No Technology Is Invincible (The Death Prophecies-Book Four 4) (23 page)

Gabe nodded, “What energy does that color designate?”

“Fusion.”

Gabe’s eyes narrowed and he started shaking his head, “Are you telling me that world has fusion blasters!?”

“It would take something that large to house the reactors and barrels. I hope you’ve also noticed that the world has a force field array on the surface.” Gabe looked at him and Ali pulled the scan of the world’s surface in closer. He highlighted a number of installations on the surface and Gabe said, “Stop! I can see the pattern. That world is one giant warship.”

“Yes it is and, according to your scouting records, there are more than a thousand of them.”

“There could be more than that, we only scouted the ones that we tracked from the Launcher at the back hole. Those worlds are more than four times the size of the Black Motherships.”

Gabby looked at Gabe, “I didn’t hear any of those Black Beings mention them.”

Gabe nodded, “No, they didn’t. The Builders will exhaust all of their other weapons before they’ll send one of their worlds into combat. Wouldn’t you send the moon before you sent Earth to fight a space battle?”

“I guess that’s a good analogy. But have you thought about what this means?”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean, Gabby?”

“Gabe, if mankind had to flee Earth to escape an attacker, how long would it take us to do it?”

Gabe was silent for a moment and then said, “It would have to be planned years before the population was moved. The colony ships would have to be built first and that would take a very long time to build enough ships to move all of Earth’s population.”

Gabby raised her shoulders, “Earth’s population stands at a little more than nine billion. We’ve seen that each of those Builder worlds have a population of about a billion living on them. With more than a thousand of those worlds in our files, their population is a hundred times larger than ours. Further, all they have to do to flee is to just turn on the stardrive and move those worlds out of the galaxy. I suspect they could evacuate that galaxy in less than a few hours if they chose.”

Gabe walked over and sat down in his command chair. He was silent for a few minutes before he turned to Ali, “I’m trying to look at this from a strategic position if I were in their position. I’m thinking that the Builders would not leave that Galaxy with a huge fleet of warships close by.”

“Why is that?”

“Those worlds can’t be as fast as their warships. The Black Motherships could launch their fleets of warships to pursue them and catch them out in the open in intergalactic space.”

“How do you know they’re not as fast as their warships?”

“Ali, the mass of those worlds is off the scale. The amount of energy to move it would be incredible, especially at a high speed.”

Ali smiled, “Admiral, it is still a simple equation. A small warship can only carry a limited number of reactors to power it forward. Aren’t the much larger flagships just as fast as the smaller warships?”

“They are but they’re not as maneuverable.”

“We’re talking about speed and whether or not the small Black Warships could run them down. I’ve analyzed the number of fusion energy locations on that world Admiral Kuhn scanned and the energy they would create would probably be the same ratio of energy to mass as that of a normal sized warship.” Ali looked up and said, “And you’re also leaving out the science of it.”

“The science of it?”

“Does the Prophet’s Eyes have more reactors than our other warships?” Gabe just stared at Ali. “Yet it’s the fastest ship in Fleet. It doesn’t always boil down to mass and energy. Sometimes science has a way of intervening and making the difference.”

Gabe smiled, “Thank you for clearing a few things up. However, I still want to go and see if the thought reader can capture the Builder Leader’s plans.”

“That’s fine with me. I have a video to watch.” Ali looked back at his display and focused on what he was seeing. Gabe looked at Gabby and she sighed, “I hate to say it but he’s right about all of it.”

“I wonder why intelligence didn’t pick up on those fusion sites on the Builder World.”

“I suspect not one person on their staff is an engineer. And I think they go in with preconceived ideas about what they’re seeing.”

“You’re probably right, Gabby. See if you can capture the builder’s thought pattern before we arrive at the main world.”

“I will, Sir.”

• • •

The Builder Leader looked at the images in his brain and didn’t like what he saw, “Are you telling me we won’t be able to produce more than a thousand Defense Globes a month!”

“It’s more like five hundred.”

“WHY!?”

“Because the supply line of raw materials was shut down after the forty thousand were completed. It will take a few years for the robots to produce the necessary raw materials for full production to be initiated.”

“Our scouts tell me there are still more than seventy of those giant black ships close to that galaxy. They’ve also determined that those ships have stripped that galaxy of natural resources.”

“I’ve seen the same thing.”

“We need those new defense Globes now!”

“We’re doing the best we can.”

The Leader ended the call and saw the Senior Elder was on the channel, “Are you here to question me?”

“No, I’m not. I must tell you that most of the Elders felt you were overreacting to the Black Ships but in hindsight, you did exactly the right thing. Attacking them before the other Black Ships joined the fleets holding station was good tactics.”

“Why are you here, Elder?”

“Are you considering leaving this galaxy? Our Scout Leader is of the opinion that the Black Ships at the other galaxy are waiting for others to arrive.”

“How does he know that?”

“His computer analyzed their movements and they fall into a pattern that was recognized.”

“I believe we can handle the numbers of ships they have remaining. I think we would be better served taking any time we have before they attack again to rebuild our forces. If we leave now, we’ll have to leave all of our automated building facilities behind. I say we start rebuilding and stay at it until we’re attacked again. We know we can outrun them if it came down to it.”

“Should you send out scouts to look for another galaxy?”

“I was hoping to use the black hole in this galaxy as a possible escape but that door has been closed.”

“Perhaps another door might be possible.”

The Leader was surprised by the suggestion. He hadn’t considered that. “I’m going to have the Launcher building facilities to start producing again. We’ll send a launcher out with a Fist of Warships to different galaxies. They’ll send the Launcher through the black hole and if it doesn’t return we’ll know that species that attacked us has blocked it.”

“How can you be certain they did it and it’s not due to natural events?”

“Because it’s what I’d do if I were in their place. Oh, I’m reasonably sure they’re working hard to prevent our entering their space.”

“That could pose an issue. They know where we are.”

“Don’t worry, there are too many galaxies for them to block them all. I owe them a debt for killing our former tools. I intend to repay that debt one day.”

“I think you should focus on the current threat and worry about that other place another time.”

“I will. But I won’t forget them.”

• • •

Gabe had heard enough and turned off the thought reader, “Poul, get us out of here.” The Builder World disappeared from the monitor and a few moments later, the Prophet’s Eyes was out in interstellar space.

Ali looked at Gabe, “What are you thinking about doing?”

“Can’t you figure it out?”

“Not really. I’m an engineer and leave all the strategic mumbo jumbo to you military types.”

“Mumbo Jumbo?”

“I don’t understand how you come up with those wild ideas.” Gabe started laughing and Ali said, “What?”

“You built the most sophisticated computer in existence and you don’t understand military strategy. I find that just outlandish.” Gabe stopped laughing and said, “What would you do, Ali?”

Ali raised his shoulders and lowered them, “I don’t know. I guess I’d attack the Builders now while they’re in a weakened state.”

Gabe smiled, “Go on.”

“I would attack one of those Builder Worlds to see what defenses they possess. If I lost that particular battle, I’d come home and try to develop something that would work against them.”

“Ali, have you ever used the Death Prophecies to guide you in your decision making.”

“Not really.”

“Well look at them above the forward monitor and tell me which one would apply in this current situation.”

Ali looked at the plaque with the Death Prophecies and said, “Several of them apply.”

“Just pick one.”

Ali stared at the list and smirked, “I think I know what you’re going to do.”

“Tell me what you see.”

“You’re going to leave and do nothing.”

Gabe began clapping, “Very good.”

Ali nodded, “Death Prophecy Two says never do what others can. Why should you attack the Builders when the Black Species is already planning to do that? Just step back and let them do it for us. I might also note that the first Death Prophecy says to never attack an adversary unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. I suspect its number one for a good reason.”

“See, was that so hard.”

Ali stared at the list and began nodding, “I think I’m starting to understand the logic we’ve used in the past. It’s not so mysterious anymore.”

“Do you see anything else?”

“I’d leave a message probe here to inform you when the attack begins.”

Gabe’s mouth fell open and he quickly said, “Poul, stop the ship.”

“What?”

“Go back to the edge of the galaxy and launch a message probe. Program it to contact us if the Black Fleets come inside its detection range.”

“How is it going to get a message back? The black hole is closed here.”

“It will send a message to another probe we’re going to leave outside the black hole we’re exiting. It will go through that black hole when it receives a message from the one we leave in the Builder’s Galaxy.”

“Turning around.”

Gabe looked at Ali, “Thank you for that. How did you think of that?”

Ali pointed at the plaque, “Number Seven, only knowledge can save you.”

Gabby smiled, “I think you would be a good Fleet Commander, Ali.”

Ali smiled, “Thank you, Gabby and I think you’re a pretty good engineer.”

G
abe stared at the rapidly approaching galaxy and the thought recorder was being overwhelmed with the millions of thoughts barraging it. Gabe looked at Gabby, “Turn it off. There’s no way sense could be made of that.”

Gabby took the thought recorder and put her hand on the off button but hesitated. She turned the wheel on it and the loud noises being made by thousands of Black Species thoughts disappeared. “I’m turning the volume down. Perval’s computer may be able to make some sense of it.”

Gabe shrugged and looked at the galaxy on the wall monitor they were rapidly approaching. He rubbed his eyes, which were tired from staring at the monitor for hours. He blinked several times and said, “Poul, have you decided how you’re going to get us close to the black hole without being detected?”

“I’m going in over the top at my highest speed.”

Gabe started rubbing his eyes again and said, “Remember you’ll need to jettison the communications probe where it can see the black hole in its entirety.”

“The best place to do that is from above it, Admiral.”

Gabe stared at the galaxy as the Prophet’s Eyes flew over the top of the galaxy’s plane and looked up, “Poul, I want you to activate the magnetic field before you exit the black hole.”

“Admiral that would allow the warships on the other side to see me.”

“Do you think you could escape before they could harm us?”

“Probably; however, nothing is certain.”

“Do as I ask, Poul.”

Gabby was staring at Gabe and Ali wondered what was going on, “Gabe, is this a good idea?”

“It has to be done.”

“Why?”

“This galaxy is the closest one to both of these aggressive species. We have to decide if we’re going to have the Darkness towers come and close it on our side of the black hole. There is the question of whether or not they could do it with those warships fighting each other.”

Ali said, “What are you talking about, Admiral?”

“Send him the recording, Gabby.” Gabby stared at Gabe and then turned to her console. Ali received the recording and started looking at it. After a few moments he loudly said, “HOLY GUACOMOLIE!!” He looked at Gabby and started shaking his head. Gabby nodded and Ali turned to Gabe, “Admiral, that galaxy is a real nightmare. Those warships will be on us instantly.”

“If any of them move aggressively toward us Poul has orders to get us out.”

Ali looked back at his panel’s display and turned back to Gabe, “There’s no place you can go and not have those ships coming at you.”

Gabe looked at Gabby, “Have you focused on what’s happening there?”

“No, Sir.”

“Take a moment and do that now.”

Gabby closed her eyes and started thinking about what was happening in that galaxy. Ali stared at her and, as they arrived over the top of the black hole, she opened her eyes, “I agree, Gabe, you have to find out.”

Ali shook his head, “FIND OUT WHAT?!” His question was not answered as Poul turned and flew at an incredible speed across the event horizon. The invisible communications probe was left far behind high above the spinning black hole. Ali closed the visor on his helmet and set it to show the tactical display. In just a few moments, his heart went into his throat. As far as the scanners could see, warships were attacking each other. Giant explosions filled the visor’s display as far as it could see. There were so many warships around them that Ali saw no way for them to escape through the mass. He was surprised the Eyes had not been rammed by one of the warring ships attempting to escape being hit. Suddenly, all the thousands of warships surrounding them slowed and came to a stop.