Guaray didn't even make a pretense of denying any of it.
"The reason I found that Guardian in that alleyway that day was because I killed her. She didn't know I was her killer. I got her with a poison dart that is fairly quick acting. She thought I was trying to help her, but she knew she was dying. She willingly surrendered her key to me. I have been passing what little I know to the Gorga leaders for seven years.
You should know they threatened my family. Said they would kill them in an apparent suicide bombing and let one of the terrorist factions take the blame. I felt I had no choice. I knew I would be caught eventually. I admit I am a great coward, and this has been eating my heart from the beginning.
I know the consequence of my actions. I surrender to my fate. But please, can you protect my family before they discover I have been found out? I know I am undeserving of any kindness from you, but my family is innocent of any wrong-doing. It is all I ask."
Ingot's expression did not soften. "This has seldom happened in the eons since The Alliance was founded. But your gate will be locked, and your key will be suspended. We will painlessly terminate your life, but before we do, I promise we will see to the safety of your family."
Guaray sagged between the two large men holding his arms. He nodded resignedly. "I am almost relieved," he said with a deep sigh. He turned his head to Jenny. "You must be sure to pay attention," he said urgently. "They are watching all gates, but more particularly, they seem to want you personally, and not just for your Gatekeeper access. I do not bear you or the Alliance any ill will. I did what I had to do."
He nodded again, as if to himself. "I will tell you anything I know before you kill me. I'm ready. Let's go."
Tarafau and Brendan handed him over to the waiting Guards who escorted him from the room.
As if it had been practiced, the rest sat themselves almost in unison. Only Ingot remained standing.
"It is a sad thing. I hate the necessity to do it, but we cannot afford to be lenient, regardless of the circumstances. Guaray will be given time to put his affairs in order, under strict guard and the highest security. As soon as we have assured him that his family is safe, he will go to sleep and not wake.
But for the rest of us, we have no time to mourn or to dwell on this. For now, we will simply disable the Indian gate. When we are certain we have the leisure for it, we will choose a new Guardian.
Now let us move to the most important reason for this gathering. You need to know the outcome of your labors.
Firstly, we didn't get as much as we would have liked from our mental extractions. The majority of those we have detained are simple soldiers, with no knowledge of any strategies or plans. They simply react to their orders, which never actually reveal the intent of their masters. We did, however, extract some interesting facts from the commanders of this small force.
We were happy to discover that our gate network does not appear to have been compromised at this time. However, it's seems obvious that they haven't given up on attempting to do so. This may mean only a limited number of dimensions have been exposed. I have no illusions, however, that they will be satisfied with that.
We also discovered that they are coming out of a dimension that is not connected to the network, which means we have two reasons to discover their gate network and figure out how to either close it down or negate it in some way.
According to our current intelligence they have a much larger force secreted somewhere on Earth. Although this force numbers in the thousands, based on the intelligence we acquired in the raid, it doesn't appear to be even a small fraction of the forces they have at their command.
Evidently not two, but three dimensions have allied themselves to eventually conquer The Alliance. The Groga are actually subservient to the other two entities, which at this point we know little to nothing about. The Queen of the Groga, who gives Sam, a.k.a. Engoza, her orders is from the unknown dimension who instigated this plan. They conquered the Groga not long after we thought we had subdued them. At that point the Groga were in a weakened state.
Over the last couple of centuries, they have been nurtured by the other two dimensions as a source for soldiers, like so much cattle, breeding for traits specific to a warrior class, but not specifically for intelligence.
This is as much as we could ferret out from the disjointed mental state of the commanders of this small force, and the documents we have been able to decipher, but it is a good start.
As I see it we have a number of issues we need to pursue:
First, we need to discover the whereabouts of the alternate portal or portals on Earth, since it is our best starting point.
Second, we need to somehow get the frequency or frequencies of that gateway, so we can figure out how to enter their portals and discover the extent of their gateway network. This should give us a key to potentially either disabling it or eliminating it permanently.
Third, we need to discover and eliminate the large Groga base they have established on Earth, but before we do that, we need to know specifically why they are there and keep them from accomplishing their objectives.
This is going to require the dedication and diligence of every person on your team as well as all of the resources we can bring to bear in your behalf. For now, of all of the dimensions in The Alliance, Earth is in the most immediate danger, so we will focus on getting them off of Earth while we continue to research the other issues. This is only the first phase towards ultimately eliminating this threat, but we can move no further until it is accomplished. Any questions?"
It was obvious from the looks of concentration on nearly every face that each member of the Earth delegation was still absorbing what Ingot had said.
Bob's face reflected the gears turning like mad inside his head. Burt's face had transformed from the triumph of the success of his mission to a grim determination, his blue eyes narrowed and his mouth a thin line. Even Juan and Aliki, normally cheery and optimistic looked seriously contemplative.
Jenny realized they might be waiting for her to speak first. "Where do you suggest that we start? And what resources will my team have access to?"
Liliath answered, "I think the obvious choice is to start with the large Groga force. We need to determine where they are and their mission. My suspicion is that they are established on a portal site and, if we can observe them, we may be able to discover the necessary information to shut down their access once and for all.
If we are able to do this, it may allow us to avoid a cross dimensional conflict. The consequences of war across the network would be unimaginable. Last time we had to fight them, billions suffered. Some of the gate planets were completely eradicated. At the time we thought they had infiltrated our gate system. Now we know otherwise and may be able to prevent this from ever happening again."
"But what about the dimensions they may have access to that are not attached to our network. Won't they still be endangered, even if we shut down their access to the Alliance network?" asked Dhakirah.
"You are correct in that assumption," interjected Myla. "Naturally, our first responsibility is to the universes in the Alliance. If, however, we can eliminate the threat entirely, we will.
Your science and technical team and ours will have to be very involved in this. Adelle's laboratory and observatory in Switzerland is probably the best environment for them to pursue their labors. The tactical team will continue in Sanglarka. For security's sake, and in the absence of any Guardians from their gateways, we will station Guards and Troopers at every gate. For most of you, this will not be a problem.
The Gatekeeper's gate will now include a barracks gate for the Troopers and Guards to stay in, as her house is too small to accommodate them. They will be staying out of sight of the neighbors, never appearing outside of the gateway office, unless absolutely necessary. New levels of technical security are being installed at every established gateway system across the network, starting with the Earth gates.
In the case of Jenny's
gate, since there are already workmen coming and going for the 'remodeling' that is going on, her neighbors will not notice anything amiss.
Jenny must be seen from time to time coming and going. This can be accomplished by simply entering the gate office, going outside for a few minutes, collecting mail, that sort of thing. Jenny will not be staying in the house, however. Lights have been programmed to turn off and on at appropriate times, as well as sounds and shadows that will make it look normal. Tidbit will be also seen in the neighborhood here and there.
In the meantime, we will continue to examine the evidence brought to us from the swamp. We think there may still be clues.
Have you gone through all of the files created by the mental extractor yet?" he asked turning to Lova.
"We are about halfway through the files at this point. If we put a couple more sets of eyes on them, we could be finished in the next 24 hours," Lova replied.
"What will we be doing with the Groga prisoners?" asked Jenny. She realized that she might not like the answer, but she needed to ask.
"We are still considering this in the main Council," answered Liliath. "There are several options available to us. Of course, the easiest, but the most distasteful would be to simply kill them, but that would only be as a last resort. At the moment, the majority in the council are leaning toward wiping their memories and settling them someplace where they would have no access to a gateway of any kind. We would provide teachers and initial supplies to allow them to survive and fend for themselves. We would do this for all of the Groga, if it were possible. It is a lot more effort and resources on our part, but the hope is to take away not only their option to harm others, but their intention as well."
Jenny nodded. It helped to remind herself about the difference between The Alliance and their enemies. "Live and let live," seemed to be the Alliance philosophy when dealing with other cultures in the dimensions.
"If there are no further questions, we will adjourn, for now," said Ingot. "As soon as we have everything we can possibly get, out of the information available from the documents and mental extraction files, we will hopefully be able to create a strategy for our next steps. We can only hope they don't choose to raid again in the meantime. We don't know how often the swamp base communicated with their home base, considering there was no gate there that we could observe. However, because of the traitor among us, they may already know we have defeated them."
They all stood to leave. Myla stopped Jenny before she could turn for the door. "We want you to know that we understand you have been placed in a very difficult position. I know there will be times you will be uncertain, times when you will doubt your ability to cope, but it is important to remember that you are not alone and that we believe you have abilities you have not even begun to explore. We are confident you will fill your positions with the same honor and strength as Lizzie and Miriha."
"Thank you, Myla. That means a lot to me. It is all so much more than anything I ever imagined, even without the Groga crisis. I've decided to take it one step at a time and hope that my best effort will be enough. My dad always says: 'All you can do is all you can do.' And I'm finally beginning to understand what he meant."
Chapter 31: The Devil in the Details
Shopping at the local mall was somehow jarring. Jenny, Nona, Lyra and Mynn, wandered through the weekend crowds commenting on this and that, having lunch in the food court and trying on clothes in the shops as if all was well with the world and she didn't have the fate of innumerable dimensions directly on her shoulders.
Jenny had decided that since her house had been trashed, and all but the few changes of clothes she had stored in her MDP, had been torn to shreds, she needed to resupply her wardrobe. It seemed so odd to be doing something so normal, but they laughed and chatted like old friends. It was comforting to know that, although it may have appeared that her little entourage was totally absorbed in spending money and doing the silly things girls did while shopping, her Guards were on hyper alert.
Lova had agreed with Jenny that the Groga were unlikely to attack her in such a public place, but that she needed to get used to taking her Guards with her everywhere she went.
So, she picked up all her wardrobe essentials, some of her favorite accessories and played her role. While they were out, Jenny treated each of her Guards with a couple of new outfits and they were no different than any woman would be when choosing something new to wear.
They arrived back at Sanglarka and went to their rooms to unpack their various shopping bags. When Jenny came down into the great room of the lodge, she went straight to the situation room where Tarafau and Lova, along with Adelle and Dhakirah, were going through the extraction files.
"Anything new?" she asked as they looked up from their research.
"Not really," Dhakirah replied. "These fellows almost seem like they were made with a cookie cutter. Not an original thought in the bunch. The breeding plan for the Groga seems to have been custom-made for their conquerors."
Tarafau nodded. "It seems obvious they had some genes modified in the process. On the one hand, they are ferocious warriors with no conscience whatsoever, and yet they obey their leaders almost docilely. No grumbling and never questioning any of their orders. I wonder if there is a way we can use that."
"How was the shopping trip?" asked Lova.
"Weird. I felt like I was just play-acting, doing normal things when I know nothing is really as normal as it appears. I looked at all of those people, going about their very normal lives, with no clue what's hanging over them. That used to be me." And she sighed, taking a seat beside Lova. "The house is looking better, though. They're bringing in some of the new furniture tomorrow."
Adelle nodded. "I often feel very estranged from my friends and family, doing what we do. The compensation comes when we realize that it is because of us that they can continue to live their normal lives. All of the drama and politics that go on from day to day and yet, the total impact of all of it is confined to the small borders of our tiny, nearly insignificant planet. And now, here we are, the center of a conflict that is beyond any of our abilities to contemplate fully." She looked at Jenny, her compassion plain in her bright blue eyes. "The one thing we can each hold onto is one another and the realization that we are not limited to our own puny resources."
Jenny stood and went over to Adelle, surprising the scholarly woman with a grateful hug. "I am so glad to have you on our team, Adelle. You nailed it. We have one another and that will have to be enough."
The older woman smiled up at Jenny from her seat in front of the readout. "I think you will do well, Jenny. Now shall we get back to it?"
A couple hours later, Arvid called them to supper. It always amused Jenny that Arvid happily did most of the cooking for the group. He was a great cook and he seemed to take great pleasure in the happy sounds of people eating what he had prepared. The teams assembled at the table carried on mindspeech conversations as they ate, evident by the looks that passed between them, non-sequitur chuckles and occasional gestures with fork or knife in hand.
Finally, when stomachs were happily full and even the silent conversations seemed to have slowed down to nearly nothing, Lova called for their attention. "We are making progress through the files and should be done before bedtime. I know the team at Alliance headquarters have been working through the detritus from the camp. Have you heard anything from them yet, Burt?"
"They did find a document that seems to be encoded. Bob and I have been working on an algorithm to crack it and I think we're close. I'll let you know the moment we have anything. Other than that, most of it is just trash. This group didn't go in for tech or anything remotely resembling luxuries. They were strictly a grunt unit, which makes me seriously wonder why they were there in the first place."
Jenny considered that. Why were they there, after all? In Louisiana, of all places. Of course, the swamp made a pretty good hideout, but why so far away from any of the Earth gateways? And why a force of brutes wit
h no useful leadership? It didn't seem right to Jenny, now that she thought of it.
"Perhaps we will yet find a clue in the files or the encrypted document," Tarafau added. "I don't think we've harvested everything that's there yet."
"In the meantime," Burt said, "I've been watching Homeland Security memos fly around and there's pretty much next to nothing going on out there. At least nothing that applies to our situation."
Jenny's jaw dropped. Homeland Security? He said it so casually, as if it wasn't a big deal. It was easy, with Burt's age and his sloppy appearance to still think of him as just a geeky kid her own age. But his time in training with The Alliance had honed him and there was so much going on under that mop of wild hair, that he never ceased to surprise her.
Bob added, "I've been checking with Interpol. Other than the usual, there's nothing to indicate they've discovered anything worrying." Jenny's head swiveled from one to the other and back again. Interpol? Talk about underestimating her resources!
Bob saw her surprise. "It's a little device Burt put me onto. ' dastardly alien tech' scores another one for the home team," he laughed.
"Then let's get to work," Tarafau said dryly. Then to Jenny he said, "You haven't worked out today. Grab your Guards and go to the workout room. I'll meet you there when you've done your mental exercises and your warmup."
Jenny started to protest, as she felt like she had been goofing off today, even though it was part of the plan to make everything look totally normal at 888 Infinity Loop. It was a little disconcerting to see Troopers on guard in the gate office, for sure, and she had been apprised of the fact that, since they had been able to extract a DNA sample before Sam had escaped and also from the captured Groga, they were able to attune the shields to her and any Groga that came within 100 feet of the house.
She changed into her Gi and sat with her Guards, who were fast becoming her good friends, on the mat doing her mental exercises. These days she had three workouts, one with the staff, one in hand to hand and the last was the attacks from four or more different minds testing her shielding ability along with physical attacks of pain to test her mental distancing abilities. Most of the time, now, she could withstand a great deal of pain as if it were less than the tiniest pinprick, but this had yet to be tested under fire, with the exception of her interlude with Sneaky Sam.
The House on Infinity Loop Page 27