and dragged her to their leader who stripped her and threw her to the ground; suddenly a huge red glowing being appeared in front of them. The gang members froze.
“Your world has petitioned the Realm for membership and while we are considering whether or not to accept their petition, we have promised the Realm’s protection for its citizens, which include you. However, one of our guiding principles is that we defend those that cannot defend themselves. This young female is obviously incapable of warding off your attack. I will make this offer only once; leave and return to your homes and you will live.” The Red Warrior looked at her display and saw ninety of the three hundred gang members moving behind vehicles and other structures to present a smaller target as they raised their weapons. She set the lower barrel of her auto cannon to target them with high velocity slugs.
The gang leader looked at the armored being in front of him and sneered, “Kill this bum while I enjoy the company of this lady.”
Eight gang members fired energy weapons at the red colored being. Ten seconds later all three hundred gang members lay dead on the street. The Red Warrior moved forward and lifted the young female, carried her home, and handed her to her parents. “Please care for her; she’s been through a bad experience.” The warrior then turned and moved out into the street where she teleported the dead bodies into the systems sun. Every gang in the city heard what had happened and after two more gangs were killed, they went home and stayed.
Ten thousand years passed and the Stars Realm was at peace. Every citizen enjoyed the prosperity the Realm had brought to their worlds and populations grew and expanded to millions of new worlds where they grew in wisdom and knowledge led by the inventions and developments of the Algeans and Spiders. It was at that time that the exodus began and citizens that longed for the excitement and adventure that come from new beginnings began moving into other universes to start over in an untamed, unknown, new environment. The majority of those that left were the races that provided the warriors of the Realm. Three thousand years later the Searchers were released to go out and explore new universes to spread the ideals of the Stars Realm.
Epilogue
“Do you still enjoy every day as much as I do, Darling.”
“More.”
“What’s your favorite memory?”
“Watching Rose’s children sending those bunnies out to find their lost toys; I still smile every time I remember them marching out of the room.”
“Do you think it’s time to retire?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“There are other universes to see. Would you like to go see some of them?”
Danielle moved into Tag’s arms and said, “My universe begins and ends right here.”
Rose and Matt entered the room and Tag looked at them and saw something was wrong, “What’s bothering you?”
Danielle turned and could see the two were upset.
Rose said, “Dad, we have both had an identical vision and we think we know what that Demon meant when he said we would regret killing him.”
Tag looked at Rose and asked, “What have you seen?”
Rose looked at Matt briefly and said, “The total destruction of the Stars Realm and the enslavement of all intelligent populations in our universe.”
Tag and Danielle looked at each other and Danielle said, “Why can’t it ever be easy?”
Tag looked at the two and they could see his anger rising, “Tell me about your vision.”
The End
Excerpt from “Finding Keepers”
“A ctivate the emitters.” Every Keeper on every ship connected with the other keepers on their ship telepathically and turned off their hearing. They then began sending the vibrating thought patterns into the emitter at the front of the ship. Each navigator watched their boards keeping their ships in formation while the weapons operators focused the intensity of the beam as it rose to the desired frequency and threshold; at that point the Director sent the command to the fleet, “Move forward.”
Abul Cahale was stretched out on a chair on the front of his yacht when he noticed something in the sky at the horizon moving toward his ship. The three young women that were attending him stood and looked at the approaching line of…somethings. As the objects moved closer, Abu saw that the objects were huge star ships and they were approaching quickly. The three women had moved to the front bow to get a better view and Abu saw them waving as the ships came closer. Suddenly they began screaming, twisting violently, and turned to dust. He jumped up and ran toward the rear of the huge vessel but didn’t make it to the main cabin before the most intense pain he had ever felt gripped him. Then he was gone as the dust from his body blew away in the sea breeze. The yacht continued sailing until it ran aground.
The Keeper’s beams showed no discrimination between rich or poor. Unlike Gambia’s population, there were no class distinctions; it treated all the same. The long line of brown ships moved north and left millions dead behind it. Animals were not touched by the beam, fish were not affected, birds flew through it safely, and plants never noticed it pass; only Humans felt the intense pain and death. The stealth probe above the planet captured it all and witnessed the horror taking place.
The line of ships moved toward the main city of Gambia destroying everything outside the city proper. The population standing on the outskirts of the tall grey buildings looked up into a blue sky and saw the line of ships approaching. Public speakers were blaring a warning of an invading fleet and called for everyone to flee the city, but the inhabitants saw there was no time to exit. Many running from the city’s buildings saw the ships approach the Degrund Park just south of the main buildings.
A young man and woman standing in the park embraced each other and then turned to dust. Two children ran from the oncoming shadows and hid under the slide and watched as the people closest to the approaching ships turn to dust just before they, too died and blew away in the wind. At the Abu Galei hospital located next to the park, the maternity ward heard the babies go silent as the beams crossed the room. Hundreds of dogs were roaming the park with leashes dangling trying to find their owners that had blown away in the wind as the ships passed overhead.
