Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven}) (33 page)

Jake and Junior were also above the planet looking at the suffering of the inhabitants. “Junior, I thought you said there were only three to five cities on the Keepers’ planets.”

“Obviously, that wasn’t accurate. I can see how these ten communities would look like three or five because they’re so close. The garrison is also located in the middle, unlike the community in which you lived. Moving these would be more difficult than those we’ve been able to save.”

Jake and Junior were silent and finally Junior asked, “Why are we here?”

Jake played around various possibilities in his mind and finally said, “I think we have to show ourselves.”

“We’ll draw a crowd if we do that. Why do you think we need to do that?”

“I just looked at everything I can think of doing from attacking the garrison to landing on the planet, and the only action that lowers my sense of danger is revealing our presence.”

“Someone wants to communicate.”

“That’s how I see it, and I’ve determined it’s not the Keepers on the planet.”

Junior thought a moment, “We don’t see anyone here, but there must be someone looking to find us.” Junior thought a moment, “Let’s do this: we’ll back away from the planet toward the outer system and stop bending the light from the stars. There are no Keepers’ ships around and the garrisons we’ve faced have not used electronic scans. If that doesn’t work, we’ll just turn off our screens and be prepared to run like a Gresh if anything shows up. Can you think of anything else we can do?”

“No; just keep the jump system hot.”

“It’s simmering as we speak. Here we go.”

Junior moved a thousand miles away from the planet and stopped blocking light from distant stars. After a few minutes, Jake said, “Well, it looks like we have to show our best side.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Junior was startled, “Who said that?”

“I’ll answer your questions, but for your safety, we should move out of this system.”

Junior looked at his charts, “There is a nearby star that is a blue dwarf.”

“I see it.”

“We will go there.”

Junior teleported to the blue dwarf and waited with his jump systems active. “What’s going on, Jake?”

“I don’t know, but whoever it is I can sense in their thoughts that they possess a peaceful and gentle spirit. It can’t be a Keeper.”

“You are both right and wrong.”

Jake and Junior were startled again. “Jake, there is nothing on my scans.”

“That’s because there is nothing to scan.”

Jake thought, “What do you mean I am right and wrong?”

“I am a part of the, as you call them, Keepers, and my spirit is what you sense.”

Jake and Junior were stunned, “I have never encountered a spirit, and I have great difficulty seeing anything about you being a part of the species that kills so callously. Their indifference to the suffering they cause is staggering.”

Jake and Junior sensed the being’s sorrow, “You are right, but we were not always this way.”

“What changed you?”

“We were invaded by green creatures that threatened to exterminate us.”

Jake could sense Junior’s surprise. “I don’t understand.”

“As you probably know by now, my species is telepathic and every individual is interconnected mentally. We lost a hundred thousand worlds to the green invaders before we developed a thought-powered weapon to defend ourselves. Unfortunately, we discovered my species had tremendous difficulty using their thoughts to kill another creature. We were a peaceful, gentle race and just couldn’t force ourselves to do it. The weapon only works by using the focused thoughts of many Keepers, and it appeared that we were going to cease to exist unless we found a way to use the new weapon.”

Junior interrupted, “Well, you appear to have no trouble using it now.”

Jake and Junior heard a heavy sigh mentally, “That is my fault.”

They didn’t know how to respond, so waited silently for the voice to continue. “My species had, and still possesses, a central intelligence that directs the actions of us all. It is made from a tiny part of every…Keeper, as you call us, and it makes decisions about how our trillions work together. I was a part of that central being and I was composed of all the finer emotions: love, compassion, conscience, religion, morals, sense of right and wrong, and other similar characteristics. It was decided that the only way for us to survive was for the Collective, the central intelligence, to isolate me from the general population in order to remove their reluctance to kill other creatures. It decided that I must temporarily take that part of our psyche and isolate it in order to save us. I saw no other way to survive the green invaders, so I agreed on the promise that I would return after the green invaders were defeated.”

Jake said, “That war was millions of years ago. Are you still isolated from your populations?”

“Yes.”

“Then we need to get you back in.”

There was silence and finally they heard, “It’s too late for that now. I tried to enter some of us and there is no longer a place in my species’ minds for me to return. It appears that the place where I fit in our psyche has deteriorated and is now gone. I cannot return.”

Junior asked, “Then why are you here?”

“I had to see if you were like my species. I decided that if you came here to check on the worlds that were going to be destroyed as a consequence of your actions, then you were a part of the creative force. If you did not, you were no better than us.”

“What have you determined?”

“You came.”

Jake thought a moment, “So, what are you saying?”

“I’m here to assist you by telling you the process you must follow to kill every member of my race.”

Jake and Junior were too shocked to respond.

Finally Junior asked, “Can we kill them?”

“You will have to find a weapon that kills our ships to do that. However, I am going to tell you how you must do it when you find that weapon. Any other way will not work and would only lead to making your survival unlikely.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t kill the home worlds until all the subject planets are cleansed of my species.”

Jake felt suspicious at that statement.

“You’re thinking that I’m not being honest with you. You think I’m being untruthful to prevent you killing the home worlds. Let me tell you why you must wait. As long as the home worlds live, the Collective will live. My species can reproduce at a rate that would absolutely astound you. Right now our population is tightly controlled by the Collective Intelligence. If you kill the home worlds first, the Collective will disappear, along with its population control. The farming planets would explode in population growth. You would have millions of home worlds in less than a hundred cycles. They will first consume every captive population and, since we now have universal drives, they will then move out into other universes to gather food. Eventually, the Collective Intelligence would reconstitute itself and you would be facing a force millions of times larger with a directing intelligence that dwarfs the one you are currently fighting.”

Jake understood, and that vision was frightening. He pulled up some scans of the Keepers’ home worlds, then said, “I don’t think it’s right to destroy your species when you were forced into defending yourselves against the invaders. It’s not your fault that you became what you are now.”

Values screamed, “Yes it is our fault! We are to blame for all the horror!”

Jake and Junior recoiled at the intensity of the scream, and waited for the being to continue.

In a much softer tone the being continued, “We deliberately decided to become what we are. I was only supposed to be isolated for a short time and then return to our people. After the victory over the green creatures we were consumed by our feeling of invincibility and drunk with power. We conquered a few worlds to feed our populations and discovered nothing could withstand our new weapon. The Collective decided that we could use the worlds of our universe to provide our meals and we would no longer have to work our farms to nourish our masses. I rebelled at the plan and was disorganized by the Collective for a hundred thousand cycles. When I reconstituted, the Collective and the Quadrants had already decided I was to stay isolated from our citizens. By then we were addicted to power and deliberately chose to take the path of conquest.”

The voice paused, then continued, “We are an abomination to creation. It now falls to you to try and destroy every Keeper in existence. If any survive, your ancestors will face the horror of living under their care. They will only get stronger.”

Junior said quietly, “We have great difficulty exterminating a species.”

“Just as we had great difficulty using our thoughts to kill other creatures; now observe what we’ve become. It’s what you do after the victory that is the real issue for you to face. Can you resist the temptation of total power? I hope you learn from our choices.”

Jake felt the being’s sadness. “What are you going to do now?”

“My duty has been done. My mission to assist you is complete, and you know what you must do to survive. I am going to dissolve my structure and end my suffering.”

“I thank you for helping us. I truly wish there was a way to save your species.”

“We are a species of killers that have no morals or redeeming qualities. We have become apex predators and every intelligent race is our prey. If you fail in this endeavor, please pass this information to other universes in the hope that someone will be able to stop us. For me, there is only pain and revulsion at what we have become. I cannot continue to exist seeing what we are doing to innocent civilizations.”

Jake and Junior sensed the being fade into nothingness. Jake sighed heavily and hung his head, “This death is the worst of all those killed by the Keepers. They have caused the death of their hearts.”

“They haven’t possessed a heart for millions of years, Jake. These beings are not forced to kill like the Spiders. They have chosen this path with full knowledge of where they were going. They are responsible for their actions. One other thing, Jake.”

“What?”

“Now you know why you had to come here.”

“You’re right. However, as soon as we determine if our frequency generator works, we are coming back here to free these cities. This will be the first garrison we eliminate.”

“That’s an excellent decision. Ready to go home?”

“More than you know.”

The remnants of Values scattered in open space. In a hundred thousand years it would reconstitute and would see if it had been successful. If not, another enemy would have to be found or made.

Ron Kune stared at his console and saw another giant liftoff from the Keepers’ home world he was assigned to watch. Fifty forts had been lifted off the planet in the last hour, and still there were blasts dotting the planet’s surface. The Keepers’ ships holding station above the planet’s atmosphere were forced to dodge the fast moving orbital lifters as they moved out of the planet’s gravity well. Twenty of the forts were being aligned around the equator, while the others were lifting past them into high orbit. As they arrived at maximum altitude, a Keepers’ ship would arrive, bring the large pyramid inside its jump screen, and jump away.

Where are they taking those forts? Ron decided to investigate. He was a citizen of old Earth and knew the value of orbital defenses. Why were they building more than they needed to defend the planet? He read the jump track of the last ship to leave and teleported half a light year from the location.

Ron checked his stealth systems and started moving slowly toward the Keepers ship’s jump coordinates. He was in open space between galaxies, so he thought he might have to go back and stay closer to a ship as it jumped away, but twenty light minutes from the coordinates his scanner picked up a huge emission. The Keepers were building a ship modification facility in open space. It was gigantic; three times the size of the one destroyed by the supernova. Fifty thousand ships were in a defensive formation surrounding it, and Ron saw that half of the pyramid forts surrounding it were already active and drawing power.

The structure at the center of those forts was more than eighty miles in diameter. Thousands of ships were arriving and docking with the facility and were obviously unloading materials and crew. He considered firing a penetrator at the structure, but knew it would never make it through the guarding Keepers Fleet. He wondered if this was an isolated event, and how the other Searchers assigned to scan the Keepers’ home worlds were doing. If this was not an isolated event, the Keepers Fleet would be free to attack in very short order. He downloaded the information into a probe and launched it. Fleet Command needed to see this.

Jake and Junior arrived in the Ross system and Jake sent a thought, “Valerie, we’re back.”

Valerie answered, “Jake, I need you in the map room immediately. There has been a major development and we’re discussing it now.”