“Let’s get this over with.”
The passive probe oriented itself to the sunlight hitting the moon’s surface and flashed a brief light at the Keepers’ ship. The probe detected the light entering the drive tube and sent its information.
“Director, something has just hit our hull with reflected light.”
“Did you determine the source?”
“Yes, I’m zooming in on it now with our optical sensor.”
The Director looked at his display, saw the melted scanner, and asked, “How did that get here?”
“The ship we destroyed created this crater we’re on. I suspect it was blown out when it blew up.”
“Does it look worth retrieving?”
The Sensor Operator examined it, “No, it’s burned badly. The sun probably hit it at just the right angle to cause that reflection.’
The Director turned back to his console, “Keep me informed if anything else happens.”
Cynthia raised her shoulders and waited for the Keepers’ ship to lift, but it didn’t move. She lowered her shoulders and looked at her board, “The fuel line comes through the wall.”
“Yes, it does. If we detect that ship starting to power up we are going to fire a high powered penetrator into each of their three drive tubes and move away.”
“How much longer are we going to give Jake?”
“As long as it takes.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
Jake walked up the hill toward Jackson Grant’s quarters. Kathea had found him in the northern field and said Jackson wanted to speak with him. He was worried. He did not want to deceive the leader of this colony, but knew that was exactly what he was going to be forced to do. There was no possible way he could tell him the truth. He thought about what he was going to say, but then decided that the best course of action was to clear his mind and just go with the conversation. He saw Jackson rocking outside his quarters. As he approached Jackson said, “Take a load off your feet. Come sit down.”
Jake forced himself to relax, sat down in the rocker, and started rocking. Jackson looked out at the people working in the fields and didn’t say anything. Jake also looked out at the fields, rocked, and found peace in the rhythm of the chair.
“So you’re the Good Luck Man.”
Jake smiled, “I’m probably more mystified by that title than you are, Jackson.”
Jackson smiled and looked at Jake, “Why is that?”
“I woke up one morning and remembered my father telling my mother that I was a good luck baby. She told him that if I touched every woman like I touched her that they would all feel the good luck. He replied that if I touched them all then good luck would have to follow.” Jackson said nothing. “I don’t know if she meant that I was touching her in her heart or actually touching her, but I decided to see. I moved to my new quarters and started touching every female I could. I know you must think I’m crazy to try and touch every female.”
“I do. Why don’t you have a mate?”
That question surprised Jake. He answered honestly, “I haven’t found her yet.”
Jackson didn’t know what to think. Everyone had a mate by the time they were this young man’s age. Jackson’s expression said it all. Jake continued, “I don’t know why, Jackson, but I feel that if I touch the one for me I’ll know it immediately. I may be wrong, but I have to see.”
Jackson stared at Jake and knew he was telling the truth. He could tell when someone was not being honest, and he saw that Jake really believed what he said. “Well, we have to help you find her. Five days from now we are going to assemble the community and every female that has not touched you, will. You should have a mate and it is my responsibility to make sure everyone does. Do you really think this good luck thing has any truth to it?”
Jake shook his head, “I honestly don’t know, but so many have claimed that touching me brought them luck. I don’t know if my parents were a little crazy about me or if I just misunderstood what they were saying, but something is going on.”
Jackson felt better about the Good Luck Man. He wasn’t crazy as he suspected, but just giving in to a whim. Something was happening; the Keepers were staying away. That still had him bothered, but that had to be totally unrelated to this young man. It had been years since everyone in the community had gathered, and he actually looked forward to the assembly. “You can go back to work now.”
Jake smiled and said, “I really enjoy the view from your rocker; we have to do this again.”
“Anytime; just not during work hours.”
Jake smiled and left for the fields.
The Director of the Keepers invasion fleet was frustrated. Three weeks had passed and every planet the fleet investigated was empty of life. Something was going on that he could not fathom. He called the other ships’ Directors to conference and asked, “Is there anything else we can do to find these Green Creatures?”
“Perhaps they no longer exist, and these planets are where they once lived.”
“But all of the technology on those planets is still operating.”
“We must send a messenger back to the Collective and see what it would have us do.”
A Sensor Operator interjected, “I would like to propose an option.”
The Lead Director thought, “What is that?”
“I have scanned this universe and have found some planets that have the same species as the farm where we destroyed that strange ship. Maybe it is only the Green Creature planets that have no population. Perhaps we should go see a planet with one of those species that live on the farm where the ship was attempting to hide.”
The Director thought about that proposal and could hear the agreement from the other Ship Directors. So far the fleet had nothing to show for their actions. “Where is the planet with one of the species?”
“It is not that far, and the star drive barrier is only eight hours from the planet.”
“Prepare your ships; we will be jumping to this planet.”
“Valerie?”
“What is it, Joe?”
Joe was silent.
“What is it?”
“The Keepers Fleet has jumped from Webbering.”
“And?”
“The stealth probe read their jump track and they are not going to one of the Spider’s planets.”
“Where are they going?”
“Gambia.”
“Oh no, Joe! Is there anything we can do to save that planet?”
“No, Sis. The Searchers that have the protective coating are all assigned to the Spiders’ planets. The Keepers Fleet has already entered the jump limit at Gambia and will be at the planet is less than six hours. We are not equipped to undertake any kind of response quickly enough that would allow us to move even a small part of the population. The Keepers Fleet is close enough to see optically if we tried to teleport in and start moving the population; it would reveal to them how we are hiding our own populations if we tried. We can’t risk revealing what we’ve been doing.”
Valerie could see in her mind the vision she had years before. She had seen the massive killing but she did not recognize the planet where it was happening. Now she saw the rags the bulk of the population was wearing and the decrepit condition of the buildings. She closed her eyes and wished she could forget. It made sense that the Keepers would go to Gambia. Now, after the fact, it had to be Jake’s psychic self that brought them. This was another avenue to get Jake to the Keepers’ universe. The fact that Jake was already there would have no impact on the various paths that had been set in motion. She thought about Jake and worried.