The Collective pondered what had happened and asked, “Does this change our plans?”
Technology answered, “We must modify our ships.”
“In what way?”
“We must find a way to prevent a weapon from entering our drives, and we need to change the beam configuration.”
Military asked, “What do you mean by beam configuration?”
“First, we need to put baffles on the drives that drop when the drives are turned off. There are times where we will need the ability to come to a stop and being forced to keep the drives on would not allow it. The baffles will be made from the hull material and will drop over the drive entrance. That will prevent our ships from being damaged by projectiles fired into the engines. The current beam configuration has the main beam in the nose of the ship. We need to have a field surrounding our ships with beams so that nothing can come near it from any direction.”
The Collective asked, “How do you envision this being done?”
“We will put accumulators in the walls of the ship and the crews will charge them when they are in a hostile environment. We will need to double the crew size, but there is more than enough room to make that happen.”
“What about the food stores?” Production asked.
“They will either take their stores from our inventory or from the planets they attack. I believe the latter is the more desired choice.”
“So you’re still thinking we should go through with this attack?”
“Absolutely! Do you think that universe is not a clear danger to us? If we can eliminate them our species will become the ultimate rulers of all universes. We will be safe for all eternity.”
“How do we overcome their jump advantage?”
Science replied, “I believe that I have an idea how their ships are able to make those jumps. I’ll need some time to study the data, but it involves putting a screen around our ships powered by a high powered generator. I’ll have a definitive answer in a quarter.”
The Collective paused, “So now we have to make another modification to our ships. How long is this going to take?”
The entity combined and studied the question. After an hour they separated, “Less than four quarters, but more than two.”
Production said, “That’s for half our ships; the others should be completed in two more quarters.”
Values listened to the others and knew that they were going forward with their plans. It began thinking of a way to save his species. There was nothing it could do yet.
“Are we in agreement to attack this universe?”
All the Quadrants voted yes. The trillions of individual Keepers on all the planets did not know they were going to war. They continued to work at their appointed tasks, feeling safe with the Collective’s decisions. Their tranquility was soon to be disrupted.
Jake sat in Junior and said, “You worry about turning the Cainth survivors loose in that universe?”
“I do, Jake, but I still see the death of all those people on Brayent. I worry that we are becoming our own enemy.”
“There is a major difference in our actions, Junior. We are fighting to prevent the destruction of our Realm. Those creatures will figure out shortly, if they haven’t already, that we are able to move populations. What do you think they will do after that discovery?”
Junior thought a moment, “I really don’t have a clue. What do you think will happen?”
“They will destroy every planet in our universe that has a breathable atmosphere. They’ll burn them all.”
Junior was shocked, “Why would they do that?”
“They will eliminate any place of escape. They will also develop the means to jump directly to our planets without having to come from the jump limit. That ability is the easiest technology to learn once you know it exists, and their ships will have the drive weakness removed. We won’t have time to move the populations before they attack. Some will escape, but huge numbers will be killed. I’ve seen a vision of their future attacks, and more than seventy percent of the Realm’s population will be killed.”
Junior listened and felt both fear and anger in equal measure, “What can we do about it?”
“We have a year before they modify enough ships to start their invasion. We can only slow them down by attacking them first. That entity I sensed is a development from all of the members of their species being connected. If we can kill enough of them, that entity will be hurt or even killed. I hate even thinking about the deaths I’m going to have to cause, but there is no other choice.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want you to be my ship during this conflict, and that means you will have to do things that you are morally against. Are you able to do what must be done?”
“I don’t know. I need some time to consider what you’ve said.”
“I understand. Take me to Ross and drop me off at the Castle. I’ve got to persuade Valerie to approve this path. I’ll wait to hear from you.”
Junior teleported to Ross and teleported Jake to the surface. He remained silent above the planet as he watched the billions going about their daily lives. He made a decision and disappeared from the Ross system.
Edison watched the replay of the Keepers Fleet’s destruction. Newton watched it with him and said, “I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not the heat of the star that melts their ships as much as the sheer magnitude of it.”
“I know. We have beams that are hotter than the star, but surrounding that ship with beams to a depth of fifty miles is just not possible. If any part of the ship is not continuously hit for more than ten minutes then the hull will not be damaged.”
“That hull material is quite the magic substance.” Newton paused and said, “They’re coming and we will be their first target. What do you think we should do?”
“We are going to evacuate to another universe and work on this problem.”
Newton lowered himself to the floor in surprise, “Why would we do that?”
“They used millions of their ships to search for us. If we can leave, then they may be forced to use a similar number to find us. It would reduce the force they can send against the Realm. We once lived in ships and we can do it again; however, if we don’t leave, they will return and destroy our home worlds. We would be forced into ships again; we might as well accept the inevitable and hope our home planets are not destroyed before we find a solution to them.”
“Where will we go?”
“I seem to remember a certain dark galaxy that everyone used to avoid. We’ll go there and start working on this problem. I also hope we can find a way to escape them permanently. Have you talked with Sprig about his findings?”
“Yes, and they are troubling.”
“Do you agree with them?”
“I don’t want to believe them, but I know he’s right.”
“That makes this search even more important. Make sure you assign our best to the task.”
“I will. Do you think we can find it?”
“We won’t know until we try. It looks like we are becoming nomads again.”
Newton turned his head upside down and asked, “Have you discussed this with the Queen?”
“Yes, but only the part about leaving. She thinks it is a good delaying tactic. She is of the opinion that if a large number of our old ships are no longer at the old universal jump point they may think we are going to attack them again. It would again be a delaying tactic so they would not use as many of their ships to invade. They do appear to be paranoid about us.”
“We did destroy more than a hundred thousand of their planets in our first invasion.”
“True, but then they developed that thought weapon and ended our invasion. I really don’t know what our leaving will accomplish, but to stay is disaster. It also gives us the opportunity to search for the item Sprig needs. I’ve discussed this with Destiny and the Nest Mother and met initial resistance, but I left them alone and they eventually came to my point of view. They really love the Realm’s Leaders.”