Everyone looked at each other. Zergl said, “We’ve all seen what you’re describing.”
“We think that those white spikes on their heads are not only used to communicate, but they can also focus their thoughts into a beam that will destroy most any kind of matter. We also surmise that the ships must have a device that amplifies the beam to make it extremely potent. The thoughts used to produce this beam are not organized thoughts, but a kind of buzzing. Some insects are capable of producing noises that can be heard over very long distances. Perhaps this “telepathic noise” was once used to call a mate, but now it is deadly when amplified and will go through any screen used on our ships.”
Sprig asked, “What evidence do you have that suggests the beam is amplified?”
Einstein turned to Sprig, “I’ll show you more proof when we look at the planet, but I want you to notice that when the three ships rounded the moon all three turned the nose of their ships toward the Searcher’s location.” Einstein replayed the video, and they all saw the ships turn their nose toward the surface of the moon. “This indicates the nose of the ship is where the beam originates, and tells us that there must be a device that directs it located there.”
David said, “It would be a good idea to stay away from the bow of those ships.”
“Absolutely, Your Majesty. However, we don’t know the effective range of their beam. We think it is more than three hundred miles at full power.” This statement stunned the attendees, and the room was silent.
Valerie asked, “How did you arrive at that distance?”
“I’m going to ask Newton to answer that question, Your Highness, but first I would like Edison to tell you what we discovered about the colonies on the planet.” Valerie nodded at Edison.
Edison started the video and it began showing views of the three colonies on the planet’s surface. Edison narrated what they were seeing, “These three colonies are made up of three races from the Stars Realm; Human, Glod, and Cainth. They were aboard a colony ship that left our universe more than two thousand years ago, and this planet is where their trip ended. Notice the huge colony ship just outside the valley where these colonies are situated.”
The view of the ship grew, and everyone could see a huge piece of the stern missing. “This ship was forced down to the planet’s surface and the colonists were placed in the three communities. We have learned several things from the Searchers scans of these colonies. First, each of the colonies has exactly 300,000 colonists. Second, every one of the colonists is younger than forty years old. Third, the colonists grow their own food and their primary occupation is farming the land around their community. Fourth, every colonist has a band on their left arm with an orange colored light on it. Fifth, when a new child is born, it appears the oldest colonist is taken from the community by these creatures. Sometimes the creatures will wait until several children have been born to gather up the older colonists. I am going to show you a video of that actually taking place at the Human colony.”
Jake watched as everyone in the meeting saw the colonists gathered and then shot on the conveyer belt. He saw the extreme distaste the attendees had for how the Humans were treated.
Edison continued, “I am going to zoom in on the creature that shot the Humans. I want you to watch the spikes on top of its head and the device he uses to shoot them.”
The creature took the device and pointed it at the six colonists. The white spikes on top of the creature’s head started moving very rapidly as the creature activated the device. “Notice that nothing happened to the Humans even though the creature’s spikes were moving rapidly. It was when the device was activated that the damage was done. We see this as supporting the theory that their thoughts are amplified by this device. The Searcher’s scan revealed that all six colonists were still breathing but all of their higher brain functions had been damaged beyond repair.”
“These creatures are using the colonies on that planet as a food source. Those six Humans were sent into that building to be processed and shipped out on the vessel orbiting the planet. They were still alive so they would be, excuse this term, fresh on arrival at their destination. The ship must arrive when the creatures have collected enough colonists to send to their home worlds. We also know that millions of planets in that universe are exactly like the one you’re seeing; small communities with identical populations all farming to feed themselves. These creatures are harvesting all intelligent life in that universe and are thereby controlling any threat that they may become if they were allowed to evolve naturally.”
The room was silent. Then Edison dropped the bombshell, “It appears that they learned how to do this from my species. They just do it better than we ever did.”
The planet was fifty percent larger than Earth and was completely covered with small buildings two stories high. There were billions of inhabitants on the planet, and hundreds of thousands of ships arriving every day to unload the food needed to feed the planet’s huge population. Though the planet was covered by the small buildings, the real community lived in the ground under them. The inhabitants preferred living underground, and there were tunnels and huge cities dug more than fifty miles down. Everything moved at breakneck speed. All of those billions had their tasks to perform and they were all connected to each other telepathically. Although they were individuals, the part of their mind that they used to tune in to the community formed a collective intelligence that had a life of its own. Every creature on all the millions of planets was tied in together, and that giant Collective used them to see everything that happened in their universe. The Collective Mind did not possess a body, but it did exist as an individual intelligence, albeit a highly compartmentalized one. Those compartments would talk to each other as the Central Collective used them to make decisions.
“Have you determined the origin of that ship that was destroyed?”
The history portion of the Collective responded, “No, and we have nothing in our memory that matches that ship. The electronic screens were stronger than any we have ever encountered.”
“Could it have been a return of the green creatures to probe our strength?”
“The creature in that ship did not match the green creatures physically.”
The Collective processed that piece of information, and millions of bits of data were examined. “They did not come from this universe.”
“No, they could not have developed ships that powerful without our having seen them before now.”
“Perhaps it is time we go and find those green creatures and eliminate them as a possible threat. They could have sent this ship to probe us.”
There was a long pause while the entire Collective processed the thought. The science compartment spoke, “We have never tried to develop the means to leave this universe. Is it now time to begin?”
History interjected, “Would we be inviting other possible enemies to invade who would be more of a danger to us if we go searching for the green creatures?”
The Collective responded, “Someone has come into our territory and attempted to gather information. It appears that whether we go out or stay, we are at risk. I think we should at least go and see what creatures are out there and determine if they represent a danger. It is also time for us to expand. Our space is almost fully farmed and our population continues to grow.”
Technology spoke, “How many ships would you want to send out?”
The Collective pondered the resources available, “A million in the first group. Do you have the necessary technology to develop the mechanism needed to travel out of our space?”
“We still have those green ships we destroyed long ago, and they have the technology to make that travel possible. We just need to examine one of them and then build it.”
“How long before you could prepare the ships?”
Technology was silent for a moment, “Not very long; less than a quarter-cycle would be my estimate.”
The Collective listened to all of the compartments give their take on the idea, then decided, “Prepare the ships.”
Admiral Zergl asked, “Why do you say they do it better than your species?”
“Because we would harvest all intelligent life and leave and not return for millions of years. Witness what happened to us when we came back to this universe to find the Realm; an adversary that would ultimately stop our harvesting. If we had stayed in this universe and done what these creatures are doing, no race would have the opportunity to evolve into a civilization strong enough to defeat us.”
Valerie leaned forward, “How did you determine that they learned to do this from you?”
Edison tilted his head to the right, indicating irony, “They watched as we killed millions of races in their universe and determined that those races could be a food source for them as well. They also copied the matter that we used on our ships, which made them invincible against any races that remained in their universe. Oh, it’s clear that they are emulating what we did and have perfected the tools we used to a much higher standard. The hulls of
