Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven}) (7 page)

David said, “It would be a good idea to stay away from the bow of those ships.”

“Absolutely, Your Majesty. However, we don’t know the effective range of their beam. We think it is more than three hundred miles at full power.” This statement stunned the attendees, and the room was silent.

Valerie asked, “How did you arrive at that distance?”

“I’m going to ask Newton to answer that question, Your Highness, but first I would like Edison to tell you what we discovered about the colonies on the planet.” Valerie nodded at Edison.

Edison started the video and it began showing views of the three colonies on the planet’s surface. Edison narrated what they were seeing, “These three colonies are made up of three races from the Stars Realm; Human, Glod, and Cainth. They were aboard a colony ship that left our universe more than two thousand years ago, and this planet is where their trip ended. Notice the huge colony ship just outside the valley where these colonies are situated.”

The view of the ship grew, and everyone could see a huge piece of the stern missing. “This ship was forced down to the planet’s surface and the colonists were placed in the three communities. We have learned several things from the Searchers scans of these colonies. First, each of the colonies has exactly 300,000 colonists. Second, every one of the colonists is younger than forty years old. Third, the colonists grow their own food and their primary occupation is farming the land around their community. Fourth, every colonist has a band on their left arm with an orange colored light on it. Fifth, when a new child is born, it appears the oldest colonist is taken from the community by these creatures. Sometimes the creatures will wait until several children have been born to gather up the older colonists. I am going to show you a video of that actually taking place at the Human colony.”

Jake watched as everyone in the meeting saw the colonists gathered and then shot on the conveyer belt. He saw the extreme distaste the attendees had for how the Humans were treated.

Edison continued, “I am going to zoom in on the creature that shot the Humans. I want you to watch the spikes on top of its head and the device he uses to shoot them.”

The creature took the device and pointed it at the six colonists. The white spikes on top of the creature’s head started moving very rapidly as the creature activated the device. “Notice that nothing happened to the Humans even though the creature’s spikes were moving rapidly. It was when the device was activated that the damage was done. We see this as supporting the theory that their thoughts are amplified by this device. The Searcher’s scan revealed that all six colonists were still breathing but all of their higher brain functions had been damaged beyond repair.”

“These creatures are using the colonies on that planet as a food source. Those six Humans were sent into that building to be processed and shipped out on the vessel orbiting the planet. They were still alive so they would be, excuse this term, fresh on arrival at their destination. The ship must arrive when the creatures have collected enough colonists to send to their home worlds. We also know that millions of planets in that universe are exactly like the one you’re seeing; small communities with identical populations all farming to feed themselves. These creatures are harvesting all intelligent life in that universe and are thereby controlling any threat that they may become if they were allowed to evolve naturally.”

The room was silent. Then Edison dropped the bombshell, “It appears that they learned how to do this from my species. They just do it better than we ever did.”

The planet was fifty percent larger than Earth and was completely covered with small buildings two stories high. There were billions of inhabitants on the planet, and hundreds of thousands of ships arriving every day to unload the food needed to feed the planet’s huge population. Though the planet was covered by the small buildings, the real community lived in the ground under them. The inhabitants preferred living underground, and there were tunnels and huge cities dug more than fifty miles down. Everything moved at breakneck speed. All of those billions had their tasks to perform and they were all connected to each other telepathically. Although they were individuals, the part of their mind that they used to tune in to the community formed a collective intelligence that had a life of its own. Every creature on all the millions of planets was tied in together, and that giant Collective used them to see everything that happened in their universe. The Collective Mind did not possess a body, but it did exist as an individual intelligence, albeit a highly compartmentalized one. Those compartments would talk to each other as the Central Collective used them to make decisions.

“Have you determined the origin of that ship that was destroyed?”

The history portion of the Collective responded, “No, and we have nothing in our memory that matches that ship. The electronic screens were stronger than any we have ever encountered.”

“Could it have been a return of the green creatures to probe our strength?”

“The creature in that ship did not match the green creatures physically.”

The Collective processed that piece of information, and millions of bits of data were examined. “They did not come from this universe.”

“No, they could not have developed ships that powerful without our having seen them before now.”

“Perhaps it is time we go and find those green creatures and eliminate them as a possible threat. They could have sent this ship to probe us.”

There was a long pause while the entire Collective processed the thought. The science compartment spoke, “We have never tried to develop the means to leave this universe. Is it now time to begin?”

History interjected, “Would we be inviting other possible enemies to invade who would be more of a danger to us if we go searching for the green creatures?”

The Collective responded, “Someone has come into our territory and attempted to gather information. It appears that whether we go out or stay, we are at risk. I think we should at least go and see what creatures are out there and determine if they represent a danger. It is also time for us to expand. Our space is almost fully farmed and our population continues to grow.”

Technology spoke, “How many ships would you want to send out?”

The Collective pondered the resources available, “A million in the first group. Do you have the necessary technology to develop the mechanism needed to travel out of our space?”

“We still have those green ships we destroyed long ago, and they have the technology to make that travel possible. We just need to examine one of them and then build it.”

“How long before you could prepare the ships?”

Technology was silent for a moment, “Not very long; less than a quarter-cycle would be my estimate.”

The Collective listened to all of the compartments give their take on the idea, then decided, “Prepare the ships.”

Admiral Zergl asked, “Why do you say they do it better than your species?”

“Because we would harvest all intelligent life and leave and not return for millions of years. Witness what happened to us when we came back to this universe to find the Realm; an adversary that would ultimately stop our harvesting. If we had stayed in this universe and done what these creatures are doing, no race would have the opportunity to evolve into a civilization strong enough to defeat us.”

Valerie leaned forward, “How did you determine that they learned to do this from you?”

Edison tilted his head to the right, indicating irony, “They watched as we killed millions of races in their universe and determined that those races could be a food source for them as well. They also copied the matter that we used on our ships, which made them invincible against any races that remained in their universe. Oh, it’s clear that they are emulating what we did and have perfected the tools we used to a much higher standard. The hulls of their ships are not vulnerable to the organic missiles or repulsion fields that were used against our ships; they are as hard as any of our modern alloys. They also have the thought beam which goes through any electronic screen.”

The King looked around the table, then asked Edison, “It appears that we should stay out of this universe and not give them a reason to leave, especially since none of our weapons will affect their ships.”

Edison turned his head upside down in agreement, “The team that analyzed this data are all agreed that this is not a place to which we should go.”

Valerie said in a voice that all could hear, “Stay out if you choose, but they are coming here and it won’t be long until they arrive.”

David looked at Valerie, “Are you absolutely certain about that?”

Valerie nodded, “The Stars Realm will be destroyed if you decide to sit and do nothing.”

David stared at Valerie, then looked at Jake and Cynthia sitting away from the group. He looked back at Valerie, “You still insist that he must go to that universe?”

“We are doomed if he doesn’t, Father. He is our only chance to survive, and you are wasting time talking about it. He needs to go now.”

David felt his temper rise and started to reprimand his daughter, but then he remembered who had the real power in this room. He looked over at Jake again and said, “What do you think about all this, young man?”

Jake looked quickly at Valerie, saw her stern expression, then looked at the King of the Stars Realm answering, “I have just finished looking at the history of the Realm, the real history, and if what I’ve seen is accurate, I agree; you’re wasting time. You either trust psychic abilities or you step out on your own. The Realm’s history is filled with evidence that we would not be here today except for amazing people with even more amazing psychic gifts. I don’t know if what she says about me is true or not,” he looked at Valerie and said, “but I believe in her and if I were making this decision, I’d do as she says.” Jake sat back down then jumped back up and said, “Your Majesty.” Then he sat back down.

Sprig stood and said, “Your Majesty, he must go soon. However, we have some things we’re working on that will improve his chance of surviving.”

David was angry at the disrespect he was getting, but turned and asked, “Such as?”

“Our spider friends looked back in their database and found a device that will block the thoughts of anyone using it. We have developed a scalp covering that we believe will prevent any telepathy from leaking out. It was originally designed millions of years ago by a telepathic race that the spiders harvested. It was used to punish their criminals by preventing them from having contact with any member of their race. We have fashioned one for the two that would go.”

Valerie stood and said, “How long before the device is ready?”

Sprig looked at Twig and she said, ‘Three days.”

Valerie looked at Admiral Zergl, “While he is waiting, I want him fitted for
Armor.”

Zergl said, “Absolutely not. No one gets armor unless they are trained in its use.”

Valerie looked at her father and David could see that his daughter was getting angry. Before he could speak his son Joe stood, “Admiral, I am the overall commander of all Stars Realm Military. Just how much do you like your position in our armed forces?”

Zergl looked at Joe and everyone could see his nervousness.

Joe said, “Lest there be any mistake, if you receive a Directive from the Royal Family you will follow it or be tried for treason. Do all of you here not know that my Sister is the most powerful psychic in the Realm’s history? If she says we are doomed without this man’s help, then we are doomed. Admiral, you will take Jake with you and fit him with armor. You will train him as best you can in the time that remains. Is that clear?”

Zergl lowered his head and said, “Yes, Your Highness.”

Newton raised himself and said, “I would like a device fitted to the armor.”

Zergl asked, “What device is that?”

“We looked at our database rather extensively, and we found that one of our brothers developed a cutting device that he used to cut off a piece of our ship’s hull to build a statue. We contacted him and Leonardo reproduced it for us. Remarkably enough, it is also activated by thoughts. It may be effective against their hull material. We won’t know if it will work, but we want it included anyway. We are working to see if we can make this into a weapon but again, we won’t know unless we get an opportunity to trial it.”

David sat in his chair and tried to determine what should be done. He felt unimaginable fear and was paralyzed about what he should do. Elizabeth looked her husband, then at Valerie, and nodded. Valerie stood and looked at her father, “Father, it’s time.”

David started and looked at his daughter. He turned to Elizabeth and Joe and they nodded to him. David sighed and stood, “I hereby abdicate the throne of the Stars Realm and designate my daughter Valerie to be the new Queen of the Stars Realm. May she protect us against all enemies.” He sat back down and felt tired. The entire room was stunned by the announcement. Even the spiders were at a loss.

Valerie looked at the people around the table and said, “I didn’t want to take control this soon, but time is growing short. All of you must believe that.” She turned to Admiral Zergl, “Prepare his armor.” She looked at Cynthia, “You will also have your armor modified with the new items.” She then turned and said to everyone present, “They are coming and they will be here before you know it. Get back in your labs and develop the things we’ll need to defend ourselves. Otherwise we will end up like those colonists.” Everyone looked up at the screen where the picture had frozen as the colonists had fallen on the belt.