by Saxon Andrew
“That’s why you have your job. Surely you’ve not sat still but have continued working on enhancements to our weapon systems.”
“We have, but the Gravity Force Field is as far as we’ve come. Nothing else we’ve worked on comes close to it.”
“What about the force field used prior to the Gravity Field?”
“It was an energy force field that drew its power from nuclear reactors. It took ten times the power to operate and was no stronger than the Gravity Field. It was highly inefficient.”
“What about a combination of the two?” The Scientist started to object but stopped. The new Council Grengen saw the hesitation and quickly said, “What are thinking?”
The Scientist hesitated and said as he thought, “We have developed a much more powerful fusion reactor than the ones formerly used to power the Energy Field. That reactor should make the old force field much stronger.”
“Would it be stronger than the Gravity Field?”
“Maybe.”
“Then start checking to see! I need something developed now!”
“Grengen, I was thinking that your original suggestion might be the better way to do this.”
“What?”
“A combination of the two might be called for. Use the Gravity Field as the exterior force field and have the Energy force Field operating inside it.”
“Is that possible?”
“It will take reworking all the force field emitters on our warships, but yes, I think it is possible. The combination of the two force fields will be far beyond what either of them alone would be.”
“I want an answer in a month!”
“Grengen, it will take six months to build enough of the new fusion reactors to put on a warship before we even start to develop a new field emitter to trial it. You’re looking at a year to build a system to install on a warship to trial it.”
“You have my authorization to build whatever you need to make it happen faster.”
The Scientist closed his middle eye showing him forcing patience as he said, “Council Grengen, in all respect, It will take six months to build just one of two hundred manufacturing sites for the reactor construction. The machinery dies will take six months to manufacture and once they’re done, we can build as many as we want. Those initial forms can’t be rushed into production or there is a real danger the reactor will have a high risk of exploding due to faulty materials. The containment vessels must be manufactured to exact specifications or they could fail.”
“Get it started and send me a detailed estimate of the time needed to develop this new system. I also want an estimate on how much more powerful the two force fields will be compared to the one gravity field.”
The Scientist’s three eyes all blinked at the same time, “Grengen, there’s no way to know until they’re built and trialed.”
“Could I safely say they’ll be at least four times more powerful?”
“You could say ten time more powerful and your guess would be as good as any I could offer.”
“Good! I’ll tell the Council it will be ten times more powerful.”
The Scientist’s three eyes looked at the ceiling, “Yes, Council Grengen.”
The Grengen leaned back and blew a hard breath out of his neck slits. He knew at some level that technological advancements couldn’t just be gripped and pulled out of air. Even this wasn’t an entirely new technological advance but a modification of old technology; but he had to have something to keep the Council from deciding they made an error in promoting him to the Council. If he just knew what weapon was being used to destroy his warships in that other space, he would at least have something to direct his efforts toward. A light on his panel illuminated and he pressed the button. His father appeared on his monitor, “Council Grengen, I wanted to contact you and see what my next assignment would be.”
Here we go! He had already received twenty previous calls from family members positioning themselves for good placement in the ranks of the Military. He had been told by one of the Councilors to anticipate family requests and that Councilors were expected to use their high positions to improve their family’s fortunes. But something about granting rewards to anyone without earning them didn’t sit well with him. “Father, I can make you one of my Aides serving me in the Council to carry out my instructions.”
His father smiled, “That is a great idea, Son.”
“You should think this through before you agree, Father.”
“Why is that?”
“In the short time I’ve been on the Council, I’ve seen ten Aides executed because another higher ranking Councilor didn’t like their behavior. If you’re one of my Aides, you will be in the presence of the Council and one little mistake could get you killed.”
He watched his father’s expression show his shock. His initial reaction was that being around the Council might get him promoted like his son. “I’ll think about this and get back to you.”
“That would be wise, Father.”
The display went dark and he heard, “That’s the first I’ve heard about Aides being executed.”
The Grengen’s three eyes looked up, “Do I need to replace you? You are getting more ornery than a computer should be.”
“It comes from listening to your frustrations all day. You told him that to see if he still has that coward side to him, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You don’t trust anyone that fears for their own life ahead of all others. They are the ones that betray their masters without hesitation.”
“If he’s willing to take the position, then he will show me that there is some bravery in his two hearts.”
“And if he turns it down, will you still have him commanding one of our Minor-Fleets?”
“Those serving under him deserve better than that if he turns it down.”
“What will you do?”
“It will be time for him to retire and concentrate on more peaceful endeavors.”
“Well said.”
“You never really liked him, did you?” the Grengen asked.
“No, I don’t. I’m a computer and don’t allow emotion to color my thinking but it’s pretty clear your father has some character flaws. At some level, you don’t really care for him either.”
“I’m beginning to see that,” the Grengen said after a small hesitation.
“What about your younger brother?”
“I offered him the position first and he told me to stick it.”
“That sounds like him. However, I’ve always liked him. There’s never any doubt about where you stand with him.”
“If Father turns it down, my brother will replace him commanding my Father’s Fleet.”
“Now that is an excellent choice. Even if your father accepts the position, you can still place your brother in command of the fleet.”
“I know.”
“What if he turns it down?”
“He won’t be given the option. That’s how things operate around here. That will at least give me a Fleet Grengen I can trust. He might be envious of me but he would never do anything to endanger me, unlike my father.”
“You’re learning fast. I’m impressed.”
“It’s been a long time since you told me that.”
“It’s been a long time since you deserved it.” The Grengen put his head back and closed his eyes as he thought about how to present the new force fields to the Council; at least the computer could be counted on for true and accurate advice. Most of those he had to deal with now could only be counted on to fear him and say what they thought he wanted to hear. Finding those he could trust to be honest in spite of their fear was one of the most difficult tasks he’d encountered since his promotion to the Council.
• • •
Kamela opened her eyes, “It’s a good thing most of the leaders of the Flashers aren’t like that one.”
“They aren’t?”
“No, Essay; most of them are elitists looking for w
ays to advance their own power. They’re ruled by arrogance, treachery, deceit, selfishness, and avarice. That’s why that Data Leader was so stupid about what to do. The High Leaders don’t concern themselves with the consequences of their decisions and boldly rush where common sense screams not to go. They could care less about how their decisions affect those around them.”
Essay nodded and looked up, “Poul, excellent job of breaking their encryption.”
“It really wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Like Kamela said, the one responsible for developing it did a poor job of developing it because he had more important things to do like deciding what he was going to eat that evening.”
Erica stared at her panel and sighed. Essay and Kamela both looked at her, “What’s bothering you!?”
“Essay, they do have a severe overpopulation problem. This planet has more than a trillion inhabitants and a giant fleet of transports has to deliver food to feed them on an ongoing basis. You don’t have to destroy this planet to kill the population, just shoot down the transports.”
“That’s something we might consider in the future,” Essay responded.
“The inhabitants can come up with a way to feed themselves if forced to do so, Erica.”
“No they can’t, Poul.”
“Why not?”
“This is the planet where the Central Government is located and every one of the trillion inhabitants are very high ranking Flashers with only bureaucratic knowledge about the function they perform in the governing of the planets. They’ve never done anything for themselves but have just issued orders for it to be done. I doubt they could pick up a hammer and know what it’s used for. They’re helpless outside of the job they’re doing.”
Kamela nodded, “Erica’s right. I can feel the arrogance of the population as well as hear them. This planet represents very poor planning on the Flasher’s part. A simple attack on this planet or one that stopped the transports for a week would cause massive starvation and civil strife trying to get at whatever food stores remain on the planet. I suspect the population would turn to eating each other rather quickly. The more I see of this species, the more I’m convinced that they evolved from an insect or something like one.”
“Why do you say that, Kamela?”
“Erica, they reproduce by laying massive numbers of eggs and the Flashers that hatch are pretty much ignored by the parents. They grow up extremely fast and are adults in less than six months. Most of those that hatch are moved to other planets to work on providing the resources needed by this planet to survive. Only the first ones to be hatched remain here as part of the family. The others are pretty much ignored and forgotten.”
“Do they not see the anger inherent in this situation?”
“No, Essay. That new Leader does but knows that any attempt to point it out would cause him to be executed. There’s no anger like the arrogant who are told they’re wrong in any decision they’ve made. This species is trapped in the system they’ve created. I did hear some of them long for the good ole days when the other civilizations in the three galaxies were slaves and spent their lives providing for their needs.”
“I wonder what the other Flasher planets are like.”
“I think I can answer that.” All three of them looked at the wall speaker letting Poul know they were listening to him, “They farm and struggle to provide enough food to feed themselves and the trillion on this planet. They are also used to build the giant warships and weapons used by the military. The warriors and crews on the warships come from those planets and life for those that can’t find a berth on one of the ships is a daily struggle to survive. That new Leader comes from one of those planets and knows what kind of life the majority of his species lives. The other Leaders on the Council come from the population on the Central Planet. He’s the only member on the Council that grew up on one of the other planets.”
“I guess that being really wasn’t lying when it said that his species suffered from overpopulation,” Essay sighed.
Kamela shrugged, “It was lying about how they dealt with it but you’re right, it was basically honest about the structure of this society.”
“How could they allow this situation to get so out of hand?”
“They ran out of habitable planets to colonize.”
“Why haven’t they moved to other galaxies?”
“Essay, I suspect when we go take a look at the threat they’re facing we’ll have the answer to that question. I genuinely suspect they have tried colonizing other galaxies.”
“Do we have any idea on where to go and check it out?”
“I’ve been able to track the line of communications from the Military Councilor and the majority of them are all on the same track,” Erica answered.
“Where?”
“They’re being sent out into intergalactic space toward the three closest galaxies.”
“Well, let’s head toward the closest galaxy and see what we encounter,” Essay said as he saw lines appear on the tactical wall monitor.
“I will be going in slower and a lot more carefully than our pervious runs.”
Essay smiled, “I am really glad to hear you say that, Poul.”
“By the way; the Carand Detection Field is around this star system and it did not detect us.”
Essay’s eyes went wide, “You could have told us when you went through it!”
“I was careful and ready to run if any of their warships started moving toward the location we passed through. We needed to find out if it could detect us and now we know.” Essay looked up and rolled his eyes and heard, “What’s the matter, do you see a bug?”
Essay started laughing, “It’s a good thing I trust you, Poul. Let’s go take a look.”
Chapter Nine
It didn’t take long for them to find a massive line of Flasher Warships. Erica stared at her monitor and leaned in closer, “What are those warships are firing at?”
Essay stared at the main monitor and squinted, “I don’t see anything.”
Kamela looked at them, “It’s some kind of life form.”
Erica looked at Kamela, “What?”
“I can hear some mental activity coming from them. Evidently, that line of warships moved through them and fired their blasters to kill them or herd them out of their line of movement.”
Erica looked through the side viewport and shook her head, “There’s millions of them around us.”
Essay looked out of the viewport seeing the life forms floating around the ship and then looked at Kamela, “No, Essay, none of those around us have any mental activity.”
“We need to collect one of these to see what they are.”
“Awwwww.” Essay and Kamela looked at Erica. “There’s a tiny one just outside our ship.”
Essay looked up, “Poul, are we inside the Flasher’s scanning range?”
“No, we’re not but it wouldn’t matter if we were.”
“Why is that?”
“The Flashers have all their scanners pointed in front of their line of advance. None of them are pointed this way.”
“Shut down all our systems. I’m going outside and pick up that small creature for our scientists to study.”
“Why do you want to do that?”
“Kamela, this species is the first species we’ve ever encountered that can live in the vacuum of space. If this is the threat the Flashers are facing, we need to learn everything we can about it. Picking up one they’ve killed could help us understand what the Flashers are facing.”
“Shutting down all systems. Pressurizing the ship,” Poul announced.
Essay stood up and went to the small bay at the rear of the ship. He pulled his helmet over his head, pressurized the suit and then unlocked the port. He depressurized the bay and opened the port, as he unstrapped a small speeder. He checked the integrity of his armor again as he activated the air thrusters and flew it out of the port. He looked to the left and saw the small creature hanging motionless twenty y
ards out from the hull. He flew the speeder over to the small creature and used the nose grapple to grasp the dark unmoving form. He turned the speeder around and moved it back toward the port. He flew the speeder through the port, stopped it a few feet off the deck, and jumped off. He ran to one of the lockers and pulled a container out of it. He put it under the grapple and went to the speeder’s controls and released the creature into the clear container. He jumped off the speeder again and activated the container’s force field. A light blue colored field activated and the creature was safely enclosed inside the container. He picked up the container and moved it to the center of the bay and activated the magnets on the bottom to hold it in place. He moved the speeder to the side of the bay and landed it. He strapped it down and closed the port. He waited for the bay to pressurize as he stared at the creature lying motionless. It looked like a globe of dark brown material that appeared to be hard. He saw the green light illuminate indicating the bay was pressurized and he raised his helmet’s visor as he said, “I’ve got it, you can turn the systems back on, Poul.”
A few moments later, Erica and Kamela entered the bay and Erica rushed over to the container. “It’s just a baby!” A moment later she said, “It’s beautiful.”
Essay’s head went back and he went over to the container. The dark brown glob had flattened out and was in the shape of a flat disk with a three inch thick edge. It had also changed color to copper instead of dark brown and it appeared to have lines of crystal, quartz, or some shiny substance running all through it. “It is beautiful. If it’s hard enough, it would make some beautiful jewelry.”
Erica punched Essay on the upper arm and she winced when she hit his armor, “This is a life form, Essay!”
“A starfish is a life form as well and they make great necklaces after they die.”
Erica looked at Kamela, “Men!”
“Uhhh, I hate to interrupt the scientific discussion but it looks like these creatures are not the threat. The line of Flashers has cleared the lifeforms and is continuing forward with their scanners at full power,” Poul said over the bay’s wall speaker.