by Saxon Andrew
Gabe hesitated and then said, “Because I felt that you deserved to know what was happening on the other side of the black hole, so you wouldn’t be attacked without warning.”
Ali listened to the conversation and looked out of the overhead viewport. The gigantic silver ship was flashing blue every two seconds and he knew that vessel was far beyond their current technology. Suddenly the bridge was illuminated by a bright blue light. Poul announced, “We’ve just been scanned by a powerful beam. It copied all of my databases.”
Gabe nodded and heard, “Move your vessel under our ship and follow us out of the Holy Ritual.” Gabe grabbed the thruster handle and pushed it slightly forward. He moved under the giant ship as the thousands of small warships surrounding them moved away. They picked up speed and an hour later they were above the galaxy. The giant vessel came to a stop and they heard over the wall speaker, “Children, all of you will move back to your initial entry locations. Once everyone is in place, you will start the ritual again. We will not allow any of you to gain an advantage by this interruption and we’ll allow two additional days for you to make up for the time you lost.”
Gabby looked at Gabe, “The warships that were fighting when we arrived are separating into the four different colors and moving to four locations equidistant from each other at the edge of this galaxy.”
Gabe nodded and watched the monitor. Two hours later, he heard, “You may start, now.” The four giant groups of warships accelerated across the galaxy and the war began anew. Gabe held the ship in place and waited. “We’re examining the records we scanned in your vessel. While that is happening, I want to applaud your restraint in not firing on the ships around your vessel when you entered this galaxy.”
Gabby asked, “What would have happened if we did?”
“We would have immediately destroyed your vessel for the sacrilege you committed.”
“You were a very long way from us when we exited the black hole.”
“Not as far as you think.”
Gabe looked up, “We’ve answered your questions; will you answer some of ours?”
“Certainly.”
“Why did you choose this method to control your populations?”
“How did you know we do this to control our populations?”
“The first time we came here, one of those on my vessel was telepathic and heard some of those involved in the fight thinking about it.”
“You are right about doing this to control our populations.”
“How often does this happen?”
“Every year.”
“WHAT?” Gabe was shocked by the revelation.
“All of the children that are born in a year will fight against each other for the right to have a family.”
Gabby cocked her head, “You mean all of your children have to fight to live?”
“Of course not. Only those that choose to have a family must participate in the Ritual. Most of them choose to live without having children.”
Gabe thought about the billions of warships that filled the galaxy attacking each other and shook his head. “How many are allowed to mate?”
“Only a thousand of each species will complete the Ritual.”
Gabe’s eyes flew open, “Are you saying that a thousand of each species have enough children to supply the millions that fight here!?”
“They actually supply more than four times that number. Remember that most of their offspring will choose to not have families. They will live their lives as a productive member of their societies until they die.”
“How many times do those that survive the ritual have children?”
“Once.” Gabe could only shake his head in amazement. “So what happens when one of the species fighting in the ritual is down to a thousand remaining fighters?”
“They are immediately pulled from the Ritual and sent home to be celebrated by their society. The remaining three species will continue to fight until they are down to a thousand survivors.”
“And what happens if one of them is left with more than a thousand?”
“The thousand with the highest number of kills will win the ritual. We do not allow the children to attack the members of their society.”
“So what happens to the ones that aren’t in the top thousand?”
“They are allowed to compete in the next ritual.”
Gabe looked up, “They have to do it again?”
“That’s right.”
“Have any of them managed to survive more than one ritual?”
“It happens all the time.”
“How is that possible?”
“Some of them become very good at hiding and avoiding the fighting.”
Gabe nodded, “That’s why you take the ones with the most kills.”
“It is.”
Ali looked up, “Do any of the participants in the Ritual have the option to leave and not finish.”
“That’s a good insight. Yes, all of the participants’ ships have a button to illuminate a blue light. Once the light is activated, their ships will not be attacked.”
“So if a pilot sees it has no chance of escape, it can use that button to save itself,” Ali confirmed?
“Yes and we tell them during their preparations for the Ritual that they shouldn’t hesitate to use it. However, sometimes a participant refuses to believe there’s no escape and they end up being killed.”
“WE HAVE COMPLETED THE EXAMINATION OF YOUR DATA.”
Gabe looked up, “And?”
“Your species is interesting. You would have probably self-destructed except for the being you call the Prophet.” Gabe remained silent. “It does appear that you have learned how to live with each other and those that inhabit the universe with you. We are lowering our force field and invite you to scan this vessel.”
Gabe jumped up in his command chair and looked at Gabby, “DO IT!” Gabby saw the blinking blue field around the giant vessel disappear and she activated her active scanners. She scanned the giant vessel from the bow to the stern and back to the bow. She turned off the scanner and blinking force field returned. Gabe looked up, “I thank you for your gift.”
“We have determined that we will probably never see you again. Your civilization is distant and that is the great separator. You are going to need to resolve the issue with that civilization that betrayed you. We do hope you are even handed with them. Their behavior is understandable.”
Gabe nodded, “It was the right thing to do but not the honorable thing.”
“We agree. You are free to leave and we wish you good fortune.”
“Thank you. Poul, take us home.”
The Prophet’s Eyes disappeared away from the galaxy in an instant.
• • •
Gabe sat and thought about the recording. He now knew the being had lied to him about the Ritual, it wasn’t done to control their populations and there was only one species in the different colored warships. Gabe sat back in his chair. If it wasn’t done to control their populations, why were they doing it? Then he had an idea crash into his consciousness. “Chester!”
“Yes, Gabe.”
“I want you to find one of the small warships fighting in the Ritual and focus on it.” Gabe stared at the monitor and watched as a small one man warship was suddenly hit by a red beam. The small ship went up in a massive red flash. “Keep it focused.” The view moved away before Gabe could see what happened after the flash.
“Sorry, Gabe, the original recording didn’t remain on it long enough.”
“Find one that was watched longer than that ship.”
Gabe waited and after five minutes heard the computer announce, “With the thousands of ships fighting, it was more difficult to find a ship that remained on the recording after the flash than I thought. I found one far out from the Eye’s location but it did stay in the scanner long enough.”
“Show me, Chester.” Gabe watched the distant small warship being hit by a red beam and it flashed brilliantly. Th
e image began moving toward the edge of the monitor but Gabe was able to see that the ship was still intact. Freeze it, Chester!!”
The image froze and Gabe stared at the image of the small warship. All of its lights were out and it was motionless. Chester said, “If they use this ritual to control their populations then they’re not doing themselves any good, that pilot is still alive.”
Gabe nodded, “Can you determine what caused the flash?”
“Give me a minute to examine a few of them at super-slow motion.” Gabe stared at the small warship and thoughts began running through his head. “Gabe, it appears when the ships are hit by the red beam, all of the ship’s fuel is immediately dumped around it and ignited. The ship remains inside its force field so no damage is done to the ship. That flash of burning fuel would let the other ships around it know it is out of the competition.”
“Thanks, Chester. I didn’t think this through.”
“What do you mean?”
“That lying creature told me this Ritual took place very year and if I had really thought about it, I’d have known it was not telling the truth.”
“Maybe I’m dumb, but I don’t see what you mean?”
“Chester, you’re far from dumb; two of the smartest humans in our society were on the ship and both of us missed it completely. If those millions of small warships were actually destroyed in the so called Ritual every year, what kind of technology and manufacturing structure could build enough of them each year to replace those destroyed in order to repeat this competition each year? It would devastate an economy to have to build that many warships every year.”
“Then what were they doing?”
“Chester, they were training the pilots that fly the small ships on their giant warships. They broke them down into four groups so they could learn how to work together. No one died in this so called Ritual and I suspect the best pilots were given a small ship to command on one of their warships. The ones that managed to successfully hide were given a scout vessel to command.”
“Why would they need so many pilots?”
“That’s what’s been beating me up for the last two days. And why are they planning to invade our space, which is a hundred billion light years from their home space?”
“I’m still not following you?”
“Chester, why did humanity send colony ships out to distant galaxies? Why did the Builders flee to a distant location? Why did the Darkness send their populations away on colony ships? Why are we now building the largest warships we’ve ever constructed?”
There was a moment of silence and finally the Computer said, “The Flashers are under attack from another powerful civilization.”
“The Flashers were training those pilots before we showed up so we’re not the threat that led to them being built. There has to be another danger to them inside their territory and they’re looking for a place they can flee in order for their populations to live in safety. They chose our space because they can get there through the two black holes and not reveal their exit to whoever this threat to them is. I should have seen this simply by the size of their main battleships. I was so oblivious; it was right in front of me the whole time and I missed it.”
“Why is that?”
“Because you don’t build warships as large as a moon without a threat large enough to force you to do it. Put me through to Admiral Connor!”
Gabe stared at his monitor and a few moments later, Steve appeared, “Hello, Gabe. What’s up?”
“Admiral, I need a meeting with you now.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’m going to have Chester send a recording of what I’ve been examining for the last hour along with our conversation. I’m leaving the Dream Catcher and immediately coming to your office.” Steve nodded and the monitor went dark. When Gabe arrived, every Admiral and Senior Intelligence Officer were waiting for his arrival.
• • •
First the light was dim and then it faded away. Later, the light was brighter and it refused to fade. He fought against it but then…opened his eyes. He immediately closed them and then opened them slowly until he could tolerate it. He moved his eyes to the left and saw huge bouquets of flowers. He moved his eyes to the right and saw Alexandra sitting in a chair with her head resting on the bed beside him. She looked really tired. He laid there and felt remarkably numb. He continued to stare at her until a nurse walked in with an IV bottle to replace the one on the stand. She switched them out and saw Timmy staring at her. She screamed and dropped the empty IV bottle and it bounced three times on the floor. Alexandra jerked her head up and jumped to her feet with her eyes as wide as they could possibly open as she watched the IV bottle bouncing across the floor. She suddenly realized the nurse was staring at the bed and she glanced at Timmy, who was staring at her with a slight smile. “TIMMY!!!” She rushed to the head of the bed and started kissing his cheeks. He croaked in a slurred voice, “Did Mom…”
“She’ fine and so is Scott. It’s you we’ve been worried sick over.”
“I can’t feel anything, Alex?’
Alexandra felt her heart breaking at Timmy’s slurred speech and looked at the nurse, “Get the doctor in here now!”
The nurse fled the room and Alex rubbed Timmy’s forehead. “Where’s Mom?”
“She’s in a meeting with Admiral Connor. She drew the short straw and I got to stay here with you.”
Timmy snickered, “You…you… know Mom would have to go.”
Alex smiled, “I know, but it’s a good story.”
The Lead Doctor ran into the room and saw Timmy talking with Alex, “Thank the Creator!”
Timmy looked up at him, “Doc, I can’t feel anything below my neck.”
“That’s intentional, Admiral. We’ve been worried about your higher cognitive functions. I think we can stop worrying, if you’re able to talk, you’re going to be fine.”
Alex felt her tears and Timmy shook his head, “I can’t wiped you…your tears away.”
The Doctor went to the head of the bed and disconnected two wires. He looked at Timmy, “Give it a try now.” Timmy jerked his right hand up and forced it slowly toward Alex and wiped her tears, which only made her cry harder.
“I…I… love you, Alexandra.”
“And I love you so much, Tim.” He raised his arms and she fell into them.
• • •
Amy sat in the meeting and felt genuine fear at what was being discussed. Another civilization more advanced than the Flashers? Would the universe ever ease up on the terrors it sent their way? She felt her new wrist unit vibrate and she saw a message scroll across the display. She started reading and a moment later she screamed. Gabe flinched and stopped talking to the gathering. Amy stood up and yelled, “Timmy’s going to be alright!” She jumped to her feet and looked at Steve, “Sorry, got to go!”
Everyone in the room watched her sprint out of the conference room and Gabe smiled, “Me, too!” He put down the microphone he was holding and took off after Amy. Steve looked around the room and said, “OH HELL! This meeting is over. See you tomorrow.” He leapt off the raised stage and ran toward the double doors. The ones still in the room started looking at each other and as if a silent command was given, the entire gathering jumped up ran behind the others.
• • •
Gabby sat beside Gabe on a bench outside Timmy’s hospital room as the other officers visited with Timmy. “Gabe, you’re right; we both missed all the clues about the Flashers. Their allowing us to scan that giant warship distracted us from seeing the truth. I should have seen it.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, Gabby. Neither of us picked up on them.”
“But the biggest lie should have been clear.”
“Biggest lie?” Gabe said as his head went back.
“No species could survive the birthrate that Creature described. They would have overwhelmed the ecology of the planet they evolved on. They would have self-imploded long before they could have develo
ped technology. The numbers used by that being sound like insects.”
“I suspect they probably evolved from an insect like creature.” Gabe stared at her and Gabby saw his expression and lowered her eyes, “I know that look. What am I missing?”
“Gabby, you’re not considering cannibalism.”
Gabby stared at him and her eyes began getting wider, “Gabe! Surely you’re not suggesting…”
“Gabby, I do think the Flashers have an extreme birthrate, maybe not as high as they described, but the numbers needed to crew those giant warships is far beyond what a normal population could produce. If it’s as high as I suspect, they would have had to prey on each other during their formative years. Once they developed space travel, they would eventually stop doing it as they moved to planets with new food sources. Most anthropologists say that early humans ate other humans they captured. When food is scarce, pretty much everything looks like a meal.”
“I see you’ve really thought this through,” Gabby observed.
“It’s dimes to doughnuts that they’re being pressured by another civilization and are worried about their survival. If they make it into our space, they will overwhelm the resident civilizations with their high birthrate.”
“Do you really think four species are training their pilots in that galaxy?”
“I doubt it. I suspect that the ones that improve in the ritual are given a better model of training ship to use. Did you notice that the Yellow Ships were much more numerous than the other three colors? If you really take a close look at the recording, you’ll see that the Yellow Ships were ganged up on by the other three colors. It still didn’t make much difference, the Yellows still had the most survivors. They had the groups divided into four groups to teach them how to fight in groups.”
“So you think they don’t control four galaxies?”
“No, however, we do know they control two.”
“Oh?”
“The Ritual Galaxy and the one that builds the ships to fight in it. I tried to take a good look at the recording we made in the Ritual Galaxy to see if there were civilized planets in the scans we made but our scanners weren’t set up to make that determination. They were set to scan those millions of small ships.”