by John Ricks
Little Yellows took a moment to calm down and said, “The creature wanted to know when the Gray would grow up. He thinks the Gray is immature.”
All started laughing except Gray. With an evil grin on his face, he walked over to a panel and pressed a button. The grin vanished when nothing happened. He pressed it again and again.
Big Yellows yelled, “Stop that, fool!”
Little Yellows moved so quickly that I could not see it. Gray was instantly captured, and the other Grays were getting upset. Little Yellows walked over to Blue and dropped the Gray. Blue put one tentacle on the Gray and stood him up. “Don’t do that again, Gray. It would have paralyzed the creature, and we would get nothing for hours.”
Gray said, “Did you not notice? It did not work.”
Blue looked at Green, and Green went over to the panel and checked all the gauges. It returned and said, “It worked but did not affect him.”
Big Yellows asked, “If it worked, then why was I not harmed?”
Green looked shocked and returned to his equipment. He opened a panel and looked for any tampering but couldn’t find any. He picked up a weapon-looking item—a long pole with a ball on the end—and placed it in the liquid in which I was floating. It did not give him the reading he was looking for. He disconnected a large cord from my tank and then from another and swapped them. Then he started up another panel.
I thought, Darn, the power is back, and that panel is too far away. I was just barely able to mess with the close one. Well, I’ll think of something. I need to keep my mouth shut for starters.
Green took another reading on the tank and was happy. He said, “There is something wrong with the power coming from that panel. I changed to another panel, and everything is working correctly now. I think I know what the creature was doing earlier.” He looked at me and said to one of the other Greens, “Take a reading on this tank every ten minutes. Between each reading, take the meter out and calibrate it before coming back in. We wouldn’t want to give the creature a chance to tamper with the meter.” To another Green, he said, “Troubleshoot that panel, and fix anything you find wrong. The creature caused the system to bypass the tank. Start there, and don’t believe the readings on the gauges.” He turned to me and said to Blue and Yellows, “He has learned how to run our equipment. He is a Red, and he is very dangerous. If he gets free, he could find a way to take over this ship.”
Blue said, “Then don’t allow him to get free. Continue with the probing. The longer we wait, the harder it will become to stop him.”
Little Yellows took over and said to me, “You are a pest.”
I said, “I try my best.”
Chapter 13
Sacrifices
At the planet Damien, one ship waited: the communication ship, ES Maple. She was one of six communication ships all named after trees. Her captain was upset about not being in the fighting and was even more upset with his orders to hide or run if attacked. However, the communication ships were not built for war and could not stand up to these new weapons the enemy apparently had.
The science officer said, “There is a ship coming in fast from quadrant six, sir. It appears to be one of our shark-class scout ships.”
“Put her on screen, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir.”
As soon as the captain saw the ship, he yelled, “Rescue stations! Lieutenant, launch a shuttle to pull that fighter in.”
Communications reported, “Her communications seem to be out, sir.”
“Of course it’s out, Ensign. It’s a wonder she made it this far. Look at the scaring. She’s banged up bad. Oh yes. She’s seen fighting. I just hope she can slow down enough for us to attach and pull her brave crew in.”
No sooner had he said that than the tiny ship’s engines stopped and shielding gave way. There was a minor flash of light and then an explosion, and the scout was gone.
The captain swore under his breath.
“Captain, there is a message tube headed our way.”
“Reroute the shuttle to pick up that message tube, and bring it to me immediately. Something was important enough to cause that captain and crew to die to get us the information.”
“Shuttle says they have it, sir. It’s contaminated, sir. Highly radioactive.”
“Tractor-beam it to the aft airlock.”
“Where are you going, sir?”
“Lieutenant, you have the ship.” The captain left the bridge.
At the aft airlock, the chief was waiting to cycle the air as he watched the deadly tube slowly move into the center. When it sat perfectly in the holder, the lieutenant said on the overhead, “It’s in the airlock, Captain.”
“Cycle the air, Chief.”
The chief checked to ensure the door was locked manually and could not pop open when the pressures equalized. As he hit the button to cycle the atmosphere, the captain showed up, hastily donning a shield belt.
“Captain, you’re not seriously considering going in there, are you?”
“Chief, glad you’re here. Leave, but go to a ship’s communication panel, take video of everything I hold up, and record what I read.”
“Captain, you—”
“Now, Chief!”
The chief left, considering the captain was preparing to open the door.
Two rooms over, the chief stopped and flipped a switch on a panel. “I’m in place, Captain. Any chance of talking you out of this?”
He watched as the captain turned on the shield belt and opened the door. “You recording, Chief?”
“Every bit of it, Captain.”
“Good. I don’t feel a thing, so I think Dr. Anderson’s shield belt is working.”
“It has a warning that it wasn’t tested against radiation, Captain. From what I hear, they won’t allow him radioactive materials to play with.”
The captain laughed. “Probably true, but it’s being tested today. Okay. I’m walking over to the tube. I have it. Now to open it.” The captain tried hard to unscrew the lid. He put all his effort into it, saying, “I wonder where they picked up radiation. There is none aboard any of the ships.”
The lieutenant cut in. “In their hurry to get here, they must have run through the corona of some sun. It’s the only thing I can think of.”
“Can’t be, as that would have removed the blast marks and left only the pits.”
He placed the tube on his leg for more leverage and turned the lid with all his might. The lid turned and finally came off. Out popped a shielded black box. The captain instantly used his body to shield the box from the radiation and then backed out. After shutting the door, he did a complete scan of his shielded body, and there was no radiation detected. He checked the box and removed the data crystal; it was radiation-free also. “It worked, Chief. I’m clean. Open up.”
Cheers were heard throughout the ship.
“On my way, Captain.”
The captain walked over to a wall panel and placed the chip into the reader. “Lieutenant, download this information and have it ready for me to watch when I reach the bridge.”
On the bridge, the captain and most of the crew watched the screens as the scout maneuvered frantically through the asteroid belt. They saw the quick turn, the destruction of the enemy ship, the decision to forgo days’ worth of repairs and head straight for the nearest known ship. The crew of the scout did everything to hold her together. They were too far away from the rendezvous point. Environmental was out, and time was nearly out. They decided to sling around a black hole—that’s where they picked up the radiation. The increased speed, however, gave them hope, and they prepared for the worse. The last thing on the screen was a fire starting in the engines and the tube being brought forward. Then all went blank as the black box was cut from the wall.
The captain sat back with a tear of pride for this brave crew that willingly sacrificed
so much to get this information to fleet. “Communications, open up a wide channel to all ships in the fleet.”
“Channel open on all bands and at full power, Captain.”
The captain leaned forward and said, “This is the captain of the ES Maple. A ship just entered our space and exploded but not before sending the following in a message tube.” He motioned for communications to play the message. When the message was completed, he said, “Report in. I want to know everyone who received that message.”
The ES Insight echoed the message, and so did the Hero and the Protectress. Soon, confirmations were coming in from all quadrants.
Little Yellows said, “Brave crew, little one.”
I was crying but said, “Many are.”
Gray said, “They deserve a decoration.”
Blue said, “That kind of sacrifice only comes from love—a love of family and country. And yes, they deserve their highest decoration.”
I said, “They were posthumously awarded the Earth Federation Medal of Honor—our highest.”
Green said solemnly, “Let’s continue.”
Chapter 14
Losses
After their main weapons’ weakness to attacks was found, the air battle was essentially over. There were little skirmishes here and there, but the enemy seemed to have vanished. Still, the war continued for months, as Admiral Penn had success after success in finding and destroying all flight capabilities. The specials became extremely handy in finding the Sycloyeds. They could quickly detect any running ships and determine if there was resistance on a planet that was fighting back against the Sycloyeds. Only a few planets had any resistance, and that was because their world had not been sanitized yet. The fleet landed troops on those worlds and joined in on the rebellion. With over ten thousand multinational troops on each world, the fleet took out the Sycloyeds quickly and efficiently. None could hide from the scanners and specials, when they paired up. Most of the specials were just kids and well protected from the fighting, but sadly, several still lost their lives. All told, 10 specials, 132 military personnel and eight ships were lost before it was over. Nearly all the dead were ground troops. Some died because of the Sycloyeds, and the rest fell to infections they picked up on new planets. Luckily, the fleet had the AD. Without it, we would have lost half the fleet to the microscopic bugs the army brought back with them. They were nearly all sick.
Admiral Penn sent a message to me, saying, “Bad thing about the ADs, Freddy—they do not allow for immunity to build up.”
I sent an answer: “Easy fix, Admiral. Should take only a few days.”
Blue and Gray yelled at the same time, “I want that AD!”
Little Yellows giggled. “You have something to purchase your planet’s life with.”
I said, “You do not understand. You are still working under the assumption that you have won. You have not. You attacked like cowards, without warning, and from a now-protected blind spot. You have angered my species. Sadly, you have awakened and united the human spirit, and it is furious. I do not think I can talk my people out of their revenge.”
Gray said, “Foolish little nothing human. We won that battle, and we will continue to win. No species has ever won against the might of our fleets. Now be still.”
Little Yellows mumbled to Big Yellows, “There is always a first time.”
I whispered to both, “It is those who think themselves invincible that are the danger to their species.”
Chapter 15
Protecting Home
The Sycloyeds must have found out where their new enemy came from, and that’s why they disappeared from the fleet area. Ninety-six ships appeared only half a light-year out from Earth. It was the combined remainder of their fleets. Going by the pictures that the short- and long-range scanners provided, it was a very ragtag group—something of every type of ship that the Sycloyeds had. This included three of the planet sanitizers, or mother ships. They were directly behind five base ships, or carriers. The five base ships were overloaded with fighters.
I was in my shop, working on the AD problem, when the shop computer, who was scanning the system, detected the ships quickly moving in. The shuttles, moon base, and my small Mars installation picked them up also. The media picked them up shortly after we did. The ten shuttles were not going to keep this many away from Earth, not with each base ship having a thousand fighters. It was far too many for them to handle, and all our fighters were out with the fleet. We were spread out over thousands of light-years, and two days ago I’d sent the latest destroyer out to meet the fleet. Captain James came to me in the shop with a worried expression.
“Hi, Susan.”
“Hello, Freddy. We seem to have a problem.”
“I know.”
“The world is in a panic, Freddy. The president is asking for help. Our ten shuttles can’t stop all of those ships, and the fleet can’t make it back here in time. They’re on the way, but we don’t expect the first ship for over five hours. We expect the Sycloyed fleet to be here in less than thirty minutes. People are panicking all over the world. You said you could protect us. Where’s that miracle?”
“Susan, I can protect us several ways. Let’s pick the combination that will work best.”
“Go ahead.”
“First, I can place a temporary shield over one-third of Earth. That should stop them from destroying us long enough for the fleet to arrive. The mother ships are slower than the others and will take more than five hours to reach a good firing position. However, two-thirds of Earth will most likely be destroyed, and the moon base and Mars installation would be vulnerable. The shuttles would need to protect the other two-thirds of Earth. The problem with that is that the Sycloyeds can take out the shuttles fairly quickly. All they need to do is gang up on each one. They know the tactic.
“Second, I can put up my new ship. Our shuttles cannot take out their mother ships, but she can. With her help, some of the shuttles could protect the moon and Mars installations while she takes out the bigger ships, and the shuttles can then do mop-up. It’s not likely we’d get them all before they reached Earth. In addition, if any come to this side of the planet, I can destroy them with the MAGNA placements at this base. I estimate the chances of one of their bigger ships getting through at about 30 percent. Hundreds of the smaller ships will get through, and they could cause a considerable amount of damage. Besides, the shield won’t hold long, stretched that thin.”
“Freddy,” she said tersely. “What are MAGNA placements?”
“MAGNA stands for Molecular Anti-Gravity Non-Alignment. It projects a field of gravity fluctuations so that every molecule in its path fluctuates separately between negative five hundred gravities and positive five hundred gravities. The molecules repel each other and fly apart. I’m adding the weapons to my new class of carrier. At this site, I have some adjusting to do, as I haven’t corrected the distance on the beams yet. They still reach too far, and I don’t want them to hit the moon. That would be a bad thing.”
“Where are they?”
“Up there.” I pointed to the ceiling. “Third and probably the best choice is this.” I held up a small ball about the size of a baseball. “I can also put up two hundred of these.”
She backed up quickly. Susan recalled the last ball I’d played with. When detonated, it took out a one-half light-year radius of space in all directions from point of impact. It’s what I used to destroy the rock that was going to destroy Earth.
“Freddy, are those like the last ball you played with?”
“No way.”
She calmed down. “Thank goodness.”
“The last ball I played with was just a toy. This ball is considerably more sophisticated.” She quickly stood up and seemed faint. I helped her sit down and said, “Susan, I was just getting you back for thinking I would develop another one of those balls. I told you I would not, and I keep my
word. You know that.”
“I’m sorry.” She pointed to my little baseball and asked, “What do these do, then?”
Very sadly, I said, “They’re designed to go up into space and lock onto anything I think of. When locked on, the transporter inside allows them to teleport into the heart of the object and explode into ten of these.” I held up a marble-sized ball. “Each one will fly throughout the object, looking for the main power source, if any. When they find it, or after thirty seconds, they explode like a small thermo-nuclear device, or TND. My TND doesn’t have fallout. No radiation. It takes out about one mile of space but leaves a lot of junk. The shuttles are going to have a wonderful time trying to clean up the mess. I was just debating sending the balls up when you walked in.”
She smiled and said, “This I’ve got to see. Please send them up, Freddy.”
I know I turned white at the thought of harming any creature, but Susan put a hand on my shoulder and said, “It has to be done.”
I turned to the scanners and picked up a ball. I tossed it up, and it disappeared. I picked up another, looked at the screen, tossed the ball up, and it disappeared. I continued to do this and was on the sixteenth ball when one of the mother ships blew apart. By the time I tossed up the fortieth ball, there were no more enemies to destroy. The Sycloyeds must have thought it was some kind of invisible attack. They all swarmed together into several tight groups. Wrong tactic. The thirty-fifth through thirty-eighth balls took out all the rest. The last two balls I mentally detonated.
I started crying and turned to Susan, putting my arms around her and holding on. I was shaking. I had just destroyed a living creature—a lot of living creatures. I’d never felt so sad in all my life.
Susan understood and held me; calming me down and trying to help me get over this. I know she thought I was being silly; I picked up on her thoughts and let go of her. My heart was so sad that I turned away and asked her to leave. Before she left, I turned to her and said, “It’s going to get out real soon that the Sycloyed fleet just blew up and that I’m a killer. They’re going to find out anyway, so go ahead and tell them I did it. Tell the president first, as she’ll need to calm the masses. Don’t tell anyone how I did it. We may need that trick again, though I do have several other interesting ways to protect us. I need time to rethink what I’m doing here—why I’m inventing in the first place.” She started to come back to me, but I motioned for her to go.