“I don’t think so. Even if they have a probe recording everything, we were inside their force field when we fired. The probe will see that nothing penetrated their screen and that the explosion came from inside it.”
“Let’s go home, Robby. It’s your Father’s birthday.” Robby sighed and nodded. The two of them disappeared from the moon. The Invaders were one universe closer to finding their home.
“Alex, getting the teleport module to draw power from the reactors is not going to work. Aligning the field inside the core is just too delicate a maneuver to make consistently happen within the walls of the reactor. A piece of the reactor gets taken with the energy and causes the reactor to explode. This process is entirely too dangerous to use on a large scale.”
“Vring, I’ve seen that but without the additional power, we can’t face the Invader’s ships. The new model is impenetrable to any weapon we have. Even the reflective hulls won’t function at their current level. Their beam overloads the collectors too fast to focus back at them.”
Kreej said, “You would think it could handle that much power but it overloads and fails. Obviously, there is a limit to how much it can handle. It would work if the power could be loaded at a slower, increasing level but the Invader’s beams hit at maximum power. It’s the initial, sudden surge that makes the hulls fail. We just can’t charge them to a high enough level to match the Black Ship’s beam. We need a larger power source to charge them to make them effective. This is frustrating.”
Vring was silent for two minutes as the three contemplated what to do. Then Vring said, “I agree Kreej.”
Alex looked at the data again and asked, “Do you think they would work if they were charged properly?”
“We can’t charge them to a high enough level to handle the Invader’s beam with the power we currently use. You know those cells will handle a much higher level of charge than we’re currently able to give them. However, hit them with a massive charge above what they’re using and the hulls will overload. The power level the two ships used was significantly below the threshold of the Invader’s main beam. The two ships were in another universe and weren’t able to continuously charge their hulls. They only carried the charge from our universe and over time, that charge will diminish and that makes the ships vulnerable. There were no additional red reactors beyond those on the ships to recharge them after their arrival. If the hulls had been at maximum charge, I believe they would have worked. We are not capable with our present technology of bringing them to their full capability.”
Alex thought a moment, “So they will only work in this universe where we have the reactors to keep them charged, however, using the reactors is too dangerous. Have we wasted our time on this technology?”
Kreej said, “Why do we have to use reactors?”
Vring said, “Where else would you get the necessary power to penetrate their force fields?”
Kreej smiled, “Can you think of any other power source that is as strong as ten red generators?”
Vring looked at Kreej, “Where are you going with this?”
Alex said, “You’re right. It would be easier but more complicated.”
Vring said, “What are you two talking about?”
Kreej smiled, “Why not use a star to get the power for the weapons and force fields?”
Vring was surprised by the suggestion and started thinking out loud, “There wouldn’t be a reactor containment wall to deal with.”
“And you can start the sending screen far enough out to charge the hulls and then move it closer to send the maximum energy.”
Vring understood, “You’re right, Alex. However the field would be exposed to an extremely high level of radiation.”
“Only if a blue giant star was used. Class G Suns don’t emit that high a level of gamma rays; most of them are kept in the core. The most numerous stars in most universes are the Class Gs.”
Vring sighed, “We’re back at square one.”
Alex did a quick computation, “Yes, but the challenges using this method are easier than trying to use power from inside a reactor. This involves gross modifications that are easier to handle than the delicate fields used inside a reactor.”
The three were silent as they thought about the idea and Alex said after thirty minutes, “This is the way we must go. Let’s get busy and see where we are with what we have on hand.”
“Well, pick a target and try to teleport an energy charge at it.”
“There’s a moon circling a planet not far from here; let’s start there.”
“Good idea Kreej; you and Vring go there and take some readings. That will give us a baseline to work from.”
The two Zord turned on their armor and teleported out of the Defense Facility.
Chapter Two
Timmy sat with Virze and smiled, “It’s just about time, isn’t it?”
“It is. You better be thinking of a name.”
“Junior has a nice ring to it.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
The nurse stepped in and smiled, “It’s time to go.”
Virze looked at Timmy and he felt her love, “I’ll be right here.”
Carter teleported in and gave Jenna a huge hug, “It’s good to see you; I’ve missed you. Carter kissed Jenna and said, “Are you up for a trip?”
“Where are we going?”
“Weed and Seed are close to trialing the new spores on the orange pods. They said we could join them.”
Jenna smiled, “How long will we be gone?”
“They said that the trial should be done within six months.”
Jenna smiled at Carter and lowered her head, “Then I guess I won’t be able to go.”
“Why not?!?”
“Because I’ll need to be near a hospital in six months.”
“Is something wrong? Are you ok!?!”
“Yes, I’m fine but the baby will need some attention.”
Carter stared at Jenna with confusion written all over his face until he saw Jenna smile, “Are you serious?”
Jenna laughed out loud and jumped into Carter’s arms, “Yes.”
Carter turned circles and laughed out loud, “Then I’ll stay here with you.”
“No, no, you should go; just pop in once in a while. We need to understand how the spores work and you are the perfect one to go with them. I can’t think of anyone else that can think on their level.”
Carter sighed and kissed his wife. He was going to be a father.
Greyson sat in orbit and saw that two more couples who possessed high passive psychic readings were going to have children. Mike and Carrie had a young son and it appeared he was going to be matched up with the Emperor’s Daughter. Robby and Dani were the first but it looked like there were going to be other active psychics joining them soon. Greyson thought about the history of the Ancient Realm and knew that psychics appeared when there was going to be a conflict that endangered the universe. The war was not far away.
“You’re right to worry.”
Greyson was startled, “Hi, Grace. I didn’t notice you arrive.”
“That’s because I’m trialing our new stealth software. It appears it works.”
“I thought I was distracted but I usually don’t miss another ship. Are we going to get it?”
“Yes, you should go see Alex as soon as you’re free. We’re also moving you into a new Zeta-A ship.”
“I thought I couldn’t be moved again?”
