Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher (43 page)

“If you start hitting them they will change.”

“Then we will hold off as long as possible.”

“What happens if they stumble on to one of the Realm’s planets?”

“Then we will move the planet.”

Destiny flinched, “You can do that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry; I didn’t tell you. We moved that first planet you looked for and replaced it with a barren planet.”

Destiny laughed, “I should have guessed. Well, it should make for interesting viewing. I do expect them to send fifty or more ships to investigate the system those two main ships were destroyed.”

“Let them. That is only going to make them wonder what happened.”

“I’d hate to be their Supreme Male when the Nest Mother is asking for answers.”

“I’ve heard he’ll taste good on a cracker.”

Both Destiny and Eyes laughed at that.

“Attention all Searchers, this is Fleet Command. We will be tagging you to the invader’s ships as they enter our universe. Stay with your assigned ship and be prepared to launch your penetrator on command. We anticipate a four or five month delay until the main body starts arriving so be patient and don’t lose your assigned ship. If the invader has launched ships before the fire command, notify us so we can send support to knock out the small ships. The remainder of the Searcher fleet will standby awaiting the coordinates of those mother ships that have launched ships.”

Life waited and watched the ship he was assigned jump away and join the other ships as they formed a wall a hundred thousand miles from the entry point. He read the jump track and knew that his assigned ship was not moving very far so he held his position another hundred thousand miles further out. He was sorry that he was going to be forced to kill that huge ship but more would die if he didn’t. He looked over at the mass of ships around him with their red screens glowing and felt a sense of pride at being a part of this group of fine pilots. It seemed the war with the trade planets was just yesterday and he still remained thankful for the people who had come and given his people new meaning for their lives. He waited and anticipated the coming conflict. He knew it was going to be unlike anything he had ever imagined. “Wild Man, are you locked in on our ship?”

“Yes, Life, I’ve got him covered like the seat of your pants.”

Life laughed and felt the bond between him and his ship.

Colonel Brez stood in front of General Durk. The Commanding General of the Red Warriors had called him in and he was wondering what was going on. “He’s probably angry about that attack ship that managed to land on one of the megas during the last battle.”

General Durk looked up from his desk and Brez snapped to attention. Durk returned his salute, “Sit down Colonel.” Brez took a chair and Durk said, “We are anticipating that we will not be able to hit every invader ship before they launch their ships. We also know that there is a good possibility that some planets may have invader ships landing on their surface. We are not going to just stand by anymore and watch as civilizations are destroyed. You are promoted to the rank of General and will assume command of the Third Division and will be the first unit teleported to defeat the invaders on the ground.”

Brez was stunned, “Sir, there are many higher ranking officers than me. Why have I been selected for this duty?”

“Because Prince Gardner has been observing you and has issued commands that you be placed in command of one of our divisions. We happen to place great faith in his opinion and in his psychic abilities to make the right decisions. I expect you to have your warriors ready to defend an entire planet against millions of those green monsters. You’ll be heavily outnumbered but I expect the best from you and your men.”

Brez looked at General Durk, “I will do my best, General.”

“From what I’ve heard, your best is pretty good. You’re dismissed. Your unit will be waiting for your arrival.”

Brez snapped to attention, saluted, and ran from the room before Durk could return his salute. Durk shook his head and thought, “I imagine those creatures will have more than they can handle with this Red Warrior.”

Matt and Melanie were sitting in the map room at Castle Gardner with Tag and Danielle. They were watching the feed from the entry point as more and more of the huge green ships came through. “There as so many of them,” Danielle said.

Matt nodded and continued to watch.

“I pray we can survive this.”

Matt looked at Melanie and said, “We can.”

Melanie raised an eyebrow at him, “How can you be so sure?”

“Because the ship the Reg gave us is now fully active.”

Tag and Danielle both said, “What!”

“The final system on Al is now working so that tells me that the ship is now operational.”

Tag looked at him and said, “Why haven’t you told us?”

“Because we are never going to use it; we are going to return it to them.”

All three just stared at him.

“I understand your shock about this but I know that if we use it the Reg will die. They will not be able to endure what the use of that ship causes. I cannot allow my brothers to suffer that fate.”

Melanie looked at him and said, “Are you sure about that?”

“I know that they have decided as a race that they would rather die than allow further loss of life by those invaders. They think that death is better than life knowing how many will die due to their inactivity. We have to win this war on our own. Are you willing to allow those that may someday cause the defeat of these creatures to go to their death? I believe that with enough time they can overcome the forces than compel them not to act. That is one ship; they can produce millions of them if they are able to beat that compulsion. I can’t risk the fate of untold billions of future civilizations on the chance that we might win using it.” Matt looked at Tag and said, “If you command me to use it, I will obey. I just cannot do it if the decision is mine.”

Danielle looked at Matt, “Can we win without it?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

Tag and Danielle looked at each other. Tag walked over and put his arm around Matt, “Nor can we take that kind of action knowing it will cause the death of an entire race.”

“I was hoping you would feel that way.”

Sprig and Twig stood with Edison looking at the device he had built. He explained how it operated and they saw that he had actually found a better way to work the system. Sprig was actually amazed at how simple the device operated. “You say you did this after learning that we were able to teleport?”

“Yes, I assumed that it must work around null space and move directly to the location you desired to travel.”

“You’re right. You also mentioned that you might be able to teleport into another universe.”

“The principle is really no different than moving around this universe; the initial coordinate is different, though.”

“What do you mean initial coordinate?”

“Each universe has its own frequency. You wouldn’t know that because you have existed only in this one. To teleport to another universe you need the initial numbers from that universe and the coordinates of the place you want to go.”

Sprig looked at Twig, “Can your device teleport to another universe?”

Edison turned his head sideways indicating a laugh and said, “No, I’m missing some of the functions necessary to make that happen.”

Sprig said, “But you said you could teleport the green substance and also teleport ships back to where they came from.”

“Oh it can be done; Einstein has promised me the equations in another seven days.”

“Who is Einstein?”

“He’s one of my brothers. He is fascinated by the laws that govern physical properties. He chose that name because of the famous ancient human. He’s actually much smarter than I am. I’m more of an engineer; he’s the one that comes up with the principles I use to design my devices.”

Sprig and Twig were dumbfounded. Twig keyed her com, “Destiny.”

“Yes, Twig.”

“One of your children has taken the human name Einstein. Would you please teleport him to our location.”

“Why, has he caused trouble?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“If it’s the same Einstein I punished last week for converting one of the lakes on the last planet into uranium, then he’s always up to mischief.”

“How did he do that?”

“I don’t know; he said he needed it to catch a few quarks for an experiment.”

“Destiny, I’m reasonably certain that he’s the one.”

Edison was shaking his head, “No, it’s not him. He isn’t very bright actually. Einstein is in the engine room developing a drive that should push our ship faster than light.”

Destiny heard what Edison said and yelled, “Eyes. Get that child out of the engine room.”

“Destiny, I think we need to build a school for your children to develop their talents.”

“We need to build something. They’re developing individual personalities and their curiosity is out of control. One of them cut a section from the hull and made a statue.”

“What did they cut it with?”

Destiny looked at his screen and said, “I really don’t know.”

Twig thought, “I really think you should find out.”

“Eyes, get me the artist. What’s his name?”

“Leonardo something.”

“Well get him up here. Ah, here’s Einstein.”

“What do you want, Father?”

“Are you the subject matter expert on teleportation?”

“I was last week. I’ve moved on to another subject.”

Sprig said, “We need your help on teleportation?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want. I just think using psychic skills to move objects around the universes will be so much more efficient but I’ll certainly help you with teleportation if that’s what you need.”

Sprig looked at Twig and thought, “What have we found here?”

“I don’t know, Dear, but please remember you melted a Megaship in your youth.”

Einstein and Edison looked at Sprig with wonder in their eyes. “You did what?”

Destiny laughed, “Now they have a new hero. He’s all yours, Sprig.”

Matt was at his console watching the ships continue to pour into his universe. His com buzzed and he saw Sprig on it, “What’s up?”

“These young spiders are showing a tremendous rate of development. If we can get through the first invasion, we will have some tools to take this war to their home turf.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know the Reg’s ship is going to be able to travel between universes.”

“Yeah.”

Well one of the young spiders has found the set of conditions that would allow us to build our own vessels to do that. He is not far from finding the missing concepts that govern that type of movement. We also have an artist on Destiny’s ship that cut a piece of the hull off to make a statue. We have him here now showing us how he did it. It seems these youngsters are just as precocious and enterprising as our adolescents.”

Sprig, let’s go see Destiny. I have been looking at the data we have on the spider in earth’s past that resembles them. I think he needs to know what we’ve found.”

“I’ll meet you on his bridge.”

“Destiny, Sprig and Matt are coming for a meeting.”

“Did they say why, Eyes?”

“Something about a thing called a spider.”

“What is that?”

“I really don’t know.”

Sprig and Matt appeared on the bridge and Destiny said, “What brings you here?”

“Matt said, “I have a recording of an animal that once lived on my planet. I want you to take a look at it and tell me what you think.”

Destiny shrugged and took the recording and inserted it into his console. “Eyes, I’m also feeding this to your console.” The two of them watched the recording and both of them flinched as soon as they saw the first picture. “Where did you say you got this?”

“It is a creature that once existed on my home planet, Destiny. It was very small and it built webs that it used to catch its prey.”

Destiny looked at Eyes and said to Matt, “That is an exact picture of the Nest Mother. The hour glass shape on the abdomen is positioned exactly as it is on her and it is also the same exact size compared to the body size. This makes me wonder if this is a common ancestor.”

Sprig straightened up, “We believe it is, Destiny. We theorize that a creature like this bit a life form and absorbed some of its intelligence. Once that happened, we think your race is now the end product.”

Eyes stared at his screen and asked, “Did you find out anything about this creature?”

Matt paused and said, “Yes. It was called a spider and at one time there were millions of different species on my planet. During our last great war, a nation released a toxin that they thought would kill humans but actually killed every spider on the planet.”