Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven}) (15 page)

“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.”