this issue. Whatever you decide will be backed up by the Realm.”
Life looked at his display with the pompous Ruler of Gurlocke and said, “Vazid, your planet’s charter is revoked and your membership in the Stars Realm ends immediately. As you are no longer a member of the Realm, we are not required to assist you against the fleet currently moving toward your planet. When they arrive, please explain your pricing policy to them. Good day.”
“Wait, wait, wait; you can’t do that!”
“Consider it done. It is my belief that the Klunds will come and take whatever they need and change your standard of living rather dramatically; bombardment has a way of doing that. I suspect that they will leave a military presence on your world to insure that all future shipments are also free. That will stop the deaths your heavy handed pricing is causing.”
“You can’t do this. We have no way to defend ourselves.”
“Did you think you could just arbitrarily raise your prices with no adverse effect on your customers? They are dying and you don’t care. It’s time you see the consequences of your actions.”
“Let’s work this out.”
“You had a chance and you chose to violate every principle of the Realm. You are not what this Realm stands for, Your Majesty.”
Vazid was scared. He did not think anything would be done. This was the fifth price increase and nothing had been done after the other four but he saw the fleet in his system and knew he was in dire trouble. “I’ll give them enough to stock their purifiers and go back to the original price.”
Life stared at the Ruler for a long moment and then he heard, “Please.”
Life hit his com, “We have come to an agreement with the Leader of Gurlocke. I would recommend you accept it.”
The Klund Admiral came on their display, “What is the nature of the agreement?”
“You will be given enough free Amexra to stock your purifiers and the price will go back to the original one your planets agreed.”
The Admiral was amazed; this was more than he expected, “How do we make this happen?”
Vazid said, “I will stock freighters and start them to your world immediately.”
The Admiral smiled and said, “That is good; we will stay here in the outer system until those shipments arrive. How long before they leave?”
Vazid had hoped they would leave so he could try to get help against them but he knew that any ships that appeared would not stop the Klund Fleet from attacking. “The first will leave within an hour and the rest before tomorrow is over.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“What about our Charter, Searcher?”
“You are still a member but you are on probation for five years. Any price increase will be viewed as a violation of that probation. If a violation happens, all high technology you receive from the Realm will be stopped. Think seriously about what that will do to your standard of living. Honor this agreement, Your Majesty.”
Life and Grena watched until after the last freighter had lifted from Gurlocke and the Klund Fleet returned home. “This could have been handled after the first price increase, Grena.”
“I know; the Realm is still falling in on its own weight. Even Algeans have limits.”
“True, but they are preventing the total collapse of the system. Think about where we would be if they were not working on it.” Life thought a moment, “Will there be civil war?”
“I wish I knew, Life.”
“Let’s go handle the next issue.”
“Right with you, Love.” The two Searchers disappeared.
Two years had passed and Matt and Melanie were looking at the rosters of the crews that had been found and were wishing the process could be done faster. “Every time new ships appear we have to send everyone back to see if one of the ships will respond to those that have already failed. Half of the crews we have now were initially rejected. Do you see a faster way to do this?”
Melanie thought a moment, “List all Searchers on a board similar to the one used to find civilized planets and assign them a time to fly by. Forget using the Defenders and just run them by. I think we’ve found that speed is not an issue; have them teleport in and go by the crystals at full speed. If any respond, Al can identify which Searcher caused it.”
Matt thought about the suggestion and said, “We’ll set it up so it happens automatically. We’ll order the first million to report to their ships and send the instructions directly to their computers. When the first million are half way done, we’ll order the second million to their ships. That’s a good idea.” Matt thought about the numbers of ships and then sent a thought, “Edison, can you help me with an issue?”
The Spider immediately responded, “I’ll be pleased to help you any way I can.”
Matt filled Edison in and the small spider thought about the problem, “It might be easier to just have them teleport in front of crystal in micro-ports. Once they start the process, they would complete it in less than a second and be returned to where they started.”
“Can we use a screen that fast?”
“It can be done faster but we want to make sure the crystals respond.” The small spider paused, “If you will allow me to use several crews that have been chosen I will determine the maximum speed that the crystals can respond and set up the gates in front of each crystal.”
“Can you handle this project for us?”
“Yes, Your Grace. I’ll start immediately if you will notify Fleet Command to allow me to set up the board and download the program for each ship.”
“Stand by just a moment. Fleet Command.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“I have assigned a project to a Spider named Edison. You will assist him in making this happen.”
“Yes, Your Grace; we will be awaiting his instructions.”
“Ok, Edison. You have your clearance.” The small spider disappeared from their screen.
Melanie looked at Matt, “It may be time to allow the Spiders to assist the Algeans in handling the Realm’s issues.”
“Not yet; the invasion is still a fresh memory and the citizens are not ready for that yet. However, we’ve got to do something soon.”
“What’s bothering you, Magic?”
Matt looked at Melanie and lowered his head, “I’m getting the sense that we need to make another trip in our ship.”
“You think we need to go to that dark galaxy, don’t you?”
Matt quickly looked up, “Did you hear me thinking about it?”
“No, but it doesn’t make sense to plan to fight a foe we don’t have any information about. I just worry about leaving AG an orphan if we go.”
“No one else can go; none of the other ships have completed development.”
Melanie shrugged, “None of them possess your level of psychic ability; to send someone else wouldn’t be right.”
“Are you willing to make the trip?”
“Only if we can prevent those creatures from seeing us; do you know if we’ll show up on their sensors?”
“No, I don’t.” Matt thought a moment and then said, “Al, I need to make a short trip.”
“I’m teleporting you now.”
Matt looked at Melanie and said, “I love you,” then disappeared.
Aladdin jumped into the Reg’s system and waited. After a few moments the three Reg appeared on the bridge, “Your plan has danger, Brother.”
“I need to see what we’re facing. Is there any way to prevent them seeing our ship?”
“Possibly; if you stay out of the Galaxy’s perimeter and set your ships screen at absolute minimal power you may not be seen. Make your scans from there. If you enter the galaxy they will know it. Even if they do not see your ship they will detect your approximate location.”
“Will they see my scans?”
