“Do you want the communications console as well?”
“Can you take both?”
“Yes, I can. However, there is a failsafe on the drive.”
“What do you mean?”
“If anything disrupts power to the console, the self destruct-circuit automatically goes off.”
Robby looked at Dani, “Then we must abort this mission.”
Kreej started at the console and said, “No, we’ve got to make the effort. The three of you should go now and I’ll take the console in my final sweep. I’ll teleport out as soon as I get it.”
“There won’t be enough time, Kreej.”
“Robby, I’m pretty certain that there will be a minimal delay from the destruct device when power is cut. They must cut power to work on this ship so the computer behind the device will have to determine that something out of the ordinary is happening. We’ve got to try.”
Dani looked at Robby and said, “Good-luck, Kreej.” Robby, Dani, and Carter disappeared from the bridge.
Kreej looked around the bridge and moved behind the communications console and extended his wings. He set the armor to absorption and brought them together. The drive console was taken just as his wings came together.
Robby and Dani watched the ship and saw it suddenly explode into a giant fireball. “Kreej.” Robby thought again, “Kreej!”
“You were right, that thing went off a lot faster than I anticipated.”
Robby lowered his head with a big sigh, “Did you get it?”
“Yes, and I also took the weapons console.”
Robby looked at Weed, “I think our theft will go unnoticed. The ship’s self destruct should make them think the Master did it when the spores began killing the crew.”
Weed said, “We can only hope that happens.”
Robby looked at the two Algeans, “I hope you realize that we can no longer trust you. However, you may return to your observations.”
Seed leaned forward, “We’ve done what we wanted to accomplish. We will return to your universe and just be observers.”
Robby and Dani teleported to Grace and Carter looked at the Algeans, “Why was it so important that the power behind the Invaders not know about our theft?”
“Because then that being would come and take it back.”
“I thought you wanted it to come out and make itself known.”
“We do, but not in our universe.”
“Oh.” Carter knew that something was not being said but he didn’t push the issue. They wouldn’t have told him anyway and he sensed they were still very nervous.
The Distributor came off his couch with multiple alarms ringing. It checked the communication panel and immediately saw that something terrible was happening. Tens of thousands of ships harvesting the new universe were reporting an illness that was sweeping through their ranks. It activated its scanner and saw thousands of dead ships. It looked inside the ships and saw the crews were dead. It also saw most of them had lost the orange skin color and were covered in sores that were deep green.
It immediately contacted the Ten Ruling Masters and saw that they were all dead. He then turned his scanner to the distribution center and saw that all of the huge warehouses were filled with dark green packets.
“Oh no!” It checked the distribution ship that was due to arrive and saw it was still coming toward the main center. It ordered the Ship Master to turn around and head back to the distribution center. Whatever was affecting the ships had not affected the ship bringing the shipment this cycle.
The four Council Members appeared on his display and demanded to know what was happening. “I don’t know. Something is attacking the Remid. Whatever it is, it kills it and those that are addicted. Most of my harvesting fleet has been affected.”
“Where did this come from?”
“I have no idea. One of the victims will have to be examined to make that determination.”
One of the Council said, “I would suggest you make that happen immediately. I want answers.”
The orange being saw their anger and nodded. He dispatched a ship and waited for what they discovered. He felt his rage build at what was being done to their drug supply. His rage increased as it realized it was not going to be allowed to rest until this problem was resolved. It considered what was taking place and knew that this was a deliberate attack. It looked forward to dealing with those responsible.
Four turns later its communication panel alarm went off. It had determined that of the million plus ships in the harvesting universe, only a quarter of them were not infected with what had killed the others. It turned its attention to the panel, “What have you been able to determine?”
“Someone has developed a spore that attacks the pod plants. It not only kills the plant and its spores, but any exposed product that has been harvested as well.”
“What will it take to remove it?”
“I don’t believe it can be removed.”
“What do you mean!?!”
“This spore is an artificial creation and it is a hardy life form. It can be burned if hit with a beam hotter than eight hundred units. However, it can survive in space and once it attaches to a pod, it will multiply by billions.”
“Are you saying that it can cling to a ship’s hull and survive in the vacuum of space?”
“Yes, Master.”
“How widespread is it?”
“We have found it in the upper atmospheres of thousands of planets we’ve invaded. It would be deadly for our ships to come close to any of those planets. Once the ship landed, the spores would be attached to its hull.”
“You’re certain this was artificially created.”
“Yes and it was delivered to the planets we’ve conquered.”
“Was it created in that universe?”
“We have no way of making that determination.”
The Distributor saw the creature on his screen was starting to shake, “Are you infected?”
“We tried to avoid contact but it appears we were unsuccessful.”
“You will remain where you are and allow me to see how long it takes for you to die.”
The orange being on the screen nodded and leaned back in its chair and closed its eyes. Thirty minutes later it went into convulsions and died a horrible death. The Distributor watched and sent a report to the Council. It hoped it would not be blamed for what had happened but knew it might not live out the day.
Robby teleported in to the Defense Facility and arrived to find seven Zord directing mechanical engineers on how to take the consoles apart that had been taken from the Invader’s ship. Robby stared at their activity and heard a thought, “We have made a determination about these machines.”
Robby turned to a large Zord and said, “What is that?”
“We will not be able to use them until we can build a power supply much stronger than what we are currently able to produce.”
Robby looked back at the quick tear down of the former bridge, “Even the Invaders had to drop their force fields to use them.”
“Yes, they did.”
“Do you understand how they function?”
“We need some more time on the drive but the communication device is easily understood. However, we will be unable to use any of this until we develop a much stronger source of power.”
Robby nodded and said, “I guess it all depends on you, Alex. Are you making any progress?”
