Defending Earth-Searching for Death Feeders Read online

“What?”

  “These humans that were born with the more powerful brains were different from normal humans. This new brain was genetically dominant and even if they didn’t marry a Human-Welken descendant, their children still inherited their different brain. The children of these unions matured mentally at a much faster rate than normal human children and they were allowed to genetically alter their ages before they were ten years old. Most of them chose a child bearing age. That meant that instead of a new generation every twenty five years like normal humans, they had a new generation every ten to fifteen years. Initially there were eight couples and they all had five to ten children each. The telepathic hybrid humans also had large families.”

  Legune’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head, “That would mean that after eighty years there would be…”

  “There would be more than a million who were born with the new mental capabilities?”

  “What about the other species?”

  “They weren’t limited to choosing a special mate initially. They naturally sought members of their species that were close to their mental level and the numbers in their species with this new brain grew at a fast rate as well. They also had large families.”

  “I find it hard to believe that they deliberately chose those that were good matches.”

  Amelee smiled, “I suspect they were nudged to select those that would make good mates. The current situation is that this new ability no longer needs special partners. Humans with this new brain can marry whomever they choose and their children will possess this newly developed telepathic mind. The Gorans have also found the same thing in their civilization and later discovered that many of them had the ability transferred to them through telepathic linkages with the members of their species who possessed these new skills.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because I think you should choose which of the two species you want to be. That will allow you to fit right in to our society. I don’t see you ever going back to your planet.”

  “What?”

  “Your former Master will consume you if you reappear on your planet. It will want to know what happened that caused your disappearance. I can always change you back to your current form but I’m not certain that it will happen in your lifetime.”

  “Why not?”

  “We’ve been searching for the Feeders and haven’t been able to find them.”

  “You need look no further than my world.”

  Amelee shook her head, “The Feeders on your planet were left behind long ago when the Feeders originally conquered your galaxy. They moved on and left some of their species behind to control the planets they defeated. My leaders also think they were left behind to feed them. The Feeders in your galaxy don’t even have a ship to leave the planets they’re on and they were forced to fend for themselves for the most part. That’s how their leaders insured the planets would stay conquered and not pose a future threat to them.”

  “Why did you want to take one of us back with you?”

  Amelee tilted her head, “We need to take a good look at the Feeders behavioral patterns and how they control their subject populations. We’ve found that the beings exposed to them over a long period of time are a wealth of information.”

  “So you take what I know and leave me here trapped on a strange world.”

  “I’m responsible for making sure you find a place to live and teach you all you need to know to live in peace and comfort.”

  “What if I choose to be that other species?”

  “I’ll find someone in their society to be responsible for you.”

  “Then I choose to be your species.”

  Amelee tilted her head, “Why? Both are wonderful people.”

  “I’ve seen you in action. I prefer the devil I know.”

  Amelee sighed, “You really didn’t want to leave, did you?”

  Legune shook her head, “I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m getting into or where this is leading. Quite frankly, I’m about scared out of my wits.”

  “I’m surprised you weren’t frightened by my ship when it appeared.”

  “We know about space ships. The Masters have sent space ships to my planet on very rare occasions. I saw one about twelve years ago hovering over my community.”

  Amelee nodded and sighed, “Step on the spot I was just standing on.” Legune stood up and walked into the center of the small bridge. The flashing silver field glow surrounded her and she felt a sudden and severe pain sweep through her body. She heard in her mind, “At least now you won’t have to worry about being eaten by a Feeder every day of your life.” Legune gritted her teeth as she fought the pain and realized Amelee was right. A heavy weight lifted from her soul.

  • • •

  “Hensel. Hensel!”

  “What, what?”

  “You’re not easy to wake up.”

  “I’ve always liked my sleep. Now that I’m old, sleep holds a joy I can’t describe.”

  “You’re not old!”

  “Come on Clarel, I’m over eighty years old and I’m tired.”

  “Grand Father, your mind is as sharp as it’s always been.”

  “I wish I could say the same about my legs and back.”

  “If you would just use a gravity-unit…”

  “I’d rather die than have to depend on machines to keep me alive.”

  “You still have your stubbornness.”

  “Get in line, you have it, too. Why did you wake me up?”

  “Amelee has brought back a local from the most recent galaxy we’ve found with Feeders occupying the planets.” Hensel was silent and Clarel said, “Do you want to see her?”

  “I do.”

  “I’ll contact Amelee and have her come by.”

  “Thank you, Child.” Clarel walked out of the room and Hensel sighed. So much had changed over the years. He leaned back in his hover chair and chuckled, didn’t want to depend on machines, did he? He couldn’t walk ten steps without his chair. He sighed and thought about all that had happened. He remembered his parents telling their children that they were going to stay on Earth. He immediately contacted the Nudges and accused them of interfering. They insisted they had nothing to do with Hengel and Averel’s decision. He fought his parents on their choice and eventually lost.

  He sighed and realized that was the first instance where he was shown that he wasn’t all that he thought. Their staying on Earth proved to be the best thing that happened in preparing to meet the Feeders. The new Goran-Welken-Human hybrids were an incredible asset in the forces the Alliance was building. They were what brought the three civilizations into a close fellowship of brothers fighting for each other. Without them, he wasn’t sure that humans would have worked so hard to prepare and, without them, the effort would fail.

  He smiled. He actually talked more with his parents after he left for Goran than he did while he was on Earth. He wished he had stayed with them, he loved them so much and he missed them more than he could say. Soon, he would join them. But first…a new leader of the military had to be chosen to keep pushing the effort against the Death Feeders.

  He remembered the Feeder he killed that had attempted to kill his father. It revealed that the Feeders would be eventually coming back. He could still feel the evil of its mind, even after all these years. He missed his sister. She had made the biggest impact on pushing the Alliance to prepare. Like most shooting stars, she burned brightly and then died about ten years ago. He knew he was older than most of his species life expectancy. He supposed it was because he did what Clareela ordered. She was the one under all the stress and he sat back and did as he was directed. He could use her now. Clarel was like her grandmother in some ways, but not in the way that mattered. Clareela was an iron willed Goran driven to prepare for the coming war with the Feeders. He needed her council but had to choose the leader without her. His sensed that his time was about over. He thought for a moment and said, “Do you have someone to suggest?”
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  “You requested we cease our activities more than seventy years ago.”

  “I’ve had time to think about that and I fear I was wrong to do that.”

  “It’s good you see that now; we’ve followed your request and have hidden from your descendants. We have not nudged anyone during that time.”

  “That’s true; they aren’t able to see you and those that knew about you have died over the years. But you can see the big picture that I may be missing. I didn’t see the most important piece of information about your species being attacked and destroyed by the Feeders.”

  “Do you see it now?”

  “The danger is the numbers. You are far more powerful mentally than the Feeders and you still lost to them. I can now see that you were overwhelmed.”

  “Your civilization is very much like we were. You are also more powerful than them mentally but the numbers you’ll have to face will destroy you, if you try to take them on now.”

  “Are we close to finding them?”

  “Thank the Creator, you are not.”

  “So the real task is to delay them finding us, not to confront them?”

  Hensel heard the Nudge chuckle, “Once again, it’s proven that wisdom does comes with age.”

  “Who should be chosen?” The Nudge told him and Hensel smiled. He should have seen it.

  • • •

  The Feeder looked at the crushed cart through the Elder’s eyes and frowned. It was covered in blood and bones were scattered around it. He lost one of the really smart females and he was instantly angry. He should have been watching but had slept well after his meal. This attack happened outside his normal range of perception. The Elder shook his head, “Master, the Grondon that attacked them had to be one of the largest in the wilds. Its foot print is larger than any I’ve ever seen; it had to be at least twenty feet tall.”

  One of the scouts looked down and saw a single footprint in the dirt twenty yards from the crushed cart. The Telepath saw his thoughts and then saw him look up the road. Another scout was moving up the road who must have made the foot print. It thought, “Get everyone back to the village and get a scouting party to go and find that beast.”

  “Zake, get back here!”

  The scout walking up the road stopped and turned around. He started walking back toward the scouting party and missed seeing the disturbed ground twenty yards further up the path, where the spaceship had hovered above the road. It rained the next day and the disturbance was erased before the large scouting party arrived to hunt the giant Grondon. The Elder mourned the loss of his daughter for weeks but finally decided that it was a better death than being taken by the Master. The Pogo and the Grondon weren’t found. Amelee had ordered them to move far into the wilds before she left.

  • • •

  Four weeks later, the giant Grondon walked silently into the village at night and stopped outside the Feeder’s residence. Its mind was a blank and it was following instructions that were placed in its mind a month earlier. It rubbed a claw lightly across the door and the Master didn’t detect thoughts outside its door. It left the two stunned children inside and went to the door. It opened it and the Grondon sunk its claws into the Feeder’s chest, lifted it off the ground, and bit its head off before it could gather its wits to freeze the giant’s brain. The Grondon quietly left the village with the Master’s body and went back into the deep wilds, where it spit out the Master’s head and threw the body into a ravine.

  The Elder was called to the Master’s residence in the morning and saw the giant Grondon’s foot prints around the door. The green blood on the ground outside the door was clear evidence the Grondon had won this particular confrontation and the Elder wondered why the giant beast had not caused more damage. He waited for another Master to come and punish him and his village but after six months passed, he stopped worrying and began building more homes for the growing population.

  The Master wasn’t missed by the other members of its species on the planet. They hated each other and never attempted to communicate. The village grew in population and, for the first time in thousands of years, lived in peace without the fear of death.

  Chapter Two

  Kyle sat at the bar in the Rusty Pelican Lounge and stared at the beach. Earth’s population had grown tremendously over the last fifty years with the influx of millions from Eden who desired to return to the original home of humanity. He saw large numbers of men and women cooking themselves in the sun on Miami Beach and shook his head. Weren’t there laws against nudity? Oh, wait! She has on three strings. She might as well be wearing nothing, there was nothing left to the imagination. He took a sip from his drink and winced. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Tequila just wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. This stuff could power a nuclear reactor but it didn’t take him off his feet. He took another sip and winced again.

  The bartender shook his head, “Why do you drink it if it hurts that much?”

  Kyle smiled, “Bart, haven’t you ever heard, ‘hurts so good’?”

  “If you say so; I still don’t know why you drink so much.”

  Kyle shrugged, “I know. It gets metabolized before I can really feel it…but…for a moment…”

  “You feel it.”

  “Oh yeah.”

  Suddenly, he heard a thought, “You’ve been asked to come in.”

  “I’m no longer in the service. I don’t have to do anything.”

  “I said you’ve been asked, not ordered.”

  “Forget it. I’m retired.”

  “Hensel has made the request.”

  “What?”

  “He’s asked you and me to come in.”

  “Kyley…” Kyle sighed, “When?”

  “I’ll be by to pick you up in five minutes. Meet me on the beach.”

  “Can you give me twenty minutes to allow me to finish my drink?”

  “Twenty it is.”

  Kyle blew out a breath and downed half of the drink in one gulp. “You’re wasting your time.”

  Kyle looked at the bartender and nodded, “I know.”

  “That brain of yours gets your liver to process it faster than you can drink it. I wonder why you waste your time.”

  “I like the taste.” The bartender burst out laughing and Kyle said, “No, no, Bart, it’s not as bad as you think and I like a shock to my taste buds every once in a while.”

  “Come on, Kyle! You can’t drink it without wincing and you pretty much end up here every day with your face screwed up in pain.”

  Kyle stare at Bart, “Can you think of anything else that would turn your mouth inside out?”

  “We’ve managed to develop one of the old brews called Yeager Meister that does a pretty good job.”

  “More than tequila?”

  “Well…not quite.”

  “Talk to me when you have something that does.” Kyle downed the rest of his drink and his eyes closed as his mouth went into a grimace.

  Bart shook his head and Kyle slowly opened his eyes, “I think I’ve found the problem.”

  “What is that?”

  I’ve been sipping it. I need to take bigger swallows.” Bart started laughing again as Kyle stood up, wobbled for a second, and then stepped toward the veranda. The feeling of dizziness was gone in an instant and he sighed. At least he felt it for a second. He walked out to the beach and stepped around three women who were laying on towels. Three Strings looked up at him and slowly shook her head, “You’re a little overdressed to be out here.”

  Kyle looked down at her and saw the other two women were smiling. Three Strings must be the witty one. Kyle emitted a small snort and saw the Light Ship coming down from high orbit. He looked at the woman and said, “How would you know?” The woman’s eyes narrowed and she started to respond but heard the Light Ship’s drone as it came down between her and the water. She looked away from Kyle and watched the small glowing ship hovering a foot above the beach. Kyle walked out to the ship and entered the open port.

>   “Clarissa, that’s a High Admiral’s ship.” Three Strings nodded and wondered who the man was that entered it. She had seen him in the bar every morning she had been on vacation and he appeared to be trying to kill himself with liquor. She watched the ship lift and disappear into the brilliant blue sky. She laid back down on the sand and shook her head. “You let him have the last word. That’s not like you.”

  “Oh, be quiet, Jill. That ship surprised me. I’ll take my shot in the morning when he’s at the bar.” The next morning, she saw he wasn’t in his usual place. She checked throughout the day but he didn’t return. She owed him one.

  • • •

  “Kyley, what’s going on?”

  “I really don’t know. Fleet contacted me and asked me to see if you would come in and meet with Hensel.”

  Kyle looked out of the viewport and saw the giant space port ahead of them. He sighed and Kyley put her hand on his arm, “I’m sorry about this.”

  “It’s ok.”

  “He’s still in charge.”

  “Not of me.” Kyley shrugged. Kyle saw the tall building ahead and then they were landing on the roof. Kyley led the way down the steps and when they reached the bottom step, they saw Fleet Admiral Joseph Dawkins standing in front of them. Kyley went to attention and saluted, Kyle crossed his arms and stared at the Admiral. Dawkins returned Kyley’s salute and said as he stared at Kyle, “I thought I told you I didn’t want this piece of crap in my building again?”

  Kyley looked at Kyle and saw he was barely restraining his rage. “You did, Sir.”

  Dawkins looked at her, “Then why is he here!?”

  “BECAUSE I REQUESTED HIM TO COME, ADMIRAL!!”

  Dawkin’s head jerked up and his eyes went wide open, “I’m sorry; I was just…”

  “Putting your nose where it doesn’t belong, Admiral. Is this the way you normally greet guests?”

  “No Sir!”

  “Kyley, I will greatly appreciate it if you and your brother will come to my quarters?”

  “Yes High Leader. We’re on our way.” Kyle stared at Dawkins and, after a moment, he stepped aside. Kyle walked past him as Kyley waited on him to catch up. She shook her head, “Kyle, you’re only making things difficult for me by stirring him up.”