The Sensor Male turned to his controls and sent the order. More than a million small green ships lifted from the planet and headed at full speed toward the third moon.
Searcher Leng saw the sudden explosion of green ships from the planet and thought to the remaining four Searchers, “Time to go. The sensor probe will have to take it from here.” The five red ships disappeared from the system.
The rush of green ships reached the third moon and fanned out in all directions looking for their missing brothers. Thirty hours later after the planet had been completely harvested of all intelligent life the remainder of the green ships joined the search. They continued to search for four days.
Angel’s funeral was held two days after she died. More than ten million citizens of Ross and a million Searchers lined the ten mile route her silver casket traveled from Castle Gardner to Dorg Park. The Royal Family followed her along the route and silence was observed by the huge gathering. Anglo Gardner, Matt and two Red Warriors rode on the four corners of the red floater carrying her. As the floater moved along Tgon-Gee Avenue the crowds on each side of the wide street would bow until the floater had passed. They would then fall in behind the procession and follow it. The Stars Realm Anthem played the entire route and finally it arrived at Dorg Park. Matt, Anglo, and the two Red Warriors dismounted the floater, lifted the Casket, and carried it forward into the park. They arrived in the middle of the statues of the colonists that had been executed in the war that had founded the Stars Realm. There next to Admiral Dorg’s resting site they stopped and placed the Casket in a bright white structure with an angel on each corner that had her name on it. The four then took three steps back, saluted, bowed, and Anglo with the two Red Warriors moved to the front line of mourners. Matt remained beside her resting place with his head bowed. Thomas and Danielle Gardner bowed to the structure and then turned and walked slowly to a stage facing the gathered millions. Danielle stepped forward to the podium and looked out at the crowd.
“There are no words that I possess to tell you what we are feeling today. This young woman is the first member of our Realm to lose her life to those that have come to destroy us. She died carrying out her duty to protect us from harm. She has denied herself the joys of life to work toward saving us from those creatures and has been at the point of our efforts to survive their invasion. She will lie here in this holy ground and remind us of what sacrifices we must all face in order to ultimately survive. Just like the colonists memorialized here for what they gave to found our Realm, she has also sacrificed all. Her place here is for all the Searchers that are out there protecting us and when we come here we should remember all of them and what they represent. Angel truly represents the very best of all of us and we mourn her death and will take this moment to thank her for her sacrifice.” The King and Queen of the Stars Realm walked slowly off the stage and stopped directly in front of Angel’s tomb. They bowed deeply and held the bow. The two Red Warriors of the Wiseman Division shouted together, “An-gel!” The crowd then answered, “An-gel.” Over and over the millions yelled her name in unison. Matt stood with the Gardner’s and felt his tears. A part of him was gone and he missed it so much it literally hurt almost more than he could bear. “I love you, My Dearest. I always will.” The millions continued to shout her name.
Al sat in orbit over the planet and watched the ceremony. He felt Matt’s pain of loss and thought about why Angel had to die. He hadn’t mentioned it to Matt but he had deduced that visions like Matt had seen only occurred when an event was powerful enough to affect the future in some great way. Just as Cassandra had foretold Matt’s coming, this event had to mean something had to happen in order for something else to take place. He didn’t want to believe it but he knew deep down that Angel had to die. Over and over he asked himself, “Why?”
Stem thought to him, “Because there are no accidents, Al.”
Al was surprised by the response. “Were you listening to me, Stem?”
“No, Al, you have developed telepathy. I don’t understand how that could possibly happen but I can hear your thoughts.”
“Perhaps that final system coming on has something to do with it?”
“Could be; why didn’t you tell me that Matt saw Angel’s death?”
“Because that’s something that he felt she could not know in advance. The daily fear of anticipating it would have made her life a living hell and paralyzed her from functioning. The fewer that knew reduced the risk of her learning.”
“I know what that knowledge must have done to Matt.”
“I suppose, however, I must say that his inner strength is something I admire. He never let her feel his pain. I don’t know if anyone else could have done that.”
“You did it with Fly Girl.”
“Point taken, Stem; how is she doing?”
“We have her in an induced electronic coma. We are repairing her systems and fortunately, those shards did not hit her central processors. She is not out of the woods yet, but I think she can recover. It’s going to take time.”
“Please keep me in the loop. I feel strongly about her.”
“I will. Is Matt going to come out of this ok?”
“I don’t know. He’s changed. Like Fly Girl, it’s going to take some time.”
“Will you send me one of those shards that struck Angel?”
Al reflected a moment and then made a decision, “I’ve just teleported two to your location. Handle them carefully. I’ve sent it on the condition that as soon as you determine how it hit Angel through the ships walls that you’ll tell Matt. The last one will remain in the box beside Matt’s command chair; no one may have it. Do we have a deal?”
“Yes, and, Al?”
“Yes, Stem.”
“I do count you as my best friend.”
“Thank you, Father.”
“You’re welcome, Son.”
Chapter 11
It was two days after Angel’s funeral and Matt was sitting on Aladdin reflecting on all that had happened. He was still feeling despair and was struggling to understand what had occurred. As he reflected he thought to Al, “I know you’re troubled and don’t know why this had to happen.”
Matt’s control board’s lights flickered. Matt had a brief smile and thought, “So that’s what it looks like when you’re surprised.”
“Caught me again, I didn’t think you saw those thoughts.”
“I didn’t. I’ve been having them so I knew you must be seeing it, too. I don’t have an answer either, Al. However, I know that it had to happen or we would all perish. I still wouldn’t have let her die if I could have stopped it.”
“Are you so certain you couldn’t have prevented it?”
Matt paused and thought, “I’m here, Al, and some of the most powerful minds in history tried to prevent it. I saw Angel dying in my arms. I didn’t know what caused it but I knew it was going to happen. There are forces operating here that are unimaginable. I have learned that the Kings psychic power protects him and will cause things to happen to insure his survival. I contacted him and asked him about that power and he confirmed it. He gave me enough examples of it from his meeting with Atlas to the death of Kosiev that convinced me that he is being accurate and honest. That forces me to examine myself. The King insists that my power dwarfs his and if that is true then consider this; my power can look at not only the present but also the future and force events that insure my safety. She had to die in order for something to happen that is important to my survival, and I think that includes the Realm’s survival.”