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

by Chad Spencer

  “I don’t know. But for now, the best thing to do is to get everyone back to the ships, put the ships on autopilot, and launch them into space. Once we’re all out of range of these things, everyone should wake back up.”

  So that’s what they did. Carefully picking their friends up one by one, as well as the locals who were with them, Akio and Nuraiyana carried them back to their ships and launched the ships on autopilot. Sure enough, they all woke back up as soon as they were in orbit. They quickly had a videoconference about what to do.

  “Captain,” Nuraiyana interrupted. “We’re getting a message from the Tuluvet. One of their Living Fighters was taken by the dairei’s troops while the crew was unconscious. The Tuluvet shot the fighter down, but they’re pretty sure the enemy escaped with seeds.”

  Over the video link, Jeff gasped, “They can get out of this universe!”

  “Yeah,” growled Akio. “I’m really getting tired of this guy.”

  Harriet questioned, “Since we can’t keep them on the planet, is there any way to trap them here in this universe? Can we destroy the wormhole?”

  “Even if we could,” countered Kenji, “there’s another wormhole somewhere. That dairei will find it eventually, if he gets into space. And he’ll invade the Alliance.”

  “If only …” mused Hugh. “If only we had one of those gravity bombs the Argentineans made. Then we could stop the dairei.”

  “How?” asked Jeff.

  “We could set it off inside the wormhole,” explained Hugh. “This universe is small enough that the resulting distortions in hyperspace would propagate everywhere. Not only would the bomb collapse the wormhole, it would collapse every wormhole in the entire universe. But we don’t have a bomb.”

  Akio interjected, “I still have one that we got from the Argentineans. That’s why I gave the order to abandon ship when we were coming through the wormhole to this universe. I was afraid it would activate and go off and I couldn’t get it off the ship fast enough. The ship was coming apart too. But I was more afraid of the bomb.”

  Jeff directed, “Danae, contact the Tuluvet and tell them what we’re going to do. Tell them to load up all the ships they have with as many of their people as they can take. But they can’t land near any of those telepathic machines. If they do, they’ll be trapped and their ships will be taken. A lot of the Tuluvets live on islands like Joonen and Tolool. Those small islands won’t have telepathic machines. They’ll just have to take as many people as they can before we leave and detonate the bomb.”

  “Jeff!” objected Harriet. “There’s almost a billion people left down on that planet. Most of them are not mind controlled. Are you really saying that we’re going to trap them here with that dairei in a universe that’s falling in on itself? Do you know how horrible that is? It’s too terrible to think about.”

  “Yeah. I know exactly how horrible it is. But can you think of anything else we can do?”

  Harriet admitted that she couldn’t.

  So they sent their warning to the Tuluvet. Jeff decided that he alone would launch and detonate the bomb. So Akio docked his ship with Jeff’s and they passed the bomb across.

  Knowing that they would have about two months before the dairei could launch into space, Akio and his crew helped all of the Tuluvet who were in space prepare to make the crossing into the main universe. Everyone who was able worked to manufacture and install backup shield generators into all of the ships. The work was kept up at a frenzied pace. But it was completed in seven weeks with everyone working around the clock.

  Every Tuluvet ship went to Thitheus and retrieved more people from their small island villages. They evacuated anyplace that didn’t have the dairei’s telepathic machines nearby. Made for fourteen people, the Tuluvet fighters carried 50 passengers, which was all they could fit.

  As soon as each ship was loaded with passengers and ready to go, it passed into the wormhole. The stream of ships was unrelenting over the entire seven weeks. Just as they got the last of the Tuluvet ships through, Kenji, who was manning the tactical position, announced, “A Living Fighter is launching from the planet. The dairei is leaving Thitheus!”

  Sebastian shouted, “Let’s shoot him down before he reaches escape velocity.”

  Kasumi countered, “He has machines that shut down our technology and our korei powers. Are we sure that he hasn’t mounted that on missiles to shoot at us?”

  That really hit Akio hard. ‘I’ve got to get us out of here, now.’

  Nuraiyana announced, “Jeff just ordered Harriet’s fighter into the wormhole. Dirk’s is going next. We’re after them. And Jeff is bringing up the rear.”

  Placing his hands on the pilot’s control spheres, Akio saw a flare as Harriet’s ship passed into the wormhole. Dirk’s ship was close behind. Expertly, Akio slipped the Hiryu into the wormhole and entered the blue expanse of hyperspace.

  46

  Deftly, Jeff lined the Shadow Eagle up to enter the wormhole.

  Danae, who was manning the tactical station, warned Jeff, “Our alignment has to be perfect in order to stay in the more stable parts of the wormhole. I’ve set navigation markers for you. And once we’re inside, it’ll be a lot different from other wormholes. With stable wormholes, it’s like floating down a river. You just let the current take you to the other end. With this one, you actually have to navigate around the unstable parts. I’ve set the computer to highlight them for you.”

  Jeff could see Danae’s navigation markers. He followed them carefully.

  WHAM!

  Red warning messages displayed all over Jeff’s view. The ship was spinning drastically out of alignment.

  “Danae! What happened?”

  “We were hit by blaster cannon fire from another ship,” Danae yelled. “I can’t find it on the scanners.”

  “It’s the dairei!” exclaimed Jeff.

  Working frantically to correct their course, Jeff made his approach to the wormhole again.

  Three more volleys of cannon fire hit. Jeff wrestled to keep the ship aligned.

  Amanda announced, “Shields down to 73%!”

  Danae exclaimed, “I saw the enemy ship briefly on the scanners. It’s cloaked. It has to be the dairei. He must have the ability to make his ship invisible, like Hugh can.”

  Another torrent of energy blasts hit the ship, tossing it brutally. Jeff gave up and brought it around again.

  “Shoot that jarking veech out of the sky!” commanded Jeff.

  “We can’t see him!” responded Chandresh Johal, one of the colonist gunners.

  “I’ve got him!” Danae exclaimed. “He becomes visible when they fire, just for a second or so. I’ll set markers for possible trajectories the next time they fire.”

  Amanda chimed in, “Shields at 49%.”

  Once more, Jeff approached the wormhole, attempting to enter. The enemy ship blasted them again. This time it was much worse.

  But the Shadow Eagle’s gunners let loose with a deluge of return fire. Jeff saw the shields of the enemy ship light up when it got hit. Then it went invisible again.

  “Shields at 26%!” warned Amanda. “We can’t take much more of this.”

  Danae informed them, “Updating the likely trajectories for the enemy. Everyone fire along these trajectories and see if you can hit them.”

  The gunners let loose again as Jeff guided the ship in for another try.

  “Score!” yelled Mamsen Cotton. “I’ve got him,” she added as she tracked the enemy fighter with her cannon, blasting it repeatedly.

  Instantly, all of the gunners trained their cannons on the enemy ship and hammered it mercilessly. The enemy returned fire, but Jeff was able to stay on the approach path.

  “Shields at 5%!” shouted Amanda.

  Jeff ordered, “Amanda, get our backup shield generator online.”

  “Already on it,” she responded tersely. “Shields down!”

  Amanda instantly declared, “Backup generator online. Shields at 100%.”

 
; The dairei’s ship was taking a terrible beating. The dairei wasn’t even trying to cloak it any more.

  Jeff plunged the Shadow Eagle into the wormhole. “Joe!” he called out. “Take the helm!”

  Leaping from the pilot’s chair, Jeff turned the ship over to Joe Lau. He scrambled to the back of the bridge and yanked open the hatch to the service tunnel that led to the rear engine room.

  Amanda questioned, “Jeff, where are you going?”

  “This ship can’t make it through the wormhole with just one shield generator. It has to have a backup if we’re going to get through in good enough shape to fight the tahkti. Our main generator is gone and we’re running on the backup. If it goes, I have to be the backup for it. I’m going to get into position in case I’m needed.”

  He paused a moment and added, “I sure wish some of you could learn to do this.”

  So saying, Jeff scrambled into the tunnel. When he arrived at the engine room, Kurt Hyde and Milford Chan, the colonist Engineers who helped Amanda, were already frantically working on the main shield generator. The backup was crammed into a small space next to the main generator, and it was humming out its resolve as it protected the ship.

  Meanwhile, the Shadow Eagle pitched and shuddered as Joe guided it through the wormhole. Jeff had to crawl back to the shield projector where he did his best to hang on.

  “How’s it coming guys?” he asked.

  Kurt shook his head. Milford just growled.

  ‘More or less what I expected,’ Jeff consoled himself. He tightened his embrace of the spherical projector lens, ready to activate his shield when needed.

  Even though he knew the passage between the universes would only take about 15-20 minutes, it seemed like hours to Jeff. Amanda gave periodic reports on the shield strength over the intercom.

  “Shields at 47%.”

  It seemed like almost no time had passed before she updated them with, “Shields at 40%.”

  Jeff waited, tensing every muscle in his body. The ship shook violently, tossing the two engineers against the walls of the room.

  “Shields at 34%.”

  Amanda yelped, “Jeff, the gravity bomb has been damaged. We can’t launch it.”

  The ship endured another wave of brutal pitching, and Amanda yelled, “Shields down!”

  Instantly, Jeff summoned his shield and poured every ounce of energy he had into the projector lens. It took just seconds for him to encase the fighter in his protective energy covering.

  Struggling against the pounding his shield was taking, Jeff sweated and strained. His eyes were firmly closed, but he could hear Kurt and Milford frantically doing their best to repair the main shield generator.

  Then suddenly, the ship went quiet.

  “We’re through!” announced Hugh.

  Kurt hollered, “Main shield generator back online!”

  Jeff didn’t hesitate. Releasing the projector lens, he scrambled into the access tube.

  Back on the bridge, Jeff demanded, “What’s wrong with the bomb? How badly is it damaged?”

  “It can still detonate,” Amanda explained. “But its onboard computer is shattered. The bomb can only be detonated manually and the onboard computer will take a long time to replace.”

  “Danae,” barked Jeff. “What’s the situation around us?”

  “It’s been less than a day since we left. There’s a battle in progress. We’re winning. Almost four million human ships came through the wormhole. It looks like most of them are in good enough shape to fight. Akifumi’s Kanto ships were already winning before the Tuluvet ships arrived. The tahkti ships are getting blasted out of the sky.”

  “How soon do you think the dairei’s fighter can come through?”

  “Almost immediately. We hammered his ship pretty badly. He’ll have to grow a new one from a seed. But he’s moving 4,800 times faster than we are. Six or eight weeks there is almost nothing here. He’ll come through any minute.”

  “All hands to the bridge!” yelled Jeff. “NOW! You too Arvix.”

  “Jeff,” called out Danae, “the dairei sent some kind of probe through the wormhole. It looks like he wants to know if it’s safe before he comes through. It’s broadcasting a coded transmission.”

  “Shoot it!” commanded Jeff.

  The gunners blasted the probe. It was made of the same impenetrable material that the dairei used on his telepathic machines, so they couldn’t destroy it. But the energy blasts were able to knock it back into the wormhole.

  Milford and Kurt emerged from the access tube. Arvix entered the bridge from the ship’s common area. Immediately Jeff lifted one hand and sent an arc of lightning out. It split as it went, hitting every member of his crew except Arvix. They weren’t hurt, just stunned.

  “Arvix, get the crew into the escape pods as fast as you can. Launch them as soon as they’re in the pods.”

  Moving much more swiftly than any human could, Arvix carefully picked up each crewmember in turn and carried them to the escape pods. The robot launched each pod as soon as it was full.

  Meanwhile, Jeff took the helm. As soon as he was in control, he brought the ship around and lined it up to reenter the wormhole. As he approached it, he yelled out, “Arvix, status!”

  “All of the crewmembers have been safely launched in the life pods,” the robot answered. “Are we reentering the wormhole?”

  “Yes.”

  “May I ask why, Master Jeff?”

  “I’m taking that bomb back in. I’m setting it off manually.”

  “Then you will die, Master Jeff.”

  “Yes, Arvix. I will.”

  A screaming shock of electric energy slammed through Jeff, knocking him senseless. Blearily, he was aware of Arvix carrying him gently. When his head finally cleared, he found himself in an escape pod, floating in space.

  Jeff used the pod’s comm system to call the Shadow Eagle. Arvix’s image appeared on the small screen. “Arvix, what are you doing?” he demanded.

  “I took the liberty of placing three crewmembers in one of the life pods. I know it will be uncomfortable for them. But I hope it won’t inconvenience them too much.”

  “What?”

  “I had to, Master Jeff. I needed to keep a pod on board for you. I guessed what you were doing. And while I was loading the other crewmembers in the escape pods, I made a brief detour to the storage lockers and procured a pair of dynoresonant nucleopliers. Of all of the hand tools, they have the most powerful electric charge. I knew I would need that to stun you because of your lightning power.”

  “Stun me? You stunned me? Arvix, why would you do that?”

  “Because I cannot allow you to reenter the wormhole and detonate the bomb,” replied the robot evenly. “I must do it in your place.”

  “Why, Arvix? Why?”

  The robot tapped its head with its index finger. “Because when it comes right down to it, there’s no one really home in here. You are alive. I am not. I have learned from you when it is acceptable to kill to protect others, including killing myself. Goodbye, Master Jeff. It was a pleasure serving you. Please don’t bother to deposit my salary for this week. Oh, and I have taken the liberty of placing a ship seed in your life pod to replace the Shadow Eagle.”

  Through the pod’s small window, Jeff saw the wormhole flare as the Shadow Eagle dove inside. Less than a second passed before the wormhole flared again and collapsed.

  Arvix was gone. And the dairei was trapped in the pocket universe. They had won.

  47

  “You lied to me, Jeff,” Amanda accused over the video link as he sat in the low gravity of his life pod.

  “Lied? I didn’t lie.”

  “You said we would face things together, side by side. But when it came down to it, you zapped me and tossed me into an escape pod.”

  Momentarily, Jeff just gazed at her image on the comm panel. Heaving a deep sigh, he told her, “I’d do it again in a second, Amanda. I know you said you don’t need me to protect you, but I did it anyw
ay. You mean more to me than my own life. I’ve realized that I’m not strong enough to go on without you. I can’t lose you. I’m not strong enough.”

  “I hate you,” she wailed. But her tears told Jeff otherwise. “You say exactly the right thing and it always makes me cry. I hate that.”

  Jeff just smiled and said, “After we’re picked up, let’s find a good beach program and go into the AR suite. I’ll teach you to surf.”

  Still tearful, Amanda nodded and signed off.

  Almost immediately, Jeff got a call from Harriet. “I’m on my way to get you,” she advised him. “So just hang tight for a few minutes.”

  As soon as he was aboard her ship, Jeff went to the bridge. The four tahkti’s spherefighter contacted them just as he arrived.

  “We rejoice in your return, Jeff Bowman,” Kex told him solemnly. “When the human ships disappeared, we thought you all had died. We were almost killed ourselves. Our ship was badly damaged, but repairs are underway.”

  Over the video link, Jeff wondered aloud, “How did you live through that fight without us?”

  “Because of the time difference,” explained Kex, “the Kanto ships began to appear just a few minutes after you all fell into the pocket universe. Their first few ships were destroyed right away. But we quickly realized that help was coming and we managed to protect the next few ships that arrived. They helped us protect the rest. As the day wore on, so many ships came out of the wormhole that the tide of the battle turned. It also helped that nearly 7,000 of the enemy ships were swallowed by the wormhole.”

  “Well,” responded Jeff, “we’re glad you’re ok.” They signed off.

  Turning to Harriet, Jeff queried, “Have you heard anything about my family?”

  She shook her head. “Not yet, Jeff. Akio took his fighter down into Asiel’s atmosphere to get them. But I did just get word that the Argentineans opened a wormhole and sent a probe back to this system. Sebastian told them that the battle is over and that we won. They’re bringing the Libertad back here.”

  It was over three hours before Jeff got word from his father.

  When they were finally able to talk over a video link, Jeff gasped at the view of his father. Kent was wrapped in multiple bloody bandages. “Dad?” Jeff exclaimed fearfully, “Are you ok? Were you hurt?”