Julie fell out of her chair and Scotty put his head on the bulkhead and laughed. They tried hard, but the two teens also burst out laughing.
Jingo looked around, I just dont get it.
After the group composed themselves, Julie asked, Jessica, what are you going to do now?
I guess I could go look around, but Ive tried to contact every frequency in my system and no one answers. It seems the Realm has really gone. I think Ill stay here for awhile if you dont mind.
Timmy yelled, That would be great!
Why do you say that Timmy?
Gosh, Jessica. Youve seen so much history being made. I really want to hear what youve seen.
Im sorry, Timmy. I wasnt installed until the war with the Keepers. I was put in when the teleportation device was installed.
Why did you stay here?
Scotty said, Because she was ordered to stay here by the Gardners.
There was silence. Why do you say that?
Jessica, we dont deceive our friends. You were sent here to see what kind of threat the Evil Duke was to the Realm. The Gardners had been told a civil war was coming. The Duke would never suspect a shuttle of being a spy. You are one of fifty shuttles that were made with a cybernetic computer. All the others left with the Realm and the Kosiev. The only way you could have come here was because the Gardners sent you. No one else in the Realm, including Queen Valerie, could have done that. Only the Gardners controlled the Kosiev.
You are more than I thought. Youre right.
I suspect your sister and brother shuttles on the Kosiev will come looking for you if they ever return, and this is where theyll start. Id stick around here, too, if I were you.
Do you think theyll return?
Scotty didnt say anything until Julie said, Well, do you?
They wont come back until we no longer need them.
Jessica asked, Why do you say that?
They were forced to make us follow their principles. The general populations of the Provinces did not understand the value of taking care of each other. Forcing the Provinces to follow them went against all they stood for and believed. The Provinces lusted after the Realms power and the Realm left to teach us the value of those principles, not their gifts of technology. They are forcing us to grow up. Until we demonstrate we understand that the real gift, the one that really counts, is those principles, they will not come back.
Jessica was silent. Everyone in the room thought about what Scotty said. Finally Jessica said, I must say I agree with you, Your Majesty.
What are you saying Jessica?
The only way to bring them back is to create something better than the former Realm. I will support you in your effort to make that happen.
As will I.
The group looked at the speaker on the wall and Scotty said, I was wondering if you were ever going to contact us.
I wasnt. Like Jess I thought you were just El Prado descendants. It appears I was wrong.
Jingo looked at Scotty, Who is that?
Thats the Searcher ship that destroyed our planet two thousand years ago.
Everyone on the bridge felt a chill touch their bodies. This was a ship to be feared.
Scotty said, I think history has done you an injustice.
How would you know that?
Until just a few minutes ago, I believed that history. After talking with Jess, I think I understand why you were sent here.
Jessica said, You think he was sent here for another reason, other than the obvious one.
Julie told me that the ship in her dream, and if youve been listening to our conversations, I know you know about it, was not Jessica. It got me started thinking about where would another ship exist other than this one. Then it dawned on me that the Searcher that destroyed our planet had left his ship in orbit. I knew it had to be that ship in her dream.
Julie looked at him, Why didnt you tell me?
They would have heard me. I needed to find out about our Searcher friend overhead to see if it was a danger to us. I didnt want to give it a reason to start shooting.
The speaker said, That was wise on your part.
I decided to go to the learning center and see if I could find out anything about that particular Searcher vessel. I found out quite a bit. That ship is actually quite famous.
My, you have been busy.
How was he famous?
Julie, it was that ship that discovered El Prado and set up the Algeans to protect it from the Eight Legs.
Youre right.
The local population was very small and didnt possess advanced technology. After the war with the Eight Legs ended, they petitioned the Realm to place one of the Provincial Capitals here and offered free land if they would accept. King Sprig agreed. I think in part because he saw a kindred planet to his home. After a hundred years, the local population was swallowed up by the huge immigration that followed Cassandra and Tommy here. Most of those that came were Humans. When Tommy and Cassandra completed their time as rulers of the province, they presented the ship as a going away gift. It was the ship that discovered the planet. It was given a place of honor directly in front of the government building, and huge numbers of tourists came to see it.
That was a very happy time for me.
You accepted your duty without complaint.
Jingo said, What duty?
Scotty sighed and said, The Gardners knew they were going to disappear from the Realm for a very long time. I discovered that every Province was presented the ship that discovered the planet. Thats just too much of a coincidence. Those ships were put there to insure the Realms continued strength. They were to notify the Algeans if anything started going wrong. Even the Gardners werent aware of the devices placed in every ship built by the Algeans. Initially, those devices were strictly for the purpose of listening in to conversations by the Dukes in the Provinces. Later, they began installing devices to destroy the teleportation boards. Scotty looked at the speaker and said, Do you want to take it from here?
They heard a sigh from the speaker, and then, Everything was great for more than seven thousand years. Then things started going bad. The Provincial Dukes began looking toward the Crown and lusting after the Realms power. Slowly, over time, the Dukes standard began replacing the SR of the Realm on their ships. I was repainted with the colors of the Province and had the Dukes moniker put on my rear fins. Just like Jess.
I hated that.
Me too. However, I was finally removed from my place of honor and taken to the ships that had been mothballed. I was considered too old to be of any use. There I stayed until one day all of the Dukes Searchers left the planet. Two old models were left at the planet and I was removed from mothballs and brought back to defend El Prado. The Searcher assigned to me was a Human who had been born on old Earth but brought here as a baby. You know how hard it is to find anyone that has the mental capacity to fly a Searcher vessel. He was accepted into the Dukes Navy. However, he wasnt trusted because of where he was born. Charles and I were a natural team. He still believed in the Realms ideals and lived them in his life. He contacted the Planet when we arrived and asked where the fleet had been sent. He was told it was Need to know information, and that we were to only communicate with Fleet Headquarters.
Remember, the war with the Keepers was still going on. We had been saved from a Keeper Fleet by small white ships that killed them. We assumed the Dukes fleet was going to assist the Realm. Ten hours later we found out the truth when the fleet began calling for help. The Searchers told us more than thirty million of them were stranded in open space between galaxies.
The two Searchers with me also confirmed that their teleportation systems were inoperative. We then discovered that the fleet had been sent to destroy Ross and the Algean home worlds. We listened for three months as the Searchers screamed for help and no one came to their aid. Charles was devastated. We also learned the Milky Way and the Algeans Galaxies were no longer in our universe.