Galactica: Book 1 - Via Lactea

 

After spending 45 minutes flying and doing arabesques, the group of shape-shifters prepared to return to the Bridge.

"So, Boys, did you like flying?" asked Typhoon, smirking at the greenish colour displayed by Mark and Ovid. He could not tell how Zen felt, but if the tight ball his body was in meant anything, the poor Snake had also been scared.

"I think I left some of my lunch in mid-air. Is all flying so scary?" asked Ovid, as he tried to stand unsuccessfully on his two feet.

"I just wanted to give you a good thrill. You know, even if you had fallen because of a broken seat belt, you could just have ported to the ground, or, for a softer but wetter landing, near the surface of one of the numerous lakes that dot the Tessaract."

"I do not know if you let your lunch fly, Ovid, but I wet myself," commented Mark. «Are you doing okay, Zen?»

«I do not know. I thought the Mouse was trying to get out from my jaws. Is this normal? And there is a strange feeling, not funny at all, that makes me want to hide.»

«You almost puked, Zen. And that feeling is fear. It is not something pleasant.» replied Ovid.

«By the way, Zen, I paid a visit to the Imperial Library using the Bridge’s access via the Pyramids. I found out we are Cousins, very far removed. Our parentage separated when the planet we come from cooled down. You are still thermophile, but your body has evolved enough that you can no longer survive in lava, like we do. Your body has adapted to the cooling conditions of the planet,» stated Typhoon. «We still share common traits, such as moulting, eggs, the need for warm places for our eggs, and a rather elongated body form. You lost shape-shifting and wings, or we gained those after the separation. That is yet undecided. Even the Book of Life is not clear on the question.»

Zen stayed silent, digesting his Mouse and the information. The two Boys looked with awe at the Dragon King and Zen alternatively.

"Let us go to the Imperial Suite to clean up. We smell of fear and not so appetising things as well," suggested Harold. "We have 30 minutes before we are due to return to the Bridge. I have set the node to port us directly in the node across vestibule of the showers. Rockhook, I saw you visit Typhoon’s dad. Are there any changes?"

"None that I am aware of. Tarik was there, in levitation, so I did not try to establish contact with the old Dragon. I talked to the Royal Guards there, and Tarik spends at least two hours a day there, mostly before going to bed. It was exceptional he was here this early. I just hope it does not mean Tarik is having issues with the Orcs. We have enough trouble as it is."

"I agree. When is Tarik due on the Bridge?"

"According to roll call, he is due at the Engineering station tomorrow. His next station will be Security, then Sick Bay, Navigation, the Helm, then Captain, followed by Science, Shields and Deflectors, and finally Weapons and Strategic planning. After that he ends up on standby for two weeks."

"Thank you, AI-6. Are you aware of any issues in the Orc population?"

"A couple of Adults were shortened last week. Apparently, they fomented a take-over but neglected Tarik’s capacity to read minds, and literally cried their plans out when he visited an Orc village. They were trying to convince the Adults of the village that Children had no right to decide for themselves. The telepathic report filed by Tarik and confirmed by an external source indicates that the individuals had been trying to involve many agglomerations, to no avail. This was their 39^th visited village without result."

"Why is he so down, then? He did the right thing."

"One Adult was the Parent of one of his Councillors, and the other the single surviving Parent of his best friend."

"Royalty has its cost."

"Indeed, my Lord."

"I will talk to Tarik," decided Annabelle.

"Would you, my dear? That would be great. I do not want him to become over-burdened with the weight of unpleasant decisions that is the lot of Royalty. He must learn to talk to us if he feels overwhelmed, and realise he is not alone when taking those decisions."

"I told him as much, my Lord. However, his reply was simple: just talking about it was a decision in itself, and he knew what had to be done. I talked to the Councillor and his friend, and they both understand the absolute necessity to put an end to any simmering revolt. In fact, the close friend was furious his Parent had dared use his closeness to Tarik as a justification for their actions he asked me if it was possible to recreate a new body and to dump a memory map into it so he could kill the felon himself! That was a shocker, let me tell you!"

"That is resentment!" Typhoon said, as he walked under the almost boiling shower he preferred.

Zen and the Boys stayed at the far end of the shower room, much to the amusement of the shape-shifters.

«You know, I envy Typhoon’s colouring. I know you keep telling me I am beautiful in my own right, but that rich gold, these deep emerald and royal blue scales put my own colours to shame!» said Zen, as he was being washed by Ovid and Mark.

«As soon as you succeed in progressive translocation, Zen, I am bringing you to the Dragon Tessaract to bind with a Dragonling. Hurry up, the next batch is due incessantly, and it has three of my descendants in there, all Gold.»

"That is tomorrow, Typhoon, if you do not need the Boys for porting duty, that is."

"No, Runt, I do not anticipate porting duty for them. Anyway, some other Mages need to work out. They have proved their worth, contrary to some lazy arses that seem to spend their time on school benches. Dry up, everybody! We are due on the Bridge in ten minutes."

***

"Captain on the Bridge!" hollered one of the Ensigns, much to the irritation of Typhoon, and a smirk from Harold, which converted to a frown when the same Ensign called out "Emperor on the Bridge!" after spotting him in the returning party.

"Harp! I need counsel on how to interpret the science report I am getting!" called out Uwibami. Harp immediately moved to stand beside the Red Dragon Male, whose body shone like a hot fire from the reflection of the Bridge lights on his ruby scales.

"What do you have?"

"See there? I detected a high concentration of Insect ships heading in the general direction of that small planet, much like a train. I focussed our sensors on it, and they detected magnetic pulses at regular intervals. It does not make sense. The atmosphere is highly oxygenated, at 18% to 20%, therefore highly poisonous for them. It is also way below what the Insects need pressure-wise. I was considering sending a group of sensors on the surface to check what was up when you came back."

"What is the mass of the planet?"

"According to sensors, it is roughly the size of Mars. It has a highly eccentric orbit. At its perigee, the distance separating that planet and this one is half of the minimal orbital distance between the old Earth and Mars. The Insects’ space ships are headed right to the perigee point of that planet."

"AI-6, how come we did not detect that planet? It seems to be in the Green Belt!"

"I am sorry to say it spends over three-quarters of its orbit outside of the Green Belt. During that time, surface temperature preclude any liquid water on the surface. In fact, its surface is probably in a permafrost right to the equator."

"Okay. Timor! Prepare 500 sensors and port them on the planet’s surface. I want to know what the Insects are doing on it! Typhoon? How much time before you have Thebes port?"

"We are 28 minutes to porting."

"That should be enough."

"The sensors are now on the surface of that piece of flying ice," reported Timor. "The telemetry is coming in via subspace band one. Do you copy?"

"Yes. I have visual," noted Harp.

As the first sensor made its way over a hill, its camera revealed a strange activity. A long line of Insect spaceships were disposed on a wide plain. On the nearest end of the plain, a huge construction kept disgorging spaceships, that were moved into parking slots in the prairie, more a skating rink than anything else. On the left of the wide expense was a long ramp whose end disappeared in the guts of the planet. What seemed like containers kept being brought to the surface at an alarming rate, to be quickly moved to Insect ships whose cargo holds were wide open.

"The sensor equipment reports intense, continuous, vibrations from the ground," noted Uwibami.

"I think our sensor is standing on the roof of a gigantic industrial complex, hidden deep underground," Harp replied. "What is the size of the sensor?"

"About the size of a ten-pound feline."

"We shall have it move down the ramp later. Let us first continue observing the plain from our viewpoint. What are the reports from the other sensors?"

"They are still progressing to their first way-point."

"Zoom in on the far end of the plain. There is something there, partially hidden by the dust."

The zoom revealed a long rail that gradually climbed up at an ever steeper grade to curve back down and return to ground level. To the best of their estimates, the rail then turned back sharply in a highly angled curve to pass behind the structure they could see in the forefront and again turn back on itself to link to what seemed like a sort of loading bay.

As They watched, an Insect spaceship was loaded on a carrier and moved in line beside another carrier. Then the collective rack of carriers moved one place right, placing one rack in the main axis of the rail. A few minutes later, the carrier began moving at an ever faster speed along the rail.

"The sensors report a powerful magnetic pulse. That is a Maglev train you see there."

As Uwibami and Harp observed the carrier accelerate at several times the gravitational force of the Earth, the speed counter increased exponentially.

"The carrier has reached liberation speed and is now climbing the last part of the ramp!" continued to comment Uwibami.

The moment it reached the top of the rail, the carrier released its cargo, composed of an Insect spaceship fully loaded with a series of containers; the spaceship then began its journey to whatever destination it was supposed to reach. Meanwhile, the carrier plunged back to the ground, still tied to the rail and began slowing down, as the polarity of the magnetic field reversed, feeding the breaking energy into the system. When it reached the bottom it still travelled at a considerable pace and turned the high-rising curve at breakneck speed. The travel back to the loading dock saw the velocity reduced progressively until the carrier turned back on itself languorously to take its place beside an empty carrier, ready for reuse.

"This is a remarkable feat of engineering. It is not that I am surprised. What they did to escape the gravity well of the gaseous giant was remarkable enough," commented Harp, between gasps of surprise and admiration.

"Should we move the sensor in place so it can begin its journey down the ramp?"

"Yes, Uwibami. I doubt there are any surveillance around that complex. If you noticed, there are no life forms visible on the surface."

"Yet, I shall endeavour to make sure the sensor’s progress remains undetected."

The sensor made its way slowly between big chunks of rocks that showed both intense weathering by ice and by tool. Huge monoliths lay down on the ground, like fallen columns of long-lost temples dedicated to unknown divinities. Some were striated, others not so; but most showed that their fall had separated their components into slices of a rocky baguette.

"The surface was not always empty! It seems we are making our way through an abandoned city," Harp said. "The ‘hill’ seems to be a pile of rubble. Be careful the sensor does not fall in an unexpected hole!"

"Noted."

The sensor gradually reached the plain and sped up toward the ramp. The surface was dusty and the displacement of the sensor raised a wispy trail of dust that mixed with the thick layer of the same material blown by a strong cross-wind. Upon reaching the ramp, Uwibami carefully negotiated the displacement of the sensor so it stayed clear of cargo coming up the ramp at breakneck speed.

"Hold! Thebes, port a relay where the sensor is. We have no idea of the conditions in the tunnel!" ordered Harp as Uwibami was getting ready to go down the steep ramp.

The relay in place, the sensor resumed its progress and made its way down the ramp. At regular intervals, another relay was added. After making its way down several miles, the ramp levelled off and continued for as far as the electronic eyes of the sensor could see.

"This thing is huge! Thebes, can we still port relays across the rock?"

"There is no issue. I only give off more energy to the port."

"I am ready for another relay. I am holding position," reported Uwibami.

The port made, the sensor ran forward along the wall of the tunnel. After several additional miles, it reached a door that seemed to open to let out the containers.

"We have a problem. What will happen to our relay chain when that door closes?" asked Uwibami.

"I shall port a high-power relay. It is twice the size of those I have been using, for four times the power. Hopefully, it will go unnoticed, especially since I plan to port it right near the door frame."

"Okay. I am moving the sensor so you have a clear view."

Thebes ported the juiced-up repeater and then Uwibami used the time while the door was opening to let out another cargo to secrete the sensor across the door.

"Port another big one right against the inner frame. That way, the repeaters will be very close to each other."

"Done."

"Here comes the next cargo. Let us wait to see if the closure of the door will halt the chain before making further progress," suggested Harp.

"How long before you guys are done?" asked Typhoon.

"We do not know. How much more time can you give us?" Harp asked.

"The Insect ships are still five minutes to our intended threshold. However, I could delay departure by another half an hour, which would put them at almost on us. Anyway, from what I gather, they are trying to en-sphere us! Good luck with that strategy to keep us in here!"

"Give us as much time as you can. I think we absolutely need to know what is up with this installation and the likes elsewhere."

A mile later, another door showed up and the earlier procedure was repeated.

"That seems to be a type of air lock. Notice the pressure is rising," said Harp to Uwibami.

"Yes. I am trying to reach the next door as quickly as possible."

Another mile was travelled before the next door was reached. Uwibami missed the door’s open cycle by mere minutes, so they had to wait for the full de-pressurisation and pressurisation cycle to complete itself before the door finally began its opening cycle. As soon as the gap was wide enough, Uwibami engaged the sensor across the door and Thebes ported another big signal booster.

"That thing is going down again. Look at that ramp!" said Harp. "We must be ten miles below the surface!"

The sensor resumed its progress, stopping to anchor the port of repeaters regularly. The tunnel, until now absolutely dark, took a greenish hue. A quick study of the source of light revealed its source as a type of lichen.

"Is it me, or am I seeing things?" asked Uwibami. "Light seems to be increasing as we progress."

"The photon counter confirms your impression."

As the sensor made its way around a curve, a sudden brightness brought things in clear perspective. They were at the exit of that never-ending tunnel. Below them, they could see a huge industrial complex occupied by numerous Insects using machinery to load containers on the surface delivery system.

"Put in a relay, and let us progress quickly. I want to see what is happening in these buildings."

Thorsten came to look at the images projected on the station’s screen and whistled.

"That, gentlemen, is a major mining and processing centre. What you see at the far end are huge piles of raw material carried from further away by these huge bins. What you see getting out is components to build whatever they are building."

"Ok. Thanks for the insight. We need to see what happens inside."

"I shall stay with you to help you understand what you will see."

The sensor made its way toward the industrial complex, negotiating its way through the traffic and using the auto-guided bins to make its way inside the industrial complex undetected. Once inside, the sensor added another relay and progressed toward the work floor. There, another shock awaited the Boys.

Long lines of machinery were busy smelting plates of metal, while others cut out pre-determined forms, bored holes in the thick plates and seemed to number then to ease assembly. Hundreds of completed components lay piled up haphazardly everywhere. But that was not the most shocking.

If the Insects were clearly recognisable due to their space suits, another species was seen hard at work under their guidance. That new species was nude and apparently worked for the Insects from a very early age. There, mixed in the group were Children, Teens, Adults, and old people. Children were seen taking nuts and bolts from the production lines and stacking them in boxes. Older Teens moved long rods and Adults stacked plates according to form. Once the boxes were full, powerful lifts were used by the Insects to move them into containers.

Move the snoop into the other room!" ordered Harp.

There, another nightmarish sight came into view. It was the smelting, extruding and cold-rolling production centre. Bolts were cut from extruded rods, rolled and tapered to form hexagonal nuts and made into screws. Plates were pressed between huge rollers, dies were used to form long T an I beams. Drops of red-hot metal was spraying everywhere, hitting the unprotected body of the workers which showed several burns.

"This is a sweat shop!" thundered Harp, as he saw the scene unfold.

Harold, acutely attuned to metallurgy and its risks, was appalled by what he was seeing from his station.

"Damn it! This is an outrage! Typhoon! We delay our port! I want these slavers reduced to smithereens!"

"At your command! Timor! Incinerate anything flying within range!"

Typhoon had never seen Harold pissed on the Bridge and knew better than to hold back on the firepower. Thebes lit up like a miniature Sun, blowing every Insect ship within range in an instant. Typhoon then quickly circumnavigated the planet, blowing up concentrations of spaceships as he went.

"Harp? Do we have any more garbage to disintegrate?"

"I detect a few lost souls near the poles."

"They will not be lost for long! Navigation! Transfer the co-ordinates of the targets to the Helm!"

"Done!"

"Guns ablaze! Send them to the dustbin of history!"

Thebes jumped to half the speed of light just before falling on the back of the unsuspecting Insects.

"I always wondered why Humans liked firecrackers. Now I know!" Timor commented as the last ships exploded spectacularly.

"Navigation, establish an intercept to the tail end of the ships headed to the planet."

"I suggest we head to the perigee, and intercept them as they come to the planet!" said Samson.

"Go! It is a valid strategy, even better than what I had imagined!"

Thebes accelerated to half the speed of light, making the trip to the intercept point quickly. As it passed along the still incoming Insect ships, it fired a series of photon torpedoes that burned holes into the vessels. The sudden decompression did the rest.

"Swarm One to Five, report to porting Decks! Armoured Spiders Legions One to Five to porting deck!" sounded across Thebes, mobilising several hundred million military units for an all out invasion of the planet.

"What is the inventory of targets?" asked Typhoon, as his last orders were being implemented.

"There are 98,243 launchers spread around the planet, with a high concentration along the equator."

"Okay. AI-1, port Swarms One and Two on the north pole, and Swarms Three and Four on the south pole. Hold Swarm Five in reserve! Armoured Spiders are to be distributed in the same manner! Move out!"

The Infantry jumped into the FSS dispensers at 0.1 second interval, being ported to their staging area immediately. Soon, the strategic map showed a vast area covered with quickly moving green dots.

"Alexander? What are the conditions in you area?" asked Harp.

"Currently, the terrain is hilly, but there are indications of occupation that seem to date considerably. We have yet to encounter any life form. The water is solid, covering vast expenses of the area. There are pressure ridges all over the place, making displacement difficult. Our first objective, the Maglev located at 89° South 180° East is hidden by a low mountain range from us. However, we can feel a constant vibration underfoot. The Armoured Units just ported behind my lines. I heard the concussion."

"Enron?"

"I have a clear view of the Maglev. It is located across a vast expanse of ice. We are moving forward. I have ordered winter camouflage for everyone. We are white on white. We should reach first contact and engagement in twenty minutes."

"Wait for the signal, unless detected. Alexander is travelling rougher grounds."

"So am I," added Greywolf.

"My line of travel is clear," reported Lord Agramon. "It is flat ground. I have shifted shape to my original Equine form, as well as the first, second and third army. We should be able to make it to our target point in 22 minutes."

"Alexander, mark when you are five minutes off target!"

"Acknowledged!"

The Bridge crew watched the progress of the different units. At first, they moved in a single, long line, then, as they neared their respective objective, they began fanning out. The commands given out by the respective Princes could be heard over the loudspeakers.

"Thebes, I am five minutes off target!" suddenly came from Alexander.

"Hold position at three minutes."

The other Princes also reported their five-minute mark one after the other to receive confirmation and similar instructions. As Lord Agramon made his report, the next order came through.

"As soon as Agramon confirms he is at three minutes to target, move to the entrance of the tunnels!" ordered Typhoon. "Telecom crew, standby! Armoured Units, standby! I want a visual on the situation! Sensor telemetry, engage!"

"Typhoon, some Insect ships are headed our way. What are your orders?"

"Incinerate!"

"Typical Dragon response!" whispered Timor.

"I heard that!" Typhoon replied.

As soon as the Insect ships reached half-range, Thebes opened fire with a rain of photon torpedoes, destroying every Insect ship within range in three volleys. Yet, more Insect ships came to the butchery, unwilling to admit they stood no chance against the Behemoth.

"If it was not for having met the Ants, I would say these are brainless." said one of the Fairies that had accompanied the Ian expedition in the Eden Tessaract.

"Do not confound being obstinate and lack of intellect. These Insects definitely have brains. Just look at that marvel of engineering that puts them in orbit without the need to use fuel."

"Sorry, Prince Paschal. I should have thought before letting my motor mouth do the thinking for me."

"It is OK. We all underestimate Insects."

"Thebes, Alexander here! We are moving in! I repeat, we are moving in!"

"Acknowledged! What are the energy sources we detect?"

"I have the 10^th Army of the 10^th Horde blowing up the ships on the surface. It will not significantly affect the number taking off from the planet, but it is a start."

"Ok."

Upon hearing Alexander’s report and initiative, the other Swarm Commanders immediately followed his lead and diverted their own 10^th Army to dispose of Insect ships still on the surface, as well as engaging the rest of their Armies into the tunnel they had been asked to invade.

Two hours later, Alexander’s voice came over the speakers again.

"We have reached the first door of the air lock. The 1^st Army Corps of Engineers is studying the system. Apparently, according to one guy that seems to be brighter than average, the two doors are synchronised to prevent air loss. We are waiting for the door to open to cross in the air lock."

"How many Units do you plan to move in?"

"For now, only the Scouts. We can not move in the Spiders, they would obstruct the transport system for the containers, tipping the Insects on the invasion too early. Ah, it is opening! Scouts! Move in as soon as the door is raised enough to slide under!"

A few minutes later, Alexander reported that half the Scouts had managed to cross into the airlock before it closed off again.

"The Legate is having those inside with him move forward while we wait for the next cycle. He has orders to wait for the rest of the Scouts to merge with his advanced units before crossing the next airlock."

Half an hour later, the door again began to rise, and the rest of the Scouts slipped inside the airlock before it closed back.

"How are the other teams progressing?" asked Alexander.

"Lord Agramon is in a similar situation as you are; Enron is behind by half a cycle and Greywolf has just reached the first air lock. It seems the tunnels vary in length," Timor reported.

"The next group is the assault teams of each Army. Their objective is to encircle the production centre without being detected, while the Scouts progress toward the buildings and begin the infiltration process. Hopefully, the Insect security is lousy."

"Ok. That fits with the overall plans we discussed before you departed."

Felicia, which had returned from a well-deserved nap and feeding her Pups, walked to the Captain’s chair and caught Typhoon’s attention.

"Yes?"

"We seem to have forgotten one thing in this. How do the Insects communicate on long distance? If we are to take the other complexes by surprise, we must not only figure that out, but also how to mimic their exchanges so we can give them the impression nothing is wrong here."

"Felicia, that has been on my mind ever since we collided with the Insects and rescued the Caterpillar ship and its contents. If you have any idea, test it. You are one heck of a good specialist in communications. Study the problem with AI-6. I suggest you move to the simulator in that Pyramid and proceed with all due haste. We are running out of time to solve that riddle."

"I am in need of assistants."

"Right! Mark, Ovid, Zen! You are to accompany Felicia Wolf, the Wife of Greywolf, to the core of AI-6, the simulator."

"But they have not had their Ordeal."

"The Hell with the Ordeal, Felicia. I am sure AI-6 understands our resources are limited and will not act childishly at the presence of these three fine Mages within its core."

"In that case, if you do not mind, I will also pick Tom and Jerry. They seem to have an acute sense of intuition."

"Go ahead. They are currently taking a bath. Sitar? Did you hide the bubble bath soap?"

"Yes. It is locked and secure," snickered the Prince, remembering the last time these two pranksters had found the suds, all the while sending shivers down the spines of Harp and Ian.

"Do you need to remind us of these two Devils? They wanted to play Ghosts and Ghost Busters and found nothing better than to use suds to play the part of the Ghosts! There were suds everywhere in the Imperial Suite, all 259 rooms! I was sure Dad would blow an artery when he found them in the Imperial Library dripping wet!"

"You would have too, if you had considered the number of rare tomes in that library, some dating from Atlantis One!" said Harold, frowning. "Anyway, take them with you at your risk and peril, Felicia. I still have not found who showed them that Ancient television series and the movies."

Harp tried his best to look innocent, failing miserably, while Paschal and Sitar exploded in laughter.

"Do not complain, Dad. At least he did not show them Home Alone!" said Ian, to a lot of snickering from the other Boys.

"The first assault teams have joined the Scouts in the locks."

"Ok, Alexander," replied the telecommunication Officer of Thebes.

"When do you plan to move forward in the cave?"

"Tell me when the other groups are ready."

"It seems the locks are of uniform size. It makes sense since it is the limiter in this set-up. You should be synchronised properly already."

"Ok. The Scouts have merged. They should move forward into the cave at the next opening cycle."

"Others report the same. Enron has already ordered the Scouts forward into his target. He reported earlier it would take three cycles to get the Scouts across the last lock."

"Why is that?"

"The Legate fears the Scouts could be spotted if they invaded massively."

"That is a legitimate concern. Legate Alaric, did you copy?"

"Yes, your Highness. I plan to follow the same rule."

"I gave general orders to this effect on the other channels," commented Typhoon.

***

Meanwhile, Tom and Jerry were being collected in the en-suite of their adoptive Parents by Felicia. They were having so much fun diving from the sink to the floor, splashing around and laughing their arses off they did not hear Felicia call for them across the door. What she had not expected was that the two Devils had sealed the door of the bathroom with wax and filled it to half-height with water to create a private swimming pool! Since she was in her Dragon Lady form, pulling the bathroom door open was a no-brainer for her. Zen, Mark, Ovid and her were assailed by a wave of water when she pulled the door open. The two Australopithecus Regressi tumbled out, laughing hysterically at the fun this sudden wave produced.

"Wait until Timor or Colibri hear of this one!" said a flustered Wolf lady. "Luckily, my six Pups are not as turbulent as you two! You Boys are walking demolition specialists!"

"You have new Pups?" asked Tom, shaking the water off his fur. "Can we see them?"

"So you can teach them how to be pains in the arse? No way!"

"We promise to be good!" pouted Jerry.

"Sure, sure! The last time I heard that, you Boys played Soap Toboggan Rider with the last brood and I had to hide every soap bar in the Den for a week for them to forget the idea!"

"But it was so fun!"

"Except that Greywolf’s bonded broke a leg on the soapy tiles! It took Ness a month in a stasis Pod to get fixed!"

"That is what happens when you try to walk upright when you should be walking on all fours!" replied Tom.

"Anyway, Boys, dry up!" No! Not that way! Use the fan!"

"Cool! A blow job! It is so hot!" said Jerry, turning the hot air jets to full blast.

Mark and Ovid turned pink, while Felicia rolled her eyes. Zen felt his body lift and it was only the quick reflex of Ovid that stopped him from finding he could crawl on the ceiling.

«What happened?» wondered Zen.

«You were taking flying lessons without wings. Please wait until you can convert to Dragon to do that!»

Once everyone was dry, and the Australopithecus Regressi Boys finally calmed down from the fun, the two huge and fluffy balls of fur left the bathroom, looking like they had been hit by thunder.

"Stay close to me! We are going to visit Pyramid Six and its core."

"Zen, climb on me. It will ease the port, I think," suggested Ovid.

Once Zen had wrapped his body around Ovid’s shoulders, Felicia disposed the Boys in the portal. She then entered the override that allowed direct transfer from the Imperial suite to AI-6 and the simulator, the core of the Gold Pyramid, without the normal passage through the Ordeal.

"Porting!"

The five found themselves in the core of the Simulator, which was running a simulation for an ongoing Ordeal.

"Stay quiet. We must not intervene until the simulation is complete!"

"But that guy is making a mistake!" pouted Tom. "He is turning left with his space ship which will expose his side to the fire of the enemy fleet. He should have turned right, presenting a smaller target and forcing them to regroup their firing!"

"Tom! What did I just say?"

But even as the Captain registered Tom’s comment and was ready to counter his previous order, the simulation came to a halt with a tremendous explosion, simulated shaking, and a skull and crossed tibias appearing on the monitor of what had been the Bridge of a Space Corvette, one of the many designs still in development in Paschal’s ever expanding fleet of interplanetary vessels.

"Sorry if we distracted you," said Felicia.

"Oh, no worries. I made the mistake quite on my own. I thought the Pyramids made sure no team collided during an Ordeal?"

"This is not an Ordeal, young Orc, we need the simulator in an emergency."

"I see. Can we stay and watch?" asked the Feline that was at the firing desk.

"Sure, but I must warn you, it will be boring. It is a communication problem."

"That is my line of interest!" replied a Fox.

"Ok. What is your name?"

"Me? Trot Fox, but everyone calls me Fox Trot, and laugh. I never understood why."

"It is a type of dance once in vogue with the Ancients. I admit that the person who named that dance Fox Trot never saw a fox in his entire life!"

"Oh. I shall make them run a dance next time they call me by that nickname."

"I see no issue with that. AI-6, reset the simulation. Transfer all we know about the Insects into the model database!"

Barely a second later, the voice of the Artificial Intelligence informed them the data had been consolidated.

"Correlate all data and establish a model of potential means of long distance communications the Insects might have developed. Estimate completion time!"

"Correlating. Completion of model estimated at 45 minutes. Do you wish to wait or get a sound signal upon completion?"

"Give me a sound signal."

"While we wait, can we talk?"

"Sure."

"How come you knew something disastrous would occur with my decision?" asked the Captain in training as he looked at Tom curiously.

"It is hard to explain. I felt something wrong, like someone was breaking glass."

Trot Fox kept looking at the Snake, Tom and Jerry with curious eyes. Finally, he could not hold his curiosity back any longer.

"It is the first time I see guys like you. You do not look like my Orc friend. Who are you?

"If you mean our species, we are Australopithecus Regressi. I am Tom and this is Jerry. We got adopted by Timor and Colibri. You certainly heard of them along the grapevine."

"Wow! And you guys?"

"I am Mark, and this is Ovid. The Snake is Zen. We are Mages in training. We are here because Typhoon told us to accompany Felicia Wolf."

"Mages in training? You mean you can do Magic like us? I have just learned how to shift shape! I have so much to learn. Shape shifting sure came in handy during the Ordeal. According to the College evaluator, we are M-3."

"I figured as much. You were in a space ship Bridge simulation, and that requires M-3 or above, according to Runt Wolf, our trainer."

"You guys train under the Runt? That is rare! The Royals rarely take Apprentices."

"I do not know if the Runt feels like a Royal or if he is even one. All I know is he is handling us and the training is gruelling. We have been spending the last three days doing all sort of porting for Captain Typhoon Dragon."

"Boys, the Runt is my Son, and my husband is Greywolf, the Wolf Prince, so yes, the Runt is Royal. And no, the Runt, even if he is a M-1 Mage, does not show off or in any way attach importance to rank, much like the rest of the Royals. That is why I did not insist on being called Princess. Now, forget you ever heard me use that word!"

"Which one? Princess?"

"Yes. Now, modesty does not preclude telling them you are M-1 Mages, all three of you. Tom and Jerry, even if they can do Magic, are not high enough to undertake the Ordeal. In a way, I am relieved. I can just imagine the disaster these two pranksters would do should they have significant Magic at their disposal!"

"I am feeling so itchy!" interrupted the Dragon Girl that had been incorporated into the previous team.

"It is moulting time for you, Girl! Here is a moulting bed, and I shall teach the three Mages what to expect during moult," replied Felicia.

"How come you know so much about our species?"

"I had to help raise a Dragonling. Manasa insisted I learned that lesson of life. Believe me, I saw what moulting implied first-paw. Have you selected your Primary Bonded yet?"

"No. I am undecided. I lean for one, then he or she does a blunder, and I look for another."

"If you are waiting for Prince Charming, you might as well get neutered! The number of Princes is limited, and I have yet to find any that can carry the ‘charming’ epithet without being laughed at!"

"What do you mean?"

"They all have their days. At least our periods are predictable; theirs is not!"

"How do you decide which one to bond with?"

"I talked a lot with my bonded, Manasa, whom had bonded with Francesca at first. She said it is intuitive, to let the call do the bond. She had selected Francesca on logic because she valued healing, for what good it did to her and the bond. She choose me purely on compatibility, whatever that means. I am glad she did; we share a lot in common and spend a lot of time together as intimate friends. This is what bonding should be about. In clear, trust your instinct."

The Dragonling began rubbing vigourously on the sharp rocks Felicia had supplied. Shortly, the skin split open, revealing the underlying new skin and a beautiful ruby colour. Once the skin had been vacated, Felicia ported the dead mass to a volcano in the Dragon Tessaract while creating a shallow lake of lava at the far end of the simulation room, much to the amazement of the observers.

"Here you are! Wash up, but try not to spray lava all over the place. None of the new Mages has Dragon gene maps yet and they can not shield their body from the molten rock. Those that have kept you company during the Ordeal are probably able to shift shape, but I would prefer this be done in less constraining conditions."

The Dragonling, which had added another five feet in length and another eight feet in wingspan, took the opportunity to burn off the last skin residue and remove the last itches of moulting. Once this was done, she left the lava lake, leaving a trail of fast cooling rock behind her.

"I gather that since you have not bonded yet, you also have not absorbed the Magic of your Primary Bond. I shall clean up after you."

"Thank you. I was wondering what to do with these little mounds of lava that kept dripping off me."

Felicia snapped her finger and the lava dropping along with the lava pool vanished back to their source.

"Now, if I remember right, you must be hungry?"

"Oh yes!"

"T-Rex on the rocks coming right up! Sitar compared that to an overgrown Chicken. I personally never tasted this meat, even in my Dragon form, but who knows what Sitar has done in his life? I heard their Ordeal was particularly rough."

Felicia materialised two T-Rex legs and a choice cut of breast, which was promptly devoured by the Ruby Dame. After a burp which produced a 60-foot flame, the Dragon Lady curled up and, after thanking Felicia for her help, promptly fell in a deep sleep. As the Dragonling snored loudly in the corner, Felicia explained what had been done to the Mages and why. Questions from all parties flowed. That the Boys could talk to Zen and Zen back to them totally floored the Crew in training.

"The model is complete!" said AI-6, at one point, interrupting a discussion on Bonding, Magic, and shape-shifting.

"Ok. Let us see what you have," said Felicia as she took seat at what used to be the Captain’s chair.

"As mentioned by the members of the Primary Bridge Crew a few days ago, light and, for that matter, electromagnetic signals at large seem to be totally ignored by the Insects. I concluded they must use something insensitive to interference, opacity, and distance. That left few options, Felicia. I looked at infra-space, space-folding, and finally hyper-space transmissions. That is when I hit the jackpot. Remember, well maybe you do not know, but Alexander’s expedition recovered an intact Insect space suit. While keeping it in the confines of a class 10 shield, Paschal had scanned the suit with all possible tools he had available. Unfortunately, the current situation arose before he could spare time to analyse the data. It was fortunate all data Paschal gathered is stored in the Crystalline structure of Thebes, and thus accessible for my perusal. By cross-indexing the results, I was able to build a model of the space suit and run several simulations of its functionality. Let me list the basic conclusions: The Insects use vibrations to locate where they are; their means of long-distance communication is hyper-space transmission; contrary to our method of hyper-space transmission, they use bandwidth modulation rather than wave modulation to transmit their signal, this explains why we can use ours without interfering with theirs in any way; finally, they use very high frequency modulation which is digital. There, it is lucky I did the analysis. I found out they use a base six tri-phasic digital system to transmit their data."

"What does tri-phasic mean?"

"Instead of the Ancients’ binary (zero/one) or my quantum polyphasic (a continuous phase varying in intensity from -p to +p), they use three phases: -1, 0, 1; their data is stored using these polarity shifts in groups of six digits or words, which I called a,b,c,d,e,f. There, it was pure luck. I assumed that since they had six appendages, they might have used that number for their numeral system. The Ancients also used words, composed of groupings of eight binary numbers, double words, quad words, and extended words comprising eight words. There were processors that used ten words for advanced precision calculations. I think that, had the Ancients not blown themselves up, the evolution toward ever longer groupings would have continued, until they finally would have discovered how to built quantum state machines."

"Good work. Have you been able to listen in on their communications?"

"Yes, and that is where you come into play. We can now ‘hear’ but we can not ‘understand’ what is said. Intuition is now needed to figure out what is exchanged."

"Ok. Let us hear it."

The room filled with strange sounds that reminded them of static and of listening to the background radiation of the Big Bang. The three Mages, Tom, Jerry, Felicia and the trainee in telecommunication all listened intently.

"Let us get into a deep trance. Logic is useless here. What we need is pure intuition," decided Felicia.

After spending 20 minutes doing relaxation and breathing exercises, those who could enter a trance were deep into it.

"Let us hear that again!"

"Display a visual of the outside of the tunnel being invaded by Alexander," asked Tom.

The Boys again focussed on the noise. Finally, Jerry spotted something.

"There! You hear that pattern? It precedes the exit of a container from the inner room! Watch!"

As a carrier was reaching the apogee of the rail, a signal was detected. A few seconds later, the inner lock opened and another container left the chamber.

"Good catch, Jerry."

"There is another signal!" noted Tom. "Notice that as the inner door closes, a signal is sent? What I do not get is why it changes in tone every cycle."

"That is probably due to the fact that it determines pressurisation and de-pressurisation?’ suggested Mark.

«And there is a third signal that follows a similar cycle. Could it be the outer door’s synchronisation signal?» asked Zen.

"I also noticed another signal, but this time it seems to be mapping a continuous wave," noted Felicia. "There, I think it is the pressure sensors reporting the pressure variations to the locks."

"Those comments hold. Do you want me to transmit the information to the Bridge?"

"Yes, AI-6. They are waiting on that."

"It is sent."

"There is still the vast amount of noise that we hear. That must be the conversations between the Insects. Without visual feedback to associate the exchange with some action, we are stuck."

"No," said Jerry. "Their range of behaviours is limited by the context, much like Animal behaviour is limited by environment. They must be exchanging about production. There must be a long-term repeat of their exchanges linked to production cycle, much like ours was a diurnal exchange linked to food, sleep, watering, travel, and security. What are the basic components of their production?"

"That analysis is good, Jerry. However we have no way to know what they are doing."

"What about the sensors? Felicia, I am sure all Swarms have a whole Legion of sensors ranging in size from Flies to house Cats," suggested Ovid.

"Not to mention Crawlers that imitate the locomotion method used by Zen," added Mark.

"Do you have visuals from these mobile sensors, AI-6?"

"That should be incoming. The mobile sensors will be released in the caves at the next opening cycle of the inner lock. The locks should open in three minutes for Alexander’s group and the others are slightly out of phase."

«Meanwhile, I have continued to listen to the transmission. There is another signal that seems to come from a considerable distance. I think it is the firing authorisation from some sort of control centre. It would not do to fire objects in space at random interval. The risk of collision would be too great,» noted Zen.

Felicia was impressed by the Snake’s thinking. She could not resist asking the corollary question.

"Do you think they get a feed from the launch pad back?"

"Why not? There is nothing stopping the control centre from listening to the signal emitted by the carrier at its apogee."

"This being the case, we must maintain the ramps and rails functional until we have conquered this planet; otherwise we risk detection. AI-6, inform the Bridge of this reasoning."

"It is done. Typhoon is listening on the exchanges."

"Another thing we must take into account is that they must send production reports regularly. We need to access these reports and maintain the flow with fake ones until we are done," commented Jerry. "I remember how much work this kind of accounting means! We spent a day with Harp at the College of Magic doing a spot verification of their accounting practices."

"Did anyone..."

"Yes. One of the accountants was hoarding stuff. She ended up scrubbing bathroom floors. Harp told her he just could not understand the hoarding of goods given freely and available on demand."

"I wonder how she took it."

"Badly, but Harp told her something like ‘bathroom duty or spike duty’. She understood clearly he meant her head would end up on a spike if she did not take his offer."

"That is the Harp I know. Decisive, deadly and efficient. Too bad the Dragonling is sleeping. She would have learned what I meant about ‘charming’."

"We will tell her the story when she wakes up," said the Captain in training.

"Alexander reports his mobile sensors are infiltrating the industrial complex. Do you want feedback right away?" asked AI-6 while there was a lull in the conversation.

"We might as well. The earlier we start, the less likely we are to miss on something."

Observation of the Insect behaviour and their exchange resumed. The process was now much more complex, as the number of actions associated with sound had exploded. Furthermore, there were the interactions between the slaves and the Insect to interpret.

"From what I see, the Insects and those bipeds exchange via mimicking, not verbal or tactile exchanges," said the one that had been holding the firing desk of the simulator.

"Well noted. It also means the exchanges are slow and must occur within visual range of the two or more individuals involved," added Mark.

"The robotic Ants Paschal designed for the task of exploring the Insect world of the Eden Tessaract are proving useful. I saw a group pass behind that crate and head toward that isolated building. I wonder what purpose it serves."

"That is a good question, Ovid. I also wonder if Insects sleep or where their living quarters are," wondered Felicia.

"That Fly dropped on that Insect heading inside the building of interest! Give us a priority image of the environment from that source!" asked Mark.

The Insect passed a lock and entered what seemed to be a rather Spartan room. Under the fascinated eyes of the observers, the Insect began removing the space suit, and move toward another door. The Fly walked on the floor under the control of Harp.

"If it has fine hearing, the Fly’s wing-beat could act like a drum of war," the Prince told everyone to explain his action.

The Fly barely made it across the door before the Insect closed the door behind. Another view, highly biased by the view point, appeared on the monitor.

"Redress the projection!" ordered Typhoon.

"That is a communication centre. I do not see what these strange boxes can be except hyper-space communicators. Record the exchange!"

"All has been recorded ever since the intervention began."

The Insect moved to one of the boxes and began drumming on it at a very high rate.

"AI-6?"

"This is a digital code, Felicia. I am recording it. Some preliminary analysis indicates the usual base six and the tri-phasic structure we have already noted. The high pitch is produced by the impact of the nail and the low pitch by the softer tissue. The neutral or zero is produced by the absence of either signal."

"Hey, the Fly spotted another Insect coming in through the door. It seems to be waiting for the other one to finish to begin its report with another of these boxes. Now, it is two more Insects!" commented Tom.

"Could it be we finally have a break? Imagine if all the Insects came in to report status while we recorded them? We could just play back the recording and be done with it!" said Jerry as he looked at Tom smiling.

The Insects kept coming in, taking one of the boxes and wait in a queue to begin their report. Shortly, the first one left the room, and the next one began his report. It took half an hour for all the Insects to deliver their report and leave the communication centre.

"Felicia, we do not need to have full comprehension of the communication to act, I think!"

"Before acting rashly, Typhoon, have the other teams managed to do what Alexander’s team did, that is, pass in a Fly in the communication room of the other caves?"

"Yes. We also have a recording."

"Send them to AI-6. I want to see what differences there might be. Imagine if each had a specific log-in and log-out code!"

"Oh shit! You are right! Iridia, send the data post-haste to AI-6!"

"I am beginning a cross-correlation of the signals. Felicia’s comments stand. The start and end signals differ as well as the contents of the intermediate data stream. We will need to make sure the stream for each cave is repeated exactly as is, including the start and end signals."

"Ok. Are we finally ready?" asked Typhoon, growing impatient at the delays.

"I think so! I see nothing else, and the Boys agree."

"To all Swarms! Send in the Scouts!"