“We have finally found a way to kill the orange plant, its pods, and its spores.”
“Really!!”
“It appears so; at least the batch in the containment dish is dead. We have to mass produce the spores that caused the plant’s death to make sure but it looks like they’re what we’ve been attempting to create.”
“It’s taken a long time to get this far.”
Weed leaned forward in agreement, “Eight years is actually shorter than what we thought it would take. This has not been easy.”
“How does it work?”
“The spores we made enter the orange plant’s DNA and inhibit two of its major functions.”
“What functions are those?”
“The ability to absorb nutrients or gases; the plant will starve or suffocate. The spores that kill it will reproduce from the plants tissues and release themselves by the billions into the atmosphere.”
Carter thought a moment, “Will these new spores be dangerous?”
Seed turned to Carter, “That’s what’s been the major delay in developing them. What happens when all the orange plants are dead? We didn’t want to create a spore that would then mutate to attack another host. This particular spore will only function with an orange plant as a host. If the orange plants are not available the spores will just become inactive. The new spore’s core DNA cannot be changed or modified. This should not only kill the orange plants but also the spores the plant had already released.”
“What about the possibility of the orange plant mutating to survive?”
“It can’t do it. Their structure is an artificial creation and the internal tissues are fixed and cannot adapt even to a different environment.”
“What will this spore you’ve created do to someone on the planet that’s addicted to the orange plants?”
Weed hesitated, “It will remove the plant from their tissues. Unfortunately, it will probably kill them in the process.”
“Why!?”
“Removing the plant does not remove the addiction to it. It will attack the skin that has the orange spores embedded and we expect the orange colored skin on any addicted being to flake off. While that process is taking place, the body will go into withdrawals and you’ve seen what the end result will look like once the tremors hit. You must understand that any captured populations that are now addicted are living a delayed death sentence anyway. There is no way to save them.”
“I thought those severe tremors were from the plant?”
“No, actually the body eventually gets to the point where it cannot absorb any more than a specified level of the toxin. However, the demand for it continues to rise and can’t be met by what’s available. The withdrawal tremors hit and the body dies horribly; an overdose of the drug also causes the same death.”
“Why aren’t the Invaders dying? It’s obvious by their skin color they’re addicted.”
Seed stared at the experiment’s results as she said, “Remember, the Invaders are using a product that is processed from the plant. The ones being forced to farm the pods are getting it raw. The processed drug is addictive but doesn’t prevent the body from continuing to process it at an infinite level. It’s the raw plants and spores that kill the planets it’s grown on. We do think that if the drug is removed from the Invader’s bodies, they will die as well. We just don’t see any way to wean the body from this powerful drug’s influence.”
“Where did you find the spore to kill it?”
Seed replied, “That’s the ironic thing about this. This spore was developed by the Alfont and used to kill our food source millions of years ago. We’ve modified it to target the orange plants and it’s quite virulent and almost impossible to stop. Once it’s introduced to a space faring species, its spread is almost guaranteed. My species died millions of years ago because of it.”
“Couldn’t they just quarantine a planet that’s been exposed to your spore?”
“If they knew it was there, it might be possible. However, the spores don’t start acting immediately. The initial spores will become active after we determine an appropriate delay to insure their spread. Right now they are designed for a thirty day delay. They will cling to clothing, space suits, the hulls of ships, and get into most ship’s environmental systems. They can survive temperature extremes up to and including the vacuum of space and still be viable. All it takes is for one ship to leave an infected planet and the spores are on their way to every stop it makes. Once it gets on a planet, it will infect any ship that lands. Of course we’ll help with the spread by dropping some of them on every planet the Invaders are currently farming. I’m certain that some of them will be on the packets of orange drug they’re processing and will be taken back to their distribution center before the spores activate and start infecting those exposed.”
“When are you planning to start this process?”
Weed thought a moment, “We want to trial it first in one of the universes the Invaders has already killed. We’ll drop the spores on several planets and see what happens.”
Carter looked up at the display and smiled, “I suspect whoever is running the show for the Invaders is going to be somewhat upset with our meddling; especially if we destroy their stockpiles of the drug.”
“That’s what we hope. We need to get them out in the open where we can see what we’re dealing with. Right now, they are unknown and we’re working in the dark.”
“Do you mind if Jenna and I go with you?”
“No, you should plan to leave in two days. The Invaders will be wrapping up their destruction of the universe they’re now farming and start moving to their next target within the next nine months. We need to hurry and perform the trial while we have a maximum number of planets to attack.”
“I’ll let Jenna know.”
Scotty looked at Julie and blew out the candles. He shook his head and wondered at how fast the years had flown. It seemed just yesterday he was ten years old on El Prado looking at stars. Now he was forty six and starting to feel it. Julie was still as beautiful as the day he first saw her and her smile still warmed his heart. He noticed that his white hair was starting to turn a slightly different color and he knew it would be noticeable before too much longer.
He looked and saw Grang and Geena with Maddy who was growing up to be a beautiful Cainth Female. Scotty smiled knowing that Maddy was Grang’s favorite. She was a commander of a twenty unit of Flyers and was moving up in the ranks quickly. Robby was growing up to be a tall young man and he was proud of the way he and Dani fit in with everyone. Their psychic abilities were amazing and really helped him make good decisions; they did an excellent job of not demonstrating them around the citizens of the Empire. Dani’s sense of impending danger was invaluable. They were married three years ago and anyone could see how happy they were together. Jenna and Carter were married six months later. They were a high powered couple as well and Carter never ceased to amaze him with his brilliance.
Michael and Carrie had just had a baby girl and, to June’s shock, had named her Maranda. Carrie explained that the real Maranda was one of the most beautiful people she knew. June finally knew she was forgiven and insisted on babysitting her at every possible moment. Even Samuel loved the little girl.
The forty six industrialized planets were making progress in the construction of ships but they were not able to stand up to the new ships the Invaders had brought in. Alex and the Zord were still working on a power system that would allow them to take one on but in the initial confrontation, the Invaders had destroyed two new ships with one beam into each of them. They still weren’t there yet.
Scotty heard laughter and didn’t even have to look to know that his daughter was the source. TK was seven and was psychic. Unlike her mother, she had blonde hair but her eyes were green like Julie’s. Scotty chuckled; I wonder where she got that hair. It would soon be time for her to choose a Zord and there were hundreds competing to be on the list for her selection. Once she decided, she and the Zord would go to have their armor installed.
The Flyers had all been fitted and were now an imposing force. They were responsible for the fast growth of the Empire. Scotty heard Julie shout, “Tommie Katherine, only one piece of cake.” Scotty heard TK laugh again and smiled; TK was always up to something.
The Empire had grown to more than a thousand planets but its future was going to be determined by the forty six industrialized worlds that had been moved close together to build the ships to fight the Orange Creatures. Twenty more planets had developed industry to the level where they were slated to be moved to the galaxy where
