Richard wished he had some ways of communicating
with Cynig or Victon… He walked back to the campsite
where all the small plants were cuddled together and he
was sure the fear of the aliens was passed on genetically.
He sat in front of the cave and called the four Reans who
were guarding the spacecraft. He told them about the
aliens and expected some trouble.
‘be invisible and I will be here. As soon it gets dark, we
will take it to the bunker in the city. Be alert at all the
time!’
The Reans asked many questions about the aliens and
finally they went in… The Alpha was almost near the
horizon and he concentrated on Zo, he came on to the Link
right away and he enquired about the team that had gone
to be with Re.
Zo said, ‘Re did not want me to go with the team as he
wanted me to get the spacecraft. Ro had taken the best
warriors with him… I am continuously in contact with
them’
Richard was satisfied and told him to come over to the
campsite to move the spacecraft and he agreed…
Re found the alien spacecraft… it was the regular circular
craft, quite huge… it must have carried at least hundreds
of the aliens but none were near the craft. He went around
the craft, but he couldn’t see anyone anywhere! He saw a
small entry and he flew through it! He knew even though
he was invisible, he could be detected if they have good
sensors.
He saw hundreds of them sleeping heavily… Not a single
creature was awake!
The craft had some primitive technology but it had an
array of weapons. He went near them to inspect and could
identify few of them, but many gadgets were new…he
flew out and waited for the others to join him…
Ro arrived with his team but before they could do
anything an alarm went off and there was a commotion
inside the craft...
Re called Ro and his team to hide on the top of the
spacecraft…
The creatures poured out and clearly it was an alarm to
indicate danger. They went around the spaceship and
observed keenly on the ground … Obviously they were
searching for some footprints and then they discussed
among them and turned to look at the beach… Few of
them went to the beach to backtrack the first two creatures
and others remained around the spaceship.
Re asked Ro and another Rean to follow them and they
waited on the top. Alpha setting was spectacular as the
Alpha appeared to sink into the golden water. The entire
ocean was like a molten gold… The creatures were
mesmerised looking at the Alpha set and Re thought he
couldn’t do anything here and told the others to follow
him to the campsite!
Re was sure now that their technology was not up to them
and they could easily defend themselves even if there was
all out war!
When Re reached the campsite, Richard was already with
Zo moving the spacecraft Ave.
Re joined Zo and both brought it out silently with using
Maglev. The conical head was pointing towards the lake…
Ro and others got in Re called Richard but he said he
would use his orb. The spacecraft moved silently without
any lights, took off in the Maglev mode as the speed could
not be controlled once it has gone to particle power and it
would be easy to manoeuvre it through the narrow pass to
enter the city of Rich!
Richard was left alone…. He couldn’t decide if the
creatures were dangerous or he could talk to them and
make them share the Arda…
He sat there musing thing over when he heard an
explosion and it was from the ocean…
He ran down to the beach and already few trees were
there. He wished Buddyone was with him but it went with
the first batch along with Te.
He waited there to spot some aquatic beings and he
spotted a whale far off and he went into the ocean and
slapped the water repeatedly and the whale could be seen
turning towards the beach!
When it came near , he asked about the explosion but it
said that it heard it and it was going to investigate it!
Richard, ‘ do you know Victon… I will wait here …will
you ask him to meet me here?’
The whale said, ‘wait here …I will come back with
Victon…’
Even before the whale had gone out of sight, a Bubble
came up and docked in the beach. Victon came out and
when he saw Richard, he came to him.
Richard, ‘Victon what was the noise that we heard?’
Victon was furious about something, ‘It was the creatures
whom we arrested! They produced some kind of electrical
energy and they keep blasting the rooms. Even though the
energy was not enough to bring down the walls, the
explosion kills the farm beings. I came to ask you if we
could shift them to the land but we will bring our force to
guard them!’
Richard thought for a while and he knew he had no option
but to agree. But he must warn them about the creatures!
‘Victon, it is ok if you bring them here! But you must
know there are nearly hundreds of the same creatures
landed in a spaceship It is up to us to see if we allow them
or chase them! But so far what I have seen, they would not
fit into our peace loving beings! So it is all out war! We
need to know what kind of weapons, they have and
whether they had sent for any reinforcement…I think, but
I am not sure, but they eat only plants!’
Victon sounded excited, ‘ Yes, that makes sense! The
creatures were screaming and asking for something to eat
and we gave them few maaties, but they did not eat
them… Yes they eat only plants! So we need to bring
many to guard them’
Richard said, ‘I will let the queen know and you bring
them and keep them here in the campsite where no one can
reach without anyone’s knowledge!’
Victon left and Richard connected with Re and told him
about the developments and he asked him to send some
Reans to guard these prisoners in the invisible form.
Then he walked briskly to find the queen and one of the
prop roots met him. He explained about the problems and
asked her to warn all the plants to be safe somewhere…
The queen replied, ‘don’t worry King Richard.. I had
encountered these fools earlier and they could be easily
dealt with… They could be killed only if we could cut off
all their tentacles, even one was left it regenerates the
other tentacles or cut off their head! Another thing I just
remembered that they could propagate by division… One
could become two and two would become four and so
on… It is really dangerous’
Richard understood that there was no need for peace now
if he wanted to protect them for a long time!
‘This becomes easy queen! We must kill them as soon as
possible and stop them sending any messages to their
home base. You ask the plants to be safe if needed let
them go to the city!’
He climbed to the campsite and he saw the old tree and the
saplings were still there. He explained the situation briefly
to the old tree and asked them to go to the city and they
left!
He sat in front of the cave once again and waited… There
were few orbs that came in and he waited. The first two
had the prisoners and they must have been drugged as they
were unconscious... all the tentacles were tied up and their
eyes covered… they were carried by Aatians...
Richard asked them to take them into the cave. He
remembered what the queen said that the tentacles could
regenerate and they could be killed by shooting at the
head!
He was mulling over how to kill the creatures and when
Victon came to him he asked the same to him!
Victon was surprised as he did not know that these
creatures would be killed but at the same time it was waste
of time to guard further if the decision to kill had been an
option!
Victon said, ‘ If you want to kill them , we could have
easily killed them and fed them to maaties…Do you want
us to kill?’
Richard was confused but he wanted to see the reaction of
the other creatures. But the more time they gave, the
creatures might multiply and the numbers would become a
problem!
He finally said, ‘We don’t have any choice as these are
going to multiply fast and the land will become a barren
desert without plants! They don’t seem to be very
intelligent beings but very aggressive! So we have a war at
our hand!’
Victon was pleased about that… he gave instructions to
the guard that he had brought with him to guard them well.
He came where Richard was standing, ‘King Richard, you
seem to be worried!’
One of the orb given to the Reans came up to them. Te had
sent dinner for all of them and it was a welcome change.
The Reans, Aatians and Richard had something and took
their position again!
Richard inspected the gun he took from Frank’s house. It
was Smith & Wesson duty size R8 revolver. It had seven
rounds left as he had used one to shoot the creature!
Victon was fascinated to see the revolver and he wanted to
see it. He inspected it very closely and he said, ‘we have a
better weapon Spitter! We use a liquid bullet, which
explode where it touches! There will be 10 vials and each
vial can shoot 100 times… Endless possibilities... I will
get it from the orb’
He brought one Spitter which was not unlike a revolver
except for the vials. Richard took the Spitter and Victon
told him to try it!
There was a dustbin and Richard took aim and shot at it!
The dustbin burst into flame! What they saw in the light
shook them up! There was a creature which was hiding
behind the dustbin and it ran out of its hiding!
Richard ran behind it and shot it in a point blank range
aiming for its head! The creature looked back at him and
the single eye reflected the firelight and that was the last
thing as its head was shattered and burnt…The Spitter was
definitely a better weapon …a silent killer… The body of
the creature fell down …
He called the Reans and asked them to check for the
creatures around the campsite. Victon was wondering to
whom King Richard was talking as they were not visible!
Victon went inside the cave to check and the two were
still unconscious and the guards assured that no one came
anywhere near the cave!
Richard was highly appreciative of the Spitter and thought
of borrowing one from Victon.
Victon came back, ‘King Richard, you are a natural
warrior! We had to train for many days to get the hang of
it … but you hit the target for the first time itself! Please
have it! I have one more!’
Richard was so pleased that he hugged him as the Spitter
was definitely a remarkable weapon!
The night went slowly! Ro came with some news from the
spaceship. The creatures had sent at least ten of them to
collect some plants and to check for other beings… they
couldn’t follow all of them … But most of them came
back except for three or four!
Richard asked, ‘are the creatures numbers the same or
increasing?’
It was a strange question and Ro thought for a while, ‘We
counted around hundred but we did not count them again.’
Richard explained what the queen had about their way of
propagation by division!
Victon for the first time felt uneasy... They both were
silent for sometime…
Richard connected with Re who was in the city…They
were ok and no sign of any disturbance. The two passes
were filled with plants and most of the plants around had
taken refugee inside the city. But the fruit trees that were
there outside the city refused to come in and they made a
tight circle and stood near the entrance of the second pass!
Richard felt calm after listening to Re..He decided to kill
all of these as he considered them as weeds. A farmer
must kill the weeds or else he might not get the desired
result!
*
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