asteroid below and get angry at it. I want you to get through that screen. I know you don’t know how; just focus on it and think of it as something that is a danger to you.”
Cassandra was confused but she tried to do as Tgon-Gee asked. She looked at the asteroid and thought, “Break through.” Then she tried, “Fail.” She tried more than twenty different combinations of mental commands and nothing worked.
Then Tgon-Gee said something that startled her, “That asteroid wants to kill Tommy Gardner.”
Cassandra eyes narrowed and she thought, “Like hell it will.”
The screen around the asteroid compressed against the asteroid’s surface and then the entire sixty mile wide rock exploded into tiny fragments. Everyone on the ship, including Cassandra, was shocked by what happened.
The bridge was deathly silent. Finally Tgon-Gee said, “I was afraid of that,”
Everyone looked at him and he continued, “I seemed to recognize your aura as warrior. It is very much like your father, Tommy, but much stronger. Her powers come into play when she is stressed. Perhaps in time she will learn to control it but I would suggest that you avoid getting stressed, Captain Dodd. Your powers will protect you without your even having to think about it.”
The Algeans looked at each other and thought, “We have a lot to discuss.”
Cassandra looked at Tommy and thought, “We have a lot to discuss.”
Tgon-Gee thought about Rose sending him to see what was going on and he thought, “We have a lot to discuss.”
But for the moment, silence ruled. Then Tommy said, “Atlas, Rose looked at the Captors planet years ago and there was no response; I’m going to take a look at their planet. I’ll share it with each of you as I see it.”
Atlas said, “Let’s see what’s there now. I know you just flew faster than the ship that was chasing me. Just be ready to run.”
Tommy closed his eyes and felt the others watching through his mind. He found the Captors galaxy and started moving in on the planet where Atlas’ brothers were held captive.
The planet was glowing bright red and as Tommy’s view came closer everyone heard Atlas say, “Oh no, by the creator, no.”
Cassandra said, “What has you upset, Atlas.”
“Tommy, can you take the picture of that planet when the original member of my race entered their system and put it next to what you’re seeing.”
Tommy took the image from Atlas’ mind and put it next to what they were seeing. The planet was now completely covered in a construct that enclosed the gas giant. They could see thousands of the giant red ships swarming around the planetary system. Most of the planet had millions of the ships sitting on the construct. The view from millions of years earlier showed the construct only covered the belt around the equator of the planet.
Sprig said, “If they are like bees then the nest is full.”
Twig said, “If that is the case then they are ready to swarm.”
Atlas said, “Tommy, I know why you feel there is danger to your planet.”
Tommy jerked his mind back to the shuttle and thought, “What do you mean?”
Atlas said, “It’s my fault. I led them to your system. Tommy, they want Jupiter.”
Then Tommy saw it. Jupiter was a gas giant just like the planet of the Captors. The Captors were coming to make Jupiter a new home. Once he saw it, his psychic sense verified what he was thinking.
“Tommy, they will destroy every living thing in your system to insure their planet is secure. If any other planet comes to help defend Earth then their world will also be obliterated.”
Tommy thought, “Rose, I need you to listen to this.”
Rose answered, “Uh oh. I can sense trouble in your thoughts.
Tommy said, “You have no idea.”
The conference room at the Learning facility was full; Rose, Tgon-Gee, Terl, Misty Nicole, Tommy, Cassandra, the two Algean Adolescents, Admirals Mikado, Ron-Dar, O’Donald, Sten, and the two elected leaders of the Stars Realms First Family. Tommy had updated everyone on the Captors and introduced Atlas to the group which was a big shock for the ones that did not know of his existence. Atlas then told what had happened to his race millions of years ago and finished with how he escaped capture. As Atlas finished, the room was deathly quiet.
Rose stood and said, “It is the belief of my family and me that the Captors will be coming to take possession of Jupiter. They will, as a matter of their normal doctrine, destroy any possible threat to their new possession which includes any intelligent life in our solar system. Atlas has shown you the video of the ships used by the Captors. They are gigantic and their screens can stop any weapon we currently have and their weapons penetrate every screen we have developed. These creatures are hundreds of millions of years ahead of us technologically. They totally eradicated or captured Atlas’ race and Atlas is more advanced than any ship in our arsenal.”
Admiral Mikado asked, “Can we do nothing to protect us? How long do we think we have before they come?”
Sprig said, “I have looked at all the information I have absorbed about bees and here is what I know. Once a colony becomes crowded the hive instinctively swarms with the old queen leaving the hive to find a new nesting location leaving the new queen behind. This is the first swarm. After that swarm as many as five other swarms will leave the original hive within a short time. As long lived as these creatures are, it could be millions of years before the follow up swarms. One way to prevent a swarm is to cut off one of the queen’s wings which will prevent her from flying away or kill any new queens while they are still in the birthing cell. Another possible way is to destroy a large number of the warriors which will reduce the urge to swarm because of population pressures.”
Rose looked at the group and said, “We do not possess the technology to do any of those actions. However, we are not going to wait until they show up.” The room started murmuring among themselves. “The first action I propose is to transfer as much of our population as possible to another planet.”
Misty Nicole stood up and said, “We won’t go. I will not run like a coward.”
Rose looked at the Director of Earth and said, “We will not force you to go. However, the people of Earth will be allowed to decide what they want to do. We have found another planet on the spiral arm of our galaxy that is almost a twin of our home world and does not have intelligent life or a gas giant in the system.” She then looked at Misty Nicole and said, “If one of their ships comes into our system, just one of their beams would totally destroy the planet and our asteroid forts would have no effect on it. If we launched one ship to defend the planet, they would imprint the energy signature of that ship and destroy every ship and world in the universe with a similar signature. Director, to stand up against these creatures would be like you attacking an armored naval marine bare handed. You would stand no chance and the fact that you did not represent a threat would not stop these creatures from killing you. They will not tolerate the presence of any other life form near them.”
Misty sat down and the room was silent. Rose continued, “We must insure the survival of our race. We will begin transporting our population as soon as possible and I am going to call on the rest of the Stars Realm to help us build the structures necessary for our people to survive on the new planet. I hope we can get them there quickly. In the event of the Captors arriving here at our system, we will not use any of our fleet to attack them.”
The room erupted with shouts of dismay. Rose waited and finally the room was quiet. “Do not forget what happened to the Alfont. Just one ship entered their system on a random jump and the eels read that ships energy signature and could see all of their ships throughout the universe. They eradicated the Alfont and after a hundred years captured those still alive and have held them prisoner. We cannot allow them to see the entire Realm as a threat. Until we find some way to counter their technology, we must avoid them at all cost. Misty that is why we must move the population.”
Misty looked sick and asked, “Are you certain that they are coming here?”
Rose looked at her and said, “All of my family members can sense them as a danger to us. We all agree that they are coming; when we don’t know; but we cannot sit idle and do nothing.”
“Some of us will refuse to go,” Misty said.
Rose shook her head and said, “We have a picture of the planet that once orbited between Mars and Jupiter. Atlas took it when he was running from just one of their ships. That planet was eight times the size of Earth and the eel blew it apart with one shot of its beam. Look at the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and you will see what awaits us if we sit and wait.”
Terl stood and asked, “Are we just going to run?”
Rose said, “No, we are going to have the Alexander Kosiev take on one of their ships. It is like no other ship
