jumped back up. “No wonder you’re being replaced.”
The Supreme Male bared his fangs and rushed the advancing white creature that contemptuously slashed him in half with his talons and burned the remains with his hand gun. He looked around the bridge and turned to go back to his ship. He killed fifty Eight Legs on his way out and wondered how the rest of his Clan was faring.
As the White Clan Leader flew back to his ship, he looked around and saw the killing continue around him and start to spread to the parked ships. He entered his control room and punched his control panel and heard, “Clan Leader, the first green ships that jumped into this universe launched their attack craft before we arrived. What is your order?”
“Kill the Mother Ship and then follow the attack craft to the surface of the planet; you will then dispose of every Eight Leg and all other intelligent beings after you finish the green creatures on the surface. If they try to escape in their ships, use your ships’ main beam to destroy them.” He then hit his general communication button, “All ships that finish with the Mother Ships will go to their targeted planets and dispose of any intelligent life. Your next targets have been sent to your boards. Do not waste time. We’ll come back to eat the remains later.”
Every Eight Leg Mother ship that had jumped into the new universe had a white ship assigned to it and they jumped in next to them and killed them. Every green ship and every green creature was dead in less than twelve hours. The white ships then jumped to planets that had not yet been attacked by the Eight Legs and began systematically destroying every civilization. The main population centers were hit by beams from ships above the planet and cities disappeared in a white inferno that burned down to the planet’s bedrock. Millions of white creatures flew down to the surface and used their senses to home in on any survivors that possessed organized thought. Unlike the creatures they were replacing, these beings enjoyed killing in large numbers callously using their guns to hit any concentration of inhabitants. Collecting information from those killed was not something they were programmed to do and the death of a planet’s population happened at an unbelievable pace.
The killing released a blood lust in the White Clan and they reveled in the misery and suffering of those they attacked. Anyone struck by their claws slowly died if they weren’t killed immediately; the substance of their talons was poison to any other life form. A huge number of intelligent beings were slightly slashed so they would die slowly and be alive when the white creatures returned for their meal; like cats they wanted to play with their meal before consuming it. They were amazingly fast and could move faster than any other creature in existence; hitting these creatures with any kind of weapon was next to impossible. They sensed the weapon being aimed and moved faster than the defenders could target them. Their hardened skin was impenetrable to any projectile fired at them and beams didn’t even burn their fur. Where the Eight Legs killed planets in ten to eighteen hours, these creatures finished in less than five; they were extraordinary killers.
Six weeks later the universe was empty of intelligent life. The savagery was beyond imagination and the Clan Leader wished for more; he was angry there was nothing left to kill. He looked at his board that had originally shown millions of intelligent planets and saw it empty. He thought a moment and then ordered, “Go back to the green mother ships and disintegrate them. I want nothing of them left behind. After you have completed that task, you may feed.”
The fourteen million white ships jumped to their original targets and made short work of the mother ships. They then rushed to the planet below to sate their hunger. After ten hours, the Clan Leader saw a message on his board and felt immediate fear. “Stop eating and return to your ships. We have been ordered back to our world by our maker.”
The billions of the White Clan stopped instantly and lifted off planet. Not one of them wanted to anger the Maker. They boarded their ships and shivered hoping the Maker wasn’t angry.
“Very impressive.”
“I thought you would like the demonstration.”
“I notice you gave them the ability to jump directly to a planet.”
“I just couldn’t justify the waste of time having to move in from the gravity belt. The old tool wasn’t given this technology because I enjoyed watching the fear of the planets being attacked.”
“And now?”
“It bores me.”
“Destroying large populations was a nice touch. Is there enough left to feed them afterwards?”
The Red Being smiled, “I made them eat the ones they killed but they survive on the energy their ships collect from the stars in the attacked system. They have no real need to eat but I thought it was the environmentally right thing to do to remove all the waste.”
The first red being looked at the second with an expression that showed his disbelief, “Oh you are so sarcastic; environmentally right thing my crooked left leg. When have you ever worried about the environment?”
The Red Being laughed out loud holding his sides, “You’re right, I only set it up for this one demonstration. I thought you would find it funny. The final product will just leave the dead behind. You caught me. Don’t you find it humorous?”
The first red being laughed and said, “Yes, it was a nice touch; I also see you don’t have them collecting any information from those they kill.”
“I originally added that so the tool would be able to develop whatever it needed to be effective over its millions of years use. I hate taking time on them. They never added anything to their weapons so it was a wasted effort.”
“Why develop anything if you never lose? Do you think there might be anything they collected of interest to us?”
“They killed almost every one they encountered. If those attacked had anything of use my tool wouldn’t have been successful.”
The first thought a moment, “There was one instance.”
“It’s being handled.”
“I suppose you’re right. What now?”
“I see no reason not to go ahead and make the necessary numbers to replace the current tool. It will take some time for me to make that happen and there is a little fine tuning left to finish. The means to remove them if necessary needs some work but I don’t see it taking much longer.”
“What about those you just used?”
“I have to bring them back to make the necessary numbers. I’m sure they won’t like it but what choice do they have. I’ll stun them so they won’t be a nuisance. I also need to manufacture their ships. Do you have any other concerns?”
“No, but if I think of any I’ll let you know.”
“You always do.”
“Nest Mother, one of our families sent to harvest is not reporting.”
The Nest Mother felt her fear, “Send ten ships to investigate. Report back immediately.”
Ten Green Main Ships entered the targeted universe and did not detect any of the Main Ships that had come to harvest. “Sensor Leader, do you detect any of our ships?”
“No, First Fang but there are grounded transports on numerous planets. I do not detect any life around them.”
The Supreme Male looked at his display and decided, “We will take nine ships to one of the planets and investigate. Leave one here up against the entry point ready to jump instantly if anything appears.”
“It will be as you order, First Fang.”
The nine main ships jumped to a planet where hundreds of grounded transports were seen on the surface and moved in system. Eight hours later they arrived above the planet’s surface and saw the devastation. Cities were burned and billions of bodies were lying everywhere. They also saw millions of their warriors scattered around the ships they had used to land. Most had not moved very far from their landing site; whatever had killed them had done it extremely fast.
“Send a transport down and see what happened.”
The transport landed and saw the atrocity. Millions of their brothers were laying where they had been ripped to pieces. Some had holes burned through them that cooked the Eight Leg inside its armor. The Landing Leader was sickened, “First Fang.”
“What have you found?”
