The Green Ships were searching every foot of the empty universe to find another door. The Senior Supreme Male was watching his board for any reports of success when his Sensor Male shouted, “Universal Drive in the central region.”
“Go there now!”
“Message coming in.”
“What!”
The Sensor male sent it to the Supreme Male’s board, “Who has been in command while I’ve been gone?”
The Supreme Males were stunned; it was the Nest Mother. The Senior Supreme Male keyed his board. He could tell she was angry, “I have, Nest Mother.”
“Well no thanks to you but I have been rescued by the ship that was left in the other Universe. It was hiding from those creatures that abducted me and managed to save me. We are going to have to destroy those creatures. This Ship’s Male has found another way into their universe and we must act quickly and decisively. I want every Supreme Male and every Ship’s Male in their families to come to this ship immediately. Order all your ships to remain where they are, board transports, and come here now.”
The Supreme Males felt their compulsions kick in and wanted to consume their families but knew that they were not ordered to do so by the Nest Mother. They issued the orders and began boarding transports to come.
The Nest Mother looked at Destiny, “They are coming.”
“Nest Mother, should we download compulsions into the ones left in command?”
“You won’t be away that long, don’t waste my time.” She snarled, “I told you to come immediately!”
“Yes, Nest Mother.”
“Order your Ship’s Males to the surface of their vessels immediately for pick up by the transports. I will not tolerate a delay in your arrival.”
Some of the Ship’s Males were considering downloading the compulsions anyway but they felt their fear rise and scrambled from their command chairs and rushed to get to the surface of their ships.
The Nest Mother looked at Stem, “They won’t have time to do any downloading. It takes time to get to the surface of their ships.”
“Will there be room for all of them in this ship?”
“Each family can get two million in a transport. It will take about four transports for each family so we’ll need to board about fifty thousand transports. We can easily hold that many since you’ve removed the ships from this vessel.”
Stem looked at the Nest Mother and asked, “Will they be able to rebuild their universal drive?”
The Nest Mother looked at Destiny who thought a moment and looked at the Nest Mother, “I don’t believe they will. Our ship builders only build ships. I’m sure the information is available to them in their storage of data but the compulsions prevent them from being able to focus on it and correlate all the information they would need. I’m sure they’ll try, but I don’t believe they will overcome the compulsions to build what they need. We are also disabling the system that’s used to down load compulsions; later generations will be quite different. They will be able to find planets that will provide them with the food they need to live. Fortunately, the first planet has enough native life for them to survive for many years.”
Destiny looked at his board, “Some of the transports are moving our way.”
The Nest Mother pushed her communication key, “Bring your ships on board; I will talk with each family separately once every ship has arrived.”
The transports began entering the ship and after five hours all of them were in births. Destiny checked his board and announced, “That’s the last one.”
Edison hit the universal drive key and the huge ship disappeared and reappeared just above a planet in another universe. The Nest Mother’s board immediately lit up with questions from the Supreme Males. Stem looked at the Nest Mother, “The devices are armed, move to the teleport circle. The four moved and stood on a large silver circle on the floor of the command chamber and Stem keyed his com, “Ready to port.” A silver screen appeared above them and moved down on them just as the first Supreme Males entered the room.
“What’s going on?” a Supreme Male yelled just as the universal drive console and download panel shorted out and blew apart.
The Stars End hung in orbit a hundred miles from the huge green ship. Sen-Gen looked at the Nest Mother, “Is there anything you want to say to them before we leave?”
The nest Mother looked out at the green ship hanging above the planet and sighed, “No, they won’t understand because of the compulsions and hearing it will only make the compulsions hit them harder. Let’s leave them to find their own way.”
Sen-Gen saw her sadness and nodded to Captain Mendel. Mendel hit the jump drive and the Stars End disappeared.
The Stars End appeared above Ross and the four teleported to the map room. Destiny looked around and saw Matt and Melanie along with Sprig and Twig looking at the map of galaxies. Sprig turned, “Welcome back. I trust your plan was a success.”
“Yes it was. Why did you want us here?”
“We are going to bring your families to our universe and we need to find planets for them to live on. The planets need to provide the necessary food for them to survive and we want to have them located close to each other.”
The Nest Mother turned her head to the left, “What are you doing?”
Matt looked at her, “Your families are going to have to stay in this universe until we find a way to defend ourselves against the new species being developed to replace you. They will not be able to leave to harvest other universes and I suspect they will no longer desire to do any harvesting. They will also need time to evolve into what they choose to be. A planet is the perfect place for them to accomplish those things. They will still have their ships if they want to go out and explore but they need a place to call home.”
“Do you have enough planets for us?”
“Come over here and take a look, Nest Mother.” Matt stepped aside and let her come and look at the walls of the map room. “I have marked every system with a planet that possesses the proper atmosphere, no intelligent life, ample food, and good climate with a green light.”
Sprig brought galaxy after galaxy into sharp focus and the Nest Mother saw millions of green lights glowing in them. She stood amazed at what she was seeing. “You’re going to just give us those to live on.”
“Yes we are; it is our belief that if your children develop like the ones we have here now that your species will contribute more to our life than you would ever imagine. It is in our best interests to have you in our community.”
The Nest Mother looked at the wall, “Will you help me find the best place for us?”
“I think I already have,” Sprig thought. A galaxy grew larger and the five spiders in the room saw a huge concentration of green lights out on one of the spiral galaxy’s arms. “There are more than eight million available planets on that arm all within two hundred light years of each other. Your family will all be close to each other and can support each other as your children grow up. I would highly recommend that one of those planets become a university for your brightest children. We will provide instructors and the necessary technology to help them learn all that we know. I would also suggest to our King that a ship building industry be set up on another planet. We will provide you with all of the teleport technology necessary for your many worlds to stay in contact.”
Matt smiled, “We will certainly provide you everything you need.”
Destiny looked at the galaxy and felt his heart sing. “With the teleportation system we will only be a moment from each other. It is a perfect choice Sprig.”
The Nest Mother looked at Destiny and said, “Until I learn enough, I am placing you in command of our families, Destiny. Please make the best possible decisions for my children.”
“I will, Mother. We have good friends that I trust with my life to help us.”
Matt smiled at the spiders and then nodded at Melanie, “We have delivered a thousand Defender Class ships to the planet where your children are waiting for your return; they are yours to use as you want. If this galaxy pleases you, you may start moving your family there whenever you are ready.”
The Nest Mother was over whelmed by the compassion of the beings that she had sent ships to destroy. She decided that these new friends were going to be protected like they were her own children. “We thank you for your generosity and I look forward to building a close relationship with you. I can already feel the changes taking place in me and I know my children are feeling like me.”
Sprig looked around the room, “We need to begin our plans to bring your families to our universe and acclimate them to their new life.”
Einstein stood, “I have already designed a small red generator to attach to their universal drives to jump their ships here.” He handed a device that fit in his leg to Sprig.
“This generator makes enough power to vaporize a planet?”
Einstein turned his head upside down and said, “And then some.”
Matt shook his head and said, “Life as we know it is about to change dramatically.”
The five spiders just looked at each other thinking about all that they wanted to see happen.
Four weeks had passed and the millions of ships left behind by the Supreme Males waited for instructions. No one dared leave and violate the order to remain but changes were taking place among the inhabitants. The Sensor Males left behind began contacting each other questioning what was happening.
“Why have they not contacted us?”
“I don’t know but the warriors are undergoing some kind of change. They are questioning why we kill so many races and quite frankly, I don’t have an answer.”
“Nor do I; it just seems wrong what we have been doing. I’m not certain the warriors will follow the Supreme Male’s orders even if he did come back.”
“It is problematic.”
“Attention all my children.”
Every ship grew silent. The billions were uncertain about what to do if ordered to harvest.
“I have removed the Supreme Males from the families in order to remove compulsions that have been placed in our species to kill other intelligent life. I have discovered that we were actually designed by advanced beings to be a tool to remove any possible competition for them. We had compulsions placed in us that forced us to go out and destroy life. I’m sure by now that some of you have started to question why we have done it and some of you may even be considering refusal to do it again.”
On all the ships the warriors looked at each other and wondered how she could possibly know they were not going to follow her orders.
“I have had the compulsions removed from me and I am not going to ever kill another intelligent being and I will not allow you to do so either. Our killing days are over. The only ones I would ever consider killing are the ones that forced us to perform the horrors that we have committed. We are going to stop our warlike ways immediately.”
The inhabitants of the green ships began feeling something alien to them: happiness. Then the Nest Mother continued, “I have learned that the beings that created us are going to destroy us with a new species they have developed. I have made new friends with the inhabitants of another universe and they are going to block that universe from attack. We must move there immediately to be safe. They have given us planets to live on and we will be going there momentarily. In the interim, I am appointing the Sensor Male on each ship as the new ship’s commander and I will be sending an engineer from our new friends to modify our universal drives. Once the drive is modified, jump your ships to the new universe. You will arrive at a location where there will be ships waiting to direct you to your new homes. The engineers will begin to arrive momentarily. Please take them from the ships outer surface to the command chamber. I will contact you again once we are all safe in the new universe.”
Six weeks passed and only half of the families had been moved. Destiny looked at Stem, “We’re running out of time. We only have five days remaining before the Reg’s barrier is put in place.”
“There’s just so many, Destiny and we can’t manufacture Newton’s device fast enough. We have to jump them to our universe, go to the surface, teleport to another ship to jump back here and start the process again. My engineers are starting to get tired from the continuous work.”
“Will the Reg delay?”
“They say the barrier must go up on that day. I suspect that whatever the beings have cooked up to replace you will arrive at that time.”
Destiny looked out at the millions of ships remaining and said, “Please hurry and save as many as possible.”
“We’re doing our best, Destiny.”
The last day arrived and there were still more than a third of the families waiting to be moved. Destiny looked at Stem and said, “We must have them jump away and try to flee what’s coming.”
Stem’s leaves were brown and he showed his sadness at so many that would not join their families in safety. “We just don’t have enough time. You’re right; they shouldn’t be here when the time is up.”
Destiny keyed his communications board when suddenly Eyes said, “Universal Drive breaking normal space ten miles out.”
“That is a very close emergence,” Stem said.
“Father, gather the remaining families as close together as possible. We are going to try and move them all at once.”
Destiny looked at Stem, “Einstein, that’s not possible. They will cover an area more than half a light year.”
“We have to try; we have a device that will expand the jump field to cover the ships and then we’ll initiate the jump.”
“What happens if it doesn’t work?”
“We may lose our lives. However, we have to try it. Call them together now!”
Destiny struggled with the possible loss of his two children but knew if he didn’t allow them to try they would blame themselves for what followed. So would he. He looked at Eyes and said, “Issue the instructions. Tell them to get hull to hull and move quickly.”
The green ships began coming toward the ship that had just arrived. Eyes took Destiny’s ship away since it had a drive that would allow them to jump. Stem watched the mass growing by the second and marveled at the numbers. “That’s a lot of ships, Destiny.”
“We’re leaving millions of them behind from families that were consumed. This ship is not quite as familiar as the one I gave to remove the Supreme Males but I’m getting used to it.’
The mass continued to grow. “Newton, we’re running out of time. If we’re doing this, it must be done now.”
“Einstein is adjusting the field now. We’re going to have to extend it further than we planned to include those not in the mass yet.”
“Don’t take unnecessary risks. Don’t lose the mass to save a few more ships.”
“They are all important, Father.”
Stem and Destiny watched the huge mass of green ships as a violet field began moving out from the center of them and extended in a globe big enough to cover them all. “I hope my children survive this.”
Suddenly the huge mass disappeared. “Take us home, Eyes.”
Destiny’s ship disappeared.
An hour later a giant fleet of white ships appeared and rushed toward the green mass and found only empty ships floating in space.
Matt and Melanie were in the map room watching the map of the dark galaxy. “It shouldn’t be long now. The time is up that the Reg told me they were going to move us.”
“How do you feel, Love?”
“Fine, the baby is not ready to come at this moment but it will be soon.”
“I love you, Melanie.”
Melanie waited with Matt and watched; she turned to ask Matt if he was sure of the time when suddenly the dark galaxy disappeared from the map. She smiled, “I imagine there will be some disturbed beings today.”
Matt smiled, “I imagine.”
The red being was viewing his new creation enter the universe of the old tool and he jumped up from his display shocked at what he saw. They were gone. “What have you done?”
“What do you mean; I just sent my new tool on its initial run to destroy the old one and they are not there. They have disappeared. Only derelict ships remain.”
“They are not the only thing missing.”
“What!”
“A universe has also disappeared and we cannot find it.”
“That’s not possible. We’re connected to every universe in existence through the interdimensional plane.”
“It is no longer connected and we cannot find it.”
“Could it have been destroyed?”
The being said nothing.
“No, of course it couldn’t have been destroyed. What do you think has happened?”
“An agency has moved it and represents a clear and present danger to us. I also believe this agency must have done something with your old tool. We must find it and destroy it.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“All of us will begin searching immediately but first the Elders want answers concerning your old tool.”
The second being felt fear, “What questions do they have?”
“When was the last time you checked on your old tool?”
“Not that long ago; about six million years.”
“Why did you have them collect information from all the universes they harvested?”
“You know why. So they could develop whatever they needed to be effective against those they attacked.”
“Did you ever consider that they with all the information they collected that they could develop the means of breaking the compulsions and hiding from us.”
The second red being was now scared, “You don’t think that they did this? The compulsions prevented them using highly advanced technology. They could not have done this.”
“If that is true, where are they?”
“Give me a small amount to time to find them.”
The first red being was silent for a moment and then said, “We will immediately begin our search for the missing universe; you have twelve intervals to find your missing tool.”
The second red being turned to his board and started issuing instructions.
The White Clan Leader hit his communication panel and said, “Every ship in our fleet has just received a list of universes to scan. You will go to each of those and scan for the green creatures. That is all you will do; there will be no time for killing. If you stop to kill the Maker will deal with you directly and all of you know what that means. If you find them you will notify me at once. You have ten intervals to scan the three thousand universes assigned to you. Be back here in eleven intervals. Now go!”
The sixty million ships disappeared and the Clan Leader turned and hit his jump button. He was going to have to hurry to get to all three thousand assigned to him.
The two probes left behind in the former universe of spiders recorded billions of ships break into normal space. They scattered and began searching for the spiders. After an hour, they recorded the instructions being given by the White Clan Leader and waited until all of the white ships had disappeared. The first probe jumped back to the Realm to report its findings to Fleet Command while the first waited for the white ships to return. The probe arrived just outside the blue barrier and waited for the psychic trigger to release its information. After five days, an Alpha Commander moved close to the barrier and detected the probes presence and triggered the relay.
The leadership council was gathered in the Map room at Castle Gardner. They all rose as Matt and Melanie entered and bowed to the rulers of the Realm. Everyone noticed that Melanie was very pregnant. Matt said, “Please be seated. Destiny, why have you requested this meeting?”
“You Majesties, we have uncovered some new information and we feel it should be shared with those who direct our efforts against the beings in the dark galaxy.”
Matt looked at the spider and saw his tension, “What have you found?”
“My children were able to develop the field that we used to move the rest of the families after our Mother allowed them to download all of the data that had been collected from the many harvestings. They are still working to correlate all that they learned, but one of the things they were able to see is the beings that gave my species intelligence. It was in the original nest Mother’s memory.”
Matt looked at Melanie and then said, “Please show us on the display monitor.”
A picture of the red colored being suddenly appeared on the display and everyone in the room gasped, “I know this being,” Terlen said in a soft voice. “It is one of the demons from my race’s ancient history.”
Matt looked at the picture and said, “We also know this being. It is the embodiment of evil and has been in our history since before we were civilized. It’s missing the horns, lower body of a goat, and a pointed tail, but it is remarkably similar. This was also one of our demons.”
Teng-Gee looked at the display and everyone in the room could see his cold anger, “This being is also in my race’s past. It is evil indescribable.”
Matt looked at the being with a face similar to a human only more triangular and a mouth with small pointed teeth. The nose and chin were pointed and its eyes were red. His history had given this being numerous names, Satan, Lucifer, Devil, and many more.
Sprig thought, “We don’t know this creature, however, it appears that many races have a racial memory of this being. I feel fear, dread, and revulsion when I look at it.”
Matt looked back at the gathering, “It appears that evil does have a face. These beings are obviously ancient and represent everything that life abhors. We’ll call these beings Red Demons.”
“There’s more, Your Majesty.”
“What else, Destiny?”
“We don’t have a complete picture, but one of the memories has one of their vessels in it.”
The display changed and right behind one of the red beings was the front end of a vessel. It was glowing orange and appeared to be pure energy.”
“Do you know what that ship is made of, Destiny?”
“No, we are unable to identify it.”
“Thank you, Destiny. Now we know what we’re facing. At least we can put a face on the enemy.” Suddenly Matt heard a thought, “Brother, we wish to communicate.”
Matt stood up and said, “This meeting is adjourned. Please go and try to determine what that energy is and notify me if you find anything. I have just received a communication from the Reg and I must go speak with them.”
The attendee’s stood and bowed and Matt looked to see Melanie staring at him, “Have they ever contacted you before?”
“No; this is the first time so it must be important. I’ll let you know what’s happening but I must leave immediately.”
“Be careful, Magic.”
“I will. Al, I need you to come and get me.”
“I also heard their thought, Magic. I’m over Ross now and I’m teleporting you.” Matt disappeared from the map room and reappeared on Al’s bridge; the ship immediately teleported directly above the planet of the Reg. “I notice you went straight to the planet, Al.”
“They requested your presence. I didn’t want to keep them waiting.”
The three Reg appeared on the bridge, “Thank you for coming, Brother.”
“What do you need, Brothers?”
The First turned to Matt, “We see that you have seen the red beings. You have a racial memory of them and you know what they represent. We now feel compelled to take part in the coming conflict.”
“How can you do that without damaging yourself?”
“We will not lead the fight; you will have to provide the warriors needed to meet them but we will build ships to use against them. They are also in our memory and we are not bound by compulsions that prevent us from assisting you against them. They are also a danger to us and we are allowed to defend ourselves. We cannot directly fight them unless they come to our world but we can provide ships to prevent their arrival. We will suffer no harm in the process.”
“What warriors will use the ships you build?”
“The ships will select the warriors.”
“Will you tell us who they are?”
“No, the ships will select.”
Matt thought furiously, “How will they know?”
“Just like the ship you returned to us, they will know. We didn’t know you were selected for the ship; the ship knew and waited for you. It structured itself for you and your power generator.”
“Will these ships require two to fly them?”
“We don’t know; the ships will decide. We will take the crystal to the outer system and it will decide what shape it will take. We do not control it; it is a force unto itself.”
“Thank you, Brothers; I will do all I can to find the warriors to use these gifts.”
“You have five years. We will eventually be found by the evil ones. Do not waste the time remaining. Your gift is waiting for you at your home world.” The Reg disappeared and Matt and Al found themselves above Ross next to the crystal ship.
“Looks like I have to move.”
“Not immediately, Al. Melanie must have our child before she comes on board.”
“Fly Girl is also expecting a child, Matt.”
“Al, that’s wonderful. Why haven’t you told me?”
“We just found out. I, too, would like to wait until our child arrives.”
“I’m certain we will be busy for a while trying to find the chosen warriors to fly these ships. I wish I knew how to go about finding them.”
“Are you going to have time to do that and rule the Realm?”
“Oh my ancestors; you’re right.” Matt thought for more than an hour and then said, “Before I do anything I have to see if what I suspect is right. Please go back to the outer system of the Reg with Fly Girl and notify me as soon as the ships begin appearing.”
“We’ll leave immediately.”
Matt appeared back in the Map Room and he sat down and thought about how to find the chosen warriors.
Two hours later he heard, “Magic.”
“Yes, Melanie.”
“It’s time. You’ll have to tell me later about your visit to the Reg. Our baby is coming to see us.”
Matt jumped out of his chair and ran out of the map room.