Chapter No.152 Attack of the Triffids

Who would have thought?

I had just gotten out of the shower when I was summoned by Judy.

"We have a distress call from the reptilian Fist."

"What's the problem?" I asked.

"He reports that his home world is under attack."

I rubbed my jaw. "Wow. We haven't had a call like that in some time. Go to Red Alert and use spin drive to get there along with Explorer-2, three Explorer-1 ships, three Myst and two Scath vessels."

I made my uniform appear on me and teleported to the command deck. Alexa was already there.

She turned to me. "You think this might be a Tyco ploy to pull us into a trap?"

"Could be, but we can't ignore the call for help."

She nodded, but I could tell by her expression that she wasn't all that happy about the situation. She hated Tyco more than I did and she didn't trust Fist.

We arrived at Fist's home world and immediately assumed an attack formation with our ship at the middle with the other vessels at flanking formation.

The alien craft attacking the reptilian vessels were weird beyond the meaning of that term. They looked a lot like bloomed flowers with large triangular pedals and a central section that resembled a dandelion.

"Attack at full power," I ordered. Having second thoughts, I held a hand up. "Wait, delay that. I'm going to stop time, except for us."

"Why?" Alexa asked, her face exhibiting frustration.

"I think I'll go over to the vessel and make sure this isn't a Tyco trick."

"Do you need my assistance?"

"No, I think it would be better if you stay here in case it is a trick."

She nodded.

I teleported to the alien ship in what I assumed was a control chamber. Three of the plant aliens were there but they were frozen in time. I made what I assumed was the leader enter the intermediate time stop dimension that my ship and I were in.

"Greetings. I am Jason Star and I'm here to determine why you are attacking the species that lives on the planet."

I could hear his response in my mind. There was no evidence of a sonic response.

"We are curious."

"I understand, but the planet's species assumes you are trying to invade."

"We don't invade."

"That's not exactly true. You abducted two individuals from Earth, which is my planet of origin, and transported them to your planet. Most intelligent life forms consider that an invasion."

There was a moment of silence before I received a response.

"We understand."

"I suggest that you don't try to make contact with any of the intelligent species in this galaxy. They are aligned in a coalition with the species on this planet. I'll start up time for you and allow you to take your vessel out of this system before I start up time for everyone."

"We will comply."

I smile. "Good."

I teleported back to my ship and waited until the alien craft departed before I started up time.

"I have a request for video communications," Judy said.

"Put it on," I said.

"What happened to the attacking vessel?" Fist asked.

"Ah, I convinced them to leave and not come back."

He stared at me for a moment before he nodded.

"Glad we could be of assistance," I told Fist.

"I see that you've created a much larger vessel," he said.

"We need larger ships to accommodate all of the androids that we've rescued from our enemy, Tyco."

"Do you have any data on the species that attacked us?"

"Yes. I will send it to you."

"We appreciate that," Fist replied. "We appreciate your timely arrival."

"That's what we're here for. Our mission is to protect all life, both organic and synthetic."

He nodded and the transmission ended.

"Do you think he believes us?" Alexa asked.

"Don't know. Don't really care. We have a job to do."

"The alien species looks more like a flower. I've captured an image when I was on their vessel."

We all stared at the image on the main screen in silence.

"Fascinating." I turned to Lucia and George. "Is this the alien species that abducted you?"

The answer from them took some time, but it was Lucia that answered.

"It is, signore," she said with her face signaling dread.

"That doesn't make sense. Why in the hell would this species come all the way from the center of the universe to bother the reptilians, who are strictly meat eaters?"

"Apparently, Fist isn't telling us the truth," Molly said.

"He isn't telling us anything," I said. "I have a hunch that he is familiar with this species."

"How would he know about this species?" Molly asked. "They're from clear across the universe."

"Yes, but we know that they've visited Earth before. I think Fist knows about them from a previous incident."

"I'll see if I can locate any report of such an incident," she said.

"There's a possibility that Tyco knows about the Triffids," I said.

Alexa looked at me and blinked. "Triffids?"

"Yeah, that's what I call them. It's from a fictional creature in the movie, 'The Day of the Triffids'. Of course, they were monsters with a taste for humans."

She made a face. "Of course."

"Are you suggesting that these aliens have a taste for humans?" Margaret asked.

"Could be. I could imagine that the reptilians and the Triffids are competing for meaty creatures."

"That makes sense," She replied. "I mean about why they are competing for food sources."

"Exactly," I said. "However, we've done our duty and we can go home."

Judy took us back to Earth.

"Molly, do you remember that time we were in Andromeda and found an advanced civilization that had created a Dyson sphere around their star?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Because a Dyson sphere might be a perfect solution to our problem of overpopulation."

"You've got to be kidding! We don't know how to build a Dyson sphere or keep it stable."

I smiled. "That's true, but we do know someone who does."

"As I recall they were not happy with visitors."

"Yes, but now Alexa and I could pacify them and get the information we need to build a Dyson Sphere."

"Are you talking about a giant sphere around a star?" Alexa asked.

"Yes," I said, turning to her. "We tried to make contact, but they destroyed our probe and tried to destroy our vessel."

"How do you know that they still exist?"

"We don't, but it's not that far away. We found it in Andromeda."

"Okay," Molly said. "Even if we could get the information about how they built it, where would we build one?"

"We'd have to find a suitable star, maybe a red dwarf that has planets."

"Red Stars shoot off deadly flares."

"And why do they do that?"

"Because they spin too fast, causing their magnetic fields to tangle."

"Well, the solution to that is to reduce their rotation to a more stable rate."

"And, how do you plan on doing that?" she asked, frowning.

"Alexa and I can move gravastars. Slowing down the spin of a red dwarf star should be a piece of cake."

"So, when are we going to the Dyson sphere?" Molly asked.

"We're not doing anything right now. Let's go see it now."

"Take us there, Judy," Alexa ordered.

And, we were off to our next adventure.