said, “I may be sending you to follow up a harvest. Start preparing your family.”
“I will begin immediately, Nest Mother.”
Never in her species long history had a harvest ever been stopped. She was probably worrying about nothing… but…something just didn’t feel right. She sat in her chamber and worried. Would this harvest never start?”
“Destiny, are you sure you’re ok with our using one of your ships for target practice.”
“I’m sure, Matt. If it comes down to transportation issues, I think I can count on you to provide some ships for my use.”
“You know we will. We have some about three hundred miles in diameter that I think will meet your needs.”
“Then get on with it and we’ll watch and see what happens.”
Eyes was looking at Destiny and Destiny said, “What?”
“One of our children has developed an interest in engineering after reading the library given us and has timidly asked for permission to view the attack.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, he has been studying the data from past harvests and what our protectors have sent us and has an insatiable curiosity.”
“Invite him up and let him watch.” Eyes turned back to his board. A young child ran into the command chamber and sat down and watched the display. “Who are you, child?”
“My name is Edison.”
“Where did you get that name?”
“One of the human’s ancient engineers had that name. I liked it.”
Destiny shrugged and turned to eyes, “Make sure we have our scanners at full power.”
“Already on it.”
“Then start the transport moving.” Destiny noticed that the child took an instrument and pointed it out of the ship toward the location of the transport. “What is that?”
“It’s something I put together in the lab.”
Matt said, “Launching the penetrator.”
Destiny watched as the penetrator shot out at the transport from more than seven thousand miles. It was near one third light speed when it arrived at the transport but missed the target.”
Sprig said, “We just can’t get a strong enough reading on that low power frequency.”
“Does that mean we have to be closer to hit them?”
“Probably.”
Edison looked at Destiny, “May I ask them a question, Father.”
Destiny looked at the child and said, “Matt, I have a child that has a question.”
“What is it?”
“Have you accounted for the shift in frequency that occurs at one third light speed?”
Sprig said, “What?”
“At that speed the frequency will shift higher because you’re moving faster into the sine wave. It might be shifted closer to a cosign pattern. With that shift the signal should be stronger.”
Sprig sat quiet for thirty seconds which was years for a humans mind. “No, we haven’t; standby just a moment while I make some adjustments on the second penetrator.” Three minutes passed and then Sprig said, “Launch the second penetrator.”
Matt said, “Firing second penetrator.” The penetrator launched and again flew at the transport, turned slightly as it got close, and hit it dead center.”
Destiny looked at the child and said, “That was impressive. Is there anything else you would like to suggest?”
“I think I have found a way to teleport our green substance, Father.”
“Sprig.”
“Thank you, Destiny. We would have missed that.”
“That’s not why I’m calling; my child thinks he may have found a way to teleport the green substance.”
There was dead silence on the com. Finally Sprig said, “Do tell.”
“I’m going to send him to your ship. I’ll let him explain what he has developed.”
“Father, if you’ll just give me his coordinates, I can teleport to him with my device.”
Matt and Sprig heard the comment and Sprig asked, “Did you give him the teleport device to study?”
“No, I didn’t.” Destiny looked at Edison and asked, “How did you build a teleport device?”
“Once you know that it’s possible to teleport, the principles are pretty obvious, Father. I found the bulk of the information from a race we harvested fifty million years ago.”
Matt looked at Sprig on his communicator and said, “From the mouth of babes.”
Sprig stood stunned on the bridge of the Rossville. He knew the mental capacity needed to grasp those concepts and here was a child saying they were obvious. Are they further advanced mentally than we are?
“Destiny, does your species have this kind of mental capacity?”
“Sprig, since we have been free of the compulsions placed on us, we are changing. Our minds are actually clearing and thought is easier. Our telepathic range is going up daily. I’ve been told that my children are developing interests in a wide range of topics. I know that we can store tremendous amounts of information but we have never really correlated what we have stored. I think this child is an example of what we are becoming.”
“We may not be able to use what he knows before the invasion starts but if he is right, we won’t need a penetrator; we’ll just teleport the bombs directly into their ships.”
Edison looked at his father and said, “Why do that, just teleport them back to where they came from with a ten thousand penetrators on their hulls set to launch when they enter normal space.”
Even Sprig was shocked at that idea.
Chapter 20
The Supreme Male looked at his communications board and saw that his family was ready for the harvest. He had contacted the Nest Mother and informed her of his time for departure and she had approved. He looked at his Sensor Male and said, “Begin sending the first wave through the entry point. Have them jump upon arrival and form a barrier to prevent interruption to our entry.”
“I am issuing orders now.”
“It’s starting, Matt; fifty main ships have just come through the entry point.”
“I see them, Destiny. We will track them with our new sensor board at fleet command. How long will it be before the first million come through?”
“It usually takes about four of your months. At that point the universe will be mapped for intelligent life forms and the remainder of the family will begin coming en mass with assigned destinations.”
“I’m struggling with whether or not to hit those ships if they move in on a planet but I’m not sure if it’s wise to do it before we are ready to take them on.”
“I would be surprised if they move on a planet during the initial phase of the invasion. The first wave knows their responsibility is to map targets and they will not go against their instructions. You have some time before you are forced to act.”
“I hope you’re right. We’re assigning a Searcher to each of the ships that come through in the first wave. They have a main ship penetrator if they have to use it but I don’t want to do anything that changes the invader’s normal entry protocols.”
“If you start hitting them they will change.”
“Then we will hold off as long as possible.”
“What happens if they stumble on to one of the Realm’s planets?”
“Then we will move the planet.”
Destiny flinched, “You can do that?”
