Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher (38 page)

“I don’t know what you mean by family.”

“It appears you possess some knowledge about my species so you probably know that a major harvest is scheduled for this universe.”

“I am aware of that.”

The Ship’s Male was shocked by this news but continued, “One family is used to harvest each universe. My family was scheduled to come and harvest but the destruction of those ships angered our Nest Mother and she consumed every member of my family except for those on this ship.”

Matt was stunned. “How many ships like yours did she consume?”

“More than eight million.”

Melanie thought, “Oh my ancestors.”

Matt thought, “That seems like a terrible waste of life but after observing your actions here I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“No, I suspect you wouldn’t be. My species does destroy numerous life forms.”

“So why are you communicating now?”

“I have decided that I am not ready to just submit to being killed. After I had that thought it dawned on me that whoever had destroyed our ships probably felt the same way toward us. I must confess being on the other end of this has the effect of changing one’s point of view. I decided to try and talk with you about it.”

“You know we could have destroyed your ship when you opened your doors and ignored your attempt to communicate.”

“We’re dead either way. The Nest Mother will never let us live after what I’ve just done.”

You mean communicate with another species.”

The Ship’s Male was surprised how quick this being caught on, “Exactly; I’m struggling with what to do and I’m uncertain about what path to take for my children on this ship.”

All of the millions of Eight Legs on the ship could hear the conversation and there was great anger among them hearing of their family’s destruction.

“Why don’t you just leave our universe and go hide?”

“It’s not that simple. They will find us and in the end we will die. I just can’t bring myself to yield to that destiny.”

“What do you expect from us? Surly you know we are angry about the civilizations you’ve destroyed. Do you think you can just come in and kill as you please without consequences?”

“Up until this moment I’ve never really thought about it from that perspective. I looked at my actions as gathering nourishment for my children and didn’t really consider how our meal was affected by our harvest. This experience sheds new light on that position.”

“You have to have known you were killing beings with intelligence.”

“Does your species consume protein?”

Matt hesitated but answered, “Yes, but not from intelligent beings.”

“Then help me understand the difference.”

“Give me a moment.”

“Take all the time you need. We’re not going anywhere for the near future.”

Matt thought to Melanie, “Can you help me with this one?”

Melanie shrugged and said, “Sorry, he’s right. Does a cow feel any different from an intelligent being about being eaten?”

“Melanie, there is a difference.”

“Sure but not one you can explain logically to a being that looks at all life as being a meal; some meals are just more tasty than others.”

“Ask Sprig,” Al suggested.

“Sprig, have you got a moment?”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“I’m having a conversation with the Eight Leg Commander of the mother ship and..”

“You’re what!!”

“Calm down, we’re discussing the difference between eating lower animal life forms and intelligent beings and he has asked me to explain the difference.”

“Are you out of you mind! That is the enemy. He now knows we exist.”

“He knew anyway. He parked his ship and opened all his ports and left them open to try and open a dialogue.”

“Give me your coordinates.”

“Al, send them.”

Five seconds later Sprig, Twig, Tag, Danielle, and Stem appeared on his bridge.

Al said, “Oh you’ve done it now. Excuse me while I go hide.”

“You big sissy.”

“Shut up, Fly Girl.”

Tag looked at Matt and said, “What’s going on here?”

“I’m having a conversation with the Eight Leg Commander of the mother ship. It seems that he has had an epiphany about life and death since his Nest Mother has just consumed eight million ships just like his. He seems to know that he’s next. I was telling him how we are angry about all the civilizations he’s destroyed and he asked if I consumed protein. I told him yes but not intelligent beings. He asked me to please explain the difference and I really didn’t know how to answer him. Do any of you have a suggestion?”

The five looked at Matt like he had three heads. “What possessed you to open a conversation,” Danielle asked?

Al said, “That Eight Legs started it; he opened all his ports inviting us to kill him.”

Tag said, “If you don’t mind, Al. I would like to hear Matt’s ideas.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll shut up.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Ok then. I’ll keep quiet.”

Matt laughed and said, “I’d give up if I were you, Tag.”

“You better listen to him, Your majesty.”

Tag looked at Matt and he said, “That was Melanie’s ship, Fly Girl.”

“Oh, alright, this is an open conversation.”

“So how do you explain the difference,” Al asked?

“Before I even get into that, I want to know why we should communicate with him under any circumstances.”

Matt smiled and said, “Tag, look at that ship and tell me what your sense of danger tells you.”

Tag closed his eyes and felt no danger then opened them, “You’ve made your point but I still see no reason to talk with our enemy.”

“I didn’t see anything else to do. If I destroyed him when he opened his doors then my ships would not get the practice they need. I thought I’d ask him to close them so we could destroy him later.”

Danielle started snickering and soon everyone started laughing. Finally Matt asked, “So how do I tell him the difference?”

Twig looked at him and said, “From the perspective of the one being consumed there is no difference.”

Matt’s face lit up. “Thanks, Twig. I think I have an answer. Is it alright to continue my dialogue?”

Everyone looked at each other saying nothing. Al piped up, “I know ya gotta be curious about how these creatures think.”

Tag sighed and said, “Go ahead.”

Matt turned and looked at the huge ship on his display, “I think I have an answer for you.”

“Did it take that long to figure it out?”

“Quite honestly, I had to ask for help. The main difference between consuming lower life forms and intelligent life forms is the amount of pain endured by knowing what’s coming. Intelligent life forms suffer much longer and much more intensely anticipating their death. Kind of like what you’re going through now.”

There was silence and then the Ship’s Male thought, “I think I can see what you’re saying. There is also the struggle to survive that places intense pressure on those being consumed. I am sorry for what pain I’ve caused. Even if a meal tastes better, that doesn’t make it right to cause that kind of torment. I’m sorry I bothered you. I don’t blame you for not wanting to assist us.”

“What were you thinking we could do to help?”

“My former commander, before he was consumed, thought you had a way to hide a planet. If you did possess that kind of technology, I would want to try and get you to hide us when the full harvest starts.”

“When you opened your ports, did you believe that we could destroy your ship?”

“I believed you have a way of destroying our ships. I didn’t know if you could destroy one this big.”

“We are going to stop your species from consuming us. Can you just sit by and watch us destroy those of your kind that are coming?”

“We have sat by for millions of years and watched our leaders destroy millions of us. Watching you do it wouldn’t be much of a change. If you were going to be eaten by some members of your species, would you worry about whether or not they were killed when they came close to where you were hiding?”

“You don’t understand; I intend to kill every member of your species and stop this killing of intelligent life.”

“Do you think you can do that?”

‘I don’t know, but I intend to try.”

“Can’t say that I blame you for that, however, what if my children and I agree to never consume another intelligent species. Would that remove us from the list of those you intend to destroy?”

“Damn if I know. That’s a question that I would need to take up with my leaders. However, how could I trust that you would keep your commitment?”

“Well, that’s a tough question. From what you’ve just told me I can assume that you can destroy my ship even if my ports were closed?”

“I really think we could and I was hoping to give it a try when you came here but with your ports open it just wouldn’t allow us to try our best weapons on you.”

“My but you sound like someone I might recognize. Perhaps you’re not so much different from us as I thought.”

Matt flinched at the observation and immediately felt a sense of guilt. He didn’t want to but he was starting to like this Eight Legs.

“However, the only way to see if we keep our promise is to just see. A person who is facing death will promise everything. We aren’t facing it at this very moment so our promise might have more weight than the moment just before your best weapons hit my ship.”

Tag was shaking his head. He was trying not to smile but wasn’t being successful.

Sprig thought, “Could the rest of your species resist consuming intelligent civilizations?”

“You sound different from the first being. The answer to your question is no. They cannot nor will they want to resist changing their eating habits.”

“What makes you and your children different?”

“After our last harvest we were not successful in gathering a good meal. We went hungry for a long time. That’s why we were sent here first. I think that lack of a big meal has made a difference in us. The time we’ve spent chasing you around several systems has also thinned us. I can sense my children and they, like I, don’t have the insatiable hunger for intelligence that others of my species possess. I don’t know how to answer your question except to say that we can harvest life forms that are not intelligent for our meals. I am the surviving leader of my family and my children will follow my orders. That’s how we are made. My connection to the Nest Mother died with my Supreme Male; she no longer has any control over me.”

“I don’t understand what you mean by control?”

“The Supreme Male of each family has total control over every member. They are chosen by the Nest Mother and when they are selected she downloads into them a compulsion to give her all that they learn. The Supreme Males do this by downloading a copy of everything the children gathered during the harvest. The Supreme Male also puts that compulsion into his children so that they will surrender their harvest when ordered by him. There is no choice; we are compelled by forces we cannot resist when those orders are given.”

Matt thought a moment, “So why are things different for you now?”

“Because the Nest Mother consumed my entire family with all of the Ship’s Males and the Supreme Male. The compulsion placed in me by my ship’s former commander which came from the Supreme Male ended with the death of the Supreme Male. The Nest Mother consumed my family’s Supreme Male before my ship was taken. I have looked at my data banks and I cannot find anywhere in our history where that has ever happened. Usually every ship is downloaded, or consumed if punished, after the harvest is completed so that all ships are present. My ship is the first ship to ever be completely free of the compulsion passed down by the Nest Mother. I can feel it and so can my children. We are, for the moment, free.”

“Why for the moment?”

“Because we will be found by the other families; they will be able to see us as soon as they enter whatever universe we travel. They will block the exit and destroy us.”

Matt jerked, “How will they block the exit?”

“Place enough main ships around it so I can’t get to it to escape.”

“Stand by a moment.”

“Sure.”

Matt turned to the group and said, “I think we need to help this ship.”

Danielle looked around and said, “I agree.”

Melanie said, “Me, too.”

Sprig looked at the two human females and asked, “Why do you say that? These creatures are universe killers.”

“Because I think that they are universe killers because of the compulsion placed in them by their Nest Mother,” Danielle said. “Did you notice that they backed off invading a system to come here and communicate? Ask them why they did that, Matt.”