Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven}) (44 page)

The Gardners all wanted to see what happened. The three spiders looked at each other and Edison said, “We are going to get the latest energy blade and bring it to Ross. We’ll teleport out and see you when you return.” The spiders touched their bracelets and teleported out.

Jake nodded and looked at the Gardners, “That’s a good idea. I’ll try to get back before you trial it.” Jake looked around and thought so everyone could hear, “Junior, I need you to come get me. We need to make sure the rescue is on schedule.”

“I’ll just bring you to me, Jake.”

A silver screen appeared on the Kosiev’s bridge and Jake stepped into it.

Matt looked at Melanie, “Well?”

“Something is bothering him, Matt. I’m not sure what it is. Perhaps Danielle will have success finding out with the Queen.”

Tag nodded at them and said, “Let’s go stir up some Keepers. Alex, keep your distance. We don’t want to lose you.”

The huge ship laughed, “Caution is my middle name.”

Cassandra smiled, “Just like the battle with the Demons.”

“You’ll never let me live that down, will you?”

“No way.”

The Alexander Kosiev disappeared.

Jake walked out of the screen on Junior’s bridge and said, “We need to make a quick trip to the Keepers’ universe.”

Al asked, “Why?”

“We are going to move more than twenty million civilizations shortly, and I need to see what the status of the Keepers Fleet. We won’t be very long.” Jake then thought, “Twig, I know you’re working on a project here, but is one of your larger ships available to go with us?”

“What do you need it for, Jake?”

“I want to go take that Keepers’ ship we killed on the moon of the first rescue and see if we can’t find something to defeat their hulls.”

Twig was silent for a moment and said, “I’ll have one join you momentarily.”

Junior was silent and waited.

Fly Girl said, “Be careful, Son.”

“You know I will, Mom. I’ll hurry back.”

A two-mile-long Algean transport appeared next to Junior and the Ship Leader said, “We’re at your disposal, Sir.”

Junior said, “Please jump to the following coordinates.” Junior sent them and jumped away.

The two ships appeared in open space far from the nearest Keepers Galaxy. “Jake, what are you talking about retrieving that Keepers’ ship? You know we towed that into the sun and destroyed it.”

Jake said, “Are you listening in Twig?”

“Sprig was right. You know us better than we ever thought possible.”

“I shocked you about your project and it doesn’t take a psychic to know you would come on this trip. I have no intention of staying here. Please jump to the following coordinates and I’ll tell you what’s going on when we arrive.”

The two ships jumped and emerged ten miles from the former Nest Mother’s giant ship.

Junior looked around and said, “Where are all the white ships?”

“The Demon came and disintegrated them. It knew those ships were the only weapon that could kill the Keepers’ fleets. We just left here less than an hour ago.”

Twig thought, “Then why did you come back?”

Jake paused and pushed a button on his command chair, “I downloaded the original destruction of the white creatures and watched it from the moment they emerged into this universe. They were here for about four hours before the Demon had them killed, and most everyone who has ever viewed the recording started watching it at the moment of that destruction.”

Junior asked, “What does that have to do with you coming back?”

Jake pushed a button and sent a feed to Twig, “I want you to watch this portion of the playback.”

Junior and Twig watched as one of the huge white ships approached the Nest Mother’s ship and stopped. A small white craft exited the ship and flew toward the giant green ship. As it approached a bright white beam hit the green hull and blew a hole big enough for the small craft to enter.”

Twig said, “I didn’t know those creatures had small craft like that.”

“No one did, Twig. But think about it. What if they find something that needed to be taken to the main ship. Those creatures would not be able to lift it with their personal propulsion.”

“Why do you think they went into that ship, Jake?”

Jake smiled, “The white creatures didn’t know that we had taken the Nest Mother’s chamber. I’m sure the leader wanted the chamber to take all the information that had been gathered over the long harvestings of the Eight Legs. I’m sure it feared the Demons and hoped to someday break free of their control.” Jake paused and said, “It was at this moment that the Demons activated the compulsion and the Demons began killing themselves. Keep an eye on the Nest Mother’s ship.”

They watched and, as the carnage continued with the billions of ships, they saw a single white creature fly out of the mother ship and attack another creature that had left their main ship.

“The white creatures did not use their ships to kill each other. The crew of that small ship attacked each other and the sole survivor left the ship inside and flew out to continue killing. It is my belief that the Demon did not know that craft was inside the Nest Mother’s ship. It has a weapon on it that can kill the Keepers’ ships, and I want you to take your transport, move that ship back to your labs, and duplicate it.”

Twig and Junior were quiet. Finally Twig said, “Why are you giving us that weapon? You must know what we are planning.”

“I do, but I am not going to give it to anyone that can’t be trusted with its power. I need you to make a hundred thousand of those weapons and I will send the Searchers from the Brez Division to have them installed. Those beams will not be given to the Realm’s military. The Brez Division has expanded and is now responsible for the security of the Crown’s galaxy. The majority of those Searchers are Gresh, Cainth, Glod, and Human. They can be trusted.”

The two remained silent. Jake continued, “That beam can destroy any substance in existence; even our ships cannot survive it. I will command that division and see that they are destroyed if we win this.”

“And what do you expect us to do with the one we have, Jake?”

“Use it to make sure your project is successful. You may no longer trust us, Twig; but I trust your species implicitly. You’re going to have a large family to defend shortly.”

Twig said, “We will follow your lead from this point forward. We will make your plan ours.”

“Thank you, Twig. We need to make sure the ship is there.”

A small shuttle teleported to the surface of the green ship and entered the hole in its surface. “The ship is there, Jake. We will start work on the weapon immediately.”

“Thank you, again, Twig.” Jake turned off his display and said, “Junior, I need you to take me to Admiral Busigleore.”

“Jake, you haven’t told me your plan.”

“Can your parents access your core?”

Junior was stunned, “I honestly don’t know.”

“Well, until this is over, you’re going to have to stay away from them. I’m sure the Reg would give parents the tools to manage the behavior of their offspring. You can’t risk everything on the chance they can’t.”

“Why do you think they can?”

“They responded to your distress beacon in less than ten seconds. I believe they heard it before it actually activated. That concerns me, Junior. Just tell them you’re not where you can leave me for the short term. Hopefully we can delay them getting suspicious, but I’m certain that the Gardners are already wondering what I’m hiding from them and they may ask your parents to find out.”

“Are you going to meet with the Gardners again?”

“Not if I can avoid it. I can probably hide what I’m planning from them, but I’m not so sure I could from AG.”

J
ake sat down and looked at Manny. “Thank you for meeting with me, Admiral.”

“Call me Manny, Jake. What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to give me command of the Brez Division’s Searchers, and make sure every one of them is totally loyal to the Queen.”

“That would strip Ross of its defenses.”

“I know.”

“I need to know why.”

Jake stared at Manny and finally decided. He began telling Manny what was going to happen and his plan for handling it.

Two hours later Manny was convinced, “Does Valerie know?”

“No, she doesn’t, and she would not go along with what I’m going to do.”

“I can see that.” Manny sat and mulled over what Jake had told him. “Why did you tell me and not just order me to give you the ships?”

“You are the only one in the Realm that can see if what I’ve told you is true. I was thinking that you might know of something that I’ve missed that would change my plans. Do you know anything I’ve missed?”

“I know a number of things you don’t know, but they only support what you’re planning. I’m not certain you can make this happen.”

“Me either, Manny but I have to try.”

“This could be considered treason, Jake.”

“So shoot me, but first help me.”

“The Division is yours. There are five hundred Searchers that are spies, and I need to assign them to another venture.”

Jake stared at Manny. “Don’t act surprised. I have more than six thousand scattered throughout the Realm. The Division is yours. I’ll notify the General Officers that they are to follow your orders without question, no matter what you ask of them.”

“I want Cynthia Dodd to be second-in-command.”

Manny smiled and said, “Another promotion?”

“An Admiral outranks a General, and she is going to have to command the operation in the Keepers’ universe.” Jake paused, “Manny, if Joe knows what I’m planning, AG will know.”

“I know. I’ll make sure I stay away from any meetings with them.”

Jake tilted his head, “That’s a good Idea.”

Manny nodded, and worried.

The Kosiev jumped away from the Keepers Fleet it had attacked, and the Gardners replayed the recording of the battle. “I tried everything in my inventory and nothing affected their hulls.”

Tag said, “We see that. Do you think flying through one would cut it in half?”

There was a long pause, “I’ll try that, but I want Cassandra taken off if I do.”

Cassandra sat up in her chair, “Why do you say that?”

“I felt their beams and they started to get through to my processors. I’m of the mind that I would be broken in half if I tried it.”

“Then we won’t try it.”

Tag looked at Cassandra and knew she would not allow him to place the ship in danger. “Can you think of anything else we can do?”

She shook her head.

“If we still had those blue ships we used against the Demons, there might be a good chance of damaging them.”

Matt sighed, “That possibility does not exist. The Reg took them when they moved out of our universe. I’m also pretty certain that they would not allow us to use them to kill another species if they are not also endangered by that species. And they are not where we can reach them. They left for another dimension and we do not possess an interdimensional drive.”

“Perhaps that cutting beam is a possibility.”

Tag shrugged, “You’re probably right, Alex. Take us to Ross and let’s see if the spiders are ready.”

The Collective asked Military, “How many ships are ready for the second wave?”

“Ten million. I have also learned another of those psychic waves happened in that other universe.”

“What?”

“It appears another being has been released.”

“Was there any damage to our fleets?”

“No, it happened far away from our fleets.”

“Psychology, have you seen this data?”

“Yes, but I don’t really know what it means.”

The Collective thought and asked, “Could those beings develop a weapon that uses that wave, and are just waiting for us to attack with our larger fleets?”

Silence greeted his question. Psychology said, “We won’t know unless we go ahead with the attack.”

“Don’t send the full fleet. Send four million and an observer to see if they possess that weapon. How many planets have been destroyed?”

“We have destroyed seven thousand which were all uninhabited. We are going to jump a small fleet in on one of their inhabited planets within twelve intervals to see if we’re successful.”

“Then hold off on sending any ships until we make that determination.”

Three hundred thousand Keepers’ ships waited for the scout to arrive and give them the coordinates needed for their attack. The Fleet Director watched his display and the scout jumped in and transmitted the location. The Keepers began sending thoughts to the main beam and when all ships reported ready, the Director said, “Jump in 5,4,3,2,1, jump.”