Scotty shook his head, Its not surprising, Jingo. Cats can normally leap three times their length. Those giants are more than 200 foot long. They might be able to leap six hundred feet.
Theres more, Scotty. Theyre smart. Now when they smell us they run under trees and wait for us. They are also big enough to leap over the hedges between the ging roots. This is not going to be good if they get into the Zords lands. I dont think a grown Zord will be able to handle those cats.
Your Majesty?
Yes, BC?
I may have an answer to those cats.
Jingo looked at Scotty and Scotty said, Anglo, teleport Jingo and me to BCs bridge.
Julie watched Scotty and Jingo disappear. She then walked to Zack Greenes house to share his familys sorrow over his death.
Scotty and Jingo appeared on the small ships bridge. What are you thinking, BC?
Five small white objects appeared on the table next to them. Look at those and see if you could attach them to the shafts of your arrows.
Scotty and Jingo picked one up and noticed it was very light. It glowed and emitted a white luminescence. Jingo took an arrow out of his quiver and held the arrowhead up to one of the objects. They were close to the same size. They were the same diameter as the arrows shaft. The white slender object had a square end and tapered quickly to a slightly rounded, sharp point. What are these, BC?
They are Coronado Sparks.
What are those?
They are charged with enough energy to vaporize anything they hit. They are made to penetrate their target and then release their energy such that it burns until it runs out of organic material. These were made to use against the Keepers in their garrisons. These do not explode. The Realm was afraid an explosion would collapse the Keepers tunnels.
Scotty held one in his hand and it felt balanced. How do you cause it to activate?
Look at the small square end.
Scotty turned it over and saw a round indentation in the square end about an inch deep.
There was a mechanism in the hole that would slam forward and ignite the spark on impact. Ive removed them. Could one of your arrows shafts be shaved to fit in that hole?
No, the hole is slightly smaller than the shaft. Jingo broke the head of an arrow and handed it to Scotty. Scotty placed it against the hole and said, We could turn the shafts and shrink the end to fit in.
You would need to have about a quarter of an inch more than the depth of the hole to make it activate.
What do you mean?
The shaft would have to slide into the activator to trigger the spark. A tenth of a second after impact the spark will ignite. Youll need to find a way to keep them on the shaft.
Jingo looked at the spark and shaft. He took the shaft of the broken arrow and laid it on the table. He drew one of his short swords and began trimming the end. He took a grellup pod out and spread some of the sap on the last half inch.
Scotty watched him push the shaft into the spark and it was a tight fit. Why the sap?
You know the velocity of our arrows. The sap will allow the shaft to slide forward at impact. He attempted to pull the spark off the shaft and it wouldnt move.
Scotty watched him, Did you make it too tight?
I dont think so. You dont want these things falling off the shaft in our quivers or in flight. The question in my mind is whether or not the nose is sharp enough to penetrate the hide of the cats.
It doesnt have to penetrate, Jingo.
Why not, BC?
If the charging is released on the hide of the cat, it will burn until there is nothing left of the cat to burn.
Jingo looked at Scotty and handed him the arrow, Want to try it out. I know the cat that got the first rider. He appears to be the leader of the group out in front of the other cats.
How do you see this happening, Jingo?
According to BC, all you have to do is hit it. You can hit a target that big from eight hundred yards. Fly in from downwind and give it a go.
What are you going to do?
Im going to make seven more of these and then we are going cat hunting. Those eight cats out front are the most dangerous of the lot. I want a shot at them.
Michael and Julie need to go with us. Well take two each.
Jingo looked angry for a moment, then said, Youre right. We shouldnt risk some of them getting away.
How are we going to get them in the trees?
Jingo smiled and said, Those eight travel in the open to make good time. They pretty much show us no respect.
BC. Have Anglo teleport me down to the clearing. Send Jingo when he finishes the arrows.
Your Majesty, you dont need to run this risk. I can hit them with a beam.
BC, that isnt fair to a life form just doing what comes naturally to it. They attacked us in self-defense. We need to find a way to protect ourselves against them or well start depending on you for our defense. I dont want you stuck here.
I could scan the planet and kill them all.
I wont exterminate an animal without giving it a chance. They have shown remarkable teamwork, and its my guess that they may one day evolve into an intelligent life form. To exterminate them would violate our principles. Weve got to find a way to co-exist with them. That means teaching them to avoid us.
Scotty disappeared and Jingo continued to work on the arrows.
BC thought about Scottys choice to uphold the Realms principles. Anglo was right. He was very much like the former Royal Family.
The giant cats were loping across the edge of the wastelands moving south. The leader could smell the scent of the giant flying creatures being carried by the southerly winds. Those creatures were big and tasted good. It looked forward to finding the source of the smell. It looked at the seven running with him and and decided that after another half day they would stop to scout and rest.
The four Zord and their riders were flying parallel to the cats and staying slightly north of their location. They were downwind from the giant creatures and circling about two thousand feet above them. Scotty asked Zreeg, Does everyone have a cat selected?
Yes, they have two chosen. Why are you going to hit only one?
I want the group behind to know there is danger here. How will they know if none survive?
You assume the survivor will go to tell them?
Do you have a better plan?
Not really. I just feel animosity toward those creatures. I want to kill them all.
Do you want to kill all the Torg on the planet?
Vring was silent, I see where youre going. We were attacking them and they just defended themselves. I still harbor feelings of revenge toward them.
Scotty sighed, So do I, but that doesnt make those feelings right. Tell the others to follow us in.
Vring banked away from the giant cats and dove in a shallow path toward the ground. He turned back toward the fast moving creatures six hundred feet off the ground, and watched as the other three Zord drew even. Jingo and Michael were on the end of the formation with Scotty and Julie in the center. The archers notched their first arrow and leaned forward as they came in on the eight cats. The four released their first arrow at eight hundred feet from them, and the second was on its way as they approached six hundred feet. The four immediately rose and gained altitude. Scotty watched the seven arrows hit the running cats.
The giant leader of the group felt a sharp pain in his side followed by agony. He fell to the ground and rolled as his front legs burned out from under him followed by his chest and then his head. He was dead before he stopped rolling and burned to ashes four seconds later. The huge cat running beside him slid to a stop and saw his seven companions burned to ash. It was stunned, and then saw the four flying creatures circling in front of him waiting for him to come closer. The cat looked at the ashes of his former troop and turned and ran back toward the north.