Newly promoted Col. Brez sat in the landing bay on the Searcher class ship War’s End. The bay was only twenty yards long by 15 yards wide but it was enough room for twelve warriors to fit with all their armor. Six of the warriors were going to teleport out shortly to the Quilleron Sword after the planning session was complete. Brez looked at his men and said, “We have been given some prototypes to trial against the Eight Legs. The two ships we’re on will fly through the Hugon system if the invaders send ships to investigate this system. We will not be using our invisibility screen and should be easily seen by the invaders. We think that they won’t pass up the chance for a free meal and will also want to take a look at any ship in this system. Once they land on our hulls, four of us will teleport out to the surface of the ship surrounding the green ship. We believe that they will not penetrate the iron tree coating on the surface but we will not take any chances. The two remaining on board will move under the place where they land and be prepared to repel boarders if they breach the hull. The four on the outside will engage the boarders with the weapons we have been provided. We expect there to be eight Eight Legs on each ship so be prepared to handle at least two. We believe that they cannot penetrate our armor with its new coating; however, I don’t want any of you allowing them close enough to see if I’m right. Use your marble guns first. We need to determine if the balls of stone tree will penetrate the green armor they wear; any questions?”
“What happens if they breach the ship and take control?”
Brez hesitated and then said, “Teleport out and the ship will be destroyed.”
Juck raised one of his four arms, “Why have we been given these swords.”
“They are made from the heart of a stone tree’s trunk which is the hardest part of the tree and sharpened to match the finest blades in the Realm. We didn’t just want to leave you with only one weapon if it failed.”
Juck smiled, “I just like that they are the same size as my short swords.”
Brez shook his head, “Guns first, Juck; swords only if we are forced to it.”
Juck smiled, “Yes, Team Leader. I’ll just hold them in my extra hands.”
The Vrig Searcher stuck his head in the landing bay, “Just received word that the invaders are leaving the planet. If ships are coming they will probably be arriving at our jump limit within eight hours.”
Brez looked at the Vgrig Searcher and said, “Aye, Aye, Sir. We’ll be ready in four hours.”
The Vgrig smiled and returned Brez’s salute then left the landing bay. “You heard the Searcher, get your gear ready and those of you going to the other ship test your teleport systems to make sure you land on whatever section of the hull the invaders hit.”
Juck said, “Attention!” The eleven Red Warriors came to attention and saluted.
Brez stood, returned their salutes, and said, “Dismissed, go to your stations.”
Matt and Melanie were watching the feed being sent from the probe and Melanie said, “Two ships have accelerated past the mother ship and are moving toward the jump limit. All the others are reentering the mother ship. I think those will be coming here.”
“Boy, you’re good. Have you checked your armor?”
“I’m wearing it now. It’s not as shiny as before but I can live without the shine and polish.”
“I’ve seen that.”
“Oh, now you’re being cute. I have the hat on under my helmet.’
“I knew you would. Has Fly Girl gotten a feel for the guns on her hull?”
“Yeah, she was able to hit a barrel she teleported out from a distance of six miles. From the range we’re looking at in this action she could probably write her name on the Eight Legs with that gun.”
“I’ll take War’s End; you take the other. Remember, we can’t intervene too quickly; the Red Warriors must be given a chance to trial their weapons.”
“I know; I do fear we will lose some of them. Let’s hope I’m wrong.”
“Melanie, let’s take our positions and get ready.”
“On my way.”
The two small Eight Leg attack ships came out of jump and looked inward toward the inner planets. The first pilot thought, “Let’s get this over with; we’re supposed to see if there is any indication as to what happened to the fourth planet in this system. I think our data says it’s missing. There should be some kind of evidence if the planet was destroyed.”
“I don’t see any intelligent life, do you?”
“No, we just need to hurry and get this over with so we can go have a meal on the next planet we attack. We should get to the orbit in ten hours so get comfortable and let’s go see what happened.”
“Alright Searchers, lift from the moon when the two green ships are six hours inside the jump limit. Make it look like you don’t see them and move toward the moon on the other side of the planet. I’ll keep you informed as to what they are doing.”
“We don’t have them on any sensors, Your Grace.”
“That’s why we are following them in system. We’ll keep you informed.”
“Do you see what I see, First Pilot?”
“Yes, I do; those two small ships just lifted off that moon and are moving toward a moon on the other side of the sixth planet.”
“I see seven intelligent life forms on each ship. Do we have permission to harvest in this system?”
“We weren’t told we couldn’t; however, if we take too long in our mission someone will be sent to check on us.”
“What do you think we should do?”
The First Pilot could feel his appetite for those two ships. “Perhaps the ones on those ships will know what happened to the missing planet. I think it is justified to harvest those ships.”
“Should we notify the Sensor Male of our plan?”
“By the time one of us goes to the jump limit, leaves to tell him, and then comes back; those ships might be gone. We will consume them quickly and then go look for the planet.”
“I agree, I’ll take the ship on the planet side.”
“That is agreeable, go to full speed and notify your children.”
“They are ready to attack, First Pilot.”
“As are mine. Come at them from behind their engines.”
“I will follow your lead.”
Matt watched the two small green ships pick up speed and thought, “They’re coming fast and will be on you in twenty minutes.”
“Matt, those ships are faster than I thought,” Al commented.
“They should be, Al. They have more than two hundred million years of taking all the technology from the civilizations they consume; they should have the best systems.”
“They don’t have power cell technology or the ability to teleport.”
“That’s why we cannot allow these two ships to escape if things go bad here.”
“Let’s hope these guns are all they’re cracked up to be, Matt.”
“I hope we don’t have to use them.”
“Me, too.”
“Your Grace, we have them on visual; we will initiate our plan in three minutes.”
“Carry on.”
“Al, give me a close up on my display when the Eight Legs land on the ships.” Matt immediately saw the ship headed toward the Searcher on his display and he focused on the bottom of the green ship closely to see how they penetrated ships so quickly.
“Prepare for contact,” the First Pilot announced and landed his ship on the small silver ship and then activated the ram. On the bottom of the green ship a large section separated and slammed down on the small ship under it. The eight Eight Leg Warriors were waiting in the tube for contact and as soon as it moved down they ran into the tube and found themselves standing on the surface of the silver ship as their ship bounced away from the surface. Then they saw two beings standing on each side of them raising their arms.
The First Pilot rocked in his chair as his ship bounced at high speed more than six miles from the surface of the ship he had just landed on. He saw his eight children standing on the silver ship’s surface with four beings firing some kind of hand weapon at them. “What’s happening here? How did they repel my ship?” Then he hit the engines and started back toward the small silver ship.
Brez and his three man team teleported to the surface of the ship just before the green ship made contact. The Green ship hit the surface of the Searcher vessel, slammed its bottom section against the surface of the silver ship, and bounced away so fast it was hard to see as it disappeared. Brez, his team, and the Eight Legs were all standing there watching the ship disappear overhead. Then they all looked down and saw each other. Brez raised his gun and shouted “Fire,” over his suit com. The four Red warriors started firing at the Eight Legs as they turned and came at them in pairs. Brez saw that the Eight Leg he had trained his weapon on was shuttering as the marble sized projectiles started hitting it but it was still coming fast. He couldn’t quit shooting at it to fire at the second coming at him until the first one was stopped. He trained the gun on the head of the Eight Leg and it finally fell. The second one was close and he knew that the gun wouldn’t stop it in time. He grabbed the sword strapped to his back and drew it then struck at the Eight Leg just as it arrived four feet from him. Brez didn’t know if the coating of his armor would protect him and these creatures were blazingly quick. He only had time to raise the sword and bring it down with the full power of his armor on the onrushing green creature that had bared its fangs. The sword hit the Eight Leg in the middle of its head and split the creature the full length of the sword. It fell immediately. “Use your swords,” he shouted over his com, “the guns won’t stop them.”
Juck had the same thing happen to him but he had an advantage that Brez didn’t have; four arms. He had taken three swords out as soon as he teleported to the ship’s hull and was holding them as the two green creatures rushed at him. He continued to fire his gun at the first one rushing at him but used his other three arms to swing the swords in an intricate pattern in front of him. The two Eight legs that had attacked him ran into a threshing machine and were cut apart so quickly that pieces flew off into space.
The other two Red Warriors were not so lucky. One of them waited too late to draw his sword and the Eight Leg hit him and sank its fangs into his shoulder. The fangs penetrated through the iron tree coating and even went through the hardened armor underneath. The Eight Leg died but the Red Warrior felt the poison enter his arm and he fell with the dying attacker. The other Red Warrior had the misfortune of drawing his sword and losing it as the Eight Leg hit him at full speed. Both of them flew off the ships surface and the Eight Leg sunk his fangs into the chest of the Red Warrior. The remaining two Eight Legs stood away from Brez and Juck not daring to approach the swords. Brez and Juck moved forward and herded the two creatures toward the front of the ship.
“Al, I think the warriors have had enough of a trial. Can you eliminate the two left?”
Brez and Juck were getting closer to the two Eight Legs but suddenly the two were blown apart by projectiles that slammed in to them. The dead creatures slipped off the surface of the ship and floated away.
Brez commed Juck, “Go check on Zip.” Juck turned and ran to the warrior that was down with the Eight Leg still holding on with its fangs. Brez teleported to the other ship’s hull and moved forward with his sword.
On the surface of the second ship, which landed five seconds after the first, the four Red Warriors heard Brez’s warning and drew their swords while continuing to fire on the Eight Legs as they advanced. The two man teams had one kneel and continue firing while the other stood just behind him and used their sword to hit any that came close. One of the Red Warriors that was kneeling was hit by a rushing eight Leg and was bitten through his armor just as his teammate hit it and killed it. Brez rushed one of the creatures as it was about to bite a warrior and hit it with his sword as hard as he could swing it and watched as it was cut into two pieces.
Both of the pilots of the green ships saw their children being killed as they returned. The shock of that stunned them but they gathered their senses and the First Pilot shouted, “Escape, we must inform the family. The two green ships stopped just before touching the surface of the two silver ships and turned to escape. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the front of the green ship was struck by a series of ten foot long sharpened white projectiles. The first five projectiles bounced off but left cracks in the surface. The next projectile broke through the surface and shattered into thousands of needles inside the craft. The First Pilot’s last thought just before the shards hit him and cut him into small pieces was, “I guess this is the advanced life form we’re suppose to find.”
Al saw the green ship come to a stop and then looked for Fly Girl. The second green ship was hanging motionless and Fly Girl was stopped five hundred yards from it.
“Your Grace, I am teleporting my three injured warriors to Ross,” Brez commed.
“Send them immediately. I’ll meet with you after they are gone.”
“Yes, Your Grace. One of the creatures flew off the ship and is hanging in space. It is continuing to bite the Red Warrior it has attached itself to and I’m afraid that he is beyond hope. It has probably consumed all of his memories; I am going to teleport out and kill it.”
“Before you do, Colonel, does your gun have the capability to change velocities?”
“Yes, it does; we just didn’t have time to experiment before they were on us.”
“I was able to see that your projectiles flew through the creatures. Slow your velocity down to its lowest setting and then raise it until it penetrates the creature’s armor. Don’t get too close; I don’t know if they have maneuvering capability.”
Brez teleported out to five hundred feet from the Eight Leg that had killed his warrior and raised his gun.
The Eight Leg let go of the dead warrior and turned to face the being that had just appeared. It had just consumed the warrior’s brain so it knew everything about this dangerous civilization. It knew that these creatures were a real danger to the family but there was no way for it to escape and give warning. It had lived more than a million years and it saw its end just in front of it. It bared its fangs and tried to move toward the being confronting it.
Brez fired his gun on its lowest setting and saw the projectile bounce off the creatures green surface. The next four settings bounced off but the fifth penetrated and Brez saw the creature bounce in five different directions before the projectile exited its body and flew off into space. The creature hung motionless and its fangs no longer moved. “Did you record that?”
“Yes we did, Team Leader.”
“We don’t have long; Al, call in the defender class vessels and have one take these two ships and the dead Eight Legs to the Algeans to study. I want the others to sweep this system and collect any of the weapons we used. They won’t be far from this location and I need it done quickly. These two ships will be missed and I think that if they are not heard from within ten hours, the mother ship will come here. All ships sweeping the system will keep their red screens active and work until they can no longer safely do so. I am going to move Hugon out of this system and remove the red screen here. We are not ready to take them on yet and I know they will examine this system down to the microscopic level. There’s no way for the planet to go unnoticed. Stem, do you agree?”
“Yes, I do; the planet will be moved to the first galaxy the invaders visited in twenty minutes. The population is being informed of the move as we speak. Should we move one of the barren planets here that’s about the same size and blow it up? That would explain why they did not see any life in this system”
“I don’t think so; they would see that the remains of the planet would still be hot from the beam.”
“True, but they won’t know if the heat was generated recently or if the planet is just now cooling to that temperature.”
Matt cocked his head and thought, “Melanie, what do you think about that idea?”
“I would do it. Even if they discover that the blast was recent, how are they going to explain it? Either way, it may keep them here longer and allow other civilizations to live.”
“You’re right; Stem, bring in a barren planet and we’ll hit it with our beam.”
“It will arrive in an hour.”
“I have another suggestion,” Melanie thought. “All of our ships still have their power cells. Why not just line the defenders up and over lap their screens and move through the area of the attack. Anything that hits their screeds would be burned out of existence.”
Matt looked at her on his display and shook his head, “Melanie, please issue the orders.
Fifty defender class vessels arrived and began running through the system burning the marble projectiles and the shattered stone tree missiles. The thousands of marbles were going to be a problem; more than five thousand had been fired that had gone straight through the Eight Legs and were scattered in all directions and there wasn’t much time left to clean up. Hopefully they would all be destroyed.
The Sensor Male watched his display as the new planet grew as they came closer. The Ship’s Male looked at him, “It’s time to launch our transports.”
The Sensor Male didn’t respond. The Ship’s Male looked at him and said, “Did you hear the order?”
The Sensor Male looked at his board and said, “First Fang, the two vessels have been gone thirty dihls. They should have reported by now.”
The Ship’s Male looked at his display and saw the planet they were approaching. The ships sent out to defend it had already been killed and there was nothing between them and the planet. He thought for a moment and then ordered, “Recall all ships. Start moving out immediately.”
The Eight Legs that had left the small attack craft that had already landed turned and moved quickly back to their ships and lifted from the planet. The planet’s inhabitants that were being eaten alive wondered what had happened to save them from this nightmare. They watched as the giant planet sized ship turned and moved away.
The red screened probe relayed the feed to Fleet Command and the Searcher commed Aladdin. “They’re on their way,” Al said.
Matt punched his com, “Alright, wrap it up. All defender class vessels will depart in three hours and the Searcher Class ships will leave as soon as the mother ship arrives at the jump limit. There will be millions of their ships flying high speed through this system and I’ll not risk a possible collision.”
The Ship’s Male pressed his communicator, “Yes.”
“Supreme Male, I sent two attack craft to investigate a system and they are overdue. I am moving to that system to investigate; it may be nothing but I feel I should keep you informed.”
“Do not go into that system with the main ship. Contact me as soon as you arrive and be sure to inform me as to what you find.”
“It will be done as you order.”
The Ship’s Male looked at the Sensor Male, “Inform me immediately if the two arrive before we can leave this system.”
“I have already planned to do so and I am keeping my sensors focused on the jump point.”
The Ship’s Male was worried. This didn’t feel right and he watched his display all the way to the jump point.
Matt and Melanie sat on board Aladdin as Matt watched in his mind as the huge mother ship arrive at the Hugon system. It stayed at the jump limit while all of its ships left and began moving in system. Melanie watched with him as she entered his mind. “Why are you worried?”
Matt sighed and shrugged, “They will know this time that the two ships were destroyed.”
Melanie thought a moment said, “They didn’t find all of the marbles.”
“I don’t know but that’s not what will give us away.” Melanie thought for a moment and then looked up at him with furrowed brows. “Melanie, we had to hit those ships multiple times to break through their hulls. I’m certain that small pieces cracked off before we broke through; our sensors wouldn’t be able to track them and our screens would not destroy them; that is what will tell them that we killed those ships.”
Melanie nodded slowly, “One never knows Matt. If they go find one of those balls I’m sure that it will have residue from the Eight Leg it went through. The tiny remnants of their ships, however, are in a very small area of space. Our chances are not as bad as you might think.”
“I would normally agree with you but I sense the full invasion beginning in three months. We are going to have to kill that mother ship before it begins; once there are millions of them in our universe it will be too dangerous to experiment on one. We have a very small window of opportunity here and we have to move quickly to use it.”
“Well, at least we know the Red Warrior’s guns fired too fast and the ship’s guns fired too slowly. We have at least a point to move forward in our weapon development.”
“Perhaps, let’s teleport to see what the Algeans have learned about those ships we captured. The probe will let us know if they find anything.”
“Fly Girl, will you follow us; I’m going to stay on Aladdin for a while.’
“I’m right behind you.”
The second Reg looked at the first and thought, “They are making amazing progress, brother.”
“It’s still not fast enough. I worry about the numbers coming.”
“Let’s see if they get the help they need.”
“Do you think they will remember?”
“I can only hope they do.”
The Ship’s Male watched as his millions of ships combed the solar system for a clue as to what happened to the two missing ships. Three missing children was one thing but missing ships was an order of magnitude greater. The planet that was being investigated was burning brightly. He looked at the Sensor Male and asked, “Does this match up with your data?”
The Sensor Male raised two legs and a picture of the system appeared on the Ship’s Male’s display. “That is the picture taken by the transport the first investigation. Notice there is no planet at that distance from the star in that picture. Now we find a planet that was not here before burning.”
“Do you have an answer as to how this could happen?”
“First Fang, I have looked at all the data we’ve collected for anything similar and nothing matches. I have no answer to this situation.”
The Sensor Male looked at his display and said, “You should tell the children to slow down. We have had four collisions between attack craft and one of them was damaged.”
“Issue the order please. I understand their concern.”
Six hours later one of the huge transports heard a loud ping. The pilot looked at his instruments and looked around his ship to see what could have possibly hit them and make that noise. The small brown marble was moving at fifty miles per second but upon hitting the transport it accelerated to more than five hundred miles per second and was outside the scan being used by the pilot. By the time the pilot extended the scan, the ball was lost among the other ships moving around the system. Seven ships briefly saw it but decided that it was just a small meteorite moving through the system. After tracking it’s trajectory they could see it was moving in system and at its current speed there was no way it could have been in the system when the ships went missing. They did not consider that when the marble hit the transport it had reversed direction. It was reported to the Sensor Male but after tracking it, he ignored it.
The Ship’s Male watched his display and said, “Those children, we’ve had another collision!”
The Sensor Male listened to his board and said, “They both thought they detected something and they both rushed without looking.”
“Did they find anything?”
“No, they report small pieces of armor but it’s probably from their collision.”
“Are you sure?”
The Sensor male looked at the reported scan from the attack craft and said, “The pieces are very small and appear to be scattered from their contact. There is nowhere near enough to account for even a fin much less a ship. It’s also located at the spot they collided. If it’s from the two missing ships, there’s not near enough. You know that the surface of those ships cannot be destroyed. If I had to decide I would lean toward it being from the collision.”
“I agree but I’m probably just looking for anything that would tell us what happened. Those ships have to be here but they’re not. This is not a disappearance we can ignore.”
“What are your orders?”
“Assign a section of this system for every ship to investigate. Stop this rushing around the system by all of our attack craft and let’s take this systematically. I want some transports sent to the planet and scan the remains to see if our ships are buried in it.”
“Do you think they hit the planet and caused the destruction?”
“They would have had to be moving at top speed but if that happened they might have found themselves buried in the planets core.”
“That theory begs the question as to why they were in such a hurry.”
The Ship’s Male thought a moment and then said, “Is it possible to hide a planet so that it wouldn’t be seen until you were on top of it?”
“That would suggest a very high level of technology, First Fang.”
“Perhaps, but it would explain why we did not see a planet on our initial scan. Our children were probably in a hurry to return to take part in our next harvest and were rushing just like they are now. They might still be alive but buried in the remains of the planet.”
“If that were the case, we should be able to hear them?”
“I suppose you’re right; do you have another idea about what happened to them?”
“No, First Fang; we will have to scan the remains closely to eliminate the possibility of what you suggest.”
“Please bring some order out of this chaos and issue the orders, Sensor Male.”
“I am going to recall all of the attack craft and send them out in small groups to their assigned areas. I’ve already given the transports their locations.”
The Ship’s Male turned on his communication device and moved to the bed where the probe entered his abdomen. The Supreme Male didn’t say anything; he just down loaded what the Ship’s Male had seen. After a long pause the Supreme Male said, “I think I agree with your Sensor Male about the few pieces. There is nothing that can damage our hulls except another vessel made from the same material hitting it. I am moving up the schedule for the full family’s arrival. You will remain in that system and find those missing ships.”
“Your orders will be obeyed.”
The Sensor Male did not look at the Ship’s Male and let him see his disappointment. He suspected that they were not going to find those ships and remaining in one location, particularly a lifeless location, was going to cause hunger among the children. He also worried about what existed in this universe that could cause the disappearances. He knew that his race was indestructible but something had happened. He turned back to his displays and tried to hide his fears.
The Ship’s Male also felt what the Sensor Male was thinking and feared that once again his ship was going to go hungry. “We have to find those ships.”
Stem, Sprig, Twig, Matt, and Melanie watched the feed from the probe. “What are they doing,” Melanie asked?
“They aren’t leaving. The transports are moving out into the system in an organized fashion. I suspect that the small craft are being recalled because they are literally out of control. I’ve counted five collisions and one of them was near the site of the attack.”
“They went right through that area and it appears that they aren’t acting any different,” Stem commented.
Matt thought a moment, “That collision near the site may have caused them to thing that any residual pieces were the result of that collision. If that’s the case, we may have bought some time.”
“Why are those transports moving so close to the planet,” Al asked? Everyone watched as the transports selected a large piece of the planets debris and stopped above it.
Melanie watched the display, “They’re looking for the ships in those pieces of the planet.”
Twig thought, “I think you’re right. They must think that the ships collided with the planet and caused its destruction.”
“If they believe that, then they suspect that someone can hide a planet.” Matt paused, “That must be what they’re thinking. They think their ships hit it because they didn’t see it. That means we are going to have to be careful when the full invasion starts. They’ll look back at their data from the last invasion and select those systems that should have a developed civilization; if they see no life; they’ll investigate closely.”
Melanie looked at Sprig, “I hope we learned enough from the attack to make it worth the risk.”
“We have learned a lot. We know that only the outer hull of their ships are made from the green substance; the interior is made from normal alloys and building materials.”
“Are you sure about that,” Matt asked?
“It stands to reason. The easiest ship to make using a hundred percent of the substance would be their smallest ships. If they aren’t built that way then the larger ships shouldn’t be either.”
“How does that help us?”
“I’m not sure, but I know that normal weapons will destroy the interior which will probably stop them. We also learned how they penetrate ships. They fire their lower deck into the surface of the ship and penetrate it so that they can enter through the resulting hole. It didn’t work on the iron tree coating and actually bounced them away. That deck must hit powerfully to bounce them as far as they moved.”
“What about the Red Warrior’s weapons,” Fly Girl inquired?
“Mixed results; the swords were very effective, especially when swung using the power of their armor. The guns fired right through them and didn’t slow them down fast enough. We recorded Team Leader Brez’s results when he fired the marbles slower and the results were better.” Sprig pushed a button and replayed the results of the slower velocity projectile.
Everyone watched and Matt asked, “Why is that Eight Leg moving in so many directions?”
Twig thought, “Evidently that marble is bouncing around inside the green armor it’s wearing.”
“Uh, I have a question,” Al thought.
“What is that, Al,” Twig responded?
“I thought there was a universal law that said that anything that moves and meets resistance will be slowed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I just ran an analysis of that marble that hit that Eight Leg and after bouncing around inside it at least five times it left five times faster than the velocity it entered. Shouldn’t it have slowed down?”
Sprig said, “Show me what you’ve seen.” Al downloaded the analysis to Sprig’s display and the Plant’s limbs started to fall.”
Mat said, “Uh oh, are we going to crash again?”
Sprig looked up and said, “No, but I need to run an experiment.” He jumped up and ran from the room. Everyone followed and he entered his lab and pulled out a piece of the ships they had brought back and placed it on the floor. He opened another container and pulled out a stone tree marble and held it above the green substance and dropped it. It hit and bounced a foot. “This doesn’t make sense.” He spent the next two hours hitting the green metal with stone tree balls at various velocities but nothing happened remotely resembling what had happened to the Eight Leg.”
“Sprig, maybe some of the stone tree marbles were manufactured in a different manner from the others,” Melanie suggested.
Sprig hit his com and went directly to the weapons labs on Earth. William Rankduty came on the display and said, “Good day Sprig, how can I help you?”
“Will you get all of the people in your lab on this channel that manufactured the stone tree projectiles for the arm guns?”
Billy looked away from the display and then six faces appeared on the screen with his. “They’re all present, Sprig.”
Sprig looked at the display and commed, “Did any of you make a stone tree projectile different from the others?”
Melanie said, “This one did.” She pointed to the one on the bottom right hand corner of the display. “His expression gave him away.”
Sprig looked at the display and said, “Mr. Stevens, did you do something different?”
It was clear that the engineer was in distress. “I only did it with one projectile; we ran out of stone tree material and I was one projectile short for the guns.”
“What did you do?”
“I made the last one out of the Glod Iron Tree.”
Melanie jumped up, “That explains it.”
Sprig looked at her, “Explains what?”
“Why their ships bounced so far when they hit the Searcher’s hulls. They flew away so fast that it was hard to track them visually. I wondered how they could have used a system that powerful on a ship; it would have to have crushed the hull if it hit as hard as that bounce took them.”
Matt saw it, “Mr. Stevens, do you have any of those projectiles in your possession?”
“I have six here in my desk.”
Sprig said, “I’ve just sent you some coordinates. Teleport those balls immediately.”
“Right away; I wasn’t trying to cause trouble or hurt anyone.”
“Mr. Stevens, you might get a medal out of this; send them now.”
The box appeared on Sprigs work bench and Sprig took one out and held it waist high and dropped it on the green metal. The ball shot up and blew a hole in the ceiling. Matt looked at Sprig and said, “We have our projectile.”
Twig looked at Matt and thought, “Can you imagine one of these bouncing around inside one of their ships. Every time it hits a wall it picks up speed. If it hits an Eight Leg, it bounces around inside their green covering picking up speed until it blows through and continues. This is a devastating weapon.”
“Yeah, but remember the inside of their ships are constructed of modern alloys; those will stop these on impact,” Al said.
Sprig raised his branches and thought, “Then we have to find a way to remove all of that from the interior.”
Al thought, “Now that should prove interesting; how do you clean out a ship bigger than the planet Earth?”
Everyone just looked at each other. Finally Matt said, “At least our warriors have a projectile that will stop them.”
Sprig thought, “Yes. There is that. We also have an idea about the thickness of their outer hulls.” Matt looked at him and he continued, “If we extrapolate from the thickness of the walls of their small craft we can estimate that the transports are about one mile thick.”
“Wow, that’s more than I thought.”
“The mother ships outer walls are more than forty miles thick.”
Silence filled the room. “Sprig, do we have anything that will penetrate a forty mile hull?”
“It’s not the distance that poses a problem; it’s velocity.”
“What do you mean,” Melanie asked.
“We have comprehensive evidence that a small straw can be driven through the trunk of a tree and not even leave a hole with winds blowing only two hundred and fifty miles per hour. They are travelling so fast that their molecules just pass through the surrounding matter. The problem with what we want is that we want the object that we use to penetrate their outer hull to leave a hole.”
“I’m not sure I’m following you, Sprig.”
Twig added, “We can sharpen a stone tree so sharp that it will cut through the green substance easily, however, to get it to penetrate the forty miles we have to have it hit at a tremendous speed. We’re not sure the material will hold up.”
“How can you find out?”
“Fire a splinter at one of the small ships and see if it breaks through,” Al quipped.
“What a great idea,” Sprig thought.
“Hey, I was just being funny.”
“Yes but the principle is the same. If the splinter can get through, then the full size penetrator should make it.”
“When are you going to try it,” Matt asked?
Sprig looked at Twig, “Can we fire one fast enough?”
“Sure, we stick it on the head of a high speed penetrator and fire it at the ship; everything will stop at the surface but that splinter.”
Sprig turned to matt and thought, “We will be ready in three hours.”
Matt thought, “Cassandra, you might want to come look at this.”
“Look at what, Matt?”
“We’re experimenting to see if we are going to be able to fire a stone tree projectile through a mother ship’s hull.”
“I’m on my way.”
Three hours later, Sprig had a high speed penetrator lined up on one of the captured Eight Legs ship. Everyone was on board the Kosiev watching to see if the experiment worked. Sprig adjusted his sites and said, “I think that does it; weapons free in ten seconds.”
The penetrator left the Kosiev so fast that it looked like a beam of light. The penetrator struck the green ship and stopped instantly. “I still don’t understand how objects that hit that substance aren’t destroyed,” Sprig said as he read the report. “They just stop with no apparent damage. Twig, what have you got?”
“It actually made it through. It’s sticking in the wall across cabin from its entry point.”
“Now we know we can penetrate the mother ship’s hull; however, what can we do with this information,” Melanie asked?
“Well, we have to find a way to eliminate all of the materials that are not made of that green substance to use the iron tree projectiles.”
Cassandra and Tommy looked at them and said, “Iron tree projectiles?”
“Yes, we’re about to try one on this ship.”
Sprig turned and began talking with the engineers at the captured ship. While he discussed the plan Matt and Melanie brought Tommy and Cassandra up to date on the properties of the Glod Iron Tree and how it reacted when it came into contact with the Green metal.”
“Stem, how is he going to test it,” Al asked?
“He’s just going to have one of our engineers throw an iron tree marble into that ship and close the door. We’ve removed all the non-green materials from inside.”
The group turned and watched the display of the ship three hundred yards away as an Algean engineer used a branch to throw a small, marble sized ball into the ship and then close the landing door. Nothing appeared to be happening suddenly the ball shot out of the hull of the ship. Sprig read his instruments and said, “That ball was moving at seventy miles per second when it broke through.” Sprig then said, “Try the next one.”
“What’s the next one,” Al asked?
“We made a ball four feet in diameter and we’re going to see what it does.”
Cassandra said, “This should be interesting.”
The engineer threw the large ball slowly into the open door and then closed it and teleported quickly away from the ship. Everyone watched as after a moment the small green ship started moving randomly in different directions. Then a huge hole appeared in the hull more than twenty feet across. The large ball flew out of the ship so fast that it wasn’t seen.”
“Wow!” Al said. “Looks like one of those could cause the invaders huge problems if we could get them inside their ships.”
Matt said, “Not really, Al. Remember that their ship’s interiors have modern alloys and walls that would stop the ball if it struck them.”
“It would be nice if we had a way to burn all of the normal materials out of existence,” Melanie said. “Then we just throw some of those balls inside and watch the fun. However, how could you burn something as big as a planet? We don’t have a weapon that could do that.”
Cassandra looked at Tommy and then said, “We know someone who does.”
Everyone turned quickly and looked at them. “Who,” Matt asked?
Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “The ones who gave us our red screens. They fired a ball of energy at the Earth that was bigger than the planet.”
Sprig twitched, “I remember that. We barely moved the planet in time before it struck.”
Stem raised his branches and asked, “They’re gone now; how would you contact them in another universe?”
Cassandra shook her head, “I don’t know if we can. We can try.”
Matt looked at Melanie and said, “I would like to go with you when you make the attempt and Melanie should also be present.”
“We might as well go now.”
Matt shrugged and the four of them disappeared. “Al, tell fly Girl we’ll be back.”
“I heard that, Matt. We’ll be waiting.”