“No, why do you ask?”
“If it’s the same Einstein I punished last week for converting one of the lakes on the last planet into uranium, then he’s always up to mischief.”
“How did he do that?”
“I don’t know; he said he needed it to catch a few quarks for an experiment.”
“Destiny, I’m reasonably certain that he’s the one.”
Edison was shaking his head, “No, it’s not him. He isn’t very bright actually. Einstein is in the engine room developing a drive that should push our ship faster than light.”
Destiny heard what Edison said and yelled, “Eyes. Get that child out of the engine room.”
“Destiny, I think we need to build a school for your children to develop their talents.”
“We need to build something. They’re developing individual personalities and their curiosity is out of control. One of them cut a section from the hull and made a statue.”
“What did they cut it with?”
Destiny looked at his screen and said, “I really don’t know.”
Twig thought, “I really think you should find out.”
“Eyes, get me the artist. What’s his name?”
“Leonardo something.”
“Well get him up here. Ah, here’s Einstein.”
“What do you want, Father?”
“Are you the subject matter expert on teleportation?”
“I was last week. I’ve moved on to another subject.”
Sprig said, “We need your help on teleportation?”
“Sure, if that’s what you want. I just think using psychic skills to move objects around the universes will be so much more efficient but I’ll certainly help you with teleportation if that’s what you need.”
Sprig looked at Twig and thought, “What have we found here?”
“I don’t know, Dear, but please remember you melted a Megaship in your youth.”
Einstein and Edison looked at Sprig with wonder in their eyes. “You did what?”
Destiny laughed, “Now they have a new hero. He’s all yours, Sprig.”
Matt was at his console watching the ships continue to pour into his universe. His com buzzed and he saw Sprig on it, “What’s up?”
“These young spiders are showing a tremendous rate of development. If we can get through the first invasion, we will have some tools to take this war to their home turf.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know the Reg’s ship is going to be able to travel between universes.”
“Yeah.”
Well one of the young spiders has found the set of conditions that would allow us to build our own vessels to do that. He is not far from finding the missing concepts that govern that type of movement. We also have an artist on Destiny’s ship that cut a piece of the hull off to make a statue. We have him here now showing us how he did it. It seems these youngsters are just as precocious and enterprising as our adolescents.”
Sprig, let’s go see Destiny. I have been looking at the data we have on the spider in earth’s past that resembles them. I think he needs to know what we’ve found.”
“I’ll meet you on his bridge.”
“Destiny, Sprig and Matt are coming for a meeting.”
“Did they say why, Eyes?”
“Something about a thing called a spider.”
“What is that?”
“I really don’t know.”
Sprig and Matt appeared on the bridge and Destiny said, “What brings you here?”
“Matt said, “I have a recording of an animal that once lived on my planet. I want you to take a look at it and tell me what you think.”
Destiny shrugged and took the recording and inserted it into his console. “Eyes, I’m also feeding this to your console.” The two of them watched the recording and both of them flinched as soon as they saw the first picture. “Where did you say you got this?”
“It is a creature that once existed on my home planet, Destiny. It was very small and it built webs that it used to catch its prey.”
Destiny looked at Eyes and said to Matt, “That is an exact picture of the Nest Mother. The hour glass shape on the abdomen is positioned exactly as it is on her and it is also the same exact size compared to the body size. This makes me wonder if this is a common ancestor.”
Sprig straightened up, “We believe it is, Destiny. We theorize that a creature like this bit a life form and absorbed some of its intelligence. Once that happened, we think your race is now the end product.”
Eyes stared at his screen and asked, “Did you find out anything about this creature?”
Matt paused and said, “Yes. It was called a spider and at one time there were millions of different species on my planet. During our last great war, a nation released a toxin that they thought would kill humans but actually killed every spider on the planet.”
Destiny stared at the Human. “Do you still know how to produce that toxin?”
Matt shrugged, “Yes, I found the formula.”
“You know it would be death to my family if we came into contact with it?”
“That’s why I’m here, Destiny. The only copy of that formula is on this recording. I’m giving it to you for safe keeping. I have decided that we are not willing to risk harming your family by producing this substance.” Matt handed the recording to Destiny.
Destiny looked at the recording he held in his leg and then looked at Matt, “I know what it took to give me this. This shows me beyond any doubt that you keep your commitments. My family will do everything we can to protect you for all eternity. We consider your people a part of my family.”
“There’s more, Destiny.”
Destiny turned his head upside down and said, “What else?”
“I found a description of this creature. It was a solitary creature that only came together with other members of its species to mate. It was considered gentle in nature and avoided contact whenever it could and only bit when it could not escape.”
Destiny looked at Eyes and said, “That explains a lot.”
Sprig thought, “What do you mean?”
“My children are asking to be allowed to go exploring this universe. They are almost bursting with curiosity about what’s out there.”
“My species’ adolescents leave our worlds to explore and sate their curiosity during their youth. They return as adults to share with us what they have learned. I suspect your children are similar to mine. It was during my adolescence that I discovered the teleportation process we currently use. It was also when I first came into contact with the humans.”
“You’ve seen some of my children, Sprig; what do you think?”
“I am amazed at their mental capacity and their ability to pull unrelated information together to produce a new concept. They are going to change what we know in remarkable ways if they are given time.”
“I have also noticed that my children have lost their aggressive traits. They seem to like every creature they encounter. I’ve also found that one meal lasts much longer. They only need to feed three times a year and probably only twice with two big meals. I think they will be self sufficient within the year.”
Sprig looked at Destiny and said, “One of my concerns is that if one of your children goes exploring into another universe and they are captured; the invaders will know everything about us and your family.”
Destiny looked at Eyes and said, “Please open the ship’s speakers.” Eyes pushed a button and lowered his head. “Children, I need your attention.” Throughout the ship everyone stopped what they were doing and listened. “I have two of our friends here on the command chamber with me and they have mentioned something to me that I must discuss with you. I have seen you changing and becoming more and more like what we are supposed to be; individuals. Our minds have been stunted because of the compulsions forced on us by the rulers of our people and it
