Evolution's Essence (34 page)

“
It takes too much out of
me. When I lay a new Queen’s egg my power depletes greatly and I
cannot move well for a year. With all the attacks I get, caring for
a young queen would kill me if I do not keep my strength. I’m too
proud to surrender. What I want is a new, safe home and to
eliminate the Feral scourge. But I cannot do it alone… alright,
enough pitying.” White Blossom slapped her cheeks with claws.
“Mantiv… I mean Oliver to vent your frustration go play with one of
the moons in the sky. I like to make moons make funny shapes. Do as
you wish. If you promise to give me a new home I’ll let you destroy
the moons. You always like smashing worlds together if I recall. I
need to check my old memories, but I got that
impression.”

He nodded and as he flew out of the opening
White Blossom made on the bridge, Nova and the Ligers had their
collars make armor to grow wings and thrusters to fly away with
their master.

“
What do you mean by ‘check
your old memories’?” Renee just knew she was about to learn
something interesting.

“
When Oliver was Mantiv, he
found a way to let me know I’m the oldest living creature in the
universe. Near a billion years by now. That is too many memories
for any individual to keep and be fresh and long ago I hated
relearning things I knew I know I learned so I made nodes that keep
all my memories safe. I’ve amassed a lot of memories and… well
wouldn’t you rather see them yourself. Reten could see my memories
in the nodes. Come. Come. I have much to show my new guests.”
Psionically White Blossom picked herself and Melanie up and flew
outside, taking care to not hit anyone or thing.

“
Ma, shouldn’t you go be
with papa?” Vikki spoke softly. “His heart must be
breaking?”

Renee sobered. “It is, but he really wants to
be alone. His whole hope just got destroyed. He really wanted to
meet his brother and get answers that way. But like as it always
happens, things don’t go according to plan. But I can’t believe the
Creelin betrayed us so greatly. If Melanie’s distress didn’t arrive
and the rest of this didn’t happen… the portal would open and we
could have potentially let out an unstoppable plague with no cure.
We know your father has a way with gadgets and weapons. If his
original personality with eight plus million years couldn’t find a
solution, I can’t even imagine what this enemy would be like. It
makes me feel the Feral Keptl must seem downright cuddly next to
that level of insanity.”

“
I see your point, Ma. I
think I ought to call Soifon and Izzy and lock down this system.
Since the gateway plan is shot to hell, we have a surplus of
interstellar warships and being this deep in Keptl controlled space
will be just a matter of time before our Psionic signature brings
the swarm. Even for Papa, moving a planet will take
time.”

“
You do that. I’m going to
check on the health of the Humans here and learn more from our
gracious and open hostess. Sparky?”

“
I’ll not let you go
anywhere alone. Someone has to keep you in line while
Oliver…”
a massive surge of energy could be
felt through the entire world.
“lets loose
some aggression. And I’m with you in giving space. But not for too
long. You are his balm.”
Sparky lowered a
shoulder and Renee climbed up between the four wings that didn’t
have to blur under the reduced gravity.

He and the rider flew outside where White
Blossom and a flabbergasted Melanie looked over the horizon where a
moon was being literally ripped apart, smashed together and given
shape in complex patterns from so far away. Oliver was over a
kilometer away swimming in the ocean among the Ligers floating on
the brownish water. A lack of salt on the strong breeze proved this
ocean was freshwater. The air was clean and perfect for Solarian
and Human alike to breathe.

“
He’s… He’s…” Melanie
sputtered.

“
Yummy. I know.” Renee
winked and watched the show.

“
No, he’s really a Solarian.
They are really powerful enough to rip worlds apart.”

“
Mel, he’s merely playing
around.” Renee said with a glance. “If he wanted to he could reach
the sun over our heads from here and crush it while yawning. So can
I for that matter.”

“
You’re pulling my leg
right?” fear etched the blonde’s thin face.

“
Mantiv certainly could and
did. On many occasions. In fact he much preferred making stars.
Reten though loved destruction too much to be healthy.”

“
Who doesn’t like things
that go boom.” Renee laughed three times. “So where are the Humans,
Whitie? I need to prove none are infested and are unaltered in any
way for the record to prove you are genuine to the
Empire.”

“
I hold no objections and I
did Read you, remember?” the Keptl offered a small smile. “This
way.” And led the flight. Behind Sparky’s tail flew dozens of Terra
Warriors close to a group of Medics and biologists. Every once in
awhile the individuals looked over a shoulder to find the mood
broken and altered in shape.

During the flight Dragoons with armored
bodies and blades over the edge of their wings swooped in for a
closer look. Strangely not a single one gave off a threatening
vibe. Below, in the trees and in glades an assortment of Keptl
looked up and some actually waved of their own volition.

About the time the hard shelled hive’s edge
came into view nearly three hundred Humans standing among Keptl as
if it was an ordinary day were detonating small Kinetic spheres in
the air in excitement to see a rescue party. Behind them was an
enormous entrance easily able to allow even the largest Behemoths
in five at a time with room to move and not worry about being
stomped on.

Soon as three men saw Melanie they all yelled
“MOM!” and ran to hug her. A man followed after the reunion and
planted a lingering kiss as a show of how much she was missed.

A Hunter in beaten up armor laughed “You did
it Melanie, but what in hell is causing all that power. My hair is
standing on end.”

“
That would be my pissed off
personal sex-machine.” Renee said as Sparky landed and stared into
every Keptl eye and sniffing the air. “How are you feeling, Big
Guy?”

“
A queer feeling, but still
I do not feel the need to kill any of them.”
The Drake projected as she dismounted while others
landed.

“
Alright, listen up!” Renee
raised her voice and everyone went quiet. “I know there is a
shit-load to shovel, but know I’m Queen Renee of Fire from
Andromeda. You folks can catch up later, but right now I need
everyone to line up shoulder to shoulder for a medical scan and
telepathic test to verify none of you have been screwed with.” When
the group blinked she raised her power enough to let her eyes glow.
The threat got the group to move and follow orders.

Medics did a scan while Renee used her Valek
to take dozens of blood samples at a time with her bracelet, closed
her eyes and moved on. When she finished she looked at those in
white. “Any physical abnormalities?” all heads shook or said the
group was in perfect health. “Good, their blood was clean too.” To
the group. “Any one of you ever been infested before.”

“
Um… Queen Renee right?” she
dipped a chin to a rather burly man. “White Blossom’s brood can’t
infest us. Her connection to them cleans their blood. Their higher
brain functions don’t corrupt like Feral blood. Her brood don’t
have spores. I’ll prove it.” He pulled a knife from his boot and
walked up to a Defilier of all things. “Hey Strong-spitter, can you
give me a little blood?” the thickly armored insect blinked big
black eyes and barely nodded before a proboscis extended from its
mouth and spat a was a thick, almost brown blood on the knife and
everyone watched the man use the same knife to cut his naked torso
and smeared the blood. “I’ll be fine, really. White Blossom’s brood
only is lethal to the Feral. Their blood is like acid to the enemy.
Then again, Defilier blood has remarkable antibacterial and
clotting properties for us and themselves. Defiliers here are the
Medics of the hive. And they love to paint what they see. They
don’t really talk, but they love to listen, especially to music.
Strong-spitter here loves late twentieth century Rock.” At this the
Defilier nodded with enthusiasm. “See! Just talking about it gets
him excited.”

Renee approached and lifted her armored hand
to activate her scanner and used her chip to read the results.
“Indeed the blood does have antibacterial properties as well as
clotting, but it is also seeking parasites in your body. Yet it
isn’t taking over your cells like a virus like regular spores.
Hmmm, well then, since it doesn’t seem to affect you, I’ll close
that wound.” Eyes widened as her Valek closed and sealed the wound
in seconds. “In five hours you won’t even notice a scrape.”

“
Thank you, Ma’am.” He
grinned.

“
Warriors!” Those of Terra
turned. “Take your long lost brothers aside and debrief them. The
rest of you split up into groups as you will and bring these people
up to date and hear their stories. Record everything all the time
so nothing is missed. I have a meeting. Queen to Queen.” White
Blossom nodded with a giddy grin. “So where would you like to do
this?”

“
I thought you would like to
visit my chamber and access my old memories. It may help to
understand why I had Mantiv stop trying to open space to find his
people. How I met him. Why I’ve never met Creelin till today. How I
survived this long. You let me in your mind earlier, it is fair I
give the same courtesy.”

“
Fair is fair.” Renee
shrugged. What she didn’t say was she really wanted to know about
just how terrible these invaders to get such a reaction out of the
other ancients. “Lead the way.”

Sparky stuck close as Renee followed White
Blossom inside the gargantuan hive. Just as Melanie described, it
was a living creature, like an oyster or clam. The walls felt like
cool skin. A low thump in Renee’s heightened hearing told of a
distant heartbeat circulating blood. Likely many hearts considering
the overwhelming size. The ground was somewhat dirty till they came
upon a murky puddle White Blossom used to wash her six legs.
Shrugging, Renee and Sparky followed and from then on the floor was
clean. Scents weren’t too bad, but she didn’t have Oliver’s or
Sparky’s nose. The entire time White Blossom chatted away, pointing
down hallways that led to different areas and even nesting grounds.
All the while her chip was connected to scanning micro-drones
cataloguing the hive’s maze of a structure so she didn’t get
lost.

Eventually they walked about a kilometer when
White Blossom said “I keep my friends close to my chamber in event
of attack.”

“
Speaking of, I have a
question.”

“
By all means, ask. Melanie
used to say I’m as open as a book.”

They walked into a wide open space where
mounds of metal, stacked wood and dwellings stood to the left fork
and on the right were two Lisks guarding a hollow where walls were
covered in what looked like bulbous tumors. In the middle was a
membrane looking an awful like a bed.

“
When the Raptor Marquis
entered your system and you brought them down to this planet, why
did you welcome them so easily?”

“
It had been
too
long that someone
other than the Feral stopped by. I saw their flying craft looked
somewhat… as you call them Solarian. So I was curious. It’s been my
nature since I was hatched so long ago. I ordered my Goliath to
carefully bring them down and felt their minds, learned their
rather simple language and understood their reason for fear. So I
took the gentle approach like Mantiv taught me… ah, I mean
Oliver.”

“
You can call him whatever
you want. I named him Oliver as you no doubt saw how we found and
raised him.” They stopped in the fork.

“
As I was saying, I waited
days and night till Melanie exited to talk to me. I couldn’t
believe it. I first thought they were Solarians, but they are far
weaker and I found they merely look like my old friends. But they
thirst for knowledge and friendship like me. So I brought them and
tried my best to fix their ship, but Human technology is beyond me.
But they helped me. They make my brood stronger with metal.” She
pointed to the mound of metal pellets. “They teach me how to mold
metal. The Lisks love playing with fire and shaping metal in their
mouths. I’ve been trying to evolve their claws to make hands like
mine. It is slower than I wish. They need more danger to evolve,
but we work hard. Most metal is used on my Goliaths. It has helped
me so much. Humans teach much. I teach them how I live and how I
make my brood. I feel it isn’t enough to… how they say pay back
generosity?” Renee nodded. “So I make special brood smarter than
the rest and my friends work closely. I like my friends to be
happy. Happy as they make me not feel so very alone again. If not
for them, I may have died when my distant children were found to be
no more. I’m glad I have them.” White Blossom wiped an eye. “I need
them.”

“
Understandable. Well,
you’ll certainly be having many friends now that we found you.
Right now though I’m especially interested in how you store you
memories so you don’t lose them.”

White Blossom gave a sharp
nod and walked past the largest Lisks either guest had ever seen,
who didn’t move a muscle as Renee and Sparky entered the
interesting chamber. The Keptl overlord moved to the open center of
the room and laid down on the membrane and as she did her silvery
eyes closed for a moment, by the
bed,
a hole opened and interestingly
enough an elliptical pink eye came out of it and blinked. Below the
eye opened a facsimile of a mouth with no teeth. “You called,
Mother?” the voice was high, like a child’s.