Evolution's Essence (22 page)

Next image in the locket showed some of his
pride filling grandchildren holding on for dear life on his Liger
Pride after throwing his shield like a Frisbee. It was one of their
favorite things growing up. The Ligers loved the chase and no one
could resist riding the too fast felines that at full speed
literally could run on water.

Even Vanishing Claw received the next litter
once they were collared. But after he survived the ordeal he was
comatose for three days before awakening.

Few other humans dared risk after seeing what
it did to the most famous human warrior still alive. It got scarcer
when another Pride tore apart a weak master, killing him quickly
because he didn’t pass the ritual’s requirement.

Creelin though gladly prepared someone who
successfully bonded.

After the establishment of the five kingdoms,
the Hunter society happily gave up their name, as did the Marines
who now served under Isabella here in Andromeda. The dissolved
factions had to reorganize training programs to abide by the
Solarian laws, but if someone wanted to join or change a kingdom,
they weren’t stopped, but you had to be of like mind and pass a
psychological examination. There was another set of five queens in
the Milky Way, but they didn’t dare bother the five who were much
more powerful next door.

In terms of space that is.

Emperor Coleson though retained his authority
as leader of all peoples. A pseudo Star King some called. Emperor
remained his official title though and he served his office and
station proudly. Even the Creelin respected him.

Yet by far the largest advancement of the age
in terms of transportation came from Davan and his science team
unlocking the secrets of instantaneous travel between two points no
matter the distance. It took seven years after his name was cleared
to be fully respected in the scientific community, and not from
being Isabella’s Match. His solid research and a predecessors who
also suffered the same cruel fate in this field made established
planets easily to go and come from.

No longer did citizens need to take days,
weeks or months in FTL just to go visit family or ship cargo and
supplies. Now it was instant and available to the general public
for a reasonable fee. It was faster and cheaper too than taking a
ship. Mining companies loved it especially. But even after it dealt
a blow to the space industry, ships were still needed to explore
the galaxy and deep space. And spacecraft were especially required
in battles, planetary defense and scouting.

Thanks to the core of Laxus not completely
being erased, scout ships had found hundreds of habitable planets
neither the Creelin or Keptl have claimed. One even had signs of
primitive intelligent life forms. By Empire law, there would be no
contact on pain of death, but they were being watched from orbit to
see how this strange intelligent species evolved and would advance.
A long term observation.

The cores of Vladamin and Jenniviq were
remade into large spheres and returned to their city’s long ago and
maintained their cities.

Oliver checked the time on the wall and
sighed as he closed the locket and hid it behind his malleable
clothes. Glancing down he looked at how his entire right arm was
covered in the final form of the Valek, having unlocked the
ultimate programs. It was like a full, skintight glove that covered
the whole right arm and half his back. There on his back shoulder
blade was the half filled orange oval telling how much had been
stored. No longer did the Valek hide secrets from him. Its limits
were not worth mentioning. Abilities were too numerous to
count.

A deep male voice gently cut the blissful
silence of the well organized room. Oliver’s sanctuary where he
could get away for peace and quiet and work on projects. “Grandpa,
Grandma told me to tell you to get your ‘idiot ass’ down to the
hall. Her words, not mine. Everyone is waiting for the big reveal.
Are you finished with the… you know?”

The nano-wall allowed Oliver
alone to pass through and standing almost eye to eye was his oldest
grandson, Samuel. He was almost eleven and tall, but lacked the
extensive musculature of his grandfather. He looked around
seventeen. Grew fast for a half-Solarian. Grew a third faster than
a human child. “I know, Buddy. Only your grandma and great
grandfather tell
me
to do anything. And yes, about a half hour ago the final
puzzle part finished decoding was put in its place.”

“
Half hour?” Samuel asked in
surprise as he watched the slumbering twelve fur balls yawn
viciously and rise to follow their master. “Grandpa, you should be
thrilled to at last figure it all out! I’m still so very lost
trying to piece it all together. It’ll take
me
fifty years to do it. Come on, give
me a hint, Grandpa. Please?”

“
Now what have I told you
about being impatient or looking for the easy way out?” Oliver
grinned and gripped his grandchild’s shoulder. “Better not let Izzy
hear you trying to cheat.”

“
Ummm… never mind. Mom’s not
in a great mood. Aunt Soifon tricked her again and she had to cut
her hair short after it was slimed green early this morning. Mom
still is glaring daggers at her.”

Oliver chortled. Soifon was by far the best
trickster of the family and belonged to Wind. Angie was Water’s
Queen. “Just as long as Soifon and Angie don’t team up like last
time. I swore Vikki was going to go into hysterics when those two
tripped her in a pile of Liger shit bigger than she was. How they
managed that feat and still live astounds me to this day. Your aunt
lost her temper like never before. Usually she’s calmer than I.
That day we all saw she’s just like your grandmother.”

Samuel couldn’t contain a
deep belly laugh as they reached the stairwell and starting winding
their way down. “Aunt Vikki was
so
furious. If not for Grandma tanning their hides
like children it would have gotten seriously bad… Like the
holo-vids of Mom and Grandma destroying that gas giant planet
PX-3373. But I’ll never forget how hard Grandma laughed when Aunt
Vikki stormed out of the room and headed for the baths. Even now it
puts a smile on my face.”

“
It was good, but because of
it your grandma decided on stopping having more brats for a few
more decades. Forty four daughter in twenty years was tough enough.
I’m at least glad to be myself again now that all my kids are grown
up.”

“
Bet Uncle Sparky and Aunt
Rose were relieved.”

“
Sparky, yes. Rose has her
own hatchlings to deal with when she decided to lay more eggs last
year. Still, she loves it when you and you brother visit and let
her and Sparky go out on a date to the surface. They love the hot
springs.” It made Drake scales glossy.

Above the planet the city orbited, the once
asteroid no longer looked as it once was. It was transformed into a
city ship larger than a Creelin Mothership. It now looked larger
than a Solarian battleship, but retained similar
characteristics.

Samuel looked at his forearm Valek, near
identical to Oliver’s as it once was. He did something subtle and
said “We better hurry, Mom looks about to strangle Aunt Angie for
something yet again. Dad’s trying to calm her down and Grandma’s
getting that look again.”

“
Teleport it is.” A moment
later he and Samuel left the stairs to stand in the fiery hall to
find Renee’s eyes narrowing slowly on the regal golden throne as
Isabella’s short hair stood straight up, colored orange with her
great Psionic power shouting insults to Angie flitting around
laughing madly, her own eyes and hair shimmering a soft green
glow.

The room of daughters from Renee and Oliver’s
loins, who were all fully grown, all either had brown, bright
strawberry red or shades of auburn from their parents and eyes
ranging from amber to green. Sometimes even blue. Then he took
notice of Steven and Sparky by the throne making bets. Those two
still terrorized each other to no end even after all these years,
but the spectacle had them united on the rare occasion.

Stone had sadly lost Satellite years back
when a group tried kidnapping Renee. The rogue group wanted to
dissect the Fire Queen to learn her secrets in biology. Satellite
took an overdosed tranquilizer shot for her. Enough to put her to
sleep, but kill any other living creature. Stone, Steven and Breena
still protected their charge, but Renee couldn’t bring back
Satellite. Stone was more quiet than usual, but Breena didn’t leave
her mate, knowing all too well how hard it was to lose a companion
animal. And Visor missed his friend.

The feminine screech drew Oliver back to
reality so he took a deep breath and used a little power to
heighten his voice. “ENOUGH!” the hall jumped near out of their
skin, even Renee who had yet to touch his mind or even take notice
of his presence.

“
Hey Daddy!” Angie changed
gears at the drop of a hat, completely forgetting to continue
taunting Isabella who continued glaring in the now silent room full
of people, Ligers, a few Drakes and two friendly faced Creelin
ambassadors. No one dared continue fighting when Daddy used that
tone. It promised a painful ass whooping. Yes, he still spanked his
full grown children. “You missed my son’s birthday party last
week.”

“
What did you do to Izzy
now, Kiddo?” he asked instead of feeling guilty after he kissed
Renee’s cheek and sat down beside her in the large throne as his
whole Pride came down of the stairs and surrounded the dais.
“Wasn’t her hair enough this morning?”

“
She kicked me in the cunt
this time, Daddy.” Isabella said hotly.

“
And did
you
say anything to make your sister
mad? I clearly recall the word ‘slut’ being used and not in a
playful banter.” Renee asked in a clipped tone. Isabella suddenly
stilled and looked down in shame. “I thought so. Stand on opposite
sides of the wall. Both of you. And if I hear another word I’ll
slap both of you hellions silly. We’ll discuss your horrid behavior
in my court later.”

Every child and grandchild knew that strict
tone and both walked away. Isabella near stomping in her heavy
boots. And Angie skipping in her wispy material that left almost
nothing to the imagination. Angie’s two girlfriends and three
boyfriends followed to make sure she didn’t make matters worse.
Davan went with Isabella and held her hand even though she was
nearly a head taller than him. Flushed cheeks spoke of her
embarrassment.

Everyone calmed considerably with his
arrival. He had that effect on people. He cut a sharp glare as
Steven stopped gloating over Sparky who obviously lost some bet.
Everyone he knew from the Dorgenox was there too. David, Renee’s
baby brother, had his mother’s Indian complexion, but had his
father’s build, but not the spliced giant size. David took after
both Jake and Andrea and loved going on the chase for answers, but
had taken more after his big sister and became a Medic. A fair good
one too.

“
Friends and family,” Oliver
said loud enough for the eagerly awaiting room to listen. Emperor
and Empress Coleson stood over by Netul and Callier along with many
former Elder Hunters, androids were holding position with Agents
and Drakes. “after all these years of waiting, I at last solved the
puzzle not long ago.”

“
Daddy, did you find out
what happened?” Angie of Water asked, wearing a bikini top and a
wavy dress around her hips. “What happened to our people? Your
little brother?”

“
Still don’t know.”
Confusion spread around the packed room. “The puzzle isn’t a record
of events like I assumed. Not till the last parts fell in place did
the confusion make sense. It is actually a highly detailed
blueprint.”

“
To make what, Brother?”
Vanishing Claw asked, leaning against a large male Liger king
called Snake-fang. He was different, this Liger had the opposite
patterns. Rather than be mostly white with thin black stripes.
Snake-fang was black with white stripes and a thicker
mane.

“
That’s the thing really,
they are
already
made, but I need to alter their designs and recite a command
phrase after making a star go hypernova and using all that released
power to fuel the object.”

“
You’ve got to
what
?” Emperor Coleson
spoke up, fear evident in his voice. His beloved calmed him at a
simple touch. “Cause a
hyper
nova?”

“
Blow up a star… well more
accurately a Class O red Supergiant. The biggest stars we know are
about ready to explode. A regular nova and supernova doesn’t have
the heavier material or the power necessary to what I need. I want
one star, not to destroy several. I need the extreme heat and
heavier elements a younger and weaker star has yet to fuse. A star
that has burned up all its hydrogen and burns the last of its
helium. A star that will eventually become a super-massive black
hole if I don’t get to it.

“
Don’t worry, I’ve made
devices years ago to safely contain a volatile star or even a
planet if there is any danger of a serious threat… well I should
say I
already
implanted the items in all known systems worlds humanity knows
and lives on. Netul’s people didn’t need it. They have their own
ways to keep their worlds plenty safe from astronomical threats
such as dying stars, black holes, white holes and so on. I was
bored back then when making the technology, but it’s done and I’ve
already got a containment system proven effective.” Everyone hung
on his every word. Even those of Wind with a short attention
span.