Read Online Ashes of the Realm - Death of an Empire (Ashes of the Realm (Book Three)) by Saxon Andrew - Free Book Online
Authors: Saxon Andrew
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invasion.”
“None of the planets infected by the spore had a civilization advanced enough to develop it. It would have taken us more than six thousand turns to develop anything like it. No, this was brought to that universe and deployed against us. The long delay before the spores activated was intentional to insure complete dispersal in all of our facilities and ships. The second generation of spores does not have that delay engineered into them; they attack immediately.”
The Distributor saw the Council’s rage was gone and they were thinking about what had happened. He was not out of the woods yet. Be careful, he kept telling himself.
“Can we develop a means to kill that spore?”
“It would take us more than a million turns to even come close. That spore is hardy and almost impossible to kill. Whoever designed it is very close to our level of bioengineering.”
“Is it possible to modify the pods to withstand the spore?”
“Not without losing the benefits of the powder and that still wouldn’t protect us from it.”
The Fourth Councilor leaned forward and stared at the Distributor in the display, “Then where did the spore originate?”
“It had to come from one of the universes we’ve been scouting for harvesting.”
The Fourth leaned back and frowned, “And you determined that….?”
“Whoever created this monstrosity had to know about our existence and possess the ability to go to other universes. It is my belief that one of our scouts was discovered and followed.”
The Distributor saw the First register fear, “Do you think they came here?”
“No, I do not. If they possessed a dimensional drive they would have attacked us here instead of in that universe. No, they saw one of our ships, followed it, and ddtermined we were coming once they saw our harvesting efforts. That gave them time to develop this spore.”
“How many universes have we scouted that have not been attacked?”
“Ten but only eight of them are candidates for the attacker. Two of them are only recently being scouted and wouldn’t allow enough time for the spore to be developed.”
The Third asked, “How much Remid do we have in our stores?”
“We have enough to supply us for more than four thousand turns. We eliminated three fleets because the supply was growing too fast and, as we all know, the potency is reduced over time. One fleet harvesting filled our needs perfectly.”
The First then asked the question that could get him killed, “How much has been contaminated?”
The Distributor knew that they would see his fear if he wavered so he answered honestly and hoped for the best, “I am forced to act like everything has been exposed. Our production centers, our distribution centers, and our reserve fleets.”
The Second stood and the Distributor saw his rage, “How was the reserve fleets infected. Are you that inefficient?”
The Distributor forced himself to show no outward fear and said, “It was your command that required me to only send the needed number of ships to harvest a universe. You ordered me to invade with the entire fleet but then withdraw those ships not needed to manage the harvest. The current universe being attacked has one third the normal number of galaxies and after the initial attacks, I followed your command and began withdrawing the appropriate number of ships to reserve. I have no way of knowing if any of the spores are on their hulls. I choose not to run a risk in using them in any future harvestings.” The Distributor saw the Second deflate immediately as the other three on the Council stared at him. The Distributor smiled and said, “Unless you think I should use them.”
The First continued to stare at the Second as he said, “No, you’re right in that choice. Does that mean we must rebuild our entire infrastructure again?”
“It does.”
“What are you going to do about the old fleets?”
“I think we should destroy them all including the reserve fleets and
“None of the planets infected by the spore had a civilization advanced enough to develop it. It would have taken us more than six thousand turns to develop anything like it. No, this was brought to that universe and deployed against us. The long delay before the spores activated was intentional to insure complete dispersal in all of our facilities and ships. The second generation of spores does not have that delay engineered into them; they attack immediately.”
The Distributor saw the Council’s rage was gone and they were thinking about what had happened. He was not out of the woods yet. Be careful, he kept telling himself.
“Can we develop a means to kill that spore?”
“It would take us more than a million turns to even come close. That spore is hardy and almost impossible to kill. Whoever designed it is very close to our level of bioengineering.”
“Is it possible to modify the pods to withstand the spore?”
“Not without losing the benefits of the powder and that still wouldn’t protect us from it.”
The Fourth Councilor leaned forward and stared at the Distributor in the display, “Then where did the spore originate?”
“It had to come from one of the universes we’ve been scouting for harvesting.”
The Fourth leaned back and frowned, “And you determined that….?”
“Whoever created this monstrosity had to know about our existence and possess the ability to go to other universes. It is my belief that one of our scouts was discovered and followed.”
The Distributor saw the First register fear, “Do you think they came here?”
“No, I do not. If they possessed a dimensional drive they would have attacked us here instead of in that universe. No, they saw one of our ships, followed it, and ddtermined we were coming once they saw our harvesting efforts. That gave them time to develop this spore.”
“How many universes have we scouted that have not been attacked?”
“Ten but only eight of them are candidates for the attacker. Two of them are only recently being scouted and wouldn’t allow enough time for the spore to be developed.”
The Third asked, “How much Remid do we have in our stores?”
“We have enough to supply us for more than four thousand turns. We eliminated three fleets because the supply was growing too fast and, as we all know, the potency is reduced over time. One fleet harvesting filled our needs perfectly.”
The First then asked the question that could get him killed, “How much has been contaminated?”
The Distributor knew that they would see his fear if he wavered so he answered honestly and hoped for the best, “I am forced to act like everything has been exposed. Our production centers, our distribution centers, and our reserve fleets.”
The Second stood and the Distributor saw his rage, “How was the reserve fleets infected. Are you that inefficient?”
The Distributor forced himself to show no outward fear and said, “It was your command that required me to only send the needed number of ships to harvest a universe. You ordered me to invade with the entire fleet but then withdraw those ships not needed to manage the harvest. The current universe being attacked has one third the normal number of galaxies and after the initial attacks, I followed your command and began withdrawing the appropriate number of ships to reserve. I have no way of knowing if any of the spores are on their hulls. I choose not to run a risk in using them in any future harvestings.” The Distributor saw the Second deflate immediately as the other three on the Council stared at him. The Distributor smiled and said, “Unless you think I should use them.”
The First continued to stare at the Second as he said, “No, you’re right in that choice. Does that mean we must rebuild our entire infrastructure again?”
“It does.”
“What are you going to do about the old fleets?”
“I think we should destroy them all including the reserve fleets and
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