by Chad Spencer
“Porsche … Porsche’s dead, Jeff,” Kent choked out.
“Porsche is DEAD? What happened?”
Danae wailed, “My mother’s DEAD? What about Denise?”
Barely able to continue, Kent informed him, “A sphere fighter detected us down in Asiel’s atmosphere. It looks like that fighter was the only one that noticed us. It came down and started shooting at the Porsche’s Haven. A lot of us were hurt. But Porsche and a few others were killed. Denise is ok. She got thrown around some, so she has some bruises, and a broken arm. One of the Kanto fighters followed the spherefighter down into Asiel’s atmosphere and saved us.”
Turning to Harriet, Jeff requested, “Can you take us to them?”
Harriet nodded. “Setting a course now.”
Danae called to Kent, “Dad, I’ll heal you and Denise as soon as we get to your ship.” And that’s just what she did.
The reunion was bittersweet, as was the aftermath of the battle. Near the end of the day, a conference was held over a video link.
“You have our thanks,” the Guardian of the Tuluvet High Council told Jeff and his friends. “You saved our people, the Kanto people, and more. Over two hundred million of the residents of Thitheus are alive because of you.”
Jeff wasn’t consoled. From the bridge of the Porsche’s Haven, he said, “But eight hundred million are going to die because of me. Or get turned into slaves. I’ve killed more people than any other human being in history.”
Akifumi reassured him, “It wasn’t you that condemned those people to death; it was the dairei. He’s responsible for what happened, not you. Jeff, you did what you could to help. You, Akio, Harriet, and all the others are responsible for saving many, many lives. I can’t tell you how grateful we are.”
“And you created a new future,” Governor Connors added encouragingly. “One without the dairei. He’s trapped in the pocket universe, so he can’t start an invasion of this universe. Things are better already, Jeff.”
But Jeff knew that wasn’t necessarily true. ‘We stayed here and stopped the invasion of the Bowman system. But that means we didn’t stop the younger version of the dairei from going into Earth’s past. He could still create any kind of future at all. He might even be able to undo everything we’ve accomplished.’ Jeff knew he couldn’t let that happen.
“What will happen next?” asked Akio.
“Funerals,” rasped Kent. “Funerals for the dead.”
Señor Otero agreed. Then he added, “We’ve planted a gateship seed and some Living Freighters seeds in a neighboring star system. We’ll make android crews for them. The androids will make more Living Freighters and androids. When they have enough, they’ll come back to the Bowman system if they think it’s safe and evacuate the primitive tahkti on the planet Akio. They’ll take them to the neighboring system and wait for your four free tahkti friends. Together, they can find a new planet to live on.”
Jeff asked, “What about all of you?”
“We’re leaving,” answered Señor Otero gently. “But we won’t tell you where we’re going. The Kanto, the Tuluvet, and everyone else can all join us.”
Akifumi interjected, “We need a couple of months to regroup and rebuild. Then we’re sending a fleet to the star system where Eden and that wormhole to the dairei’s universe are. Do you have the coordinates, Jeff?”
“No, she never gave them to me.”
Danae interrupted, “She gave them to me. She and I talked just before this meeting. She wanted us to come to her. I’ll send the coordinates to you.”
Akifumi thanked her and assured Jeff, “I remember when I was young and we were facing this all alone. But that’s not the way it is now, Jeff. The Kanto can fight. We’ll go to Eden’s star system and close that wormhole to the dairei’s universe. You kids can rest now. You can depend on us to handle things from here.”
But the knowledge that there was more to it than that pressed down on Jeff like a ten-ton weight. He knew he had to act.
The conference went on for quite a while, but Jeff stopped listening. After only half an hour, he left.
The funerals were held. At his mother’s service, Dirk looked both devastated and angry.
‘He and his mother were really close,’ Jeff told himself.
Danae and Denise were also heartbroken. Jeff did his best to comfort them, but it didn’t seem to help much.
After the funeral, Amanda cornered Jeff and asserted, “I know what you’re planning. You’re going to try and keep that dairei from changing Earth’s history so he can’t undo everything we’ve done here.”
Startled, Jeff asked, “How did you know?”
Amanda made a disgusted noise and told him, “Jeff Bowman, do you really think I don’t know what’s going on in your head? You’re my guy. I pay attention to what’s going on with you. I know what you need too, you know. I’m the girl you need to hang onto. You’re not going to find another girl like me, Jeff. And you know it.”
For the first time in a long time, Jeff smiled. “Yeah,” he agreed. “You’re right. I don’t think there’s another girl like you in the entire universe. Or any other.”
“You’re so smart sometimes,” cooed Amanda as she took his hand.
‘I’m really glad I met her,’ thought Jeff as he and Amanda went for some quiet time in an AR simulation.
After a couple of days of funerals, people celebrated. Jeff and his friends were held up as heroes. ‘I don’t feel much like a hero,’ he groused. But everyone seemed to need to make a big deal over them, so he went along with it.
Jeff spent time with his dad, who was grief-stricken. ‘I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose two wives. I wish there was more I could do for Dad.’ But Jeff knew that he would soon leave, and that would hurt his father terribly. ‘I have to do it. I wish I could tell him how sorry I am for doing this. But I have to do it. I have to leave.’
Another week passed. Jeff called the others together. They met in Jeff’s cabin on the Porsche’s Haven.
“We can’t stay here,” Jeff asserted. “Or at least, I can’t. A younger version of the dairei is coming through a wormhole from the future. He’s going to try to change Earth’s history. I have to stop him. The message from Future Me made that clear. I’ve got a ship from Governor Connors to replace the Shadow Eagle. He let me have it in exchange for the seed that Arvix left for me. I’ve also got some androids to fill out our crews. Will anyone else come with me?”
“My crew and I are going,” asserted Akio. “We’ve already talked about it. We’re leaving the colonists in our crew behind. We won’t take anyone who doesn’t have korei. They might be taken over by the dairei.”
Harriet added, “The Spectral Guardian is going too. We’re not taking the colonists either.”
Surprisingly, Dirk proclaimed, “I’m going too. I’ll be on your ship, Harriet. That chongpeth murdered my mother. I’m going to make him pay.”
“I’m going,” Leo chimed in.
“You are?” asked Tiffany, clearly surprised. “Then I’m going too.”
“We’ll be running on a skeleton crew,” said Akio. “But we’ve done that before.”
“I don’t want to go,” Danae said. “I should stay and take care of Denise.”
“That’s ok,” Jeff said.
Danae shook her head. “I don’t want to go,” she repeated, “but I’m going. Denise has Dad. I’m a healer, Jeff. I need to be there when crewmembers are hurt.”
“Thanks,” expressed Jeff warmly. ‘I’m glad I can count on her.’
“Before we go anywhere,” cautioned Rick, “we need to get ship seeds for every type of ship and put them in every life pod in both of our fighters. The way things go for us, I think it’s pretty likely that we’ll need them.”
Ai suggested, “Since there’s so few of us going, we could all go in one ship.”
But Akio disagreed, “It’s better to have more. That way we can back each other up.”
So it was decided. T
hey were able to obtain all of the ship seeds they needed fairly quickly. No one would say no to the heroes.
But they didn’t tell anyone about their plans–at least, not until just before they left. Then they all paid a visit to Governor Connors’ office.
Jeff told Governor Connors, “We have to leave. We have to stop the dairei from changing history.”
“Yes,” the Governor replied gently. “I know you do.”
“We’re leaving now, before Dad can stop us or try to come with us. He can’t go, I don’t want him taken over by the dairei. And he has to take care of Denise because she can’t go either.”
Sighing heavily, Governor Connors gazed sadly at them. “I thought you’d say that.”
“You and the other colonists and the Kanto and the Tuluvet are leaving soon, aren’t you?”
“Yes. That’s true. We’ll use the Libertad to open a wormhole and start moving ships through tomorrow. It’ll take months to get everyone through. But we’re starting right away.”
Jeff looked away, staring into the distance at nothing in particular. “Señor Otero is right. We can’t know where you settle.”
Governor Connors made no reply.
Jeff turned to him, and with a growing emptiness inside said, “We can never see you again. I’ll need someone to take care of Bob. He’s still aboard the Porsche’s Haven.”
“I’ll make sure that Bob has a home,” the Governor consoled.
“I guess … I guess you won’t be able to give me your guitar even if I do save the universe.”
The Governor chuckled, “As I remember, they made some nice guitars in the past. Maybe you could pick one up there. And if we ever meet again, you and I can play some very loud music together.”
Jeff saw Danae start to cry. He felt like someone was squeezing his heart with an iron fist, but he kept going. “Tell my dad … tell Dad …” Nothing else would come out.
The Governor nodded, “Yes. I’ll tell him.”
Jeff could only nod in gratitude. He took Danae and Amanda by the hand and led them toward the Shadow Eagle. Akio and his crew followed behind them. Harriet and the others brought up the rear. Wordlessly, they got into their ships–where their android crews were patiently waiting–and launched. The tahkti met them in space.
Jeff piloted the Shadow Eagle out toward deep space with the other three ships close behind. As he did, he looked over the millions of ships that filled the Bowman system. His thoughts were filled with the faces of people that they had saved–the colonists, the Kanto, the Tuluvet, and others from the pocket universe. But try as he might, he couldn’t forget the faces of those they didn’t save. ‘Hundreds of millions people,’ he agonized. ‘And I left them there to die. I trapped them in the pocket universe. But what else could I do?’
When the four ships had put a safe distance between themselves and the other spacecraft that filled the star system, the tahkti opened a wormhole. And one by one, the four ships went through.
Thank you for reading The Split Skies!
Dear Reader:
What did you think of the return of Jeff Bowman? He started as a stranded teenager marooned on a planet by himself and ended as a formidable opponent of an invading alien fleet. And of course, this isn’t the end. He has to fight for both the past and the future in the final book of the series.
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