“We all do. When do we leave, Edison?”
“We don’t Newton. We are staying to help our friends in the coming war. Einstein is also staying; I couldn’t convince him to leave if we weren’t going.”
Newton turned his head left smiling, “I was wondering how I was going to jump ship before you left.”
Edison smiled and put a front leg on Newton, “Don’t get too excited; we’re going to have armor designed for us that is coated with the thought-blocking substance. Not only is our family going back into ships, we’re also going back into armor.”
Newton shook his head, “That stuff always made me itch.”
“Tell me about it.”
Jake sat in the map room at Castle Gardner staring at the millions of galaxies on the wall. Robby sat across the table from him, leaning back in a chair looking at the map together. Jake knew his subconscious was not happy with the direction in which he was moving. Robby was not happy either. Jake knew in his heart that killing on the scale needed to protect the Realm was not something he felt good about. Gambia had made him tough, but it also taught him to love those around him who would have been ignored by most people. He learned to survive, but he never failed to help those in need whenever he could. This decision was deeply troubling. He looked over at Robby and asked, “Do you see another way?”
Robby just stared at the galaxies and shook his head.
Valerie walked in and said, “Who are talking to, Jake?”
Jake looked up at her and once again was struck by the beauty of the Star Realm’s Queen, “Myself, Valerie.”
Valerie came over and stood behind Jake and hugged him, “What’s troubling you?”
Jake shook his head, “You already know the answer to that question. I just wish there was another way.”
Jake had shared his vision with Valerie the week before and shocked her. She had first felt distress and then anger, “Are they that callow? Do these creatures have no redeeming qualities?”
Jake had then told her what the Realm had to do to survive, and she resisted until he showed her the vision again.
“Jake, I’ve had time to think about what you’re planning and I’ve come to terms with what we must do.”
Jake saw Robby turn his head toward Valerie.
“What do you mean?”
“Jake, you’re worried that we are going against all of the principles that our Realm stands for.”
Jake nodded.
“Let’s forget our universe and just look at the Keepers’ universe. There are millions of worlds enslaved and consumed by these creatures. What would the Realm’s response to this have been if we had just stumbled upon them? One principle we hold higher than any other is that the Realm will defend those that cannot defend themselves. Those poor planets represent no danger to the Keepers, but were conquered and enslaved anyway. Even if they agreed to stay home and never come back, could we turn our backs on the billions being eaten? Jake, we turned our back on the millions on Gambia that were being preyed on by the wealthy merchant class. If we had stepped in and stopped the suffering, Gambia would have been saved from the Keepers’ attack. We would have been able to teleport the population.”
“Yes, but then you would have to interfere with a sovereign planet.”
“So what! This universe knows the Realm’s principles. We should have done the right thing. By refusing to step in, a planet is now dead. There is always cause and effect and we bear some blame for Gambia’s destruction. Those unfortunate beings in the Keepers’ universe are like the poor of Gambia; they deserve to be saved. We may still lose this war, but we won’t lose because of our fear of doing the right thing.”
Jake saw Robby smile at him and disappear. He found equilibrium in his conscience. He looked at Valerie and said, “I am constantly amazed at your maturity for your age.”
“Jake, I’ve been in mental contact with the Realm’s most powerful psychics my entire life. My mental development happened at an accelerated rate. I hope you understand that, because I am not a little girl. I turn eighteen in a week, and I’m telling you right now that I am going to announce our marriage at the event.”
Jake stared at her in shock.
“Got nothing to say?”
Jake smiled, “Valerie Rose Gardner, will you do me the great honor of being my wife?”
Valerie smiled and jumped into Jake’s lap, “I thought you’d never ask.”
Jake felt his heart swell as he kissed his future bride.
Junior looked down on the Keepers’ farm as ten colonists were transported to be consumed. He had listened to the colony for two days and learned how gentle and peaceful the beings being eaten were. They lived with their impending deaths amid a sense of helplessness that made them heroic in Junior’s opinion. This was the tenth colony he had visited in the Keepers’ universe, and they were all similar. These enslaved races were not a danger to anyone, yet the Keepers kept them for consumption. “I’ve seen enough.”
He ran a quick scan of the galaxies around him and noticed a huge industrial signature in one. He teleported in to the galaxy and slowly approached a planet that had thousands of Keepers’ ships parked in orbit. He saw a Keepers’ ship being modified with bafflers to cover the drive ports. He also saw thousands of Keepers working on the ship’s exterior mounting devices to project a screen. He recorded the process and after two days determined that they were to be used to jump inside the jump limit. He recognized the process from early Realm developments and he knew that Jake was right; they were preparing to invade the Realm.
Suddenly ten Keepers’ ships jumped in around him. He smiled and teleported away before they could come out of their star drives. He saw that he was inside the jump limit and knew these ships had been modified. He also scanned the ships and recorded a beam the length and width of the ships fired at his former location. He then detected fifteen more star drives breaking into normal space around him, so he teleported out of the galaxy and back to the Stars Realm.
The Director of the ships attempting to attack the strange ship looked at his scanner, “Where did that ship go? There is no way it could have jumped into null space fast enough to avoid us.”
“Tell that to that ship; it obviously didn’t know it was impossible. Notify the Collective.”
Jake held Valerie and forgot about wars, Keepers, ships, planets, and all of the other things bothering him. “I hate to interrupt you two, but I need to speak with Jake.”
Jake was jerked back to the present and thought, “Hello, Junior. Have you decided?”
“Yes, I have, Jake. I’ve spent the last two weeks in the Keepers’ universe scanning the worlds they’ve enslaved. They are a cancer on creation and must be removed. I’m your ship, Jake.”
Valerie looked at Jake with a furrowed brow and Jake shook his head, “We need to get you prepped for the conflict.”
“I know. I’m going to see Sprig in a moment, but first I want to show you what I’ve just recorded.” Junior played what he had seen at the Keepers’ ship facility. “Those things being installed on their hulls are beam projectors that will allow them to jump inside the jump limit. Fortunately, they are not composed of the hull material, so we should be able to burn them off if we can get close enough. Notice also that the ships that came after me jumped inside the jump limit and came out firing a beam much wider and longer than their previous weapon.”
Valerie and Jake were scared, “We can’t wait any longer; they are obviously preparing for invasion and we must try to slow them down.”
“Jake, send the Cainth against that planet. They are ready and are getting angry about the delay. They may be killed, but if they can knock out that planet and any others like it, it will buy the Realm some time.”