Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four))

by Saxon Andrew

  Kosiev asked, “Why, what’s going on?”

  “Tommy is going there to talk with them. We know that they won’t communicate but will try to destroy who ever attempts to contact them.”

  “There is no way we can get the entire fleet ready, however I will see how many ships we can get together quickly. I’ll get Mikado on it immediately.”

  Chapter 20

  The First Male was jumping around the system making sure he did not present a target for the Stranger’s new missiles. He was talking with the Old Watcher. “Can you see anything in the energy nexus?”

  “No, First Male, the particle that once existed in the center of the nexus has exploded and moved into another universe. There is nothing I can use to help us find the location of the Stranger’s home systems.”

  “I’m concerned that you are stationary and not moving to avoid the Stranger’s missiles. I don’t want to lose you old friend.”

  The Old Watcher paused and then said, “I’m getting too old to waste my energy flying around the system. It also appears that now that I can no longer read the nexus, I don’t really have a function in our society. For the first time in my life, I feel old, First Male.”

  The First Male could feel the melancholy of the old Captor and he said, “Don’t be ridiculous; you’re only a little older than a hundred and fifty million years.”

  “Maybe so, but I feel old. Even the stars energy no longer tastes good.”

  The First Male thought, “You’re right about that.” The systems star had aged and no longer provided the high yield nourishment it one gave them.

  Suddenly the First Male heard a voice. “I would like to talk with you about that, First Male.”

  “Who are you,” the First male asked?

  “I’m one of the Strangers that you have been fighting.”

  The First Male extended his sensors to try and track from where the voice was coming but nothing was there to be traced. “How are you communicating with me?”

  “I‘m doing it telepathically; you cannot trace it electronically so you might as well quit wasting your time trying.”

  The First Male sent out a message to all of the warriors flying around the system to increase their speed and to change their routes randomly. “You don’t need to worry about us attacking you or your warriors at this time. I want to discuss a possible way for us to exist peacefully and stop all the needless killing.”

  “I see no reason for us to communicate. We will find you and we will destroy you.”

  “The voice sighed and then said, “I didn’t want to have to resort to heavy handed tactics but you leave me no choice. First Male, we can destroy you anytime we choose.”

  Suddenly a white ship appeared beside the First Male and then it disappeared. The First Male felt a surge of fear. That ship was right next to his screen and could have fired on him and he would not have had time to escape. “I am not here to harm you, First Male but I need you to talk with me.”

  The First Male was terrified. He knew there was immense danger but he couldn’t bring himself to talk with an enemy of his race. The Old Watcher said, “First Male, perhaps it’s time to think in a different pattern. It won’t hurt to see what he has to say.”

  “You can hear him?”

  “Yes, I can, First Male. I don’t want to lose one of my oldest friends. I’ve already lost so many during this conflict.”

  The First Male slowed his thoughts and brought his fear under control. The first Mother thought to him, “Talk with him. We can’t lose you.”

  The voice said, “We would also like to include you in this conversation, Your Majesty.”

  The First Mother thought back, “I will listen in; the First Male is the one you will speak with.”

  The Warriors flying around the system were approaching light speed moving in different directions trying to find the Stranger’s ship that had put the First Male in danger.

  “We are no longer in your system, First Male. Tell your warriors that we will not attack you. I can feel their fear for you.”

  “Then you know that they have no choice but to do what they’re doing.”

  “I know; but I do not want to harm any of you. Do you know why we have been attacking you,” the voice asked?

  “Why don’t you tell me?”

  “Because we know that if one of our ships had accidently stumbled into your system you would have systematically destroyed our entire civilization.”

  The First Male answered quickly, “Of course.”

  “I know this is foreign to your way of seeing the universe, but what if the roles were reversed. What if one of your warriors had stumbled into our system and we had come and totally destroyed you?”

  The First Male thought about the question for a moment. “You are assuming that you possess the power to do it.”

  “Just for the sake of this conversation, assume we could do exactly that.”

  The Old Watcher interjected, “That is not a difficult assumption to make after all that has happened.”

  The First Male thought about the idea and finally said, “Then you would represent a clear and present danger to my system and I would have to try and eliminate you.”

  “Do you see any other alternative?”

  After a long pause, “No, I don’t.”

  “That is why we have been attacking you. We tried to communicate earlier but you attacked all of the communication devices and tried to find us to destroy our people. Is there any way you can peacefully co-exist with others?”

  “No, unfortunately, our instincts take over anytime our home is threatened. A threat is anyone who knows where our home system is located. This is not a logical process; our instincts take control of our actions.”

  “Do you understand what position that put us in?”

  The First Male could see the Stranger’s point of view and understood where it led. “We can’t do anything about it. Our instincts have been engrained in us for millions of years. They control us; we don’t control them.”

  Tommy looked at Cassandra, Twig, and Sprig and said, “Let’s hope he will understand our proposal and not lose himself to his instincts.”

  The voice asked, “So the situation is that your race and ours cannot exist together in harmony. One of us will have to be exterminated because of your instincts.”

  The First Mother said, “I do wish there was another answer but you’re right. You are a real danger to my children especially since you have killed so many of them.”

  “Quite Frankly, First Mother, we have planned to totally exterminate your race and are moving in that direction, however,”

  The First Male felt his instincts start to take control but stopped when he heard, “we think we have found a way around our dilemma.”

  The First Male asked, “Logically, I see no other answer.”

  “You may have noticed that the particle that existed in what we call the energy nerve center has exploded. That explosion has caused the formation of a new universe that is made up of the blast from that particle.”

  “We call that the energy nexus,” the Old Watcher said.

  “How much heat can you endure, First Male?”

  “I’m certainly not going to tell you but why do you ask?”

  “Because we can open a door between our universe and that new universe that would allow you to make a new home there; being energy creatures you might like it better than this one.”

  “Why don’t you go there?”

  “Because we are not energy creatures but organic; we could not exist in those conditions. You would be the only life in that new universe. There would be no one to endanger you.”

  “Perhaps, but before that particle exploded, it killed one of my warriors who came too close to it and burned up.”

  “The new universe is not as hot as that particle was before it exploded. The blast is expanding at light speed and the temperature is going down.”

  “Well, I am not going to send one of my children in
to see,” the First Mother interjected.

  “So it is going to be war between us.”

  “I’ll go,” said the Old Watcher.

  The First Male was startled, “No you will not.”

  “Yes, I will. Don’t you see that this is a chance for us to be safe for billions of years? I have seen millions of my brothers die in this war. I no longer want to exist in this current situation. I will go; I must go.”

  The First Male could feel the Old Watcher’s pain. Then he had a thought, “How are we going to know if you survive?”

  “We can keep a telepathic channel open with him and allow you to listen in,” the voice said.

  “Tell me how to do this. I’m ready to go.”

  “Old Watcher, are you sure this is what you want to do. Like you, I don’t want to lose another of my old friends.”

  “Yes, First Male.”

  “Can you pull him out if the temperature is too high?”

  “No, we can’t; it’s a one way trip.”

  The First Mother said, “We don’t have to go but he should be allowed to follow his chosen path, First Male.”

  “I know, but I don’t want to see him die.”

  The Old Watcher thought, “Tell me what I need to do.”

  “Go to the nexus near your system and wait just outside, we’ll tell you when we’re ready.”

  “I’m already at the nexus.”

  Tommy stood and Cassandra came into his arms. “Are you ready, love?”

  “Yes, I am, Tommy.”

  “Old Watcher, accelerate into the nexus toward the particle in the center; don’t slow down.”

  Old Watcher thought, “First Male, no matter what happens, please try to find a way for our warriors to live with these strangers. I sense that they do not want to harm us.”

  “I’ll try, old friend.”

  “I’m starting my run,” and the Old Watcher disappeared into the nexus.

  Tommy and Cassandra watched as the huge Captor flew at the particle and then disappeared through it. “He has gone into the new universe.”

  “Old Watcher, can you hear me,” the First Male shouted; there was no response.

  After a minute Sprig thought, “I was hoping this would work. This was our best chance.”

  Another minute passed and the First Male thought, “At least he died on his terms.”

  “First Male!”

  “Yes.”

  “This is glorious. I’m young again. All of my systems are at full capacity. The food is the best I’ve ever had. Send one of our wounded warriors here. Do it now.”

  The First Male was stunned. A huge Captor ship that had a giant piece missing from its side flew out to the nexus. Tommy and Cassandra could see that the red color of its screen was weak and barely visible.

  “I’ll go next, First Male. I can’t survive much longer.”

  “Go, warrior. Go with Old Watcher.”

  The injured Captor flew into the nexus and approached the particle at a much slower speed. It hit the particle and disappeared.

  “Fist Male, I am whole again. My injuries have been healed. The energy here is so abundant that my healing machines are operating at fantastic speed.”

  “Is it too hot?”

  “No first male; it’s perfect.”

  “How big is that universe, Old Watcher?”

  “It’s not big but it is expanding at the speed of light. It is truly beautiful and the energy is the purest I’ve ever tasted.”

  The First Male was uncertain of what he should do. “First Mother, I need your guidance.”

  “I think that this new universe has been waiting for us. We have stopped our development millions of years ago because there was not enough of the pure food we needed. We expand our numbers slowly because of that lack and our population growth has stagnated. This sounds like a place where we can begin to evolve again.” There was a moment of silence then everyone heard her say, “All warriors that have been wounded, go to the nexus and fly toward the particle in it. Go immediately. Those warriors that can no longer move, attach yourself to one that can and go to the nexus.”

  Tommy and Cassandra saw thousands of Captors move toward the nexus. Some of them were missing huge portions of their hulls and others were barely flickering with the red energy that characterized a living Captor. They began entering the nexus and started to disappear into the particle. “First Male, the warriors are regenerating. The energy is healing them.

  “Take the ships that are dead and tow them into the particle,” the First Mother ordered.

  Two of the warriors stopped flying around the system and attached themselves to a devastated hull. The two hulls had no red light and had more than seventy percent of their outer hulls missing. The two warriors towed the ships into the particle and after a few moments the old watcher shouted in joy, “They’re alive again. They’re alive again. They’re regenerating themselves.”

  The First Mother thought, “All warriors, go to the construct and take one of our dead warriors into the nexus. Do it now.”

  The stream of ships entering the nexus became a river and then swelled into a flood. Hundreds of thousands of warriors pulling dead Captor ships flew into the nexus. Tommy and Cassandra could hear the shouts of joy from the new universe as the Captors emerged into the high energy environment. They could see the dead ships coming back to life and shared what they were seeing with the Algeans and their crew. Sprig and Twig were overjoyed at the vision and moved and held each other as they wrapped their branches together.

  Suddenly Lt. Ortiz said, “Thousands of Star Realm megaships in the outer system.”

  Sprig hit his com and said, “All Star Realm ships, leave this system immediately.”

  Tag heard the com and said, “What’s going on? Where are Tommy and Cassandra?”

  “They are assisting the Captors to leave our universe. Leave now, the Captors will attack because they have no choice. If you love your son, Thomas Gardner you will take your fleet and leave immediately!”

  Tag was struggling as he saw hundreds of thousands of Captors move toward his fleet. He looked at Kosiev who said, “Do you trust the Algean?”

  Tag punched his com and said, “All ships, teleport to Ross immediately.” The thousands of megaships disappeared.

  The First Male felt his instincts slow and then he thought angrily, “Why did you bring those warships to my home?”

  Tommy answered, “That was my father. He was afraid that you were going to kill me and he came to protect me.”

  The First Mother thought to the First Male, “They are not so different from us. We also protect our young.”

  “First Mother, are you saying we should leave here and go to this new universe?”

  “Yes, I am. All warriors, enter the nexus; the oldest will go first.”

  “First Mother, you should go now. I can’t protect you if all our warriors leave.”

  “I am in no danger from these strangers. They have proven to me that they do not wish to harm us. I no longer feel the need to attack them; they have earned our trust by giving us this gift of a new and better home. You and I will go last, together.”

  The First Male searched his systems and found that she was right. His instincts no longer saw these strangers as a threat. He did not feel the need to attack them. “You have always been the wisest, First Mother. I also no longer feel the need to attack them.”

  Tommy and Cassandra watched as hundreds of thousands of the Captors flew into the nexus and disappeared. The scene was breathtaking as the huge red ships disappeared into the new universe.

  The First Male heard a voice being transmitted electronically, “First Male, may I ask a question.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I am a survivor of a race that you captured and imprisoned more than sixty million years ago.”

  The First Male searched his memory and then replied, “You are one of the silver ships.”

  “Yes, I am. My name is Atlas and the strangers are a rac
e that I developed. Why did you destroy my race?”

  The First Male could feel his instincts begin to rise but he knew that the silver ships were not a threat. They were not strong enough to endanger him. “One of your ships entered our system and killed one of our newborns whose screens had not fully developed.”