by Saxon Andrew
“This is the only place where we can talk openly without being heard. The Holiness just told us that he could only tell us one thing. We’ll not be getting anything else from him.” Cinny looked at the High Priest and saw him smile and nod. She sat down in front of Grant. Grant shook his head, “Let’s really think about a human coming here that was not from Earth. Where could they have been from?”
Cinny sighed and said, “It would have to be another planet.”
Grant nodded, “Go on.”
“According to the history of Earth we saw, there weren’t any other planets with humans on them.”
“Let’s assume that’s a lie.”
“Do we have any proof?”
“It’s there. You just missed it.”
Cinny’s eyes narrowed, “What did I miss?”
Grant took her hands in his, “Do you remember the image of Earth before it was destroyed?” Cinny nodded. Focus on that image in your memory and keep it there. Cinny’s eyes narrowed as Grant said, “Now I want you to remember the planet that was blasted into rock and rubble.
Cinny focused on it and then her eyes went wide, “The large moon is missing.”
Grant nodded, “It wasn’t Earth that was destroyed.”
Cinny looked at the High Priest and he was laughing. She looked back at Grant, “Then Earth still exists.”
“Yes it does and it’s using us as a tool.”
“Why?”
“Because we were not created on Earth.”
Cinny’s eyes went wider and she remembered Ana saying whoever created the Spiders didn’t know what they had done. “We were created on the planet that was destroyed.”
Grant nodded, “And so were the Animals.”
“Our planet was used to prevent Earth’s destruction.”
“Yes, that’s what I’ve concluded and I don’t think it was something they accepted well.”
“That’s why the animals are much more than Ana thinks.”
Cinny sighed, “And it also means we’re much more than they think.”
“What do we do about it?”
“We continue as we have.”
“Why?”
“Because the Raiders did destroy our home world along with two innocent cities. Perhaps by taking the fight to them we’ll learn about what talents we really possess. At any rate, they deserve our anger.”
Grant felt a numbness and saw Cinny felt it as well. The High Priest sat on his cushion and was pointing a device at them. Grant tried to move but was frozen in place. He felt the numbness enter his brain and the pain was excruciating. He passed out just as Cinny fell forward into his lap.
• • •
Grant felt consciousness returning and thought, “My head is killing me.”
He heard, “Mine is as well.”
He moved his head and opened his eyes. Cinny was lying on cushions next to him and still had her eyes closed. How did she hear him? He didn’t say anything. He thought, “Can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Cinny, I’m not speaking. I’m only thinking.”
Cinny’s eyes opened and he heard, “I can hear your thoughts.”
The High Priest sat down beside them, “I was told that your brains were given the ability to become telepathic and that this device would be needed to unlock it. You may communicate freely now without fear of being heard. I do suggest you continue to speak normally or that computer will discover your new ability.”
Grant and Cinny were lifted from the floor by the High Priest’s huge hand, “You should be going back; to stay longer will cause suspicion.”
Grant shook his head and looked at the High Priest. “You and your Priests are in danger.” The High Priest was surprised by the remark but he nodded. “Thank you. We will not do anything to put you in jeopardy.”
“You should go.”
The tall door opened and the Head Servant motioned them to follow him. They emerged from the temple and the Head Servant raised the device and pointed it at their scooter. The force field disappeared and Grant climbed on the saddle. Cinny climbed on behind him and Grant powered the thrusters and lifted off the ground. Grant glanced over his shoulder, “Well, this was a waste of time.”
“I don’t understand why he refused to answer any questions about when we were brought here.”
“I guess we’ll just have to look elsewhere. However, we need to get the animals ready to invade the second planet. The Raiders will pay for what they did.”
• • •
Whippet felt a slight vibration and knew something had been launched from the ship. He looked up, “What was that, Ana?”
“I moved one of the stabilizers on the right wing. It’s been jerking and I sent lubricant to the joints. It’s moving much better now.”
“Oh, Ok.”
“Grant and Cinny are on their way back. You should wrap up your work and reactivate the main reactor.”
“I’m going to leave the scanner on the bus to record any fluctuations. I’ve locked the cover over the terminal. You can turn the power back on.”
Ana watched Whippet stare at the scanner as the power came back on and saw him smile. He wrote on his tablet that the power flow was at optimum. Ana scanned the scanner and saw that it was not flickering as it had been when it was installed. Whippet was a good engineer. The power was at a higher level than before. She turned her attention to the scooter as it entered the landing bay. She was happy when the two humans went to their quarters and put their armor back on. Good. Now she was back in control.
• • •
As the Scooter approached the landing bay, Cinny thought, “Grant, whenever you use your thoughts to communicate, start it by saying, ‘Offline’.”
“That’s a great idea. If you hear me and don’t hear that, look at me and see if I’m looking at you.”
“It really does sound like your normal voice. Let’s avoid using it unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Will do.”
• • •
Grant was sitting on the bridge and Whippet was staring at his console. Grant thought, “Off line. Whippet, don’t look up but if you can hear me, scratch your head.” Whippet continued to stare at his console. “Offline, Whippet can’t hear us, Cinny.”
“Offline, I would guess that only someone who is genetically modified will be able to hear us.”
“Offline, I’ve been able to communicate with him. He’s in on what’s happening.”
“Offline, when did you do that?”
“Offline, before he left to visit his family. I’ll tell you about it later.”
• • •
Grant saw a light on his panel illuminate. He jumped forward and pressed the button next to the light, “Tricky, it’s good to see you’re still alive.”
“I don’t have but a moment. I’m sure this transmission is being detected. Just wanted to let you know that we’re starting full combat operations tomorrow. I’ll talk with you later.”
“Good luck.”
The light went off. Grant said over the ship’s intercom, “The Animal Children are going into combat tomorrow.”
Whippet looked up, “Is there any way we can see what’s going on?”
“Ana, is there?”
“We can go into subspace a thousand miles away from the planet and start recording what I see with my passive scanner. We shouldn’t stay there too long.”
“Let’s plan to do this in two days. The locals need to be occupied before we go sneak a peek.”
Whippet shrugged, “I suspect they won’t even see the small part of Nemesis in normal space. I’m reasonably certain they’ll be scanning the planet to keep track of the Crocs and Spiders.”
Grant started to agree when Cinny came running in and said, “I just heard you’re planning to take a look at what’s happening. What about sending a recording to Iggy and Slick?”
Grant looked up, “Ana, take us to their planet and I’ll take a communicator down. I think it will help
them to see how their children are operating. It should speed up the time it takes for them to get ready.” Grant looked up, “What do you think about that idea, Ana?”
“I think that’s an excellent idea. I’ll prepare the device to be voice controlled so they can use it effectively.”
“Good idea. Let’s go and deliver it and let them know what’s happening.
• • •
Tricky ended the contact and Biggy accelerated away at full speed. They were thirty miles away when the first beam hit the ocean. They felt the impact and then beams began hitting around them. Biggy dove for the ocean floor and soon the noise from the blasts faded. Tricky said, “It appears they are close to determining your top speed. Those last beams were close.”
“I’m reasonably certain they can detect the turbulence I make. I could slow down but I should put some distance between us and the place of your transmission.”
“I agree. Next time try going for the bottom and move slowly away.”
“They really can’t reach me on the ocean floor.”
“They could if they fired a nuclear torpedo.”
“I didn’t think about that. They haven’t done that so far.”
“We haven’t really hurt them yet. I suspect they’ll be getting somewhat more serious in the future.”
“Tricky, do you think we’re doing the right thing?”
“I’ve struggled with that and I guess I’m going to justify what we’re doing on what this species has shown itself to be.”
“Oh?”
“They’ve destroyed at least one entire planet and an innocent city. These beings don’t play well with others. If for no other reason than to teach them some humility, this is worth doing.”
“You know we’ll be killing huge numbers.”
“That really doesn’t bother me. They’d go out of their way to kill us. Sometimes the universe just deals a bad hand and you shouldn’t be in the game if you’re not willing to take the consequences.”
“Where did you come up with that?”
“You have it as well. It was in the download Grant shared with our fathers. He went through it in detail before we were hatched. We know what they know.”
Biggy turned and started moving toward the shoreline eight hundred miles away. Tricky moved inside his mouth and the giant Croc went to full speed. Destiny awaited them eight hours away.
• • •
Slippy walked out of Grog’s mouth and looked at the buildings next to the shore line. The two small creatures scrambled quickly across the pavement and moved between the warehouses. Grog increased in size and Slippy went up on his back. “The Ship Building Center is just beyond these buildings.”
“I see it’s covered by a force field.”
“I’m going in your mouth and you’re going to see if you can make it through it. If you can’t, I’ll take a shot at it.”
“What are you going to be doing while I bust up the buildings?”
“I’m hoping I can get their ships to fire their blasters at me. You can never have too much power. If they start focusing on you, I’ll start firing at them. Stay alert, I don’t want a star ship falling on you.”
“OK, get in.” Grog opened his mouth and Slippy ran in. Grog went to his full size and his father would have been proud. Iggy was three hundred feet long; his child was four hundred and sixty feet long. He had been gorging on the local sea life and his growth was incredible. He smashed in the sides of the two warehouses and alarms went off at full blast as he sprinted across the clear ground around the military complex and hit the force field at full speed.
He felt the shock but didn’t slow down as he hit the giant wall of the main ship building facility. He opened his mouth and Slippy jumped out and went to full size. Warriors came rushing into the facility and were shocked at the size of the giant creature running amuck. The giant whipped its tail and the hulls of ten warships were crushed and thrown into the far end of the giant hangar. The warriors opened fire but nothing slowed the giant creature down. It moved from one end of the building toward the other and the frames of warships that were on an assembly line were sent crashing through the walls.
Slippy looked at the warriors rushing into the building from the main entrance and he spat at them. A huge blaster beam sizzled through the air and vaporized everything in its path, disintegrating the hardened walls of the building. Slippy ran toward the huge hole in the wall and exited the building in time to see large yellow warships moving down into the atmosphere. He waited for them to move closer and fired his beam at warriors that were rushing up in armored vehicles. All of them vaporized into smoke. The first warship opened fire at Slippy and hit him with six main beams. Slippy jumped up and tumbled on the ground as the main battleship moved in and added its fire to the cruiser. Slippy reveled in the beams and felt wonderful. He kept an eye on the ships coming in and saw three battleships open fire on the ship building facility.
The roof was blown away and Grog could be seen rising above it as he went about destroying the structure. This was a trial run and Slippy had to allow the battleships to hit Grog to determine how much he could take. As ten more ships moved above the facility, Slippy decided he had seen enough. He was huddled on the ground where a massive blaster beam was hitting him. That beam was made up of more than a hundred blasters and it melted the ground around him. He jumped to his feet and felt more alive than ever before. He looked up at the gathering of warships and began spitting.
The front third of the main battleship was vaporized and the remainder of the ship fell on the giant ship building yard. It landed on Grog who roared and threw it off his back. He turned and began moving away from the shipyard toward the shore line, as Slippy spat at twenty other warships that exploded and crashed. Eight of them lost thruster control and fell into the giant city next to the building complex setting a huge area on fire. The following explosions roared out into the city toppling tall skyscrapers and igniting a huge fire that swept out into the city. Thirty warships tried to escape and boost back into orbit but Slippy spit at them and dropped them into the metropolis surrounding the complex. The armaments on the falling ships caught fire and began exploding and huge shockwaves roared out from the stricken ships into the buildings around them.
Slippy hit the last ship and turned and ran at an incredible speed toward Grog who had reached the shoreline. He jumped on Grog’s back and the giant reptile ran into the waves as hundreds of beams began hitting the water around him. Slippy said, “Stay on the surface a moment and let me absorb some of this.” Grog walked slowly into the water and felt the beams hitting him but didn’t really feel anything painful. He saw that Slippy was loving it. He reached shoulder height and ran into the deep water. He shrunk to a hundred feet long and accelerated away. Slippy hung on with all his strength and managed to enter Grog’s mouth. He decreased his size and laid back to savor the taste of the wonder blaster beams. They arrived at deep water in ten minutes and Grog dove for the bottom. He moved slowly along the bottom and finally settled to the bottom.
“What do you think, Slippy?”
Slippy twisted his head, “Most of the damage was done by their ships crashing, although you did a wonderful job on the building.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
“Oh yeah. I don’t think they’re going to get so close with their ships next time.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“I don’t know. You appear to be able to withstand their blasters.” Slippy paused, “I’m concerned about whether or not we can handle a nuclear blast.”
“Do you think they would blow up their own people to kill us?”
“I do.”
“What do we do?”
“Let me think about that. I’ve got to believe that if I was able to handle hundreds of blasters hitting me, I can probably handle the heat of a nuclear explosion as long as I’m not at the impact site.”
“What about me?”
“We need to practice something. Let me th
ink about it for a few minutes and then I’ll tell you what I think.”
“Fair enough.”
“What about tomorrow?”
“We’ll continue the plan and then meet with the others afterwards.”
“I do hope you find a way to deal with the nukes.”
“I’m working on it.”
• • •
“Alright Grog, here’s how I think we’ll do it. A lot of this is dependent on my body being able to withstand a nuclear blast, but I think we should hide you under me in the event a nuclear missile is launched at us.”
“Just how am I going to do that?”
“When we attack next time, most of my attention is going to be on the sky over us. If I see anything coming at us, I’ll first try to blast it out the sky. Failing that, you will need to go to your minimum size where your hide remains hard and get under me. I’ll drop my body on top of you and stay there until the shockwave and blast have passed.”
“What if you can’t survive the blast?”
“Then it’s a moot point. However, I suspect those that created me took a nuclear blast into consideration.”
“You don’t think we could make it to the ocean before it hits?”
“I suspect if their initial missiles are blasted out of the sky, they’ll send in a missile at low altitude where I can’t see it over the buildings.”
“How do you want to do this?”
“Let’s go on shore and see how fast you can get under me.”
• • •
Slippy looked at Grog and said, “If I see a missile, I’ll yell, ‘Nuke! Nuke! Nuke!’ That will be your warning to get under me as quickly as possible. Now move about thirty yards away and let’s give it a go. Ready, ‘Nuke! Nuke!…” Grog was under Slippy before he could say the third nuke. That’s pretty good. Now move fifty yards away and let’s do it again.”
Over the next hour the two practiced various different scenarios and finally Slippy said, “I looks like a hundred yards is the limit and that would cut it close. Let me ask you something.”
“What.”
“When you go to your minimum size, can you shrink toward your nose instead of in the center?”
“I don’t know.” Grog went to his full size and suddenly shrunk.
