The Supreme Male was nervous. He had reported to the Nest Mother and she was looking at his download. “So that Ship’s Male told you some of his ships were exploding?”
“Yes, Nest Mother, and he said they were under attack and he would contact me as soon as he handled the situation. I have been unable to communicate with him since and his tracking device in not responding.”
“Explain to me how that ship is still alive. I ordered that family’s Supreme Male to consume his family.”
“It probably isn’t still alive; however, the Supreme Male did consume his family. I’m sure he thought you would not want to wait for him to go to that Galaxy to consume that last ship.”
“When I say consume a family, I mean every ship.”
“Yes, Nest Mother.”
The Nest Mother was nervous. With the death of the Supreme Male that ship was no longer bound by the compulsions she had downloaded. Then she turned and said, “Did you tell that Ship’s Male that I had consumed his family?”
“Yes, Nest Mother, he wanted to know why I was contacting him instead of his Supreme Male.”
The Nest Mother felt her rage grow to the point of exploding but then she backed off. If she consumed this stupid male’s family then the harvest would have to be delayed again. She forced herself to calm down.
The Supreme Male saw her rage and knew his time had come and his family was about to die. He was genuinely surprised when the Nest Mother did not order him consumed.
“How much longer before the first ships launch?”
“Three dgets.”
“I will be kept informed; do you understand?”
“Yes Nest Mother.”
“Go, get out of my chamber.” The Supreme Male scurried out as quickly as he could run. “I hope that ship was destroyed,” she thought. “It is not good to have a ship without compulsions; they would be a free agent and that would not be something she wanted. She thought a moment and wondered how long it would take the ship’s crew to start returning to their natural state. “I’m worrying about nothing; they would have communicated if they were still alive.” She still felt nervous and couldn’t shake the feeling.
“Destiny, do you have a moment to communicate?”
“Yes, I do. With whom am I communicating?”
“I am the one who agreed to provide you the screen. Do you have some time to take a trip away from your ship?”
“How long will I be away?”
“Probably less than one rotation of the planet you’re parked above at this moment.”
“How do you manage to keep such close track of my movements? I must say that you really keep close watch of our activities.”
“Wouldn’t you in my place?”
“Of course but I don’t think I could actually do it.”
“I have some questions and I need your help. I would like to take you to a planet where we are developing ways to stop the coming harvest. Will you help me?”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Go to your ships surface again and wait there. Just send a thought when you’re ready.”
“Give me a few moments to get there.
“Standing by.”
Destiny looked at his Sensor Male and said, “I’m going to be gone for a while. You are in command and I want you to make sure my children actually consume the entire meal. If they are eating a large fish, I want that fish completely eaten. There will be longer periods between meals. Make sure they have sated their hunger before you leave this planet.”
“Yes, Ship’s Male. I will do as you order but I suspect we will still be here when you return.”
“I agree. One more thing, Call me by the name the beings have given me from this moment forward. Your name will be Eyes.”
The Sensor Male smiled. “I like that name, Ship’s, I mean, Destiny.”
“Please tell my children that they may also start giving each other names of their own that they feel are appropriate.”
“I think they will like that. I will protect the family in your absence.”
Destiny handed Eyes the device that controlled the screen, “You know how to use this. Keep it until I return.”
Eyes looked at Destiny and felt proud that he was trusted with such an important device. Tell me when you’re returning and I will turn it off.”
“I will; I’ll return shortly.”
Destiny put on his suit and worked his way to the surface and went out the external door. He looked out at the billions of stars in the galaxy he was in and thought that they were beautiful. The thought shocked him; he had never looked at stars that way before. Something was changing in him and he wasn’t sure what it was. He decided to think about that later. “I’m on the surface,” he thought. A silver field appeared above him and moved down toward him. He found himself standing on a planet that had a vast barren plain stretching in all directions. He felt sorrow for the lack of life. “My race killed everything on this planet more that twelve hundred of this planets revolutions around its star.”
Destiny turned and didn’t see anyone near him. There was a tall bush a few feet away but no one else. “Who said that?”
The bush moved and he heard, “I am a plant creature and a friend of the one that helped you. He will be here momentarily.”
Destiny was shocked. “I keep being surprised by what I see. You are the first plant I’ve ever encountered that was intelligent. Why did you destroy this planet? I must confess I feel great sorrow at what I see here.”
“Any good farmer would, Destiny. My race was once forced to consume tremendous amounts of organic matter to live. Another race had destroyed our normal food source and we were forced to kill planets to gather what we needed to survive. We fought a war with the race that agreed to help you. They could have destroyed my entire species but chose to help us instead. We are close friends now and our destinies are entwined together. I’m telling you this because they are beings that you can trust to keep their promises. Are you capable of keeping yours?”
Destiny looked at the plant and said, “You are the second voice I heard. I will keep my promise. Your willingness to protect my remaining family binds my future to yours. I will do all I can to protect you as well.”
“I hope so, Destiny, because we are going to ask some difficult questions.”
“You want to know how to kill our ships.”
Sprig was surprised. “You’re right.”
“Death was a diet I felt for just a short time and I must confess that it taught me a lot. You saved me from that meal and I will assist you any way I can. I can feel a change taking place in me and my children that is accelerating. My children are becoming individuals and thinking for themselves. They are developing talents that I never knew they possessed and I am amazed and pleased at what I see. I think the compulsions prevented us from being what we naturally are. I no longer desire a meal from intelligent beings and I can see my family is feeling the same.”
Sprig looked at the large eight legged creature with huge fangs and sensed a gentle soul. He could see the change as well. Matt appeared in front of them and stepped toward them.
“Hi Destiny, welcome to one of our work planets.”
“Hello, Matt; thank you for giving my family the means to possibly survive.”
“Destiny, did Sprig tell you why we brought you here?”
“Yes, you have some questions.”
“I do. The first question involves the thickness of your ships outer hull. We estimate that it is between thirty and forty of our miles thick. If you look at that building over there, it is about two miles away. Are we close in our estimate?”
Destiny turned and looked in the direction Matt was pointing and saw the burned out building. He converted the distance to his measurements and said, “You are remarkably close.” Sprig looked at Matt and nodded. Then Destiny said something that startled them both, “But that thickness only exists around the central part of the ship. The section close to the top and bottom is only ten of your miles thick.”
Sprig said, “Is that thick enough to support a structure that big?”
“Yes, especially with the bracing used in the central section. It is difficult to launch ships through a hull that thick. I think you have noticed that most of the launch ports are on the upper and lower part of my ship. There are racks that hold the transports and attack craft that rotate under the ports to launch our various types of ships.”
Sprig looked at Matt and said, “I’m going to take you to a lab.”
Destiny shrugged and said, “I’m all yours.”
Matt smiled as Sprig activated his teleport device. The three of them appeared beside one of the small attack craft that had been captured. Destiny flinched when he saw it and said, “I thought you had destroyed those ships.”
“No, we captured them and brought them here to study.”
“How did you get through the hull; my species thinks that our ships are impenetrable?”
Matt picked up a small gun and pointed it at the green ship and fired it. A small projectile hit the green ship and punctured its hull. Destiny watched the puncture and said, “We’re obviously wrong in that belief.”
“We have found two substances that can penetrate your green hulls. They are made from organic material. It seems your green substance is rather weak when hit by organic material.”
“I know that organic material will stop our small projectiles when nothing else will. I guess it would stand to reason that if there is a hard enough organic substance that it would also penetrate it in return.”
Sprig looked at Matt and Matt nodded. “Destiny, we are going to launch a sharpened shard made of this substance more than a hundred feet long traveling at three quarters light speed at your ships.”
“Then I suspect it will travel completely through my ship if you hit it at the lower or top sections. That is entirely too fast. It also wouldn’t do much damage if all you did was punch a hole that small.”
“Well, the shard will contain a bomb that will explode with a radius of five thousand miles larger than the diameter of your ship.”
“What kind of bomb?”
“An energy bomb with the heat of the core of a blue giant star,” Sprig said.
Destiny thought a moment and shrugged, “Then the ship will be immobilized. All of the control structures inside will be disintegrated. It won’t hurt the crew or ships still inside.”
“We have another device that will do that.”
Destiny looked at the two beings and pondered what they said. After a few moments he said, “If you have that technology, and I’m sure you do because that must be the way you killed our transport, then you might be able to survive the coming harvest.”
“How would you use these devices to survive, Destiny?”
“I would hit every ship of the main harvest that came through the universal door as soon as they appear and stop them at the door. If you can stop enough of them, they would block the entrance so that others could not follow them in to your universe. You would however have to kill quite a few of them to make that happen.”
“How many would you estimate would have to be hit?”
Destiny thought and did some mental calculations and finally said, “About a million.”
Matt said, “That’s all.”
Destiny smiled and said, “I think that was sarcasm but yes, about a million. You would have to hit them at the rate of about a thousand ships a second.”
Matt just looked at the spider and then sent a thought, “Cassandra, we have just learned that we will have to kill a thousand ships a second to block that entry to our universe. Is the Kosiev capable of doing that?”
“I won’t know that until the moment arrives, Matt.”
“I’ll get back to you.”
“Ok.”
“Tell me what we should do, Destiny?”
“Unfortunately, you will have to allow about a million ships through before the needed volume begins to arrive. Start hitting them about two diameters of my ship from the entry and then move toward the door. They will start hitting the ships in front of them and they must be hit immediately to prevent them from jumping away. That volume is necessary to stop them. If you can do that then the follow up ships won’t have enough mass to push through. There is a possibility that once a ship coming through the door is stopped inside the door then the door will collapse and will not be useable again. They will never be able to come here again but you will also be unable to go after them in your quest to destroy them all.”
“My prime responsibility is to protect the life of this universe. I will take that and worry about my quest afterwards,” Matt replied.
“Well, I understand. If you had a powerful enough generator you wouldn’t need the door but we have never found such a device in all of our harvests.”
“How powerful would it have to be?”
“It would have to have enough power to generate a beam strong enough to vaporize a planet the size of my ship.”
Matt looked at Sprig and Destiny saw Matt’s expression, “You already have it, don’t you?”
Matt smiled and said, “You are very observant and wise, my friend.”
“I am glad to be your friend, Matt. I will show you how to build what you need to travel from universe to universe if you do possess such a device.”
Sprig manipulated his device and a shiny object appeared at his feet. He took it and handed it to the spider. “Take this and place it on the floor of your command center in your ship. Stand on it and we will be able to teleport you directly from inside your ship. It won’t work if you wear the green armor but we will teleport you only where there is an atmosphere for your arrival.” He then handed a small device to Destiny and said, “This device will return you to that spot whenever you press the center button. I will teach you how to use it to come to us if you so desire.”
Destiny looked at the small bracelet and placed it on one of his front legs. “Thank you. I have a device that I will begin wearing that will totally destroy me in the event there is a possibility of being captured. I will not allow this technology to fall into the hands of those coming to destroy life.”
Matt looked at the strange being in front of him and said, “You have earned my trust today. My people and I will give our lives willingly to protect you and your family from all harm. I want you to leave your larger ships outside your main ship. We will begin installing the screen to protect them from being seen as soon as you return to your vessel. We will start with your transports first.”
“You might want to consider mounting some of those devices you will use to destroy the main ships. We can help you against the million ships you must allow into your universe.”
Sprig looked at the Spider and asked, “Why are you willing to do this?”
“I can now see my species for what we have been made to become. I look at this planet and feel sorrow for the waste of life here. I look at what we have been compelled to do and I feel extreme shame. My species must be stopped. I can see that now and I must bear some responsibility for what we have done. We are insane and unfortunately, it can’t be cured. My children and I will begin again and try to make up for all the horror we have caused.”
Matt shook his head, “I am sorry for what you have to endure, Destiny. I wish there was another way to save your species but I am thankful for the unique circumstances that brought you to us in our time of need.”
“It is I that am thankful.”
Sprig felt a kindred spirit and he also vowed that he would not allow him to be harmed.
The Supreme Male looked at his communication board and saw the Nest Mother. “Yes, Nest Mother.”
“How long before you leave?”
“Twenty dgzs.”
“I want two ships sent now to see if that main ship was destroyed or is still alive. If it’s alive I want it consumed.”
“Yes, Nest Mother, it will be done.”
“I don’t want them harvesting. Their sole mission is to find that ship. After they consume it, bring them back here for me to eat.”
“It will be as you order.” The communication board went dark. “I wonder what is so important about that ship.” He looked at his Sensor Male and said, “Follow her orders implicitly. Make sure the two ships know their orders.”
The Sensor Male turned to his board and pressed his keys.
Fleet Command heard the klaxon going off and a Searcher ran and looked at the feed coming in, “We have two mother ships entering at the entry point. Get the word out.”
Eyes was watching his board and suddenly started punching his keys, “Destiny, we have two main ships at the entry point.”
“Is our screen up?”
“Yes it is but I have two unscreened ships on the planet.”
There was no way to get the ships off before they would be seen. Destiny hit the bracelet and saw Matt appear on its display, “There are two main ships at the entry point. They will see two of my ships on the ground below. Is there any way you can teleport the crews out and leave the ships empty.”
Matt looked at his com and said, “Sprig, do we have time?”
“Destiny, order your crews outside and have them gather behind one of the transports. Make it fast.”
Eyes began issuing the orders immediately. On the planet the crews began exiting the ships as fast as they could run. “What is your plan?”
“They will see those transports. If we lifted them off the planet they would know that someone is still alive on them even if they were hidden. By leaving them there and moving the crews elsewhere, they will find two abandoned ships and think that everyone was killed. At least that is what I hope. Move the ship away from the planet. I want to watch them come in.” The huge red glowing ship moved out toward the next planet in the system and settled in its shadow.
The Senior Ship’s Male looked at his Sensor Male and asked, “What do you see?”
“I see two ships in a galaxy halfway across this universe but they are too small to be the main ship. They are not moving and appear to be on a planet.
Should we go there now?”
The Ship’s Male thought a moment and then said, “Not before you have scanned this universe for the main ship’s location; that is our main responsibility. Notify the other ship and get their assistance performing the scan.”
Sprig appeared on the planet behind one of the transports and watched as the millions of crew members exited their ship. “Twig, have you found a suitable location?”
“I just have, dearest. You have the coordinates. There is plenty of life to sustain the crew until they can be picked up.”
“I am sending the first group now.” Sprig pointed his device at the huge group of spiders and pressed the key; they all disappeared instantly.
“Destiny, how much longer before they are all outside,” Matt asked.
Destiny looked at Eyes and he said, “Tell him five of his minutes. The two main ships are conducting scans right now. It looks like they are searching for our ship.”
Melanie broke in the conversation and said, “You have five minutes, Sprig. I would suggest that if you can place a screen over the site behind the ships then you should have time.”
Sprig felt stupid, he punched a key on his device and a red screen covered the ground from the transports to where the crews were gathering. “Let me know if they jump to this system.”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
Sprig keyed his com, “Matt, what do you want to do with those main ships?”
Matt thought a moment and then thought, “Melanie, do you have two megaships armed and ready for action?”
“Stand by, Matt.” Melanie looked at Leo and said, “We have two main ships that just entered our universe. Do you have two ships armed to handle their class?”
Leo hit his com, “Sen-Gen, is you ship armed for invader mother ships?”
“We loaded the new penetrators four days ago, Sir.”
Leo looked at Melanie, “My ship and the Rossville are loaded with the right weapon mix.”
“Matt, we have two ships armed and ready.”
“I’m sending you the coordinates of the system I believe they will be headed. Get those ships there and be prepared to launch an attack if the Royal Family approves.”
“We’re on our way.”
“Tag!”
“What is it, Matt?”
“We have two mother ships just enter our universe and Destiny thinks they are here to find his ship. He has two transports on the ground and he left them there to prevent the mother ships from seeing them move. I want to hit these two ships if they come to this system.”
Tag focused on his sense of danger looking at attacking or not and saw no difference. “You have our approval to take whatever action you think appropriate. Keep us informed as to the outcome.”
“I will.” Matt said, “Al, are the crew members all gone now?”
“The last group teleported away two minutes ago; Fleet Command just notified me that the two mother ships have jumped.”
“Melanie, you have a weapons clear order. I want those two ships destroyed.”
Melanie looked at Leo and said, “You are authorized by the Stars Realm to commence action against the two mother ships. You are in command of this action Admiral Kosiev.”
Leo looked at his board and saw the two huge green ships appear at the jump limit of the system. “I am going to hit them before they can launch ships, Admiral.” He hit his com and said, “Sen-Gen, we are going to take out the two ships. I will target the one on the bottom; you will target the one above.”
“Aye-aye, Sir.”
Leo listened to the klaxons blaring, Battle stations, all hands to battle stations.” He pressed a button silencing the klaxon and hit his com, “Weapons, I want a full penetrator targeted on the bottom of the lower ship. We will approach it from that direction. I want a second penetrator ready for launch on my order.”
“Standing by for launch order, Admiral.”
“Sen-Gen, I will fire first. As soon as your sensors detect the launch, launch your penetrator.”
“Standing by, Admiral.’
Melanie stood on the bridge of the Rising Sun and thought about why Admiral Kosiev had chosen it for his flag ship. She had looked up the ship’s history and learned that it was originally commanded by Admiral Mikado who was the original Admiral Kosievs’ best friend. This ship played a major role in the early wars of the Realm. She looked at the display showing the four ships and their positions. Leo planned to hit them as they came inside the jump limit. She took her chair behind him and gripped the rails.
Al thought, “Fly Girl.”
“Yes, Al.”
“You are watching out for Melanie?”
“I have her on my teleport board as we speak. If anything looks like it might endanger her I am pulling her out.”
“Does she know?”
“There are some things you just don’t ask permission; you ask for forgiveness afterward.”
“Atta boy, Girl.
The Ship’s Male looked at his board and saw the two transports on the second planet of the system. His communication board came on and the other Ship’s Male asked, “Should we launch ships?”
“Not this far out; we’re still seven hours from the planet. Keep you scanners active, I’m nervous about two ships that are not moving.”
“As you order.”
“Fleet Command.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“I want the five thousand megaships armed for the small ships to be ready to teleport into this system. Notify Commodore Hasdf to go to battle stations and stand by for my order to port. Also notify Colonel Brez to notify his warriors to be prepared to repel boarders on those ships.”
“Orders are issued and receipt confirmed, Admiral.”
“Do you think they will launch before we hit them, Admiral,” Melanie asked?
“I don’t think they will but they probably have ships ready to launch and they might be blown out of the mother ships when the energy ball detonates. I don’t want to take any risks. I see some of their launch ports are open.”
Melanie looked closer at the display and saw that he was right. She had missed that; this was a good officer.
Matt appeared on Destiny’s bracelet, “Can you tell if they are in communication with their fleet?”
“They have been communicating but they just stopped a minute ago. I’m sure they were issued instructions to investigate the two ships. What are you planning to do?”
“We are going to hit them with one of those penetrators we told you about in two minutes. If this turns out well you can take the two transports and go pick up your children. The coordinates of where we sent them are on the bottom of your display.”
Destiny looked and saw the coordinates and felt relief at their being safe. “I want to see what happens here first.”
“I can’t say I blame you. It won’t be long.”
Leo watched the two huge ships move just inside the jump limit and just before they passed over head he pressed his com and said, “Fire penetrator.”
The penetrator shot out of its tube and looked like a light beam as it moved almost too fast to track and struck the mother ship.
The Sensor Male said, “Object fired at us,” was all he got out before the huge ship shook violently.
The penetrator penetrated the ten mile hull and went through fifty transports before it stopped and ejected the energy ball. The detonation was instant and the huge blast filled the interior of the mother ship.”
The second mother ship saw the first penetrator hit just as the second penetrator struck them from above.
Leo watched his screen and saw thousands of ships blown out of the mother ship by the blast. He hit his com, “Commodore Hasdf, launch your ships and begin action against the invader’s small ships.”
Five thousand megaships appeared in the system with their red screens glowing and began launching the smaller penetrators. Leo ignored them and continued to watch the mother ship with his finger on the com. The huge ship stopped accelerating as the blast erupted out of the open ports and began to fall off the trajectory it was taking to the planet. He then ordered, “Move us out; let’s give Commodore Hasdf room to operate.” The Rising Sun teleported away from the battle as thousands of penetrators flew into the invaders small ships.
The Ship’s Male was floating in the interior of his ship. Every wall and support had been disintegrated and there was a vast open chamber where ships and warriors were floating around. Then he saw a second small blast in the interior of the ship and small balls began bouncing around. “What are those?”
Destiny watched as the two main ships were hit and then started drifting. He looked at Eyes and said, “Scan the inside of one of the main ships and tell me show me what is happening.” A view appeared on his panel and he watched as thousands of small balls began bouncing around the interior of the ship. As he watched he saw those balls go from moderate speed to moving too fast to follow. Then ships floating in the interior started breaking apart as thousands of the small balls penetrated them and exploded out of them to continue bouncing. Everywhere inside the vast chamber was death. Those balls killed everything they hit and punched through to continue their mission of death. Eyes looked at Destiny and said, “That could have been us.”
“But it wasn’t. Those main ships were coming here to kill us and we should be thankful for our protectors.”
“I am, Destiny. I know at some level I should feel bad for them but I just can’t find it inside me.”
“I know, Eyes. I know.”
Colonel Brez hit his com, “Fire Teams, port to you positions.” On the five thousand megaships teams of three Red Warriors appeared on the surface and set up their guns. Any invader ship that came close was hit by the fire teams with a projectile that penetrated and burned out the interior before releasing fifty iron tree balls. The small ships couldn’t see the megaships but some of them were coming close simply by accident. Some of them actually split in half and the crew was floating in space. The Red Warriors hit them with their hand weapons whenever one was in range killing them with the penetrating iron ball. One megaship had an attack craft hit its surface but the Red Warriors immediately teleported and hit it before it could use its penetrator. For the invaders, there was only death. After ten hours the last invader was killed.
Leo watched the battle from his display and decided that there was nothing else to do. He then ordered, “Teleport teams, go to your assignments.”
Two teams of ten engineers teleported to the surface of the two mother ships and positioned a device over the hole made by the penetrator. Once it was in place, the chief engineer hit the engage button and a teleport screen appeared inside the dead ship and expanded to the far hull thirty thousand miles away. The screen then rotated a hundred and eighty degrees teleporting everything inside the ship not made of the green material into the star at the systems center. It was only then that the iron balls stopped bouncing.
Destiny commed Matt, “It appears that your weapons are very effective. What are you going to do with the ships?”
“I don’t know. We can’t teleport them out of here so it looks like they will have to remain where they are.”
“If it would help, I can push them into a trajectory that will take them to the star in this system.”
Matt smiled and said, “I think that would be a great idea. Will they be able to see them there?”
“No, we’re good but not that good.’
“Then I would greatly appreciate it if you would do exactly that.”
“We’ll also push the smaller craft with them.”
“Thank you, Destiny. That would help toward hiding what we can do.”
Eyes began moving and collected small ships on the surface and then moved up on one of the mother ships and began pushing it into a new trajectory. The huge ship picked up speed and then flew away from Destiny’s ship as it stopped to go and start the other ship on its trip to the star. Fifteen hours after the operation begun, there was no evidence that a battle had been fought.
The Supreme Male was working hard to get the family ready for the harvest and received a communication from his Sensor Male, “Supreme Male, I am unable to contact the ships sent to find the other family’s main ship.”
The Supreme Male immediately felt fear, “How long have you been trying?”
“Two dgsgs.”
The Supreme Male fought his fear and turned on his communicator, “Nest Mother, we have lost contact with our two ships.”
The Nest Mother felt her rage building but then felt it evaporate. Something was happening in that universe that was too far out of the ordinary. She knew the missing main ship could not defeat two main ships so there must be another agency causing ships to disappear. She wondered if the crystal creatures were causing it but the evidence gained before she had consumed the first family indicated that it wasn’t them. She now regretted consuming that first family. They would already be there harvesting except for her anger and impatience. She sighed and decided not to make that mistake again. She composed herself and said, “Send a ship through and make a quick scan and then have it return. Tell me what it sees.”
The Supreme Male took a quick breath and wondered why he was being spared. He immediately responded, “I will order it now.”
The Nest Mother thought about what was happening and began looking through the data from the previous harvests in that universe to see if there was anything that might be a clue s to what was going on. She inserted her two back legs into their receptacles, closed her eyes, and began looking at the information.
Destiny had moved to the planet and sent crews down to fly the transports to the planet where his children had been teleported. They came on board and Eyes began moving the ship out of the system. Suddenly he yelled, “Destiny, another main ship has appeared at the entry point.”
“Tell me what they’re doing.”
“They’re scanning.”
“Matt, another main ship has entered.”
“I can see them, Destiny. We have a screened probe there and I’m getting a feed from it. What do you think they’re doing?”
Destiny thought a moment and then said, “They’re looking for the two ships. I don’t think they will stay long. If it was a major investigation you would have more than one ship.”
“Let’s see if you’re right. If they’re leaving quickly, we couldn’t react fast enough to hit them.”
After an hour the huge ship disappeared back into the entry point. “Looks like you were right. What happens next?”
“I heard one of your officers use an expression, “It’s gonna be one big shing ding of a party”“. Next time a ship comes through the door it will have a big group with it.”
Matt thought for a moment and said, “I just wish we had a way to target them other than visually.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our sensors do not see them. We have to visually aim at them or use a visual color sensor to track them.”
“Why don’t you track them by their frequency?”
“What do you mean frequency?”
“The substance that makes up our hulls radiates a frequency. It is very, very, low but it is there.”
Matt jumped from his chair and thought, “Sprig, you need to hear this.’
“What.”
“Destiny tells me that the green substance radiates a frequency that falls in a very low range. Could we use that to track them with our weapons?”
“How low is it, Destiny?”
“About three hertz.”
“That’s even lower than the background of the explosion that started this universe.”
“This substance is a residue of a universe that died of old age. It couldn’t radiate anything higher.’
“Stand by.”
Matt and Destiny waited for twenty minutes and Sprig said, “I just measured the frequency of the attack ship here in the lab and you’re right. It does radiate a frequency that is strong enough to home in on. We can adjust our monitors and sensors to find it.”
“Can we make the changes in time?”
“I don’t know; probably not all of our weapons but enough to start the conflict and bring the others up to date as we move forward.”
“Get the megaships first then start loading the Searchers.”
“I agree. We’ll start now.”
“What is a Searcher, Matt?”
“We have twenty million small ships that are pretty powerful. They can destroy a planet with their beams but of course they will have no affect on the green substance.”
“Let me think about that, Matt. There should be a way to use them; I just need to think about it.”
“I’ll send you a copy of our main library so you can use it to see if there is anything we have missed. I think your children will find it enjoyable reading. You’ve already made a huge difference. Anything else would be icing on the cake.”
“What is a cake?”
“I’ll send you one if you can come up with a use of those beams.”
“Fair enough.”
The Nest Mother finished the data and found nothing to explain what was happening. She worried that the missing main ship was helping the advanced life form but then she dismissed the idea; ships were disappearing before she consumed that family. It was clear that someone or something was able to kill their ships. Would one family be enough? This time she was going to really focus on eliminating those crystal creatures once and for all. She shouldn’t have backed off before but they weren’t edible so it was wasted effort to harvest them. She paused and then changed her mind; there was no reason to waste time on them. She called another Supreme Male and said, “I may be sending you to follow up a harvest. Start preparing your family.”
“I will begin immediately, Nest Mother.”
Never in her species long history had a harvest ever been stopped. She was probably worrying about nothing… but…something just didn’t feel right. She sat in her chamber and worried. Would this harvest never start?”
“Destiny, are you sure you’re ok with our using one of your ships for target practice.”
“I’m sure, Matt. If it comes down to transportation issues, I think I can count on you to provide some ships for my use.”
“You know we will. We have some about three hundred miles in diameter that I think will meet your needs.”
“Then get on with it and we’ll watch and see what happens.”
Eyes was looking at Destiny and Destiny said, “What?”
“One of our children has developed an interest in engineering after reading the library given us and has timidly asked for permission to view the attack.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, he has been studying the data from past harvests and what our protectors have sent us and has an insatiable curiosity.”
“Invite him up and let him watch.” Eyes turned back to his board. A young child ran into the command chamber and sat down and watched the display. “Who are you, child?”
“My name is Edison.”
“Where did you get that name?”
“One of the human’s ancient engineers had that name. I liked it.”
Destiny shrugged and turned to eyes, “Make sure we have our scanners at full power.”
“Already on it.”
“Then start the transport moving.” Destiny noticed that the child took an instrument and pointed it out of the ship toward the location of the transport. “What is that?”
“It’s something I put together in the lab.”
Matt said, “Launching the penetrator.”
Destiny watched as the penetrator shot out at the transport from more than seven thousand miles. It was near one third light speed when it arrived at the transport but missed the target.”
Sprig said, “We just can’t get a strong enough reading on that low power frequency.”
“Does that mean we have to be closer to hit them?”
“Probably.”
Edison looked at Destiny, “May I ask them a question, Father.”
Destiny looked at the child and said, “Matt, I have a child that has a question.”
“What is it?”
“Have you accounted for the shift in frequency that occurs at one third light speed?”
Sprig said, “What?”
“At that speed the frequency will shift higher because you’re moving faster into the sine wave. It might be shifted closer to a cosign pattern. With that shift the signal should be stronger.”
Sprig sat quiet for thirty seconds which was years for a humans mind. “No, we haven’t; standby just a moment while I make some adjustments on the second penetrator.” Three minutes passed and then Sprig said, “Launch the second penetrator.”
Matt said, “Firing second penetrator.” The penetrator launched and again flew at the transport, turned slightly as it got close, and hit it dead center.”
Destiny looked at the child and said, “That was impressive. Is there anything else you would like to suggest?”
“I think I have found a way to teleport our green substance, Father.”
“Sprig.”
“Thank you, Destiny. We would have missed that.”
“That’s not why I’m calling; my child thinks he may have found a way to teleport the green substance.”
There was dead silence on the com. Finally Sprig said, “Do tell.”
“I’m going to send him to your ship. I’ll let him explain what he has developed.”
“Father, if you’ll just give me his coordinates, I can teleport to him with my device.”
Matt and Sprig heard the comment and Sprig asked, “Did you give him the teleport device to study?”
“No, I didn’t.” Destiny looked at Edison and asked, “How did you build a teleport device?”
“Once you know that it’s possible to teleport, the principles are pretty obvious, Father. I found the bulk of the information from a race we harvested fifty million years ago.”
Matt looked at Sprig on his communicator and said, “From the mouth of babes.”
Sprig stood stunned on the bridge of the Rossville. He knew the mental capacity needed to grasp those concepts and here was a child saying they were obvious. Are they further advanced mentally than we are?
“Destiny, does your species have this kind of mental capacity?”
“Sprig, since we have been free of the compulsions placed on us, we are changing. Our minds are actually clearing and thought is easier. Our telepathic range is going up daily. I’ve been told that my children are developing interests in a wide range of topics. I know that we can store tremendous amounts of information but we have never really correlated what we have stored. I think this child is an example of what we are becoming.”
“We may not be able to use what he knows before the invasion starts but if he is right, we won’t need a penetrator; we’ll just teleport the bombs directly into their ships.”
Edison looked at his father and said, “Why do that, just teleport them back to where they came from with a ten thousand penetrators on their hulls set to launch when they enter normal space.”
Even Sprig was shocked at that idea.