Galactica: Book 1 - Via Lactea

 

The group progressed in a long line under the thick bushes, using the roots of the trees to stay invisible. It took four hours to reach the stream, and they had to wait until the Megaloprepus Caerulatus dragonflies had finished their mating dance over the stream to cross it.

"Beautiful to watch, and we are lucky we are too big to be on their menu!" exclaimed Harp.

"It does not mean they will not bother us if they see us, your Highness. They still sting like Hell. I have seen them eat tadpoles in mid-flight!"

"I get your point."

"How long does a mating dance last?" wondered Typhoon.

"It should be done momentarily. It takes a lot of energy. I suggest we find a hiding place before it ends if we do not want to be on their menu. They are not picky after they are finished!"

"Neither am I! And I am getting hungry! I may be able to convert to a Hummingbird, but it does not mean honey is sufficient to feed me!"

"Oh, oh! I suspect Typhoon is about ready to go hunting Dragonflies!" Sitar said, as he eyed his friend.

"He is not the only one," replied Anbraxias.

"If you hunt Dragonflies, my Lords, please do it over the stream. I do not wish to be faced with an invasion of carrion-eating Insects! Our position is already precarious."

"I do not actually plan to hunt Dragonflies," replied Typhoon. "If they move out of the way shortly, I see no reason to raise a fuss."

It took another five minutes before the Dragonflies began to move downriver. Just as one couple was doing the deed, a Rainbow Trout jumped out of the stream and swallowed them. This had two effects: the Dragonflies dispersed quickly to escape the predator, and the Faeries got wet from head to foot from the wave the Fish produced by splashing back down in the stream.

"Let us move, we can dry when we are across the stream, my Lords! That distraction is Providence at work! Follow me!"

"See, Harp! It is not fun to get doused!" said Enron, as the Prince of Magic sputtered from swallowing a cup or two of water.

"Another comment like that, Enron, and you swim!"

After flipping the bird to Harp, Enron took off and climbed up the tree trunk as if he was glued to it. Once on a branch, he waited for the others. The Dragons converted to Hummingbirds and joined him, while their guide followed Enron’s path; Harp ported behind Enron, tickling him with a feather, and Sitar slithered up the trunk as a nice Cobra Snake.

"I like our diversity in style. It indicates we can find different solutions to a similar problem. Lead on, Lady!" exclaimed Harp.

They followed her to the end of a branch and were faced with a swing made up of a liana. She took the first swing, and was surprised to find all of them waiting for her on the other side.

"I shall not ask how you made it across. I have seen enough already to last me a life-time. Let us get down and progress along the stream. We need to move upstream, as I explained earlier."

The Boys flew down to the forest floor and waited on the Legate. She caught up with them a few minutes later and took the lead. An hour later, they began to hear a buzz, and the Boys saw more and more Bees fly by their location.

"Where is the hive?" Harp asked.

"It is up that dead tree, in a hole found on the other side of the tree trunk. We can not see it from here. We drilled a hole between the bark and the hard wood to climb up safely to the hive. That way, we are less likely to be assaulted by predators. The only problem is that pesky Woodpecker."

The Royals and their Dragon friends moved behind the Faery Legate. The climb was tortuous, difficult, and required a considerable amount of acrobatics. It was also dusty and mouldy. At one point, Sitar coughed violently, and, given he had taken a miniature Dragon form, his breath sprouted a long flame, which detonated the dust ahead of them for several hundred feet.

"Damn dust. I keep coughing in the Kantar Castle, and it is not even half as dusty as this place!" he explained to the scared Legate.

"That noise certainly unnerved the Bees. Do you hear the noise they are making?"

"Yes, Legate, we hear. Let us continue and we shall assess the situation when we reach the exit," Typhoon replied. "How much further is the exit?"

"Approximately 1,000 feet. The tunnel wraps around the trunk as it climbs."

The climb resumed, and, after another 30 minutes, reached the end.

"We closed the tunnel with a wood trap. It would not be convivial to get assaulted by Bees while we either climb up or down. They are smaller than we are and could easily sting us to death."

"Good sense prevailed. We understand," said Harp.

"Do you have a peephole to let us see what happens on the other side?" Typhoon asked.

The Legate gently pulled on a small wood knot, and whispered "This is small, but big enough to let us view the other side. Hold your breath when you look. They seem to detect carbon dioxide concentrations."

The first to look over the nest from the peephole was Sitar. After a minuted, he backed away and invited Harp to take his place with a hand movement. Then it was Typhoon’s turn.

"What do you make of this?"

"I am a bit lost, Harp. We need Colibri to understand what we are seeing."

"I agree. Let me contact him. Close the eyepiece, Legate."

The Faery Lady obliged as Harp leaned on the trunk of the tree to concentrate.

«Colibri? Are you busy?»

«I am drowning in genetic variance analysis. Anything to get me out of here!»

«Do you have Faery genetic mapping?»

«Yes. I use it regularly to get my hands dirty on fine points of field work. Why?»

«I need you to port to my location, in Faery form. Given the space we have, that form is essential.»

«Anchor me.»

After a quick visual anchor exchange, Colibri appeared silently alongside Harp.

"What can I do for you, Harp?"

"We are within a tree trunk, and just beyond that ‘door’ is a Bees nest. We are trying to understand what is going on."

"I need to see..."

"Look through that peephole," offered the Legate as she eyed the diminutive Faery Colibri had taken the form of. "I have never seen you before? Where were you hiding, cute specimen of maleness?"

Colibri blushed deep red, before turning to Harp.

"You did not tell me this was a Courtroom? The King of this palace must not have a very efficient staff, given how much dust I see around! How about doing the introductions before things become complicated?"

Harp obliged, between intense bouts of snickering, barely controlled laughter from the other Princes and Dragons and furious glances from Colibri. The Legate blushed as well, finally figuring out she had made a major diplomatic blunder and put her feet, yes, both, in her mouth. Once everyone had managed to calm down some, Colibri moved to the peephole and eyed the nest.

"They are very anxious. Something must have disturbed them. I smell something burning?"

"I had a bout of coughing and torched the dust some time back. That is probably what you smell," explained Sitar.

"Torched?"

"He is a very cute Faery Dragon, but his allergy to dust remains, in whatever shape he is. He torched the dust with a very impressive Dragon Breath, given his current size!" explained Typhoon.

"That explains a lot. The Bees are worried their nest is burning, but they can not locate the fire. They are panicking."

"We need Bee genetic samples. Given their current anxiety level, I do not think walking in on them would be very conducive to peaceful relations."

"You are right, Sitar. Harp? Can Bata be reduced to our size?"

"I do not know. I never tried."

"We need a way to speed the ventilation of this place so the smell of burning material dissipates faster. Lady, apart from courting, is there some way to drill holes or expand this tunnel without penetrating into the nesting area?"

"It has been a while since we looked at the bark on the other side. It might be better to drill up since the nest goes down and we are near its roof."

Colibri looked at Harp questioningly.

"I am thinking, Colibri, I am thinking!"

"Do not push him, that big head is rarely put to use!" Sitar added. Harp looked at Sitar crossly, flipping him the bird. Harp popped out and back to the clearing they had first appeared, and called to him Bata. He tried to reduce its length to Faery-size, but it refused. Looking into the issue, he realized it was the Rook feather embedded inside Bata that was causing the issue. Sending it back in storage he returned to the group.

"I can not reduce Bata to something smaller than the Rook’s tail feather. It would not enter in this place, Colibri. But I do not need Bata to perform Magic. Runes may be drawn to any size."

Harp looked up and spotted a part of the tree’s wood clearly free of defects. Using his right hand, transformed for the occasion into a Dragon forepaw, he drew the runic symbols for door, air, fire, and wind using the middle finger claw. Once the four runic symbols were sculpted in the wood, he linked them in a frame and then added a fifth runic symbol in the middle of the door frame, a verb meaning to open. Linking the four previous symbols to the last one, he then pushed Magic taken from the tree itself into the key. There was a strong call for air, the dust and other debris lifted off the ground and quickly left the tunnel through the still very solid wood. Outside, the tree seemed to be smoking from a knot for a while but it quickly dissipated into the environment.

"There we are, gentlemen. We only need to wait for the Bees to calm down. It now smells fresh, earth-rich, but certainly not of fire and dust in here."

"I think I shall stay around."

"You are welcomed, Colibri. After all this is only part of the issue we have to deal with. Getting samples of Bee genetic material will not be easy," replied Harp, smiling at the still diminutive figure Colibri made. "How long do you think the Bees will be nervous?"

"Probably until next morning. We should get ready for an overnight stay."

"Ok. Let us go back to the clearing where we first appeared. It will feel good to do some overnight camping. I am getting bored of thick mattresses. Lady?"

"Yes?"

"I know you can not port on your own. I shall handle the side-along porting. Give me your right hand and step beside me. Colibri? Here is the visual for the clearing. I will port beside that log. Follow us at five-seconds intervals so we can get out of the porting zone."

***

Harp and the others quickly jumped in the stream found near their entry point after returning from the nest. A water fight erupted, scaring every fish within several miles. The Legate wisely decided to wait for the giant Boys to calm down before taking a dive in the stream herself. Harp materialised, as had been his custom for several years, a dinner fit for a King, and they enjoyed a long meal comprising 12 servings.

"I wonder where you put all that food, my Lords?" she asked.

"Magic, even focussed Magic as we use, requires a lot of energy. We derive it from many sources, one of which is food. We can sustain ourselves directly at the source, but why not enjoy ourselves by eating to get the energy?" explained Harp. It was apparent that the Faery could not grasp the concept, so it was put on the ice until later.

Harp materialised a net, and some blankets. A few minutes later, the Boys stripped, well, those that wore anything, and cuddled under the net, laying on the blankets.

"Damn, this feels good! I missed hearing the Crickets, the Frogs, the Insects flying by. We need to do that more often," exclaimed Sitar.

"What about predators, my Lords?" asked a worried Faery.

"Predators? We are the predators here!"

"Anyway, we shall sleep in Dragon Boy form. I want to meet the animal that tries to take a bite and gets away with his dentition intact," explained Harp.

"Who does the breakfast tomorrow?" asked Colibri.

"You do!" exclaimed everyone else.

Given how Colibri eyed the group, mouth agape, Harp decided to light his lantern. "Colibri, the one that asks about the next meal has to prepare it. You asked, you cook!"

"I hope you like what I will be doing."

"And what is that?" asked Sitar, getting worried at the gleam he was seeing in Colibri’s eyes.

"Grub. Real Grub. I saw a rotten tree trunk just outside the clearing, and I am sure there are juicy Worms under it. Fried white Worms is tomorrow’s breakfast!"

Harp and Sitar looked at each other, and exploded in laughter.

"It can not be worse than what we ate as Wolves! Carrion is not particularly appetising!" said Harp.

"I have not tried that yet, even in Wolf form."

"Do not bother, Colibri. We highly recommend you do not!" replied Typhoon. "I did once, just do I could grasp what it meant to live like a Wolf, and that experiment I still regret!"

"I never saw you as a Wolf, Typhoon. We shall hunt tomorrow, after a grubby breakfast!"

"Hey, that would be a neat way to get back to the beehive. A-hunting we shall go!" exclaimed Colibri.

***

The night passed in relative quiet, except for an Anteater licking Sitar’s feet and waking him up. The poor beast ran off when Sitar exploded in uncontrollable laughter in the early dawn. It meant an early breakfast: the others were awoken by the noise and found they had inadvertently set their net right over an Ants’ underground nest.

"The poor things! They thought they had found a huge free lunch and tried to eat rocky skin!" exclaimed Colibri. "We should feed them too! They have been working so hard for nothing!"

"I have to get rid of them first! It tickles so much I am going to pee!" Harp said as he ran to the stream to take a dive.

"Do not pee in the stream, it is our drinkable water source!" commented the Elf Legate.

"Take it from upstream then, it is too late!" replied Harp.

After a common wake-up bath, the boys returned to their camp and began preparing their breakfast. Colibri quickly produced some decent food, including, as he had indicated the night before, some Grub.

"That tastes like Shrimps!" said one of the Green Dragon boys that was part of the expedition.

"I agree. Maybe we should add them to the Royal Menu. I wonder how Mom would take it!"

"Probably quite well, Sitar. After all, she spent years as a Legionnaire, and their fare was not particularly tasty," Harp told him.

Typhoon was silent, and watched Colibri. Something was bugging the young Royal Ethologist. He kept eying the Ants and scratching his chin, turning his head first left, then right, and moving around the camp, looking at the ground. Finally, Typhoon could not hold it anymore.

"You seem preoccupied, Colibri. Is something wrong?"

"Wrong? You could say that."

This brought silence from the group. If Colibri said something was out of order in a natural environment, you paid attention.

"What are you looking at?"

"Harp, I am watching the behaviour of the Ants. Something is not kosher. But I dare not accept what my senses tell me."

"Kosher Ants would definitely be out of the ordinary!" replied Sitar.

"What is the issue? What is it that you do not find fitting?" asked Harp as he brought Bata out of the 9^th dimension where he had stored it for the night. Sitar took note of Harp’s action and immediately brought forth Excalibur. If his little brother thought things were serious enough to pull out Bata, he was not going to be unprepared! He tied the sword’s scabbard and belt around his hip and stood up, immediately followed by the other Boys. Everyone then eyed Colibri, waiting for further explanations.

Colibri levitated slowly above the ground, gaining altitude, and then he began circling the field from the centre to the periphery. After twenty minutes, he came back to his original position and dropped to the ground.

"This is what I see: the Ants used to have a rather narrow subset of behaviours, guided by chemical exchanges, and focussed on the fundamentals of survival of the colony: food, defence, migration, and nest building. These ones..." he gulped, took a long sip of tea, and then resumed, "... these ones are trying to communicate with us!"

To say that the Boys were shocked would put it mildly, very mildly!

"What do you mean, communicate with us?" exclaimed Harp, suddenly worried. «Ian! Enron! Report to our location, all affairs ceasing!» thundered the Prince of Magic through the telepathic space.

The alarm in Harp’s call was such the two Boys popped to them still chewing on the breakfast peanut butter and jelly toasts.

"What’s the emergency? I almost crapped at the Royal Table when I received the call!" Enron asked.

Colibri explained what he had observed, to ever-more shocked Boys.

"And have you managed to figure out what the Ants are trying to tell us?"

"Not yet, Enron. It is rather difficult as the Ants continuously change the form of the message. But there is a message, of that I am sure!"

The Faery Legate, stunned, looked at Colibri, wide-eyed.

"That is what I could not fathom with the Bees’ behavioural change! They too are trying to communicate with us! In their case, it is their flight pattern that has changed!"

"What do we do?" asked Typhoon. "We can not just ignore that development. Our security depends on it!"

"When I think we came here to collect Bee genetic material, and we are now faced with something far more complex!" lamented Harp, shuddering.

***

"Hey, Alexander! What are you doing on the Bridge? I thought it was Ian’s turn to be in the Captain’s chair this morning?" asked Samson, as he moved to his post at Navigation.

"I do not know what the issue is, but he and Enron popped out right in the middle of eating their breakfast. It went so fast they did not even bother to clean up! I did it for them before taking a look at roll call. I noticed Ian was scheduled to be Captain, and Enron as Pilot. I called up Timor as Pilot, as you see. There must be something serious going on."

"We shall know what the issue is when they show up, I guess."

Things settled into the usual routine, with Alexander taking in reports from all quarters of Thebes. The FSS were doing their usual patrols over the horizon, and nothing seemed to be out of order. By mid-morning, Alexander relaxed and closed his eyes to block out the continuous flow of information the monitors located in front of the Captain’s chair were flooding him with. He was growing a headache. How could Ian take that station for a full day and not go nuts was beyond him.

Activity on the Bridge was moderate, as it was a shift change for about half the stations. Suddenly, an alarm blared, making Alexander jump out of his seat.

"What is the issue?"

"It is a report from the FSS in charge of monitoring the Aquarians. Something is happening, your Highness," explained Felicia Wolf, as Runt Wolf, her son, looked at the Magical Activity Station readings.

"Display on the front centre monitor!"

The science station was the first to analyse the situation.

"The two Males have activated their propulsion. They are converging on the Female!" explained Rockhook.

"The FSS groups orbiting the three Aquarians have moved back," Felicia Wolf added, as she monitored the communication exchange between the members.

"Standby for emergency recall!" ordered Alexander.

The display showed a strange ballet. The two Male Aquarians were running after the Female which kept changing orbit to evade her two suitors. Meanwhile the two Males tried to both intercept her and play obstruction to the progress of their competitor for her favours. The dance was impressive on several counts: Imagine planet-sized life dancing around a star, doing acrobatics, fending off each other while trying to mate with a Female of their species.

Suddenly, the two Males crossed paths, still several thousand miles away from each other, and exchanged what could best be described as a volley of barbs!

"Immediate recall of all FSS groups in the area! Full shields! Ring the Red Alert! Everyone to battle stations!" thundered Alexander. The Bridge instantly became a hive of activity as Crew members flowed in to different defence stations.

"Greywolf! Strategic assessment! Timor! Array report! Science! Identify objects!" Alexander began ordering, as Pharaoh Horus took his station at the Imperial seat without saying a word. Alexander was in charge, since he held the Captain’s seat, but where was Ian?

"From the sensor readings forwarded by Timor, I can surmise the objects being exchanged are the bundles reported by Ian’s exploratory team. They match in size, shape and constitution what Magic Sight had revealed," reported Rockhook.

"The long-distance sensors indicate the first volley missed. Both Aquarians had ample time to take evasive actions. None of the bundles are headed our way."

"All FSS report safe and on-board," Yamato informed the Bridge.

The Atlanteans watched the displacement of the three Aquarians with fascination. The complexity of the figures the three giants performed in space was breathtaking. The Males kept on each side of the Female, like they were herding her, but as soon as one tried to get close to the prize, the other would let go of a volley of spindles. The two Males would also exchange token fire when the Female was not between the two protagonists.

Things stiffened up as time passed. The two Males began orbiting the Female, throwing darts at each other while she tried to escape the ever tightening noose. Each time she tried to move one way, the two Males intercepted her, coming ever closer to collision either with her or with each other. Darts were waltzing around her, missing the Female and the other Male by mere miles. It was only a question of time before someone got hurt. Meanwhile, Thebes itself was evading stray shots. They were rare, but nonetheless, their size made each spindle a formidable battering ram.

"Incoming! Incoming!" Timor exclaimed as, suddenly, a long, thin object changed trajectory and turned toward Thebes from behind a massive real planet.

"Acquire target and fire when ready!" ordered Alexander.

A few seconds later, a photon torpedo left Thebes and vapourised the threat.

"Where did that one come from?" asked Alexander, none too pleased they had been taken by surprise.

"Apparently, that one had been drifting in space looking for a target, and took us for one. The last reading before it fell into that gravity well which turned it toward us, it was adrift, engine off. Once it acquired us as target, the propulsion system reactivated and it headed our way," Rockhook rationalised.

"Ok. From now on, all spindles are considered hostile, even if they seem adrift!"

"Acknowledged, Alexander."

"Do we have a count?"

"We detected over 40,000,000 and it continues to increase. By and large, most are past our position, but some are still between us and the Aquarians, roughly 500,000," Timor stated, after looking at the sensor grid. "We can not assume we detected all."

"It gives us a measure of the risk. Has the fight for the Female abated?"

"No, I would say it is intensifying. The two Males are throwing their all in that battle."

"All that for sex!" exclaimed Felicia Wolf.

"Males are Males, whatever the species, it seems," Annabelle said, as she took a seat on the Bridge.

"Mom! What are you doing here? This is Red Alert, and you should be in the family shelter!"

"Me, hide from a battle? Alexander, you forget to whom you are talking! I still am a Centurion, whatever you and the others may think! Anyway, deal with it! Has anyone heard of Ian?"

Alexander grumbled, but knew better than to put a fight when Annabelle had that look on her face.

"For now, he is in the Eden Tessaract, in one of the Wolf den that dot the construct. When the Red Alert rang, the members of the expedition were all together and still are. That den must be crowded."

"Thank you, Thebes."

Just then, the Atlantean space ship blinked and reappeared at a new location.

"I moved Thebes so that piece of junk is between us and another one of those spindles," explained Felicia. "It will not be able to prevent collision with the rock. Maybe we can learn something out of it."

The cameras zoomed on the rock just as the spindle, trying to maintain contact with Thebes, turned to face the new location the Atlantean space ship occupied. Felicia had been right: the spindle could not miss the debris and embedded itself deeply in the flying rock. A second later, it detonated violently, reducing the mountain-sized junk to a collection of boulders dispersing in all directions.

"Rockhook, I need a full analysis of what just happened: depth of charge, type of charge, and more important, how can it track us?"

"I am on it Alexander. The spectral analysis of detonation is in progress. Where is Thorsten? He knows explosives better than I do."

"I transmitted your call for assistance, and I am updating his station at the laboratory as we speak. He is in the secure laboratory, level five. Paschal is making his way to the Bridge as we speak. He dare not port, given the constant but unpredictable changes of direction imposed by Felicia Wolf. He should reach you in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you. AI-1."

Ten minutes later, Thorsten contacted the Bridge with his preliminary report.

"The explosive is organic and self-sustaining, that is, it carries its own oxidant. The spindle’s head has an injection mechanism that shoots the two components inside the target prior to detonation."

"How did you come to the latest conclusion?"

"The spectrum told me the chemicals present: pure oxygen on one hand, and an explosive compound similar to TNT on the other. They could not occupy the same space without detonating at the slightest impact. It would create a cascade effect should such an explosion occur, given what we know of the internal structure of the Aquarians. Therefore the spindles are like hypodermic needles used to shoot tranquillisers in animals: the butt of the head acts as a stopper; the needles continue penetrating deep within the target until they stop, and the liquid, be it the oxygen or the explosive, gets ejected by inertia. The moment there is enough oxygen present, boom!"

"If I understand the implication of what you just said, this mating ritual is a dance of death!" exclaimed Alexander. "It takes a single hit and the unfortunate loser explodes in a chain reaction, its skin torn off its body! BRR!"

"I am beginning to wonder what happens to the Female?" asked Annabelle worriedly.

"Probably something ugly, my dear," said Harold.

"You know, as Alexander explained things, there came to my mind an image of how the Ancients protected themselves from Sharks during the Cataclysm."

"Yes, Paschal?"

"They used harpoons tipped with CO₂ canisters. On impact, the CO₂ was injected inside the Shark, killing it by destroying the internal organs from the explosive compression. The skin stayed intact, minimising blood, but the Shark was dead."

"Is that why their banking system collapsed?" Alexander asked.

"No, these Sharks ran out of food, just like the Megalodons." Harold answered with a smile.

"What did they eat?"

"The consumers and each other!"

"Let us focus on why you called me," said Paschal.

"Oh, yes! Take a look at what this says and tell me what you make of it?" replied Alexander. "This thing can track us, and this leaves us vulnerable to assault! My question to you is this: how does it do it?"

Paschal looked at the recording on a side display, and then began zooming on the images supplied by a very high resolution camera.

"Did we detect anything?"

"AI-4, Timor?"

"I did not detect any pulse, on any of the eleven dimensions," replied Timor.

"The transient signals I detected were internal, and never reached outside," added AI-4.

"Zoom in, and magnify on the last 200 frames as it tries to locate us in space."

The slow rotation of the spindle as it searched for Thebes was replayed in a loop.

"Slow down the playback to one frame per second."

The spindle’s slow rotation, taking place along its main axis and from its engine end, became apparent.

"I have an idea of how it proceeds. This thing is equipped with two types of detectors: a gravitational field detector and an optical detector. When Thebes or the Aquarians move, the gravitational field gets curved instantly. By rolling into the field, it finds the general direction of the biggest object in the area. Then, it uses the eye, or eyes, to fine-tune its aim. The rock it blew up was probably invisible to it because our own gravity field drowned its presence. When it realised there was an obstacle, it was too late to do anything about it. Even I had problems seeing that rock. It is as black as the background, and it is only because it occludes the star field as it moves that I can see it in the recording. If it was static, I might miss it entirely, taking the black spot for an area devoid of stars."

"There is a change!" exclaimed Rockhook. "Look!"

The change, at first difficult to see became apparent: the Female and one of the Males were leaving the area post-haste. The other Male seemed to be experiencing difficulty, and suddenly, its skin exploded outward, throwing vast amounts of spindles around. Every piece of rock that happened to be too close was reduced to dust, and, once the situation cleared, there was a ball of severely fractured ice in place of the Male.

"This sends shivers down my spine!" exclaimed Felicia, as she continued to quickly move Thebes around to evade the incoming bundles of spindles.

"Timor! Track the other two!" ordered Alexander.

"I am on it. They too are moving away to evade the death spasms of the unfortunate loser. Felicia, move us on the opposite side of the Sun we are orbiting so we have a clearer view of what goes on. That seems their common destination."

A head move by Alexander confirmed he approved of Timor’s request, and Thebes again blinked out of existence to cross the solar system at transwarp. Once it materialised in its new location, the evasion dance resumed, albeit at a slower speed.

"The Male is headed for the Female at full throttle. The Female is taking evasive action," noted Timor.

"The physical appearance of the Male has changed as well," said Rockhook. "From his dull grey appearance, he now has a deep ruby red look. I have issues with getting a clear view of the Female, but her appearance seems to be changing also, from the dull dusty look to a more aquamarine one. It is spotty for now, but it seems to be spreading."

"Any suggestions as to the meaning of this?" Harold asked.

"I think we are seeing the conclusion of the mating dance. The exertion imposed by it has affected the internal metabolism of both participants, making the Male turn red and the Female bluish. Apparently, this last stage of courtship will drive the two to the mating act, and the colouring the Female is showing is an indication of its level of readiness. As usual, the Males are ever ready!"

"Felicia, this is not a power cell!"

"Tell that to Greywolf! Ever since he got regenerated into that new body, he is like a teen in heat! Luckily, he has Imperial duty in bonding the Thrones or I would be hard put walking around!"

"I think I shall have you put into a Pod for a month, Felicia. That way, you will be up to par with him!" replied Alexander, barely holding his laughter as the Runt blushed bright red even if his hair tried to mask it.

A few hours later, the Male had caught up with the Female, whose carnation had turned to an intense ocean blue. The Female continued to try to evade the Male, but some changes were apparent on the Male’s surface. A long tube, seemingly measuring several hundred miles, was emerging from one of its craters. Once it had stopped growing, the Male moved closer to the Female, to the point its protuberance seemed to touch the Female’s surface.

"Hey! The Female’s rotation has increased ten-fold!" exclaimed Timor.

"I wonder why this is happening? I would have guessed it would stop totally to ease the coupling!" speculated Alexander.

"I have your answer. The tip just grabbed the surface, hooking the Male to the Female. The rotation is pulling the Male to the Female rather violently, as the straw wraps itself around the Female. Hey! Can you confirm what I detect, Timor? The Male is now as hairy as a Bacteria!"

"Let me check... Yes, and the tips are hallowed, like needles!"

Under the amazed eyes of the Atlanteans, the two Aquarians collided violently, and the long tube broke at its base as the needles embedded themselves deeply into the Female’s skin. The Male literally rolled on the Female’s surface, each needle breaking as it was put under tremendous pressure. The Female’s surface began changing rapidly from its deep blue to azure and finally to white as the Male was violently ejected, most needles broken. The Male began drifting off, and spiralled down toward the closest star.

"If I read this right, the Male’s mass has been reduced by half! It is dead, or will be shortly," Thorsten informed the others on the Bridge.

"What do you understand of what we saw?"

"Alexander, the needles injected the genetic material into the Female. I do not know how long the gestation lasts but the whitish colour clearly indicates a change of state."

"You seem to believe there is a gestation period. What makes you think this is the case, Thorsten?"

"The Aquarians are complex. It must take some time for that complexity to install itself and manifest outside of the Female. It is quite apparent the fertilisation occurs in-vivo, not a totally different process to when the milt leaves the Fish."

"And even when this is the fertilisation procedure, the conversion from egg to fry is not done overnight," added Timor. "We might be around here for some time still. The Male is now falling into the star. It has disappeared into a protuberance."

"Should we stay and observe?" asked Felicia, as she inserted the Atlantean space ship in a circumpolar orbit around the star.

"Yes. We learned a lot, and I am curious as to the next stage of the process. We have eternity ahead of us, and this is an interesting subject of research."

"I agree with Alexander. We stay. When is the next shift?" enquired Harold.

"It is due as soon as I release the Red Alert," replied Alexander.

"Should we?"

"I think so. We have no reason to expect a change for some time."

The Bridge crew exchanged some last comments before Alexander finally brought back the alert from Red to Yellow, allowing displacement within Thebes.

"I expect Harp and the others to pop up to lunch or earlier, if their issue is resolved."

"What issue?" asked Annabelle.

"You missed the quick departure from breakfast by Enron and Ian, did you? And no, I have no idea what brought this up. We will know in time, but it must have been serious enough for Ian to skip his turn at the Bridge."

***

Deep in the Eden Tessaract, the Red Alert took the Boys and other members of the maintenance team by surprise.

"Follow me, quickly! There is a Wolf den with a secure shelter 150 yards off to the left!" an Elf told them. "We share it with them."

The Boys took off at a run, as the Ants retreated quickly below the surface to their nest.

"I did not know the Insects had been conditioned as well to respond to that alert?" asked Typhoon.

"They were not. This is one behaviour we have not figured out, amongst many. Even the Bees do it!"

"They have sheltered parts in their nests?"

"We figured as much, but do not ask us where. We did notice that most Insects retire underground when this alarm resonates, even the Spiders. I think it is the vibration of the ground that tells them it is safer below ground than above."

"We have a lot to study. Insect behaviours are notoriously pre-wired and a change of this nature is not something to take lightly. The more I learn, the scarier it becomes!" Colibri said.

They reached an arch composed of tree roots and quickly progressed underground, in a gentle slope. All types of Canines seemed to congress toward the end, and a door was quickly crossed. As the last Faery made its way beyond, two Elves closed the door and turned a wheel, locking and sealing it.

"All present and accounted for, Legate!" said a Faery that had been taking presences as everyone crossed the gate.

"Do we have enough safety seats for everyone?"

"Yes. We always have a good number of spares free."

"Is everyone netted?"

"Yes, except the visitors, you, and I."

"Quickly, my Lords, to the seats and net up!"

The Boys obeyed the Faery Legate without question. Whoever had triggered the Red Alert must have had serious reasons.

"I wonder who is in charge?"

"My little brother Alexander is at the Captain’s station, Lady. I can feel his magical signature permeating Thebes," replied Ian. "I was supposed to be in the Captain’s seat this shift, but what you discovered overrides that. I trust his judgement in this matter."

"I sense it is Felicia at the helm. She is moving us out of our orbit. All FSS are also on-board and are currently being recharged."

"How?..."

"I can sense the flux of Magic. It changes as the space ship moves. We are also at full shields. Relax, I am sure Alexander and the Crew know what they are doing."

Hours passed slowly, and the refugees began talking about their past experiences during Red Alert. The fact that food and water were readily available even when they were locked into a safety net helped them handle the long stays when the event occurred, explained one Faery.

"However, we wish we knew what was happening and why, your Highnesses. We can be in the dark for hours, and it gradually unnerves us," mentioned one of the Elves.

"Luckily, the one that designed the safety thought of food, water, and waste disposal," added a Faery.

"Especially since you usually are scared stiff and have the runs!" commented another Faery.

"As if you did not? Do you think I did not notice you could light up an entire city with the quantity of natural gas you emit during these times? Mister Stink Bomb could be used as a flame-thrower during these intervals!"

"I shall mention the issue to Thorsten, I am sure he would appreciate a ready supply of natural gas!" said Ian, smiling to remove the edge to his comment.

"And I shall ask Paschal if it is possible to install some form of feedback in the shelters so you stop being in the dark about what is happening outside," added Harp.

The banter continued until the light blinked once.

"We just did a transwarp jump. The situation outside must be dire for Felicia to engage that drive to escape something. I wonder what it is?" Typhoon commented.

"And they fired a photon torpedo some time back. I felt the energy flux when it detonated," added Ian.

I sure am glad the damper fields work, otherwise we would either be crushed or sick. The number of changes imposed on Thebes by Felicia is sickening," Harp added.

Still more hours passed, and Harp began to understand the frustrations of those stuck in the shelters, blind to the events outside. Gradually, the chats lulled and everyone fell asleep fitfully except for the Royals, who could sense the gradual slowing down in the orbital changes.

«We must be getting close to the end of the Alert. It has been an hour since Felicia made the last orbital change,» commented Harp silently, so as not to wake up the others in the Shelter with false hopes of imminent release.

Half an hour passed, and then the two-tone sound of the end of the Red Alert was heard in the shelter, waking everyone up. The shrill three-tone signal that followed the two-ton blast reminded everyone that they were under Yellow status, not yet out of trouble, but that they could at least move about.

"Alexander is taking no chances. Things must have been hairy," Harp explained.

"You do not know yet?"

"I dared not disturb him while he was in command. That might have proved fatal. I shall know when I get back to the Bridge or during vespers. Let us go back to the field and see if the Ants are out. Colibri? Have you thought out things during our unexpected interruption?"

"It has been on my mind every minute, Harp. The more I think of it, the more I am convinced the Ants, and, from what I was told, the Bees, are trying to communicate with us. And if these two types of Insects are doing so, nothing precludes that other Insect colonies are not doing the same. In a way, I am glad we left behind the Fire Ants and the Fire Cockroaches. I shiver at what these two types of Insects might have posed as threat given the push in the right direction by a stay in the Eden or Ark tessaracts. And we must absolutely visit Termites! They too are colonies."

"Why do you shiver at the mention of these Insects, my Lord?"

"Lady," Enron told the Faery, "these were carnivorous Insects. There are many that are, but these species pushed the envelope a bit too far for my taste. You would have been appetisers for them."

"Stay grouped near the entrance until you either need to go home or the Yellow alert is ended and we are back to Green," called out the Elf Legate to those who were leaving the Wolf Den. "Those whose shift has ended, evacuate by convoy through the gate. The Eden Tessaract is closed to external access until the level of alert has dropped."

Noticing the blinking eyes of Ian, the Legate explained.

"We established that procedure to minimise dispersion should we need to further secure the area, my Lord."

"Something higher than Red Alert?"

"Imminent decompression, or Black Alert. At that moment, we rush to the portals and evacuate, while every level of the Tessaract is sealed by force fields, and each level divided into areas of one square mile, from top to bottom. We asked that this be implemented by the Eden Artificial Intelligence, and it agreed. This last-ditch measure is to minimise loss of life. I know my colleagues of the Ark project have implemented a similar protocol."

"That is exactly why we put you guys in charge. I wholeheartedly approve of this initiative!" replied Ian. "I am sure Enron, Paschal, and the others will do so too. Just looking at Colibri, I can tell you this will shortly be implemented in the Atlantis One Tessaract!"

"Hey, the Ants are getting out of their nest," noted Sitar. "I am seeing a column move toward our previous location."

"I see that. Hey, that column is taking a geometric shape! A triangle!" said Harp.

"And that one is forming a square!" Ian remarked.

"I see a pentagon just to the left of the square," Typhoon added.

"Ok. Our turn then. Draw a hexagon on the ground using a wood stick, and let us see if the Ants figure it out," suggested Colibri. "Harp, you have the most flexible range of us all. Try to sense the Ant colony."

"Sense Ants? Are you nuts?"

"No, you misunderstood me. I mean, the only explanation I can have for this behaviour is... if the colony as a whole developed a conscience of its environment and learned basic geometry!"

Harp fell on his arse out of shock. That interpretation had been flirting with his mind since they had noticed the strange behaviours of the Ants, but to have it thrown in his face so clearly cut his legs off. He stood up, drew a deep circle around his position and sat down on the ground. Feeling the deep Magic of the Tessaract, he connected with it and began relaxing, pushing his mind further and further afield in an effort to grasp the essence of what it meant to be an Ant colony. Meanwhile the Ants moved and discovered the circle, and then Harp’s body. After exploring the Dragon Boy form Harp had taken for the occasion, the Ants retired. Harp let his range drop to well below the range of the Ogres, but found no signal. Desperate to understand what the Ants were trying to tell him, he figured he was not doing things right. Something was escaping him.

After relaxing and deepening his trance, Harp remembered they had used noise to transmit data during the Orc wars. Maybe the buzz he was hearing was the message? But how could it work? Then he remembered his first shot at telepathy. The Human brain was also abuzz with noise, as each neuron fired to do its task. It had taken a lot of filtering to finally remove the autonomous signals required by life from the signals related to cohesive thoughts. The whole process was now so natural he did not even need to think about it to get what he wanted. What if the Ant colony was like a brain that could rewire itself by sending Ant columns around?

Harp wondered how he could test his hypothesis. Then he remembered the Ant columns organised in geometric shape. If the colony had managed to create the first three and detect the second two, he had a chance! He began filtering the low-level noise, in the hope of detecting a group of signals that would mark the recognition of geometric figures. Half an hour later, he thought he had it nailed.

"Ian, draw an octagon, please?"

Ian obliged and Harp waited to see what would transpire once the Ants had found the new figure. It took several minutes before the first Ants found the new carving, and several more minutes before they had explored the figure. Then a two-way connection was established between the tip of the column and the nest, where ever it was hidden. Each Ant would travel a short distance, touch another, and go back, like they were transmitting a neural influx! Then suddenly, a new focus of activity attracted Harp’s attention. Studying the structure of the signals sent by the Ants in the nest, Harp came to a conclusion. Each Ant was like a neuron, transmitting information to the densely packed core of the nest.

"I shall be damned! Each Ant is acting like a chemical transmitter, much like when a signal jumps from neuron to neuron in the brain! The entire colony is a brain! Do not talk to me, I must absolutely find the means to communicate with it! That will not be a piece of cake!"

***

At the Royal Suite, a similar debate was being held. The communication issue was hotly debated between those present in Harold’s parlour.

"We have two issues to deal with, began Paschal. "First, how do we attract her attention without being perceived as a threat? Second, how do we communicate? We can certainly mimic the Male’s patterns, but how would that be interpreted? Or we could mimic hers, but again, how would that be perceived? If the Aquarians are territorial, and, from the aggressive behaviour shown during the mating ritual, I think they are, our mimicry of their species might well trigger an immediate attack."

"Could we simply flash some light, intense but without risk for her, that would call her attention?" suggested Timor.

"Would you care to elaborate?" asked Harold.

"Let us act like the lighthouses of old: flash brightly at regular interval. It is bound to pique her curiosity. We can do that from a relatively safe distance, say eight light-minutes."

"That is an idea, Timor. How will you communicate with her?"

"If, and it is a big if, she reacts and comes to us, we then begin changing colours, going through the entire electromagnetic spectrum. It will be easy for her, I hope, to mimic our colour range across her entire surface."

"And?"

"Once this is done, I am sure Felicia can make Thebes travel along first flat geometric figures, than three-dimensional ones! We play the trick used to establish contact with the life forms we rescued earlier."

"The only issue I have with this is she is expecting. If she is like any Female in that condition, a stranger in her nest might trigger an adverse reaction, whatever our own actions," said Felicia.

"What if we waited until things developed on their own?" Runt suggested.

"It might work, or it might backfire. I know that, in my own case, the moment the Pups are out, I become a terror. If she is maternal in any way, our presence while the Pups are in the nest is a declaration of war."

"So, whatever we do, it is dangerous, and growing so by the minute."

"Yes, Alexander."

"I wish Harp was back. He could tell us if we are past the Nexus he and the others detected. I am not as good as he is in foretelling. Are there any suggestions?"

"We stay put, as far as possible, and without emitting any undue signals. If she can forget our presence, the better, but to be honest, I do not count on it."

"All right, Felicia. Implement your suggestion. Move us two light-years away. Thorsten, Timor, we implement passive listening only. No sensor pulse whatsoever. Transmit the directives to the Bridge. Felicia, I want you at the helm for the move. Try to move out while we are hidden by the Sun."

"I shall go back to the Bridge after taking an hour’s rest, Alexander. I am not at the top of my form given the dance I had to do all day."

"It is fine by me. I doubt we are in her gun-sight for a while still."

"I still do not know what caused Ian and Enron to leave breakfast half-eaten. Usually, they clean the table, and almost lick it!" said Samson

"You could visit the Eden Tessaract and find out what it is that called their attention so quickly," Amethyst said.

"And risk another bout of hay fever? No way!"

"Do not tell me you did not have this fixed by a stay in a stasis Pod?" exclaimed Harold.

"Fine, I shall not tell you! What can I say? These boxes give me the creeps."

"And he suffers from claustrophobia," added Timor.

"Can you keep that information to yourself, young Atlantean? I do not need my medical record made public!"

"As if it was not public domain with all the medical records available in the blink of an eye!"

"Alexander! Be polite!"