so fast that it wasn’t seen.”
“Wow!” Al said. “Looks like one of those could cause the invaders huge problems if we could get them inside their ships.”
Matt said, “Not really, Al. Remember that their ship’s interiors have modern alloys and walls that would stop the ball if it struck them.”
“It would be nice if we had a way to burn all of the normal materials out of existence,” Melanie said. “Then we just throw some of those balls inside and watch the fun. However, how could you burn something as big as a planet? We don’t have a weapon that could do that.”
Cassandra looked at Tommy and then said, “We know someone who does.”
Everyone turned quickly and looked at them. “Who,” Matt asked?
Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “The ones who gave us our red screens. They fired a ball of energy at the Earth that was bigger than the planet.”
Sprig twitched, “I remember that. We barely moved the planet in time before it struck.”
Stem raised his branches and asked, “They’re gone now; how would you contact them in another universe?”
Cassandra shook her head, “I don’t know if we can. We can try.”
Matt looked at Melanie and said, “I would like to go with you when you make the attempt and Melanie should also be present.”
“We might as well go now.”
Matt shrugged and the four of them disappeared. “Al, tell fly Girl we’ll be back.”
“I heard that, Matt. We’ll be waiting.”
Chapter 16
“F irst Fang, we have not found any evidence of the two ships. Our transports have scanned the planet thoroughly and none of our ships have uncovered anything that suggests they were ever in this system.”
The Ship’s Male looked at his Sensor Male and felt his frustration rise. “Where could they be?”
The Sensor Male saw the leader’s frustration “Is it possible their jump drives failed while they were coming here?”
“Both of them at the same moment; I don’t think so.”
“That leaves only two possibilities; they were destroyed by a natural event or they were killed by an outside force.”
“Those crystal creatures could have done it but they have never left their planet during all of the previous harvestings.”
“Should we go to their system and send some ships to the planet to see if they are now aggressive toward us?”
The Ship’s Male thought about the suggestion and decided to ask what should be done. He turned on his communicator and moved to the bed, “Supreme Male, I have been given a suggestion by my Sensor Male and need to know if you think it worth of action.”
The Supreme Male downloaded all that had happened since the last communication and pondered for a moment, “Perhaps, but I notice that small fragments were discovered.”
“Yes, but they were at the site where two of our attack craft collided.”
“Before you leave the system, have two of your attack craft hit each other and see if fragments are produced; then compare the size of the two to see if they are similar in size.”
The Sensor Male contacted two attack craft and issued the order. The two craft turned and hit each other. A nearby transport moved in and scanned the area of impact.
The Ship’s male read the results and was surprised, “Supreme Male, the fragments from the collision are slightly smaller than the ones originally scanned.”
“Go back through the system and scan those fragments again. See if there are two that are similar in size.”
“It will be done and I will contact you when we have the information.”
The Ship’s Male’s display went dark and he looked at the Sensor Male, “Scan for those fragments and let me know what you discover.”
After four days the Sensor Male turned to the Ship’s Male, “First Fang, we had six collisions in the system prior to our organization of the search. In one of the collision sites there were larger fragments mixed in with the smaller ones. We have found a seventh site where no collision occurred and the larger fragments were found.”
“Look at the data from the first harvesting and tell me if any fragments were left when the crystal creatures destroyed our ships.”
The Sensor Male looked at the data and said, “We were only able to scan the site of one ship’s destruction; it happened in the outer system of the crystal creatures. We dared to go no closer than that site. There were no fragments from that destruction.”
“What kind of ship was destroyed at that site?”
“One of our Family’s ships, First Fang.”
“So one of our largest ships was destroyed and no fragments were left from that destruction.”
“That is correct.”
“What conclusions can you derive from this new information?”
The Sensor Male turned and looked at the Ship’s Male, “Another advanced life form destroyed our two attack craft. There can be no other possibility. I have no idea what caused the destruction of the planet but I am now led to believe that the planet was hidden from our initial scan of this system. That makes me wonder how many planets are hidden from us. Perhaps the initial disappearance of the three children was caused by the same creatures.”
“The technology to hide a planet is beyond any we have ever encountered in all of our harvestings. These suspected creatures would possess knowledge that would taste better than any we’ve had since the first harvest.”
“I believe you are right, First Fang.”
The Ship’s Male felt his excitement grow. He wanted to taste these creatures before the rest of the families arrived. He punched his communicator and moved to the bed.
The Supreme Male downloaded the information and immediately shivered, “I am moving up the harvest. We will be arriving in forty kdgs.”
“I believe that we should return to the site of the initial disappearance of my three children and investigate the surrounding systems closely, Supreme Male.”
The Supreme Male did not want to miss the possible meal but he knew he would taste it from downloading the Ship’s Male. He thought a few moments and decided that it might reduce the time necessary to find this new life form, “Begin your search. Perhaps looking at the data from the last harvest and seeing if there are other planets that should be seen, but are not, would be a way to search from that initial system.”
The Ship’s Male was impressed with the suggestion, “We will search using your suggestion.” The display went dark and the Ship’s Male said, “Recall all ships immediately.”
“I’ve already issued the orders. We will begin moving out of this system.”
The Ship’s Male sat back in his command structure and anticipated a wonderful meal never thinking about the possibility of any danger to him in the coming search.
The Sensor Male was worried, “They can kill our ships; is it possible they can destroy this ship?” He said nothing and continued to issue the orders to move out of the system.
The Kosiev was hanging is space looking down on a huge planet that was surrounded by a red structure. Cassandra said, “That is the former home planet of the Captors.”
Melanie looked at the planet and asked, “What are those huge indentations on the structure’s surface?”
“Each one of those was a berth for a Captor vessel.” Melanie’s eyes widened. “Most Captors were between fifteen hundred and twenty five hundred miles in diameter, Melanie and the two leaders were more than thirty five
