Exodus: Empires at War: Book 2 (49 page)

Yes
, thought Elishas.  If
it ruptured an antimatter storage tank the
Dolphin
would be reduced to a
great number of small particles moving from the center of the explosion with
great speed.  Then the point was through the next bulkhead and moving forward. 
The bridge crew breathed a sigh of relief.  A short-lived sigh.

“It’s coming forward,”
cried the science officer, echoing the thoughts of others.

The ball of neutronium
was indeed coming forward, growing more massive with each traverse of a
chamber, pulling crew and equipment into its embrace.  The ship shuddered from
the assault as bulkheads began to buckle.  The view screens followed its
progress.  To the relief of the commodore it stopped, in the exact center of
the ship.  Already a thousand tons of matter had been compressed.  A small
proportion of the ship, to be sure, but still a threat.

Billions of kilometers
away the graviton beam was switched off.  Instantly the source of gravity that
had pulled the thousand tons of matter into a microscopic neutronium sphere
disappeared.  Matter could not exist in such a concentration without sufficient
force pulling it together.  There were still sufficient charges within the ball
to generate the natural repulsive forces of like charged matter.

Within a nanosecond of
the removal of force the ball exploded outward, particles reaching an
appreciable fraction of the speed of light.  This explosion in itself would
have destroyed the vessel beyond recognition.  The rupturing of the antimatter
storage tanks, followed closely by the destruction of the negative matter pods,
assured that little in the way of matter was left to clog the lanes of space.

*    *    *

Dolphin
flared as a brilliant
light on the view holo, followed an instant later by the form of the
Tiger
Shark
.  Bridge crew covered their eyes instinctively, though the display
would never reproduce light powerful enough to damage eyesight. 

“What happened?”
demanded the admiral, his mouth dropping open at the spectacle of the complete
destruction of two of his vessels.  No warhead he knew of could have destroyed
them so quickly, or approached so invisibly.

“Should we move the
squadron back?” asked the captain nervously.

“Yes,” said Gerasi, his
voice hushed.  “At flank speed.”

“Helmsman,” yelled the
captain, “full speed astern.  Transmit orders to the rest of the squadron to do
the same.”

“Stop us when we are
another billion kilometers out,” ordered the admiral.

“You don’t intend to
run from this display of power?” asked the captain incredulously. 

“We don’t even know
what it was,” answered Gerasi, strength creeping back into his voice. 

“The gravitation
anomaly spiked just before the destruction of the two vessels,” said the
wide-eyed science officer.  “Ejecta consisted of neutrons, gamma particles and
microscopic particles of matter.  It will take some time to completely analyze
the remains from this distance.”

“We sure as hell are
not going to get any closer to that thing until we figure out what happened,”
said Gerasi. 
And what then
.
  He couldn’t go back to the home
system empty handed, especially with the loss of two capital ships.  But what
good to sacrifice all the vessels.  All the crews.

“Transmission coming
through,” said the com officer.

“Put it on,” ordered
the admiral.

The creature appeared
on the holo.  No longer looking frightened.  Its voice no longer trembling with
fear.

“How did you like my
little pyrotechnic display?” it asked, a smile cracking its narrow face.

“You were responsible
for this?” yelled Admiral Miklas Gerasi, waving a fist at the holo.  Of course
the creature would not be able to respond for over an hour round trip
transmission.  He couldn’t wait till he had the creature in his grasp, able to
communicate by means of voice and pain, instantaneously. 

“Of course I was
responsible for this,” said the creature.  “Oh, don’t look so shocked, my dear
admiral.”

“You, have
instantaneous communications?”

“Of course,” it
replied.  “Only primitives such as yourselves do not.

“I had hoped that all
of your little ships would have stepped into my parlor.  Then I would not have
to worry about watching your vessels, filled with semi intelligent monkeys
capering about their controls.  Now you have been warned.  Stay away from the
Donut
. 
If you approach closer than two billion kilometers you will never again see the
stars of your home.  Bring this warning back to the men who sent you.  This is
my space, and mine alone, and I do not intend to share it with any half evolved
protohumans.”

“And what name shall I
give my Patriarch, when he asks who gave this ultimatum to an admiral of his
fleet?”

“Tell him Vengeance
gave the ultimatum.  Tell him Vengeance awaits whatever he might send to test
my resolve.”

The holo went blank
before Gerasi could reply.  The admiral stared into the display of stars that
took its place for a moment.

“Halt the squadron,” he
ordered.

“You don’t mean you
believe him about the two billion kilometer limit?” asked the captain with a
shaking voice.  “The crew will not like being so close.”

“He would have
destroyed us already if he meant to,” said the admiral.  “Besides, who commands
here?  The crew, or me?

“I want an analysis on
the remains of the two vessels he destroyed,” said Gerasi, as he left his seat
and headed for his day cabin.  “Keep me informed.”