Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher (2 page)

The assembly started talking again and Sprig waited until they quieted down. “We have discovered something extraordinary about using the Captor’s generator.” The crowd became silent and sat forward. “When we removed our black hole reactors and replaced them with the Captor’s red reactors, the power of our ships grew more than a thousand times greater.” Everyone was stunned; this was big. “The Alexander Kosiev is the deadliest ship in our Navy, however, a ship we can now build that is less than three hundred feet long with only one of those Captor reactors can go toe to toe with it and withstand any weapon the Kosiev fires at it. That small ship is going to be the future of our Realm.”

The crowd started talking again. Sprig waited for them to grow quiet, “There is one thing that will slow our construction of a huge fleet down. The red generators will only work as weapons for a pilot that has telepathic ability. It will provide power but weapons will only work with mental commands. Remember, the Captors were energy beings that were part of their ships and commanded their systems mentally. These reactors will have to be directed by personnel that have some psychic skills.”

Rose stood and said, “That’s not as bad as you think. It appears that more and more of our citizens are being born with psychic ability especially after Cassandra’s psychic aura expanded to the edge of our universe. We just have to find them and train them.”

Sprig turned back to the assembly, “Atlas and Diana have given us the means to build the control modules for these new ships. They are currently a part of their ship’s structure just like the Captors, and they have also given us the means to build a hull around the ship that is silver in color and will house the new red powered Coronado Power Cells on their hulls. These cells will now emit a red colored screen instead of white. Each of these small ships will have enough weaponry stored inside those power cells to last them for years of combat.”

Rose stood and moved back to the podium, “Thank you, Sprig. There is one other thing that has become clear to our planners. We cannot build these ships on our planets. We just don’t have the necessary mental capacity or speed for all the information needed to put one of these technological marvels together; only the Algeans do. We will provide them the ship’s hulls but they will have to become the Realm’s ship builders. They will build their ship yards on some of the planets they had originally destroyed. They have also decided to remove all traces of technology from their home worlds so the invaders will not find them. Being plants we believe they will not be detected if there is no technology on their planet’s surface. They will build their facilities on more than a thousand worlds and when the invasion begins they will totally destroy those facilities so that the Eight Legs will not be able to use them to gather information that can be used against us.” Rose stepped back and looked at her mother.

Danielle stood and approached the podium. The Assembly rose and cheered the first Queen of the Stars Realm. She waited and bowed to their applause and after ten minutes the crowd grew quiet. “The people who fly our new ships will be called Searchers. We cannot just turn our back on those worlds in our universe that will be attacked by this coming horde; we have to try and save as many as possible. Our Searchers will go out to the millions of galaxies in our universe and seek out any planet that has intelligent life. When we find them we will try to save them by installing our red screen around their planet. We will sometimes have to resort to force in getting their attention to try and save them but we will not force ourselves on another civilization. If we are refused, then so be it. However, we will try to save as many as we can in the time that remains. I truly hope we are given enough time to save ourselves and perhaps we will be given enough time to save others as well.”

The crowd cheered and Rose came forward again. “We will now break off into groups to decide what things we need to do to make this vision become a reality. We will come together again in two rotations.”

The assembly stood and moved to their assigned group..

Atlas and Diana were in orbit watching the event and Diana asked, “Do you think they can stand up to the coming invasion?”

Atlas was quiet for a moment, “My initial feeling is no but these children of mine have done things I never thought possible. You and I will have to do all we can to help them. However, the immense numbers of ships used to invade is staggering. If it looks bad at the end we will shut down our systems and wait for them to leave. Then we will find suitable candidates and try again.”

Diana moved up against Atlas’ hull, “You know I’ll be there with you always.”

M
atthew Gardner looked out at the spiral galaxy he had just been assigned to examine. He was a Searcher and this was his first assignment since graduating from the Stars Realm Academy. “I hope I don’t mess up.” He checked his sensors and decided to start his search on the closest spiral arm and work his way in toward the center of the huge galaxy and then move back out on another spiral arm. His display read more than three million type G suns in the arm he was about to enter which offered hope his search for intelligent life was going to be successful since most of the known inhabited planets were orbiting the medium sized class g stars. His long range sensors were also set to alarm if any sign of technology was discovered in any other star types near the class G’s. He set his sensor systems and reached forward and pressed a white button on his console. His small ship began jumping into the galaxy targeting the stars that had the best probability of life. He sat back and watched his sensors as his ship moved through more than a hundred systems a minute. He looked at his readouts and saw that this arm of the galaxy was going to take more than twenty days to complete. He stared at his display for two hours and grew bored; he sat back, closed his eyes, and thought about the last five years.

He had volunteered to join the Star Realm’s Navy on Cross, his home planet, when he was seventeen and hoped he would be accepted into the academy. Growing up he had read everything he could find about the Realm’s Searchers. He wanted to pilot a ship out into the universe exploring new worlds and species; at every opportunity he and his friends pretended to be Searchers fighting off suspected enemies of the Stars Realm. Finally he turned seventeen and was at the age where he could volunteer to join the Stars Realm’s Navy. The numerous tests he had to take were difficult, exhausting, and after six weeks of examinations he had been notified that he was to report to Ross at the Kosiev Academy to continue his testing. His excitement on receiving the news was monumental and all of his friends gathered to celebrate his good fortune. He was the only one to pass the tests and earn a trip to Ross. There was no jealousy among his friends but they did throw a party that he was still attempting to recover.

He arrived on a commercial star ship along with six hundred other applicants from the worlds of the Realm and was teleported to a huge parade ground where everyone was told they were going to meet the Queen of the Stars Realm in person. He could still remember his excitement at the prospect of actually seeing her and when she arrived and welcomed everyone he felt that even if he wasn’t accepted into the academy that the opportunity to actually see her was worth all the headaches and worries that the exams had given him.

Then the Queen surprised the assembled applicants and stepped down into their ranks after her welcoming speech. She then started walking down the lines shaking each person’s hand. She had finally arrived in front of him and took his hand and said, “Thank you for wanting to be a part of our service.” He felt like a nervous child at that moment and as she touched him he felt a small shock. As she started moving away she looked back at the Admiral following her and quickly nodded at him. The Admiral handed him a red coin with the Queen’s picture on one side and Castle Gardner on the other. He stared at the coin as the Queen and her attendants continued down the lines of recruits. He looked around and noticed that everyone was given a coin and they were all looking at it as the Queen continued her walk. He noticed that the two recruits on each side of him had been given a gold colored coin and he wondered why his was different. She finally finished and waved to everyone and boarded a shuttle that flew her in the direction of the huge castle in the distance.

The admiral that has followed her through the ranks then moved in front of them and yelled in a loud voice, “Those of you that were given red coins will remain where you are; everyone else, please pick up your bags and move to the ship at the north end of the field and board for a short flight to the Academy.”

He felt his heart fall into his stomach. He had failed and was not going to be chosen. The applicants with gold coins smiled and ran to the end of the field and lined up to board the huge transport. The admiral waited until everyone had left and watched as the transport lifted with the ones that received the gold coins; then he turned and said, “I’m sure you’re wondering about the red coin.” There were only about a hundred people remaining and they all looked at each other nodding. “You have passed the first of two tests. We will now take you to see if you pass the second.” The hundred remaining applicants were shocked speechless. The admiral smiled and said, “You should all know that rose is more valuable than gold in this Realm. Please board the ship at the other end of the field and wait there for your instructions.”

He grabbed his bag and ran to the ship with the others and entered to find an Ensign assigning each of them seats. Once they were all boarded, the ship lifted into orbit and then everyone heard, “Teleport in five seconds.” They all looked out through the forward glass and saw a silver field forming in front of their ship; the ship moved forward and reappeared above a planet.

“Everyone, please move to the field in the landing bay immediately,” a voice said over the intercom and they grabbed their bags and moved out of the main cabin and entered the shuttle’s landing bay. The silver field was glowing brightly in the rear of the bay and the recruits followed the admiral through it. The group exited the field to find themselves on the surface of a planet that was remarkably barren. Off in the distance were buildings that had fallen into decay. Most were missing walls and some were little more than piles of rubble; but there lined up in front of them was row after row of small, silver, ships. Matt immediately recognized them as those used by Searchers to perform the work of the Realm. They were beautiful. Their smooth lines and gleaming silver surfaces reflecting the sun’s rays were awe inspiring.

“They’re beautiful aren’t they?”

Everyone turned and saw an Algean standing next to the admiral. The Algean was more than fifteen feet tall and had blooms that smelled wonderful. “I’m sure you’re trying to figure out why we brought you here. The reason our Queen took the time to walk through your ranks was that she wanted to touch each one of you to see if you possessed the necessary psychic ability to be able to bond with one of these ships. She can sense those abilities and you are here because she determined that you possess psychic ability in a measure that is above normal. What skill you have was increased when she touched you and in the coming days some of the things you’ll be able to do will surprise you. However, only those that can bond with a ship will be accepted as a Searcher into the Stars Realm’s Navy. The others that were at the initial gathering have all demonstrated on their tests that they have outstanding abilities and they will be offered positions in our support fleets as will those of you who are not successful here.”

The Algean walked around to stand between the recruits and the silver ships, “You are here to see if you can raise a ship. Each one of you will step forward one at a time and look out at these ships and command the ships “to rise”.” The Algean then pointed to one of the recruits and said, “You will go first followed by you.”

Matt thought, “Oh no. I don’t want to go second. I want to watch others go before I try.”

The first recruit stepped forward and everyone watched as he stared at the ships for thirty seconds but nothing happened. The Algean said, “Step back to the end of the line and you will be given another chance after everyone has tried.” He then said to Matt, “It’s your turn.”

Matt stepped forward and nervously looked out at the ships. His heart was pounding a mile a minute but as he stared at the ships he once more marveled at how beautiful they were. He forgot his nervousness as he stared at those beautiful works of technology and thought about how wonderful it must be to be able to fly a ship like those in front of him. He then smiled and thought, “Rise.”

For a moment nothing happened, then in the back row one of the ships rose and hovered ten feet above the others. The Algean and admiral looked at each other surprised. Then they looked at him and saw his smile. “What is your name,” the Admiral asked?

He blushed and answered, “Matthew Gardner, sir but my friends call me Magic.”

The Admiral looked at him and asked, “Are you related to the Royal Family?”

“No sir. I was raised in a state institution after my parents were killed in a ship accident when I was a baby. My name was given to me by the state to honor our royal family.

“How did you come to be called Magic?”

Matt shrugged, “As a kid I liked doing magic tricks. The name stuck.”

“Well, Magic, you are accepted into the Fleet Academy and that ship will be yours when you graduate. You might be interested to know that only the ships on the back row have all of the advanced systems the Algeans build into our ships. They will respond only to those that have the requisite psychic ability to fly them. Only ten other recruits in the last year have raised an Alpha Ship. You should be proud.”