other races because the only race you ever contacted totally destroyed all of your planets and inhabitants.”
The Algean Eldest was stunned. How could the stranger know that? It had happened more than seventy million cycles ago and no one of his race was alive at that time. The memory had been passed down with the seed that he came from.
He still refused to communicate further until the stranger said, “They not only eradicated your race they also destroyed your food source.”
The other Elders stopped yelling and looked at the Eldest. The Eldest paused and then said, “How do you know these things. Was your race alive when it happened?”
Tag was stunned. What was Rose saying? Then she continued. “Eldest, I want to communicate with you about the future between our two peoples. However, before I continue, I want you to stop the fleet attacking the planet where our fleet is while we are talking.”
“Just why would I do that? We will destroy you in less than another knomel.”
“Because that is not our home world and we have enough of our new missiles to destroy more than ninety percent of your remaining fleet.”
The Eldest was startled. Surly this being was not being truthful with him. Then the stranger said, “Eldest, we moved the race that formerly inhabited the world you’re attacking to our galaxy to save them from your attack. We have more than 3,200 worlds armed like the one you’re attacking. That one is uninhabited. I want you to ask your fleet to stop and hold its position while we talk and I will order my forces to do the same. If at any point you don’t want to continue talking then resume your attack. I should tell you that if you refuse to do as I ask, I am prepared to totally destroy the grove you’re in and all the soil around it for a distance of one quarter of your planet’s surface.”
The Eldest felt real fear. If the stranger did what they said, his race was doomed to eternal savagery and dementia. “You have no idea what that would do to my species,” the Eldest said.
“I believe I do,” Rose said, “and I don’t threaten this lightly.”
“I will order a temporary halt,” the Eldest said.
Tag keyed his com and said, “Admiral Dorg.”
“Yes Your Majesty,” Dorg answered.
The Plants have ordered a temporary halt to their attack. As soon as you see them start stopping, order all of our forces to cease firing until you see them move again.”
Dorg was stunned, “How did you do this?”
“Not right now Admiral.”
Dorg keyed his com and placed the orders. He looked at his display and said, “They’re stopping. Cease fire, all SR forces cease fire.”
While Dorg was stopping the SR Fleet, O’Donald contacted Cade and patched Tag thru, “Cade cease fire on the penetrators immediately.” Cade looked at him with dismay and Tag said, “This is a direct order, do it now.” Cade turned and pressed a button on his console. “Commodore O’Donald will notify you if we need you to continue so keep your channel to her open.”
The Algean Fleet Leader received the order to stop and hold his position and did not believe what he was hearing. “You want me to do what, Eldest?”
“Stop and hold your position until I notify you. The strangers are here at the home world threatening to destroy the Sacred Grove. Now do as you’re ordered.”
The Fleet Leader felt fear course thru his body. Not the Sacred Grove, please, not the Sacred Grove. Then he ordered his ships to stop.”
Both the Algeans and the crew of the Kosiev watched the battle come to a stop. Rose then thought, “Thank you, Eldest. Now we have an opportunity to try and resolve this conflict we find ourselves enmeshed.”
“I am being forced to communicate with you and I do not see any way to resolve our issues nor do I have any desire to do so.”
Tag thought, “Danielle, please join me in what is happening.” Tag felt Danielle come into his mind and both of them listened as Rose talked with the Algean Leader.”
Rose paused a moment and thought, “Eldest, is your reluctance to resolve our issues because of what happened to your race long ago?”
“That is a major part of it. I do not trust any race outside of my own and I think that any resolution that you would want us to come to would include not harvesting any more worlds. I think this because of your past efforts to stop our efforts at gathering food for my race.”
“What if you no longer needed the food you’ve been harvesting?”
The Eldest became very silent and said nothing. Then Rose said, “You didn’t always need to harvest food did you?”
The Eldest still remained silent and after a long pause said, “No, we didn’t. My race did not originally consume organic materials.”
Tag and Danielle were shocked but continued to listen to the conversation.
“What changed that, Eldest?”
“The race that originally destroyed us released a disease on our planets that destroyed our food source. Without it, we were forced to consume organic material. This small land of golden soil here is all that remains of our food.”
Rose nodded and said, “And since organic material is not your normal diet you are forced to consume huge amounts of it to live.”
“Yes we do and my race always feels hunger no matter how much they consume. The food we need only remains here in this small area that is only large enough to develop the leaders of my people. Your threat is the only reason I stopped our attack.”
“Why do you think the race released the disease on your worlds?”
The Eldest said nothing then Rose, Tag, and Danielle could hear the heavy mental sigh that came from him, “Because of our children.”
Danielle could not restrain herself, “What do you mean your children.”
The Eldest thought, “Who is that?”
Rose said, “She is my mother.”
The Eldest said, “Then she knows the importance of raising children properly.”
“What do you mean, properly?” Danielle asked.
“We had four stages of life before the Silver Monsters destroyed us; birth where our babies would put their feeding tubes in the food source and grow for ten cycles absorbing the energy and nutrients for their next sixty cycles; the second stage they would remove their feeding tubes and go out to explore the universe around them; the third stage is where they would return from their explorations, discuss their discoveries with others, reproduce and start their families; the final stage is where they plant themselves in the dirt and give back the things they’ve learned to their race in new ideas or inventions. To properly raise a child it must complete those four stages.”
Danielle thought a moment and realized that human development was very similar to the Plants. Then Rose said something that got her full attention. “It was your adolescents that caused the problem with the Silver Monsters, wasn’t it?”
The Eldest paused again and then said, “How did you determine that?”
“They wouldn’t leave the monsters alone.”
The Eldest’s thought turned hard immediately, “You don’t understand, they couldn’t leave them alone. Our adolescents were driven by their curiosity; it’s part of their makeup that drives them, and they could not stay away even if they wanted; the Silver Monsters were too much for them to resist. Unfortunately, the Monsters would not be patient with our children. We tried to stop them from following the Monsters but they just could not contain their curiosity. The Monsters didn’t even communicate with us about controlling our seedlings; they just destroyed the means for them to exist; then they released a disease that killed us all.”
Rose said, “They destroyed the food you needed to develop first.”
The Eldest remained silent showing his agreement.
Danielle thought, “That’s terrible; what happened after that?”
The Elders could hear the anger in the Stranger’s thoughts and wondered why it was there. These strangers just did not make sense to him. The Eldest said, “Our young became the tools you have seen attacking and
