Chapter Sixteen — Part 2

“The fission that occurred here was the result of a series of asteroid strikes — all happening within nanoseconds of each other. Trace remains of fissionable materials suggest that the asteroids were composed of unstable elements in crystalline form — uranium among them. The asteroids compressed and went fission upon impact, resulting in a thermonuclear detonation.”

A map of the colony came up on screen, the area of damage highlighted in red. “This information is based on the colony outline as gathered from space.” Tiffany said, a sickening overtone to her voice.

Captain Reed bowed his head. “The Central Complex and the northwest hub have been completely obliterated.”

“This happened approximately three years before the Scandivat upsurge, or roughly forty years ago.” I said. “It was recorded by Level Ringbreaker. He had sent a Forever Child to study the Scandivat culture, and to protect the new intelligence. It was generally assumed that the child had died in the blast. The Forever Child was never seen or heard from again.”

Captain Reed made a sound somewhat like a sigh. “The damage would have destroyed the Central and the sentient Hunters. Our whole colony must have been in danger of extinction. The egg chamber was destroyed. Without a Hunter to go through transition and replace the Central, the colony should have perished within a decade. If I’d only come home sooner, I would have been that Central.”

“But something kept that from happening — a surviving Hunter, perhaps.”

“Perhaps.” Captain Reed said. “I felt no urge to come home, I had assumed that a new Central had risen to power. Then, when my contact was cut off for a second time, I felt exiled, and was afraid to return home.”

“I’ve seen enough here.” I said, turning my back on the screen. “Take us into space. We have to find the Scandivats’ colony and stop them before they’re destroyed. Plot a course for Friol, Persimmon. We’ll follow their trail and try to gain more information.”

The Persimmon broke away from the planet and escaped into space. The Scandivat were acting like a hive of wasps, aggravated by a child’s well aimed stone, I had a sneaking suspicion that Wastik was the child in question. Captain Reed had said that the Scandivat did not understand human individuality. If Wastik had been responsible, then the entire Human Race would be blamed. Of course, that didn’t explain how Wastik had united with the Scandivats, and for the moment I didn’t care. Earth was the target of the Scandivats, and if they succeeded in taking Earth, Humanity might perish. If Wastik was responsible, then he was even more brutal a creature than I suspected.

I woke up on Friol, now rebuilding after the initial Scandivat attack. We settled in at my old home. Many of the cities would never recover. Alora, the Capital city, had been leveled, and so had Lute, the Center for Artistic Education. Jodiah greeted father and me, and was surprisingly cheery for a 150-year-old man who had just recently helped force back an alien invasion. Having somehow survived the attack, Jodiah smoked his smelly pipe as he explained to us what we had missed.

We thought it best to keep Captain Reed on ship. There would be little love for him on Friol, so soon after the Scandivat attack. Tiffany was still on ship making some minor repairs, but I couldn’t wait to see Grandpa, and ask him about his adventures. I’d missed most of the fight, getting mama and papa away.

Grandpa’s leathery voice was filled with awe and confusion. “The ships came down from their mother ship like hornets seeking flesh. The sky turned dark, there were so many of them. The mother ship was as big as the sun, at least in perspective. And the damnedest thing about the entire attack was that after the Scandivats conquered us, stripped us of supplies, and killed the resistors, they took whatever they wanted and left. I’m living proof that they were only after raw materials. They took every person they captured and dumped them — still alive — in the remains of whatever city they assaulted. Same ilk as my Granddaughter, through and through.”

“I don’t have the foggiest what you’re talking about.” I said, trying to look surprised.