“F irst Fang, we have not found any evidence of the two ships. Our transports have scanned the planet thoroughly and none of our ships have uncovered anything that suggests they were ever in this system.”
The Ship’s Male looked at his Sensor Male and felt his frustration rise. “Where could they be?”
The Sensor Male saw the leader’s frustration “Is it possible their jump drives failed while they were coming here?”
“Both of them at the same moment; I don’t think so.”
“That leaves only two possibilities; they were destroyed by a natural event or they were killed by an outside force.”
“Those crystal creatures could have done it but they have never left their planet during all of the previous harvestings.”
“Should we go to their system and send some ships to the planet to see if they are now aggressive toward us?”
The Ship’s Male thought about the suggestion and decided to ask what should be done. He turned on his communicator and moved to the bed, “Supreme Male, I have been given a suggestion by my Sensor Male and need to know if you think it worth of action.”
The Supreme Male downloaded all that had happened since the last communication and pondered for a moment, “Perhaps, but I notice that small fragments were discovered.”
“Yes, but they were at the site where two of our attack craft collided.”
“Before you leave the system, have two of your attack craft hit each other and see if fragments are produced; then compare the size of the two to see if they are similar in size.”
The Sensor Male contacted two attack craft and issued the order. The two craft turned and hit each other. A nearby transport moved in and scanned the area of impact.
The Ship’s male read the results and was surprised, “Supreme Male, the fragments from the collision are slightly smaller than the ones originally scanned.”
“Go back through the system and scan those fragments again. See if there are two that are similar in size.”
“It will be done and I will contact you when we have the information.”
The Ship’s Male’s display went dark and he looked at the Sensor Male, “Scan for those fragments and let me know what you discover.”
After four days the Sensor Male turned to the Ship’s Male, “First Fang, we had six collisions in the system prior to our organization of the search. In one of the collision sites there were larger fragments mixed in with the smaller ones. We have found a seventh site where no collision occurred and the larger fragments were found.”
“Look at the data from the first harvesting and tell me if any fragments were left when the crystal creatures destroyed our ships.”
The Sensor Male looked at the data and said, “We were only able to scan the site of one ship’s destruction; it happened in the outer system of the crystal creatures. We dared to go no closer than that site. There were no fragments from that destruction.”
“What kind of ship was destroyed at that site?”
“One of our Family’s ships, First Fang.”
“So one of our largest ships was destroyed and no fragments were left from that destruction.”
“That is correct.”
“What conclusions can you derive from this new information?”
The Sensor Male turned and looked at the Ship’s Male, “Another advanced life form destroyed our two attack craft. There can be no other possibility. I have no idea what caused the destruction of the planet but I am now led to believe that the planet was hidden from our initial scan of this system. That makes me wonder how many planets are hidden from us. Perhaps the initial disappearance of the three children was caused by the same creatures.”
“The technology to hide a planet is beyond any we have ever encountered in all of our harvestings. These suspected creatures would possess knowledge that would taste better than any we’ve had since the first harvest.”
“I believe you are right, First Fang.”
The Ship’s Male felt his excitement grow. He wanted to taste these creatures before the rest of the families arrived. He punched his communicator and moved to the bed.
The Supreme Male downloaded the information and immediately shivered, “I am moving up the harvest. We will be arriving in forty kdgs.”
“I believe that we should return to the site of the initial disappearance of my three children and investigate the surrounding systems closely, Supreme Male.”
The Supreme Male did not want to miss the possible meal but he knew he would taste it from downloading the Ship’s Male. He thought a few moments and decided that it might reduce the time necessary to find this new life form, “Begin your search. Perhaps looking at the data from the last harvest and seeing if there are other planets that should be seen, but are not, would be a way to search from that initial system.”
The Ship’s Male was impressed with the suggestion, “We will search using your suggestion.” The display went dark and the Ship’s Male said, “Recall all ships immediately.”
“I’ve already issued the orders. We will begin moving out of this system.”
The Ship’s Male sat back in his command structure and anticipated a wonderful meal never thinking about the possibility of any danger to him in the coming search.
The Sensor Male was worried, “They can kill our ships; is it possible they can destroy this ship?” He said nothing and continued to issue the orders to move out of the system.
The Kosiev was hanging is space looking down on a huge planet that was surrounded by a red structure. Cassandra said, “That is the former home planet of the Captors.”
Melanie looked at the planet and asked, “What are those huge indentations on the structure’s surface?”
“Each one of those was a berth for a Captor vessel.” Melanie’s eyes widened. “Most Captors were between fifteen hundred and twenty five hundred miles in diameter, Melanie and the two leaders were more than thirty five hundred miles in diameter. This place we’re sitting in space is where an energy nexus existed; I assisted the Captors in leaving out universe for the new one that came into existence when the particle in energy space ignited and exploded. I have tried over the years to see if I could get a glimpse of the new universe but I have not been successful. I’m hoping that here at this location the barriers between our universes are weaker.”
Matt flinched and said, “My senses just told me that you’re right. I suspect that if what you say is true, then this is probably where the Eight Legs would enter that new universe.”
Stem raised his branches, “That would suggest that there is only one location in each universe where they could enter. If that is true, then the location where the first mother ship arrived is where the real battle will happen.”
Matt shrugged, “That is what I’m sensing, Stem.”
Cassandra looked away from the view of the huge planet and said, “Let’s see if I can contact the two leaders.” She closed her eyes and thought, “I am trying to contact the First Male and First Mother; can you hear me?” After a minute she opened her eyes and said, “No response from them.”
Tommy walked up and hugged Cassandra, “We need to be touching, Dear, remember?”
“Yes, I do; let’s try again.” She thought as hard as she could but after ten minutes she opened her eyes again and shook her head.
Melanie said, “Let’s try something; Matt and I are going to touch and stand next to you. See if that changes anything.” Melanie took Matt’s hand and stood next to Tommy and Cassandra and then embraced Matt.
Cassandra and Tommy both felt a sudden surge of energy and Cassandra said, “I can see the new universe.”
Tommy flinched, “It’s still hot.”
“Just like the Captors liked it,” she closed her eyes and thought again.
“Who is calling me?”
“First Male, we are the ones who helped you go to your new home.”
“I thought you closed the door between our universes?”
“I did, I can’t come through but I can send my thoughts.”
“What do you want?”
“First Male, the Eight Legs are beginning their invasion and we need your assistance. Will you give us the technology to build the giant energy balls you used?”
“I am reluctant to do that; it was the only weapon we had that was successful against your ships.”
“Oh hush, have you not developed enough?”
“What First Mother is referring to is that we no longer feel the need to destroy anyone that knows about us. We have eliminated the control our ancient instincts had on us; however, I still worry about your ability to kill us.”
“These are our friends, First Male. Have they not proven they can be trusted?”
“Hello First Mother,” Cassandra thought. “She’s right First Male; it was us that found a way for us to coexist and we count you as a friend, especially after the gifts you left us.”
The four humans could feel the reluctance of the First Male but after a minute they heard, “I have learned that if I do not help you in your time of need that I would be performing an evil act. I know you can be trusted; it’s just hard to change ones ways. Is our old home still in place around the planet?”
“Yes, it is.”
There is a berth on the northern section that is larger than those around it; do you see it in my thoughts?”
“Yes, I see which one you’re thinking about.”
On the bottom of that berth are two vertical doors. Make sure when you approach them that you are surrounded by one of our red screens; when you open those doors you will find billions of the devices that create the energy spheres.”
The four humans were stunned. Cassandra thought, “How many did you say?”
“Don’t be so shocked, little one; we’ve been building those devices for millions of cycles. On each device is a rotary switch on top. Each click represents the size of a warrior. Turn the switch to the desired size.”
“How big is a warrior, First Male?”
“About half my size.”
“How many clicks total?”
“Forty.”
“How long will the blast last after it ignites?”
“The length of time it takes light to travel nine hundred times my width.”
Stem said, “Twenty seconds.”
“How do we activate the device, First Male?”
“The simplest method is to just let it ignite at impact, however, next to the rotary device is a dial that you can set as a timer. Each click represents the time light will travel 286 times my length.”
Stem said, “About five seconds.”
Thank you, First Male. My people do count you and your children as our friend.”
“One more thing,” Melanie thought.”
“Who is that?”
“I am a friend of yours, First Male, and I am so glad to meet you.”
Everyone could feel the smile the Captor had, “Yes, what is it?”
“Is there any substance that could withstand the blast of those energy balls?”
“Only one, the structure our old home is made of is immune to the blast.”
Melanie thought a moment and asked, “May we use some of that structure to build a weapon against the Eight Legs?”
“Use as much as you need; is there anything else you require?”
Cassandra looked around the room and said, “No, thank you for your help. If we survive it will be due to your gifts.”
“We wish you success.”
Cassandra looked at Melanie and said, “Why did you want to know about a substance that survives the blast?”
Melanie stepped away from Matt and said, “We are going to need a way to get the iron tree balls inside the invader’s ships. If they can go in with one projectile, then the job is easier. However, if the energy ball destroys them, it would take two strikes to get them inside.”
Matt shook his head, “I am constantly amazed at your insights. You are remarkable.”
“And don’t you forget it.”
Matt could still feel Melanie’s embrace when he hugged her and wished she was still holding him. He wondered about the feeling and felt he was betraying Angel. He sighed and looked at Stem and said, “Do you see any way to use this against them?”
“Let me contact my parents. I would recommend that you start the process of gathering the devices from the Captor’s home.”
Matt turned on his com and said, “Fleet Command, I need every defender class vessel to teleport to the coordinates I’m sending you and bring enough shuttles to transport a billion devices quickly. Make sure they keep their screens on so the invaders can’t see them.”
“Issuing orders now, Your Grace.”
“Matt.”
“Yes, Al.”
“The mother ship has figured out that the two ships were destroyed. They did another scan of the system and found the site of the second ships destruction which was nowhere near one of their small craft collisions. They are currently boarding all of their ships into the mother ship.”
“They’ll be going back to the planet where they lost the first three Eight Legs. I believe that they will then start looking for systems that might be hiding planets.”
Melanie, Cassandra, and Tommy just stared at him, “Hey, it’s what I would do in their place.”
“Matt, we are going to Cainth and then Glod to pick up some trees.”
“Don’t you need the trees to be made into weapons?”
“Actually, my ship tells me that it can do it. It wants some raw material so I’m going to listen to it and give it what it wants.”
“Why don’t you ask it if it wants some of those Captor energy weapons?”
Cassandra focused for a minute and then smiled, “You’re right; it will wait to get some transported to us; then we’ll go get the trees.”
“Al, you and Fly Girl come get us. We need to talk with Sprig.”
“On our way.”
Tag sat in the library at Castle Gardner thinking about what was happening. Danielle walked in and looked at him, “What’s bothering you?”
Tag looked at her and shook his head slowly, “The Eight Legs’ main fleet will arrive in less than sixty days.” Danielle covered her mouth with her hand and Tag continued, “I also sense that they will be looking for the Realm; I think they have deduced that hidden planets exist and they will probably ignore those they see and focus on finding systems with hidden planets.”
Danielle sat beside him and put her arms around his neck, “Are we going to be able to survive this?”
“I don’t know. It will be a war like no other in the scope and size of the forces arrayed against each other. I want you to stay close to me, Danielle.”
“I will my love. I’ll always stay close to you.”
Tag smiled at her but worried about what was coming.
Matt and Melanie arrived at the Algean testing lab and requested a meeting with Sprig.
“Come on down, I’m about to test a new device and I can use an extra set of limbs.”
Matt and Melanie teleported into the lab that the size of ten old airports. The structure was huge and Sprig was standing with Twig behind a device that was pointed at one of the small captured ships.
“What are you doing, Sprig.”
“I’m testing a new idea. We don’t have much time so I’m going to use some old technology with some new ideas.” Sprig pointed to a strange shaped missile that appeared to have a cross sticking out of the middle of its hull. “This is a smaller model of a penetrator that was originally used against my race by the Realm. It was, and probably still is, the fastest projectile ever made. It will accelerate to two thirds of light speed in less than fifty miles.”
“How are you going to use it?”
“First I want to see if it can be stopped by their green surface.”
“I thought the idea was to get through their surface?”
“It will be on the mother ships but the other ships will also need to be destroyed. Let’s see what happens.” Sprig sited at the small green ship more than seven hundred yards away and pushed a button. The missile left so fast that the sonic boom happened almost immediately and tag and Melanie felt it through the ear protection Twig had placed on them just before the launch. Sprig pushed a control and the display screen above the table came on, “This is at one ten thousandth speed.” They saw the missile rush across the field and hit the small ship in the middle and just stop. There was no explosion or transfer of energy; it just hit the ship at that high speed and stopped. Twig raised her branches and thought, “It didn’t suffer any damage; you’re a genius, Darling.”
Matt and Melanie looked at the two Algeans and shook their head, “Why are you happy if there was no damage to the green ship?”
Twig turned to them and said, “I wasn’t excited about no damage to the green ship. The missile suffered no damage.”
“Tell me what you’re trying to accomplish here,” Matt asked?
“This missile will have two parts; the first part will be a sharpened projectile made from the iron wood tree with a Coronado power cell fully charged in its tail. The projectile will be put in a sleeve just above the cross on the midsection. When the missile hits a ship, that sleeve will continue forward and penetrate the hull as the Coronado Power Cell explodes inside the ship burning everything not made of that green substance out of existence. That blast will be short and will move up the hole created by the projectile as it punctured the ship melting the heat seal on the rear part of the missile still on the surface. That will ignite a small motor on the rear of the missile to keep it against the hull as a fragile armor coated projectile fires through the hole into the ship that will blow apart once a meter detects the projectile has stopped releasing forty iron tree marbles inside the ship.”
“That sounds like an interesting missile. Will it work on the transports?”
“We won’t need one on them. We will use a full size penetrator on those ships that will be big enough to hold the energy ball device and the package with a thousand iron tree balls in it. The energy ball device is too big to use on their small ships; that’s why we’re developing this technique. On the transports we’ll have the energy ball inside the sharpened penetrator along with the balls encased in a sphere made from the structure of the Captors home. It will make it through the blast and when its sensors show a temperature where the iron balls won’t melt they will be blasted out of the case. They should bounce around inside those thick hulls of the transport for quite a while.”
“Sprig, are the Searcher Class Vessels large enough to fire those?”
“Yes and no, Matt; these devices can be teleported to the site where they will be fired. Each Searcher will have a battery of more than a thousand of these tuned in to their systems. The system will bring them to the firing point. This is going to be a difficult task trying to hit moving targets but hopefully there will be a learning curve where they will improve. They are equipped with optical sensors tuned to the green color of their ships and will follow the ship as long as it is illuminated. That’s why it is best if they are coming is system toward us so the sun will be shining on them.”
“What’s the no part?”
“We need ships big enough to take on the mother ships and the transports in huge numbers.”
“Can the Defender Class ships handle that?”
“Not really. They’re just not maneuverable enough in a combat environment. We’re going to bring some ships out of storage.”
“What kind of ships, Sprig?”
“I’ll show you.” Sprig raised his teleport device and suddenly Matt and Melanie were on a ship looking out at thousands of huge white ships.”
Matt and Melanie were stunned, “What are these?”
“These ships were originally used against my race in our conflict and then against the Captors. Their outer skins are like the Kosiev and can hold millions of the penetrators. They have teleportation ability and can stand toe to toe with the invaders. They’re only a mile long but they are deadly.”
“Can we train the crews in time?”
“No, we can’t. Matt we will not have the number of weapons we need in time to hold the invaders off. We watched the recording of their last invasion and we determined that the Captors actually time lapsed the recording. Evidently, the entry point into our universe will only allow ships through it in limited numbers. We have determined that in two months the invasion will start with single ships and then as the entry point is used it will allow multiple ships through. It will take us at least eight months to get the number of weapons needed to take them head on. We’re going to have to let them in before we try to close the door in their face. We suspect more than a hundred thousand or more of the mother ships will be in our universe when we are ready to start hitting them.”
“So what do we do in the mean time?”
“Well, we’re certainly going to be moving some planets around as the invaders uncover them. We will start hitting them once they come inside the screen of a hidden planet. We are disguising some of them to look like they’re inhabited so they will land their ships. Our warriors will be waiting for them on the surface and kill their ships on the ground and as many of their troops as possible. When reinforcements arrive the warriors and ships will teleport out.”
“Aren’t you afraid of showing them our teleportation ability?”
“Let them see it. Trust me; knowing it exists and coming up with the knowledge on how to develop it are two different things entirely. My mate and I nearly died from the overload. We just have to make sure they do not capture one of our ships.”
“Sprig, if they come close we’ll just teleport it away and they will be left behind,”
“Sprig raised his branches laughing and thought, “There is that.”
“Are we going to have enough time to build these weapons?”
“Matt, there are more than twenty million planets in the Realm or under its care. Every one of them is building them at this moment. The crews from the Defender Class ships are now training on the Megaships. We will be ready in eight months. Until we are, we are going to be playing a shell game with the invaders. They will be looking for a pea but we will have a rock ready for them. We are going to start killing them and that first ship is going to be our practice target. After them, we are going to make them pay a price for the atrocities they have committed.”
Matt felt something inside actually longing to make them pay. He heard Melanie’s thought, “We owe them for Angel.”
Matt looked at her puzzled, “We?”
“They hurt you terribly. That’s reason enough for me.”
Matt felt a warm feeling for his friend, “Thank you for understanding; I so want to hurt them.”
“So do I,” thought Fly Girl.
“Not as much as me,” thought Al.
“Oh yes I do.”
“No way; you know I want to hurt them more.”
“You retarded dish washer, you’re not even close to how I want to hurt them.”
Sprig and Twig laughed and were amazed at Stem’s two creations.
“So am I, Father,” Stem thought.
The huge green ship arrived back at the system where they had lost their three children and began exploring it in fine detail. The Sensor Male watched his sensors and said, “The children’s ship wasn’t damaged when they disappeared; I’m not certain that we will find anything in this system. That planet certainly wasn’t one of the advanced life form.”
“I suspect as much, but here is a good place to start looking elsewhere. Let the ships look through this system; I want you to look through your data and find a place where there should be a planet that has intelligent life but doesn’t register on our scans.”
“I will begin looking, First Fang.” The Sensor Male looked at the last harvest and narrowed his search down to the Galaxy there were in. He found a planet that had good possibilities and then looked at its system. There it was glowing with intelligent life, so that wasn’t a prospect. He moved his search further out and found another prospect; he looked at the system and there was no sign of intelligent life. “First Fang, I may have found a prospect. May I suggest we send a ship there to just scan the system and have it return immediately?”
“Where is it?” The Sensor Male sent the data to his display and he looked across the galaxy and saw there was no intelligent life in the system. “Send a ship. Even if it doesn’t return we will know we have found what we’re looking for.”
The Sensor Male turned to his board and ordered a transport to go and look at the system. He thought, “If it doesn’t return; should we go?”
“Matt, an Eight Leg transport just jumped into the Begron system and then disappeared,” Al said.
“That’s where they’re going next. Stem go ahead and move the planet and replace it with a barren one. Take the screen with Begron so they will see it when they arrive. We aren’t quite ready to hit them yet. I’m sure they will investigate before they move on. We should be ready by the next one.”
“We’ll have it done within two hours.”
The Eight Leg mother ship appeared at the jump limit and launched its ships. The Sensor Male looked at the system and saw a planet where there was none on the transport’s scan. How does this happen? He turned and looked at the Ship’s Male, “There is a planet where there was none. How is this happening?”
“I don’t know; I also see no sign of intelligent life on that planet. Do you?”
The Sensor Male twisted its head upside down indicating his frustration, “No, but if the planet could be hidden from our scan, it’s possible life could also be hidden.”
“Then let us go and see.”
The Sensor Male turned back to his display and worried. Nothing in the data banks matched with what was happening on this mission. He hoped the family arrived soon. This did not feel like things were going to go well.
After twelve hours the huge fleet arrived at the planet and looked at the barren, lifeless planet. There were old cities that were standing in ruins from some kind of long ago conflict. Their skeletal remains stood with overgrowth of plants and the dark green of corrosion. The streets were cracked and most bridges were collapsed. There was some sea life but land animals were totally absent.
The Sensor Male looked out at the dead planet and said, “How could anyone totally destroy a planet like this?”
The Ship’s Male raised two legs and said, “We are in the business of doing something just like this.”
“No we aren’t,” The Sensor Male replied. “We harvest a life form, maybe two, but we leave the planet vibrant with life to develop new intelligent beings. We cultivate and harvest our universes like a good farmer should. “This,” and he indicated his display, “is blasphemous.”
The Ship’s Male looked at the planet and said, “Why didn’t we see this on our first scan? Obviously, there is no one here that could cause it.”
“First Fang, is it possible that there is a life form that can hide themselves from our sensors?”
“Perhaps, are you suggesting that there may be life on the planet and we don’t see it?”
“I don’t know, but we should go down and make sure.”
“Issue the orders and let’s see what happens.”
The Sensor Male turned to his boards and began sending out the orders. Millions of ships landed on the planet and swarmed around the surface and found nothing. The Ship’s Male watched his display and could see that there truly was no intelligent life on the planet. “Find another candidate for us to explore. We won’t send a scout this time but will go ourselves and see what happens.”
The Sensor Male had been looking even before the fleet arrived at this system and had found two other prospects. “I have discovered a prospect not far from this system.”
“Recall the ships and let’s go see.”
“Matt, the probe shows the mother ship recalling its ships.”
Matt shook his head. “They didn’t waste any time. We’re still not ready.” Matt thought a moment and then said, “Al, which system with a hidden planet is closest to the Eight Legs current location?”
“There are two; one of them is pretty close.”
Matt looked at Melanie, “Where do you think they are going?”
“The closest system; they want to see if the planet is invisible when they go with the mother ship instead of sending a scout.”
Matt hit his com, “Stem, move the planet out of the closest system and don’t replace it. Let’s see what happens.”
The Eight leg fleet arrived in the Ojcek system directly above the plane of the planets and scanned their positions. The Sensor Male immediately said, “First Fang, the fourth planet is missing.”
“What do you mean it’s missing?”
“There is no planet where there was one during the last harvest.”
“Is there debris where it might have exploded or been hit by a large asteroid?”
“No, there is no evidence a planet ever existed in that orbit.”
“Could the planet possibly be hidden?”
“I don’t know how they could hide a planet but if they could then it is hidden quite well; I cannot detect anything in that orbit.”
“Launch our attack craft and distribute them around the star in the orbit that planet should be in. Let’s look all the way around the star.”
“Launching ships, First Fang.”
Matt, Melanie, and Stem sat on Aladdin and watched the feed from the probe as millions of attack craft move toward the orbit from which the planet was just moved.
“What do you think they will do?”
“I’m not certain, Al. My guess is that they will be pretty confused. If it were me, I would move on to the next planet. We could keep them jumping indefinitely since they only have one mother ship in our universe. It would be a different story when the full fleet arrives.”
Stem listened to Matt and thought, “I think I might have a way to really confuse them.”
“What’s that, Stem,” Matt asked?
“What would you do if you don’t find a planet in this system?”
“I don’t know; I might go back and look at the last planet and see if there was any evidence of celestial damage that I missed.”
“What if we move that planet out of the system and when they go look for it we move it here.”
Matt chuckled, “Yeah, that would be fun but we don’t want them communicating with the main fleet that planets are being moved. We could do one thing; we could hide the planet and when the ship goes back to report it missing turn off the screen when the mother ship comes looking. I suspect they already think we can hide planets or they wouldn’t be jumping to these systems.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Melanie, I’m hoping they will leave a ship at the planet and then go back and look at the second system. When they leave for the second system, we should be ready to teleport in and try some of our new weapons on the ship they left in the first system. They may just send a ship back to the first system to make sure it’s still there. Either way, it may offer an opportunity to attack another ship. Stem, if we can make this happen, I’ll need a portable star drive to jump the ship away if we kill it; we won’t be able to teleport it.”
“You’re assuming we will be able to kill it.”
“If we can’t, I’d rather find out attacking one ship than the whole fleet.”
Stem leaned to the left and said, “You make a good point. That is if they do what you think they’ll do.”
“Let’s see what happens. They may just go on to the next system but if it were me, I’d want to take another look at that dead planet to see if it matches the one that’s missing.”
“Matt, I’ll check with Sprig and see if we have a ship ready for combat operations.”
“Good idea, Al; the ship the invaders send will probably be a transport.”
“It will be, Matt.”
Stem looked at Melanie and asked, “How do you know that?”
“They’ve lost two small ships already; they won’t take the risk of sending that type of ship alone in a system.”
The Sensor Male listened to the attack craft reporting their findings; nothing. He looked at the data from the first harvest and the planet was green and full of life. Several different species were not far from developing intelligence. What could have happened to make it disappear? He looked at the planet they had investigated before arriving in this system and compared it once more to the planet that was there during the last harvest. Then it struck him, “There’s not enough water.”
The Ship’s Male heard him, “What did you say?”
“I was just examining the last planet and compared it to the data we have from the last harvest and there’s not enough water on the planet.”
“What do you mean?”
The Sensor Male sent a picture of the planet from the last harvest and one taken on their flight into the previous system. He looked at the two and he had to agree, there were much bigger oceans during the last harvest. “Could the water have been locked up in the polar ice caps?”
“I didn’t really scan them to make that determination. May I dispatch a ship to go make that scan?”
“Send a transport. What are you thinking?”
“I’m not sure, First Fang; I wonder if it’s the same planet. As I look at the two, I can see differences that just haven’t had enough time to happen.”
“You know massive changes can happen in just a million years? The last harvest was eight million years ago.”
“Yes, but that water has to be somewhere.”
“It might have gone underground.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” The Sensor Male thought a moment and then said. “I would still like a better scan.”
“Then send the ship.”
“This just in for your viewing pleasure; a transport is heading out to the jump limit,” Al reported.
“Where, Al?” Al adjusted the feed and focused in on the large ship moving toward the outer system. “Boy, you picked that one ship right out; I’m impressed.”
“Don’t swell his head bigger than it already is, Matt. The probe is set to alarm anytime one of their ships changes their direction dramatically from the others.”
“Fly Girl, who asked you in this conversation?”
“Oh relax; we know you’re smart.”
“Al, what does Sprig say about a ship being ready?”
“The Megaship Rossville has finished its trials and is ready if we want to take a shot at them.”
“That ship was Admiral Dorg-Ross’s old ship,” Melanie said.
Matt looked at her, “Really; are you sure?”
“Oh yes, I know everything about the Cainth Admiral. Remember, he’s the one that ordered the colonists killed on Ross.”
“Do you hold a grudge about that, Melanie?”
“Absolutely not; he paid for his crime in ways that he should not have endured. My people love the old Admiral and I hope that someday I’ll have a resting place close to his.”
“Well, his ship is coming and I think I want to be on board to watch.”
“Not without me,” Melanie said.
“Or me,” Stem said.
‘Or me,” said Al.
“Or me,” said Fly Girl.”
“I can see Melanie and Stem going on board. Just how are the two of you going to fit?”
“Matt, their landing bay will hold six ships our size; it won’t be a problem.”
Matt shrugged and said, “Get it approved with the ship’s Captain and let them know that my crew and I will be joining them on their arrival.”
After a few minutes Al announced, “It is approved; they’ll be teleporting in about one hour. They’re currently loading the live penetrator rounds.”
Everyone looked at each other and could see each other’s excitement. Matt could feel the need to kill the coming ship.