Evolution's Essence (26 page)

At precisely three minutes the enormous
entrance flickered and dropped the energy shield and out from it
belched thousands of Beasts. Slicing waves of energy flew through
the air cutting and dicing the wave of Beasts long before ever
becoming a credible threat. Energy just enough not to scar the
structure. Angie and her people telekinetically scooped the mass
out of the way and ready the meat harvesting as Isabella yelled the
old Hunter code… “HUNT RELENTLESSLY!”

Then people and Liger flowed into the great
tower now that the way was somewhat clear. The first wave of Beasts
were young and weak, but the higher the invasion went, the stronger
the threat. Stronger beasts claimed the better territory. Oliver
and his group had long ago separated to track down all of the
greatest dangers his micro drones had discovered. Steven laughed
and Stone found release. Oliver though felt no fear from anything
in the tower. It was fun though.

As expected, the tower was a complex maze.
Dead ends and looped sections that brought one back to the start
was common. The design was intricate and made for a purpose. It
would one day store and regulate stellar energy for a rift. Ceramic
could contain and store heat and was dense enough to hold heavy
material rather well.

For three days it took to clear out every
last Beast from the tower. Eggs and young were relocated. Only one
individual was seriously injured, but would make a full recovery in
a few days. Thousands upon thousands of tons of raw Beast meat was
harvested, stored as pellets or sent to places in need of food.
After the threat was eliminated Oliver scanned the entire tower to
determine the obelisk was in enough of a decent condition to
uproot.

For him it was effortless. He merely focused
his power and tore it from the ground so gently the ground didn’t
even shake, what vibrations were made though Renee prevented, but
when he hoisted it, few knew how deep it was. The Obelisk truly was
a monolithic giant. It had sunken into the ground for over
seventeen kilometers, so deep the bottom was red hot from the hot
planet’s mantle. He raised it clear from the planet and ordered
drones of his own creation to affect repairs. Millions of orbs with
tens of thousands of tendrils finer than hair went inside and not
only cleaned the obelisk in the cold vacuum of space, but fixed any
damaged or cracked areas. Supply ships loaded with raw ceramic clay
came in a train for the drones to collect and repair.

It took a full month to fix it.

During that time Oliver used the knowledge
from the five cities left behind to locate hundreds more obelisks
and sent coordinates to all fleets sent to his aid. Creelin were by
far the most efficient and capable to transport those in remarkable
condition. They especially were helpful by heading to the other two
galaxies to collect the structures and use his drones for repairs
as needed.

For the next eleven months the Empire of
humanity and Creelin peoples worked near tirelessly to recover each
and every artifact. Advanced ships were made constantly, many made
for heavy artillery or for speed and maneuverability.

And as twenty five thousand years had passed,
not all structures were in any condition to function so Oliver had
to use Laxus to recreate seventy four found to have been completely
destroyed.

Some retrievals even had to be fought out of
the Keptl grasp.

It was a major ordeal and logistics and
military readiness was paramount.

Many wanted to know how the obelisks worked,
but Oliver told only Renee the basics that wouldn’t confuse the
redhead. It frustrated everyone for each obelisk were all made of
ceramic and nothing more. No form of advanced technology could be
found even at the subatomic level. It was clear they fit together
after all resembled King’s Tusk, but no one could reason how they
would work. Oliver though knew the complexities were too staggering
for any human mind to safely handle, but the risks involved were
too great to share to anyone, even friends.

Over that year each obelisk was brought to
the supergiant star the Creelin were sure would work and Oliver
concurred after an extensive study and scan. The star was a violent
blue and the biggest he had ever seen with his naked eyes. Even
sitting a light year away, the star’s immensity dominated the
scene. It was just that big.

The City-ship of Fire sat there for over two
weeks as Oliver telekinetically and carefully arraigned the
obelisks into an oval, each tip fitting in the hollow bottom. When
complete, its opening was enough to swallow a moon and was both
robust and fragile. A barrier had been erected around it so space
debris didn’t shatter the material. The structure was ready and
only a Creelin Mothership on the star’s other side was the only
other ship in this system. Dealing with this star was extremely
dangerous so only the two ships remained after the gateway was
fully connected.

Currently Renee sat in her fiery gilded
throne of rubies and other gemstones staring at Callier, the new
Mothership commander given within this year who sat on the other
side of the star. Beside the holo-screen of the Creelin woman she
called friend approached her youngest grandson Blake, seven years
old yet liked thirteen and was a gifted analyst and engineer like
all her grandsons. All eleven of them. Blake was the son of her
daughter Jamie, also of Fire.

“
Grandma, you said to find
you as soon as I finished my report.”

“
One moment,
Callier.”

“
Take as much time as you
need.”
The Bezlin female turned her head
and telepathically spoke to another aboard the bridge of her
massive ship.

The redheaded queen smiled and patted the
extra space beside her usually reserved for her Match. “Show me
what you have, Sweetie.”

Blake approached in leather pants and an open
vest like most boys in the city and was just the latest trend. He
climbed the steps and sat beside his grandmother to concentrate a
little and Renee’s neural chip blinked in the corner of her vision.
A thought opened the file where Blake synchronized a link between
them and brought up a hologram only their eyes could see. “Grandma,
This star is highly unstable. My micro drones and other detectors
relayed the information I analyzed for this visual. Even if you,
Grandpa and my aunts didn’t plan on harvesting the matter of this
enormous star, it would lose stability in seven months, three days,
six hours and eleven minutes from now.” At the corner of her vision
was the countdown. “The forces of explosion and the star’s immense
gravity is in critical stages and will explode regardless if we did
nothing. But if we do nothing this star will vaporize ninety one
nearby star systems within this century before stabilizing the core
into a super massive black hole and further draw in two hundred
systems within the next four thousand years. Two of which systems
has the makings of sustainable worlds. One of which has shown
convergent evolution life on Earth had during the Precambrian age.
Right now the smartest creature looks like a jellyfish, but life is
life and must be protected.”

“
Then I guess we came at the
right time. What of the radiation levels?” She asked because she
was still a medic, the very best.

“
Extreme is putting it
mildly. No one has ever detected levels this high. Our armor can’t
withstand it, but Grandpa’s upgraded suits are more than capable of
withstanding such, but here is the issue. Time
dilatation.”

“
How bad is the ratio?” she
knew about time dilation alright. Gravity affected time itself.
Stronger gravity literally slowed time as it is commonly
perceived.

“
To put it in layman terms…”
Blake had to pause and think. His mind quickly calculating the
numbers. “For every year that we experience you will feel maybe
five hours and forty five minutes. The event horizon even without
it being a black hole is that strong. And since Grandpa said it’ll
require fifteen hours to charge up the gateway. You, Grandpa,
Mother all my aunts and the strongest Creelin brought here will be
gone almost three years.”

“
Well done.” She kissed his
cheek.

Blake paused and was confused for a moment.
“You knew, Grandma?”

“
Yeah. Olly told me that
almost a year ago after just looking at the selected star for five
minutes. I, the other queens and the Archivers were warned
beforehand by your grandfather what it’ll take. This isn’t an easy
endeavor. When we go, Samuel will run my city till my return. Since
this will be the largest controlled hypernova in human history, it
will be well documented. I’m proud you still only took less than
twenty four hours to find the same solution as Olly at your age. It
even took your cousin Sammy two whole days to figure out a similar
problem my Match put on him at your age.”

“
Grandpa was testing me?”
Blake was hurt and proud at the same time.

“
Of course. He’s been
testing all his grandsons since you all were weaned of your
mother’s tit.” Renee laughed at his blank expression. “You boys are
wired mentally different and being half human he has been making
sure there are no defects or anomalies of that union being a
detriment to your health and mental foundation.”

“
What about my sister and
cousins of the female gender? Do you…?”

“
Better believe it. Just
like Oliver has his skills, so do I. Just as you can crunch numbers
full humans can’t grasp, my girls are skilled in anatomy. I too
make sure they aren’t too affected by diluting pure Solarian with
Terran unions. So far the effect is minimal considering our family
history. Especially my being a genetically modified Solarian off
the Geo Record’s walls.” She looked up at the grey glowing eyes of
Callier. “Did you get all that, My Friend? Blake did another
independent verification your people and my Olly
tested.”

“
I would like to read his
analysis before we take our positions and begin the
processes.”

His grandmother just gave a
glance and Blake squinted, used his Valek to send the information
through the city and it transferred to the Creelin Mothership.
Callier nodded her thanks and quickly nodded.
“Well done, Youngling. Your numbers are correct and are not
showing any deviations from ours.”
Blake’s
chest swelled and he blushed from the praise.
“We will begin preparations. Renee, when do you wish to begin
the operation?”

“
In three hours. Zero two
hundred hours. It will give time for my daughters’ mates to say
goodbye for the years we’ll miss one last time. I’ll also need to
find my enormous moron and find out what he’s up to. Likely yours
is still with him too.”

“
Likely. Netul has yet
returned to my ship. We begin in three hours. Callier, signing
off.”
The holographic visual winked
off.

Renee said “Laxus, where is Oliver and
Netul?”

The city AI appeared and smiled. “In the
Silent Chamber with Samuel and a dozen other Creelin boys and
girls, My Queen. Would you like me to summon them.”

“
Quite alright. I need to
stretch my legs. Been sitting on my ass too long as it is.” She
stood. “Blake, go play and relax for a few hours.”

“
Can’t, Grandma. I’ve got a
report I need to finish in Creelin Stellar mathematical studies on
gravity alteration dictated by mass variances.”

Renee’s face went blank as t always did when
met with too much jargon. She smiled when her grandchild laughed,
kissed her cheek and walked away.

She though moved away from the throne room
and went upstairs to easily find a nano-wall with a light above
showing it was in use. It was easily opened by her hand touching it
and she entered a silent room with calming green walls that allowed
for minimal distraction. On the floor were plush cushions where a
group of prepubescent Creelin youths sat cross-legged before the
two large adults. Samuel sat off to the side, eyes glowing orange
like his hair. Renee immediately realized it was training day. Her
man always took one day a week to guide children in use of
Psionics. Oliver and Netul sat side by side nearly naked like
everyone. Only a loin cloth covered their shame. Renee had to
control herself. Oliver was a prime male specimen layered in taut,
corded muscle.

“
Now try again, Children.”
His deep bass voice coaxed with soothing calmness that lessened
anxiety. “Calm your breathing to reach for the power within all
living beings. Your cells already know what to do. Now use your
mind to direct that power towards your hands and lift the sphere.
Do it slow. You needn’t rush.”

In front of every Creelin was a baseball size
sphere of steel and they followed Samuel’s example by watching the
flow of energy with their barely misting eyes.

Shakily each ball began to rise under the ten
times gravity they were all comfortable with.

“
Havij, do not force it. Use
less power. It will accomplish this exercise and not tire you out
when you return home.” The boy with the highest floating sphere did
as told and used too little and the ball dropped to the ground. The
youth cringed, but relaxed when Oliver smiled and gestured to try
again.

Renee noticed Nova stare directly at her and
the Ligers, all this time, gave her a unified wink. Letting her
know Oliver saw her standing in the dark corner watching the
lesson. It put a smile on her face.

“
Moving objects is the
simplest form of Psionic as you all know and most commonly used. It
is also the most useful. It is what allows your parents to
figuratively fly. It is an electrical extension of our body. By
manipulating the electrical field we all generate, almost anything
can be accomplished.”