No Technology Is Invincible (The Death Prophecies-Book Four 4) (22 page)

“You told her you wished she had not taken it and she told you not to worry; she wasn’t going to use it around you. You never ordered her not to do it. Do you need me to replay that conversation?”

Gabe stared at Gabby and she could clearly see his anger. “No, that won’t be necessary.” He looked at Gabby and she knew he was furious. He forced himself to gather his wits and finally said in a very deliberate tone, “By the letter of the law, I can’t Court Marshall you for violating a direct order. But I can tell you that you’ve violated the trust I had in you by saying one thing and doing the exact opposite. I am ordering you now that you will not activate that device on my ship unless I directly order you to. Is that clear, Commodore!?”

“Yes, Sir.” Gabby looked up at him and took the thought blocker out of her console. She held it up and pressed a black button on the side of it and looked at Gabe, “I’ve not listened to anything on it and I’ve just erased everything.”

“How do you expect me to believe that?”

Gabby raised her left shoulder quickly and lowered it as she said, “I guess I don’t. I just thought that having Fleet’s best engineer on board would allow me to learn things I might never have the opportunity to learn later. I’m really sorry.”

Gabe saw her misery and knew she wasn’t socially savvy enough to recognize what she was doing. She was so competitive that she would do anything to be better than anyone else around her. “Gabby, I’m going to take you at your word on this but I want to make sure you understand that if I ever find you’ve lied to me again, I will transfer you off my ship faster than a blaster beam and report the behavior in your evaluation. What possessed you to do this?”

Gabby sighed, “I didn’t listen to you and I used it to listen to the scientist that kept asking me out.” She paused and Gabe almost stopped her from continuing but she spoke too quickly, “DJ was asking me out to get an advantage over the other scientists in his department. He really wasn’t interested in me and quite frankly; he abhorred being around me. I guess I decided that the thought recorder would be a good way for me to get a step up on all the other officers with the knowledge that Ali has.” Gabby looked at Ali, “I know you grew weary of answering all my questions. You were angry and irritated with me when we removed the computer and stardrive.”

“I thought you didn’t listen to what was on that device.”

Gabby lowered her head and meekly said, “I didn’t have to listen to it. I could hear it in your voice.”

Ali stared at her and tried to be angry but he knew she was right. He shook his head and sat down in his chair, “Was I that obvious?”

“Yes you were!” Ali and Gabby looked up and Poul continued, “Your voice tone was very deprecating and you had no patience. You were not civil or polite in working with Gabriella. You were being nasty.”

Ali sighed and tilted his head, “I apologize for my behavior, Commodore. I will gladly answer any future questions you might have without acting in an inappropriate fashion.”

Gabby raised her head and said, “Call me Gabby.” Ali smiled and nodded.

Gabe blew out a breath. He knew there was more to Gabby’s explanation but decided not to pursue it. “Gabby, set up the thought recorder to the pattern used by those black ships and record anything that it might detect.”

“Yes, Sir.” Gabby paused and looked at Gabe, “Once we’re done with this mission, I’m going to give the device to you to keep in a safe place on board. I’ve learned that hearing another’s thoughts isn’t all I thought it would be.”

“I’m sorry, Gabby.”

Gabby sighed, “I should have expected it. He really convinced me I was pretty but he was a cad.”

“You are pretty.”

Gabby turned to Ali, “What?”

“If you had listened to that device you would have learned that I think you are quite striking. You are very pretty.”

Gabby blushed and lowered her head, “You don’t have to lie to make me feel better.”

Ali stared at her and said, “Turn that device to its human thought pattern and listen.”

Gabby stared at Ali and after a moment shook her head, “No, I prefer to take your word for it.”

Ali smiled, “He was a jerk, whoever he was.”

Gabby turned back to her console and Gabe smiled. Ali was right. He looked at the forward monitor and saw the speck of light growing larger. Soon it would resolve itself into the shape of a galaxy and then he’d see what was going on with the Builders. He worried about entering the galaxy with the warring spaceships but that would have to wait. Death Prophecy Ten; only worry about the things you can control.

He leaned back in his chair and Janell’s face entered his mind. He had been so busy that he had not thought about losing her. He wondered what she was doing and slowly shook his head. He still missed her so much. He tried to force the misery aside but wasn’t successful. He stood up and said, “I’m going to clean up and take a break. Call me when we get close.”

Gabby nodded and Gabe walked off the bridge. Ali watched him go and said, “He appears to be very distraught by what you did.”

Gabby shook her head, “It wasn’t that.”

“Then what was it?”

“His intended broke off their engagement. He’s forgiven me for what I did. He’s that kind of man. But he’s been really hurt by what she did.”

“How do you know that?”

“His thoughts were on the recorder that Perval gave me. I erased them but I could feel his pain.”

“So you weren’t being honest about not listening?”

“I was, Ali. Perval recorded them and I didn’t know they were there. The transfer process is so fast that I heard it all before I could shut it down. I have not listened to anything that I recorded.” Ali nodded and decided that life just wasn’t fair; Gabe deserved to be happy.

A
li woke up suddenly and shook his head. He had dozed off sitting in his chair. He looked up at the monitor and saw the galaxy was getting close. He looked over at Gabby, “How long before we arrive?”

“About five hours.”

“I dozed off.”

Gabby nodded. A few minutes later she turned her chair around and looked straight into Ali’s eyes, “If you really think I’m pretty, why did you treat me so poorly? I’ve noticed that men bend over backwards to impress pretty women and ignore their bad behavior.”

Ali’s was startled by the comment, “You are direct.” Gabby shrugged. Ali sighed and said, “It’s a character flaw.”

“What?”

“When I’m focused and on task, I have no patience for anyone and can only thing about the task I’m doing. I don’t notice or think about anyone’s feelings while I’m deep in thought. My department head has noted in my reviews that I have to improve in my ‘working with others’ skills if I intend to advance.”

“I’ve been told the same thing.”

Ali sucked air between his teeth and rolled his eyes, “If it were something I was doing intentionally, I’d certainly try to change it but it’s not. I just get so focused on the task that nothing breaks through and anyone that tries to communicate with me only irritates me.”

Gabby nodded, “It would take a conscious effort for you to not do it.”

“Exactly and that would diminish my ability to totally focus on the project I’m doing. It’s a character flaw.”

Gabby shrugged, “Then you’ll probably spend your career as an engineer.”

Ali smiled, “I’m ok with that. It’s what I love doing.” Gabby smiled and turned back to the monitor.

After thirty minutes, she turned around, “I’m going to close my eyes for a while. Wake me if anything happens.” Ali nodded and Gabby reclined her chair. Ali stared at her and wondered at the dichotomy that was Gabby Bartoli: brilliant but vulnerable in the most striking ways. He tried to come up with an adjective and failed. Finally, it came to him, innocence.

• • •

Ali dozed off again and suddenly woke when he heard a voice. He jerked his chair up and looked around the bridge. He no longer heard the voice and he wondered where it came from. He heard a crackle of static and jerked his head toward Gabby. A square device on the top of her console was making the sound. He said, “Gabby, wake up.” She didn’t move. “GABBY!”

Gabby’s head came up suddenly, “WHAT, what…”

“That device on your panel is making noise and I hear voices coming from it.”

Gabby leveled her chair and grabbed the thought recorder. As soon as she moved it upright they heard, “…are …..about…this…..wait.”

Gabby shook her head, “We’re just out of range of hearing them?”

“Hearing who?”

“The species that inhabits those giant motherships.”

Ali shook his head, “I’ve heard a little about them but nothing solid.”

Gabby reached forward and pressed some buttons, “I’m sending you the recordings we collected along with the analysis done by Fleet Intelligence.” Gabby looked up, “Poul are you recording this.”

“You can record it on the thought reader.”

“I’m not going to record anything on it, Poul. Record what you hear.”

“Sub-recording started.”

Gabby shook her head, “We should have brought a Bosrean with us.”

“I think it’s much safer not to have one present.”

“Why, Poul?”

“Because we really don’t know how good their thought recording capabilities are. Perval thought that if he kept his thought level down that they would not hear him. He made that decision based on the Bosrean Species and their current level of technology.”

“You could have told us that!”

“At the time I was unaware of the thought recorder. I deemed it more important to learn what we could about the Black Species, although that is a misnomer for them.”

“Why is that?”

“We recorded them on numerous planets they were stripping and they’re not black.”

“No, but their ships are.”

“I guess that’s good enough until we learn what they call themselves.”

“What about the Builders? Is that what they call each other?” Gabby asked.

“I find that amusing; they actually do refer to themselves as Builders. I think they took the word that other species called them and made it their own. I don’t have proof of that but they do refer to themselves as Builders.”

Gabby saw Ali shaking his head, “What’s wrong?”

Ali paused the recording and looked up, “That Black Species would be called Demons by the galaxies they enter.”

“You’re able to listen to us as well as watch the video?”

Ali smiled, “One of my few talents.”

Suddenly the thought-reader said, “That was a very bad decision by the Controller.”

Gabby pressed a button on her panel and two minutes later, Gabe rushed on the bridge. He started to say something but the thought-reader said, “Perhaps the new Controller will do a better job.”

“He can’t do any worse.” They heard the voice continue.

“He should have never sent the Ports ahead of the main Gathering.”

“You can’t really fault him for that. Who would have guessed that the Small Species would attack? They’ve never done so in the past.”

“They ravaged the Mini-Gathering. Only twenty Ports managed to escape.”

“The Small Beings took a beating as well.”

“We should follow up on their losses with the surviving Ports.”

“The new Controller feels otherwise. We did not know about the forty thousand globe weapons they used against us. We have no way of knowing if they have forty thousand more.”

“So we’re just going to sit here and wait for another family to come and join us? That means we’ll have to share the takings from that galaxy.”

“Better that than risk total destruction.”

“Has anyone considered just bypassing that galaxy?”

“You know it’s against the Foundation Charter; Never leave a potential enemy behind.”

“I know but if there was ever an exception to that rule, this galaxy would qualify. We’ve lost too many in this conflict.”

“I think we should take our chances. Twenty years is too long to wait for the other family to arrive.”

Gabe looked up, “Poul, change course. Take us to the Builder’s Galaxy. I want you to get us close to their central planet.”

“If I can find it, I will.”

“What do you mean, find it?”

“Those worlds are mobile and I suspect they were moved when the attack began.”

“Poul, that planet is the one that sends out their communication field. I don’t expect they would move it unless it was absolutely unavoidable.”

“I’ll head there first. We’re five hours out.”

“Poul, couldn’t you get there faster than that?”

“I probably could, Gabe, but I’m not going to risk killing you to make that determination. My system analysis shows that there is no issues at this speed and I’m not going faster until I can trial my top speed with no one on board.”

Ali never looked up as he said, “Thank you for that.” Gabby noticed he was totally focused on the recording and still heard their conversation. He was one unique individual.

Gabby turned to Gabe, “Why are you going to the Builder’s Galaxy?”

“I have to determine what they’re planning to do about the Black Species.”

“If those five whose thoughts we heard are right, the Builders were beaten up on pretty badly.”

“They’re also right in saying that the Builders may have additional defenses we don’t know about. We have to go and take a look.”

Ali continued staring at his panel and said, “They are far from being defeated.”

Gabe and Gabby looked at Ali and he didn’t notice. “Ali.”

He didn’t look up, “Leave me alone for a few minutes.” Gabe walked over and grabbed his shoulder. Ali’s head jerked up, “WHAT!”

“What do you mean the builders are far from being defeated?”

“Did I say that?”

“You did.”

“Well, I was looking at the scan that was made by Admiral Kuhn of the main Builder World and I noticed some large bright spots scattered around it.”

Gabe nodded, “Go on?”

“Those bright spots have to be high energy structures inside the world. I think they’re some sort of weapon.”

Gabe came around and looked over Ali’s shoulder, “Show me.” Ali manipulated the controls and the image of the Builder World grew larger. I’ve entered a filter to the scan to separate different types of energy. Notice the regular placement of the bright yellow areas.”