Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher (45 page)

Matt watched as one of the lights left the Kosiev and saw three small objects fly away. They were separated by only ten yards distance between them. “Al, can you tell what those three objects are?”

“Well’ it’s not a penetrator. It looks like a shard followed by one of the Captor’s energy balls and the last one is the box of iron balls. The Kosiev is not using any kind of propulsion to fire them.”

“Al, how does that happen?”

“I don’t know of any means that I’m familiar with that could do what that ship is doing. It is firing them all just like that with identical separation and they are all hitting above or below those ships center section.”

Matt watched as the mass of dead green ships grew. The Kosiev danced out of the way of the ships flying toward it and continued to fire at the same unbelievable rate. The Mega ships moved in and started adding their fire to the Kosievs’ and the area around the entry point was a killing ground for the invaders.

“Nest Mother, none of the ships that have entered that universe are responding. Even the ships that went in the initial wave are not answering.”

The Nest Mother felt immediate shock and said, “Then go and see what is happening. Why are you waiting?”

The Supreme Male knew that something dangerous lay beyond the door but he looked at his Sensor Male and nodded. The Sensor Male powered the universal drive and pushed the activate button just as the mass of green ships in the other universe filled the space against the entry point. The Supreme Male’s ship entered the space between universes and could not go through; the ship behind him entered and both of them occupied the same space simultaneously. The resulting explosion blew out both sides of the door way.

Matt watched as the green ships piled up and finally reached the entry point. Then he heard Cassandra yell over her com, “Teleport away, all ships, teleport away.”

The Kosiev disappeared just as an explosion ripped out of the entry point and disintegrated all of the green ships in front of it for more than a million miles. The ships to the side of the blast were blown away in all directions.

On the other side of the entry point, the blast hit the massed ships waiting in line to enter the door and blasted all but a million of the eight million ships lined up. Those ships were immune to any form of energy but the substance inside the space between universes was unlike any in normal space. Nothing that was created in normal space could survive it. The Nest Mother was watching her display when the blast hit and saw her screen go dark for more than a minute. When it came back on she saw the wreckage of the ships that were going to conduct the harvest. She hit her communication console and yelled, “Someone tell me what just happened.”

One of her scientists came on her screen and said, “The doorway has just exploded. Two ships were in it at the same moment and that blast is the result. The door way has been demolished and no longer exists. There is no way we can enter that universe, Nest Mother.”

The Nest Mother looked at the dead ships on her side of the doorway and felt fear. Perhaps it is a good thing that doorway is closed. Then she looked at the scientist on her display and said, “Find me another way to get in. We must know what happened. Are we able to contact any of our ships that went through?”

“No, Nest Mother, but we are continuing to try.”

On one of the main ships that had come in the initial wave, the Ship’s Male and Sensor Male picked themselves up off the floor and looked at their monitors. The command chamber had been surrounded by a hundred transports that were about to be launched so they survived the energy balls detonation. The Sensor Male said, “The Nest Mother is attempting to contact us.”

The Ship’s Male pressed his board and said, “Nest Mother.”

“Who are you?”

“I am the Ship’s Male, Nest Mother. My ship has been hit by a device that has burned out the interior of my vessel and I am unable to navigate. All of my systems are gone. The only system working is my communication board.”

“How many times were you hit?”

“Once, Nest Mother, my family is floating in zero gravity inside. I have seen some kind of small projectiles that are bouncing around inside that main chamber. I’m not sure what they are but it appears they are picking up speed. My command chamber survived the explosion inside my ship because I was surrounded by transports waiting to launch.”

“Did you see what fired the weapon at you?”

“No, it came from empty space directly above us.”

The Nest Mother watched her display and suddenly saw the Ship’s Male jump and then bounce away from his monitor. “Nest Mother, the Ship’s Male was just hit by one of those small balls.” The Nest Mother then saw the Sensor Male fly away from his console and then saw his armor break apart. What was left inside was unrecognizable. Then the screen went dark.

Destiny sat and watched his display that was being fed to his ship by Sprig. He had sent it through the ships main system so all of his family could watch what was taking place. He felt tremendous sorrow at the massive loss of life and he knew his children were also feeling the great pain at what was taking place. A small spider entered the command chamber waited to be noticed. “What is it child?”

“I am bothered by this killing.”

“We all are, child.”

“I have given thought to what has happened to us and what is happening to the others. I want to try and prevent this happening again.”

Destiny sighed and said, “They will not stop, Child. The only choice of our friends is to kill them.”

“I think there is another way, Father.”

Destiny looked at the child, “How?”

He listened and then he understood.

“Sprig, how many of the planetary repulsion devices have you built?”

Sprig looked at Twig and she answered, “Five hundred, Matt. Why do you ask?”

Destiny has asked for you, Cassandra and me to join him on his ship as quickly as possible. He asked me and I didn’t have an answer as to how many you have manufactured.”

“I’m bringing Twig with me.”

“By all means; I’ll see you there.”

Destiny watched at the four appeared on his bridge, “We don’t have much time but my family is bothered by the loss of life today and we think we can possibly reduce the number that have to be killed moving forward.”

Matt furrowed his brow, “What do you mean?”

I understand that two hundred main ships launched their ships to harvest planets. How many have landed?”

“Al?”

“Three are close to atmosphere. The others are between two and six hours out from the planets.”

“Then those three cannot be saved, however, if we act quickly, we can possibly save the others.”

“Why would we try to save the others, Destiny?”

“Matt, the Supreme Male and all the Ship’s Males have been killed. The compulsions placed in the crews of those small ships will fade if they are given enough time.”

Matt looked at Cassandra and they saw it at the same time. Sprig looked at his device and said, “I need the coordinates of those planets that are being invaded immediately.”

“Sprig, I just downloaded them to your com.”

“Thank you, Al. I’ll get them screened as quickly as possible.”

“What do you think we can do, Destiny,” Cassandra asked?”

“Only the Kosiev can save them, Cassandra. All of the Searchers weapons have the iron balls included. We can’t take them out in the time remaining. If we hit them without the balls, then the crews will just float around inside. Can the Kosiev launch without the iron ball box in the mix?”

Cassandra thought for a moment, “I don’t know. It will be like trying to make a fighter only throw soft punches instead of knock out blows. I can only try, Destiny.”

“You are the only hope they have, Cassandra. In the meantime, I need you to call off the attacks planned by the Searchers on those fleets of incoming small ships, Matt.”

Matt thought, “Melanie, where are you?”

“I’m with Admiral Kosiev at the entry point.”

“I need you here right now.”

Melanie closed her eyes and saw Matt on destiny’s bridge. “Fly Girl, he’s on Destiny’s bridge.”

“On your way.”

Admiral Kosiev was talking with Melanie about the success of the action when she suddenly disappeared. “I wonder what caused that,” Leo thought.”

Melanie appeared on the bridge and Matt moved forward and took her in his arms and felt the psychic field build instantly, then he thought, “Attention all Searchers; this is a Red Star Order. You will not fire on the incoming invader small ships unless you are give a direct order from me. I am super ceding Fleet Command and you will take your orders directly from me.”

Life had a transport lined up to hit when Matt’s thoughts came through. He turned his ship away from the transport and barely stopped from pressing his firing button, “I wonder what’s happening?” Searchers in the two hundred systems being invaded backed off their firing solutions. Some had already fired and killed some ships but refrained from hitting any more.

“Sprig, how many are shielded?”

“We’ve teleported devices to the ones that have the closest invading fleets. We should be able to reach the others in time. Three planets have invaders almost on the ground, Matt.”

“Sprig, I need to know if you are unable to screen a system in time. I will need that system’s coordinates sent to me with enough time to get all of our searchers there.”

“I understand; my adolescents are moving as fast as they can.”

Matt looked at Destiny, “We will stop a lot of them. What are we going to do with them after we stop them?”

“Why teach them how to fish.”

Matt and Melanie looked at Destiny and started laughing out loud. Destiny smiled and said, “I know a planet that has a great seafood buffet.” Even Eyes had to laugh at that.

Matt was still holding Melanie and he saw her look into his eyes with a curious expression. He released her and turned away to talk with Destiny. His heart was beating fast and he didn’t want to think about what was causing it.

Melanie looked at Matt and felt his heart. She thought about Angel and shook her head, “He’s been thru so much. I wish I could help him.

Brez teleported into the government center of the planet he was assigned and turned off his invisibility mode. Two armored soldiers opened fire on him and had no affect on his armor. Brez walked forward and took their blast rifles and bent the barrels. “I don’t have time for this nonsense. I need to speak with your leaders immediately.” The two soldiers looked at the small armored warrior in front of them with three huge armored warriors behind him. “If you want to live you better get moving. That invading fleet will be here in moments.”

An officer walked forward and said, “Come with me.”

Brez followed him into the building and took an elevator up to the top floor and entered a room with thirty beings standing and watching display panels. The officer shouted, “This being has requested to speak with you. My weapons are ineffective against his armor but he says he’s here to talk about the fleet moving toward our planet.”

A tall being with black fur covering his head approached and said, “I am the leader of my world; what is it that you want? Are you a member of the fleet approaching?”

“No, I am not. I am a representative of a government that has more than twelve million planets associated with it. We are currently fighting the creatures that are coming to invade your planet and I have brought my warriors to try and defend your population from being eaten by them. Your weapons will not harm them and they have killed millions of worlds just like yours. I need you to get your population off the streets and into buildings. That includes your armed forces. They can defend themselves if faced with these invaders but they will get in our way if they are out in the open. We will not fire around them once the fighting starts.”

“Who are these creatures?”

“They are universe killers. They consume all intelligent life.”

“We know about them; are they green in color?”

Brez was surprised, “Yes they are. How do you know them?”

“We found ancient drawings in a cave that showed them killing every being. We dated those drawings to more than six million cycles ago.”

“It was more like eight million cycles ago but they come to harvest this universe and they have been here four times.”

The leader looked around the room and then said, “Issue the orders as this being has requested. He is not green in color and we don’t have time to argue this out among us.”

Brez looked at the leader and said, “My team will be responsible for the defense of this building. Do not go outside once the invaders land.”

“We will comply with your instructions.” The leader along with everyone else in the room flinched as Brez disappeared.”

Brez ported to the front of the building and said, “Are the teams in place?”