Lens of Time: Book 06 - Star Rover-Running Out of Time (2 page)

Blacky smiled, “It’s like the citizens in your civilization that go hunting. They take a weapon out and pursue their intended game. When the hunt is over, do they go back into society and shoot anyone they encounter? No, the hunt is an exercise that is separate from their normal day to day existence. We can live in your society without endangering anyone around us. However, we do enjoy hunting. We’re the perfect ground troops you need to take back those invaded planets; and quite frankly, we’d love the opportunity to do it.”

Dat smiled, “Admiral, Blacky had proven to me that his species knows the meaning of honor and they keep their promises. I really believe he is being honest.”

“Do you honestly think they can match up with an armored Grillen Warrior?”

“We might give them a few tools to make it easier.”

Blacky and Kat both said at the same time, “What!”

“We need to see what talents his species brings to the table but I believe Belwen can develop some toys that will make a difference.”

“Dat, should we run this by the government for approval?”

Dat sighed heavily, “Sir, it appears they are pretty much leaving our survival up to us without getting involved. They have chosen to remain hidden and I can’t really say I blame them. We’re going to have to do this alone.”

Kat nodded, “I’ve pretty much made the same determination.”

Dat said, “It’s really up to us to make the decision, Sir. Do you have a plan to remove the Grillen Warriors from the invaded planets?”

Kat stared at Dat and sighed. She turned to Blacky and had a smirk on her face, “Raise one of your right arms.”

Blacky’s eyes narrowed on his face and Dat showed him what to do. He raised a long black arm and Katherine said, “Do you solemnly swear to defend the Union against all enemies, both foreign and domestic and to follow the orders given to you by your officers and leaders. Do you promise to follow our laws and customs and give your life, liberty, and possessions to ensure the Union’s survival?”

Blacky smiled, “I do.”

Katherine blew out a breath, “I don’t know what will come out of this but you are now a member of our military and I am tasking you with getting your people ready to fight for our civilization.” She turned to Dat, “Take him to Belwen and see what he can cook up.” She turned back to Blacky, “I will come to your planet when your warriors are ready to swear their allegiance and enlist them in our armed forces.”

“Thank you, Sir. I’m honored to fight for you.”

Katherine shook her head and Dat nodded toward the door. Blacky followed him out and six hours later he was left with one of the gentlest creatures he had ever encountered.

• • •

Dat arrived at home and found Gresha singing in the kitchen. She rushed forward and gave him a hug that almost sprained a few ribs “I just took Blacky to meet the Admiral.”

“Is that his name?”

“He allowed me to choose it.”

“It fits; he did love chasing you.”

“Katherine swore him into the military.”

Gresha stepped back from Dat with her brow furrowed, “Is that a good idea?”

“I don’t know…I think it is…but…I don’t know.”

“Well, if it helps, I hated him at first but now I find him entertaining.”

Dat smiled, “I know; it’s like sitting with a giant crocodile telling jokes. You know it should be biting your leg off but it never happens.”

“A croc wouldn’t stand a chance against him.”

“That’s what makes it even more ironic. He makes an excellent point that we are not equipped to push the Grillen off the planets they invaded. We could really use their help.”

“I don’t know how he would fare against an armored warrior with a blaster though. He couldn’t penetrate the armor with his beak.”

“I’m not so sure about that; he insists he’s done it before. Anyway, Katherine ordered me to take him to Belwen to see if he could come up with some toys.”

Gresha tilted her head, “Now that should prove interesting.”

“Tell me about it; what’s for dinner.”

“Chicken and rice.”

“It smells great. I’ll go clean up.” Gresha kissed Dat and went back to work.

• • •

Blacky had gone with one of Belwen’s engineers and picked up six other Madators. They were brought back to Belwen’s lab and had been subjected to an examination that was as long as it was thorough. Blacky was tired of extending his arms and legs. He couldn’t tell an arm from a leg by the time Belwen finished.

Belwen was looking at a read out on his computer and saw the seven Madators lying on the floor, “Hey, it wasn’t that bad, was it?”

Blacky’s head rolled off the floor and stopped on top of his chest. Belwen was amazed at the physiology of a species that could accomplish that. It was incredible. “If you stick one more thing in my hide, I think I’ll explode.”

“No you won’t?”

“I won’t?”

“No, there’s nothing hollow in you to cause a blast. How do you keep things inside your body?”

Blacky’s head started rolling off his chest and hit the floor, “I don’t know; I just wrap it up.”

“I need you to demonstrate a few things before I can get started developing some things for you to use.”

“Such as?”

“Are you able to change the basic shape of your body?”

“Yes, I suppose so; what shape do you have in mind?”

Belwen turned his computer display around and showed a picture of an air foil, “Could you assume this shape?”

“That looks like a wing on a warship.”

“It is shaped like a wing; can you do it?”

“Why would you want us to assume that shape?”

Belwen smiled, “Have you thought about how we would get you on a planet that’s got defenses on it?”

“I just assumed we would be transported in a ship and dropped off.”

“That’s far too dangerous. We need to get you to the surface without you being seen.”

All seven Madators sat straight up. Now this was something that interested them. “How would you do that?”

“First, I need to know how small you can make yourself.”

Blacky looked around and shrugged. Suddenly, he shrunk into a black ball not much larger than a baseball. Belwen was astounded. Blacky expanded and looked at him, “That’s about as small as I can do.”

“How in the Creator’s name can you do that?”

“I don’t know; like you said, my body isn’t hollow but the molecules that make it have a lot of space between them. I guess it’s sort of like a star after it goes nova and its gravity pulls it into a tiny space. I just pull all the molecules close together.”

Belwen made some notes and said, “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

“To see if you can fly.”

Blacky hooted, “Now that’s funny. We can do a lot of things but flight is not one of them.” Belwen shrugged and continued walking toward the exit. Blacky said, “You’re serious?”

“I am, now come on.”

The seven Madators along with Belwen and two engineers arrived at a lab that was situated on the coast overlooking one of the oceans on Belwen’s planet. They entered the lab and Belwen yelled, “DO YOU HAVE IT READY?”

An engineer came out of the adjoining room with a light weight plastic form. The two other engineers went into the room and carried out four more. Finally, there were seven of the forms scattered around the room. Blacky looked at the forms, “What are these?”

“You’ve told me you can move into various shaped containers. I want all of you to move into one of these and shape your body to it. Try to fill as much of it as you can.” Blacky stared at Belwen and moved over to the closest form. He inserted his arms and flowed into the container. He expanded his body and filled it. “What am I doing in here?”

“Can you remember the shape you’re in?”

“I guess so.”

“Then get out.”

Blacky flowed out of the container and Belwen said, “Go back in as fast as you can.” Blacky stared at Belwen and flowed back in in less than ten seconds. “Do it again but do it faster.” He looked at the other six Madators and said, “You can start doing the same thing.” They moved to the containers and started the process. Belwen watched them and made comments, as they moved in and out. “That’s better, but I know you can do it faster.” “Good, good, that’s your best time so far.” The Madators continued to move in and out and, after two hours, Belwen said, “That’s enough.” He turned to Blacky and said, “Assume the shape of the container…now!”

Blacky immediately changed his shape to a long, slightly curved, flat surface and fell to the floor. “Now change your shape to the smallest size you can manage.” Blacky immediately formed a small black ball on the floor. “Now back to the shape of the form.”

Belwen kept all seven of them changing shapes for another hour. At that point Blacky stopped and said, “What are you doing? This makes no sense.”

Belwen smiled and said, “Come with me.” The seven followed him out of the lab to the cliff overlooking the ocean far below. They arrived at the edge and felt the strong updraft rising from the ocean beneath them. Belwen looked at Blacky and said, “Stand here on the edge and assume the shape of the form.” Blacky looked at Belwen and changed his shape…and was immediately lifted high in air. Blacky started yelling and Belwen shouted, “Move your body and move with the wind!”

Blacky was terrified as he was blown more than three hundred feet off the ground and he started moving his body to avoid being caught in the strong updraft. He lowered his front edge and he started zooming toward the ground. Before he crashed he lifted his front edge and glided level with the ground and gained altitude again. Belwen shouted, “Next time you get close to the ground, change to your smallest size!”

Blacky was climbing and he was starting to get a feel of how to use the wind to change direction. He turned with the wind and flew away from the cliff, then turned and started a shallow glide back to the group standing at the edge. Just before he moved into the violent updraft he changed shape to a small ball and fell three feet to the ground. He immediately stood up in his normal shape with a huge smile, “That was both terrifying and fun at the same time!”

Belwen smiled, “You have to practice gliding in this wind.”

“Why?”

“We’re going to drop you on a planet from space. You’re going to have to learn how to use the winds to glide to the surface.”

Blacky stared at Belwen and his head fell to his midsection, “You can’t be serious?”

“I’m deadly serious. You’ll fall in the shape of the small ball until you reach an altitude where you can expand and start flying.”

“I’ll burn up long before that happens.”

“No you won’t. You’re dropping in with a flame proof covering. You’ll eject out of it and catch the wind.”

“Why would we do it this way?”

“Blacky, no scanner is set to detect biological creatures. They’re set to detect energy and metals and you won’t have any of that exposed to them. You’ll be able to drop in on a planet undetected and do whatever your mission might be.”

“What if there isn’t any wind?”

“You’re going to learn that you can use the speed you drop in with to glide wherever you choose. Your forward speed will provide all the wind you’ll need. I would recommend that when you choose to land, you should turn your body perpendicular to the ground and flap your surface to slow you down. At that point, you just change to a ball and fall to the ground. You can melt into the soil and move away from your landing point if you need to.”

Blacky thought about what Belwen said and looked at the other six, “He makes sense. We need to work on gliding here at the cliff until we master it.”

Belwen said, “You should also practice changing into a ball shape to drop quickly if needed and back to the wing shape at a lower altitude.”

Blacky smiled and ran forward and threw himself over the cliff wall in the shape of a small ball. The group ran to the edge and didn’t see him but suddenly he blew by them as he flew at high speed in the updraft, moving up the cliff wall. He was hooting and tweeting at the top of his voice as he rose quickly into the sky. Belwen smiled and shook his head. Two more Madators changed to the shape of a wing and lifted into the sky. The other four lifted right behind them and they flew erratically until they got a feel for how to ride the wind. By the end of the day they were flying in formation and dropping quickly toward the ground only to change back into a wing and rise quickly back into the sky.

Finally Blacky glided toward the ground, furled his shape into the wind and landed on his feet without having to change into the ball shape. He looked at Belwen, “I was wrong.”

“About what?”

“Flying is one of the things I can do.”

“You appear to have a natural talent for it.”

“My species has often suggested that we were once birds in our early development and evolved into what we are today. I think this adds support to that theory.”

“If nothing else, you do share a common characteristic with them.”

“What is that?”

“You both have beaks.”

Blacky stared at Belwen and his expression was serious. After a long moment he smiled, “I suspect we were a bird of prey.”

Belwen laughed, “Of that, there is no doubt.”

“Belwen.”

“Yes.”

“I need to send four of us back to our planet to start teaching my species how to fly.”

“That’s a good idea but only send three.”

“Why three?”

“I suspect that the minimum number to use on a raid is four. You should prepare the first wing as quickly as possible. The others can be brought up to speed at a slower pace.”

“Do you see something that we might need to do?”

“I do. I’ve been looking at the scouting reports from the invaded planets, and something is going on that we need to take a look at.”

“Three it is.”

“I also have a few developments I want you to start working on using.”

“Are these the toys Dat mentioned?”

Belwen smiled, “I guess you could call them that; I think you’ll enjoy playing with them.”

Blacky put an arm around Belwen’s shoulders, “You know that your species is now on our protected list.”

“Why is that?”

“No one has ever given us this much fun. Well, maybe Dat did during our little runs, but I see that you have accepted us and don’t fear having us around.”