“This ship makes the move less dangerous. You’ll be fine and we’ll preserve the backup on your current ship.”
“I’ll go tomorrow. What did you mean by I’m right?”
“The coming war is not far in the future. Matter of fact, it’s not far at all.”
“I would have thought it wouldn’t happen until the children had grown up.”
“There are two strong psychics and that’s all that’s needed. The others are a failsafe against something happening to them. It is coming…and soon.”
Greyson thought about what Grace was saying, “You sound worried.”
“I’m not sure they’ll be enough, Greyson. I worry that they may only minimize the damage and not prevent it.”
“What makes you think that?”
“The Stars Realm fell and trillions lost their lives in the civil wars afterwards. The three galaxies that escaped were just a small part of the former Realm. They represented less than a hundredth of a percent of the Stars Realm’s total populations. Their tremendous psychic abilities did not prevent the Realm’s downfall.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because we may have to make hard decisions about who survives and we shouldn’t wait until the last moment. The release of our spores will cause a violent reaction from the power behind the Invaders.”
Greyson looked down on the planet and said, “The psychic children must be protected at all costs.”
“Now you see it. Go see Alex and get upgraded. Time is growing short.”
Greyson watched Grace jump away and thought about their conversation, “Anglo.”
“Yeah, Greyson.”
“Are you able to relieve me for a few days?”
“You want to be upgraded?”
“Have you already had the upgrades?”
“Yes, I’ll take over. You should go now.”
Greyson teleported away.
The orange colored creature rose from its couch and looked at the communication panel that processed all of the millions of conversations sent by its fleets. The last message that had caught its attention was the decision to continue normal planting operations instead of searching for the troublesome ships that had slowed the harvests. It observed the destruction of the two large ships and had almost decided to intervene to force the search but the quick kills had made it pause. The four Council Members had pressured it for a reason why the shipments had been reduced and were not at all pleased with its response. It had grudgingly decided to allow the return to normal operations but had set up a reminder alarm to remind it to follow up. The alarm is what brought it off the couch.
It checked the scans of the last harvest and no more ships had come to attack his fleets. It appeared they knew they stood no chance against the new ships and had ceased their activity. Production levels were getting back to normal and had actually increased, but the stockpiles were still below the desired level. The Council had turned their attention back to their drug induced state and left him in peace. It wondered how the Council had even noticed the reduced levels but decided that they must have set their own alarms.
Well, perhaps its concern was unfounded. It turned, reclined on its couch, and wished his time as Distributor would hurry and end. There were just so many things that kept it having to wake up and handle. He wished he could just get a good thousand years of relaxation like the Council Members. He briefly thought about the former family that had exiled his group for their drug use. It thought about looking in on them but quickly decided the risk was just too great to take. They were best left in the past. It worried that they may one day come and eliminate his group. It was their loss. They had no idea how wonderful the drug could be to help make the millennium pass pleasantly. Time ceased to exist when the drug kicked in. The couch made the connection and he felt the drug enter his system. Ahhh, that’s better.
Carter looked down on the orange colored planet. It looked very much like an orange colored desert. The scanners showed huge clouds of orange spores blowing in giant wind storms. “Why did you decide to trial the spores in this universe?”
Weed turned from the display, “We’ve noticed that the Invaders are quite linear in their attacks. You know that the coordinates for universes are sequential, right?”
Carter nodded.
“We didn’t want to go to a universe where they might still have ships present, so we selected a universe with coordinates a hundred smaller than the current universe being invaded. It wasn’t affected but the next one to it was this one. This universe is dead and there’s no reason for them to return.”
“Do you think they might have left a probe behind?”
“We considered that but I’m sure they would have discovered thousands of years ago that it was a waste of technology. If a ship came here it would immediately leave. Why would they really care about anyone coming here to investigate? I’m confident we can trial our spore here and not be bothered.”
“Do you think the entire universe is dead?”
“No, they only invaded planets with intelligent life that could do the farming.”
“Some of the unaffected planets could eventually develop intelligence.”
Weed turned and replied, “That’s true, but once they developed a star drive and investigated one of the contaminated planets their civilization was doomed. The spores would go back with them to their home world and infect the ecology.”
Carter shook his head, “These creatures are killing universes more efficiently than any of the Red Demon’s tools ever accomplished. If they kill them all, won’t it stop their drug production?”
Weed leaned back showing his disagreement, “No, they’ll just develop a ship to enter the atmosphere of the dead planets and take the drug from the blowing spores. However, that won’t happen for millions of years with the number of available universes left to attack. I think the production of the drug is actually the primary focus of their efforts and destroying intelligent life is simply a byproduct.”
Carter sighed, “I have to agree. Otherwise they would just be harvesting the drug from universes like this one.”
Seed leaned forward agreeing, “You see it as well.”
“So what’s next?”
“We’re going to drop a packet of spores on five planets like this one and observe what happens.”
Carter frowned, “Just a packet?”
“I think you’ll be surprised at what happens. Would you like to do the honors?”
“Certainly, what do I need to do?”
Weed handed Carter a small plastic bag with a green powder in it, “Teleport this down to a hundred feet above the surface of the planet and release it so that it hits a hard surface.”
“Why a hundred feet?”
“The fall will burst the bag and release the spores.”
Carter turned on his armor and took the packet in his hand. He teleported out of the ship and looked down on the dead planet. He checked his scanners and saw a huge orange storm blowing across a vast plain. He teleported the bag ten miles in front of the oncoming orange cloud and released it above a rocky plateau. He focused on the bag and saw a small puff of dust from its impact. Carter looked at the planet and felt an overwhelming anger at creatures that would do this to a living world. He teleported back to the ship as it jumped away to find the next four targets. “How long will it take for the spores to start working?”
“We’ve delayed the response for thirty days.”
“Why that long?”
“We want them to be carried by the invaders to other locations before they discover their existence and this will be a good way to see if the delay works.”
Carter smiled, “That’s a good plan. Are we going to stay here?”
“No, we’ll come back in twenty nine days and start recording what happens.”
Carter smiled, “Good, I get to see Jenna.”
