Chapter 20: Chapter 20

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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