The Split Skies (The Possessor Wars, Book 4): The Possessor Wars, Book 4

by Chad Spencer

  Governor Conners questioned, “Where will you go?”

  “We don’t know yet. But we’re not staying here. Our trip here demonstrated that we can cover large distances across this galaxy. We’re going someplace where we can be sure we won’t be found.”

  Kent stated flatly, “I’m not leaving my children.”

  “And what about our people on planet Akio?” Goot interrupted. “They cannot flee. Will you take them as well?”

  Regretfully, Governor Connors shook his head. “I don’t see how we can. There’s just not enough room in the ships we have. But if we can stop the attack, or even delay it, we can use ship seeds to make ships and make androids to crew them. If you can convince your people to get onto the Living Gateships, then you could move them all to another planet that the dairei won’t find.”

  Kent interjected, “That would take some time, Darius. There’s almost two million tahkti on planet Akio. It would take years to make enough ships to move them all.”

  “I think,” Kasumi broke in, “That we’re all missing the point.”

  “Point?” Señor Otero queried. “What point?”

  “The tahkti invasion fleet is on the way here now.”

  “Yes, that’s why we want to leave. Now.”

  “Governor Connors,” asked Kasumi, “The Lethbridge Drift is made up of six Living Freighters all connected together. How long do you think it would take to get them all disconnected and out of the system if the Libertad opened a wormhole?”

  Understanding flashed across Governor Connors’ face. “I see what you mean,” he agreed, nodding. “It took us a week of hard work to get ships that size positioned just right and link them up. It would take us at least two days to get them all uncoupled. Each ship would have to be let loose individually. Then it would have to be moved far enough away for the next one to safely cut loose. They’re so large that exact maneuvers like that take hours. Yeah, it would take about two days.”

  “Are we sure that the invasion fleet won’t arrive in that time?” wondered Kasumi. “Do we even have time to run away? Or are they going to be here any minute now?”

  Kent agreed, “She’s right. They could show up any time now. We need to come up with a plan in case we have to fight.”

  Señor Otero objected, “We have no reason to believe that they could arrive that soon. The message said that these kids were able to get to the other system before the invasion fleet passed by.”

  Kasumi countered, “True, but that’s because they … we didn’t try to stop the invasion in that future. We just let it happen. But this time we’re trying to save everyone and put history back the way it should be. Señor Otero , how long does it take for you to generate a wormhole? Isn’t it about an hour?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “When our world was invaded, we had no warning. By the time we knew anything was happening, it was too late. Even if a gateship had been in the system, it may not have gotten away in time.”

  Señor Otero’s face grew somber, but he made no reply.

  Kent said abruptly, “You four.” He pointed to the tahkti. “Is there anything you can think of that will help us?”

  “No,” stated Kshank flatly. “Our parents and our grandparents spent their whole lives fighting the Enslaved Ones and failed.”

  No one had anything to say after that. Eventually, one of the Argentineans asked, “Is there nothing we can do?”

  Slowly, quietly, Hugh said, “I think … I think I might have an idea.”

  “What kind of idea?” asked Harriet.

  Hugh smiled wickedly. Turning to Señor Otero he asked, “How long do you think it would take your crew to fabricate a few gravity bombs?”

  Señor Otero replied, “How many do you need? We already have several.”

  Hugh just smiled more broadly.

  24

  “I think,” Akio said as he sat hours later with Jeff, the four free tahkti, and his crew at the dining table in their fighter, “that we should contact Eden.”

  Puzzled, Jeff asked, “Why?”

  “She helped us a lot in our battles during the war,” was Akio’s answer. “I think we should get her help again.”

  Goot queried, “Who is this Eden that you speak of?”

  Jeff explained that Eden was the dairei who had given them all their korei. Then he asked, “Aren’t you in contact with her too?”

  “No,” stated Goot flatly. “And we want no contact with that life form. We do not want it to know we have korei.”

  “How did you get your korei then?”

  “You gave them to us.”

  “I gave them to you?” questioned Jeff incredulously.

  “Correct,” Goot replied. “You gave them to us in the yet-to-come.”

  Kasumi broke in, “How did you learn to use your powers? Eden taught us most of what we know about using ours.”

  Goot shivered in agitation. “We don’t know much yet about using our powers. Kex figured out how to give others the power to understand our language. That is about as far as we have progressed. We must know more. You must teach us.”

  “Fair enough,” agreed Jeff. “But first, we’re going to call Eden. We won’t tell her about you.”

  Jeff continued, “We need everyone who has korei. Let’s get them together before we call.”

  Akio asked, “What about the colonists and the Argentineans that have korei? Should we get them too?”

  Shaking his head, Jeff answered, “They probably won’t come. They want to hide from Eden, so we should just leave them alone.” The others agreed.

  Less than an hour later, Jeff, Harriet, Hugh, Tiffany, Amanda, and Danae together with Akio and his crew called to Eden from the common area of Akio’s fighter. She appeared instantly.

  “I’ve been hoping to hear from you,” Eden greeted. “What is your situation?”

  Jeff explained about the tahkti invasion fleet. Eden was clearly worried. “How did you find out about this?” she questioned.

  “The Libertad detected it when it was exploring nearby star systems,” Jeff lied. “We don’t know how long before they get here. The colonists have started to uncouple the ships in the Lethbridge Drift. They’ve got two disconnected so far and they’re working on one more. The Porsche’s Haven and the Ellsworth II are both ready to go. So is the Libertad. As soon as one more ship is free, they’ll open a wormhole to another system. All the colonists will be on the three ships they cut loose from the drift.”

  Eden asked, “They’re not taking all of the freighters?”

  Shaking his head, Jeff told her, “No. They’re leaving three of them so they can get out of here faster.

  Satisfied, Eden nodded. “That sounds good. I’m glad you kept me informed.”

  “Well,” Jeff countered, “it’s not just about being informed. We were hoping you’d help us fight if the invasion fleet shows up before we can get safely away.”

  “Of course, Jeff. I’d be glad to. Just call me when you need me.” She smiled gently and then cautioned, “But I think it’s important for you to all take the next steps in learning to use your abilities. I can help you with that if you’ll let me.”

  “I don’t need that,” shot back Akio quickly.

  “I do,” countered Hugh.

  Danae chimed in with, “Me too.”

  Smiling patiently, Eden assured them, “I won’t force this on anyone. Akio, if you feel you’re prepared for battle, then we’ll just skip your training. But anyone who wants to can directly connect to me telepathically and gain a greater knowledge of their abilities almost instantly.”

  “We already did that,” Kasumi asserted.

  “True,” agreed Eden. “But you all have more to learn. I’ll help anyone that wants more knowledge. And I can help you be stronger. It won’t take long.”

  Over the next few hours, everyone but Akio took a turn at training with Eden. Afterward, confidence ran much higher among them.

  Then Jeff and the others did as much as they could to
help the four tahkti learn to use their powers. During the lesson, Maat asked, “You all learned how to use the power of the korei by telepathic exchange with this Eden creature?”

  Shaking his head, Jeff disagreed. “No. Mostly we learned by being about to die. I learned to do my lightning, fire, and to fly when a bunch of giant animals were trying to eat me. Most of the others learned their powers when they were being attacked too.”

  Maat queried, “So your korei teach you?”

  Jeff just shrugged. “I guess you could say that. They help us learn somehow. When we need them, they’re there for us.”

  Harriet explained, “They like being bonded to us. So they do all they can to help us.”

  Maat was silent. Then she said, “When the invasion fleet comes, I think my companions and I may have the opportunity to find out just how much our korei like us. I hope mine adore me.”

  The other three tahkti immediately began twitching oddly. Puzzled, Jeff asked, “Are you ok?”

  Maat explained, “You would call this laughter. They are laughing because I made a joke.”

  “Yes,” Kex agreed, still twitching so much that his voice was choked. “Maat is very clever that way. Her jokes are hilarious.” The three of them twitched even harder.

  Jeff gazed at Maat, who stood with folded hands in a very self-satisfied way. He looked at the other three tahkti, whose twitching seemed to be growing by the minute. He scratched his head and sighed, “An alien comedian. I think I can finally say I’ve seen everything.”

  25

  “The Argentineans are leaving,” Governor Connors told Jeff. “They’ve dumped forty unmanned fighters into open space and they’re opening a wormhole.”

  Jeff stood on the bridge of the Amsterdam and said to the Governor’s image on the main viewscreen, “Can’t you talk to them? They won’t stay and wait until we get the last ship free? We can’t leave the system without them.”

  “I’ve tried talking with them already,” Governor Connors replied. “They told me that any ships that can move and want to follow them can go through the wormhole with them. Now they won’t take my calls any more. And as for leaving the system, I’m hoping that your alien friends can use their gateship to create a wormhole for us. We’ll have the last ship free in an hour.”

  “They can’t even wait one hour?” Jeff demanded hotly. “What’s wrong with those people? Don’t they care that lots of people could die if they leave now?”

  “Jeff,” the Governor announced gravely, “the invasion fleet is here.”

  “WHAT?”

  “It’s here. Our shuttles on the other side of Asiel detected energy surges outside the system that can only be caused by wormholes forming. At the speed of light, it took a half hour for the energy signatures of the wormholes to get here. Because we’re hidden by Asiel, they probably haven’t seen us yet. But that wormhole the Argentineans are opening up will send its energy signature everywhere. In thirty minutes, the aliens will know right where we are.”

  Amanda asked, “You said there were wormholes–more than one. Does that mean there are a lot of ships?”

  Nodding, the Governor answered, “Probably. You’ve got to remember that the delay caused by the speed of light keeps us from knowing exactly what’s happening. There could be wormholes opening up all around the system, but we don’t know it yet because energy from the ones on the other side of the system hasn’t reached us yet. We’ll know over the next hour or so just how bad this is. That’s why we need to talk with your alien friends. Now.”

  “Why didn’t you just call them on the radio?”

  “I did. They won’t respond to anyone but you.”

  “Oh. Ok. I’ll call them right now.”

  Moments later they added the four free tahkti to the call. “Yes,” Goot told them. “We will open a wormhole for you when we can. But it is too late now. Our long-range scanners show wormholes opening all around the system.”

  Governor Connors wanted to know, “How can you detect that already?”

  “We scan through the above.”

  “The above?” he asked, puzzled.

  Jeff interjected, “He means hyperspace. It sounds like they have some sort of hyperwave scanners on their ship.”

  “Correct,” Goot agreed. “And it looks like it is a small fleet. We do not yet have an accurate count on the number of ships. But it appears that there are only about a thousand or so.”

  “A thousand ships?” choked Jeff. “They have a thousand ships coming after us?”

  “Correct,” responded Good calmly. “So you see, we are really quite lucky that the situation is not worse.”

  ‘A thousand enemy ships is a lucky thing?” marveled Jeff, astounded.

  Goot continued, “They will soon begin opening wormholes to our location. They will not create more than two or three so as not to cause gravity shockwaves close to the planets. If they follow their typical pattern, they will want to capture and assimilate us into their force by implanting an artificial brain into each of us.”

  “We call those cyberbrains,” Jeff told him. “And the same thing happened in human space.”

  Goot cautioned, “You must finish freeing your last ship and then hide in the atmosphere of the planet you call Asiel.”

  “Hide in the atmosphere?” asked Governor Connors, taken aback.

  “Yes,” affirmed Goot. “Asiel is a gas giant. You must take your ships deep into its atmosphere. At that depth, your ships will actually be buoyant. They will float in the thick atmosphere without using your engines. Instead, divert extra power to your artificial gravity generators so that you can regulate the amount of gravity that the passengers experience and increase your shield strength. The turbulence in the atmosphere will keep them from finding you for a while. You will not be safe for a long period of time. But in the interim, we may be able to think of a way to escape.”

  Governor Connors agreed and signed off.

  A short time later, the Amsterdam docked with Governor Connors’ freighter. The Governor greeted them at their airlock.

  “We’ve gathered up the fighters that the Argentineans dumped before they left. We’ve got volunteers from among the colonists to man them.”

  “Do we need them?” Jeff queried. “Can’t we just hide?”

  The Governor shook his head. “Goot says that the only way to protect the colonists while they hide is for someone to fight the invasion fleet.”

  Jeff stopped short and said cautiously, “And by ‘someone’ he means us.”

  “Exactly,” was the answer. “Everyone who can fight must fight or we’ll all be destroyed. I contacted your friend Akio. He’s recounted some of his battles during the war.” The Governor placed a hand on Jeff’s shoulder. “We can’t live through this without all of you using your … special abilities. You have to fight, Jeff.”

  A bolt of fear ran through Jeff. But then he got a grip on himself and managed to reply, “Yeah, you’re right. We have a better chance of winning than any of the colonists.”

  The Governor nodded his agreement and then said, “Akio has his fighter. I’ve assigned a fighter to you and one to Harriet.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, Jeff. You. You’ll be the captain of your ship. Harriet will be the captain of hers. Akio suggested that we reassign some of his crewmembers to Harriet’s ship to help her. She’ll have Sebastian, Kenji, and Ai. Sebastian will be able to keep their fighter invisible. Kasumi will cloak Akio’s fighter. Hugh will be on your ship and do the same for you. You’ll also have Amanda, Tiffany, and Danae. I’m filling out all of the other duty stations on your fighters with colonists. Many have volunteered, even your friends Mark and Barbie. Every fighter will have a full compliment of fourteen crewmembers. I’m assigning colonists to take over the Amsterdam as well. It will hide with the other freighters.”

  “Governor? Do we really have to take Tiffany?”

  The Governor smiled, just a bit. “Yes, Jeff. We need everyone to fight who can.”


  “Governor?”

  “Yes, Jeff?”

  “What about the tahkti on planet Akio? Won’t they be captured and have cyberbrains put in them? Weren’t the tahkti hoping to use them to rebuild their Throng?”

  “Yes,” replied the Governor. “But the only way to save them is for them to get out of this system and hide. We don’t have enough ships for that.”

  Jeff couldn’t accept that. “We can’t just leave them,” he asserted. “They’re the only hope that Goot and the others have for their race. They’re helping us, so we should help them.”

  The Governor shrugged. “I agree with you, Jeff. But even if we destroy the invasion fleet, there may not be time to make enough ships to get them out of the system.”

  Not giving up, Jeff stated, “I want to at least try.”

  Governor Connors nodded his agreement. He told Jeff, “I hope you get that chance. Your fighter is attached to docking port 12.” Without another word, he left.

  Jeff went to docking port 12 and found all of his crew but Tiffany there. Turning to Hugh, Jeff asked warily, “Hugh, how do we get that Tiffany girl on board our fighter without a big fight?”

  “Pft,” shrugged Hugh. “Beats me.”

  Urgently, Jeff insisted, “We have to get away without causing a major problem. I don’t want my family to know we’re leaving. I don’t think my father will let Danae and I go. But we have to fight because we’re the only ones who have the possibility of winning. We have to get away without a fuss.”

  With a pained expression, Hugh replied, “Pretty much anything involving Tiffany turns into a fuss.”

  Frustrated, Jeff shot back, “Hugh! You’re not being much help.”

  They were interrupted by the sound of a high heels clacking on the deck of the fighter’s crew commons. Jeff turned to see Tiffany approaching. Behind her, and waiting just outside the airlock, were five androids driving hovercars. Jeff observed that she had just arrived in one of the cars and was now striding resolutely toward them. The carts behind her were stuffed to capacity.

  Tiffany stopped, turned toward the androids and ordered, “Bring my stuff and follow me. I’ll show you which cabin to put things in.”