ universe. The fact that Jake was already there would have no impact on the various paths that had been set in motion. She thought about Jake and worried.
“Director, the population reading is not changing as we move in-system.”
“Good! Organize our coverage; we’ll start with the northern hemisphere and then move south. Do you detect any star ships?”
“No, this planet appears to be very backward in their technology.”
“That may be true, but it has a large population.”
“That it does, Director.”
“Have you read the thought signature of the population?”
“Yes, and our emitters are tuned to that band. Have you decided if you are going to collect any of the inhabitants for shipment to our universe?”
“We are not doing that now. This is a war fleet and we cannot provide care for them.”
“As you wish, Director. How many for stores?”
The Director listened to the thousands of Keepers in the fleet and found the needed number, “Two million should be enough.”
The Sensor Operator looked at his display, “That is the population of one of the cities on the coast next to that spaceport.”
“Make sure the emitters are set accordingly.”
The devices on the Keepers’ ships that made the intense beam were remarkable devices. If set at zero frequency they would emit a beam that would destroy all matter they hit. They could also be set at specific frequencies that matched the thought frequency of the selected population and would only target that population; everyone else would not be affected. The intensity of the beam would determine whether it would stun or kill. The fleet had their intensity set to kill.
The stealth probe followed the Keepers Fleet in to the planet and positioned itself to record the coming action. Gambia was slightly bigger than Ross, and had a circumference of thirty thousand miles. The huge fleet stopped above the planet and waited as the ships moved into a line. The hundred thousand Keepers’ ships entered the atmosphere of Gambia and lined up at the equator, with seven ships evenly spaced every mile halfway around the planet. They dropped to a mile above the surface and waited for the order to be given.
“Activate the emitters.” Every Keeper on every ship connected with the other Keepers on their ships telepathically and turned off their hearing. They then began sending the vibrating thought patterns into the emitter at the front of the ship. Each navigator watched their boards while the weapons operators focused the intensity of the beam as it rose to the desired threshold. At that point the Director sent the command to the fleet, “Move forward.”
Abul Cahale was stretched out on a chair on the front of his yacht when he noticed something in the sky at the horizon moving toward his ship. The young women that were attending him stood and looked at the approaching line of…something. As the objects moved closer, Abu saw that the objects were huge star ships and they were approaching quickly. The three women had moved to the bow to get a better view. Abu saw them waving and then start twisting, screaming, and turning to dust. He jumped up and ran toward the rear of the huge vessel. He didn’t make it past the main cabin before the most intense pain he had ever felt gripped him, then he was gone as the dust from his body blew away in the sea breeze. The yacht continued sailing until it ran aground.
The Keepers’ beams showed no discrimination between rich or poor. Unlike the population, there were no class distinctions; it treated all the same way. The long line of brown ships moved north and left millions dead behind it. Animals were not touched by the beam, fish were not affected, birds flew through it safely, and plants never noticed it pass. Only Humans felt the intense pain and death. The probe captured it all and witnessed the horror taking place.
The line of ships moved toward the main city of Gambia, destroying everything outside the city proper. The population standing on the outskirts of the tall grey buildings looked up into a blue sky and saw the line of ships approaching. The public speakers were blaring a warning of an invading fleet and called for everyone to flee the city, but the inhabitants saw there was no time to exit. Many running from the city saw the ships approach Degrund Park.
A young man and woman standing in the park outside the city embraced each other and then turned to dust. Two children ran from the oncoming shadows and tried to hide under the slide in the park. They saw the people closest to the approaching ships turn to dust and hid their eyes just before they died. At the Abu Galei hospital located next to the park, the maternity ward heard the babies go silent as the beams crossed the room. Hundreds of dogs were roaming the park with leashes dangling, trying to find their owners that had blown away in the wind as the ships passed overhead.
The ships approached the outer city limits and moderated the intensity of their beam. As the brown ships moved over the city, the beam began hitting the inhabitants and destroying their higher brain functions. People began falling to the ground and twitching as the fleet passed overhead. More than two million people were left scattered on the streets, and in homes twitching as their raw nerves sent messages to a brain that was no longer able to receive them.
The long line of ships crossed over the North Pole and then continued moving south. Everywhere humans were dying a horrible death. The dying didn’t stop until the Keepers Fleet moved over the South Pole and then moved back to their starting point at the equator.
The Fleet Director was elated. No resistance had been given. This universe was going to be easy to conquer. “Send your shuttles to pick up your stores.”
A hundred thousand shuttles left the Keepers Fleet and descended on the space port. Each picked up twenty of the still-twitching bodies and took them back to their ship. Being brain dead was actually a mercy to those taken. Any that were left behind were hit with the terrible beams and destroyed. Soon fires broke out where stoves were left on, and many cities began burning. Some were started when vehicles ran into buildings and other structures, causing huge explosions when their fuel tanks ruptured. No one was alive to put them out.
The probe recorded it all and disappeared to deliver its information to Fleet Command. Another probe arrived to replace it and settled in behind the Keepers Fleet as it moved away from the now dead planet. For Gambia, there were no class distinctions after the Keepers. Everyone was dust.
Edison watched the recording taken by the probe with Sprig, Joseph, Valerie, and Admiral Zergl, who had all commed in on his communication panel. Edison noticed the hard expression of the Gardners and could sense the anger from the others. “Edison, what do you think about this?”
“Prince Gardner, This is remarkably similar to the process my species once used to attack planets. The main difference is that we collected information from the inhabitant’s brains and stored it. These creatures just kill all intelligent life except for those needed for food. I now feel the anger and outrage that this causes when it is visited on others. It amazes me that the Realm allowed us to live.”
“Where are they going now?”
Valerie said, “They’re going either to Ross or Camerrill, if we don’t move the populations before they arrive outside the jump limit.”
Admiral Zergl did a quick flinch, “How do you know that?”
“Because Jake Talant was at both of those planets before he left for their universe. I believe his psychic self is directing these creatures to come to him.”
“Why would he be doing that?”
“I just don’t know, Joe, but everything points to it. He was arrested on Camerrill and that Searcher was killed immediately after we found him. The first planet they attacked successfully was where he was born. The next attack will have to be another location where he visited recently. That would have to be Ross or Camerrill. We need to get the populations moved quickly.”
The other conference attendees looked at each other. Finally Joe asked, “Valerie, do your psychic abilities tell you where they are going?”
“No, Joe. It just makes the most sense based on what I’ve seen.”
“I’m just not willing to disrupt the populations of two planets unless you are certain, Valerie. Are you absolutely convinced?”
Valerie struggled for an answer, “No, I am not certain, but I am not going to gamble on the creatures discovering Ross. I want the population ordered to teleport away for 24 hours. We’ll not involve Camerrill in this exercise, but as Ruler of the Stars Realm I order you to move Ross’ population.”
Joe stared at Valerie and signed, “Admiral, issue the order. According to the probe, the Keepers will clear the jump limit in two hours.”
All of them felt that this was a huge waste of time, but the Queen had spoken.
On Ross all communication devices began blaring out the warning, “All citizens on Ross must teleport to another planet immediately. We will keep you informed about returning, but you must be gone within the hour. An attack is imminent.” The announcement played over and over as the population of billions teleported away.
The Keepers Fleet approached the jump barrier and the Director turned to his sensor operator, “Where is the next target?”
“Before we entered this system I had mapped several possible locations using the same thought frequency of the last target, but one of them has changed radically since the last scan.”
“What are you saying?”
“One of the targets had a huge population, with a high percent of them being the species of the planet we just eliminated. However, now the planet is empty of life.”
The Director thought a moment as the fleet tuned in and listened telepathically, “If as we surmise a device is projecting phantom populations and it had a malfunction such that the real surface was revealed, that could account for the difference.”
The sensor operator thought about the proposal, “Yes, that’s possible. Are we going to go see if it’s valid?”
“Do you want to waste,” the Director looked at his display, “eighteen intervals to see? We know someone in this universe can deceive our scanners. We have wasted too much time already, and I’m not willing to throw away any more. If there’s doubt about a population’s existence, I would rather move toward one where we are reasonably certain of success.”
The sensor operator could hear the thoughts of all the Keepers in the fleet and determined that the over whelming majority agreed with the Director. “I’ll check that planet later, and if the population goes back to the original level we’ll know it is another decoy.”
“Where is your other target?”
“On your display, Director.”
“Jump in a quarter interval; tighten up your formations.”
The Keepers Fleet jumped and arrived at the jump limit in Camerrill’s system.
Valerie watched her communication panel as Fleet Command scrambled to move Camerrill’s population. Valerie thought, “I hate being right about this. Jake, you’re causing trouble. Hurry up and get those powers under control.” He couldn’t hear her, but she had to voice her frustration.
Joe appeared on her board, “I will not question you again.”
Valerie nodded, “That is a wise decision, but you need to get the population to safety.”
“I’m sorry, Sis.” Joe disappeared from her screen.
Valerie pulled up a picture of Jake on her display. He had just woken from his history download and had smiled when he saw her beside his chair. She stared at the picture in silence, “Come on, Jake. We need you now.”