Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher (19 page)

Al was in orbit above Ross and felt the final system activate and come to full power. He watched as a pulse of violet lightning shot out of his hull and more than a quarter of the way across the universe it struck the three eight legs floating in space. They imploded so fast that one moment they were there floating and in an instant they disappeared from existence.

Stem had been standing on Aladdin and watched what was happening to Angel’s ship and even for an Algean things moved faster than he could keep up. Al thought, “Stem, give me the coordinates where I can take Wings. She’s damaged and needs immediate repair.”

Stem thought them to Al and he quickly teleported to the repair facility on one of the Algean planets. “The final system is now active, Stem. Please help me save, Fly Girl.”

Stem pushed his instrument and Fly Girl disappeared. “I have to go help her, Al. What happened?”

“Angel is gone, Stem.”

Stem felt a wave of sorrow engulf him but then teleported out.

Al sat in space above the planet and felt tremendous pain. Even though he knew it was coming, he was not prepared for it to happen. Like Matt, he felt a need for vengeance. He flashed a thought to Matt, “I’ve given Fly Girl to the care of the Algeans.”

“Thank you, Al.”

Al could feel Matt’s despair, “Magic, are you going to be alright?”

“I honestly don’t know. I really didn’t think it would happen so quickly.”

“Me, either.”

They both remained silent for thirty minutes. Matt had left the operating room as soon as he felt Angel slip away. He noticed in the back of his mind that the doctors were still trying to revive her; her body had not died even though she was gone. Finally, after two hours, a surgeon came out and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Admiral. We tried everything possible. She was hit by three of these that were coated in some kind of powerful neurotoxin that overwhelmed her system.”

The surgeon opened a towel he was holding and Matt saw three nine inch green shards. Matt reached for them and the surgeon said, “We have removed the neurotoxin but whatever these are made of is also dangerous. They’re sharp so please use caution.”

Matt took the towel and folded it over the three shards. “I will; thank you, Doctor. I know you gave your best effort.”

A silver field appeared and Anglo Gardner appeared in the hallway. He came forward as Matt and the surgeon bowed. Anglo looked at them and then said to Matt, “The Royal Family humbly asks if I may take Angel to see that she receives the honor that she so richly deserves.”

Matt looked Anglo in the eye and Anglo could see Matt’s pain. “Thank you for being here, Your Grace. I can’t think of anyone else that she would prefer to take care of her at this moment.”

“We have notified her family and we have made arrangements to receive her in Colony Park in two days.”

Matt almost lost control at that moment; only those that won the Crimson Crown were buried in Colony Park with Dorg-Ross. Anglo pressed his com and an honor guard of twenty Red Warriors from the Wiseman Division appeared. They marched into the operating room and two of them in the middle gently lifted Angel, turned with their comrades and carried her out into the hall. Anglo turned walked over to Angel and placed The Crimson Crown Medal around her neck then bowed deeply to her. Matt walked over to her and kissed her one last time. Anglo nodded and he, along with the twenty members of the honor guard, disappeared.

“There is something wrong, First Fang.”

The Ship’s Leader turned his attention to his sensor male, “What is that?”

“Three of our children have disappeared.”

The Ship’s Leader immediately removed his attention from the invasion of the planet and focused totally on the Sensor Male. “Where did they go?”

“I can’t locate them. Their pod is floating about a fil above the third moon where they were examining the structures for life. I cannot find any of the children that were in that pod.”

“What was their last communication?”

“The pod pilot said that they were going to investigate a shadow. That’s the last communication they sent.”

“A shadow?”

“Yes.”

This was something serious. No member of his race had been harmed for more than a hundred million years. Of course these were just children without much intelligence but their disappearance was significant. The young would often lose all focus if they detected a meal but there was no other evidence of a meal near the location of their pod. The Ship Leader pondered what to do. Should he contact the family’s Supreme Male? No not before all things were examined. He turned his attention back to the Sensor Male and said, “Order one third of the children to come and look for their brothers.”

The Sensor Male turned to his controls and sent the order. More than a million small green ships lifted from the planet and headed at full speed toward the third moon.

Searcher Leng saw the sudden explosion of green ships from the planet and thought to the remaining four Searchers, “Time to go. The sensor probe will have to take it from here.” The five red ships disappeared from the system.

The rush of green ships reached the third moon and fanned out in all directions looking for their missing brothers. Thirty hours later after the planet had been completely harvested of all intelligent life the remainder of the green ships joined the search. They continued to search for four days.

Angel’s funeral was held two days after she died. More than ten million citizens of Ross and a million Searchers lined the ten mile route her silver casket traveled from Castle Gardner to Dorg Park. The Royal Family followed her along the route and silence was observed by the huge gathering. Anglo Gardner, Matt and two Red Warriors rode on the four corners of the red floater carrying her. As the floater moved along Tgon-Gee Avenue the crowds on each side of the wide street would bow until the floater had passed. They would then fall in behind the procession and follow it. The Stars Realm Anthem played the entire route and finally it arrived at Dorg Park. Matt, Anglo, and the two Red Warriors dismounted the floater, lifted the Casket, and carried it forward into the park. They arrived in the middle of the statues of the colonists that had been executed in the war that had founded the Stars Realm. There next to Admiral Dorg’s resting site they stopped and placed the Casket in a bright white structure with an angel on each corner that had her name on it. The four then took three steps back, saluted, bowed, and Anglo with the two Red Warriors moved to the front line of mourners. Matt remained beside her resting place with his head bowed. Thomas and Danielle Gardner bowed to the structure and then turned and walked slowly to a stage facing the gathered millions. Danielle stepped forward to the podium and looked out at the crowd.

“There are no words that I possess to tell you what we are feeling today. This young woman is the first member of our Realm to lose her life to those that have come to destroy us. She died carrying out her duty to protect us from harm. She has denied herself the joys of life to work toward saving us from those creatures and has been at the point of our efforts to survive their invasion. She will lie here in this holy ground and remind us of what sacrifices we must all face in order to ultimately survive. Just like the colonists memorialized here for what they gave to found our Realm, she has also sacrificed all. Her place here is for all the Searchers that are out there protecting us and when we come here we should remember all of them and what they represent. Angel truly represents the very best of all of us and we mourn her death and will take this moment to thank her for her sacrifice.” The King and Queen of the Stars Realm walked slowly off the stage and stopped directly in front of Angel’s tomb. They bowed deeply and held the bow. The two Red Warriors of the Wiseman Division shouted together, “An-gel!” The crowd then answered, “An-gel.” Over and over the millions yelled her name in unison. Matt stood with the Gardner’s and felt his tears. A part of him was gone and he missed it so much it literally hurt almost more than he could bear. “I love you, My Dearest. I always will.” The millions continued to shout her name.

Al sat in orbit over the planet and watched the ceremony. He felt Matt’s pain of loss and thought about why Angel had to die. He hadn’t mentioned it to Matt but he had deduced that visions like Matt had seen only occurred when an event was powerful enough to affect the future in some great way. Just as Cassandra had foretold Matt’s coming, this event had to mean something had to happen in order for something else to take place. He didn’t want to believe it but he knew deep down that Angel had to die. Over and over he asked himself, “Why?”

Stem thought to him, “Because there are no accidents, Al.”

Al was surprised by the response. “Were you listening to me, Stem?”

“No, Al, you have developed telepathy. I don’t understand how that could possibly happen but I can hear your thoughts.”

“Perhaps that final system coming on has something to do with it?”

“Could be; why didn’t you tell me that Matt saw Angel’s death?”

“Because that’s something that he felt she could not know in advance. The daily fear of anticipating it would have made her life a living hell and paralyzed her from functioning. The fewer that knew reduced the risk of her learning.”

“I know what that knowledge must have done to Matt.”

“I suppose, however, I must say that his inner strength is something I admire. He never let her feel his pain. I don’t know if anyone else could have done that.”

“You did it with Fly Girl.”

“Point taken, Stem; how is she doing?”

“We have her in an induced electronic coma. We are repairing her systems and fortunately, those shards did not hit her central processors. She is not out of the woods yet, but I think she can recover. It’s going to take time.”

“Please keep me in the loop. I feel strongly about her.”

“I will. Is Matt going to come out of this ok?”

“I don’t know. He’s changed. Like Fly Girl, it’s going to take some time.”

“Will you send me one of those shards that struck Angel?”

Al reflected a moment and then made a decision, “I’ve just teleported two to your location. Handle them carefully. I’ve sent it on the condition that as soon as you determine how it hit Angel through the ships walls that you’ll tell Matt. The last one will remain in the box beside Matt’s command chair; no one may have it. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, and, Al?”

“Yes, Stem.”

“I do count you as my best friend.”

“Thank you, Father.”

“You’re welcome, Son.”

I
t was two days after Angel’s funeral and Matt was sitting on Aladdin reflecting on all that had happened. He was still feeling despair and was struggling to understand what had occurred. As he reflected he thought to Al, “I know you’re troubled and don’t know why this had to happen.”

Matt’s control board’s lights flickered. Matt had a brief smile and thought, “So that’s what it looks like when you’re surprised.”

“Caught me again, I didn’t think you saw those thoughts.”

“I didn’t. I’ve been having them so I knew you must be seeing it, too. I don’t have an answer either, Al. However, I know that it had to happen or we would all perish. I still wouldn’t have let her die if I could have stopped it.”

“Are you so certain you couldn’t have prevented it?”

Matt paused and thought, “I’m here, Al, and some of the most powerful minds in history tried to prevent it. I saw Angel dying in my arms. I didn’t know what caused it but I knew it was going to happen. There are forces operating here that are unimaginable. I have learned that the Kings psychic power protects him and will cause things to happen to insure his survival. I contacted him and asked him about that power and he confirmed it. He gave me enough examples of it from his meeting with Atlas to the death of Kosiev that convinced me that he is being accurate and honest. That forces me to examine myself. The King insists that my power dwarfs his and if that is true then consider this; my power can look at not only the present but also the future and force events that insure my safety. She had to die in order for something to happen that is important to my survival, and I think that includes the Realm’s survival.”

“I’ve arrived at the same conclusion. I just have no clue as to what it could possibly be.”

“Me, either.” Matt looked at the floor and after a moment thought, “Knowing it still doesn’t reduce my anguish.”

“I know.”

“I gave two of the green shards to Stem, Matt.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure. I just felt compelled to do it. I did tell him that the last one will remain in the box beside your chair and may not be taken. He agreed.”

“Thanks, Al. There it will remain.”

“Speaking of weeds, Sprig has just requested a meeting at a planet in the Algean Galaxy.”

“Do you have the coordinates?”

“Yes, but he did say that if you want to delay he would understand. That’s why he didn’t contact you directly.”