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 probe 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. The 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 saw the ships approach Degrund Park.
A young man and woman standing in the park outside the city embraced each other and then turned to dust. Two children ran from the oncoming shadows and tried to hide under the slide in the park. They saw the people closest to the approaching ships turn to dust and hid their eyes just before they died. 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.
The ships approached the outer city limits and moderated the intensity of their beam. As the brown ships moved over the city, the beam began hitting the inhabitants and destroying their higher brain functions. People began falling to the ground and twitching as the fleet passed overhead. More than two million people were left scattered on the streets, and in homes twitching as their raw nerves sent messages to a brain that was no longer able to receive them.
The long line of ships crossed over the North Pole and then continued moving south. Everywhere humans were dying a horrible death. The dying didn’t stop until the Keepers Fleet moved over the South Pole and then moved back to their starting point at the equator.
The Fleet Director was elated. No resistance had been given. This universe was going to be easy to conquer. “Send your shuttles to pick up your stores.”
A hundred thousand shuttles left the Keepers Fleet and descended on the space port. Each picked up twenty of the still-twitching bodies and took them back to their ship. Being brain dead was actually a mercy to those taken. Any that were left behind were hit with the terrible beams and destroyed. Soon fires broke out where stoves were left on, and many cities began burning. Some were started when vehicles ran into buildings and other structures, causing huge explosions when their fuel tanks ruptured. No one was alive to put them out.
The probe recorded it all and disappeared to deliver its information to Fleet Command. Another probe arrived to replace it and settled in behind the Keepers Fleet as it moved away from the now dead planet. For Gambia, there were no class distinctions after the Keepers. Everyone was dust.
Edison watched the recording taken by the probe with Sprig, Joseph, Valerie, and Admiral Zergl, who had all commed in on his communication panel. Edison noticed the hard expression of the Gardners and could sense the anger from the others. “Edison, what do you think about this?”
“Prince Gardner, This is remarkably similar to the process my species once used to attack planets. The main difference is that we collected information from the inhabitant’s brains and stored it. These creatures just kill all intelligent life except for those needed for food. I now feel the anger and outrage that this causes when it is visited on others. It amazes me that the Realm allowed us to live.”
“Where are they going now?”
Valerie said, “They’re going either to Ross or Camerrill, if we don’t move the populations before they arrive outside the jump limit.”
Admiral Zergl did a quick flinch, “How do you know that?”
“Because Jake Talant was at both of those planets before he left for their universe. I believe his psychic self is directing these creatures to come to him.”
“Why would he be doing that?”
“I just don’t know, Joe, but everything points to it. He was arrested on Camerrill and that Searcher was killed immediately after we found him. The first planet they attacked successfully was where he was born. The next attack will have to be another location where he visited recently. That would have to be Ross or Camerrill. We need to get the populations moved quickly.”
The other conference attendees looked at each other. Finally Joe asked, “Valerie, do your psychic abilities tell you where they are going?”
“No, Joe. It just makes the most sense based on what I’ve seen.”
“I’m just not willing to disrupt the populations of two planets unless you are certain, Valerie. Are you absolutely convinced?”
Valerie struggled for an answer, “No, I am not certain, but I am not going to gamble on the creatures discovering Ross. I want the population ordered to teleport away for 24 hours. We’ll not involve Camerrill in this exercise, but as Ruler of the Stars Realm I order you to move Ross’ population.”
Joe stared at Valerie and signed, “Admiral, issue the order. According to the probe, the Keepers will clear the jump limit in two hours.”
All of them felt that this was a huge waste of time, but the Queen had spoken.
On Ross all communication devices began blaring out the warning, “All citizens on Ross must teleport to another planet immediately. We will keep you informed about returning, but you must be gone within the hour. An attack is imminent.” The announcement played over and over as the population of billions teleported away.
The Keepers Fleet approached the jump barrier and the Director turned to his sensor operator, “Where is the next target?”
“Before we entered this system I had mapped several possible locations using the same thought frequency of the last target, but one of them has changed radically since the last scan.”
“What are you saying?”
“One of the targets had a huge population, with a high percent of them being the species of the planet we just eliminated. However, now the planet is empty of life.”
The Director thought a moment as the fleet tuned in and listened telepathically, “If as we surmise a device is projecting phantom populations and it had a malfunction such that the real surface was revealed, that could account for the difference.”
The sensor operator thought about the proposal, “Yes, that’s possible. Are we going to go see if it’s valid?”
“Do you want to waste,” the Director looked at his display, “eighteen intervals to see? We know someone in this universe can deceive our scanners. We have wasted too much time already, and I’m not willing to throw away any more. If there’s doubt about a population’s existence, I would rather move toward one where we are reasonably certain of success.”
The sensor operator could hear the thoughts of all the Keepers in the fleet and determined that the over whelming majority agreed with the Director. “I’ll check that planet later, and if the population goes back to the original level we’ll know it is another decoy.”
“Where is your other target?”
“On your display, Director.”
“Jump in a quarter interval; tighten up your formations.”
The Keepers Fleet jumped and arrived at the jump limit in Camerrill’s system.
Valerie watched her communication panel as Fleet Command scrambled to move Camerrill’s population. Valerie thought, “I hate being right about this. Jake, you’re causing trouble. Hurry up and get those powers under control.” He couldn’t hear her, but she had to voice her frustration.
Joe appeared on her board, “I will not question you again.”
Valerie nodded, “That is a wise decision, but you need to get the population to safety.”
“I’m sorry, Sis.” Joe disappeared from her screen.
Valerie pulled up a picture of Jake on her display. He had just woken from his history download and had smiled when he saw her beside his chair. She stared at the picture in silence, “Come on, Jake. We need you now.”
