Rose watched Dorg carefully and could feel the Algean leader examine her friend. She sat down on the ground just outside the yellow soil and waited.
The Kosiev entered normal space just outside the atmosphere of Ross and Danielle’s shuttle fired its thrusters and moved into its landing bay. O’Donald heard the all clear from her console and ordered an immediate return to the Algean home world. The Kosiev broke back into normal space where it had previously been and waited. The hundreds of thousands of Plant ships surrounding them waited with them.
Danielle thought, “Rose, what is happening?”
“Hi, Mom; Dorg and the Eldest are sharing their thoughts and I’m waiting for them to finish.”
Danielle thought quickly, “May we join you on the planet?”
Rose didn’t say anything for a long time and then Danielle heard, “It’s not safe for you yet. Don’t get upset, Mom, I am safe; I have the Eldest’s safe passage and no Plant would go against his word; just be patient.”
Rose continued to sit and wait and she noticed that the other bushes in the grove had moved close to where she was sitting so that they could observe her. “Looks like they still have some curiosity,” she mused.
Finally after three hours the Eldest and Dorg broke their connection. Dorg was sitting on the ground and he looked at Rose and said, “I have misjudged these creatures completely. They have such a tragic history. The universe has not treated them fairly.”
The Eldest looked at Dorg as he spoke to Rose and said, “Why didn’t you destroy his world after all the horrific acts his race had done to your people?”
Rose looked at the towering bush and said, “Because then he would not be here to show you what trust really looks like. We really believe that every race has an important role in making the universe a better place to live. To destroy his people would go against everything we hold to be sacred; destruction goes against our strongest beliefs but we will do it if forced to do so.”
The Eldest opened his thoughts to the other Elders so they could hear the exchange and then said, “I saw in his mind that you can destroy every ship we sent to attack that world we thought was your home planet. I also see that you could then totally destroy this world afterwards. Are you here like you were when you moved on his planet?”
“Yes! We are here, Eldest, because I saw that your race did not deserve to be destroyed and I hoped to try and stop our conflict.”
The Eldest bent down and touched one of his branches to Admiral Dorg’s hand, “I hope you find inner peace in your lifetime; you deserve it and I thank you for your thoughts. The little one is right, I have learned much from our contact.” The Eldest then turned to Rose and said, “I can see that you are trustworthy. You are nothing like the Silver Monsters. If you embraced his world after all that happened, then you would not be my enemy but I’m afraid that our conflict will be forced to continue.”
“Tell me why,” Dorg asked.
“Because we cannot feed our people; we are forced to harvest or we will die if we don’t. This small grove is all that remains of our natural food and even it is tainted by that virus the Silver Monsters released on us. Except for that, I now know that you are a people that can be trusted.”
Dorg looked up at the tall plant and said, “However it goes, I will always think of you as a friend. I thank you for your wisdom. I, too, will not be the same from this time on.”
Rose stood and said, “Eldest, I want you and the other leaders to back away from the edge of this grove.”
“Why do you want that?” The Eldest thought fearfully.
“Because there will be a change momentarily and I want you to be able to witness it.”
The tall bushes moved back fifty yards wondering what was going to happen. Rose bent down and put her fingers into the yellow soil and closed her eyes. For two minutes nothing happened and even Dorg was beginning to wonder what Rose was doing. Suddenly the dirt around Rose began trembling and then it seemed to rise up like a wave of soil three feet high and move out from her in all directions like ripples from a stone dropped into a still pond. As the wave moved away, the soil it left behind was bright yellow, even brighter yellow than the grove the Elders were standing in. Then even the Sacred Grove turned a brighter shade of gold.
Dorg watched the wave as it passed the hundreds of thousands of Plant soldiers surrounding the grove. The soldiers looked at the yellow soil under them and then planted their feet in the soil. An immediate change started taking place; their mantis form began to disappear and the soldiers started to grow taller and assume a form that looked like tall sunflowers. The Algean Leaders in the grove watched as their children planted their feet in the ground and began absorbing the natural diet they needed to develop. Even Dorg could feel the joy emanating from the tall leaders and then suddenly the Algean leaders began sprouting blooms. The Eldest bent and lifted Rose and Dorg into his branches swinging them back and forth. The tall bushes smelled wonderful.
“How did you do that?” The Eldest asked.
“The same way I’ll convert thousands of the Planets you have destroyed into the soil you need to survive. All you need do is take a bag of this soil and place it where you want it to spread and the small bacteria you depend on will begin spreading at a tremendous speed. It will only take half a cycle to completely cover a continent.”
The Eldest opened his thoughts to Dorg and Rose then they heard him say on his communication frequency, “Fleet leader, turn your ships around and come home to your first full meal. The Strangers have given us our life back. We have made some new friends today.”
On board the Kosiev, Bridget, Tag, and Danielle saw thousands of shuttles leaving the ships around them and dropping toward the planet. The entire crew of the Kosiev could hear in their mind the millions of thoughts from the plants headed toward the planet thanking them for giving them their lives back.
Tag heard the Algean make the call and he contacted Mikado and Cade and then said over his com, “The war is over; stand down; all Stars Realm military forces stand down and wait for further orders. Commodore O’Donald beamed a message to the government center announcing the joyous news. The entire Stars Realm began celebrating on all of their planets.
The Algean Fleet Leader watched his console and saw the joy at the Sacred Grove and the hundreds of thousands of shuttles headed toward the golden soil that waited for them. He never expected to ever have a family in his lifetime but now there was hope. “All Ships, return to the Sacred Grove for your first satisfying meal. We now look forward to tomorrow without hunger.”
Rose swung on the Eldest’s branches and then thought, “Now for the hard part.”
Chapter 24
Rose and Dorg boarded the shuttle, lifted off the ground, and set course for the Kosiev. Rose keyed her com and talked quietly into it for a few moments while Dorg flew the shuttle into the landing bay. The bay pressurized and Rose ran out and jumped into the arms of her parents. Dorg moved toward the bridge to contact the Rossville. Tag and Danielle were overjoyed at having their daughter back safe and sound. As Danielle embraced Rose, Rose looked over her mother’s shoulder at Commodore O’Donald and saw her indicate the back wall of the landing bay with her eyes. Rose nodded, then smiled and said, “Mom, Dad, step back here with me for a moment; there’s some things I want to tell you and I don’t want to wait. Rose took their hands and walked to the back of the landing bay. She turned them against the back wall and said, “I know you have been wondering why I have been so secretive about what I was doing. Tag and Danielle looked down at her and Tag said, “Yes, we have.”
Commodore O’Donald walked up with another crewman and said, “I hate to interrupt you but we’ve been working on this wall and the surface is exposed; I need you to put your hand in these gloves and keep them on while you’re back here.”
“We can move if you need us to, Commodore,” Tag said.
“I don’t want to wait,” Rose said.
Bridget looked at Rose and then said, “Just put the gloves on, it won’t be but for just a moment.”
Rose, Tag, and Danielle put their hands forward and the crewman and Bridget slipped the gloves on their hands and tightened them. “Are they secure, Your Majesty?” Bridget asked.
Tag and Danielle flexed their fingers and said, “They’re quite snug.”
Bridget said, “Good,” and she and the crewman pushed Tag and Danielle into the wall where they
