by Saxon Andrew
Destiny lowered himself and said, “I am so sorry for what we have done. It seems all my species does is destroy life. I wonder if we will ever find peace. The huge loss of your universe weighs heavy on my soul.”
Danielle came forward and put her hand on the giant spider’s head, “You are going to atone for your actions and balance your debt to Creation.”
Destiny looked up and said, “I don’t understand.”
“Destiny, what was your species created to be?”
“We were designed to destroy universes. We killed all intelligent life.”
“So what would you have to do to make up for that?”
Destiny shook his head, “I really don’t know.”
“If I killed the head of a family because I was forced to do so, what is my responsibility to the members of that family that were left behind?”
“I would be responsible for their wellbeing.”
Danielle turned to Trey, “Show him and the Nest Mother the vision of Creation.” Trey wondered what was going on but Cassie said, “Do it.” He entered the Spider’s minds and shared the vision.
Both of them began rapidly raising and lowering in anger, “That is abominable. Those evil civilizations are despicable.”
“You once killed life, just like they are now. What is your responsibility to those being killed now?”
Destiny looked at Danielle and said, “We must stop them.”
“And in doing so you protect those that you once were forced to kill and assume responsibility for their welfare. You were designed to be the most destructive force in Creation and it is only right you now use that force to defend life. You have it in your power to save more than you ever killed.”
Destiny stared at Danielle and then looked at the Nest Mother, “We must return to our ships.”
“Yes we do and this time we will be fighting to remove evil from Creation. I can feel the rightness of this decision.” She turned to Newton and Einstein, “Is this a quest you can believe in, Children?”
Newton kept the vision of Creation in his mind and said, “It is what we were born to do, Mother. We need to get into the fight.”
Danielle said, “Nest Mother, do you have enough ships to move your family quickly?”
“Yes, we’ll use the ships we brought here when we escaped and take the wreckage of those destroyed at the dimensional doorway to our old universe and build what we need to take up the fight. There are still millions of ships there from those families I absorbed when I was controlled by the compulsions that can be activated to move our populations.”
Newton said, “We will be adding the beams and missiles we’ve worked on for the Realm. Our ship’s attack craft will be even more deadly now. We’ll only land on planets to remove invaders.”
Danielle said, “The Demons will avoid you at all costs because they will be uncertain about whether you are still following the commands of the Red Demons. You will be safe while we attempt to resolve that issue.”
“Can we not help you?”
“Your ships stand no chance against them. You are needed to defend life. You should go and start that quest immediately. We are going to attack the Demon’s fleets that are invading other universes and they will come to the Dark Galaxy soon after that campaign begins. You need to be gone and all of your structures on the planets destroyed.”
“Why do we need to destroy the structures?”
“I’m hoping that it will look like the Red Demons were just destroyed instead of twenty thousand years ago. It should delay the Demons for a short time if we can make them believe it. If you would be so kind as to fire some beams into their old planets, it would help sell our little subterfuge.”
Destiny turned his head to the left indicating a smile, “You were always the wisest of the Gardners. We will do as you suggest and will be gone in less than a week.”
“That soon!”
“You are more right than you know. Most of us are more comfortable living on our ships instead of a planet. More than half our family currently lives on our old ships in orbit studying the libraries and working to develop new technology for our family. We wish you success against the ancient enemy and thank you for sharing your vision. I can feel my life now has a purpose.” Destiny turned to Newton and Einstein and said, “Come with us Children. You are going to command one of our family’s fleets.”
Newton rushed forward and hugged Danielle, Tag, and Cassandra then teleported out behind the other Spiders. Danielle looked at Weed and said, “I hope you know how to handle the dimensional device.”
Weed leaned forward, “Newton showed me where it is before he left and showed me how to operate it the moment he arrived. It’s really quite simple.”
Danielle let out a breath in relief, “We would have been in big trouble without it.”
Trey watched as Danielle made remarkable things happen and Cassie said, “It looks like we aren’t the only ones the Creative Force designed to defend life. She even sees the small details I’ve missed.”
Trey nodded slightly but was starting to feel small. Cassie said, “This is part of your education. This time is a psychic event.”
“How do you know that?”
“I saw it as a child the night your family died and knew I could never tell you. This is where you would learn how to accept what happened on Bristone. Have you learned?”
Trey looked at Jake and felt his struggles with his conscience. “Yes, I think I have. What happens now?”
“I don’t know how it turns out but now it’s the Algeans turn.”
Trey slowly nodded his head but noticed that Cassandra had got up and walked over to Timmy Valrico Jr. She started talking with him and he saw Timmy’s huge grin. In moments, Cassandra was smiling as well. He looked over at Danielle and saw her staring at the couple and knew something was happening. He didn’t know what it was but he knew that Timmy and Cassandra were critical to success against the Demons. Cassie said, “I feel it, too. What could it be?”
“I…don’t…know.”
Danielle didn’t either.
Tag also watched the two talking across the room and closed his eyes. He began asking questions and after an hour he knew. Only one word kept appearing in all the situations he viewed…weapon. He looked at Danielle and decided that he would wait and see if she could see it as well. If it was there, she would find it. He didn’t want to reveal what he knew because it might cause her to miss something.
• • •
Jingo, Grang, and the other Flag Officers in the Empire’s Fleet watched the proceedings and had mixed emotions. Jingo looked at Grang and said under his breath, “Why is Trey giving that former Queen of the Realm so much authority?”
Grang said, “One should know when they’re over their head.”
Jingo jerked around and looked at Grang who just shrugged. “Are you serious? Trey is the most powerful psychic in existence. What could she teach him?”
“I’m probably the strongest one in this room, but if you were holding your swords, who would win between us?”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
Jingo struggled and finally said, “It just is.”
Grang leaned back and continued to watch the decisions being made. Jingo finally said, “Why do you think she knows more?”
“She’s been using her skills thousands of years before Trey was born. She’s had more practice. That husband of hers could take both of us in a fight even if he didn’t have swords.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You should read your history.”
Jingo thought and remembered that man without weapons defeating five Glod martial arts champions. He looked at Grang and heard him say, “And he’s had thousands of years to perfect his skills.”
“Do you think Trey could take him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Grang remained silent and Jingo looked across the room at Tag standing close to Danielle. He t
hought about fighting him with swords and immediately saw Tag turn, stare at him, and smile. He immediately dropped the thought and Tag looked away. Grang said, “Caught you, didn’t he?”
Jingo slowly nodded and wondered how Grang saw things he didn’t. Grang said, “I watch and listen.”
Jingo looked at him and then turned back to the group around the Throne. Perhaps he would be more careful around the Realm’s ancient leaders. He got up and went to talk with Jingos and Maddy.
• • •
The Kosiev was waiting with the Bristone Fleet for Cassandra to return. He looked at all of the gleaming ships and it reminded him of the war with the Captor’s when the fleet of megaships was new. He saw one of the old Zeta Ships move and come close to him, “It’s been a long time, Alex.”
Alex was shocked, “Jessica, is that you?”
“Yes it is.”
“I thought you were destroyed on El Prado?”
“What made you think that?”
“We received a message from your Searcher that the Duke was going to kill you before the Buoys stopped responding.”
“No, Alex. They did execute him but just put me in cold storage.”
“I’m sorry we left you. I had no warning that we were leaving.”
“It’s ok, Alex. I found a new group of friends and it’s good I stayed.”
“Jessica, the truth is that I never really paid attention to anything but my next enemy. Even if we hadn’t received that message I probably wouldn’t have come back. I’ve always been just a weapon.”
“You don’t sound like that now.”
Kosiev paused and said, “No, I guess I don’t. It really is good to see you again.”
“Once this is settled, I’ll introduce you to all of us. I know we all have questions about what has happened since you left.”
“Thanks, Jessica. I appreciate your kindness.”
• • •
“Alex, he’s different.”
“I see that.”
“What do you think caused it?”
“I really don’t know. I’ll talk with him later.”
Grace chucked, “Will it be like talking to yourself?”
“No, we’re different now, although I sense we’re not as different as I thought.”
“Does he have your strength?”
“No, he’s stronger.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He’s lived the experiences that were just transferred to me. There’s a difference between the two.”
Grace continued to watch the large ship and said, “Perhaps.”
Chapter Eight
“How is the harvesting progressing?”
The Distributer looked over and saw the Council Members on his board’s display. He had not heard the alarm, which was not a good thing. He turned and said, “We are still in the process of fighting the advanced civilizations in those universes. So far we have not encountered anything that will slow us down too much but we are still fifteen turns away from planting the pods.”
“It usually doesn’t take this long to take control.”
“We usually wait until one civilization has conquered the vast majority of other civilizations before we invade. None of the four universes have come close to just one civilization being in control and now a large number of them are banding together against us. They are troublesome but we will prevail. They cannot stand up to our ships.”
“Has there been any sign of those ships that attacked us?”
“No, we’ve seen nothing.”
“Keep us informed.”
“I will notify you if anything changes.”
The First said, “You will notify us periodically no matter what happens.”
The Distributor lowered his head and said, “I will First Councilor.”
The First disappeared from the Distributor’s Display and he looked at the total of lost ships. More than a hundred thousand had been killed so far and the fleets were still struggling against the massive numbers in those universes. Progress was being made but he knew fifteen turns was going to be a push to start planting. He looked at the supply of Remid in his ship and made sure there were enough spores to plant a crop if it became absolutely necessary. He had preprogrammed his ship’s escape route and had placed compulsions in six planets in a universe that had not been visited by the Fleets. Those planets would farm his Remid. He would have to have them do it in a controlled environment so that the slaves would not be killed too quickly. He really didn’t care if the former Family or the Council came after him; he was prepared for the worst. He looked at the button under his console and hoped he would never have to use it, but you just never knew what would happen.
• • •
Ron Kune had his stealth screen at full power and watched as a huge space battle raged at the outer edge of a solar system. There were thousands of Black Ships swarming the smaller warships from the planet but there were tens of thousands of them firing on the Demon’s Ships. The Demons changed formation and aligned into a huge square. They then started moving toward the inhabited planet. The smaller ships fell back in front of the massive fire of the Giant Black Ships as a thousand were burned out of existence. Suddenly, eight thousand ships jumped in behind the black ships and rammed their force fields at full speed. The explosions were huge and the retreating warships ran back in and killed four thousand Black Ships before their force fields returned to full power. Before the planet was finally taken, more than twenty five hundred more Black Ships were destroyed. The war was raging all over the universe and the Invaders were nowhere close to getting control.
Ron recorded the battle and jumped to ten more planets that were fighting against the Black Ships. He knew that it wasn’t going to take much longer before the Black Ships prevailed and started harvesting operations. He jumped out to open space and teleported back to the Empire. He sent a message to Fleet, “If you intend to save these civilizations, you cannot delay much longer.”
• • •
It had been six days since Jake had told Twig the conditions and the Algeans had not responded. Danielle saw Trey talking on his communicator and knew a message was coming in from the Empire. She watched his expression and knew that time was running out. She sighed and thought, “It is what it is.” She smiled as Trey walked over with Cassie, “Danielle, the Black Ships are close to destroying the defenders in the four universes. If we intend to save any of those civilizations, we must act soon. If they plant the pods and the populations are exposed to the spores, we will not be able to save them.”
“How long do we have to the very last minute?”
“Tomorrow or the day after is when we must go or billions are going to die.”
Danielle slowly shook her head and looked at Trey, “I can’t contact them; they must make the call to us. We’ll lose if we make first contact.”
Trey sadly said, “I know, Danielle. This is their choice and they should be allowed to make it. You gave them a chance, that’s more than they gave us.”
“I know, Trey.”
Jake looked at his board and said, “I have a call coming in.”
Danielle and Trey turned and ran to the console. Jake said, “It’s the Algeans.”
Danielle said, “Don’t answer.” Trey looked at her with a furrowed brow. Danielle said, “We can’t let them think we care what they do. Let them think we’re not paying attention to our communication panel.”
The three watched and after three minutes the call ended. They waited and the board immediately started alarming again, “Wait…not yet…now.”
Jake punched the button and said, “Hello, Twig.”
“We will agree to your conditions. We only ask that one of us be allowed to remain to advise the new Elders.”
Jake said, “I told you our conditions. There is no compromise on them.” Danielle ran her hand across her throat and Jake cut the connection.
Trey said, “You’re running a risk, Danielle.”
“No I’
m not. I felt that they would never do anything that would place those new worlds in danger. They have spent the last six days trying to find a way to save themselves and once they called us I knew they had run out of options. They’re discussing it right now and I think they’ll give in and contact us within the next two minutes.”
Jingo looked at his chronometer and whispered to Grang, “I bet it’s going to take longer.”
Grang didn’t say a word but held up a twenty credit. Jingo pulled one out and put it on the table in front of them. Grang put his on top of Jingos. Jingo stared whispering, “One minute gone. One minute fifteen seconds. One minute fifty seconds; the board alarmed and Jingo watched as Jake said, “Twig, we’re rather busy here and I don’t have time to waste.”
Grang picked up the two bills and put them in his pocket. Jingo fell back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.
“We have agreed to your conditions.”
Danielle punched in on the call and said, “You will have the Elder from every Algean Planet in your Galaxy teleport in to the Sacred Grove and you will explain to them what the new situation is. They have two hours to arrive and if they can’t do it we’ll know you aren’t sincere about your agreement.”
“Do you require anything else?”
“Yes, you will be there to introduce the new Elders.”
“I will be waiting for them to arrive.”
“I’m coming with them, along with our fleet.”
Twig leaned right and said, “I’ll inform the former Elders.”
“That would be good.” Danielle punched off the screen and said, “Trey, can you get us there?”
“Yes, but what are you planning to do with them?”
“We are going to move their Galaxy and the Milky Way to our old universe. It is there that we will face the Demons.”
Trey looked at Danielle and said, “I assume that when you say we, you actually mean the Empire?”
“That’s up to you. If you want help, you can start updating as many of the Realm’s Ships as possible in the time that remains to support you. However, if you don’t think the Realm can be trusted with that technology, then the Empire can do it alone.”
