by Saxon Andrew
“Ana move a hundred yards to the left and then a hundred yards up.” Grant watched subspace outside the ship’s viewport and nothing seemed to change. “Now move two hundred yards forward. Stop. Turn ninety degrees left and start slowly moving forward.” Grant watched the forward viewport and didn’t see anything. After three minutes he saw something in front of the ship. “Ana, do you see it?”
“I do. Stand by, I’m bringing our bow in on it.”
• • •
Blake picked up his communicator, “Fire on the Invader ships and not our cruisers. Keep your screens clear and move in quickly.” Blake stared at his wall monitor and forty minutes later, two small ships suddenly appeared in normal space. Two Battleships close to the emergences rushed in and fired on the small Invader Scout. It exploded before it could raise its force field. “All right!”
• • •
Grant heard Telee say in his mind, “We’ve killed the first one.”
Grant smiled, “Telah, tell your sisters what they need to do to find them.”
“They’ve all listened and watched what I did. Ana jump the ship thirty miles directly in front of us.” Grant sat back and listened to the Spider sisters as they tracked down the hidden Invader Scouts. Six days later, the last one was destroyed.
Grant shook his head, “Why didn’t some of them escape, Telah?”
“They couldn’t see each other and they couldn’t see us either. Their systems were set up to detect any subspace jump away from here. They didn’t see what was happening in normal space.”
“So you got them all?”
“There are no other thoughts here.”
“Ana, take us into normal space.”
Six battleships rushed up on the Nemesis and then flew past. Grant said, “Admiral, all of the scouts have been removed. If you’re going to send any ships back to Earth, now would be the time. I’ll keep some of my ships in subspace to make sure they don’t send more scouts.”
“I’m sending the specialists back to Earth along with thirty of my fleets.”
Grant’s eyes narrowed, “Why are you doing that?”
Blake shook his head, “Always the suspicious sort aren’t you? Our Specialists think they’ve come up with a possible weapon to use against their warships. We’re going to need to modify our ships to add it.”
Grant nodded and said, “I apologize for my distrust but I’m still not convinced of your good intentions.”
“Fair enough.”
The display went dark and Grant said, “Cinny, am I being stubborn?”
“I think it’s clear the Admiral is pure in heart about this but I don’t know about Earth’s new leaders. They could change their mind in a moment. I share your doubt.”
“We still need to make a trip to the Monastery.”
“I think this new enemy demands our attention right now. None of our scouts were able to follow them back to their home worlds. Their warships can’t be seen in subspace either so we’re operating in the dark. I don’t think their response will take a long time.”
“What do you think we need to be doing?”
“Iggy, Slick, and Mother all feel we need to go back to the radioactive ships at the Raider’s planet and start gathering more ships. We’re going to need as many as we can get.”
“Will we have enough Dragons and Spiders to man them?”
“Mother has insisted the Spiders and Dragons start laying enough eggs to do it. The sisters have also started laying eggs and everyone on the planet is curious about their children.”
Grant thought a minute and sighed, “Leave the scouts here and we’ll go home to greet the new arrivals.”
“I need some time with you, Grant.”
“I’ll see you at home, my love.”
• • •
The Group Watcher sat in front of the ten most powerful leaders in his civilization. He knew he was in great danger but he didn’t care. If his leaders were too dumb to see it, then so be it.
The great Chelag sitting in the center of the group said, “Watcher, you did not follow your orders.”
“No, Great Leader, I did not.”
Chelag was surprised by the statement. “You are aware that failure to follow our orders carries a death sentence.”
“I am.”
Ramputi at the right end of the Leaders said, “It’s like I said; he should be executed immediately.”
Chelag looked at Ramputi and said, “Why did you not carry out your orders?”
Ramputi stood up, “There is no reason for not following our orders.”
Chelag looked at Ramputi, “If you interrupt me again there will be two executions.” Ramputi quickly sat down and lowered his head. Chelag looked at the Watcher and said, “Answer my question.”
“I was not going to allow all of my ships to be destroyed and not gain any advantage.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Red Ships had somehow determined that my ships were more powerful than theirs. They were killing my ships by firing from long distance with numerous vessels. Some kind of giant creature had suddenly appeared on the planet’s surface and was killing all of the ground forces dropped on the largest city. I discovered that those creatures have the means of destroying my ships in orbit with some kind of powerful beam. I also saw that none of the Red Ships were jumping away from the battle.”
“So you were afraid?”
“Not at all. However, more than two hundred thousand of those Red Ships jumped into the system and were moving in on my surviving ships. It became clear that even with the additional ships from the other fleets, we would have been outnumbered more than ten to one.”
“So why did you decide to run?”
“If all my ships had been destroyed, and they probably would have before the other fleets arrived, what would you have learned from the battle?” Chelag stared at the Watcher and after a moment the Watcher said, “I know you are probably thinking we could have used one of the hidden scouts to bring you the information but all of them had their systems set up to only look for subspace jumps. They did not see anything that happened in normal space. The tactics used by the Red Ships would not have been known nor would the existence of those giant creatures be known.”
Chelag lowered his head and said, “How do you know we didn’t have one of the scouts watching what was happening?”
“It wouldn’t have mattered if you did.”
“Oh, why not?”
“Because it appears every scout you had there has been destroyed. None of them are answering our communications.”
Chelag looked at the Leader sitting next to him, “Is this true?”
“Yes it is. We’ve not been able to contact any of them.”
“Are you telling me they can see our scouts?”
“No, Great Leader. We don’t know what happened to them.”
“Has it dawned on you that if they can see our ships in subspace, they are capable of following our ships here!?”
“Nothing has appeared on our scanners.”
Chelag’s scorn was clear. “How did you learn they weren’t answering?”
The Leader hesitated but after a moment said, “The Watcher notified us that they weren’t answering.”
Chelag turned back to the Watcher and said, “I wanted to know if any of them had recorded what had transpired. If I was executed before I was allowed to share my findings, I wanted to make sure someone knew what happened.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because the safety of the Empire is the most important thing to a Watcher.”
Chelag looked at Ramputi, “You ordered this Watcher to be executed upon his arrival did you not?”
Ramputi said, “He violated our orders.”
Chelag said with deliberation, “You have ten minutes to find someone outside of the Watcher’s Fleet to verify the existence of those giant creatures. Failure to do so will lead to your execution.”
“But Great Leader…”
&n
bsp; “You’re wasting valuable time.”
The Leader watched Ramputi start making calls and saw his fear grow with each failure. At the end of ten minutes, Chelag looked at the three warriors standing at the door, “Take him out and execute him.”
Ramputi screamed all the way out of the large chamber. After he was gone Chelag said, “Not following our orders cannot be condoned.” He paused and said, “However, we must find a way to allow our Warriors to do what’s necessary to protect our Empire. I do not approve of executing this Watcher for doing what was done. Do any of you disagree?” The other eight Leaders remained silent. Chelag looked at the Watcher, “What would you do now?”
“I would send more scouts to that system and see if they survive.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Then every warship sent to attack them will not be allowed to come back until the war is won. I wouldn’t risk having them followed.”
Chelag stared at the Watcher and smiled, “Send the scouts and inform me what happens.”
“I’ll notify the Council as soon as we find out.”
“I said for you to notify me personally! You will come to me and tell me what you’ve found.”
The Watcher lowered his head, “Yes, Great Leader.”
• • •
Grant sat under a tree with Cinny in his arms and felt the cool night air blow off the lagoon. The smaller two moons were rising over the water and their reflected light on the water looked like broad yellow highways out to them. Cinny sighed, “This is so beautiful.”
“Yes it is…but not as beautiful as you.”
Cinny smiled, “Thank you.”
“Grant, Cinny.”
“Yes Telah.”
“Toolo has just contacted me and says five more invader scouts have jumped into Hegoth’s system.”
Grant sat up straight and Cinny said, “They’ve not been able to contact their scouts.”
“Telah, has Toolo told Admiral Blake?”
“She has.”
“Cinny, should we remove them?”
“Why wouldn’t we?”
“I don’t know; I guess I don’t want to show them anything.”
“You already have when we killed the first scouts.”
“Let’s think about this. What advantage does it give us to take them out?”
Telah said, “It might make them think we can see them, Grant.”
Cinny jerked, “They’ll also think we can see their warships in subspace.”
Grant’s eyes narrowed, “What difference would that make?”
“Grant, they’ll worry that we can follow them. What would you do if you were in their place?”
Grant shook his head, “I’d do exactly what Admiral Blake did and not allow any ship to jump back to Earth. They will not allow their ships to jump back to their civilization.”
Telah said, “That means they will probably fight to the death in future encounters. Is that a bad thing?”
“I don’t know.”
Cinny sighed, “Well, we can’t follow them so it might be an advantage to make them think we can.”
“I’m not so sure we can’t follow them.”
Cinny and Grant looked at each other, “What?”
“I’ve been noticing that I can hear thoughts from other ships moving through subspace. I think I might be able to follow a ship in subspace if I can hear the thoughts of those inside the ship.”
“How would you do that?”
“I’d just have to be close enough to hear them.”
Grant looked at Cinny, “What do you think will happen if we don’t kill those scouts?”
“I don’t know. They might recall them or they could leave them there.”
Grant nodded, “I think they’ll recall them if they plan to attack another planet and they’ll leave them there if they plan to attack Hegoth again.”
“Cinny, you and Telah need to go to Hegoth. Telah, tell Telee to notify Admiral Blake what’s going on and that we will not be attacking those scouts.”
“She’s telling him now.”
Cinny looked at Grant, “What are you going to do?”
“I’m staying here to greet the new children.”
Cinny nodded and kissed Grant. She broke the kiss, “We never have enough time…”
Grant nodded, “I know. I love you.” Cinny hugged him and ran toward her scooter.
Grant watched her boost toward high orbit as Slick came running up, “Grant, Tricky and Gayla’s eggs have hatched.” Grant smiled and ran after Slick.
He arrived at the tree and saw the baby Spiders coming out of the web that had been weaved for their eggs. Grant could hear the babies communicating with each other using telepathy. They were also a different color from Slick and all of his other children. These small Spiders were almost transparent. Their bodies were clear and the tree could be seen under them. Suddenly, Grant saw one of the tiny Spiders spit a bright white beam at an insect that was on the tree trunk. Grant looked at Slick, “I’ve never seen one that young fire a beam.”
Slick was bobbing up and down, “They’ve never done it this young.”
Grant shook his head, “How many are female?”
“Half of them.”
“Do they have your memories?”
“I don’t know. We need to ask Gayla.”
Telee’s sister was at the bottom of the tree with a leg extended for the babies to climb down to her body. Slick and Grant ran up and Gayla thought to them, “They don’t have any one’s memories but they are looking at the minds of everyone here and learning from them.”
Grant smiled, “It looks like our creators really knew what they were doing.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because now you’ll have genetic diversity and your species will develop and grow much stronger over time.”
Iggy ran up, “I can tell you now that these babies will have stronger beams than their older relatives.”
Grant looked at Slick and then back to Iggy, “How can you know that?”
“The beam fired at that insect burned all the way to the roots of that tree. Look at the top of the tree.” Grant and Slick looked at the top of the tree and saw smoke billowing out. Grant shook his head. That baby’s beam had burned out the center of the tree. He shook his head and wondered what these new born were going to contribute to the Animals’ survival. Iggy smiled, “And you should be aware that half of the eggs I laid are female. It appears both of us are developing along the same lines.”
Grant could hear the baby Spiders in his mind and shook his head. They were asking questions and learning. He wondered if he’d be able to sleep with all the mental noise. Gayla bobbed once, “I’ll make them settle down later this evening. Right now they’re celebrating the new world they’ve found themselves in.”
Grant smiled as he felt their happiness.
• • •
“What have you found out?”
“Great Leader, none of the scouts we sent have been attacked. All of them are answering their contacts.”
“Have they been able to follow any ships?”
“No, it appears the Red Ships in that system are holding formation above the planet.”
“You look troubled.”
The Watcher looked at Chelag and lowered his eyes, “Great Leader, we had five thousand scouts in subspace at that planet and none of them survived whatever happened to them. I have to believe this enemy has a way of removing them.”
“Why haven’t the new ones been removed?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you sure we can see their jumps in subspace?”
“We saw hundreds of them before we invaded, Great Leader.”
“How do you explain what’s going on?”
“I can’t.”
“Is it possible that, if they suspect we have scouts present, they have a mechanism to illuminate them?”
The Watcher shrugged, “That’s as good an explanation as any.”
> “Recall the Scouts.”
“Great Leader, I’m worried that they might be able to follow our ships.”
“Have them arrive in the middle of hundreds of scouts. If they’re followed, we should be able to see the jump.”
“I’ll have them waiting in open space away from the Empire.”
“That would be good. Inform me of what happens.”
• • •
“Cinny.”
“Yes Telah.”
“I’m listening to the scout’s thoughts and it appears they are being recalled.”
“That’s good isn’t it?”
“They’re being recalled to open space where numerous scouts are gathered to see if they’re followed.”
“Do you think they can see us in subspace with the Dragons covering our hull?”
“I doubt it but nothing is certain.”
“Can you follow them and keep a distance between us?”
Telah remained silent for a long moment and said, “I think I can keep us close and once I start hearing the thoughts of the other scouts I’ll slow and come to a stop.”
“Telah, can you fly the Dream?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Giving instructions to Ana could cause problems. Can you?”
“I’ve been watching you fly the ship since the first day I came on board. I think I can do it.”
“The controls are light and don’t need large movements. Take the controls and move the Dream around them until they start jumping away.”
Telah grew to seven feet tall and placed her two front legs on the two paddle controls. The Dream suddenly accelerated ahead and Telah thought, “Whoa. She pulled back on the right paddle and the cruiser slowed then came to a stop. She eased the paddle forward and the ship moved ahead. She tilted the left paddle right and the ship veered to the right.
Cinny smiled, “That’s good. Now ease back on the right paddle.” The Dream came to a stop and began reversing course. Telah brought it to a stop and moved the scout at high speed to the left. “They’re about to jump and I don’t want to be too far from them.” Telah slowed the Dream and then accelerated. Cinny watched subspace outside the front viewport and didn’t see anything. A few moments later, Telah slowed the ship and brought it to a stop. “I can hear the thoughts of the other scouts.”