Destiny keyed his communications board when suddenly Eyes said, “Universal Drive breaking normal space ten miles out.”
“That is a very close emergence,” Stem said.
“Father, gather the remaining families as close together as possible. We are going to try and move them all at once.”
Destiny looked at Stem, “Einstein, that’s not possible. They will cover an area more than half a light year.”
“We have to try; we have a device that will expand the jump field to cover the ships and then we’ll initiate the jump.”
“What happens if it doesn’t work?”
“We may lose our lives. However, we have to try it. Call them together now!”
Destiny struggled with the possible loss of his two children but knew if he didn’t allow them to try they would blame themselves for what followed. So would he. He looked at Eyes and said, “Issue the instructions. Tell them to get hull to hull and move quickly.”
The green ships began coming toward the ship that had just arrived. Eyes took Destiny’s ship away since it had a drive that would allow them to jump. Stem watched the mass growing by the second and marveled at the numbers. “That’s a lot of ships, Destiny.”
“We’re leaving millions of them behind from families that were consumed. This ship is not quite as familiar as the one I gave to remove the Supreme Males but I’m getting used to it.’
The mass continued to grow. “Newton, we’re running out of time. If we’re doing this, it must be done now.”
“Einstein is adjusting the field now. We’re going to have to extend it further than we planned to include those not in the mass yet.”
“Don’t take unnecessary risks. Don’t lose the mass to save a few more ships.”
“They are all important, Father.”
Stem and Destiny watched the huge mass of green ships as a violet field began moving out from the center of them and extended in a globe big enough to cover them all. “I hope my children survive this.”
Suddenly the huge mass disappeared. “Take us home, Eyes.”
Destiny’s ship disappeared.
An hour later a giant fleet of white ships appeared and rushed toward the green mass and found only empty ships floating in space.
Matt and Melanie were in the map room watching the map of the dark galaxy. “It shouldn’t be long now. The time is up that the Reg told me they were going to move us.”
“How do you feel, Love?”
“Fine, the baby is not ready to come at this moment but it will be soon.”
“I love you, Melanie.”
Melanie waited with Matt and watched; she turned to ask Matt if he was sure of the time when suddenly the dark galaxy disappeared from the map. She smiled, “I imagine there will be some disturbed beings today.”
Matt smiled, “I imagine.”
The red being was viewing his new creation enter the universe of the old tool and he jumped up from his display shocked at what he saw. They were gone. “What have you done?”
“What do you mean; I just sent my new tool on its initial run to destroy the old one and they are not there. They have disappeared. Only derelict ships remain.”
“They are not the only thing missing.”
“What!”
“A universe has also disappeared and we cannot find it.”
“That’s not possible. We’re connected to every universe in existence through the interdimensional plane.”
“It is no longer connected and we cannot find it.”
“Could it have been destroyed?”
The being said nothing.
“No, of course it couldn’t have been destroyed. What do you think has happened?”
“An agency has moved it and represents a clear and present danger to us. I also believe this agency must have done something with your old tool. We must find it and destroy it.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“All of us will begin searching immediately but first the Elders want answers concerning your old tool.”
The second being felt fear, “What questions do they have?”
“When was the last time you checked on your old tool?”
“Not that long ago; about six million years.”
“Why did you have them collect information from all the universes they harvested?”
“You know why. So they could develop whatever they needed to be effective against those they attacked.”
“Did you ever consider that they with all the information they collected that they could develop the means of breaking the compulsions and hiding from us.”
The second red being was now scared, “You don’t think that they did this? The compulsions prevented them using highly advanced technology. They could not have done this.”
“If that is true, where are they?”
“Give me a small amount to time to find them.”
The first red being was silent for a moment and then said, “We will immediately begin our search for the missing universe; you have twelve intervals to find your missing tool.”
The second red being turned to his board and started issuing instructions.
The White Clan Leader hit his communication panel and said, “Every ship in our fleet has just received a list of universes to scan. You will go to each of those and scan for the green creatures. That is all you will do; there will be no time for killing. If you stop to kill the Maker will deal with you directly and all of you know what that means. If you find them you will notify me at once. You have ten intervals to scan the three thousand universes assigned to you. Be back here in eleven intervals. Now go!”
The sixty million ships disappeared and the Clan Leader turned and hit his jump button. He was going to have to hurry to get to all three thousand assigned to him.
The two probes left behind in the former universe of spiders recorded billions of ships break into normal space. They scattered and began searching for the spiders. After an hour, they recorded the instructions being given by the White Clan Leader and waited until all of the white ships had disappeared. The first probe jumped back to the Realm to report its findings to Fleet Command while the first waited for the white ships to return. The probe arrived just outside the blue barrier and waited for the psychic trigger to release its information. After five days, an Alpha Commander moved close to the barrier and detected the probes presence and triggered the relay.
The leadership council was gathered in the Map room at Castle Gardner. They all rose as Matt and Melanie entered and bowed to the rulers of the Realm. Everyone noticed that Melanie was very pregnant. Matt said, “Please be seated. Destiny, why have you requested this meeting?”
“You Majesties, we have uncovered some new information and we feel it should be shared with those who direct our efforts against the beings in the dark galaxy.”
Matt looked at the spider and saw his tension, “What have you found?”
“My children were able to develop the field that we used to move the rest of the families after our Mother allowed them to download all of the data that had been collected from the many harvestings. They are still working to correlate all that they learned, but one of the things they were able to see is the beings that gave my species intelligence. It was in the original nest Mother’s memory.”
Matt looked at Melanie and then said, “Please show us on the display monitor.”
A picture of the red colored being suddenly appeared on the display and everyone in the room gasped, “I know this being,” Terlen said in a soft voice. “It is one of the demons from my race’s ancient history.”
Matt looked at the picture and said, “We also know this being. It is the embodiment of evil and has been in our history since before we were civilized. It’s missing the horns, lower body of a goat, and a pointed tail, but it is remarkably similar. This was also one of our demons.”