No Technology Is Invincible (The Death Prophecies-Book Four 4) (14 page)

Gabby saw Gabe look at her and she said, “You don’t honestly think those Builder Worlds were constructed where they’re located, do you?”

Levi’s head went back, “If not there, then where?”

“Those planets have stardrive capability. I suspect they were built like that against the possibility of something like this happening.”

Steve nodded and thought about what was being said, “What do the two of you think will happen if the Builders pack up and run?”

Gabby and Gabe said at the same time, “The Black Ships will chase them.”

Levi started shaking his head, “Why? They have possession of new galaxy to exploit.”

Gabby nodded, “They do, but the threat of the Builders coming back to attack the new ships they’ll build still exists. And if they chase the Builders, they will see them go through a Black Hole.”

Gabe shrugged, “They’ll also see the launch tubes just outside the event horizon and work out pretty quickly what their purpose is. If the Builders flee, those Motherships will learn about black hole technology.”

Levi looked at Steve, “Can our defenses stand up against them?”

Steve shrugged and turned to his three War Admirals, “Did you come up with a way to attack them?”

Janell and Heinrik looked at Amy, “Sir, after seeing this image, all of our plans are worthless. Their warships are faster, have a stronger force field, and their weapons are more powerful.”

“But we wouldn’t be detectible,” Levi hopefully interjected.

Gabby looked at Levi, “The Black Motherships are able to detect our presence. When we moved out to the ones holding position, more than twenty of their small warships were directed to our position. We were well outside the range of our weapons and we both agree that we would be attacked before we could launch against them.”

“You destroyed those ten new ships they were building.”

Gabby looked at the wall monitor showing the destroyed Motherships and turned back to Levi, “We did, but those ships weren’t completed and there wasn’t a Mothership anywhere near the building site. If there were, I suspect the attack would have had different results.”

Levi looked at his Military Advisor, “This also changes all of our plans, Great Leader.”

Levi looked at Steve and then turned to Gabe, “So what do we do?”

“We slam the doors on them.”

“What?”

“We go to every galaxy in our Supercluster and find out where their black holes open in the Builder’s Universe. If any of them are located close to that Galaxy, we move the Gravity Towers and start sending dust and stars into the black hole.” Gabe looked at Steve, “That includes the black hole in the Milky Way.”

Levi quickly said, “Did I hear you correctly that we will shove stars into our black hole?”

“The Black Civilization has ships with force fields stronger than we’re able to measure and they might survive the current jets. We’ll shove anything we can into the black holes to make the jets too powerful for any life-form to survive.”

One of the Darkness Military Advisors said, “That is only a delaying strategy.”

Gabe nodded, “We will use whatever time we have to try and come up with the technology needed to defend ourselves.” Gabe smiled, “No technology is invincible and confronting an enemy should be avoided until it can no longer be avoided.”

Amy nodded, recognizing two of the Death Prophecies. She saw that Admiral Connor saw it as well.

A scientist on the Darkness Advisory Council stood up, “Just how are we going to know where the galaxies in the Builder Universe with a close door into ours are located?”

Steve looked at Gabe, who said, “We’ve got our scientists building a probe that is capable of communicating with any other probes we place in the Builder’s Universe. One of our Warships will take the probe through the black holes in our universe and place them close to the other side of the black hole. They will communicate their positions to a probe close to our galaxy and we’ll retrieve that information. We’ll also send ships through to the Builder’s Galaxy and go to all the galaxies close to the Builders and go through those black holes to determine where they open into our universe.”

Gabby leaned forward and said, “Once we know where all the possible doors for their entrance into our universe are located, we’ll leave a probe behind to come through and warn us if either the Builders or the Black Species arrive to attempt a passage. We’ll move your towers wherever they’re needed to stop them.”

Levi listened to them and then said, “And if after doing this, they still make it through?”

Gabe shrugged, “We’re hoping if that happens that they’ll emerge billions of light years from us. They would have no way of knowing where we’re located and it would still buy us time to prepare.”

Levi looked at his Advisors, “Do any of you have a better plan.” His advisors looked at each other and then remained silent. Levi turned to Steve, “We should assign the closest galaxies evenly to our forces.”

Steve nodded and looked at Gabe, “Are the probes you’ve mentioned ready for deployment?”

“No, Sir. It’s going to take another sixty days to build the first ten.”

“Do we have that long?”

“I don’t know. However, I do know it will take four weeks for the Builders to arrive at the Carand’s Galaxy and it’s the closest one to them.”

Steve nodded, “We need to know where the black hole in the galaxy the Black Species conquered opens into our universe. That galaxy is closer to them than the Carand Galaxy.”

Gabe’s turned to Gabby, “Both of us missed that. We’ll take the Eyes and see where it opens.”

Steve nodded and turned to Levi, “I guess this meeting turned out to be shorter than I thought.”

“I agree. However, we at least know what we’re doing next and that was the purpose of holding it. Please let us know when your probes are ready. We will also start developing a probe that will accomplish the same thing.”

Gabe said, “Remember to give it a powerful force field to make it through our black holes.”

Levi shrugged, “Why? If we make them where any other probe can communicate with them, they can come through a black hole that doesn’t have the jets and communicate with us from there. This communication system you’ve given us is remarkable.”

Gabe stared at Levi, looked at Gabby, and turned back to Levi, “You’re absolutely right. This should shorten the time needed to build the first probes. Thank you.”

Levi smiled, “Have you considered that the probes should be sent on a round trip through a black hole to cause them to undergo the change? That would make them invisible if they’re not moving.”

Gabe started chuckling, “Score another one for you, Great Leader. That’s an excellent suggestion.”

Levi tilted his head down and smiled, “Oh, I think you already thought of that. The time you mentioned to get them ready matches up pretty close to the time it would take for the change to happen.”

Gabby was going to tell the Darkness Leader that they had already considered that but Gabe had put his hand on her arm stopping her. She thought about it and decided that it would be better if the Darkness Leader was given credit for the idea. She learned something from the exchange.

Levi turned to Steve, “I’ll take you back to your vessel. I’ll keep you up to date on our progress.”

Steve nodded, “Thank you and I’ll be in touch.”

They went to the portal and Levi said, “Do you want me to send enough gravity towers to your galaxy to start the jets in your black hole?”

“That would be good.”

They arrived on the roof and Steve looked up at the clear sky, “You do have a beautiful planet, Levi.”

“It was destroyed ten thousand years ago in a nuclear holocaust. We’ve worked hard to rebuild it.”

Steve looked at him, “You’ve done an excellent job.”

Levi nodded and the six humans walked up the boarding ramp and entered the Prophet’s Eyes.

• • •

The Eyes lifted from the roof and moved slowly into orbit. The six officers were in a somber mood as the giant buildings disappeared below them. Steve sat in his chair and thought about what was discussed and Amy said, “It looks like all the time we spent getting our fleets ready was a waste of time.”

Gabby looked over her shoulder as she stared at her scanner’s display and said, “Not really.”

Amy jerked her head around to Gabby as Gabe said, “Now is not the time.”

Steve jerked his head up as well, “Not the time for what, Admiral.”

Gabby looked at Gabe and blew out a big sigh, “I made another snafu, didn’t I?”

Gabe rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. “I asked you a question, Admiral.”

Gabe turned to Steve, “I think I’m going to need the fleets to enter the Carand’s Territory and divert the Carand’s attention.”

“From what?”

“The Prophet’s Eyes is the fastest ship in our fleets. I want to go into the Carand Empire and go to one of the planets where the civilization that originally build the Prophet’s Eyes was located.”

Steve’s eyes narrowed, “Why?”

“I hope to find another ship like this one and remove the stardrive from it.”

Steve stared at Gabe and started shaking his head, “I should have thought of that. Do you think you’ll find one after ten thousand years?”

“We won’t know until we go and look.”

Janell looked at them, “Why do you need that stardrive?”

Steve turned to her, “It’s the combination of our stardrive coupled with the one Poul had when he arrived that gives him the speed he uses to move through incredible distances instantly.”

Amy looked at Gabe, “The Carand have that field that can detect us.”

“That’s why I believe it’s going to take all of your fleets to keep them off us.”

Heinrik leaned back, “So, you’re basically telling us that we’re going to invade and kick the ever loving dog sh…”

Gabe interrupted him, “Yes, I am.”

Heinrik shrugged, “Just checking.”

Steve looked at Gabe, “Why weren’t you going to tell me about this?”

“We have to do a couple of things before we do that.”

“And they are?”

“I need to take a Bosrean out with us to listen in to the Black Fleets.”

“Why do you need a Bosrean?”

“We did not record any communications between the Black Ships. That means they have a communication system that we are unable to detect, or…”

Steve nodded, “They’re telepathic.” Gabe nodded. “What else?”

“We need to go through the black hole of the galaxy that the Black Fleets are leaving to determine where it opens into our universe. Once that’s done, we’ll go after the stardrive.”

Steve stared at Gabe and Gabby and then shrugged, “You need to get moving on this. We’re going to start moving dust to our black hole as soon as the Darkness Towers arrive.”

“Just don’t send it in until we go to find a stardrive.”

“I think you can count on that. How are you going to keep a Bosrean on board?”

“This ship was originally built by them. Each of the quarters on board has an independent system for atmosphere. We’ll have the Bosrean set it up for us along with additional supplies for the Bosrean’s armor.”

“Just be careful his atmosphere doesn’t escape into the ship.”

“Each room has a weak force field to prevent that happening.”

Steve looked up, “Poul, you need to get us back as quickly as possible.”

“We’ll arrive in twenty seconds.”

Steve smiled. Gabe and Gabby had proven their worth far beyond his expectations. He contacted the Senior Admirals to meet with him as soon as he arrived. “Poul, send the Senior Admirals the recording of the meeting.”

“I’ve already taken it from Captain Bartoli’s wrist unit and sent it to them.”

“Are you developing ESP, Poul?”

“No, they’ve been attempting to contact you for the last thirty minutes.”

Steve looked at the three War Admirals, “Get your fleets armed and ready to go as quickly as possible. Amy, you will be in overall command until Gabe is able to complete his task.”

Amy looked at Janell as she smiled and said, “I always knew I’d end up reporting to you.”

“Are you ok with this, Janell?”

“More than you know. You’ve had fewer losses than either of us. Heinrik and I discussed this a while back and we were going to suggest this to Admiral Connor.”

Steve smiled, “Make us proud, Amy.”

“I will, Sir.”

“What do you intend to do?”

“Sir, I’m going straight to the planet where the Carand Royals are located and introduce them to a missile they can’t refuse.”

The officers laughed and Steve knew they were ready.

Gabby looked at Gabe, “Do you need me to go with you to Bosrean for the modifications to the third quarters to be done?”

“I thought we would leave from there.”

“How long will it take for you to come and pick me up here?”

“Poul?”

“About two minutes.”

Gabe looked at her, “I guess we can do it that way. What’s going on?”

“I have a dinner invite I’d like to accept.”

Gabe smiled, “I’ll see in a couple of days.”

Amy, Heinrik, and Janell applauded her announcement, as Amy said, “You go, Girl.”

Gabby turned red and shook her head.

T
he Builder Leader looked at the hologram and didn’t like what he was seeing, “How many have arrived?”

“Five more of the giant ships have joined the ones holding position away from our galaxy.”

“I want every Defense Construct activated and moved out to inside the outer edge of the galaxy.”

“That will require moving thousands of our citizens from their worlds to crew them…”

“Do you not think I know this? Do it now!”

“Why are you doing this?”

The Leader looked at his communication signal and saw that ten Elders were listening to his conversation with the world’s main computer. “Elder, five more of the large Black Warships have arrived to join the others outside our galaxy.”

“Surely we don’t need all of our defenses activated for five more ships?”

The Leader glanced at the hologram, “Four more have also been detected moving toward our galaxy.” There was silence on the frequency and the Leader said, “Do you still question my orders?” The frequency cleared and the Leader thought about what was happening. Two hours later, after another fifty huge warships were detected moving toward the galaxy, he opened the general frequency, “All worlds will move to their secondary locations on the side of the galaxy away from our defensive line. All warships will power up and start moving to join the defenses.” He glanced at the communicator and saw that none of the Elders were listening. They appeared to now share his concern over the buildup of the enemy’s fleet. What were they doing?