The Plasma Master

by Brian Rushton

  Chapter 16

  The villagers of the outlying world of Grenotia completely ignored the vacuum-black starship that came into orbit around their planet. It made no difference that it had not identified itself to startraffic control. Almost no one did these days. Grenotia’s out-of-the-way location made it ideal for traders and smugglers and outlaws of all types to stop over or settle in, as their several cases required. The Grenotians did not care. The traffic brought money, and money was life. The war raging outside might not have ever started, for all these people cared. Survival was all they cared about.

  Today all they cared about came crashing down in a matter of hours.

  It started without any warning at all. A quick spread of torpedoes from the unnamed ship eliminated the planet’s weak shields. Then volley after volley of laser bolts rained down on the law enforcement buildings, fire suppression systems, and the buildings most likely to house powerful underground organizations. The spaceports were destroyed as well. Within minutes the entire civilized portion of the planet was left defenseless.

  Then the light came. It was not especially fast, nor did it encompass a very large area at any one time, but it was persistent, and it was deadly. It started as a wall of yellow fire that erupted out of the ground at the entrance to one of the major towns. It moved in an unbroken line from one side of the town to the other, swallowing whatever it touched. Most of the buildings were made of wood, so the fire spread quickly, and soon the entire town was in flames.

  A few minutes later, the light hit another town. This time it came in the form of searing tendrils of energy that enveloped houses and other structures until they were composed of nothing but yellow light and then exploded, showering the surrounding buildings with molten debris.

  The light struck town after town. Each time it came in a slightly different form, but each time it consumed everything. The inhabitants who were fortunate enough to escape the light grabbed whatever they could and dashed into the forests and barren plains that covered the undeveloped portion of the planet. There was nothing they could do but watch as fire after fire sprouted up all across the planet’s surface. Grenotia was such as small world that it did not take long before every civilization on the planet was ablaze.

  Grenotia was so small, in fact, that in order to make it inhabitable to any large number of people, an artificial gravity generator system had had to be installed. This was the final target. One last barrage of torpedoes from the orbiting ship obliterated all of Grenotia’s power generators, including those powering the gravity plates.

  A black visor hid from view the pained expression of the woman beneath. It had been a long time since she had exerted her power for such a long time with so few intermissions. She was glad that no one could see her face. But, even though she was exhausted to the point of collapse and covered with sweat, she was smiling. It was an exhilarating feeling for her to stretch forth her power until it blended with other things, until the power pulsed inside them like a heartbeat, and then to activate that power and blast her targets apart. To consume them. This was real power, and, quite unlike the Grenotians, to her, power was everything.

  Having accomplished its mission, Black Fang turned and set its course back to the superfortress Venom.