by Saxon Andrew
Suddenly they heard a voice, “Father, I think I have something that might help loss of life.”
Destiny looked at his console and said, “Who is addressing me?”
“My name is Newton, Father.”
“What do you have, Child.”
“I have discovered a frequency that when used as a field repels the green substance. If you add it to the red screen’s generator, it will stop anything with the green substance from penetrating.”
“Child, come to the bridge immediately.”
Matt and Sprig looked at each other and Sprig said, “We won’t have to move planets if this is true and we can place them at planets that are going to be invaded. We’ll just teleport them in and activate them if what he has discovered really does work.”
A small spider entered the bridge with a device in his two front legs and handed it to Destiny. “It’s pretty simple, Father. Our friends may take it with them and use it.”
Destiny looked at the small spider and said, “We need one to use for our ship, child. Can you build another?”
“I’ve already installed it on the surface father. I was going to ask if we could send one of our ships outside and see if it works.”
“The invaders will see the ship if it leaves your screen,” Sprig thought.
“No, I’ve duplicated the color of the red screen and changed one of our craft to match.”
Sprig looked at the small spider, “How did you do that?”
“I rearranged the outer layer on one of our small craft one molecule in thickness to change to the color.”
“I am not going to ask how you did it,” Sprig thought. “I’ll be asking that question every ten seconds at this rate of discovery.”
Destiny turned to Eyes and said, “Launch the craft that this child has changed and let’s see what happens.”
Eyes turned on his scanner and immediately saw the red ship. A crew boarded it and lifted to the exit shaft and exited the ship. Move it about a hundred of what they call miles, Father.”
The small craft moved away from the mother ship and stopped. Newton turned a dial on a device in his front legs and said, “Move the ship toward us.”
The small red ship flew toward the mother ship and fifty miles out stopped abruptly. “Try to move closer,” Eyes ordered. The ship fired its engines to full throttle and moved a mile closer and then shot away from the ship more than two hundred miles. “I got the idea from those balls that bounce off the green substance. The field modulates the molecular signature of those balls.”
Matt looked at Sprig and said, “Obviously, the planets come first. We’ll use this with our ships later.”
The small spider handed Matt a duplicate of the device he was holding and said, “I made this one for you. I want you to have it for your ship. Just turn the dial to its highest setting and it will extend a mile outside your red screen. I know that it was you who chose to talk with Father and allowed us to live. I made this especially for you; I want to make sure you live to see me as I grow up.”
Matt took the device and said, “Thank you, Newton. One of the first things I’m going to do if we survive this harvest is to take you to Ross to meet the King and Queen of our people.”
The small spider quivered with his excitement, “Would you, could you. Oh how exciting.”
Destiny looked at his child and said, “He always keeps his promises, child; just be patient.”
“I will, Father.”
Sprig teleported out to begin manufacturing the new device.
Matt looked at Destiny and said, “Thank you, my friend. Your child has just reaffirmed my faith in you.”
“He’s also made me proud, Matt.”
The little spider just quivered from the praise.
Four months later Al said, “Prince Gardner, the ships have started launching to invade planets.”
“Cassandra, are you ready? The main invasion is about to begin.”
“We’ll be jumping to the entry coordinates in one minute, Matt. Are the megaships ready to handle the ships that try to move to the sides?”
“They are already on station waiting for you to take the point.”
“Thirty seconds to port.”
“Fleet command, order all Searchers to hit their assigned vessels in thirty seconds.”
“Attention all Searchers, weapons free in twenty seconds. I repeat, Weapons free in 17 seconds.”
General Brez, we have assigned a planet for your division, prepare to teleport to the coordinates on your com in thirty minutes.”
Brez listened as Fleet Command assigned other planets to the Red Warrior’s divisions as he transferred the coordinates to his units. He looked and saw the coordinates of the planets center of government and assigned his company to arrive there first. “Full invisibility mode; hit your points and move out to receive the invader’s landers as soon as we arrive.”
Matt watched his display boards and waited for what he knew was coming. “Al, take us to the entry point. I have to see what happens.”
Matt felt the surge and then saw the entry point as thousands of huge ships appeared. They started to move out when suddenly the Alexander Kosiev appeared and thousands of lights erupted from it. They moved too fast for the eye to follow and every light struck one of the huge green ships above or below their center. Green ships were stopping and drifting immediately after being hit by one of the Kosievs’ penetrators. The tide continued and thousands, then tens of thousands of mother ships began appearing. The Kosiev sat at the front of the entry point looking like it was on fire. A huge wall of stopped invaders ships began building in front of the entry point and those coming in began hitting and bouncing to the sides. The hundred thousand megaships that had moved in and taken station around the entry point began adding their fire to the Kosiev and the mass of ships grew bigger by the second.
The Supreme Male waited as he watched his family start jumping into the entry point. His Sensor Male turned and yelled, “I just received a transmission that was cut off that said our ships are being attacked as they enter the door.”
“Contact them and find out what’s happening?”
“None of them are answering.”
“Contact one of the ships in the initial wave and have them go see what’s happening.”
“I’ve already tried, none of them are responding.”
Life looked at his assigned ship as it moved toward the planet. He counted down the remaining time and then launched his penetrator. It flew true and struck the huge green ship directly on top. The ship moved forward for a few seconds, slowed and drifted off course. Life waited to see if anything escaped but nothing came out of the ship. The planet had launched their fleet of ships toward the invader and Life tuned in to their frequency and announced, “This is Wild Man. I am a member of a Realm that has come here to defend you against the ship moving toward your planet. I would recommend that your return to your world and I will notify you of the next action you should take.”
“Was it you that fired that bright projectile at that vessel?”
“Yes, and I am somewhat certain that I have killed this ship. However, I will need to stand by for a period of time to confirm it.”
“You killed that ship with one missile?”
““Yes, I believe I did and I don’t wish to kill any others so I recommend that you return to your planet.”
The fleet commander looked at his bridge crew and said, “I don’t want to face that ship.”
His weapons officer said, “It’s such a small ship, surely our fleet could handle it.”
Life listened to the dialogue and then fired his main beam into a moon circling a planet near the fleet’s location and watched as it blew apart and disintegrated into dust.”
“Maybe that will help you decide,” Life thought to the fleet’s commander.
The bridge crew jumped when the moon exploded and then heard Life’s comment. “Return to the planet; all ships, return to the planet. Still want to take i
t on, Weapons?”
“No sir, please disregard my last statement.”
Life watched the fleet turn around and make very fast time back to where they had launched. “Good, no more loss of life. I wonder how the other Searchers are faring.”
Of the million ships that entered in the initial wave, all but two hundred were hit before they launched their ships. All of them died.
“Al, can you show me what the Kosiev is firing at those ships?”
“Magic, I’ve slowed the recording down to one millionth speed and this is what I recorded.”
Matt watched as one of the lights left the Kosiev and saw three small objects fly away. They were separated by only ten yards distance between them. “Al, can you tell what those three objects are?”
“Well’ it’s not a penetrator. It looks like a shard followed by one of the Captor’s energy balls and the last one is the box of iron balls. The Kosiev is not using any kind of propulsion to fire them.”
“Al, how does that happen?”
“I don’t know of any means that I’m familiar with that could do what that ship is doing. It is firing them all just like that with identical separation and they are all hitting above or below those ships center section.”
Matt watched as the mass of dead green ships grew. The Kosiev danced out of the way of the ships flying toward it and continued to fire at the same unbelievable rate. The Mega ships moved in and started adding their fire to the Kosievs’ and the area around the entry point was a killing ground for the invaders.
“Nest Mother, none of the ships that have entered that universe are responding. Even the ships that went in the initial wave are not answering.”
The Nest Mother felt immediate shock and said, “Then go and see what is happening. Why are you waiting?”
The Supreme Male knew that something dangerous lay beyond the door but he looked at his Sensor Male and nodded. The Sensor Male powered the universal drive and pushed the activate button just as the mass of green ships in the other universe filled the space against the entry point. The Supreme Male’s ship entered the space between universes and could not go through; the ship behind him entered and both of them occupied the same space simultaneously. The resulting explosion blew out both sides of the door way.
Matt watched as the green ships piled up and finally reached the entry point. Then he heard Cassandra yell over her com, “Teleport away, all ships, teleport away.”
The Kosiev disappeared just as an explosion ripped out of the entry point and disintegrated all of the green ships in front of it for more than a million miles. The ships to the side of the blast were blown away in all directions.
On the other side of the entry point, the blast hit the massed ships waiting in line to enter the door and blasted all but a million of the eight million ships lined up. Those ships were immune to any form of energy but the substance inside the space between universes was unlike any in normal space. Nothing that was created in normal space could survive it. The Nest Mother was watching her display when the blast hit and saw her screen go dark for more than a minute. When it came back on she saw the wreckage of the ships that were going to conduct the harvest. She hit her communication console and yelled, “Someone tell me what just happened.”
One of her scientists came on her screen and said, “The doorway has just exploded. Two ships were in it at the same moment and that blast is the result. The door way has been demolished and no longer exists. There is no way we can enter that universe, Nest Mother.”
The Nest Mother looked at the dead ships on her side of the doorway and felt fear. Perhaps it is a good thing that doorway is closed. Then she looked at the scientist on her display and said, “Find me another way to get in. We must know what happened. Are we able to contact any of our ships that went through?”
“No, Nest Mother, but we are continuing to try.”
On one of the main ships that had come in the initial wave, the Ship’s Male and Sensor Male picked themselves up off the floor and looked at their monitors. The command chamber had been surrounded by a hundred transports that were about to be launched so they survived the energy balls detonation. The Sensor Male said, “The Nest Mother is attempting to contact us.”
The Ship’s Male pressed his board and said, “Nest Mother.”
“Who are you?”
“I am the Ship’s Male, Nest Mother. My ship has been hit by a device that has burned out the interior of my vessel and I am unable to navigate. All of my systems are gone. The only system working is my communication board.”
“How many times were you hit?”
“Once, Nest Mother, my family is floating in zero gravity inside. I have seen some kind of small projectiles that are bouncing around inside that main chamber. I’m not sure what they are but it appears they are picking up speed. My command chamber survived the explosion inside my ship because I was surrounded by transports waiting to launch.”
“Did you see what fired the weapon at you?”
“No, it came from empty space directly above us.”
The Nest Mother watched her display and suddenly saw the Ship’s Male jump and then bounce away from his monitor. “Nest Mother, the Ship’s Male was just hit by one of those small balls.” The Nest Mother then saw the Sensor Male fly away from his console and then saw his armor break apart. What was left inside was unrecognizable. Then the screen went dark.
Destiny sat and watched his display that was being fed to his ship by Sprig. He had sent it through the ships main system so all of his family could watch what was taking place. He felt tremendous sorrow at the massive loss of life and he knew his children were also feeling the great pain at what was taking place. A small spider entered the command chamber waited to be noticed. “What is it child?”
“I am bothered by this killing.”
“We all are, child.”
“I have given thought to what has happened to us and what is happening to the others. I want to try and prevent this happening again.”
Destiny sighed and said, “They will not stop, Child. The only choice of our friends is to kill them.”
“I think there is another way, Father.”
Destiny looked at the child, “How?”
He listened and then he understood.
“Sprig, how many of the planetary repulsion devices have you built?”
Sprig looked at Twig and she answered, “Five hundred, Matt. Why do you ask?”
Destiny has asked for you, Cassandra and me to join him on his ship as quickly as possible. He asked me and I didn’t have an answer as to how many you have manufactured.”
“I’m bringing Twig with me.”
“By all means; I’ll see you there.”
Destiny watched at the four appeared on his bridge, “We don’t have much time but my family is bothered by the loss of life today and we think we can possibly reduce the number that have to be killed moving forward.”
Matt furrowed his brow, “What do you mean?”
I understand that two hundred main ships launched their ships to harvest planets. How many have landed?”
“Al?”
“Three are close to atmosphere. The others are between two and six hours out from the planets.”
“Then those three cannot be saved, however, if we act quickly, we can possibly save the others.”
“Why would we try to save the others, Destiny?”
“Matt, the Supreme Male and all the Ship’s Males have been killed. The compulsions placed in the crews of those small ships will fade if they are given enough time.”
Matt looked at Cassandra and they saw it at the same time. Sprig looked at his device and said, “I need the coordinates of those planets that are being invaded immediately.”
“Sprig, I just downloaded them to your com.”
“Thank you, Al. I’ll get them screened as quickly as possible.”
“What do you think we can do, Destiny,” Cassandra asked?”
“Only the Kosiev can sav
e them, Cassandra. All of the Searchers weapons have the iron balls included. We can’t take them out in the time remaining. If we hit them without the balls, then the crews will just float around inside. Can the Kosiev launch without the iron ball box in the mix?”
Cassandra thought for a moment, “I don’t know. It will be like trying to make a fighter only throw soft punches instead of knock out blows. I can only try, Destiny.”
“You are the only hope they have, Cassandra. In the meantime, I need you to call off the attacks planned by the Searchers on those fleets of incoming small ships, Matt.”
Matt thought, “Melanie, where are you?”
“I’m with Admiral Kosiev at the entry point.”
“I need you here right now.”
Melanie closed her eyes and saw Matt on destiny’s bridge. “Fly Girl, he’s on Destiny’s bridge.”
“On your way.”
Admiral Kosiev was talking with Melanie about the success of the action when she suddenly disappeared. “I wonder what caused that,” Leo thought.”