No Technology Is Invincible (The Death Prophecies-Book Four 4) (4 page)

“I have better control of the stardrive’s fields than any other ship. I think it’s due to the hybrid computers that make up my central processors. Stand by and let’s see what happens when the change completes.”

“Let me know immediately if you encounter a problem.”

“You might want to activate your armor to be sure.”

Gabe pressed the red button on the arm of his command chair and the armor immediately surrounded him. The helmet came off the back of the chair and locked to the collar. He checked the system and saw that his environmental gauges red green. He waited and stared at his panel. Time seemed to pass at a slow rate and finally he heard, “You need to keep the armor on. The air in the storage tanks has also undergone a change and you’ll need to use the tanks in your armor.”

“Why wasn’t it changed with your storage tanks, Poul?”

“Your armor has already been through the change and your storage tank is composed of the neutral substance. It surrounds your oxygen and prevented any change.”

Gabe shook his head and was thankful he had brought his personal armor on board at the start of the mission, “Maybe we should call this off.”

“Your tanks will supply you with enough air to last five days. You should be fine.” Gabe hesitated and Poul said, “The change is complete. It’s good to see I’m still in Other Space. Are you ready to go?”

“Are you sure this is safe?”

“As long as you remain in your armor, you should be fine.”

“I was also referring to you.”

“Your concern is appreciated. Are you ready?”

Gabe sighed and fogged his faceplate. He waited until it cleared and said, “Let’s go get this done.” He stared at M82 spinning behind him and, in an instant, it was replaced with the black hole in the center of the Andromeda Galaxy. He shook his head as he stared at the giant gravity towers feeding dust into the giant black hole. “This is impossible!”

“Not if the stardrive can be manipulated properly.”

Gabe flinched as he heard over his armor’s communicator, “I see you’re right on time.”

He looked at the upper left corner of his helmet’s visor and saw the Supreme Leader of the Darkness staring at him. Gabe smiled and said, “Have you made any decisions about what we sent to you?”

“It appears our issue with the Builders is not resolved by the jets we’re using to keep them out of my galaxy.”

“I’m forced to agree with you.”

“So far, they’ve not sent a vessel through to check on what’s happened to the ships they sent here. Your suggestion that they may send a launcher through will pose a huge problem if they manage to get it back through to their galaxy.”

“Admiral Connor has armed a hundred of our warships with the missile we used to destroy the two Builder Launchers in our attack.”

“We need a lot more than that to completely surround the black hole.”

Gabe nodded, “I know but that’s all we have. We’re building other facilities to build them but at the moment that’s all that’s been completed.”

“What are you doing about determining other possible black holes the Builders can use to come to our universe?”

“We’re building scouts to go through our black hole to see if the spiral galaxy we see in our scans is actually my galaxy.”

“And if it is?”

“We’re going to delay our invasion of the aggressive civilizations on the other side of our black hole. We’re going to let them take the Builders on before we go to stop them.”

The Darkness Leader’s next statement surprised Gabe, “My advisors and I are concerned that they might select another door other than your galaxy.”

“What?”

“We feel it would be better to know their point of entry than to have them enter an unknown doorway.”

“Are you suggesting we allow them to come through our black hole?”

“Can you stop them? And if you can, do you not think that you would then become their primary target. We’re of the belief that if they do enter your black hole that they will ignore you and come directly here to attack us.”

Gabe shrugged, “We’ve also come to that conclusion.”

“Would it not then be better for us to meet them with our combined forces here than to have our forces divided defending both galaxies?”

“This is not something that I can decide.”

The Supreme Leader’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Gabe, “I took a risk not closing our black hole until all of your ships had escaped. I allowed their warships to enter my galaxy to ensure your fleets survived. Are you not willing to take the same risk?”

Gabe stared back at the Darkness Leader and took a deep breath. He exhaled slowly and slightly nodded, “There is another way to delay them.”

“What is that?”

“We take the fight to their turf. If we attack them in their galaxy, they won’t be sending their warships anywhere until that is resolved.”

The Darkness Leader lowered his eyes, “Your warships are no match for the Builder Warships we saw on your scout’s recordings.”

“No, they’re not. But a wasp is no match for one of us but you’ll stop what you’re doing to avoid being stung.”

“You will incur huge losses.”

“But it will buy time to come up with an answer to their technology.”

“We could lose the forces we need to defeat them here.”

Gabe lowered his eyes, “Can you stop them?”

“We believe that our gravity towers will defeat those ships.”

“Are you sure about that?”

There was a long pause and Gabe heard the Darkness Leader say, “No.”

“I need to discuss this with my Leaders to determine the best course of action. I’ve given you some things to consider and you, along with your advisors should do the same. We’ll come together later and determine what we should do next.”

“That seems to be the wisest course for the moment. If the Builders manage to get a ship through my black hole, then we will have to respond quickly.”

Gabe nodded, “We won’t waste time deciding what to do. Notify us if a Builder Ship appears here.”

“I will.”

Gabe shook his head and ended the contact. “Poul, get us back to Fleet Operations.”

“I’ll take you there and then leave for Bosrean.”

“Stay in touch. I think I’m going to need you.”

“That’s become apparent. I’ll get the Bosrean working on my systems as quick as I can.”

“That would be good.” A moment later, Gabe saw the roof of Fleet Operations below the ship and he ran to the exit portal. He ran down the ramp and a moment later felt the wind blow hard into the space the Prophet’s Eyes had occupied a moment earlier. He had to admit that he hadn’t thought about Janell since they left M82.

T
he Builder Leader was close to rage. He stared at the hologram of the spinning launcher in front of him and his eyes were little more than slits. The Construction Leader continued speaking, “The Launcher’s structure has been weakened internally by the high level of radiation. The two surviving launchers were not built with the thicker, reinforced hull of the two Thruster Launchers. As soon as we powered one of the thrusters, it snapped off a piece of the hull where we attached it and sent it spinning.”

“And why were you unaware of the hull’s weakness!?”

“The weakness is in the middle of the metal. There was no way to measure it.”

The Builder Leader stared at the Construction Leader and almost activated the kill circuit in his brain connector but the red light blinking in the periphery of his communication link made him pause. One or more of the Elders were watching his conversation. He also knew that this Construction Leader was a close relative of three of the Elders. Killing him would make any questionable future decision go unsupported by those three Elders. Politics! He thought about it and realized that he could be censored for killing this Construction Leader and thus slow the process of getting a Launcher through the black hole. He forced himself to control his emotions and saw his brain connector taking action to calm his nervous system.

“How long will it take you to build a new launcher with thrusters?”

“I’ve placed the order for two but they are being delayed because you have ordered the building facilities to start building warships again. I need to place a priority order to put the launchers ahead of the warships being built.”

Now he knew he was in possible jeopardy. If he had given in to his urge to kill this incompetent fool, his supporters would have turned it on him for his stupidity in slowing the construction of the launchers. “I will place the priority orders immediately. How long before they are completed.”

“Five weeks.”

The Builder Leader felt his anger start to build again but ordered his brain link to get it under control. It wouldn’t be good for the Elders to see his emotions. “Get it done!” He ended the call and issued the orders to build two new launchers.

One of the Elders listening to his conversation said, “Will this delay cause us issues?”

“It would be better if we could do it faster but I suspect it won’t cause any real problems.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because I know the Warships being used by the Carnivores have a weakness that can be exploited by the beings on the other side of the black hole. I suspect that most of them, if not all, have already been destroyed.”

“Then why are you building a launcher to go through the black hole?”

“I do not plan to send any of our warships through until I have an idea of what they will face when they arrive. This is primarily a scouting effort.” He listened and saw the flashing red light disappear from his vision. Good! They accepted his explanation. He needed the five weeks to shore up his support among the Elders. He would get it or resign his position. Having them constantly questioning his decisions was too nerve wracking to endure.

• • •

Gabe looked at Admiral Connor and wondered why he wanted to see him on the Prophet’s Eyes. He walked up the ramp into the now visible ship and headed toward the bridge. The magnetic field showed the lines of the vessel and Gabe had to admit that it was beautiful. Whoever had originally build the hull had done an outstanding job of creating a work of art. He arrived on the bridge and heard Admiral Connor talking loudly, “…don’t care! I won’t risk losing him!”

“You know it’s the right thing to do.”

“Do what?”

Steve turned and saw Gabe. His expression showed frustration and he waved Gabe to the second chair. “Poul is of the opinion that you and he should go and scout the galaxies in question.”

Gabe looked up, “Is that right, Poul?”

“It is.”

“But I’m incapable of connecting to your systems, Poul. The Helmet doesn’t operate for me. I was little more than a passenger when we went to M82 and Andromeda.”

“I had the Bosrean build you a helmet.”

Gabe’s head went back and Steve shook his head, “I did not approve his doing that.”

Gabe sat quietly and listened to them continue to argue. After five minutes he said, “Admiral, I’m forced to agree that Poul is right.”

The two suddenly grew silent and Steve stared at Gabe. Poul waited and finally said, “Why?”

“Poul, I thought you wanted me to do this?”

“I do. But I’m curious about your reasoning for your decision.”

Gabe looked at Steve, “I’m not a scout.”

Steve nodded, “You’re absolutely right; you’re not trained to do this.”

Gabe shrugged, “I wouldn’t go looking to scout the Builders, Sir. I would go looking for a possible strategy for defeating them. I’m going to lead our forces against them and, meaning no disrespect to our scouts, I possess a level of intelligence to see things they might miss. If I’m going to command the fleets that will confront them, I would be better served to go and see what I’m up against.”

“The Scouts can give you the information you need.”

“I’m sure they’ll find things as they always do. But will they be able to know where to spend time on targets that are critical to our success? Will they be able to look at their forces and see a pattern as to how they attack? Will they be able to determine where their real leaders are located? Will they do the things to gather the intelligence we must have before we open hostilities? Sir, Death Prophecy Seven, only knowledge can save you and number nine, survival is never given free.”

“But I can’t risk losing you; you’re too important.”

“Sir, if you were going to lead the fleets against them, would you demand to go?”

Steve stared at Gabe and started shaking his head, “You always have to make it personal, don’t you?” Gabe smiled and shrugged. “If I approve this, and I’m not saying I am, who would you take with you?”

“He should take the Cadet with him.”

Steve and Gabe both looked up and Steve started to yell but Gabe spoke first, “Why in seven hells would I take her?”

“For the very reason you say you should go.”

Steve saw Gabe’s head tilt and then look at him. Steve raised a shoulder, “Alright, I’ll bite on this. Why do you say that, Poul?”

“She’s the one that saw the other galaxy. She’s the one that saw there was another way for the Builders to invade. She see’s things that others miss, just like Gabe does. And even he missed those items. Besides, she is inexperienced and this will give her real world knowledge to make her better in her decision making process. I think it’s safe to say she will be a valuable fleet asset.”

Gabe was shaking his head and Steve chuckled, “You can’t have it both ways, Admiral. If your ability to see things is the reason you should go, it’s also a valid reason to take her with you.”

“But she won’t graduate for another two weeks. We need to do this now.”

Steve sighed, “I hate to admit it but it seems all the coincidences are lining up for this thing to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Bosrean modified The Prophet’s Eyes but did not rework the weapon systems. We need to build a new conveyor belt for the small conducting metal missiles that will be part of Poul’s armaments. Would you like to take a guess at how long Fleet Maintenance says that is going to take?”

Gabe stared at him and said, “Two weeks.”

Steve applauded, “Give the man a kewpie doll.”

“But, Sir, talking with her is brain numbing.”