Chapter 32

Solar time unit = year planetary time unit = day

Sam was heading away from the IP world as fast as he could. Thankfully, the draining had stopped and the sun was getting him back to feeling normal.

A look at the fleet showed that the wave he and Thantas had used had knocked most of them out.

Sam, came Thantas’s thoughts. Are you alright? We thought you had departed us when you streaked off like that.

I apologize to all of you. When Drivas was hurt, I grew far angrier than I thought I would. I can tell you that there are now only three councilors left. Sam’s thoughts brought gasps from the others.

We were worried when your life signs dropped so low. Are you sure that you are functioning well? came the worried thoughts of Drivas.

All of you are dear to me. The fact that one of you was harmed has shown me that. I don’t want ... Sam paused to settle his thoughts. I don’t want to fail, to lose any, let alone one of you.

All five of the females with him looked at him, startled. Drivas and Thantas moved forward to hold Sam.

You didn’t fail us; you have freed us and so many others, Thantas’s thoughts said as Drivas nodded her agreement.

A deep sigh sounded from Sam’s thoughts. I won’t kill unless there is no other way. That, or the one I do kill is so evil there is no other way to end their terror. I lost a hundred beings on one of the Triad worlds because I was not fast enough. I don’t want to be the cause of any more innocents losing their lives.

We are all here to help you, Sam. Remember, it is them, not you, that was the cause of the loss of life, Thantas’s thoughts came, trying to soothe Sam.

Sam nodded. All of you know that they have some type of draining field near the chamber with the councilors. I barely made it out of there.

The rest of those with him, their eyes wide at the news. Sam was the most powerful they had seen; if it had affected him that badly, what chance did they have?

The Lord Doctor again looked at the lifeless bodies of the three councilors. The last three were sucking nutrients as fast as they could, but they were still only at about half their power. He really needed them higher if they were going to destroy this Sam creature.

The Doctor had already resigned himself to the fact his race was finished. They needed to make sure that when they went, the Cliverstones did also.

The Doctor touched a button, and it showed the view of the two elite offspring, who were still trapped within the energy barrier. He had to execute them also, before he set off the planet shatter bombs.

Leaving the chamber, he started to rapidly return to his domicile. With any luck, most of the Cliverstones, plus all of the remaining elites, would be destroyed within a few time units.

When he entered his domicile, something didn’t seem right. Checking all the readings within and without the building showed that nothing was amiss. Still, an uneasy feeling was staying with him.

Might as well destroy the offspring and their sires while there is still time left. Reaching out, the Doctor felt for the two elites.

I hope that the two of you listen well, came the Doctor’s thoughts. Listen to the last cries of your pathetic offspring as I slowly crush the life from them. Know that their cries of death will empower me to further levels that will allow me to destroy Sam and the other Cliverstones.

The Doctor suddenly heard an almost evil laugh that seemed to come from the area where the elites were. Pathetic? You are becoming forgetful in your advanced years. Have you forgotten that we elites always have more than two ways out? By now, our offspring have gathered enough energy that you will never reach them before they are free.

The Doctor turned to see the glowing cylinder that the male was holding. With a growl then a roar, the Doctor tried to make the energy barrier contract. When nothing happened, the Doctor nodded his head. Come for them. Neither of you have the power to ... At that moment, more than a few alarms started to go off.

“Warning, warning. Unidentified assailants approaching the planet. Readings show that no energy shield we possess will be capable of stopping them. Also, detecting a being of pure thought energy moving toward this location,” a monotone voice said.

The Doctor growled as he donned a cover for his brain area. Turning toward the wall, the Doctor spoke, “Arm both planet shatter bombs. Start the rest of the countermeasures for the approaching Cliverstones.”

Less than a moment later, a shadowy figure appeared. “So, it is you, Melacon,” a voice sounded in and around the Doctor. “After all this time, I will finally complete my mission, my mission to destroy the evilest of the Tetricon race.”

An evil smile twisted on the face of Melacon. “I know not how you survived all this time. I am more than certain that the power you had has done nothing but decline.”

A smile appeared on the face of the shadowy figure. “I guess you will perish with that mystery on your mind then. I have waited a very long time to finally purge the universe of your evil.”

Immediately, the shadowy figure released a titanic blast of energy that knocked Melacon off his feet. Slamming into the wall, Melacon sprang up, sending his own energy blast. Melacon’s eyes were wide when the figure almost absentmindedly slapped the blast away.

“My, my, here I thought you would have become stronger. That wasn’t worthy of even your people’s offspring. I can see that this will be far easier than I thought,” the figure said.

A look of seething anger crossed Melacon’s face. “We will see who is still alive when this is finished.” Melacon again sent out an energy blast, though this one was far more powerful.

The figure again pushed it away, though it took a little more effort. “Ah! Much better! Perhaps I might get to use more of my power.”

Melacon laughed. “I think you are about to discover that you are dead!”

An excited laugh came from the shadowy figure. “Dead? Been there, done that. Alive or dead, I have far more than enough power to end you.”

An angry growl issued from the throat of Melacon. “It is time to rectify that situation. I have to admit that dead looked far better on you than anything else.”

Melacon growled louder as the next blast from the figure had him pinned painfully to the wall.

“You are as you were. All that time passed, you cannot even realize that soon you will be destroyed!” The figure said as it increased the power hitting Melacon.

The others that were where the portal had been were beginning to worry. They had felt Sam’s energy fall, something that they had expected, though not to the low levels that they had.

All the leaders from the Triads had decided to advance when Sam’s power started to climb rapidly. They started to relax, then felt two powers almost as strong as Sam on the IP world.

It was clearly not Sam as he was a small distance from it. They all could only stare at each other, wondering if Sam was aware of these two strong powers.

Once again, the leaders were united in their decision to move forward when they heard Sam. All of them smiled as they shook their heads or equivalent in agreement.

This time, all of the allies moved forward, though this time, it was with a determined purpose.

Sam nodded as he felt the others move forward, not toward him, but in an indirect path toward the IP world. A turn back toward the IP fleet had his smile fading in a moment. It was obvious that these assholes didn’t care about life other than their own.

Sam had seen more than a few like this. No matter what you did, they would never change. It wasn’t that he wanted to destroy them; he would if there was no choice. Sam was starting to feel that it might be the only thing he could do.

Then there were the Tetricons, well, most of them. They, he knew, he was going to destroy. The four gone now had him feeling slightly better. Slightly, though not completely. He knew if one survived, this would start all over again.

Sam could feel his power starting to climb faster. Ah! The sun’s energy was more than refreshing.

I have to end this soon, Sam thought, then felt something ominous emanating from the planet itself. Sam stared at the area where he felt it coming from. His eyes went large when he felt something like a huge explosive.

Sam turned, heading to the surface as fast as he could. Impacting the ground, he was heading underground at an alarming speed. He stopped short when he broke through into a huge chamber.

Not slowing, Sam grasped the over a kilometer-sized bomb. He pushed, moving it up a long tunnel, crushing the doors that were closed at each level. Finally, he had it moving far faster than he thought he could. Breaking through to the surface, Sam kept going, finally achieving outer space. With a final push, Sam sent it into deep space.

With a turn back, Sam grimaced as he felt the other bomb. Head diving, Sam hit the surface far faster this time, feeling that he had little time to get this off the planet.

Melacon growled when he saw that Sam had removed the largest of the planet shatterers.

So, came the shadowy figure’s thoughts, once again it appears that you are going to fail. So pitiful that the last of your race was dependent upon the very race you strove to destroy. When you are gone, the universe can truly start to live and breathe again.

You have such high expectations for your success, returned Melacon’s thoughts. I cannot see how you can win when the planet and Sam will soon be but a memory. Melacon started to laugh as he was able to break a limb loose from the power that the shadowy figure had him pinned with.

Melacon barely touched a button that activated the last bomb. Then his eyes went wide as he saw that Sam was already making space, pushing the bomb away. A sinister smile came to his lips when he saw that Sam would still be within its sphere of effect when it went off.

Sam had hurried as fast as he could, releasing the bomb, and watched as it sped away. At just over ten kilometers away, Sam was wide-eyed when it went off! Damnit, he thought, the energy wave is going to impact the planet.

Sam tried to brace himself; he had used a hell of a lot of his energy. With a shake of his head as he watched the wave come closer, he knew one way or another this was going to hurt.

Right before it hit him, he could swear he heard a great multitude of voices yell out. The wave was moving over him. Sam was pushing most of his energy into a protective shield. For a short time, it held, though with the wave as large as it was, the shield was soon failing. Sam’s last thought as his defenses succumbed was, damn, this sucks.

Thantas felt the energy wave as it was approaching Sam, damnit! She was too far away to get him out of the way. Reaching out, she tried to add to Sam’s shield though, as she thought, she was too far away to affect it much.

Melacon’s face had an evil smile on it as he watched the wave wash over Sam. Even as strong as he was, there was no way he could survive that. If he did, he’d be severely damaged, of no use to his people.

It was at that moment that he felt the pressure from the shadowy figure increase more than twice what it had. A crashing sound from above and behind him revealed the offspring of the Elites, plus their sires staring angrily at him.

“So, I join the rest of our noble race today. At least that pest of space garbage ends with me today,” Melacon said.

“Noble!? Please, there is nothing noble about ruling through fear. If anything, you join the rest of the failure that was most of our race,” the male Elite said.

“I...” Melacon started when most of his legs snapped, dropping him to the floor. His breathing got more difficult as pressure increased over all his body. “You cannot win, you are just as power-hungry as you accuse us of being,” Melacon gasped out.

“No, this is not to rule, this is justice for the billions you have destroyed,” the shadowy figure said as it nodded to the two Elites and their offspring.

All five turned toward Melacon as an almost visible wave of energy hit Melacon. Melacon started to scream as his entire body was crushed into an unrecognizable pulp.

A voice within the room said, “Transfer now being accomplished.”

A doorway into another room opened, showing seven clear capsules with Tetricon bodies within them.

The female Elite nodded her head, “so that was their plan. We had wondered how Melacon’s body had survived all this time. The atmosphere of this planet is in no way conducive to our race’s well-being.”

The female was about to speak again when she and the male’s heads turned toward the ceiling. The male then turned to the female, “it appears that Sam was caught in the blast, no one can feel him. We best go, after we take care of Melacon’s consciousness.”

“I am afraid that I cannot allow that,” a voice came from the speakers mounted in the walls.

The female started to scan around the whole room, then below their feet. “So, you, like the Cliverstone, were trapped within the machine. Ah! It appears that Melacon left very advanced programming to prevent your escape.”

“Ha! As if that was ever going to happen, especially after he thoroughly destroyed my body. There is no system to take my mind; it took Melacon many years to get the system perfect. No, I knew that this was a one-way trip when he started this. Please end me quickly, I’m not sure if I can take the torture much longer,” the computer voice said.