No Technology Is Invincible (The Death Prophecies-Book Four 4) (19 page)

Ali shook his head, “They’ll be able to detect the heat from the new tunnel.”

Gabby wagged her finger at Ali, “No they won’t Mr. Smart Engineer. The vacuum of space will cool it off extremely fast.”

Poul said, “They’ll be able to see the entrance.”

“No, your scout originally cut it at an angle into the center of the asteroid. If they’re scanning the asteroid, they’ll see a shallow hole. They would have to scan the asteroid at an angle to see the tunnel and scanning officers don’t do that. They’re lazy and scan everything from directly overhead.”

“There’s still a risk of them finding it, Gabby.”

“Then we’ll have our hotshot engineer shoot some sonic probes into the walls of the entrance and activate them at full power. They should collapse the entrance behind us.”

Gabe and Ali stared at Gabby and both of them blinked at the same time. Gabe looked at Ali, “Do you think this is doable?”

Ali chuckled, “I must say I’m really impressed, Captain Bartoli. As long as you can line the ship up on that tunnel, we should be able to do it.”

Gabby stared at him and then said, “Line up on the tunnel?” Ali nodded. “How am I going to do that?”

Ali smiled, “We’ll shoot some more probes into the surface around the suspected location and use them to refine the path.”

Gabe looked at Ali, “You know the Carand will be able to detect those probes.”

“No, Admiral, they won’t. The probes actually penetrate below the surface of the asteroid and we can self-destruct them so that nothing remains that can be detected inside the rock.” Ali paused and looked at Gabe, “Will the Carand be able to detect which asteroid their probes detected?”

Gabe laughed out loud, “How would I know?”

“If you don’t know, who would?”

Gabby interrupted them, “They won’t be able to see the particular asteroid.”

Gabe and Ali looked at Gabby. Gabe said, “How do you know?”

“All they’ll get is a reading of energy and a direction. Blaster energy is extremely difficult to trace because it’ primarily heat. That star in the distance is putting out a lot more heat than our blaster will.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“I know it will take a lot of ships to come really close to be able to find us.” Gabe was quiet and Gabby asked, “Do you have another idea?”

“I can’t say that I do.”

“Then make up your mind.”

Gabe looked at Ali and he shrugged. He looked up and said, “Poul?”

“If things get really bad, I can blast my way out of the collapsed entrance and be out of here faster than they can react.”

“Do you see another way of doing this?”

“Uhhh…no.”

Gabe looked at Ali, “Load the sonic probes and Gabby, see if you can find the general location of where we need to place them to fine tune our point of entry.”

Gabby turned to her panel and Ali left the bridge. He didn’t like being trapped in a large asteroid with large numbers of Carand Warships searching for them. It would be a crime if they arrive in the cavern and the scout ship wasn’t there. “Poul, do you think it’s still in there?”

“I honestly don’t know. The scout entered that asteroid during a large solar flare that disrupted the Carand’s detection systems and I know it wouldn’t have been able to leave without being seen. The only way to know is to go in and take a look around.”

“A
dmiral Connor, what are you going to do about this travesty?”

Steve looked at Admiral Malone and knew he was being baited. He leaned back in his chair and smiled, “I’m going to leave that decision entirely in your hands, Admiral. What are your orders?”

Malone stared at him and lowered his head, “You’re trying to shut me up. Don’t think for a moment that I don’t see it. It is not in my job description to make those decisions. I’m here to advise you and make sure you make the best decision possible.”

Steve started chuckling and looked at Admiral Knott, “Now that is the most honest thing he’s said in a long time.”

“I don’t deceive you!”

“No, but you take positions opposite to mine even though you don’t agree with them.”

“That’s my job.”

Steve stared at Malone in silence and then said, “I’m really curious. If it were your decision, what would you do?”

Malone leaned back and shrugged, “I would do the same thing you’ve done. I’d order the fleets away from the black hole and keep our distance.”

“Why?”

“Death Prophecy One, Admiral. The Darkness is not attacking us so we are not forced to attack them…yet.”

“Thanks for your honesty. And losing the Prophet’s Eyes along with its crew is not something I take lightly; there will be a price the Darkness will pay for their treachery. However, I’ve scanned those towers they sent here and the Darkness Leader was right, they’re much more powerful than the ones we saw in their galaxy.”

“Are we going to assist them against the Builders or that Black Fleet?”

Steve looked at Admiral Holmes, “Would you?”

“I’d wait to see if the Darkness could handle them. Death Prophesy Two says never do what others can.”

“And if they can’t?”

“Then we would have no choice but to join their efforts. Those two species are a direct danger to our galaxy.”

“I suspect the Darkness Leader came to the same conclusion and didn’t think there would be an issue in our continuing to work with him.” Steve stood up and looked at his Senior Staff, “But one thing I want made clear. Any future technological developments will not be shared with them.”

Admiral Malone nodded, “Do we have anything new worth sharing?”

Steve looked at him and sat down, “Not at the moment.”

“Then we have our work cut out for us. We should start shutting the doors on the galaxies closest to us.”

Steve looked at Admiral Holmes, “They have total control of the gravity towers. The only thing we can do is watch them do it. We don’t have the capability of closing a black hole.”

Holmes nodded.

• • •

Gabe looked at Gabby, “Have you determined out point of entry.”

“I have and Poul is moving the ship out far enough to make sure the tunnel we cut is large enough for us to pass through.”

Gabe pressed a button on his panel, “Ali, are the sonic probes in the rear missile tubes?”

“They are and I’ve programmed them to launch as we enter the tunnel we’re cutting.”

“Are you certain that they’ll be able to collapse the entrance?”

“I’m not going to do that until we detect Carand Warships entering this star system.”

“So you’ve set up the passive antennas?”

“Captain Bartoli put them in place an hour ago.”

“Poul, are you getting a clear signal through the passive antennas?”

“I am and I’m feeding it to Gabby’s console.”

Gabe thought for a moment and said, “Can anyone think of anything else we need to do before entering the Asteroid?” Silence greeted his question and Gabe said, “Poul, align the front blaster with the entry point and open fire. Move into the hole as soon as the new tunnel is completed.”

“Yes, Admiral. Firing in four seconds.” Gabe stared at the asteroid filling the main monitor and then saw a brilliant flash on the surface. In less than ten seconds, the Prophet’s Eyes entered the hole cut into the asteroid.

• • •

“Fleet Leader, I’m detecting a form of energy in the former home world’s star system.”

“What kind of energy?”

“It’s mainly heat.”

“Is it being created by a natural event?”

“No, Fleet Leader. It appears to be created by an artificial source.”

“Notify the ships of the location and start the Fleet moving.”

“Yes, Sire.”

“Do you have the location pinpointed?”

“Only that it’s happening in the inner planets.”

“Notify me when the fleet is formed up and ready to jump.”

• • •

“Now that didn’t take long.”

Gabe looked at Gabby, “What?”

“I’ve detected a large formation of Carand Warships moving our way, Sir.”

Gabe looked at Ali, “Collapse the opening?”

“Admiral, we really should allow the vacuum of space to cool off the entrance before we collapse it. Commodore Bartoli, let me know when those incoming ships are ten minutes out and I’ll collapse it then.” Ali saw Gabe’s concern and said, “They won’t detect sonic waves from the probes, Sir. They will be masked by the electronic noise being made by the star.” Gabe nodded and Gabby said, “We have thirty minutes until they’re ten minutes out.”

Ali looked at his wrist unit, “The current temperature of the tunnel is more than ten thousand degrees.” Ten minutes later he said, “It is now down to five thousand.” He continued to stare at his wrist unit and said, “It’s down to a thousand at the twenty minutes mark.”

Gabby stared at her panel and said, “They’re ten minutes out.”

Ali pressed a button on his wrist unit and they felt a vibration go through the ship. Ali stared at the small display and then pressed another button, “The temperature is down to four hundred degrees and the entrance has collapsed. The sonic probes have all self-destructed.”

“Gabby, put the feed from the passive antennas on the main monitor.” Gabe stared at the monitor and after a few minutes began seeing a swarm of white dots moving toward them. Then they were moving through the asteroid belt and fanning out. He looked at Gabby, “How many ships?”

“A hundred thousand, Sir.”

Gabe looked up, “Poul has the tunnel cooled enough for us to go to the cavern.”

“It has.”

“Take us there. It looks like we’ll be there for a while.” The main monitor’s view changed to the grey walls surrounding the ship.

They saw them pass as the Eyes moved toward the center of the asteroid and Ali looked up, “Poul, how could the scout your civilization sent here see anything from inside this asteroid.”

“We developed a machine that could dig small tunnels into the rock. They dug to the asteroid’s surface and then pulled the antenna wires out behind them.”

“You weren’t afraid they’d be seen by the Carand.”

“These machines weren’t much larger than the wire they pulled. They were programmed to release the antenna wire and then dig back into the rock. They were too small to set off the Carand’s sensors.”

“Do you think the holes are still there?”

“I seriously doubt it. The impacts have probably covered all of them with debris.”

Gabe listened to them as he stared at the main monitor. He saw the forward lights illuminating the path ahead of them and then he saw them flood into a chamber. He stood up as the Eyes entered the cavern and began rotating. The lights swung around to the left and he smiled. There parked against the far wall was a small ship. It was still here.

• • •

Janell, China, and Amy sat at the bar and ordered another drink. Amy put her arm on Janell’s shoulders and said, “Admiral Connor had no choice.”

“He could have sent us to slow them down!”

China shook her head, “Janell, you’ve seen the scans made of those towers. Those towers were sent through a black hole and had undergone the change. The Darkness Leader was right when he told us they could have destroyed all of our warships.”

“Why didn’t we contact Gabe and tell him to get out of there and come back?”

Amy sighed and squeezed her, “Janell, it happened too fast. They had the material going into the black hole by the time Admiral Connor completed his conversation with Levi. I really don’t know if the message probe I sent into the black hole arrived in time to warn him.”

Janell turned to Amy, “Are you saying he might have entered the black hole and died?”

“No, I don’t think he’d make that mistake.”

Janell’s eyes teared up, “Why wouldn’t he?”

“Because he was suspicious of something happening.”

China leaned forward, “What? I didn’t hear anything about that.”

“He asked me if I had a message probe on board before he went through the black hole. I questioned him about it wondering what he meant and he said we needed to make sure our communication lines were open.” Amy saw Janell and China staring at her. “I think he was worried about the Darkness towers coming to our galaxy. If he sent a message to the message probe in the Carand Galaxy and we didn’t arrive behind the message…”

Janell nodded, “He would know that something happened to prevent our arrival.”

Amy tilted her head, “That’s how I see it. He wouldn’t have gone back to the black hole if we didn’t show up.”

“But he’s alone in the Carand Galaxy.”

Amy shrugged, “Yes he is. But he’s on the Prophet’s Eyes and I’m forcing myself not to sell his chances of survival short. If anyone can make it back, I have to believe he can do it.”

The drinks arrived and Janell lifted hers, “Here’s to him coming home.” Amy and China toasted and Janell said, “Do you remember when our invasion was changed to a scouting mission.” Amy and China nodded and Janell said, “If he doesn’t make it back and I get the opportunity to go back to Carand Territory, I am going to kill all of them.”

Amy shook her head, “It’s not their fault, Janell. They aren’t responsible for trapping him there.”

Janell looked at her with her eyes narrowed, “I know that and I have a special place in my heart for the Darkness’ destruction. But would you give the Carand a break if it were Scott or Heinrik trapped there?” China and Amy stared at her and China raised her glass again, “Here’s to kicking their asses into extinction.”

Amy said, “Hear, hear. We should also not forget they killed Dillon.” Janell nodded and raised her glass again.

• • •

Gabe sat on board the Eyes and watched the tactical monitor. Three more Carand Fleets had arrived and the numbers searching for them were incredible. He remembered seeing the recording of the Carand Fleets searching for Admiral Dillon McCagg and he knew how he must have felt. And still more Carand ships were arriving every minute. “Poul, what’s the temperature of the tunnel we cut?”

“It’s back to normal now. None of the Carand Warships came close enough while it was hot to detect it.”

“Do you think they’ll believe that we’re inside an asteroid?”

“The scout stayed here for more than a year and they never thought to examine the asteroids.”