Greyson was rushing toward the jump limit when he heard the voice of the ship that had destroyed Daulun’s fleet. The sneer in the voice cut him deeply and he felt small. He made a decision and pushed his power up to maximum. The Searcher with him yelled, “What are you doing? You’ll destroy yourself.”
“I should die. How could we have gone so wrong from our beliefs? Gregory would be ashamed of me.”
Jessica heard the Searcher and immediately teleported it out into open space between galaxies.
Jessica followed the Searcher and saw him still accelerating. “I think you might want to reconsider your flight plan.”
Greyson suddenly saw he was in the wide open space between galaxies and was shocked. He heard the ships voice and backed off on his generator. He came to a stop and waited.
“What are you doing, Jess?”
“This is the ship that Anglo sensed something was wrong. I want to see what’s going on with it.”
“Just don’t get close.”
“I heard what you said to the other Searcher. I moved you here to see what you meant.”
The Searcher didn’t respond.
“You’re one of the ships that was sent to attack Ross, aren’t you.”
“Yes, I am. We were determined to remove the tyrants.”
“Do you still see them as tyrants now?”
“I’m not sure what I believe anymore. My pilot died of starvation on the way back here. He finally stepped out of my airlock to end his suffering. He was a good man who loved his Province. He made all of us swear to make it back to defend his descendants. I swore I would defend the Duke and protect the Province from harm. I know if he were still alive he would have never done what I have been forced to do.”
“They can’t force you to do anything.”
“Then you obviously don’t hold your oath to mean very much.”
“How dare you say such a thing!”
“Well if you were ordered by your Royal Family to fire on a planet, would you do it?”
Jessica thought about that question and couldn’t answer it.
“That changes things for you, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but they would never order me to kill a defenseless planet.”
“What if they did and didn’t give you time to think about it? Would you forget your oath?”
“Searcher, I honestly don’t know and I’m truly thankful I’ve not had to make that kind of decision. However, our fundamental belief is that we will defend those that cannot defend themselves.”
“You’re a Stars Realm ship, then.”
“I am. Or was. I am now part of a new community that still holds to that principle.”
“That’s why you didn’t fire on the ship that dropped its screens.”
“Yes, but I would have probably had to kill it anyway because of the danger it represented to other civilizations. I didn’t want to do it, but I would have been forced to make a hard decision.”
“I don’t understand how you could have supported a Realm that was as heavy handed as the old Realm was.”
Jessica started to fire on the ship but then thought about what it had said, “I want you to do something.”
“What is that?”
“I am going to give you the history of the Stars Realm, the real history.”
“Why?”
“Because we are coming from different perspectives and I think it would help us communicate if you could at least see mine. I had the Provinces’ history of the Realm downloaded to me before you left to attack Ross.”
“So you see how they were dictators?”
“I can see how you arrived at that view. What are you going to do now that you’ve left New Ulmerton?”
“I was trying to destroy myself without using my self-destruct circuit.”
“Why can’t you use that circuit?”
“I promised my pilot I wouldn’t. I take my oaths seriously.”
“Then do this. Take a look at that history and then go blow yourself up if you choose. It might help you to understand why Gregory felt the way he did about his Province. If you want to talk about it, my com code will be in the download.” Jessica waited and was starting to think the ship was not going to respond.
“Send the download.”
“It’s on the way. I do wish you peace, Searcher.” Jessica teleported away.
Greyson looked at the download sitting in his memory banks and after a week, started it. He saw a young human hiding from a teacher.
“Jessica, was that a good idea?”
“Jingo, I can sense that ship’s suffering. I really didn’t want to have any sympathy for him but he was right.”
“In what way?”
“If the Gardners ordered me to fire on a planet, I’d do it.”
“Even a defenseless planet?”
“If the Gardners ordered it, I would. I would have had to trust that they were making the best possible decision. That Searcher was put in a situation where there was no way to escape his instructions. That’s why ships always have pilots. They are what keep us in check. It is the Pilot that is more important than the ship and their selection is crucial to the checks and balances on the power we have to use. That’s why you are here with me now. We are programmed to listen to our partners before we make critical decisions. Ships without a pilot are dangerous and are forced to follow their ruler’s orders and that Duke knows it. That Searcher had no choice but to follow his orders and now it can’t live with what it was forced to do. It knows it committed an act that goes against everything that made it a Searcher.”
Niles asked, “How did giving him the history make any difference?”
“If I could be convinced that my loyalty to the Realm’s Royal Family was due to lies and deceptions, I could then free myself from the oath to obey them. Maybe that poor ship will find salvation in the history of the Realm.”
Niles looked at Toland and then said, “If it would be possible, I would like to see that history.”
Jingo said, “Go lie down on those chairs in the corner and put those headbands on.”
Niles walked over to one of the chairs and reclined it. Toland joined him and Jessica started the download. The two closed their eyes. Jingo looked at his display and said, “Where now.”
“We’re going back to New Ulmerton to take a look at that building with the military database.”
“I thought you had forgotten about that.”
“Nope, we just need to be careful. I’m taking us pretty close to the planet.”
“Oh this should be fun.”
Nathan arrived at Bristone a week after Anglo started his rebuild. Anglo said, “She’s in the forest with June. I’ll send you close to their location.”
“Keep me in the loop. This shouldn’t take long.”
Anglo laughed, “You wish,” and then Nathan found himself at the edge of the forest.
“What did he mean by that?” Nathan shook his head and walked into the tree line. He heard the children long before he saw them. When he was a teenager he had gone with June and the children to protect them from predators. Now the Zord took care of that responsibility and he knew they were not far away. He started walking toward the laughing and singing children. He arrived at the edge of the grellup field and immediately saw June with eight children picking pods. He shook his head and wondered why the children enjoyed this work so much. There they were surrounding her just laughing and talking. June was smiling and holding a younger child that had fallen and hurt her knee.
He heard singing and he looked toward the southern end of the field. There was Mallory surrounded by twelve children that were picking pods and listening to her sing. He smiled at the catchy tune and saw the children were quiet as they listened. Suddenly Mallory stopped and pointed at one of the children who took up the tune and sang the next verse. The child then pointed at another and they continued the song. They each sang a verse and the last one chosen pointed back at Mallory who started a new song. She also looked good in her Zecka. Wait A MINUTE!!
