Dahlia's Deception (The Annihilation Series) (31 page)

“I know you’re angry over being brought here against your will.” The Hornet flashed a bright purple light and all the others flashed an instant later.”

“This place was always meant to be your home. You’ve come here to find those that love and admire your beauty. You are the most beautiful beings ever created.” Dahlia leaned forward and laid her head between her hands on the Hornets head and the lights started moving slowly and rhythmically along its giant body. Ping knew that if one looked up ecstasy in a dictionary, that Hornet’s picture would be an example of it.

Ping looked across the universe and saw the orange portals growing to the point of breaking through to the Realm’s universe. Dahlia saw the image in her mind and sighed. The giant sensed her distress and it flashed a bright violet light.

Dahlia raised her head and said, “Do you see those bright orange lights?”

The Hornet flashed one Violet pulse of light.

“The beings attempting to go through those lights have been trying to kill those of us that love you.”

The change in the Hornet was immediate and overwhelming. Its lights flashed at a speed too fast to follow. The massive swarm turned and all faced away from the planet; their colors were identical to the Hornet Dahlia was still touching. Dahlia said, “Will you stay here with me?”

The giant flashed one purple flash. Dahlia moved forward and lay down on the huge creature’s head. It began flashing rhythmically just a moment after the huge swarm disappeared.

Ping continued to watch the Four prepare to enter the Realm. The portals were only minutes away from opening, when the swarm arrived. Ping focused on one portal the Beasts were lining up to transit and saw two Hornets flash in. The first Hornet spit a white ball at the portal and it blew apart in fragments. It then turned and joined the second Hornet that had already started at the front of the long line of Battleships spitting white balls at them as it flashed down the line. Ping was stunned. The two Hornets blasted the portal and killed every warship gathered in front of it in less than three seconds. Sprigly was right, they were indestructible. The millions of beams and missiles fired at them had no effect. He saw that the million plus portals were gone in less than a minute. The huge swarm then disappeared, scattering in all directions.

Ping turned to Dahlia shaking his head and heard her say without opening her eyes as she lay on the Hornet, “My child feels they do not deserve to continue to exist; I can’t say that I disagree with him.”

Ping jerked his head up and looked at the Beast’s governing planet. He saw a Hornet turn and flash away. He looked closer at the planet and there was no evidence that a civilization ever existed on it. There were wide swaths of bare soil but nothing remained of the billions of inhabitants and their buildings. The entire planet had been stripped of them in less time than he could have imagined. He began looking out into the Four Domains and their planets were being cleared faster than he could track. He looked at Dahlia shaking his head; trillions were being killed every second.

Dahlia opened her eyes, “How many have they killed?”

Ping stared at Dahlia and saw in her mind the vision of her planet being bombarded from space. He saw the Royal Palace where her parents had died along with Tess’ husband and child. He remembered Mios and Jody being blasted into atoms by the Black Ships and Nicole’s death at the hands of a surviving Black Ship. He knew that their loss was only a tiny insignificant piece of what the Four had done in their past. He slowly nodded and Dahlia put her head back down on the Hornet and closed her eyes. Ping looked at her thoughts and discovered he didn’t need to use his vision to see what was happening. Dahlia was seeing it all with her connection with the Hornet. Ping closed his eyes and watched the destruction of the Four. He saw that the Rageon were ignored by the Hornets; they had not sent ships to the portals and were spared death. All of the others were not.

Ping noticed that the Blue Ships attacked the Hornets because they were destroying a valuable supply of food. The Hornets went about their business and ignored the Invaders. Ping looked at Dahlia’s mind and saw she was deliberately not thinking about the billions of blue ships scattered around the universe. Ping forced himself to follow her lead.

• • •

The hundreds of thousands of ships in orbit wondered what was happening. Tess tried to contact Dahlia but was unable to get through. Pare said, “Sprigly, you need to do something about all the ships in orbit. They’re starting to panic.”

Sprigly forced his mind away from Ping and Dahlia and saw the communication panel was lit up solid. He pressed Tess’ button and said, “Tess, start the ships landing everyone back on the planet.”

“Where’s Dahlia!!”

“She’s currently resting on that giant creature’s head.”

“WHAT!?!”

“I’m not completely certain but I believe she has saved us from them. Either way, you need to get the citizens back on the planet. They’re crammed into close quarters and no one can tell them what’s happening.”

Tess sighed and turned to her panel, “Dean, you and Victoria need to teleport down to the control room. I need your help getting the ships down close to where they picked up their passengers.”

Dean and Victoria appeared and Tess said, “No, I don’t know what’s going on so don’t ask. It appears we are not going to be killed immediately and we need to get our people back down to the planet. You and Victoria get the process started.” Dean didn’t like being put off but the Queen had spoken. He went over to his panel and ordered the ship that had all of the control room’s staff landed first.

Tess lifted her communicator, “Attention all ships. The Mites will remain in orbit with their defenses turned off. The Battleships will be given a time momentarily to land and disembark their passengers. For the moment, we are in no danger. Please remain calm and assist your crew in getting you back home.”

Dean began issuing orders and glanced to his left and saw Victoria had used one of the planet’s defense scanners to view the giant creature hanging out in space. The view began moving in closer until the creature’s head filled the display. It continued to move closer and after a minute he saw Ping and Dahlia. Dahlia was lying on the creature’s head and Ping floated a short distance away. The creature was flashing a series of different colors that ran down the length of its body at a slow pace. He turned back to his terminal to take incoming calls and knew the creature was at peace. He wondered what that meant.

• • •

The Rageon Ruler looked at the Admiral on his display, “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know, Your Majesty. Our scanners indicate that every portal and every ship near them has been destroyed. Nothing survived and the scouts sent to the other Domains’ ruling planets found no trace that a civilization ever existed on them.”

“What caused that!?!”

“We don’t know. However, one of our scouts saw this” an image of a Hornet appeared on the Ruler’s display and he shook his head. The Admiral said, “The image doesn’t do that creature justice. It’s about two hundred and fifty miles long.” The King was shocked silent. He had toyed with the idea that maybe the Crystal Beings were causing the destruction but knew in his heart that they would not kill any living thing deliberately. It had to be the creature on his display that was doing it.

“Did that creature attack the scout that took the image?”

“No, and they appear to be ignoring the Blue Ships as well.”

“Recall all of our ships to our Domain and keep them here until I order otherwise.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Ruler started attempting to contact the Rulers of the other Four Domains and after an hour, gave up. No one answered.

• • •

Rranga and Rrena were lying next to an ocean on the planet they had selected to escape. They were happier than they had ever been in their life and were both thankful they had deserted their duties. They closed their eyes as they hugged each other…a moment later a white ball shot down through the atmosphere and they disappeared. They were the last two Beasts killed and, without doubt, they were the happiest.

T
he Swarm began arriving back at the Planter’s Planet and Ping saw they were still in a killing frenzy. They were traveling too fast to see and were emitting light flashes at an incredible rate. As millions arrived above the planet, space appeared to be a massive lightning show of incredible colors. But then, slowly at first and then faster, the Hornets slowed down and came to a stop around the single Hornet above the planet. Their lights slowed and began matching the slow rhythmic pulses of the Hornet that Dahlia lay on. Six hours later, the entire swarm floated in space above the planet to the edge of the planetary system.

Dahlia raised her head and looked at the Hornet, “You know I love you.”

The giant creature shivered and flashed a slow purple light once.

“Now before you leave me…”

The Hornet flashed three fast purple flashes.

““I know, but you are going to leave me momentarily.”

The Hornet flashed twice.

“I know you, now. But before you go, I ask for one request.”

The Hornet flashed once.

“We welcome you to our home. You are without doubt the most magnificent creatures in all Creation. It would be a crime for your neighbors here not to be able to see your glory. Will you allow those who live here to come and see you without being attacked?”

Ping had started sending Dahlia’s thoughts to Sprigly and he said, “Uh oh!”

Ping thought, “What?”

“They are programmed by their instincts to attack anyone that comes anywhere near their nest. I don’t know that they can do anything about that survival instinct. It might be dangerous for her to even ask.”

Ping jerked his attention back to the Hornet and saw it flashing lights at an incredible rate. The rest of the swarm began flashing as well but Ping saw they were not identical to the Hornet Dahlia was on. “Sprigly, what are they doing?”

Sprigly leaned left and right, “I don’t know; it appears they must be discussing it.”

“I thought you said they have no consciousness.”

“They don’t; that’s what makes this confusing.”

Pare said, “They’re like me.” Ping and Sprigly were surprised by the statement. “I didn’t possess consciousness until Ping and Dahlia linked with my central processors. Ping and Dahlia have now linked with that Hornet who is linked to all the others. I suspect that whatever barrier was previously preventing them from having consciousness has now been removed. I can see in their patterns that they are communicating with each other.”

Ping looked out at the swarm and saw the flashes were getting faster and brighter. They became too bright to look at and Ping turned his head from them. Suddenly, the flashes instantly stopped. Ping looked back at the Hornet in front of him and he saw it flash once.

Dahlia hugged the Hornet as tightly as she could and the entire swarm flashed their ecstasy. “Thank you, my wise friend. We will not go to your home. We will only come to the outer edge of your galaxy and wait for you to come and share your beauty with us. Will that be satisfactory?” The entire swarm flashed a purple light once.

“Now I need to tell you about those Blue Ships that have been attacking you as you went about your business.” The Hornet flashed three times, showing its confusion.”

Dahlia turned around and said, “Ping, show them the blue portals.” Ping looked up and found one of the blue portals, where ships were still pouring through the opening. Dahlia saw it in her mind as the entire swarm turned and looked out into the universe. “Those beings are coming here to consume all of your neighbors…including me and my mate. They could never harm you but they could remove all of us that find you beautiful.”

Dahlia pushed off the Giant Hornet and said, “I’ve seen your heart, wise one. Go and do what must be done. Take your home to a safe place here and come back to take me with you to see it when you’re done. I understand why you must go with your family.”

The Hornet flashed a soft violet glow and then turned and looked out with the rest of the swarm. In an instant, they flashed away.

“Ping, show me what you’re seeing.”

“I’ve tried to watch them attack the billions of ships already in our universe but they’re moving too fast for me to follow. I can tell you that Blue Ships are disappearing at an incredible pace. It’s like a giant wave is sweeping across our universe leaving no Blue Ships behind it.”

Ping took Dahlia’s hand and they teleported back on board the Rover. Dahlia’s armor disappeared and she collapsed into her command chair. Sprigly saw their thoughts and said, “Even if they kill every ship in our universe, the Harvesters will eventually return.”

“They’re not stopping with the ships here.”

Sprigly and Ping looked at Dahlia. “Keep an eye on a portal, Ping.”

Ping watched and saw millions of portals start exploding, “Dahlia, they’re destroying the portals.”

“Find the one they’re leaving alone.”

Ping swung his head across the ceiling and stopped. He moved it back slightly and saw a portal with Blue Ships still emerging. Sprigly, Pare, and Dahlia saw his thoughts and they saw a bright flash blow through the portal. A few moments later, the Blue Warships stopped exiting. Ping continued to stare at it and several more flashes went through the portal, too fast to see. Then the flashes began coming in faster and faster. Within an hour, it appeared as if a river of light was flowing into the portal.

Sprigly said, “What are they doing?”

Dahlia smiled, “They’re doing a little house cleaning.”

Ping shook his head, “That particular house has a lot of cleaning to be done.”

Dahlia smiled, “There is nothing in creation that can do it faster than my friends.”

Ping looked at Dahlia, “Are they really your friends?”

Dahlia smiled, “Do you remember the green glow that emerged when you kissed me the first time?” Ping smiled and nodded. “I really wondered what that was all about. Didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.”

“The most immediate result was that you and I could hear each other’s thoughts afterwards…but that wasn’t the only change.”