The Spider shook his head and the being turned to go work on the device being installed on the top of his ship. Destiny thought, “This is a whole new universe. Things look so different now.” Then he entered the door to be greeted by his adoring children.
Two hours later Destiny saw that the beings had left his ship. He turned to the Sensor Male and said, “Launch an attack craft and have it take station three widths from us.”
The small ship launched and moved ninety thousand miles away. “Tell it to scan our ship and to keep us in sight.”
“They are scanning us now.”
Destiny pushed the big button and the Sensor Male flinched, “The pilot says they have lost all sight of us; his scans show nothing.”
“Excellent,” then he pushed the small button and said, “Order the attack craft back aboard and let’s go look for a planet with lower life forms that we can harvest.”
“Does it have to be land animals?”
“No, Sensor Male, sea life is acceptable.”
“I know just the planet.”
The huge green ship turned and moved out of the system, crossed the jump limit, and disappeared.”
“Al, where did they go?”
“They jumped into a system with a planet that has no intelligent life and is predominantly covered with water. It looks like they are going to have a sea food buffet.”
Matt laughed and said, “I like that Eight Leg. He is so refreshingly open and honest.”
“What do we do next?”
“We go with Sprig to see about some chemicals.”
Sprig nodded, “On our way.”
The Second Reg turned to the third, “Did you see this happening?”
“No, I did not. This is quite surprising.”
The First Reg entered the chamber and said, “Twenty of the elders have started having sparks.”
The Second and Third looked at the First. The First said, “It appears that even they can be surprised by events. I never anticipated anything good from those green creatures.”
The Third looked at the First and said, “I can answer your question now.” The First continued to look at the Third, “They will have to handle it on their own. We cannot allow our gift to be used yet.”
“This surprise makes that decision even clearer. Let’s see what happens.”
Chapter 19
The Supreme Male was nervous. He had reported to the Nest Mother and she was looking at his download. “So that Ship’s Male told you some of his ships were exploding?”
“Yes, Nest Mother, and he said they were under attack and he would contact me as soon as he handled the situation. I have been unable to communicate with him since and his tracking device in not responding.”
“Explain to me how that ship is still alive. I ordered that family’s Supreme Male to consume his family.”
“It probably isn’t still alive; however, the Supreme Male did consume his family. I’m sure he thought you would not want to wait for him to go to that Galaxy to consume that last ship.”
“When I say consume a family, I mean every ship.”
“Yes, Nest Mother.”
The Nest Mother was nervous. With the death of the Supreme Male that ship was no longer bound by the compulsions she had downloaded. Then she turned and said, “Did you tell that Ship’s Male that I had consumed his family?”
“Yes, Nest Mother, he wanted to know why I was contacting him instead of his Supreme Male.”
The Nest Mother felt her rage grow to the point of exploding but then she backed off. If she consumed this stupid male’s family then the harvest would have to be delayed again. She forced herself to calm down.
The Supreme Male saw her rage and knew his time had come and his family was about to die. He was genuinely surprised when the Nest Mother did not order him consumed.
“How much longer before the first ships launch?”
“Three dgets.”
“I will be kept informed; do you understand?”
“Yes Nest Mother.”
“Go, get out of my chamber.” The Supreme Male scurried out as quickly as he could run. “I hope that ship was destroyed,” she thought. “It is not good to have a ship without compulsions; they would be a free agent and that would not be something she wanted. She thought a moment and wondered how long it would take the ship’s crew to start returning to their natural state. “I’m worrying about nothing; they would have communicated if they were still alive.” She still felt nervous and couldn’t shake the feeling.
“Destiny, do you have a moment to communicate?”
“Yes, I do. With whom am I communicating?”
“I am the one who agreed to provide you the screen. Do you have some time to take a trip away from your ship?”
“How long will I be away?”
“Probably less than one rotation of the planet you’re parked above at this moment.”
“How do you manage to keep such close track of my movements? I must say that you really keep close watch of our activities.”
“Wouldn’t you in my place?”
“Of course but I don’t think I could actually do it.”
“I have some questions and I need your help. I would like to take you to a planet where we are developing ways to stop the coming harvest. Will you help me?”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Go to your ships surface again and wait there. Just send a thought when you’re ready.”
“Give me a few moments to get there.
“Standing by.”
Destiny looked at his Sensor Male and said, “I’m going to be gone for a while. You are in command and I want you to make sure my children actually consume the entire meal. If they are eating a large fish, I want that fish completely eaten. There will be longer periods between meals. Make sure they have sated their hunger before you leave this planet.”
“Yes, Ship’s Male. I will do as you order but I suspect we will still be here when you return.”
“I agree. One more thing, Call me by the name the beings have given me from this moment forward. Your name will be Eyes.”
The Sensor Male smiled. “I like that name, Ship’s, I mean, Destiny.”
“Please tell my children that they may also start giving each other names of their own that they feel are appropriate.”
“I think they will like that. I will protect the family in your absence.”
Destiny handed Eyes the device that controlled the screen, “You know how to use this. Keep it until I return.”
Eyes looked at Destiny and felt proud that he was trusted with such an important device. Tell me when you’re returning and I will turn it off.”
“I will; I’ll return shortly.”
Destiny put on his suit and worked his way to the surface and went out the external door. He looked out at the billions of stars in the galaxy he was in and thought that they were beautiful. The thought shocked him; he had never looked at stars that way before. Something was changing in him and he wasn’t sure what it was. He decided to think about that later. “I’m on the surface,” he thought. A silver field appeared above him and moved down toward him. He found himself standing on a planet that had a vast barren plain stretching in all directions. He felt sorrow for the lack of life. “My race killed everything on this planet more that twelve hundred of this planets revolutions around its star.”
Destiny turned and didn’t see anyone near him. There was a tall bush a few feet away but no one else. “Who said that?”
The bush moved and he heard, “I am a plant creature and a friend of the one that helped you. He will be here momentarily.”
Destiny was shocked. “I keep being surprised by what I see. You are the first plant I’ve ever encountered that was intelligent. Why did you destroy this planet? I must confess I feel great sorrow at what I see here.”
“Any good farmer would, Destiny. My race was once forced to consume tremendous amounts of organic matter to live. Another race had destroyed our normal food source and we were forced to kill planets to gather what we needed to survive. We fought a war with the race that agreed to help you. They could have destroyed my entire species but chose to help us instead. We are close friends now and our destinies are entwined together. I’m telling you this because they are beings that you can trust to keep their promises. Are you capable of keeping yours?”