Brez was stunned, “Sir, there are many higher ranking officers than me. Why have I been selected for this duty?”
“Because Prince Gardner has been observing you and has issued commands that you be placed in command of one of our divisions. We happen to place great faith in his opinion and in his psychic abilities to make the right decisions. I expect you to have your warriors ready to defend an entire planet against millions of those green monsters. You’ll be heavily outnumbered but I expect the best from you and your men.”
Brez looked at General Durk, “I will do my best, General.”
“From what I’ve heard, your best is pretty good. You’re dismissed. Your unit will be waiting for your arrival.”
Brez snapped to attention, saluted, and ran from the room before Durk could return his salute. Durk shook his head and thought, “I imagine those creatures will have more than they can handle with this Red Warrior.”
Matt and Melanie were sitting in the map room at Castle Gardner with Tag and Danielle. They were watching the feed from the entry point as more and more of the huge green ships came through. “There as so many of them,” Danielle said.
Matt nodded and continued to watch.
“I pray we can survive this.”
Matt looked at Melanie and said, “We can.”
Melanie raised an eyebrow at him, “How can you be so sure?”
“Because the ship the Reg gave us is now fully active.”
Tag and Danielle both said, “What!”
“The final system on Al is now working so that tells me that the ship is now operational.”
Tag looked at him and said, “Why haven’t you told us?”
“Because we are never going to use it; we are going to return it to them.”
All three just stared at him.
“I understand your shock about this but I know that if we use it the Reg will die. They will not be able to endure what the use of that ship causes. I cannot allow my brothers to suffer that fate.”
Melanie looked at him and said, “Are you sure about that?”
“I know that they have decided as a race that they would rather die than allow further loss of life by those invaders. They think that death is better than life knowing how many will die due to their inactivity. We have to win this war on our own. Are you willing to allow those that may someday cause the defeat of these creatures to go to their death? I believe that with enough time they can overcome the forces than compel them not to act. That is one ship; they can produce millions of them if they are able to beat that compulsion. I can’t risk the fate of untold billions of future civilizations on the chance that we might win using it.” Matt looked at Tag and said, “If you command me to use it, I will obey. I just cannot do it if the decision is mine.”
Danielle looked at Matt, “Can we win without it?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
Tag and Danielle looked at each other. Tag walked over and put his arm around Matt, “Nor can we take that kind of action knowing it will cause the death of an entire race.”
“I was hoping you would feel that way.”
Sprig and Twig stood with Edison looking at the device he had built. He explained how it operated and they saw that he had actually found a better way to work the system. Sprig was actually amazed at how simple the device operated. “You say you did this after learning that we were able to teleport?”
“Yes, I assumed that it must work around null space and move directly to the location you desired to travel.”
“You’re right. You also mentioned that you might be able to teleport into another universe.”
“The principle is really no different than moving around this universe; the initial coordinate is different, though.”
“What do you mean initial coordinate?”
“Each universe has its own frequency. You wouldn’t know that because you have existed only in this one. To teleport to another universe you need the initial numbers from that universe and the coordinates of the place you want to go.”
Sprig looked at Twig, “Can your device teleport to another universe?”
Edison turned his head sideways indicating a laugh and said, “No, I’m missing some of the functions necessary to make that happen.”
Sprig said, “But you said you could teleport the green substance and also teleport ships back to where they came from.”
“Oh it can be done; Einstein has promised me the equations in another seven days.”
“Who is Einstein?”
“He’s one of my brothers. He is fascinated by the laws that govern physical properties. He chose that name because of the famous ancient human. He’s actually much smarter than I am. I’m more of an engineer; he’s the one that comes up with the principles I use to design my devices.”
Sprig and Twig were dumbfounded. Twig keyed her com, “Destiny.”
“Yes, Twig.”
“One of your children has taken the human name Einstein. Would you please teleport him to our location.”
“Why, has he caused trouble?”
“No, why do you ask?”
“If it’s the same Einstein I punished last week for converting one of the lakes on the last planet into uranium, then he’s always up to mischief.”
“How did he do that?”
“I don’t know; he said he needed it to catch a few quarks for an experiment.”
“Destiny, I’m reasonably certain that he’s the one.”
Edison was shaking his head, “No, it’s not him. He isn’t very bright actually. Einstein is in the engine room developing a drive that should push our ship faster than light.”
Destiny heard what Edison said and yelled, “Eyes. Get that child out of the engine room.”
“Destiny, I think we need to build a school for your children to develop their talents.”
“We need to build something. They’re developing individual personalities and their curiosity is out of control. One of them cut a section from the hull and made a statue.”
“What did they cut it with?”
Destiny looked at his screen and said, “I really don’t know.”
Twig thought, “I really think you should find out.”
“Eyes, get me the artist. What’s his name?”
“Leonardo something.”
“Well get him up here. Ah, here’s Einstein.”
“What do you want, Father?”
“Are you the subject matter expert on teleportation?”
“I was last week. I’ve moved on to another subject.”
Sprig said, “We need your help on teleportation?”
“Sure, if that’s what you want. I just think using psychic skills to move objects around the universes will be so much more efficient but I’ll certainly help you with teleportation if that’s what you need.”
Sprig looked at Twig and thought, “What have we found here?”
“I don’t know, Dear, but please remember you melted a Megaship in your youth.”
Einstein and Edison looked at Sprig with wonder in their eyes. “You did what?”
Destiny laughed, “Now they have a new hero. He’s all yours, Sprig.”
Matt was at his console watching the ships continue to pour into his universe. His com buzzed and he saw Sprig on it, “What’s up?”
“These young spiders are showing a tremendous rate of development. If we can get through the first invasion, we will have some tools to take this war to their home turf.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know the Reg’s ship is going to be able to travel between universes.”