by Saxon Andrew
Slippy bobbed up and down, “It appeared that you shrunk toward your neck.”
“Let me do it again.” Grog went to full size and shrunk over and over and at the end, he shrunk toward the tip of his nose. “I didn’t know I could do this.”
“It cuts down on the distance you’d have to run to get under me. Can you do it under pressure?”
“It’s really not that hard. I’m certain I can do it quickly.”
“Alright, tomorrow when we attack the next city, we’ll need to stay closer than a hundred yards. I’ll fire at targets of opportunity and keep my eyes focused on the sky.”
“Do you really think they’ll nuke their own people?”
“They didn’t appear to have a problem firing their main blaster beams into their cities. I might be worrying about nothing but I don’t want to run the risk. Let’s get back in the water and move down the coast to our next target.” Slippy moved in front of Grog and went into his mouth. The giant Croc moved into the ocean and swam toward deep water.
Chapter Eleven
“We just received a message.”
“And?”
“It appears the High Priest did not reveal anything to them. They came back planning their next attack on the Yellow Civilization.”
“I’m not sure about this. Make sure the agent is prepared to end this phase of the operation if it gets out of control.”
“It knows its role.”
“You better hope so.”
• • •
Slippy and Grog came out of the water at the line of huge warehouses lining the bay and Grog ran through them demolishing them as he whipped his giant tail from side to side. Slippy fired brilliant blue blaster beams at the warehouses on either side of the lane of destruction setting them on fire. In an instant, Grog was into the streets of the large city and began knocking the foundations out from under the tall buildings on each side of his path. Slippy kept his eyes glued to the sky and fired blaster beams at the armored vehicles that came roaring in. He allowed them to fire their blasters but vaporized any vehicle that looked like it fired solid projectiles. They demolished ten blocks when Slippy saw an object entering the atmosphere at high speed and he fired an intense blue beam at it. It exploded with a massive blast and his eyes saw the energy from the radioactive material that was shattered. “Head’s up, Grog! I just shot down a nuclear missile.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier if you climbed up on my back and I just shrunk under you?”
Slippy went up and down, “How stupid can I be. Yes it would!”
The huge twenty foot tall spider leaped on Grog’s back and fired another beam into the atmosphere, “They just launched another missile. Get ready to shrink.” Slippy watched the sky closely and saw something zoom in over the city’s central skyscrapers. “NUKE! NUKE! NUKE!” Grog instantly shrunk to six feet and Slippy slammed his body down to the ground as everything went white. The ground shook violently but Slippy kept his body down on the pavement. He closed his eyes and felt the gigantic nuclear blast’s shock wave rush over him. He dug the barbs on his legs into the pavement and fought being blown over by the three hundred mile an hour shockwave.
Grog felt the heat of the shockwave blow over him and knew it was probably more than his hide could have handled. Well, maybe. It was hot, but not that hot. He waited and after two minutes he said, “Slippy, are you alright?”
“Tha wz glorus, Grk. Nvr felt so live.”
Grog went to full size and saw Slippy fall on his back with his legs in the air. “Do it agin.”
Grog went to full speed and saw Slippy start falling toward his tail. The spider was drugged by the huge blast. He slammed his feet into the pavement and Slippy rolled forward off his back and in front of his mouth. “Shrink, Slippy! Do it now!”
“Spol Spot”
“SHRINK!”
Slippy shrunk to five feet and Grog scooped him up in his mouth. He went to full speed and covered the mile to the bay in ten seconds. He ran into the water as hundreds of blaster beams rained down from the sky. The water around him vaporized but he ignored them and moved through the water at his best speed. In a matter of moments, he disappeared below the ocean’s surface.
• • •
The Fleet Commander watched the giant beast run out of the nuclear blast and slammed his fist on his panel. “Fire two missiles at any of them you see.” The Commander was sick at the death toll from the nuclear launches but knew that this was the only opportunity he would be given to save the planet. If it failed, the planet would be destroyed. He looked at the other monitors and didn’t see any of the other animals escape. He decided to keep this one failure to himself in hopes the Principal would call off the launch of the planet killers.
• • •
Slippy and Grog arrived at the assembly location and saw four other Crocs. Tricky looked at Grog and said, “Your hide is the same color. How did you avoid the blast?”
Grog explained the process he and Slippy used and Tricky was impressed. “You really didn’t have to do that. Your hide would have withstood it.”
Slippy walked out of Grog’s mouth, “What if they had launched two missiles?”
“They did.”
Tricky and Slippy looked over at Lubey. “I saw two mushroom clouds rising over one location to the south.”
“Who was there?”
“Oily and Hoady.”
Five more Crocs swam in and the group waited for the missing two. Another Croc arrived but Groady did not appear. Tricky said, “Everyone be quiet and let me focus.” Tricky closed his eyes and focused on Oily’s pattern. He pushed everything out of his mind and began tiring from the effort. Then he heard, “Hoady was killed by the second blast. I’ve made it to the shoreline and am hiding among the rubble floating in the water.”
“I’m sending someone to pick you up.”
“I’ll be on a large white box floating about a mile offshore.”
Slippy looked at Tricky, “Where is he?”
“A mile offshore on a white box.”
“We’re going to get him.” Tricky nodded and Grog disappeared as he swam away at his maximum speed.
Tricky looked at the others, “It appears we can’t stand up to multiple nuclear explosions. I think the Spiders would be fine but one is our limit.”
Luby shook his head, “I’m not sure about that.”
“Why not?”
“Those two nuclear blasts were the largest. The mushrooms were twenty miles wide at the base.”
Tricky nodded, “They used two of their largest bombs at one location. We probably could handle two if they’re not that big.” The group talked about what they had done and Tricky waited for Grog to return. Two hours later, Grog came swimming in and Tricky said, “We are going to have to hold off attacking them for a short time.”
The group went silent and Slippy said, “You’re afraid they’ll blast the planet.”
Tricky bobbed, “After nuking their largest coastal cities, do you doubt they will?”
Grog grumbled, “So what can we do?”
Tricky looked at Oily, “You no longer have a means of transportation.”
“I could go with one of you.”
“I have something else in mind.” Tricky began laying out his plan and the others listened attentively. At the end, Oily said, “I think I can do that if you’ll get me to the port.”
Tricky looked at Grog and Slippy said, “We can do that.”
Tricky looked at Oily, “I have your pattern in my mind now. Focus on me and I’ll sense you trying to communicate. Tell me when you’re ready.”
Luby looked at Tricky, “How are you able to communicate over such a long distance?”
“You know all of us are clones of our father. I’ve been hearing your thoughts occasionally. Have any of you sensed that?” Several Spiders said they had been hearing others. Tricky tilted his head to the right, “I believe that as we grow older, this ability will increase to where we can communicate with each othe
r wherever we are. We’re at the initial stages of this ability but I can hear Oily.”
Biggy said, “Does this mean we all attack the same target next time?”
Tricky went up and down and said, “It does.”
• • •
The Fleet Commander looked at the Principal on his monitor, “Were they destroyed?”
“We have not seen any of them on our scanners.”
“You will stay there with your fleet and if they appear again, you will call in the Missile Ship!”
“Yes, Sire.”
“In the meantime, I want you to start moving all of our munitions off planet to your ships in the event we have to use it.”
“Yes, Sire. What do you want us to do about the casualties on the surface?”
“They will have to fend for themselves. I want all of our Senior Leaders moved to your fleet.”
“And the leaders of the Local Government as well?”
“They’re needed on the planet.”
The monitor went dark and the Fleet Commander knew the planet was going to die. At least one of those monsters had escaped and it was only a matter of time until it struck again. He looked at his Scan Leader and said, “Keep the record secret.”
The Leader looked at him and quietly said, “May I erase it?” The Fleet Commander smiled and nodded. This Leader was loyal to him and that was a gift hard to find in the Raider Fleet.
• • •
The Nemesis arrived six thousand miles from the planet and extended a tiny antenna into normal space. The monitor was black for a few moments and then the picture of the planet appeared. “OH MY GOD!”
Grant heard Cinny but was shocked at the destruction he saw along the coasts of the two major continents. Whippet shook his head, “They nuked their own citizens.”
Grant looked up, “Ana, what can you determine from the images?”
“It appears twelve cities were hit with nuclear weapons. One of them was hit by two massive blasts and is pretty much gone.”
Cinny said, “We have to get them out of there if they’re still alive.”
Whippet looked at her, “Why?”
Grant continued to stare at the monitor as he said, “If another attack takes place, they’ll blast the planet into rubble.”
Grant stared at the images and pressed the frequency of the communicator he had given Tricky. There was a quick tone and then it stopped. Grant looked at Ana, “What did he say?”
“It was a condensed message. He says that they will attack again in two weeks. He also says that they will take care of their escape and that we will not be needed to retrieve them. He requests that you warn him if a ship arrives to destroy the planet.”
Grant nodded slowly, “That is one smart Spider.”
Whippet looked at Grant, “Do you think they can do it?”
“I’m reasonably certain we couldn’t get them off the planet. Am I right Ana?”
“You are. I don’t think his communication was detected due to the high ionization in the upper atmosphere. It would be suicide to try to get through those eight hundred Raider Warships.”
Cinny shook her head, “Then how are they going to do it?”
Grant stared at the monitor again and smiled, “His name is Tricky. We need to have some faith that he knows what he’s doing.”
Whippet said, “So what do we do in the meantime?”
Grant looked at Cinny and she shrugged, “We don’t need to stay here. Let’s take these recordings to Iggy and Slick and show them what their children have accomplished.”
Grant nodded, “Ana, take us out of here.”
• • •
Iggy, Slick, and their children gathered around the portable monitor and stared at the devastation on the planet’s surface. The images were brought into focus and Iggy said, “They really made a mess of the place.”
Slick clicked his small mandibles, “The Raiders did most of the damage. I find it horrifying that they bombed their own people.”
Cinny sighed, “It does appear they have a callous disregard of their own people.”
Iggy snorted, “They have a callous disregard of everyone but themselves.”
One of the young Crocs said, “Who is themselves?”
Iggy looked at his child, “The leaders that ordered this.”
Slick looked at Grant, “Do you know how many survived?”
“No, but it appears most of them did.”
“You know that they’ll blast the planet if they attack again. Have you made any plans to save them?”
Grant reached over and pressed a button on the monitor and everyone heard Tricky’s message. Iggy raised himself on his back legs, “Just how are they going to do that?”
Grant shook his head, “I have no idea, Iggy. But he sounded adamant about his being able to do it. We’re going back to keep tabs on the planet just before their next attack so we can warn them if a ship arrives to destroy the planet.”
One of the young Spiders looked at Grant, “Couldn’t you go in and save them?”
Grant smiled, “No, they would blast our ship as soon as it entered normal space. We could get to their location but that’s about all we could do.”
Slick looked at the hatchling, “I’m sure Tricky knows it would be a foolish thing to make the effort. If he says he has a way to escape, I believe him.”
Cinny sighed, “I really don’t see it.”
Slick chuckled, “No, but he does.”
Grant looked at the two giant creatures, “We will be there and if there’s anything we can do to help him, we’ll do it.”
Iggy looked at Slick and they knew the human was telling the truth. Their estimation of him went up and they turned to watch the images that began running on the monitor again.
• • •
Tricky opened his eyes, “The attack is on schedule. Everyone get some rest and we’ll start moving toward the port later today.”
• • •
The Fleet Commander was almost hopeful that another attack wouldn’t happen. Nothing had happened for more than a week and the Principal had recalled half of his ships to assist in an attack on another civilization. He sat in his command chair and wondered how much longer he was going to have to stay on station above the planet. He stared out of his viewport at the distant stars and suddenly his Scan Leader said, “SIRE, I HAVE NUMEROUS EXPLOSIONS AT THE MUNITIONS PORT!!”
He jerked his chair forward and focused his monitor on the city far below. He closed his eyes as he saw numerous giant creatures knocking down building and blaster beams reaching out hitting ships on the ground. He pulled himself together and pressed the last button he wished to press. The Principal appeared and he said, “Sire, there is a massive attack by the giant creatures in the Port City.”
“The Missile Ship will arrive shortly. Follow your orders.”
“Yes, Sire.”
The Scan Leader looked at him, “Are you going to do it?”
The Commander looked at the self-destruct circuit on the back wall and blew out a breath, “Do I have a choice? If I refuse, someone else will do it.”
“There are still three billions civilians on the planet.”
The Commander nodded and then shook his head, “Not for much longer.”
• • •
The crew of the Nemesis watched the destruction taking place on the planet and watched subspace closely. If a track appeared, they would put an antenna in normal space and see what it was. An hour later, a track appeared and they moved the antenna. Grant looked at the monitor, “That has to be the ship they use to destroy planets.”
Whippet nodded, “It has ten giant tubes around the hull and the covers are starting to be rolled back. At the current speed, they should be ready to fire in ten minutes.”
Grant hit the communicator and said, “Tricky, the ship is here. They’ll be firing in about ten minutes.”
“Thanks, Grant.” Tricky closed his eyes and focused.”
Oily was hidden behind a
ceiling mounted speaker on the Raider shuttle and he heard Tricky’s call. He looked at the three crewmen on the bridge as he increased his size. He spat small blasts and all three of them disintegrated. He went to the control panel he had been observing for two weeks and pressed the landing bay door button.
The door opened and he stepped out of the small shuttle into the battleship’s landing bay. He faced the front of the giant vessel and spit a massive blue beam. It shot through the ship and vaporized a twenty-foot wide hole through the bridge and out into open space. He walked around to the back of the shuttle and spit another massive blast toward the rear of the stricken ship. He turned toward the battleship’s landing bay door and blasted it away. He rushed into the small shuttle and closed the landing bay door. He lifted it off the floor and flew out of the ship and headed toward the planet far below.
• • •
The Sensor Leader looked at his Ship Commander, “Sire, one of our ships has just been hit. A shuttle has managed to escape and is falling toward the planet.”
“I want to know what fired on that ship! FIND IT NOW!”
“What about the shuttle?”
“The idiot is going to die shortly when the planet is blasted. Find me the ship that attacked!”
• • •
Oily kept the force field active to prevent the shuttle from burning up on entry through the planet’s atmosphere. He roared down to the city being attacked and landed the shuttle in the middle of the Crocs. They rushed toward the shuttle and shrunk to four feet long as they dove through the door. The Spiders on their backs jumped off and climbed on the hull of the shuttle and went to their largest size. The twelve spiders covered the entire hull of the shuttle and four of them moved to the underside as Oily lifted it off the street. Thousands of Raider Warriors fired their blasters at the escaping shuttle but the Spiders absorbed the beams before they could hit the shuttle’s hull. They fired blue beams at the projectiles fired at the shuttle and melted them. The spiders dug their legs into the shuttle’s hull and watched as the planet’s surface moved away from them at high speed. Oily went to full thrusters and the shuttle leaped toward high orbit.
• • •
The Commander of the Missile Ship saw the red light illuminate on his panel and took a deep breath. This was something he did not want to do. He looked down at the planet and saw the massive destruction in the coastal cities but there were other cities that were undamaged where billions were still alive. He shook his head. The Principal had ordered it and it was a death sentence if he didn’t obey. He looked at his Second-in-Command and said, “Missiles are free.”