by Saxon Andrew
Valerie struggled for an answer, “No, I am not certain, but I am not going to gamble on the creatures discovering Ross. I want the population ordered to teleport away for 24 hours. We’ll not involve Camerrill in this exercise, but as Ruler of the Stars Realm I order you to move Ross’ population.”
Joe stared at Valerie and signed, “Admiral, issue the order. According to the probe, the Keepers will clear the jump limit in two hours.”
All of them felt that this was a huge waste of time, but the Queen had spoken.
On Ross all communication devices began blaring out the warning, “All citizens on Ross must teleport to another planet immediately. We will keep you informed about returning, but you must be gone within the hour. An attack is imminent.” The announcement played over and over as the population of billions teleported away.
The Keepers Fleet approached the jump barrier and the Director turned to his sensor operator, “Where is the next target?”
“Before we entered this system I had mapped several possible locations using the same thought frequency of the last target, but one of them has changed radically since the last scan.”
“What are you saying?”
“One of the targets had a huge population, with a high percent of them being the species of the planet we just eliminated. However, now the planet is empty of life.”
The Director thought a moment as the fleet tuned in and listened telepathically, “If as we surmise a device is projecting phantom populations and it had a malfunction such that the real surface was revealed, that could account for the difference.”
The sensor operator thought about the proposal, “Yes, that’s possible. Are we going to go see if it’s valid?”
“Do you want to waste,” the Director looked at his display, “eighteen intervals to see? We know someone in this universe can deceive our scanners. We have wasted too much time already, and I’m not willing to throw away any more. If there’s doubt about a population’s existence, I would rather move toward one where we are reasonably certain of success.”
The sensor operator could hear the thoughts of all the Keepers in the fleet and determined that the over whelming majority agreed with the Director. “I’ll check that planet later, and if the population goes back to the original level we’ll know it is another decoy.”
“Where is your other target?”
“On your display, Director.”
“Jump in a quarter interval; tighten up your formations.”
The Keepers Fleet jumped and arrived at the jump limit in Camerrill’s system.
Valerie watched her communication panel as Fleet Command scrambled to move Camerrill’s population. Valerie thought, “I hate being right about this. Jake, you’re causing trouble. Hurry up and get those powers under control.” He couldn’t hear her, but she had to voice her frustration.
Joe appeared on her board, “I will not question you again.”
Valerie nodded, “That is a wise decision, but you need to get the population to safety.”
“I’m sorry, Sis.” Joe disappeared from her screen.
Valerie pulled up a picture of Jake on her display. He had just woken from his history download and had smiled when he saw her beside his chair. She stared at the picture in silence, “Come on, Jake. We need you now.”
Chapter Ten
Jake sat in the middle of the area just inside the entrance to the community. Jackson had sent word that there was to be a gathering to touch the Good Luck Man. Many of the men didn’t know about him, but were quickly told by the women of the community. Now all of them knew.
The area was not big enough for all three hundred thousand, so most of the men remained in the first row of homes as the women came in and began sitting in rows that surrounded Jake. Those that had already touched him stood with the men and watched as the crowd grew larger and larger by the minute.
Jake sat there and found himself feeling a kinship to all of these wonderful people. No wonder Kathea called all of the women her sisters; they all shared the specter of death and the gift of life together. He could feel their love for each other and it was amazing. He had only known his family briefly before they died, and Robby for only three years. He felt he had known these people forever. In a short period of time they had become his brothers and sisters.
He was nervous, because tonight he should find the one who would release his psychic powers and become the love of his life. He looked around as the crowd continued to swell. He looked out at the green fields surrounding the community and marveled at the beauty of the moment. He could see why the original settlers landed here. The community was clean and the air was fresh. He closed his eyes and waited to find the one that would be his love for life.
“Junior, what are they doing?”
“It looks to me like they are gathering all the women to touch Jake.”
Cynthia looked at the screen again and saw only women sitting in the rows surrounding Jake. “How did he make this happen?”
“I have no idea, but I hope the Keepers don’t interfere with the process.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. I really hope they don’t either.”
Jake opened his eyes as the community gathered, and saw light from the setting sun shine on the ancient colony ship that had crashed next to the row of hills. As he watched the light move up the ship he saw a giant, faded, SR appear on the tail fin of the giant ship. He had never seen it before, and he suspected it could only be seen during the setting sun. Now he knew who the Seniors were; he was a Senior. The humans had been praying for the return of The Stars Realm for thousands of years. He looked at the giant SR and now knew the meaning of the Realm that Valerie had tried to teach him with the history download. He saw in these people how important the Realm was for the safety of its citizens. His heart swelled with pride to know that he was a part of that community. Then he saw Jackson stand.
“Welcome my children. We have all heard about the Good Luck Man that brings us good fortune. You’ve heard that he has a quest to touch every female in our community. I have decided to help him make it happen. Perhaps he will bring us all good fortune, maybe even the return of the Seniors. However, it is always good for us to come together; we should do this more often to celebrate who we are.” Jackson walked up to Jake and smiled at him, then said to the crowd, “We will start with the inner circle and move outward. After you touch him join those in the houses.”
The closest row of women stood, walked by Jake, and touched him; some on his cheek, some on his hands, some on his head, and some on his neck. They all kissed the hand they used to touch him. Jake was moved beyond words. The first row finished and the second stood.
The leader of the Keepers’ garrison was watching his monitor. He called his second in command over and indicated the monitor, “What are they doing?”
“It appears they are touching the one in the center.”
“Why?”
“How would I know? These lesser beings always seem to be doing dumb things.”
“Could this be part of a rebellion?”
The Collective heard the word rebellion used by one his billions and immediately turned its attention to the two Keepers, “What are you asking about?”
The two Keepers shrugged and continued to look at the monitor. The Collective looked at what they were seeing through their thoughts. It did seem like nonsense, but an invader ship had been killed in that system. Could that ship have contacted the food before it was destroyed? “Send a security team and find out what they are doing.”
The last row of women had touched Jake. None had caused any effect on him. Jake looked at Jackson, “Is this all of them?”
Jackson tilted his head, “Yes it is, son.”
Suddenly a high-pitched whine broke the silence of the crowd, and a large Keepers lander came in swiftly and settled to the ground in the middle of the clearing. Jake moved out of the clearing and into the front ranks of the crowd. Fifty Keepers exited the ship and the leader approached
Jackson. “What are you doing?”
Jackson felt his fear, but answered honestly knowing the Keeper would hear his thoughts, “We were having a ritual. We were touching one of our members because we believe it will bring good fortune.”
“Show me the one you were touching.”
Jake knew that his time was up. If he refused to step forward there could be a huge loss of life. Jake Stepped out of the crowd and walked forward. The crowd started moving with him and the Keepers raised their weapons.
The Garrison Leader contacted the Keepers’ ship on the moon and ordered it to come to the planet. Cynthia was yelling at Junior to teleport Jake out. Jake felt nothing but calm and continued his walk toward awaiting death.
“Shut up, Cynthia. The ship is starting to send power to the drives. I am going to fire three penetrators into their shafts and teleport to the planet.”
The Keepers’ ship received word to come and assist the landing team, when suddenly the ship felt a huge shake followed by three fuel tanks exploding inside the ship and pushing a blast of white hot flame through the interior of the Keepers’ ship. Every Keeper on board died in the blast. The blast was not seen or detected outside the ship. The hull not only prevented energy from getting into the ship, but also prevented anything from escaping.
The Collective, however, felt the deaths of the six hundred Keepers on the ship. It directed its consciousness to the fifty members of the landing party.
The Keepers’ leader pointed his scanner at Jake and tried to read it. Jake knew that his bracelet was a fake and that it wouldn’t react to the scans. As Jake watched, the Keeper actually took the scanner, hit it with his other hand, and tried it again.
“What’s wrong with your scanner?”
The leader looked at his second in command and said, “It’s a piece of junk. I never get the same reading twice.”
“Here, try mine.”
Jake watched the two Keepers exchange scanners and the first one pointed it at him again. He showed the results to the second Keeper.
“Junior, now would be a good time!”
“He’s not pointing a weapon at Jake. Just hold on a moment.”
“Your scanner is also bad.”
“The second shrugged mentally and thought, “Perhaps it’s not our scanners, but his sender that has gone bad.”
The Leader stared at the other Keeper a moment, then walked forward and grabbed Jake’s arm to look at his bracelet. That’s when events began moving fast. The world turned bright blue and Jake felt the release of his psychic power. He immediately saw the central intelligence of the Keepers watching him thorough the minds of the fifty Keepers just before that intelligence was knocked unconscious by Jake’s psychic blast. The fifty Keepers in the landing party fell to the ground twitching and every Keeper in the garrison was stunned unconscious. The Collective that was directly linked to the landing team was hit with a psychic blast that blew its compartments apart and scattered them out into the Keepers’ population. The Collective was effectively knocked unconscious, as well as all of its quadrants. The trillions of Keepers never noticed the Collective was out. Each of the individuals contributed such a small part that it had no effect on each being. For the first time in millions of years, the guiding leadership of the Keepers was missing.
Jake felt the power when the Keeper grabbed his arm. The coating that had been applied to his scalp was blown away and Jake could see the entire universe in his mind. His perceptions became crystal clear, and he could hear the thoughts of those gathered around him. Jackson looked at the fifty Keepers that had stopped twitching and said, “What have you done? They will kill us all!”
Jake looked down at the dead Keepers. He saw the psychic blast was too much for them, and that their minds were severely damaged. Jake remembered the young woman and her baby being taken to be killed, and felt no sorrow over the death of the landing party. He also felt Junior trying to teleport him to the ship, but he prevented the field from forming.
Jake looked around the clearing at the gathered community and said, “For thousands of years you have been praying for the return of the Seniors. You call them Seniors because of the SR on the crashed ship. That SR does not stand for Senior.”
Jackson looked hard at Jake and asked, “What does the SR mean?”
“It stands for Stars Realm. Your ancestors came from there.”
“How do you know this?”
Jake saluted the gathering and gripped his two fingers. His Armor appeared instantly and he said in an amplified voice, “Because I am from that Realm.”
The gathered humans saw the metamorphosis as Jake’s armor covered him. The women started crying. No one knew what to think. Jackson was shocked, but then he asked, “Can you save us?”
“I don’t know, Jackson, but I’m willing to die trying.” Jake hit his communicator, “Junior, you can quit trying to teleport me out of here. I am not going to allow it.”
Cynthia saw Jake in his armor on the screen. “What does he mean that he won’t allow it?”
“I have been attempting to teleport him to us and he has somehow blocked my efforts.”
“Take us down there now!”
The Stars Realm ship dropped through the atmosphere; the thousands of Humans saw it as it settled four feet off the ground and remained stationary. Cynthia donned her armor and teleported out of the ship. The gathering saw the large SR on the tail of the ship and the tension in the air was electric. What was happening? Cynthia appeared in the clearing and walked up to Jake and said, “We have to go. Now!”
Jake looked at Cynthia and the coating covering her head disintegrated into nothingness, “We will use telepathy, Cynthia.”
Cynthia flinched, then heard Jake’s thoughts, “Jake, the Keepers will not ignore what happened here. We have to get you back to the Realm. You know how important you are to our survival.”
“Not without these friends.”
“Jake, you know the Keepers from that building are going to be coming. I’m certain that ships are also being sent. We have to go.”
“Junior, are you listening?”
“Yes I am, Jake. I’ve never seen a teleport screen blocked psychically. You must have found your integrator.”
““I did, Junior, it was a Keeper. You will immediately teleport to the Realm and bring three transports back with you. Tell Valerie to set the teleport screens on the transports to only teleport the DNA of the colony it will move. That way the bracelets and all their connections will be left behind.”
“Jake, we don’t have enough time to do that.”
“Junior, there is a ten hour window before the Keepers can get a ship here. I will hold off the ones at the building until you return. I will not leave these people to die. You are wasting time and you know it. What would your parents do in your place?”
Junior actually flinched electronically when Jake asked him. He paused a moment, then said, “They would die to protect these people, Jake.”
“How can you deny me the same right? Now go and bring the ships to save these people.”
Cynthia said, “Jake, we can’t risk losing you. You go with Junior and I’ll hold off the Keepers.”
“Cynthia, when that Keeper touched me my powers were released. You stand no chance against them; I do.”
Cynthia got angry, “It will be easier if I handle the attacks from the air. I am not going to leave you, Jake.”
Jake looked at her and saw her determination, “Junior, you’re wasting time! You need to go now.”
Junior kept trying to teleport Jake, but nothing worked. Junior decided, “I’ll be back.”
The gathered thousands watched as the ship rose and then disappeared.
Jake removed his armor and Cynthia removed hers as well. Jake looked at the thousands and said so all could hear, “I have sent the ship you’ve just seen back to the Realm to bring larger ships to move you from this planet. Everyone must stay here in a group. You may not take anything with you. We are going to tr
ansport you into one of our ships and the only thing going will be you. Even your clothes will remain behind. We are forced to do it this way to remove the bracelets and their connections from your bodies. We will provide everything you’ll need when we arrive back in the Realm. Any questions?”
“What if the ships don’t come in time?”
“Then just think of it as being your turn to be taken by the Keepers. My friend and I are going to do all we can to defend you until our ships return.” Jake looked around and said, “Kathea, where are you?”
Kathea stepped out of the crowd and walked over to Jake. “Kathea, that ring will not go with you if we are able to leave. I want to take it with me.”