him to keep his word. We’ve been fortunate in the past of becoming friends with our adversaries, and I think that if we had destroyed any of those former adversaries we would have lost this conflict.”
Melanie shook her head, “How do you come up with that?”
“What role did our first adversary play in this conflict? The Algeans are the ones that provided the bulk of our technological advances. The Captors gave us the red screens that allowed us to defeat the Eight Legs. The defeat of the spiders allowed us to learn of this dangerous species. If we had killed any of those adversaries we would have not prevailed.”
Melanie thought a moment and nodded and said, “Yet you killed this entire species.”
“This species is different from all the others. Just one of them could destroy us with it’s tools and in the end, he knew it. Melanie, all of the devastation on the planet’s surface was recently done. This Demon has destroyed all of the other structures in this galaxy so no one can come and discover their technology at a later time and use it. He was actually wise and gave the only gift he could to all of creation; his life. I can only imagine the force of will it took to make his choice and follow through on it. I think he turned his rage on himself and actually wanted to die; just like the last tool he created. They were forced to do it; he made the choice.”
“Matt, look.”
The dark galaxy the blue ship had entered began fading and in moments it had disappeared leaving the blue ship in an empty void. “Melanie, it’s over; just one more trip to make.”
The blue ship appeared above the planet of the Reg and the three Reg materialized on the bridge; Matt thought, “We would all be dead except for your kindness. Thank you from all of the beings in this universe.”
“Actually, it was one of your creations that made the difference. We never saw that happening but now all creation can grow and evolve naturally.”
Matt heard what they said and understood more than was being said, “You’re leaving.”
Even Melanie could sense the Reg’s surprise. One of them thought, “You have surprised us more than any creature we have ever encountered. Yes, we are leaving this dimension and going where we can evolve. Now that the danger of the Demons is over, we only represent a hazard for you. We now understand why the compulsions not to harm others were placed in us by the creative force. No species should possess this much power without controls over it.”
“What about the crystal ships?”
“They will, of course, go with us; they are one with us. We cannot risk you possibly using them inappropriately. They will return to our population and grow up.”
“They were children?”
“Yes; and this confrontation helped them achieve the level of consciousness necessary to continue their development. We have been waiting on you to finish the last act and then come here before we leave. Now that we have communicated with you, we can go in peace. We also thank you and your warriors for taking part in making this happen.”
Matt stared at the three Reg and said, “I am going to miss having you around.”
“You will always be a brother.”
The Three Reg disappeared and Matt saw the planet fade into nothingness. The next moment he and Melanie were standing in Castle Gardner’s map room and he knew the blue ship had also gone with the Reg to its new home. Melanie looked up at Matt and hugged him tightly, “We’ll have to take care of ourselves now.”
“I hope we’re up to the task.”
“Matt, what did that Demon mean that we will regret killing him in the future?”
Matt furrowed his brow, “I have no idea.”
“It’s probably nothing.”
Matt thought for a long moment, “I hope so, Melanie. There was something in his thoughts that bothers me. I wonder if allowing us to kill him might have an ulterior motive we can’t see.”
Matt hung his head and felt a piece of him was gone with the Reg. He sighed and held Melanie close.
Sprig looked at Destiny and his now famous three children. “Why have you asked us here, Your Majesty?”
“Because now it is time for you to begin repaying your obligation to the Realm.”
Destiny cocked his head left, “What obligation?”
“To serve and protect the Realm.”
Edison looked at Sprig, “What do you need us to do?”
“I need two of your species to be assigned to every Star Realm’s embassy on every member’s planet.”
“Why?”
“Because our two species are the best at processing huge amounts of information and correlating them into something we can use to direct our future development. I will also have two of my species to assist in handling the issues and coming up with a course of action. We will also be the best at assimilating any scientific breakthroughs into the various civilizations under our care. We must have some of us on every planet to make sure that individual actions do not cause problems to other members. We will assist the Gardners in restoring order in the Realm; you are needed.”
Destiny looked at his children and said, “How many members does the Realm have?”
“More than twenty million and another eight million independent planets.”
Newton shrugged, “That’s less than lived on two of our old main ships; I would be happy to assist in this project.”
Sprig shook his head, “Sorry, but you three are being given Royal Titles and will become my direct assistants. You’re the one’s that will be used to handle our most difficult issues.”
The three spiders looked at each other and Newton jumped straight up four feet and yelled, “Allllllll Riiighttttttt! This is going to be fun.”
Destiny looked at Sprig, “What about me? You must have called me here for a reason.”
“You will be my Chief of Staff directing all of the Crowns actions. For starters, I need you to choose those of your children with the right temperament to become our ambassadors. I need your help, Destiny.”
Destiny stuck out his leg and Sprig took it in a branch and shook it, “Like the lad here said; this is going to be fun.” They turned and watched the three young spiders jump around the room in glee.
Sprig looked out at the multitude of beings surrounding Colony Park. He tuned his thought recorder to verbal and stepped up on the dais, “I welcome all of you that have made the journey today to honor our warriors that once again have given their lives for the Realm. I’m sorry that all of you that requested to come were not allowed to attend. We can only accommodate twenty million and more than sixty billion asked to be here. For those of you watching on your home worlds, the Realm appreciates your viewing this ceremony. One thousand warriors on five hundred ships confronted a race of beings that were ancient when our universe was born. That race evolved to become universe destroyers and designed species to go from universe to universe killing all intelligent life. Their technology was so far ahead of us that we had no chance of matching them for their destructive capability. A race in our universe called the Reg built ships for us to meet them in battle, and without their help we would not be alive today. The Reg have now left our universe for a new home in another dimension and we will greatly miss them.”
Sprig paused a moment, “The Reg told us that they would provide the ships but we had to provide the warriors. We were also instructed that the ships would select the crews. The five hundred ships chose their two man crews and the ones chosen were the best our Realm had to offer. Out of five hundred ships, only a hundred and fifty survived. Just like the public square where our marines confronted the green horde, the numbers are identical. I don’t know what this means and greater minds than mine will ponder the significance of those numbers for centuries to come but we paid a heavy price for the continued existence of the Stars Realm. One of those lost was one of my children and his mate. They moved into the Demon’s attack and gave precious seconds to reform our line. Two Gresh gave their lives to slow the tide of Demon ships and there were many other sacrifices made by those who faced the Red Demon attack. I am going to show you a recording of the battle so you can see what those brave warriors faced to save our universe from destruction.”
The monitors began showing the battle as the huge fleet of Demon ships arrived a hundred miles from the line of blue ships. The Realm saw the savagery of the battle and saw once again that the Realm’s warriors did not flee but stayed and fought even when it looked hopeless. The appearance of the Kosiev and the sudden turn of tide as all of the remaining ships except Matt’s dove into the Kosievs’ outer skin made the viewing trillions marvel at the
