by Saxon Andrew
Cali shook her head, “The medics had to put him on a machine that took over what Bong was doing. His body would not function normally and each time they turned the machine off, he stopped breathing again.”
Danielle saw Cali’s expression and lowered her eyes, “You must have been panicked?”
Cali made a small shrug, “I believed it was my fault he did it.”
“Why?”
“Because I told him I hated him just before he tried it. I know now that he went through with it because he refused to give up his only friend.”
Eddie nodded, “I love Bong. I just couldn’t let him go without making the effort.”
“I see that Bong’s mind has not been changed,” Sprigly stated. “How are you able to speak intelligently if your mind wasn’t changed.”
“My mind has a direct connection to Ed’s mind.”
“And my mind is directly connected to his,” Eddie added. Eddie paused and continued, “Bong’s mind now has direct access to everything in my mind. It’s like a computer’s operating system having access to large databanks; it becomes much smarter as a result.”
Sprigly leaned right, “So, you couldn’t unite but you could connect with each other.”
“Exactly right,” Bong replied.
“So, theoretically, you could still unite with an Algean?” Sprigly asked.
Bong snorted, “I think three-minds in me would be one too many.”
Danielle laughed, “I agree.”
Tag listened to the back and forth and interrupted, “I notice that…” he turned and asked, “Cali, isn’t it?” She nodded, “You mentioned earlier that you were as serious as an energy penetrator. I’ve never heard of that.” Eddie’s eyes narrowed, and he was silent. Tag turned to Cali, “What is it exactly? I’ve heard people say, ‘as serious as a blaster beam’, or ‘as serious as a heart attack’, but I’ve never heard the term energy penetrator. In my experience, people always use a term that’s real and not imaginary.” He turned to Eddie, “What is an energy penetrator?”
Cali lowered her head, as she said, “I’m sorry.”
Eddie smiled softly, “It’s ok.” He turned to Tag, “I’ve discovered that dark energy passes through the universal energy that surrounds all universes and keeps them separated. I want to find a way for Bong to go through that energy and allow him to visit other universes. The problem is that if I use a universal drive to reveal the energy in our universe, he won’t have the drive available once he passes through it and won’t be able to get back.”
Sprigly stared at Eddie and said, “You know he’ll be connected to you and can find you wherever you’re located.”
“Yes, but he won’t be able to change universes without coming back here. It will be a huge limitation on his ability to explore creation.”
Tag glanced at Danielle and saw her expression. He asked in an inquiring tone, “Have you been able to move Bong through the universal energy field.”
“That was easy enough. All it took was getting him to expand his body so that it matched the density of the dark energy that was passing through it.”
“So, what is an energy penetrator, Doctor?” Danielle asked.
“I’m attempting to build a ship made completely out of dark matter and use it to go to different universes undetected.”
“Why don’t you just use the universal drive to do that?” Sprigly asked.
Eddie turned to him, “It requires a lot of energy to do it and would be easily seen by civilizations that might not like an intruder into their space. It wouldn’t be safe.”
“That’s what the equation you had on the monitor was all about,” Sprigly commented.
Eddie turned to him, “Yes, it was. Dark matter can be compressed to where it’s actually harder than a lot of our advanced alloys.”
“What advantage would that offer over using alloys to build your ship?”
Eddie turned to Tag, “If I used alloys, it would be easily detected by a scanner beam.”
Sprigly leaned right in disagreement, “But compressed dark energy also shows up on an advanced scanner. We’re able to see it.”
“Not if it was polarized.”
Sprigly’s leaves turned red, “Say, what?”
“If the dark energy is polarized such that the energy is aligned horizontally to the beam, the scanning beam would pass through without contacting it.”
“But your theoretical ship could be scanned from multiple scanners located in different directions from it.”
Eddie shrugged, “I realize that Sprigly, but the polarization could be oriented such that any beams hitting the hull would be gathered on the opposite side and sent through without being slowed. It’s the compression of the dark energy that would allow that to be done. Normal density dark matter couldn’t do it.”
“But that would require instant changes in the polarity.”
“I know. But I can see energy and I won’t be sitting still to be hit by scanning beams. I can see them approaching and move accordingly out of the path of most of them.”
“What do you mean you can see energy?” Danielle asked.
“It’s a talent I was born with but refused to use, just like my telepathy. I learned to avoid it at a very young age.”
Tag’s eyes narrowed, “You’re telepathic?” Eddie nodded. “You saw my thoughts during our…discussion?”
“No, I don’t invade anyone’s privacy. I only use it with Bong.”
“Dr. Taylor, I believe you are the most remarkable person I’ve ever met,” Danielle said with wide eyes.
“I’m sure you’ve met many others more remarkable than me.”
“I don’t think so and I’m going to hate what I’m being forced to do.”
“What is that?”
“I’m drafting you into the Realm’s military and you will work on saving the Realm from a vicious, highly advanced civilization. I know with certainty that you will try to refuse leaving your students but if we don’t find out what we’re up against, all of your students may ultimately die.”
Eddie stared at Danielle and looked at Cali, “Does that include her?”
“If they find us, yes it will.”
“I need to see what you have on this civilization.”
Danielle looked at Sprigly, “Send him everything we have.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Can it wait until the end of this session? I’ll start examining what you send and see what I can determine.”
“How long until the session ends?”
“Six-weeks, Your Majesty.”
“I will not harm the development of your students. I see how important they are and your devotion to them. But after the session ends, I need you to help us.”
“Would it be possible for me to work on it here?”
“We have extensive labs you can use that are far beyond what’s here, Doctor.”
“Where are they?”
“On the Defense Facility.”
Eddie nodded slightly and said, “Couldn’t this Defense Facility be moved here.”
“Why are you so determined to do it here?!” Tag asked.
“Because this is where I’ve started building my ship and it has to be done in open space. If I move it now, it will fall apart.”
Danielle glanced at Cali, “Aren’t you really doing this so that Cali can graduate?”
“That’s part of it. But I will also have my students available to assist me in making it happen.” Eddie turned to Sprigly, “Unless you have some mathematicians better qualified elsewhere.”
Sprigly looked at Danielle, “Trust me on this, we don’t.”
Danielle looked at Tag, “What do you sense?”
Tag raised his left shoulder, “Here is where it has to be done.”
Danielle nodded, “I’ll make it happen, Doctor.”
Eddie looked at Tag and laughed. “What’s so funny, Doctor?” Tag asked.
“I was wrong. You should be called the Ultimate Advisor.”
Tag started laughing and managed to say, “Keep it a secret, it would ruin my image.”
“Mum’s the word,” Eddie replied.
• • •
The green-colored being looked up from a monitor at the other being slightly above him, “I just had a thought.”
“What is that?”
“Do you remember the destruction of all those Yellow Warships a few years back.”
“I do but they weren’t destroyed.”
“I realize that but what if some sort of technology was used to kill them?”
“I thought we decided that it was probably done by a plague or disease.”
“That is the most logical answer…but what if it wasn’t?”
“If you’re that curious, send a probe and check it out.”
“I’m probably being ridiculous.”
“I think you are, but we have probes to spare.”
“I’m going to take another look.”
• • •
Chlor’s twin saw the giant probe appear and immediately contacted his partner. This was not good.
• • •
The green being looked at the information being sent by the probe and said, “All of the Yellow Warships are no longer there.”
“What?”
“They’re all gone.”
“What about the defense installations above the planets?”
“They are missing as well.”
“Send the probe to that Species other location and see if they were moved there.”
• • •
The probe disappeared, and Al’s twin saw it appear briefly before it disappeared. It sent a warning and hoped this was not the lead up to an invasion.
• • •
“They are not there, either.”
The second green being thought about the information. Is there any residue from those ships being burned?”
“No.”
“What about the planets?”
“All the structures on the surface, along with the dead bodies have been burned by energy beams.”
“That explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“If those ships were infected with a virulent disease, they probably towed them and dropped them into the star at each of those planets. It’s the safest way to eliminate it. Have you scanned the stars to see if that was done?”
“It would be a waste of time.”
“Why is that?”
“The star’s gravity would have pulled the ships into its core and there would be no evidence.”
“Then that must be what happened. We were right the first time.”
“Just to be sure, I’m sending a probe to the universes close to those locations to see if anything turns up.”
“Go ahead.”
• • •
Six-months later, the second being asked,” Did anything turn up on that search for the Yellow Warships?”
“Not yet.”
“Then give it up. They must have towed them to the stars. I need some of those probes on another project.”
The first being thought about it and recalled the probes. He was being stupid, there was more important things to spend his time on.
• • •
The twin watched the probe as it scanned the universe it was in and then it disappeared. He sent the data collected to Sprigly and Danielle contacted the Red Civilization. The OA probes were recalled, and they had more time. The First Controller looked at the data the Realm collected and, felt relieved; he couldn’t take much more of this.
• • •
Danielle was working in her personal office in Castle Gardner, when she heard, “Danielle!”
“Yes, Ken.”
“We need to see you!”
“What’s going on?”
“Sprigly has started the process of going through all the recordings the Red Civilization sent us and has discovered something important.”
“I’m in my office. I’ll have the teleport suppression field removed for you to come.”’
“I’m bringing several others with me.”
“You sound nervous, Ken.”
“I’ll explain why when I arrive.”
The contact disappeared, and Danielle shouted, “TAG! WE HAVE COMPANY ARRIVING!”
“I’ll be right there. Give me a moment.”
An instant later, Ken, Pixie, Sprigly, Seedel, Sam, Pixie, Ken, Pixie, Jimmy, Lola, Rose, and JP appeared. Tag walked in and stopped in the doorway. “What’s going on?”
Ken sighed, “We’ve gotten a look at the OAs, as well as their warships. This information is thousands of years old, but it at least gives us some ideas of what we’re up against.”
Chapter Seven
Danielle stood up from her desk and looked up, “Alex, move everyone to the conference room.”
The group was instantly teleported to the castle’s conference room, and Danielle sat at the front table with Tag. The others sat down in the front row. Ken stepped forward and handed Danielle a small datacube. She inserted it into her console and handed Ken the controller.
Ken turned to the giant wall monitor and began pressing buttons on the controller, as he spoke rapidly, “We’ve found images of the OAs invading a planet. Evidently, a probe wasn’t destroyed and managed to survive long enough to record this and send it out before it was taken out. We’ve just now found it in the bulk data the Reds sent to us.” Ken shook the controller and turned to Sprigly, “I can never get these things to work, you do it.”
Tag sighed, “You’re the most brilliant man I know, and you can’t operate a video controller?”
Jixie smiled, “Ken and technology have been at war for years. I usually handle it.”
Ken pursed his lips and said with a high voice, “I usually handle it.”
Jixie looked at him, “I do.”
“Well you don’t have to tell everybody!”
Suddenly, an image appeared on the wall monitor of a planet with giant explosions going off on its surface. Sprigly looked at Ken, “Do you want to narrate this?”
“No, you have the controller, you do it.”
Tag smiled slightly and Sprigly turned to them, “Those explosions you see on the planet are not being done by the OAs. They’re being set off by the local defenses.”
Danielle’s expression showed her horror, “They’re nuking their own cities!”
“I’ll show you why in a moment, Danielle. But first,” The image on the monitor swung around showing hundreds of giant green-colored warships in orbit above the planet. Sprigly commented, “What you see here are the warships used by the OA’s.”
Tag’s head tilted, “I thought you said they’d be as large as a moon. Those don’t look much larger than a Yellow main battleship.”
Sprigly nodded, “Wait for it…there it is!”
Tag saw the view moving across the warships attacking the planet and then something moved into the picture. Sprigly froze the image. The giant vessel on the monitor looked large enough to have its own gravity; it was easily the size of Mar’s moon. Sprigly pressed buttons on the controller and the view moved in on the giant ship. They saw a huge cloud of warships exiting it and moving toward the planet. The room was silent, and Ken broke it, “Think of that ship as one of our military freighters that carry Primes into a combat zone. Those warships you’re seeing are the equivalent of our Primes. I guess you could call them fighters, of a sort.”
Sprigly nodded and resumed the video. The view moved over the planet and they saw three-more-giant vessels before the curvature of the planet blocked seeing any more. Sprigly stopped the video again, “If the distance between those giant ships is consistent, I estimate that twelve of them are above the planet.”
“Those warships aren’t firing any weapons,” Tag noted.
“They don’t want to spoil their invasion, Tag,” Jimmy answered. “Keep watching.” Tag glanced at Danielle and turned back to the monitor. The view changed again, and an image
of hundreds of warships landing just outside a city replaced it.
The planet was defended, and the warship’s force fields were flaring, as the defender’s giant blasters fired at them from the outskirts of the city. Missiles were hitting the warships in huge numbers, but the warships just ignored them and continued to land beside the city.
Danielle put her hand on her throat, “I’ve seen this tactic countless times over the millennia; they’re carnivores. They don’t want to damage the inhabitants.”
The probe moved its view into one of the cities on the planet and zoomed in on a single warship that just landed. Doors flew open in the sides of the warships and it looked like hundreds of green circular objects flew out. They hit the ground moving at high-speed and spread out. They flashed as they moved through the warship’s force field but didn’t slow down. Soldiers on the ground fired at point-blank range into the objects and the attackers showed no effect.
Tag stared at the monitor and asked, “What are those carriers made of?”
Sprigly stopped the video. Tag, those aren’t troop carriers. Those are the beings attacking the planet.”
“What about the armor they’re wearing?”
“Tag, they don’t wear armor. That is their outer skin that’s being hit.” Sprigly replied. Tag’s brow furrowed, as he watched a large missile home in on one of the green circular beings and hit it dead center; it didn’t even slow it down.
“Stop the video, Sprigly.” The image froze, and Tag turned to Sprigly, “Are you telling me that those huge green circles are the OAs.”
“I am, Tag.” Tag stared at him and Sprigly sighed, “I’m going to jump ahead and show you why the local leaders decided to nuke their cities. I’m skipping some of it, but it appears the warships only landed in dense metropolitan areas on the planet.”
The image changed, and Tag saw a huge missile flash into a city, followed by a nuclear explosion. Just before it hit, the view showed hundreds of the OAs rushing down a street, then the view went white with the explosion. “Keep your eyes on the monitor, please,” Sprigly requested. Tag stared at the monitor and saw Sprigly was fast forwarding the video. The nuclear shock wave blew through and the buildings collapsed in the three-hundred-mile-an-hour superheated wind. Suddenly, the view of the street cleared, and the destruction was incredible. “Keep watching,” Sprigly said softly. Then, they saw it; hundreds of large green beings rose out of the dust and debris, and started rushing forward again.