Searcher

“That would be great, Angel. Remember we have the second meeting in two days.”

“I’ll be ready. See you later.”

“Bye, Love.”

“Do you think it has something to do with the ship the Algeans are building?”

“I don’t know, Al. You must think I’m psychic or something.”

Al started laughing and then Matt joined in. “That always cracks me up.”

“Me, too, Al.”

“Have you had any new visions?”

“No, just the one.”

“Has it cleared up?”

“No, I don’t know when it’s going to happen.”

“That is possibly a good thing.”

“I can’t say I disagree with you. She’ll be here shortly so liven up.”

“Don’t worry; it’s easy to laugh when Angel shows up.”

“Don’t you mean Fly Girl?”

“Same thing, Magic.”

“I know.”

“Leader Twig, we have found the other occupant. The ship is now continuing development.”

“Keep me informed, Elder Engineer.”

“I will do so.”

The Meeting began with Tag standing and looking at the group around the table. He looked over to his right and Anglo pressed a button that lowered a huge display screen. The Screen showed the meeting room with everyone sitting around the table. “This is a video that is being broadcast to the leaders of every member planet in the Realm. We are going to discuss some serious subjects and The Queen and I feel that every member should know what we decide here today. We have sent every member notification of this schedule and I think every planet has its leaders watching. What we have decided has not been an easy decision for us but our prime responsibility is to protect the citizens of the Realm. With that in mind, one of the possibilities that we discussed in our last planning meeting was that the Eight Legs may have access to the memories of anyone they consume. The Queen and I have thought hard about this possibility and, as most of you know, we possess a psychic skill at being able to foretell coming danger. That sense is why we contacted most of the new members in order to save them. When we look at taking one of two courses of action, our sense tells us that the danger level rises higher than we have ever sensed if we follow one. We both know as truth that the Eight Legs do access the memories of those they harvest. I want all the planets of the Realm to consider what would happen if the Eight Legs uncover just one member planet and take all that they know.” The King paused and let that thought hang heavy in the air. “It would lead to every other planet being uncovered by the invaders and also tell them how we have hidden them. The invasion of just one of our members would lead to the destruction of all the other millions.”

Danielle stood and everyone saw her looking from the screen at them, “As a result of that, we have made a decision that must be followed in order to protect the Realm. Any member planet that has the Eight Legs enter their atmosphere will be totally destroyed by the screen generator being used to hide it.” No one said a word. On all the member planets their leaders sat in silence pondering what they had just learned. “We will of course move planets to save them from this possibility but there is a chance that one or more of our members will still be attacked. We have determined that our current weapons may not be effective against these creatures and if that is the case, we cannot stop them from their invasion of a planet. I must say that if I had a choice of instant destruction or dying in the fangs of the invaders, I would choose the fast way. Once these creatures land on a planet, no one escapes. They have the means to find every intelligent being no matter how one may try to hide. It is with a heavy heart that we come to this decision; however, it is our sworn duty to save life. We see no other way to do it. In the event the Realm’s existence is otherwise discovered we will cancel this order. However, you the leaders of each planet will still be given the option to use the generator if you want to save your people from the gruesome death of being consumed alive. If any of you wish to discuss this decision with us, please notify us and we will talk with you. However, please think about whether or not you would want your planet endangered if another planet was attacked. Thank you for your time and it is with great sorrow that we are made to take this step in the defense of the Realm.” Danielle looked and Anglo and the screen went dark.

Tag looked at the group surrounding the table and said, “I have instructed the Algeans assigned to each of our members to carry out this order. I sincerely hope we are not forced to take this action but the probability of all members escaping is remote. Admiral, Gardner, do you have any other things you wish to bring to our attention.”

Matt stood, “I think it is absolutely critical that we determine whether or not we truly are invisible to them. We must have a ship in plain view at their point of entry. I also suggest a screened sensor be placed there far enough away to read their jump tracks and send them to Searchers. We will lose track of these ships if we don’t keep close tabs on their jumps.”

Tag frowned, “Carry out your plan accordingly.”

“I also think if we can build enough sensors in time that along with a Searcher assigned to each mother ship that comes we transmit the jump track to a sensor probe that will jump a light day distant from each mother ships jump and have it programmed to follow them each time they jump then send that information to a central location that will keep track of their movements. If we detect a jump to a member’s coordinates then we will move the planet as soon as they start moving inside the jump limit. If they stop and do not detect the planet and go elsewhere, the planet will stay where it is and remain hidden.”

Danielle looked at Sprig and he stood and thought, “We have more than fifty million sensor probes that can carry out that task. Fortunately, we have been screening them with red generators for over eight hundred years because of the more efficient power. We will begin building more; we don’t know how many of their ships will be coming.”

Tag looked at Matt with a serious expression and said, “Find out what will kill them, Searcher.”

“I will do my best to do just that, Your Majesty.”

“This meeting is adjourned. Use what time remains wisely.” Then Tag and Danielle left the room.

Stem looked at Al’s display showing the location in space where the Eight Legs were due to break out. Matt was on board Wings spending time with Angel before the conflict begun.

“Al, I fear we may not be successful against these creatures. The final advanced system has also remained dormant which may mean that the vessel we are preparing may not be used.”

“Stem, I believe that the final system will not activate until Matt is placed in an extremely high stressful situation. Cassandra told us that her abilities appeared when she found herself being stressed. The same is probably true with Matt.”

“I just don’t know if he will face a situation that would generate that kind of stress, Al.”

“Stem, you can trust me on this one; he is going to face a situation that will cause a huge amount of stress. I just don’t know when it will happen.”

Stem was silent for a moment and then thought, “Do you want to tell me what you know.”

“I can’t.”

“Well, my good friend, If it stresses him then I know you will also have to face it, too. If you need help, I’m here for you.”

“Thank you, Stem. I think we are both going to need all the help we can get.”

Chapter 10 INVASION

The huge green ship came out its universal jump and oriented to the closest galaxies. The Ship’s Male pressed a control and said, “What do your sensors indicate?”

“Of the three hundred closest galaxies, one of them appears to have a larger life signature indicating