The Dave Brewster Series

by Karl Morgan

  Zobu smiled weakly. “The first couple of times when blades moved, I was scared to death. After a while, I began to pray it was a system failure and at least I’d be dead and not have to face it again.”

  “I am so sorry, friend,” said a voice behind them. Dave turned to see Odo Pak standing there. He sat on the other side of Zobu and patted his shoulder. “Please don’t lose hope, Zobu.”

  “Elder, I am so happy to see you alive,” Zobu cried. He hugged Odo and laughed for the first time since his musket fired accidentally. “Why are you here? This place is not safe for you.”

  “Odo, you must take Zobu with you,” Dave said. “He has seen too much and look how emaciated he is.”

  “I’m sorry, Dave, but Zobu needs to be here with you for a while. I’ll keep an eye on him. If his condition worsens, we will rescue him, you have my word,” the elder replied. “I just wanted you to know that Elder Quifer is doing much better and she sends her kind regards to you. Also, you are doing an excellent job here, as I knew you would, but there is a small problem.”

  Two guard robots moved quickly through the mess hall and stood behind Odo, who ignored them completely. Dave and his friends were shocked and frozen in fear. “What problem, Odo, besides the robots behind you?”

  “Ignore the machines, Dave,” Odo laughed. “As I told you before, I’m not really here, so they are no threat. The fleet of Friends is now headed to our galaxy. They will arrive in the Lubna system in twenty days or so. The singularity weapon is not ready yet and Lini has not completed her task either. You need to slow things down here, or keep increasing doubts within The Accord.”

  “Stand and surrender!” the two robots said as they aimed their blasters at Odo’s back.

  “Odo, if you’re not here and those robots shoot, the blast will kill my friend Margas,” Dave said. Margas began to tremble.

  “Dave, just keep trying! You have to use your connection to the Source if you want all of our worlds to survive. You keep ignoring your greatest strength! Why do you think Vanda wants to meet with you? He’s trying to understand that connection. It’s critical that he learns. That is the only way to save his life!” Odo shouted.

  “Surrender or die where you sit, human,” the robots commanded.

  “Why should I save that monster?” Dave asked.

  “There’s no time to explain now,” Odo replied. “Just do it!” He stood and turned to face the robots. “You two morons don’t have the courage to shoot an unarmed man!”

  Dave could hear the power rising within the robots to build the charge for their weapons. The blasters were now pointed at Odo’s head. Margas was trying to get down on the floor to save his own life. “You die now!” the robots said. Just as they were going to shoot, they moved their blasters to point at each other’s chests and fired. The robots exploded and fell in pieces to the floor. Odo turned and smiled at Dave and then vanished.

  §

  Lini raised her champagne flute and touched it to Eon’s, then took a sip. “This is great champagne! Is it made here?”

  “Not precisely here,” he replied. “I have another estate on the other side of the planet where the climate is more amenable to wine production. I haven’t been there in a long time. It’s warmer and sunnier here, and that helps my mood. But I’m happy you like it.”

  She sliced a piece of lobster from her plate and dipped it into a silver dish of melted butter and ate it. “What is Mantarcus up to? I can see his vessel up in the sky, but we haven’t encountered any of his robots.”

  Eon chuckled and said, “After the incident on the river, my brother is doing his best to ignore us. It would appear he is gathering some of the wildlife from other parts of Stit in order to supplement his feedstock before invading your galaxy.”

  “You have to stop them, Eon,” Lini demanded. “They will kill countless trillions of people if they go there.”

  “I have been feeling much stronger, but I hardly think I can stand against The Accord,” Eon scoffed. “They have five hundred planetoids like the one nearby, with millions of robots eager to conquer new planets for food and metal. What am I to do against such odds?”

  “Didn’t that other man tell you that you were stronger than The Accord?”

  “You mean Bandopaz Niderak?” he asked. Lini nodded. “He did and he claimed he would help me, but I haven’t heard from him since that night. Perhaps even he realized it was hopeless.”

  “We have to fight, Eon!” Lini shouted. “We can’t sit back and eat lobster while my friends and family are murdered.”

  “I have no intention of sitting back, Lini,” Eon scowled. “I am sorry if I gave you that impression. I only mean that I believe our chances to succeed or even survive are not good at all. I don’t know if I could stand them killing you. I’m old and cannot expect to live forever, but you have your whole life ahead of you.”

  “Please don’t worry about me. I chose this life and its consequences,” she replied.

  G17 jumped up and shouted, “Master, emergency!” as the wall of the house exploded. Five giant robots rushed into the room with their pinchers reaching out for Eon and Lini. Lini dived under the table, but one of the robots grabbed her by the ankles and held her up in the air. Eon stood defiantly and a second robot grabbed him around the waist and held him aloft as well. A third robot chopped G17 in half with his pinchers. A single golden and very human-like robot walked into the room to review his captives.

  “Mantarcus, I demand to know the meaning of this!” Eon shouted.

  The golden robot laughed and said, “Sorry brother, but you are mistaken. I am Vanda of The Accord.”

  “Vanda? But your vessel is light-years away from here,” Eon gasped as the robot squeezed him tighter.

  “As leader of The Accord, I simply asked our brother to loan me these robots for this mission. Mantarcus says you have been harassing him, and I thought I’d repay the favor,” Vanda said. “I must say your home is very nice, and I am startled to see you are a human again.”

  “Not quite human,” Lini interjected.

  “Vanda, are these charades necessary? Please release my friend,” Eon asked.

  “Why should I do anything for you, Eon? You abandoned The Accord to regain your weak physical body. I can chop you both into convenient chunks in a second if I choose,” Vanda said.

  “Do what you want to me, but please let Lini go,” Eon begged.

  Vanda laughed and walked over to Lini, who remained upside down. The robot lowered her enough so Vanda could look into her eyes. “I remember you. You were on Skee Lotho with Dave Brewster, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, I was,” she replied. “What do you want from us?”

  “Very interesting indeed,” Vanda said. “I don’t feel the same uniqueness with you that I feel around him though. Do you know what makes Dave so special?”

  “Wow, that’s a hard question. Pretty much everything about the admiral is amazing to me,” she replied.

  “Please let her go, Vanda,” Eon interrupted.

  Vanda raised his hand to silence Eon. “But there must be something that only a superior mind like me could detect. I’m not interested in anything normal. Please think.”

  “For the love of God, Vanda,” Eon implored.

  The robot’s arm lowered and released Lini into the arms of the golden robot. Vanda gently set her on her feet. Vanda looked at Eon and said, “Okay, are you satisfied?”

  “Thank you, brother,” Eon replied.

  “Yes, thank you for releasing me, Vanda,” she said. “I have heard that Dave has a unique connection to the Source.”

  “What exactly is the Source that you speak of,” Vanda asked.

  “The Source is everything, in essence. It connects the spiritual realm to the physical one. The Source creates everything else. It can gather and form stars and planets, and it gives us our souls. Humanity created devices called Hives to allow us to connect to the Source, where we can traverse space and time to learn and meet new people. When
Dave and I were stranded four hundred thousand years in the past, we found our way back here while traveling in the Source,” she said.

  “Perhaps I have such a connection as well,” Vanda suggested. “That may be why I have sensed your friend from extremely long distances. That is an interesting concept. Thank you for telling me about the Source, Lini. Please wait here while I deal with my brother Eon.” He smiled and walked toward the robot holding Eon. “So, old friend, what am I to do with you?”

  “Let us go, Vanda, we are no threat to you,” Eon asserted.

  “But you bother me. You were so sanctimonious the last time I saw you. “Oh, The Accord is so bad and evil,” you said. “You can’t consume our own brothers and sisters,” you said. After millions of years, I find you are nothing but a man. I thought you were going to evolve. I have evolved, not you. I have millions of robots that do my will. I will lead The Accord into the nearby spiral to take over those systems as well. We will rule the universe! What can you do besides farm this damned planet?”

  “I wouldn’t push him if I were you, Vanda,” Lini said. The golden robot spun around and glowered at her.

  “Perhaps if I crush this young woman with my bare hands, you will understand my superiority, Eon,” Vanda said as he walked toward her.

  “Please stop!” Eon cried.

  “Why should I care about either of you?” Vanda asked.

  Vanda was two feet from Lini when she said, “Eon, you know what to do.” Vanda laughed and reached out to grab her arms. Lini began to step backward. Just as Vanda reached for her again, Lini tripped over broken furniture and fell backwards to the floor. Vanda laughed.

  A loud metallic crash startled Vanda, and he turned to see the robot that was holding Eon fall apart- as if all the pieces had been instantly disassembled. The other four robots rushed toward the golden robot and began chopping it to pieces with their pinchers. Lini crawled backward to avoid chunks of the dismembered robot. When the golden robot was reduced to a pile of small bits, the large robots turned and walked out of the opening in the wall. A reassembled G17 rushed to Lini and helped her to her feet. Eon had walked to the opening to see the large robots boarding a shuttle craft. Lini joined him and put her arms around him. “Thank you, Eon,” she said.

  “I have no idea how I did that,” Eon smiled. “But I’m glad it worked.”

  Chapter 18

  Lini was sleeping, but not comfortably, plus the noise of the robots working to rebuild the wall kept disturbing her rest. Finally, she sat up in bed and gave up on sleeping. She thought again about the icy cold of the golden robot as it helped her to stand. It looked like a man painted gold and airbrushed to eliminate any flaws, but it was lifeless and mechanical. She knew that if Eon had not acted when he did, her arms and legs would have been ripped off, and she would have died on Stit without ever seeing her family or Dave again. That reminded her of her decision to stay with Dave on Zulanan when Fola Untor was threatening to kill him. That decision led to the lost year on Solander, hidden in the past. Even now, those memories were cherished and represented the best year of her life. Now he was lost somewhere in the Small Magellanic Cloud along with her. But she did not know where he was. She thought he must be somewhere inside Vanda’s planetoid, but how could she know for certain?

  A flash of light in the periphery of her vision startled her. She turned to see a blob of light forming a few inches from her bed. After a moment, it turned into a light being of Loni Arrak. “Thank God you’re all right!” Loni exclaimed. “I’m here to rescue you, Lini.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m not going anywhere,” she replied. “Eon and Dave need me here.”

  “I saw what almost happened to you a few hours ago, Lini,” Loni argued. “You and your friend almost died.”

  “But we didn’t. Eon saved me,” she said. “He is the key to stopping The Accord, and he needs my help.”

  “Lini, in twenty days The Accord will arrive in the Lubna system. I have my orders to extract you if I get the chance,” Loni answered.

  The bedroom door began to open. Loni reached toward Lini to pull her back to Tak-Makla, but Lini hurried to the other side of the bed and stood up. “I’m not going!” she shouted.

  Odo Pak walked through the door and stood next to Lini. “It’s okay, Loni,” he began. “Lini is right. She is a key to stopping the invasion. If you take her back, nothing will stop them.”

  “Elder, you are not supposed to be here either,” Loni said, bewildered to see the old man in the room.

  “Don’t worry, Loni, I’m not really here,” Odo laughed. “Trust me on this, please. I have an authorization signed by President Mencius giving me the power to do what I think needs to be done. Please open your eyes and return to The Hive. I swear that I’ll take care of Dar Lini.” Loni nodded and disappeared.

  “Elder Pak, I’m so happy to see you,” Lini said as she hugged Odo. “You told Loni you aren’t here, but you certainly feel real to me.”

  “Well, my dear, appearances can be deceiving, as you learned tonight,” he replied. “Eon, the human, could never have taken over those robots.”

  “Did you help him?” she asked.

  “Eon doesn’t need my help, Lini,” he replied. “His strength is much greater than mine or The Accord, but he doesn’t know how to control it yet. I need you to help him. Make him step outside his comfort zone. Until he realizes his potential, our galaxy is in mortal danger.”

  “Can you stop The Accord?” she quizzed.

  “Hmm. That’s an interesting question, but I’m afraid I don’t know the answer. Our Hives will do what we can to stop them. Only God knows if that will be enough.”

  “But you think Eon can do it?”

  “The senior Friends of The Accord have incredibly powerful minds,” Odo replied. “When focused on the physical plain, they can control millions of robots. Unfortunately, when they gave up their physical bodies, they lost their senses and became more like computer software than men.” He took her hands in his. “They don’t know what human touch is like anymore.” He kissed her cheek. “They have forgotten love and respect for life. That is why they are so monstrous. But Eon was different. He saw the evil for what it was and was willing to die rather than turn into the evil machines they are today. That giant mind of his joined with the Source and he has transcended the physical plane.”

  “Wow!” she gasped.

  “Eon was not nearly as big as Vanda and the others are now when he abandoned The Accord, and yet I believe he could destroy them with a single thought. But you cannot allow him to do that,” Odo urged.

  “What? You want him to let them go?” Loni gasped.

  “Of course not, my dear,” he replied as he patted her hand. “I want Eon to help his brothers transcend as well.”

  “But won’t they corrupt the Source if they do? A Friend of The Accord in the Source could destroy whole worlds with a thought!”

  “You are a young girl, Lini, so it is okay that you do not understand,” Odo said. “Evil cannot exist in the Source. Once a soul knows the reality of existence, any desire to harm another is lost immediately. And that is why Eon’s mission is so important. If the Friends of The Accord can transcend, they will add a great new dimension to the Source. They will become like the prophets of old, traveling the universe and helping every civilization they touch.”

  “That sounds like Bandopaz Niderak,” she said. “Eon tells me he was the transcendent men.”

  “And so he was,” Odo smiled. “Please get some sleep. I will help you drop off and keep the sounds of the construction from bothering you. And don’t be afraid. Now you know that Eon can stop The Accord, if you help him. Please do your best.”

  “Elder, what do you know about Dave?” she asked.

  He touched her cheek and replied, “Dave is fine. He is inside the Vanda planetoid, but I am watching both of you. If one of you is in trouble, I’ll bring you back to Fistnan. He asks about you too, and I have told him you are well.”

&n
bsp; Lini yawned and sat back on the bed. “Thank you, Odo. When you see him again, tell him I love him. Good night.” She rolled over and immediately fell asleep.

  “As do we all,” Odo said softly. Then, he turned and walked out the door.

  §

  Eon could not sleep either after his run-in with his former friend, Vanda. Rather than lie in bed sleeplessly, he went to the kitchen where he could monitor the work of the robots and have a glass of brandy. “G17, please tell them to be as quiet as possible. Lini is trying to sleep.”

  “Yes, Master,” the robot replied. “May I ask you a question, Master?”

  “G17, we have been together a long time. You can ask me anything you want.”

  “Thank you, Master. When the other robot cut me in half, I lost all power and my electronic brain shut off. According to my understanding, I should have lost all my programming and memories. However, after you reassembled me, I retained all knowledge. How is that possible, Master?” G17 asked.

  “I honestly wish I could give you a good answer,” Eon said. “Things have been changing very quickly for me. I had no idea that I could do what I did with Vanda’s machines until I actually did it. Instantly, the robots began to respond to my thoughts. I saw what they did to you and prayed that it never happened. Then, you were suddenly back together again. I am hoping Lini will help me understand.”

  “Thank you, Master,” G17 replied. “I am very happy that my memories remain. I have enjoyed our friendship and I do cherish those thoughts. I just don’t understand how it is possible.”

  An old man walked into the room and said, “I know what happened, G17.”

  “Bandopaz, you’ve returned!” Eon exclaimed.

  “I’m sorry Master, but my systems did not detect the intruder. Should I summon the guards?” G17 asked.

  “That won’t be necessary, G17. Bandopaz Niderak is a friend,” Eon replied. “Please offer our guest a glass of brandy.”

  “Thank you, Eon,” Bandopaz said as he sat at the table. “It would seem you’ve had some good lessons in what it means to be transcendent.” The robot butler set a snifter of brandy in front of him. “Thank you, G17. Why don’t you pour yourself a glass and join us? You can drink, can’t you?”