by Saxon Andrew
“I didn’t think any of the destroyed Feeder Ships were radioactive.”
“They weren’t. The scientists are of the opinion that this particle strips the electrons from the nucleus of normal atoms and replaces them with a small piece of it. The nucleus is balanced by the weight of this new particle and doesn’t fly apart. However, all the molecular bonds that hold the atoms together are broken and the structure they’re in just falls apart. It’s a kind of disintegration without the hazard of radiation.”
“What happens to the electrons?”
“This new particle doesn’t have a long life and it decays almost immediately after releasing the electrons.”
“There should be a high level of radiation when they’re released.”
“Most of them can be stopped by a sheet of paper. The vast majority simply fly off into space.”
Chase sat up straight, “What caused the heat that made the Feeder Warship explode and burn?”
“All of the shielding around their power conduits and reactors failed and released the energy into the interior of their ships. They burned from the inside out. They were carrying enough heavy weapons on board that blew up with the sudden rise in temperature from the release of all the energy being used to operate their ships.”
“I wonder what effect that beam would have on the silver coating that covers our hull.”
“The scientists do as well.”
Derek looked at Chase and he started shaking his head, “Hey, they destroyed Carmichael’s light ship.”
“Did he have his disruptor tubes open?”
Chase stared at Derek and shook his head, “Of course his tubes were open. He was in a combat zone and that’s standard procedure.”
“So we really don’t have an answer do we?”
“We don’t have to take a hit to find out?”
“Then how do you suggest we do it?”
“Fire a light missile at the ship and see if the beam knocks it out. The missiles are also coated with the silver coating.”
Derek pursed his lips and nodded, “That’s good thinking, very good thinking.”
“The scientists asked if you could find out if the coating would stand up to that beam.”
Chase started laughing and Derek stared at him. Speedy said, “I don’t find anything humorous about that request.”
“I wonder if they were here instead of sitting at their computer consoles, if they would make that request. I suspect they’d give it more thought.”
Derek shook his head, “I doubt it. They’re recommend sending someone into a cage with a Grondon to determine how powerful its jaws were.”
Chase laughed again and shook his head, “It’s just like real estate.”
“How is that?”
“Location, location, location.”
Derek shook his head and joined Chase laughing. Speedy actually sighed over the wall speaker, “I still don’t find it at all funny.”
“I wonder how they produce enough of those particles to make a beam.”
“You saw the emissions from that planetary system. They were incredibly high even from the edge of the planetary system. They must produce them on their planets.”
Chase nodded, “You’re probably right about that, Speedy.”
Derek managed to get his laughter under control and looked up, “Was there anything else in the message?”
“The Analysists in Fleet Intelligence are of the opinion that the rods they use to track electronic waves are not inside the purple field.”
“What?”
“They think the field would block their ability to scan.”
Chase looked at Derek, “They might be right about that. We had to extend an antenna outside our force fields to make scans when we used to keep our force fields active at all times.” Derek stared at him and Chase shrugged, “The stealth field allows electronic waves to pass through without allowing them to be reflected back out. We no longer have to extend antennas to receive them now.”
“But that warship went straight to your location.”
“They were able to see the probe’s data signal and simply used their rods to triangulate where they were being received. They probably didn’t see my ship.”
“Oh, so now you’re saying that they can’t see into the barrier?”
“Not really. It just explains how they located Carmichael and my ship. It does offer some evidence that you may be right about their not seeing into the barrier. By the way, did all the others in Intelligence agree with your assessment about their not being able to see into the barrier?” Derek said nothing. “Derek, did they agree with your assessment?”
Derek threw up his hands, “No they didn’t. They agreed with you that they could. That’s why I insisted on coming on this mission to show them I’m right.”
Chase stared at Derek and rolled his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling, “You have got to be…”
“No, I’m not. If they knew about the barrier, they would be using it. If you look at the time it took for that ship to go and destroy Carmichael’s Light Ship and then come back to destroy the probe and them skip to your location, you’d see that they are not using the barrier. It took too long.”
“Hell, Derek. The size of that ship precludes them using the barrier. The thing is too big to fit in it. But the necessities of being able to generate that beam may be the reason they don’t use it, not that they don’t know about it.”
Derek stared at Chase, stood up, threw his hands up, shook his head and then sat back down, “You’re right. I didn’t consider that.”
Chase looked at Derek and shook his head, “Was that so hard to say?”
“You have no idea.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m starting to come over to your side on this.”
“What?”
“That ship materialized less than a mile from my location. If it could see me, I don’t think it would have come that close and moved inside the range of my weapons. Not when their beam has a range of at least a thousand miles.”
“I didn’t think of that.”
“It’s still just conjecture, but it’s there.”
“We need you in Intelligence.”
“Never happen. I will not be chained to a desk.”
“I can’t argue with that. So, what do we do now?”
“Speedy, did the probe get a return on those rods?”
“I’ve just taken another look at the data we received before it was destroyed and there was a small return mixed in with the data. At the time, I thought it was caused by small pieces of the destroyed Feeder Ships. Now, I can see that it was coming from outside the area of destruction. It wasn’t a long way outside the debris field and small pieces that were exploded away could have caused it. However, it might have been those rods on that purple ship’s hull that caused it.”
“How are you going to scan for those rods without being tracked?”
“It’s like they say in boxing, stick and move. They tracked in on Carmichael and me because we remained in one place. We won’t do that again.”
“So, what do you want to do first?”
“We’re going to skip into that planetary system close to that planet and hang around to see if they can detect our presence while hiding behind our stealth field.”
“Then what?”
“First things first. We’ll take the next step after the first. We’re going to skip out after each step to send Fleet what we learn.”
“That way, if we’re killed, they will have what we’ve uncovered.”
Chase nodded, “Something like that. Are you always this fatalistic?”
“Expect the worst, hope for the best.”
“That sounds like a light ship pilot. Speedy, send the coordinates of that planet to my panel.”
“Just how close are you going to get?”
“Why do you ask?”
“What if there are a million or so of those purple ships hiding around the planet. You could
run into one without knowing it was there.”
“I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?”
“You are. I would recommend that you go back to the site of the destroyed Feeder Fleet and see if you can detect their thought patterns. That ship is probably still lurking close by.”
“Why didn’t the Feeders consume the minds of the beings on that ship before it could fire on them?”
Chase looked at Derek, “Damned if I know. I didn’t consider that.”
“That might be why this new species hasn’t attacked them before now. They were developing something to stop them.”
“We don’t really know why and anything we come up with is pure conjecture. But Speedy is right. We need to see if we can hear their thoughts. Speedy, give me the coordinates where the probe was destroyed.”
“How about a different location but close by.”
“Speedy, are you scared?”
“No.”
“If you’re scared, say you’re scared.”
“Chase, I’m a machine. I don’t have emotions.”
“Tell that to someone that believes it. Give me some coordinates before we talk each other to death here.” Chase saw the numbers appear on his panel and he entered them into the light drive, “We’re arriving in stealth mode. Hold on to your hats.” Chase pressed the white button.
• • •
The translucent being stared at the giant display and looked at his second, “I expected more intruders would have arrived by now.”
“We were unable to prevent that tiny vessel from transmitting. They may be frightened of coming here.”
“That could be, but they’ve never hesitated to attack before.”
“They’ve not encountered a vessel like ours before.”
“Have any messages been sent by the ones monitoring them?”
“No.”
“You have the controls. Contact me if anything happens.” The Second flashed briefly and it moved into the huge chair in the center of the bridge. The fifteen-foot tall being moved smoothly across the floor and left the huge room. It passed through the armored wall and disappeared. The Second spread out in the chair as pieces of its body melded with the controls on the chair’s surface. It had mixed emotions about the intruders showing up. Their usual practice was to send huge numbers to follow up a defeat but they hadn’t reacted normally this time. It wondered what was going on. Still, this constant waiting was boring and it almost hoped they did come. Anything to end this boredom.
• • •
Chase and Derek were directly connected to Speedy’s processors and listened to the thoughts of the beings on the purple ship. Chase shook his head, “This is impossible. I’m seeing the images of what those beings are seeing but their thoughts are a mush.”
Derek nodded, “That probably explains why the Feeders can’t consume them. Their thought pattern is too different from anything I’ve ever encountered. I’m not certain that they’re being produced electrically.”
“That first one walked through a wall.”
“You saw that?” Chase nodded. “This is a life form like no other we’ve ever encountered.”
“The Sentinels are similar in some respects.”
“Not really.”
Chase lifted one side of his lip, “Oh yeah!”
“The Sentinels are pure energy. These beings aren’t. They do possess a body.”
“Not much of one if they can walk through walls.” Derek remained silent and Chase sighed, “You’re right. This is something completely different from anything our civilization has ever encountered.”
Derek looked up, “Speedy how far away is that ship?”
“About twenty miles.”
“Start moving away and let’s see how far we can receive their images.” In two minutes, the images stopped. “How far?”
“About forty miles.”
Derek looked at Chase, “Do you want to take a shot at that ship with a light missile?”
“No. We need to report in to Fleet about the limits on hearing them. The last thing we’ll do is launch an attack.”
“You’re the boss.”
“Speedy, send me the light signature of where we took our naps. Once we arrive, send the recordings of what we’ve done and then send me the coordinates of a position about three million miles out from that planet.”
Chase skipped the ship out and felt a slight vibration. Speedy announced, “The message probe has skipped away.”
“Lock in this location as a secondary light signature on my panel.” Chase saw the numbers appear on the light drive’s display beside the coordinates inside the planetary system and shook his head, “We’re going to skip to this location in the barrier.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“We have to know. At least we now know we can hear one of those ships if it moves inside forty miles; I’ll keep my finger on the light drive. Speedy, if you hear one of those ships, you activate the light drive and don’t wait on me.”
“I’ve direct connected to your console.”
“Have you closed all the disruptor covers?”
“The hull is closed down.”
Chase looked at Derek, “Are you ready?”
“Is anyone ever ready for something like this?” Chase smiled and pressed the white button.
• • •
The small light ship arrived in the planetary system and Chase almost pressed the white button but heard Speedy yell, “They aren’t close!”
Chase lifted his finger and then immediately placed it back on the button, “They sound like they’re just outside our hull!”
“That’s because there are millions of them communicating with each other. The thoughts are coming from the planet’s location. It appears there is a huge fleet gathered around that planet.”
“Can you determine how many ships?”
“No, I can’t.”
Derek shook his head, “One of their ships could be right next to us or moving in on us and we wouldn’t hear it over this noise!”
Chase struggled with what to do and yelled, “Speedy, has the volume changed since we arrived!?”
“No, it has remained at a consistent level.”
Chase blew out a breath, “They don’t see us. If they did you could count on the volume going up tremendously.” Derek stared at him and, after a moment gave a quick nod.
“I know how to avoid their ships.” Both of them looked at each other in surprise and heard, “Those rods are sending out scanning waves and I’m able to detect them.”
“Did you see them on the first ship?”
“I didn’t look. You had me focused on collecting their thought pattern. I’ve just looked at the recording and can see the signals they’re emitting.”
“Can you determine if any of those ships are close by?”
“There’s one about twenty thousand miles off our starboard side and another about three thousand miles behind us.”
“Are they changing positions?”
“No, they’re remaining in place.”
“Start recording.”
“Data is being collected.”
Chase looked at Derek, “You were right.”
Derek sighed and looked at Chase, “I was starting to doubt myself.” Chase slapped him on the back and turned back to look at his small display. This planet was incredibly populated. The cities on the surface were gigantic and covered most of the land surfaces. Derek stared at the display, “I wonder what they eat. There certainly isn’t much land cleared for farming.”
“No, there isn’t.” They looked at each other and Chase put his hands on the controls, “We’re moving in for a closer look. Speedy, you have the light drive. Get us out of here if you sense trouble.” Chase bumped the pressurized air containers and the small ship began moving toward the planet.
• • •
“Supreme Leader, the scout’s recording revealed a giant purple colored ship that fired a beam of unknown content that destro
yed it. The missing fleet was totally demolished by the beam that was fired at the scout.”
“We’ve found the new enemy. Gather your forces and move them into that fleet’s location and find the planets they live on. Destroy them!”
“But Supremacy, that ship is nothing like the small ships that attacked us.”
“Of course it isn’t. They sent scouts here to determine our strength. They kept their main ships at their home worlds.” The Fleet Leader struggled but could not find a flaw in the Unity’s logic. But he knew that he was wrong. This was something completely new. But how could he convince the Unity without causing its anger. “Gather your fleets and move on that location!”
“Yes, Supreme Leader.” The monitor went dark and the Fleet Leader feared what was coming. He looked at his Second and thought, “Send the coordinates of the destroyed fleet to our main formations. Send the First and Second Fleets in ahead of the others. Tell them we will be joining them momentarily.”
“We were ordered to send all of them.”
“And I’ll accept the responsibility for this. This is not the enemy we have been seeking to find. This is something else.”
“How do you know this?”
“The ones that attacked us in our home galaxies did not use a beam like this one. This is a different species. We can’t penetrate their minds to incapacitate them. The scout couldn’t decipher their thoughts.”
“They were also invisible when they attacked our cities.”
“EXACTLY! WE CAN HEAR THESE BEINGS BUT CAN’T MAKE SENSE OF THEM! THIS IS SOMETHING ELSE!” The Second suddenly realized the First Leader was right. His huge eye widened and the First shook his head, “The Unity will not listen.”
“I will order the First and Second Fleets to the coordinates. What are you going to do if the worst happens?”
“I really don’t know.”
• • •
The translucent being leaned forward, “Do you have the line of that communication?”
“It was nearly impossible to gather. I had to use a hundred ships that were widely separated to get the line.”
“And?”
