“Did you notice that she wants to get to know me better; it’s too bad you weren’t noticed.”
“I’ve been talking with Danielle for more than three hundred years, you big baby.”
“You’re just jealous. I’m more fascinating than you.”
“Matt, are they always like this?”
Matt sighed, “Yes, Danielle, I’m afraid they are.”
“OOPs,” Al said, “I thought she was gone.”
“They must like each other very much to work so hard to have the last word.”
“Don’t tell him,” both Stem and Al thought together.
Danielle laughed, “Oh, I don’t think I have to now; bye all.”
Tag looked at Danielle, “What do you think?”
“I think that they have found family on that ship. Three that are so different but so much alike; Matt needs them to heal.”
“Do you think he will ever know love again?”
“Some never know love like he’s experienced. Only fate can determine if he is to love again. I just don’t know.”
“He deserves it.”
“If any one does, he does but that doesn’t mean he will.”
“I know.”
The Ship’s Male watched the harvest of the planet and kept his attention focused on the sensors. He deliberately had numerous small ships scattered around the planet in an effort to see if one of them would also disappear. Nothing happened. At the conclusion of the harvest the Sensor Male said, “Your orders?”
“Move outside the sun’s influence to the star drive band.”
“Should I recall the ships?”
“No, have them follow us.”
The huge fleet of ships arrived at the jump limit and stopped and waited. After a measure, the Ship’s Male keyed his transmitter. “Why have you contacted me?”
“Supreme Male, I have a situation that I need to discuss with you.”
“Download your data.”
The Ship’s Male felt the pointed probe that entered his abdomen. Once it was in his information center he transmitted all that had happened since his arrival in this universe. The Supreme Leader digested what he had received and said, “No others have disappeared?”
“No.”
“What are your plans?”
“I’m almost convinced that whatever caused their disappearance must have been some kind of natural phenomena. I have not seen any life source that indicates above average development. I will continue to harvest this area to see if I can generate an attack but it would put me behind schedule.”
The family’s Supreme Male thought about the disappearances and almost called for the main invasion. He turned his attention to his family and saw that they were still digesting. He decided, “Continue with your schedule. If anymore disappearances happen I must be notified immediately.”
“I will do as you order.”
The probe was removed from the Ship’s Male and he turned to the Sensor Male, “Recall all ships. Is there anything else in this galaxy that we should investigate?”
The Sensor Male thought about his three missing brothers but did not see any civilization that warranted attention. “I do not see anything different from the two we just ate.”
“Find another galaxy and our next meal.”
“We will move in half a measure, First Fang.”
The members of Aladdin watched as the mother ship stopped at the jump limit with all of its ships still outside. “They’re waiting for an attack,” Al said.
They continued to watch and after an hour the ships began entering the huge green ship. “Now we see if they will invade soon.”
“How do you see that?”
“Stem, If they attack another close planet then they are convinced that the three missing warriors were killed. If they leave to a more distant planet then they just don’t have a clue and don’t know what to attribute it.”
The ships were finally all on board and the green ship disappeared. “This just in, they jumped to another galaxy,” Al reported.
“Thanks, Al, it looks like we have been given a reprieve. Please inform General Durk to begin executing his attacks.”
“You don’t think doing it this quickly would make them think about what happened here?”
“No Stem, it would actually make them more convinced that it was not caused by a life form. Distance is the great divider. The fact that something different happened in this new galaxy they enter will convince them the there is no cause for alarm.”
The four ships waited until the green ship moved from the planet it had just destroyed and cleared the jump limit then jumped in and fired their weapons. They then jumped away as thousands of ships erupted from the mother ship.
“Have them followed.”
“Issuing instructions,” the Sensor Male watched the four ships as they jumped away. He followed one through three jumps but lost it when it jumped to a distance galaxy that had several galaxies between them that blocked his vision.
“We have lost them.”
“How?”
“They jumped at least six times to distant galaxies faster than our ship’s systems could follow so we lost the jump track. They jumped to galaxies that had other galaxies between them and our ship which blocked our vision.”
The Ship’s Male wasn’t surprised that they were attacked. It usually happened much earlier. “What did you see in their weapons?”
“The beam weapons were quite strong compared to most of those we’ve encountered; however, nothing significantly different.”
“Well, if we are attacked in the future we will ignore the attackers unless they use some kind of weapon that is different.”
“You do not want us to send ships to give chase?”
“To what end? Those ships are nothing superior to what we’ve seen. If we chase them every time they attack we will have to do what we’re doing right now; wait for our ships to return before we can travel. That will put us behind schedule.”
The Sensor Male raised two legs indicating a shrug. The Ship’s Male was probably right; any measures lost chasing four ships would be better spent consuming the billions on a planet. Besides, we’ve seen it all before; they fire their weapons and run. They would eventually be found and consumed when the family arrived. We better use this time to feed before everything was gone. The last harvest was a disaster. The Ship’s Male was wise to ignore the attacks. The Sensor Male hoped he was as wise when he was given a ship. There was so much left to learn before that happened.
Matt watched the feed and saw eight Searchers jump in and fire on the green ship as it moved to the jump limit after destroying another civilization. The Stars Realm ships had learned that if they timed their jumps right that they could jump in and fire just before the Invader reached the jump limit and jump away before the green ships could give chase. “That was smart of General Durk to hit them before they reached the jump limit. They can’t chase us.”
“Al, tell me you don’t really believe that.”
“Just checking to see if you saw it.”
“They are ignoring us. We could hit them anywhere and they would go about their plans giving us no notice just like the Reg when the Eight Legs invade them. We are insignificant to them.”
