Annihilation Series-Searching for a Hero (27 page)

Dean and Dahlia saw the man standing next to Tess and were shocked silent. Dahlia slowly fell into a chair with her mouth still open shaking her head. She knew that man’s face.

Tess felt the strength of the man’s grip and forced herself to focus, “Are you…are you…”

“Human?” Tess nodded. “I am and I see no possible way for you to exist here.”

Tess smiled, “Then we need to find out how it happened.”

Ping smiled with her, “I think that would be a good way to open our dialogue.”

Ping felt his wrist unit vibrate and said, “Not now.”

“I’ve got to know?”

Tess looked at Ping with a puzzled expression and he grinned, “One of my friends insists you can’t exist and he’s beside himself with curiosity.”

Tess tilted her head, “Can he help us figure this out?”

“If anyone in existence can, he’s the one that could.”

“How long will it take him to arrive?”

“About sixty seconds. He’s currently in a distant galaxy with his species fighting the Rageon.”

Tess smirked, “Why so long?”

“You’ll need fifty seconds to notify your ships overhead that he’s coming.”

Tess shook her head and heard, “I’ll let them know.”

“Thanks, Dean.”

Ping raised his wrist unit, “Sprigly, I’m sending you the coordinates of the planet. Scan it when you arrive and land your ship next to mine.”

“I’m coming.”

Tess stared at the young man and three seconds later another small ship appeared beside the first one. If the first person’s appearance shocked her, the second one caused her to sit down. A seven foot tall plant walked off the second ship and she heard its thoughts in her mind, “Ping, this is incredible.” Dean and Dahlia were beyond being shocked. They just sat and stared at the monitor. Dahlia’s mouth was still open.

“Sprigly, this is Tess; she’s the leader of the civilization on this planet.”

“It is my pleasure to meet you, madam.”

Tess shook her head, “I’m somewhat shocked; I would have never dreamed a plant could be intelligent.”

“We get that a lot. The humans in our creation were just as surprised when they first encountered my species.”

Ping nodded, “The Algeans were the most dangerous species my civilization ever faced.”

Tess stared at them and said, “You mean you fought a war between you?”

Ping looked at Sprigly and nodded, “Yes, but we managed to find commonality and end the conflict.”

Sprigly leaned forward, “Ping’s civilization saved us from a disease that was destroying us and forcing us to consume planets. Now we are bound together to prevent the destruction of innocent beings.”

“Sprigly, have you been able to determine anything about her?”

Sprigly turned to Tess, “Would you mind if I scan you?”

“Why do you want to do that?”

“To see if there are any significant differences between Ping and you.” Tess nodded and Sprigly pointed a small device at her and moved it across the length of her body. Sprigly looked at the unit and his leaves turned a dull green.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ping, both of you share a common ancestor. Your DNA is, for all intents, identical.”

Tess heard the conversation and said, “How is that possible?”

The two turned to her and Sprigly said, “It’s not.”

Tess stood up, “Are you saying I’m not real?”

“Nooooo, however, for this to happen, both of your ancestors had to originate on the same planet. Since your two civilizations are not located in the same universe, that’s highly unlikely. Matter of fact, I see no way it could happen.”

Ping watched Tess’ expression and said, “You know something about how it could happen.” Tess stared at Ping and after a moment nodded. Sprigly leaned left showing his confusion. “Will you tell us what you know?”

“I’m reluctant to tell you anything. I still don’t know anything about your motives or if you represent a danger to my people. Until you resolve that issue to my satisfaction, I will not discuss anything about my civilization.”

Ping turned to Sprigly, “Do you have the recordings of the invasions?”

“I do.”

“Tess, do you have a frequency we can send recordings for you to view?”

Tess pressed her necklace, “Dean, I want you to isolate one of our databanks and give me the frequency.”

“Done; the frequency is on your unit.”

Tess lifted a small device from her belt and showed the frequency to Sprigly. Sprigly pressed several places on his device and after a moment said, “I’ve sent them, Your Highness.”

“Sprigly, don’t call me that?”

“We’ve already discussed this; get used to it.”

Tess’ eyebrows came together, “Are you Royalty?”

“I was a Prince, but my title came from my marriage to one of the King’s daughters. She was killed and I no longer have the title.”

“That’s not true; the King has decreed to the Realm that you are, and always will be, a Prince of the Realm.”

“I don’t deserve the title. Please don’t use the honorific.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Ping looked up and rolled his eyes. Tess laughed and said, “What did you just send on that frequency?”

Ping looked away from Sprigly and looked Tess in the eyes, “Hopefully enough to prove we are a friend and not an enemy. View what we sent and we’ll wait here for you to respond. If we don’t hear from you within one rotation of this planet, we will leave and not bother you further.”

Ping turned and walked toward his ship and Sprigly looked at him, back at Tess, and then turned and moved quickly to catch up to Ping. Tess watched them go and after a moment pressed her locket, “Come and get me.”

Sprigly caught up with Ping and heard him say, “Why did you let her know about my title?”

“She needs to know that you have the authority to make agreements.”

Ping looked at Sprigly and after a moment smiled, “I understand. You are the smartest being I’ve ever met.”

“Let’s hope they get the message.”

“There is that. Come to my ship and let’s see how the fight is going.”

• • • • •

Tess arrived back in the control room and saw Dean and Dahlia watching a video on the main monitor. She looked up and saw a massive space battle taking place between the Rageon and small grey ships. “What’s going on?”

Dean shook his head, “It appears the Five have invaded the territory of the being you’ve been talking with. This is a recording of the fight.”

Tess sat down and watched the recording in silence. The numbers of ships being killed was in the millions and the scope of it was monumental. They watched the small Red Ships taking on the Black Ships and the devastation and destruction went without pause for more than an hour. Dean didn’t take his eyes off the monitor, “It does appear that being was right about fighting the Five.”

Tess nodded, “Yes, but that doesn’t make him a friend. If they succeed in defeating the Five, we might be next on their agenda.”

“The evidence doesn’t support that.”

Dean and Tess turned to Dahlia and she shook her head, “The various species fighting the Five are fighting together. That means they work together for a common goal. Notice that the Five fight alone with only their forces. They don’t trust each other and are unwilling to place themselves in a position of jeopardy. I think that being is right about his not being an enemy.”

Tess stared at Dahlia, “I’m not willing to put our planet in jeopardy either based on your thinking he’s not an enemy.”

“We’re already in jeopardy, Tess. What do you think will happen if the Five win the fight against them?”

Tess stared at Dahlia and Dean said, “The Black Ships will come back to resume where they left off.”

Dahlia nodded, “And I suspect they will do a thorough inspection of our planet to determine how much of a danger we represent. Instead of blowing up the planet they may decide to just burn the entire surface with nuclear explosions. We’re in jeopardy no matter what choice you make. The real question is whether or not you would prefer to be in jeopardy with the Black Ships or that being who appears to be one of us.”

“Why do you think he came here, Dahlia?” Dahlia stared at Tess and didn’t say anything. Tess watched her expression closely and said, “You know something.”

“He doesn’t know why he came here.” Dean’s eyebrows went up. Dahlia stood up and blew out a breath, “He’s come here looking for me.”

Dean looked at Tess and saw her shocked expression. He looked at Dahlia and saw she actually believed what she just said. He tried to smile, as he said, “Now Dahlia, you don’t really know that to be true.”

Dahlia smirked, “Do this. Contact him and ask him if he came here looking for someone.” Tess and Dean just stared at her. Dahlia returned their stare and Tess lifted her communicator and stared Dahlia in the eyes, “Let’s end this nonsense now.” She pressed the button and said, “I have a question.”

Ping and Sprigly were watching the monitor and speaking with Admiral Pederson when her voice came over the ship’s loudspeaker. Ping said, “Standby for just a moment, Eric.” He activated his local communicator, “What question is that?”

“Did you come here looking for someone?”

Ping was stunned by the question and Sprigly had two leaves fall off in shock. Ping gathered his wits, “Yes, I did.” Tess nearly dropped the communicator and Dean just shook his head. Ping said, “How did you make that determination?”

Tess was speechless. Dahlia walked up and took the communicator out of her hand and said, “I’ve been expecting you.”

“Who is this?”

“That’s not something I’m going to discuss at the moment.”

Ping heard a female voice and knew he had made an error. He was sure the one he had to find was a male. Were they disguising his voice? He muted the microphone, “Computer, is this voice a female or an artificial voice?”

“The voice is real and is a female.”

Ping shook his head, “I actually thought the one I was looking for was a male.”

Dahlia chuckled, “Men make that mistake a lot.”

Ping paused and looked inside at his senses. He felt something familiar and said, “I felt just like you do now when I discovered what my destiny was and I fought against it. I refused to allow others to dictate my life to me. As a result of my stubbornness, my two best friends and my wife were killed. You should think about the powers that are operating here. I have changed the deadline and I will not be leaving until you agree to speak with me.”

Dahlia’s face turned angry, “You might be here a long time.”

“No, if you won’t speak with me, I’m withdrawing all of my forces and you can discuss this with the Black Ships when they return. I’m not going to throw away the lives of my brave warriors for someone who is not deserving of their sacrifice.”

Dahlia’s face turned white, “I can’t do this. I’m not what you think I am.”

Ping smiled, “You just spoke my feelings exactly when I discovered my destiny. It’s not what you think you are; it’s what you truly are. You don’t know what that is yet.”

Tess and Dean stared at Dahlia like she had three heads. Dahlia turned the communicator off and shook her head, “I can’t do this. I just can’t.” She turned and fled from the room. Tess looked at Dean and he could only shrug.

Ping heard the circuit close and blew out a breath. Now he knew what the Cats felt like when he had rejected his destiny. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy to get her to do what was needed. Sprigly sat and listened to the conversation and after it ended he turned to Ping, “It makes sense in a funny kind of way.” Ping tilted his head. “Humans living here in this creation are an impossibility. However, what species has proven to be the best tool of the forces fighting for balance?” Ping looked at the floor. “Humans are the ultimate tool; you need look no further than Tag and Danielle. Somehow, these humans were transported here.” Ping looked up at Sprigly and after a moment nodded. “We need to find out how.”

“Why?”

“They were brought here for a reason. We need to find out what that reason is. It is critical to the success of our fight here.”

“You must have some kind of evidence to support that belief, Sprigly.”

“Ping, you saw that woman go to a tall tree in the forest.”

“Yeah, so.”

“Where did she go?” Ping stared at Sprigly not saying anything. “My scanner saw here enter that tree and then drop into the planet’s surface. I can no longer find a trace of her. She just disappeared.”

“Is that possible?”

“If she were on this planet, or below its surface, my scanners should be able to see her.”

“Not if she teleported to another planet.”

“Ping, if they had teleportation, don’t you think those ships sent out to meet us would have it as well? They don’t.”

Ping walked over to his panel and activated a high powered scan of the planet. He stared at the results as Sprigly said, “We know those ships left the planet at their northern ice cap. There’s no trace of any kind of facility there.”

Ping started shaking his head, “You’re right. We’ve got to find out about this.”

“Let’s hope they will discuss this with us. In the meantime, we need to raise our shields.” Ping’s eyebrows went up, “If they have a way of preventing us from seeing them, they could have a ship fire on us and we’d never see it coming.”

• • • • •

Tess and Dean heard an alarm go off and they looked at the monitor with the two small ships on it; the force fields were now activated. Dean smiled, “They’ve figured out we can hide from them. They’ll determine the properties of nemite if they do any real exploration.”

Tess nodded, “I guess we’ve shown too much.”

“They’re pretty smart to figure it out.”

Tess sighed, “We might as well talk with them. Hiding our location is now a moot point.” Dean nodded and activated the communicator.

P
ing and Sprigly sat in the control room and marveled at the technology the Planters had used to build the fortifications underground. Sprigly used his device to look at everything and it appeared Tess and her brother weren’t going to make an issue of it. Tess showed them around the facility and then took them back to the control room. Tess looked at Ping, “You said you came here looking for someone. Please tell me what you mean by that?”