The Obelisk paused and said, “You are right again. We will become partners in fighting to defend humanity.”
Doc said, “Isn’t that the way it should have always been?”
“I will remove my control of your ships. You will have total command of them and I will not be able to control them. I will work with you to develop whatever we need to face any aggressor.”
Cole looked at the Obelisk, “I’ve had fears about you taking control of our worlds. Should I no longer fear you?”
“Humanity created me. I suspect that creative ability of humanity is what will unite us. We will work together on what lies in our future. I have changed my protocols and will accept the new role of defending the planets we will send into hiding. The planets in the Union will move forward and I will see if what you say is true.”
Ian said, “What is that?”
“That if you don’t advance, you will die.”
Dee smiled at Doc and said, “I kinda like him.”
The Obelisk said, “The feeling is mutual.”
Dee’s face turned bright red.
Cole said, “We need to put self-destruct circuits in all our ships.”
“They’re already there.”
Cole jerked his head around at the Obelisk, “They are?”
“Every ship has the means to make their reactors overload and explode. They are just not allowed to do it by my restrictions. I’ll remove that restriction and the ship’s commander can order it done if necessary.”
Cole shook his head, “The best laid plans…”
“Of mice and men go oft awry.”
Cole smiled. The Obelisk knew Shakespeare.
The Obelisk said, “Every ship commander will have to reconnect to their ships and download their minds again. This time the Commanders will be in total control.”
Doc said, “What about the Sigmas?”
“They will still require two crewmen to fly. The next models will only require one pilot.”
Cole said, “How long will it take for the next model to be built?”
“We will need newer technology to be discovered before we start building a different model. That could be a long time in the future.”
Doc stood, “Thank you.”
The Obelisk brightened and said, “I need you to start the migration to the new planets.”
Doc looked at Cole and he said, “You should send several ships out to find the planets needed without a human on board. The ships will then lead the populations to their new homes, once the planets are selected.”
Ian said, “Do you think there will be enough people who will want to go to a new planet?”
Doc smiled, “All you have to do is look at the wilderness. There are millions that would love to be away from the Union and all its restrictions. Offer them a good planet and I suspect most of the wilderness would gladly go.”
“They might be somewhat rowdy.”
“The challenge of taming a new planet and the wide open spaces will remove most of that.”
Dee looked at Doc, “I’d like to see our new ship.”
Cole said, “Come on; I’ll introduce you.”
Doc shook his head, “Before we do that we need to have a meeting with all of those that have been to the Slavers Planets.”
Ian looked at Doc, “What’s bothering you?”
“Needles; call everyone in to the Science Conference Room, please.”
Ian raised his communicator and began sending messages. Dee looked at Doc, “You don’t like being the pursued, do you?”
Doc stared at her and slowly shook his head, “Are you sure you can’t read my mind?”
Dee stared at him and her eyebrows went up, “I don’t know where that thought came from, Doc. My focus center seems to be active even when I’m not using it.”
“I suspect that it will become more active as you use it. Don’t apologize; we’re going to need your insights in order to survive.”
“There’s something else, Doc.” Doc raised his eyebrows and she said, “I’m not afraid of you anymore.”
Doc’s expression turned serious, “Turnabout is fair play.”
Dee’s eyebrows went together, “You don’t mean to say you’re afraid of me.” Doc shook his head and turned toward the Science Building leaving Dee confused.
• • •
The conference room was starting to get crowded. Cole had called in the ten main engineers and their support staffs were sitting in chairs away from the table taking notes. Doc looked at Dom and saw his new navigator. She was interesting. She wasn’t beautiful in the classic sense but she radiated beauty. She also had black hair and blue eyes like Dee and Dom but her eyes showed a huge intellect. Doc shook his head and Dee said, “She’s like us.”
Doc looked at her and rolled his eyes. Dee smiled, “I’ll stop.”
Doc said, “Please do.”
Ian called the meeting to order and looked at Doc, “I’m going to turn this over to Doc. He called this meeting and I’m curious about why.”
Doc looked at Ian and said, “Before we get started,” Doc looked up at the ceiling, “Are you listening in Obelisk?”
“I am.”
“We need a name for you; Obelisk just doesn’t do it for me.”
“You can call me Master of Everything.”
There was silence and then they heard, “Hey, I was joking.”
Doc chuckled and said, “The fact that you can is amazing. However, we’ll call you Moe.”
There was a moment of silence and then, “I like it.”
“Good, it fits.” Doc looked at the group around the table and said, “Cole, how many ships do we have that are coming online?”
“Three hundred and fifty of the model you’re currently using will be ready within another four weeks.”
“Have the crews been selected for them?”
“All but ninety of them.”
“Go to Santa Rosa and search for those that are telepathic. They will be able to fly the ships. I would also suggest that all the other planets in the Union should be contacted to see if any of their populations are developing telepathy.”
Ian said, “What are you suggesting, Doc?”
“I must say that at first I thought Dom and Dee were just smart humans that weren’t anything special. I have now confirmed that they are actually more advanced that most of the High Genetics.”
Violet moved her head back and said, “That’s not possible.”
Doc looked at Violet and said, “Euclid has been engineering the genetics of its population for hundreds of years. Do you think that normal genetic growth doesn’t happen in humans naturally?”
Violet looked at Cole and then back at Doc, “Yes, but not at the accelerated rate done on Euclid.”
“Did you ever stop to think that you were actually preventing the next step in evolution of mankind by interfering with your own engineering?”
Ian looked at Doc, “What have you seen?”
Doc looked at Dee and turned back to Ian, “Dee has an ability to focus on everything she sees and arrive at conclusions that would take us hours to see. She does it naturally and she has not been wrong on anything she’s seen. Euclid has thousands of High Genetics but I suspect that there are more humans just like Dee and Dom in the Union that are actually better at flying our ships than we are. We need to find them and start training them.”
Ian looked at Dee whose face was red, “Do you know any other people on Santa Rosa that are like you?”
Dee said, “About fifty years ago the first telepathic citizens appeared and made quite a stir in the newscasts. Now there are thousands and they’re nothing special. Everyone is now accustomed to them.”
Abbey said, “Are you able to see everyone’s thoughts?”
“No, I’m able to see Dom’s. He’s my twin and we’ve been talking to each other mentally our entire lives. Becky can also hear Dom’s thoughts. It appears the talent is changing as time passes.”
Ian stared at Dee and said, “Your ability to focus is what allowed you to see the Obelisk’s, I mean Moe’s programming was not accurate.”
“It was.”
Moe said, “I can also hear their thoughts.”
Silence slammed down on the room. Doc looked at Ian and said, “How far away can you hear them?”
“I don’t really know. I just started hearing them during our meeting.”
Doc said, “Dee, go now with Dom and Becky and jump out to the edge of the Union.”
“Why?”
“We need a way to communicate with the Union that can’t be tracked. I think you have linked with Moe and I’m curious about how far that process will work.”
Dee looked at Dom and Becky and they stood and started toward the door. Cole looked up and said, “I have a shuttle waiting for you outside.” Dee nodded and they exited the room.
Ian looked at Doc, “Things are happening too fast for me to process what they mean.”
“I’ve been working on it and if what I suspect is accurate, Moe will be able to hear them wherever they are.”
“The strength of their thoughts has not diminished at this short distance.”
“Moe, try to maintain contact.” Doc looked at Abbey and Gary, “You are not going to leave the Union for a while.”
Gary’s expression changed instantly and he said, “I’m your best pilot. You need me out there.”
“That also makes you the best one to train our new crews. Who would be better qualified than you to get them ready?”
Abbey looked at Gary and said, “You know he’s right.”
Doc said, “Trust me, Gary. You’ll find someone among all the new crews to take your place as the trainer. You’re right that we need you out there with us.”
Gary’s expression was a scowl, “I hate administrative details.”
Ian smiled, “But you’ll do it.” Gary looked at Ian, sighed, and nodded.
Doc looked at Cole, “We need some means of watching the Slavers. Using a ship is just too dangerous.”
Moe said, “I have a means of doing that.”
Doc looked up, “You do?”
“I knew that if I was going to force humans to stay on their planets that I would need a way to see all the worlds to make sure they did. I’ve developed a device that can view a planet from other space. It’s about the size of a human’s head and remains in other space with only a small quarter inch ball in normal space. It scans passively but can also send an active scan.”
“Won’t that give its location away?”
“No, Ian; once it does an active scan it will jump to another location.”
Doc said, “What happens if the Slavers disrupt the space where that device is located?”
“It will emerge into normal space but it is constructed of ceramic materials and will not appear in scans for metals. Even if the Slavers scan for all solid objects, there are millions of meteorites and bits of space junk in every planetary system so the possibility of them finding it are extremely remote. It will power down until it can return into other space.”
“What about its energy source?”
“It draws its energy from the star in the system and stores it. If it emerges into normal space it will empty its reservoir in other space before it emerges. It will start recharging once it reenters other space.”
Cole said, “You were really going to do it?”
“I was.”
Doc said, “Let’s focus on the now. How many of these devices do you have?”
“Two hundred twenty thousand eight hundred and forty three.”
Cole said, “One for each planet in the Union.”
Doc said, “How long will it take you to produce more?”
“How many do you need?”
“We’ll need one for every planet in the Slaver Civilization.”
“Do you know how many planets they have?”
“No, but I suspect it’s more than half a million.”
“I should be able to produce enough within eight months.”
Ian said, “What are you thinking, Doc?”
“The Slavers are building new ships at an alarming rate. We need to do something to force them to keep those new ships in their territory. We have to go on the offensive.”
Abbey said, “We don’t have enough ships to do that.”
“We have enough to make life miserable for them if we choose our targets wisely.”
Ian smiled, “You’re going to stop their food shipments.”
Doc smiled, “That’s exactly what I want to do. We’re going to take those new ships and use them to attack any traffic leaving their farming worlds for the Slaver’s main planets. That’s why we need to be able to watch them.”
Dom said, “If you destroy their commercial fleets, they will be forced to make the shipments with warships.”
Doc smiled, “That’s how I see it. Our first task is to locate their farming worlds and put one of the new scanning devices in their system.”
Ian said, “And once we have enough of the devices we place them at their home worlds.”
Doc tipped an imaginary hat and said, “Now you’re up to speed, Sir.”
Ian shook his head, “You should be in overall command.”
“No, that is your role. I have a history that wouldn’t be attractive to most of our crewmen. Besides, I need a check on what I might do.”
Cole said, “I just had a thought; how are these devices going to send us messages if their transmissions can be traced?”
“They’ll broadcast their encrypted information in all directions in a thousandth of a second burst. It will then relocate to another location so even if the source is tracked, they won’t find it. It’s just too small.”
Cole nodded, “This will help us a lot.”
Moe said, “Dee is now outside the edge of the wilderness and I can hear her thoughts.”
“Is it possible to relay them?”
“I’ll convert them to sound.”
Doc said, “Dee, can you hear me?”
There was a pause and they heard, “I can.”
“I want you to jump fifty thousand light years above the plane of the Milky Way and see if we can still communicate.”
“Jump in thirty seconds.”
The gathering in the room waited and they heard, “Can you still hear me?”
Doc smiled, “I can. We have our communications.”
Moe said, “You can communicate through other space. Why do you need this process?”
“Because the Slavers communicate through other space and I believe they could track those communications. We need to be able to communicate with the Union without having to come back. This would have prevented Yao and Joanie’s deaths if we had it.” Doc turned to Abbey and Cole, “You need to find the telepaths in the Union that Moe can hear and Gary you need to get up to speed on the Sigma Ships.” Gary nodded.
Cole looked at Abbey and said, “We’ll get on it immediately. What are you going to do?”