Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four)) (28 page)

Sprig asked the technician, “Where are you taking him?”

“Dorg-Ross hospital.”

Sprig looked at his device and saw that he had entered the location of the hospital’s entrance when he had originally downloaded all the coordinates into his reader. Sprig said, “I’m taking him directly there, is there anyone else that needs to go.”

Four more of the bridge crew were moved close to Wes. Sprig grabbed one of the technicians and said, “You’re going with us.” Sprig punched his enable button and all seven disappeared from the ship.”

They reappeared at the hospital entrance and surprised the hospital emergency staff waiting for the first arrivals. The technician yelled, “We’ve got wounded here. Get a move on.”

Sprig watched as Wes was taken inside and then he teleported back to the ship and brought twenty more to the entrance. He spent the next three hours moving wounded to the various medical facilities around the park. Twenty minutes into his efforts Twig appeared in front of him with an anxious Linda Kay. Twig moved up and wrapped him so tight in her limbs he thought he was going to be crushed. Then she stepped back and popped him a good one with one of her branches. Sprig rubbed where she had hit him and said, “Why did you do that?”

“You pile of green kudzu. You scared eight hundred years off my life span.”

Sprig looked at Linda Kay anxiously looking around and said, “Wes is at Dorg-Ross hospital. Twig, I’m sorry. I just couldn’t let him die without trying to save him.” Linda Kay ran up and hugged Sprig tightly as tears covered her face. Sprig put his branches around her and said, “Twig, take her to him and then I need your help moving the wounded.”

Twig hugged him again feeling her life come back into her and then grabbed Linda Kay and disappeared. Sprig moved over to the rear portion of the ship and saw more wounded to be transported. He felt sorrow for the many bodies of dead crewmen that didn’t make it but he didn’t have time to deal with it. He had to help the living. He disappeared with ten wounded sailors.”

Cassandra and Tommy flew down to the site of the wrecked ship and found Rose there watching the medical teams helping the wounded. She saw Tommy and Cassandra and walked up to them. “I was worried about you two. What happened here?”

Tommy looked where the pulse ship had broken and said, “Their weapons don’t penetrate our armor. The new skin prevents direct damage. Wes’ ship was the victim of bad luck. Their energy balls don’t penetrate but they do blast the ships around. The rear section was held in place by several hundred of the balls exploding on each side of the ship just as two hundred hit the port side of the nose. The ships structure just can’t handle that kind of push.”

Leila came running up and said, “Where is Wes?”

Cassandra thought, ‘Twig, where is Wes?”

“Dorg-Ross hospital.”

“His mother is here at the rear of the ship, can you come take her to him?”

Tommy said, “I’m not certain where he is Leila.”

Suddenly Twig materialized and said, “Which one is his mother?”

Cassandra said, “Leila, Wes is at Dorg-Ross and Twig is going to take you to him.” Leila looked up at the Algean as Twig took her hand and they disappeared.

Rose watched the proceedings and said, “I think that teleportation device is going to change our world dramatically.”

Tommy said, “You have no idea. I’m going to have fields installed into the ships before we go back into battle so the crew can step out to safety. We no longer need escape pods. They can just step right out into their home living rooms or anywhere else we choose.”

Rose said, “I understand that one of the Algeans is responsible for saving the ship.”

Tommy said, “He is the only reason anyone survived. Wes went to the defense of another ship and placed himself in danger to save that ship.”

Rose looked around and said, “We should go to the hospital to check on Wes.”

Cassandra furrowed her brow and said, “He’s in the operating room and the surgeon just said that it looks like several hours before the surgery is completed and he’s out of the woods.”

Rose rubbed her forehead and said, “He has got to make it. Leila will be inconsolable if he dies.”

Tommy shook his head and said, “We all will be; especially Linda Kay.”

Cassandra could only nod her head.

The First Male replayed the video of the strange white ship breaking up. He slowed it down, he sped it up. The beams had no effect on the ship. Beams that could blow up a planet did not affect these ships at all; but the energy balls, ah, that was a different story. The bigger the blast, the more those ships get bounced around. He thought about big explosions and then moved away from the construct and launched an energy ball. He watched as it moved out from the planet and he followed it for an hour; then he hit it with the full power of his main beam. The explosion was ten times larger than it would have normally been. “Now that’s progress,” he thought. “Now how do we use this?” He thought about the way the strange white ships were blown around and knew that if the explosions could be placed appropriately, then the ships could be destroyed. He began speaking to the hive warriors.

Wes was out of surgery and covered with medical machinery. He was being kept unconscious to promote healing. When the nose had been blown away from the main body of the ship, Wes had been thrown into the wall on his left side. His left lung was punctured, his arm broken, his leg broken in two places and his skull bruised against his helmet. Linda Kay stayed in the room with him holding his hand. Leila tried to get her to go home and get some rest but she refused. She continued to send her love to him in her thoughts. She told him to fight and to come back to her. She held his hand and waited. Sprig also stayed in the room with her. He stood beside the window in the sunlight and listened for Wes’ thoughts. Tommy sat outside the room in the hall. A platoon of marines kept the public away. Hundreds had shown up just to see a member of the Royal Family but the marines kept them at bay.

After four days a doctor came in and removed the IV that was being used to keep Wes unconscious. Linda Kay looked at the doctor and he said, “It’s up to him now.”

Three days passed by and Linda Kay looked at Sprig and said, “Wes has never told me what you did that got him named 3D.”

Sprig said, “It was an eventful moment.”

Linda Kay looked at Sprig and said, “What happened?”

Sprig moved uncomfortably from side to side and said, “I can’t tell you.”

Linda Kay looked disappointed and looked back at Wes and returned to her sorrow. Then she heard Sprig say, “But I can show you.” She looked back at him quizzically and Sprig said, “While I was down loading the information stored in the ship’s computer, I saw a file titled 3D-Sprig’s run. The bridge crew had taped the whole episode as soon as the initial event took place. Close your eyes and I’ll play it for you.”

Linda Kay closed her eyes and saw Wes coming out of deck three’s wash room completely soaked and covered in something else she didn’t recognize. The she watched as Wes chased Sprig around the ship. She started smiling and when Wes was stopped by Tommy she actually started laughing with Tommy. Captain Dodd trying not to laugh made her laugh so hard she had to hold her ribs. “Wes always takes things so seriously,” she giggled.

“Takes what so seriously? What are you laughing about? I can’t sleep with all this noise.” Linda Kay turned and saw Wes looking at her from his pillow. She shrieked her joy and kissed him gently on his forehead.

Sprig walked up and said, “Welcome back.”

Wes looked at Sprig and said, “The last thing I remember is my ship breaking up. Where am I?”

Sprig said, “You’re in Dorg-Ross hospital on Ross.”

Wes thought a moment and said, “The only way I could be here is by teleporting. I know there were thousands of energy balls coming at the ship after the breakup. You came after me, didn’t you?”

Sprig just stood there saying nothing.

“What about my ship?”

Linda Kay said, “He teleported your ship to Mars and then to Ross.”

Wes looked at Linda Kay and said, “My crew?”

Linda Kay didn’t want to say anything but knew he would not rest unless she told him, “Sixty percent of them were killed.” Wes winced and closed his eyes. “The forty percent that did survive are here because you insisted that every crew member wear light armor in battle. It’s what saved your life and the doctors tell me that that without it, none of your crew would have survived. The Polaris also survived and Captain Jones is distraught at what happened to your ship.”

“He shouldn’t be. He would have done the same for me.”

Sprig looked at Wes and said, “My friend, if the Polaris had taken the same hits as Atlantis, everyone on his ship would be dead. It has now been ordered that in all future fleet conflicts, all crew members will be required to wear armor. It’s being called the Atlantis doctrine.”

Wes looked up at Linda Kay and said, “I’m so sorry I’ve caused you pain.”

“Wes, I love you. My life has started again.”

Wes smiled at her and said, “I’m tired and I’m about to fall asleep. Please go home and clean up and get some rest. I’ll be fine.”

Linda Kay started to object when Tommy and Leila walked in and said, “We’ll take care of sleeping beauty here.”

Wes smiled at his mother and Tommy and said, “I’ll talk with you later.” Wes closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Sprig looked at Linda Kay and said, “I’ll take you directly home and bring you back the moment he wakes up again.”

Linda Kay looked at Sprig and said, “Why do you care so much about my husband?”

Sprig looked at her for a long time then said, “Twig and I saw the love you had for each other before the wedding. Later when we absorbed each other, it was the memory of your love that came alive in us. He also forgave me for the embarrassment I caused him. He is a good man and worthy of respect.”

“And love,” Linda Kay said.

“And love,” Sprig agreed.

Linda Kay walked up and hugged Sprig and they disappeared from the room.

Wes was out of the hospital for a week and Tommy was sitting on Atlas in a chair watching Ross rotate below him on the wall monitor. Neither one of them were talking. The wedding was delayed sixty days to allow Wes time to recover from his injuries and the ships of the fleet were being converted to the new Kosiev technology. Tommy finally had time to visit his friend. Atlas broke the silence and said, “I never expected that you would be able to slug it out with the Captors. Quite frankly, I never dreamed that you could do anything to them.”

“Atlas, they saw how one of our ships could be destroyed. I sense a danger in them now.”

“I know. What happened to the Atlantis will be used to develop a new strategy against you. I can also hear my brothers talking among themselves. Most of them were shut down for millions of years but your attack on the construct when you killed the young queen woke them up. They’re frightened that they will be destroyed to make room for the coming battle. I can hear them but I can’t contact them. The Captors will hear me.”

“Atlas, I never considered that it would become a war. I thought we would find a way to swoop in and snatch your brothers and make a quick escape. It just escalated so fast.”

There was silence again and then Atlas said, “Tommy, if it means risking your race, I don’t want you to have you take that risk.”

“Atlas, don’t you see; we were at risk even if we did nothing. They were coming to Jupiter. Our attack forced them to move quicker than they planned, however, if we had not moved against them we would not have the teleportation device. Thank the Creator for the Algeans and their discoveries. We were able to save Earth; but for you and our efforts, our people would be dead with the rest of our solar system. I know they are planning a way to destroy our ships and I don’t see another breakthrough to save us in the time that remains. However, I think we can save your brothers before they are destroyed.”

“How?”

“We will teleport the Kosiev in next to them and teleport the entire mass to another location and then hide them behind an invisible screen. The screen will prevent their signatures from being seen.”

“You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve been listening to my brothers and they are not ready to be released. They’re planning to destroy all the intelligent life in our universe after the Captors are destroyed to insure they are never held captive again.”

“Atlas, how can that be? Don’t they know what we’ve done to release them?”

Atlas was silent.

“Atlas?”

“Tommy, my race didn’t destroy the Algeans because of their meddling adolescents. They destroyed them because they could not tolerate another race close to them in technology. My race has no higher emotions; they feel nothing but pride.”

Tommy was stunned into silence. No one said anything for a long time. After thinking things through, Tommy said, “Why are you telling me this now?”