Andrew Saxon: Finding keepers

The sudden shift in topic startled Jake. He looked Valerie in the eye and said, “I don’t.”

Cynthia turned and said, “Oh yes you do! You did it tonight.”

Jake shook his head and looked at both of them, “Tell me how I stole something tonight.”

“You knew the machine was going to payout, and you tricked me into moving so you could win. You prevent others from winning, too.”

Valerie tilted her head, “She does have a point, Jake.”

Jake smiled, “No she doesn’t.” Cynthia started to stand up and Jake quickly said, “Sit down, please, and let me explain.”

Valerie looked at Cynthia and nodded. Cynthia sat back down and leaned back.

“Cynthia, if someone was giving away food and I jumped in front of you in line to get it, what law have I broken?”

Cynthia thought a moment and said, “You probably didn’t break a law, but you were very discourteous.”

“Is that against the law?”

“Well, no, but food and money are different.”

“How?”

Cynthia struggled for a response and looked at Valerie, “Don’t look at me. I don’t see a difference. He tricked you, but there is no law against that.” Then she looked at Jake, “But there are laws against psychics using their powers to take money from casinos. You used your psychic ability to take the winnings from that machine.”

“No there aren’t, Your Majesty.” Valerie furrowed her brow and Jake said quickly, “There are laws against psychics using their abilities to steal money from the casinos.”

Valerie asked, “Now you have me confused. What’s the difference?”

“If I used my powers in card games to see what cards were going to be played, then I would be stealing money that the casino might not lose under normal circumstances. I don’t do that. I only play gamers and I only take money the casino was going to give away to somebody. I do not influence the machine at all. I can just see the ones that are going to pay out. If I wasn’t there, someone else would walk away with the payout. Either way, the casino has lost nothing. They were going to give the money away anyway. I see nothing wrong with stepping up and taking what they are giving. Just like jumping in line to get food.”

Cynthia piped up, “But you’re preventing others from winning.”

Jake smiled, “Doesn’t anyone who plays a gamer that pays out prevent others from winning at that machine? As far as using my talents to win, doesn’t an experienced gambler have an edge over a novice? Should he not be allowed to play because he is more skilled? I do not influence the game in any way. I just make sure I’m in the food line when it’s being given away.”

Valerie looked hard at Jake, “You’ve made a good point and you’re right; you are not taking money that the casino would keep. However, you have shown a very high level of downright discourteous behavior in doing what you did tonight.”

Jake stared at the princess for a long moment, “Your Majesty, why don’t you come out of your castle for a couple of weeks and spend it in the ghettos on Gambia? See how long you live being courteous. After three weeks, when you’re starving to death and the stench of sewage and burning bodies overwhelms your senses, you might learn to forget your courteous behavior. Being courteous will get you killed. If you had a food line on Gambia, you would be killed by those swarming the line. When my parents starved to death, I never saw a Stars Realm Representative show up to show them courtesy. You learn to survive or you die. Courtesy is for those who can afford to give it.”

Cynthia felt ashamed. She better understood this handsome young man now. Then she had a thought, “You keep touching something inside your shirt. What is that?”

Jake looked at her and then looked hard at Valerie. As he unbuttoned his shirt and showed them a large gold coin on a chain he said, “I swore over Robby’s body that I would never steal again and risk getting killed. I promised to make my life count for something.”

Valerie and Cynthia saw one of the gold coins, which he had stolen from the merchant that had led to Robby’s death, hanging around his neck.

Valerie looked at Jake, “Could you have won at cards with your psychic skills?”

Jake smiled, “Yes, but then that would be stealing wouldn’t it?”

Valerie was one of the Realm’s most powerful psychics, and she could see and feel the inner strength of the man in front of her. He had been hardened by life on Gambia but still possessed a strict sense of right and wrong and, unbelievably, still possessed a good heart. She wanted him…but she knew she was not the one that was going to get him. It would be wasted effort to even try. Of all the things in her life so far, this was something she truly regretted. With all her psychic power, she knew he would never belong to her and there was nothing she could do about it.

She could also see occasional blue flashes erupt from Jake and knew that time was growing short. She sighed and decided, “Jake, I’m going to tell you what a Red Flag is.”

The small, white-colored ship broke into the new universe and immediately turned on its sensors. It was in deep space between galaxies and there was nothing closer than a hundred light years, which was exactly how the Searcher planned it.

Dgran, a Crengren, was from an amphibious race and at first glance looked very much like an otter, without the whiskers, from ancient Earth. She looked at one of her displays on the arm of her chair and watched as millions of galaxies flashed by each second. She thought to her computer, “Have you seen anything interesting, Elef?”

“As a matter of fact, I have.”

Dgran looked up from the screen, “What is that?”

“I am scanning millions of planets with only three to five communities on the entire planet’s surface, and the populations of those communities are identical.”

“Elef, how can that possibly happen? It certainly can’t be an accident.”

The ship’s computer paused and then said, “No, it’s not accidental. Something is causing this to happen. I think we need to go stealth surface now.”

“Make it so. What has you so concerned?”

“I’m not sensing any starships in this universe. For this many planets to possess that kind of structure, there has to be an outside agency making it happen and my sensors are not detecting any ships. That either means there are none or I am unable to detect them.”

The small ship disappeared as its surface began bending light and energy around it. Dgran thought about reporting what she had discovered to Fleet Command, but she didn’t really feel she had enough to make a good report. Suddenly Elef announced, “I have picked up an ancient Stars Realm beacon. It is broadcasting in a galaxy not far from here.”

“Do you have any records of the frequency?”

“Standby.” A minute passed and then Elef said, “I had to go far back into the Realm’s history to find it, but it was assigned to a large colony ship that was transporting colonists from Earth, Glod, and Cainth more than six thousand years ago. It seems the colonists were bored with the peace of the Realm and wanted to find newer, untamed worlds to colonize. They never reported back to the Realm after they jumped out of the Stars Realm’s universe. There were so many ships leaving during that period of the Realm’s history that it appears that no one actually tried to see if their colonizing effort was successful. Truth be told, we lost track of thousands of those old transports.”

Dgran leaned back in her chair and asked, “How does the planet that signal is coming from compare to the others you’ve seen?”

“There are three colonies, all with populations of 300,000. I’ve scanned them three times and the numbers have not changed except by ten or so new births.”