Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher (12 page)

Stem worked the control board and a new galaxy appeared. Now there were red, blue, and green lights in the galaxy. “What are the green lights, Matt?”

“Those are planets that do not practice war; they are peaceful. Those are the ones that should be given priority in the time that remains. They should match up well with our ideals and they will also be unable to defend themselves. That’s why we need so many Algeans; we have to sift through millions of galaxies to find and contact these civilizations.”

Sprig looked at Matt and then everyone heard his thought, “Your Majesty, I need to use your map room for the foreseeable future. I will be bringing in more than three hundred of my adolescents every hour starting two hours from now.”

“We have been listening to your conversation, Sprig. Of course our home is welcome to you. Let us know if we can assist you in any way.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Sprig then looked at Stem, “I want you to program this board to project one thousand galaxies on the wall every ten seconds. I want them done digitally so that my adolescents can download them quickly. They will start teleporting in exactly two hours from now.”

“What are they going to be downloading,” Angel asked?

“Each of them will assimilate a thousand galaxies and then teleport out and begin extrapolating the coordinates of the green stars in each of those galaxies. Once they have the coordinates, they will need a searcher to send out.”

Matt pressed his com, “Fleet command, I have a Red Star Priority Command. You will stop whatever you are currently working on and follow this order immediately once it is issued. Stand by until all units are on the circuit.”

“Standing by, Admiral.”

Matt then closed his eyes and everyone in the room heard his thought, “All members of the Stars Realm’s navy will tune their communicators to the following com code; 101001211104062310090918MAG. You will standby to receive your instructions momentarily; while you are waiting you will cease whatever you are currently doing and all communications except for the frequency I’m giving you will cease.”

Angel looked at Stem, “Did everyone hear him?”

“Yes, they did.”

Angle looked at Matt standing there with his eyes closed and wondered how he had developed the mental ability to do what he had just done. She began to worry about what was happening to the man she loved.

Twig put a branch on her shoulder and thought to her, “Be patient. I promise you it is a blessing that you will understand.”

Angel looked up at her and could sense the feelings Twig was having of great joy. “What is happening,” she wondered?

After ten minutes Matt opened his eyes and said, “All of the Realms ships are now on the frequency. Sprig, if you want to add anything to what I’m saying, feel free to interrupt me.”

“I will if necessary, Searcher.”

Matt then pushed his com and said, “All members of the Stars Realm Navy. I am issuing a Red Star Priority Order. All Searchers not currently working with a newly discovered civilization will at the completion of this transmission transmit their com codes to fleet command. Fleet command you will receive these com codes and put them on an active board that will sequentially list every code electronically. All ships of the Realm will be listed on that board including every defender class vessel. I expect that board to be ready and active to receive com codes within an hour. Do you understand, Fleet Command?”

“Yes Sir, the board is being prepared.”

“Once that board is active and receives the fleet’s com codes, we will communicate the address for that board to the Leader of the Algeans who will then give it to the Algean Adolescents that are preparing coordinates for our ships. The Adolescents will then start sending coordinates to the board which will be assigned one to a ship starting at the top of the list. Once a ship receives a coordinate, their com code will be taken off the list until they complete the contact of that civilization. They will then report back in to place their code back on the list.” Matt paused then continued, “The Realm has found a means of finding civilizations that do not practice war. These civilizations have no means of defending themselves and will be our priority in the time that remains until the Eight Legs return. If we are able to contact all of these peaceful planets, then we will begin contacting those that possess military forces. In that for the near future all of our contacts are peaceful, we can assume for the most part that they closely match the principles that guide our Realm. Each Searcher will be given the authority to make agreements with these civilizations and the Realm will support your decisions. We do not have time to go through the channels you have had to follow in the past. Once you have made an agreement, an Algean will teleport to the civilization and install the generator to hide the planet. That Algean will be given the role of doing whatever is necessary to prevent the planet’s destruction once the invasion begins. Our ships will be used to try and meet the invaders head on and blunt their attacks.”

Matt looked at Sprig and Sprig raised his branches indicating he had nothing to add. Matt then said, “Searchers, you have been trained to save life. Our very existence is for the purpose of following our original Queen’s directive to make our universe a better place for those who inhabit it. I cannot think of anything that is more worthy of devoting one’s life to preserve and if it should cost us our lives; then we will be remembered by all for whom we gave all to save. I am honored to share in this divine mission with you and I, along with every member of the Realm, am proud to know you exist performing your gallant quest. Thank you for your attention. Fleet Command, is the board ready?”

“Yes Sir, it is and may we say on behalf of all our sailors; the Realm has chosen a Commander that we are all proud to serve.”

Matt was stunned at the remark and was speechless. Angel keyed her com and said, “Searchers, send your codes.”

Angel moved into Matt’s arms and thought to him, “I, too, am so proud of you. I am honored to be a part of your life.” Matt closed his eyes and held her tight.

Sprig looked at Twig, “Remember, my love?”

“Like it was only a moment ago, Dearest.”

The King looked at his wife and thought, “He knows who he is.”

“Yes, he does. Now he can be told how he came to be.”

“Will we be the ones that tell him?”

“No love, he is still developing. Sprig can handle that detail. We’ll listen in on how he takes it.”

“Later, I feel his love for his mate. I am reminded of when we first found each other and I need you near me now.”

The Queen smiled and thought, “We Gardner’s have always felt our love deeply. We know at our core; Love conquers all.”

A
nglo Gardner entered the map room and approached Matt and Angel. “It’s good to see the two of you again. I see you have been quite busy doing the Realm’s work.”

Angel looked at him and said, “We are going to delay our wedding, Your Grace.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

Matt looked at the Baron and smiled. He liked this Gardner. “We don’t want to delay; however, our oath leaves us no choice. There are millions of planets that have to be contacted because the time draws nigh that the invaders will come. We are needed to get the search organized and we cannot spare even one Searcher at this moment; much less two.”

Anglo Gardner looked at the two Searchers and saw their sincerity. He was impressed with these two who had placed their oaths ahead of their own desires. He almost ordered them to take the time to have their wedding but knew it would diminish the importance they felt for their commitment; it would take away from their joy. “We will honor your wish and delay. Please notify us at the first possible moment you can bless our home with your union.”

Angel smiled, “I suspect you will know as soon as we do, Your Grace.”

Anglo actually laughed out loud, “Ah, I see we have quick students here.” Anglo turned and looked at Sprig. “You have a few moments until you start bringing in your adolescents; perhaps you can discuss Searcher Gardner’s lineage with him.”

“Are you sure our Royal Couple would not like to do that?”

“Yes, I am. They have asked if you would tell him.”

Sprig leaned back and turned to Matt and Angel, “If you will come with me, perhaps the garden would be an appropriate place.”

Matt and Angel followed Sprig to the Garden where they had discovered their love for each other and they remembered that happy moment. Sprig observed them and felt their happiness. Once they had sat on a bench, Sprig thought, “How much do you know, Searcher?”

“I’m not sure if what I know is real; I think every subject of the Realm would like to think they are descended from a member of the Royal Family. I can actually see some of them in my mind. I see memories from hundreds of years ago but I don’t know if they are real or not.”

“They are real.” Matt and Angel were surprised. “Twelve hundred years ago the Captors left our universe. We were told about the coming invasion and I met with the Royal Family and discussed how we could possibly survive the might of the Eight Legs. Twig and I had discovered a means of reading an individual’s psychic power and we learned something that was amazing to us. When we used our device to read the power of the Royal family members, it registered half of the scale which was phenomenal. Twig had an idea that psychic abilities were genetic so we quietly made several trips to measure the psychic power of other family members.”

“Why did you do that,” Matt asked?

“To see if others in their families also possessed similar abilities. We scanned Thomas Gardner’s parents, Cassandra Gardner’s parents and sister, and Danielle’s parents.”

“What did you find out,” Angel asked?

“We discovered that both of Thomas’ parents and Danielle’s parents possessed a high level of psychic power but displayed no psychic abilities. The same was true of Cassandra’s parents but it was the scan we took of her older sister that shocked us.”

Matt looked at Sprig and knew that to shock an Algean was almost impossible.

“Cassandra Dodd, that’s right Angel, she and you have the same last name, was the most powerful psychic in the Royal Family; her psychic abilities and power were as strong as all the others combined. However, her sister moved our scanner up three quarters of our scale. She possessed psychic power more than fifty percent stronger than Cassandra but exhibited no psychic ability to use that power.”

Matt was confused, “I’ve never heard of Cassandra Gardner’s sister.”

“That is because she never had her power released. She was a latent psychic that had passed the power she possessed on to her four children and each of their scans showed they possessed latent psychic powers that were incrementally stronger than their mother. We learned that if the psychic power is not released in a person, then it grows in their descendents.”

Matt and Angel thought about what they had just heard and then Matt looked at Sprig with a serious expression, “You decided to produce a super psychic.”

Sprig’s leaves turned greener, “Did you reason that out or did you just know it?”

“It explains a lot about my memories. Those powers that are passed down to the next generation carry a certain amount of the previous one’s memories with it, right?”

“Yes, it does. Please remember that Danielle Ash and Cassandra Dodd only had limited psychic skill when they came into contact with the one that released their powers. Thomas Gardner had been born released and his powers were manifested from a very young age. It was his touch that released Danielle. Tommy and Rose Gardner were also released at birth and their powers were incrementally stronger than their parents. It was Tommy’s touching of Cassandra that released her psychic power. However, both Danielle and Cassandra had already been manifesting some psychic abilities so we believe that they had reached the extent of their psychic development. Their power would not have grown in their children.”

Matt looked confused, “I’m not sure I understand what you are explaining, Sprig.”

“Did you know that Rose’s along with Tommy and Cassandra’s children did not exhibit any psychic abilities? Rose had five children and Cassandra had seven and not one of them demonstrated any psychic abilities.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Very few do. Once we scanned their children we understood what was taking place. All of their children registered more psychic power than their parents but had no way to use it; they were latent psychics.” Sprig looked at the two Searchers thinking about what they had just heard. “Think about psychic power in terms that we plants are comfortable with; think of it as a seed. The seed is planted in good soil and it starts to develop. The seed is passed to another generation and receives more nourishment and grows. Each new generation adds to the development until finally it reaches a point where it is fully developed and cannot grow any more in the vessel that holds it. Then it starts to sprout and the vessel begins to manifest some psychic skills. Once the right kind of food is delivered it bursts out in full bloom.”