Chapter 07 - The Unusual Universe

I decided to take an extended trip to the outer reaches of the universe to see if I could learn anything else that would aid in our defenses. While exploring I came across some interesting places and met creatures I would have never imagined could exist. The truly strange, unique places were more common outside the Doxades, since Phos and his underlings exercised stricter control over the development of their creatures. I focused my research on Michael’s and Gabriel’s domains.

In one solar system in Mallachia, the creatures were fanatical builders. They called their world Tektos. These Tektonians built the finest spaceships imaginable. Even though practically no civilization could compare with the Atala at first, these builders architecturally surpassed them after a few centuries. They constructed wonderful buildings, sculptures, and to my surprise even weapons. Since their realm was quite near the Doxades and since some of their neighbors were all too friendly with Phos and his henchmen; they were building powerful strongholds and defensive weaponry.

”Have you seen our space station yet?” their leader asked me.

“No,” I answered. “I didn’t see anything orbiting your world.”

“I don’t know how you missed it,” he said grinning. “It’s as large as Tektos, but it orbits our star along the same path as our world. We built the entire thing with stealth technology and made it optically blend in with the surroundings. Unless you were only a few miles from the surface, you’d never see it!”

“Wow, you have to show me this,” I said.

We boarded a shuttle and flew out to a seemingly empty void in space. Then, “whump!” it appeared out of nowhere right in front of us, armed to the teeth. The surface looked like a prickly sea urchin because of all the gun barrels. The most impressive was a powerful antimatter cannon capable of destroying an entire planet. I nicknamed this enormous fortress ‘The Death Star.’ My guide didn’t know what I was talking about and thought the name was too morbid. The reason they built it was to help defend their home world and to have a place of refuge, should their planet be overrun or destroyed. In fact, the ‘Death Star’ was capable of sustaining life on the same level as their planet. Everything had to live beneath the surface, but otherwise they could theoretically transplant their entire ecosystem onto their space station.

I asked them if I could share some of their technology with the three loyal planets in Helios’ system. They were glad to help, but they warned me not to build things too similarly to their designs. Their open animosity to Phos and his cronies was well known. If three planets in the middle of his realm suddenly started building ‘Death Stars,’ Phos would know where our loyalties lay. Nonetheless, I took as many plans as I could for weaponry, architecture, and spacecraft to share with the Atala and Martians.

One of the planets in Gabriel’s realm named Gania was like night and day when compared to Tektos. These beings turned their entire planet into a well-cultivated garden. They also built structures deep in the oceans and jungles (if such a well-manicured garden could be called such) to facilitate the observation of their wildlife.

They shunned space exploration, but their neighbors near and far would come visit them to tour their amazing ecosystem. The Venusians would have loved to visit this world, but being millions of light years away and unable to use wormholes made this impossible. I brought them some pictures after my visit, and they were utterly amazed. They really preferred a more rugged natural world to live in, but the wildlife observatories they saw inspired them to build similar structures. They even started receiving visitors from other planets who wanted to see their amazing plants and wildlife. I also brought some textbooks from Gania on genetic manipulation that I thought would come in handy. The Venusians were good, but they were still having difficulties with their pyrokinetic beasts, so I figured this would help.

The Atala had a few observatories built on their planet, although the wildlife on Earth wasn’t nearly as interesting as on Venus. I was glad they made them though, for I knew they’d come in handy whenever the humans made their debut on the planet. I knew the first human would take a keen interest in naming all the animals, and another human would arise later who had to collect samples of each living creature. These observatories would make their work much easier.

One planet I visited deep in Gelashalem named Akholenia had some creatures with an unusual habit. These beings had a very slow metabolism. They were almost like snakes, eating only a few times a year at most! They’d actually build their dwellings out of edible material and then eat them every couple of months – giving new meaning to eating oneself out of house and home! Shortly before the architectural feeding frenzy, they’d build new houses in which to live so that they’d have a place to call home after the feast. They were baffled at the way I had to eat every few hours. I technically could have managed without food, but I had been getting regular meals all my life, and it was one habit I could never completely break. These creatures would allow me to take a few bites out of their homes here and there whenever I felt like it. It was strange – Hansel-and-Gretel strange. Still, they didn’t seem to mind at all, as long as I didn’t eat holes into the walls. I couldn’t find anything here that I thought would be useful for my neighbors on Earth however.

On another planet named Chronia – this time in Mallachia – the beings were obsessed with astronomy and time. They had all the planetary movements in their system calculated with extreme accuracy and built large clocks and observatories to track them.

“This is a place the Martians from my system could enjoy,” I told them. “Your skill at building spaceships and timepieces is second to none.” Their purpose in making them, however, was to expand their knowledge of the movements of the heavenly bodies and not necessarily to travel or explore. People would come from all over to learn their technology. Their navigation devices, clocks, telescopes, and space ships were always in high demand. Unfortunately their technology was based on their own position in their universe and their own measurements of time, so nothing they built would help a civilization millions of light years away in a different position in the heavens. Besides, the Atala and Martians had no small skill in astronomical devices and space ships.

Another planet I encountered, also in Michael’s realm, had creatures who were nearly invisible. They were physical creatures – solid even – but they were very hard to see. Additionally, they built nearly everything they could out of transparent materials. They all had well-developed senses of smell, hearing, and touch upon which they primarily relied. Fortunately I was also able to use those senses well, or else I would have constantly been running into things. Their technology was quite interesting and would have been downright useful, but it required having the right raw materials. Their planet was teeming with a kind of invisible plant which gave off invisible fruits and invisible sap. It was the basis of their diet and construction materials. The plant spread like kudzu and yet did not damage their environment. Unfortunately I could not get the samples I picked up to grow on Venus, Earth, or Mars. Try as I might, there was something about the ecosystem there that supported this interesting plant which did not exist anywhere else. The name of this realm was Anorasis.

One planet I found was so close to its sun that the entire surface was molten lava. There was no crust whatsoever to speak of. The creatures living there were capable of withstanding incredibly hot temperatures. They looked like mermaids and mermen, but their skin was very thick and heat resistant. They were actually in the Doxades, right on the border with Mallachia. They aptly named their planet Hades after the agent in charge of processing the souls the dead, who lived on the surface of their neighboring sun, an old brown dwarf star which was running out of nuclear material to burn.

Normally Phos would not have tolerated such an unusual development of beings by planetary agents under his control, but much of their design occurred by accident. The planet was a little closer to its star than had been intended, but the agent of light, Hades, could not successfully move it out of its orbit once it was fixed. The planetary agents therefore had no success forming a crust for the planet. It was basically just a large metallic, molten core surrounded by a gigantic mantle. When they couldn’t cool off the mantle’s surface enough, they just designed creatures which could swim in lava.

I wasn’t entirely sure where their loyalty lay, but Proxima later told me they were acting as spies. They maintained a close relationship with the rebel agents and nearby rebel creatures on other planets, but they would never side with them if they openly rebelled. They built absolutely no defenses to speak of, for no one could have attacked them anyway. Even the agents, upon taking up physical forms, could not bear the heat for very long. The only ones who could were agents of light or higher, and there weren’t many of those. Unless millions of these upper-level agents were to abandon their armies, weakening their realms’ defenses dramatically, and attack solely this planet, they could never hope to defeat them. Even if they did this, what were they going to do? These beings throve on heat, so nuking them with a sun-like fireball would have made them stronger. The planetary agents who ran this world would not have stood a chance. The physical beings were quite powerful without any additional help from weaponry or architecture. Proxima was excited about the fact that this world would basically end up becoming annexed into Mallachia while Phos could do nothing about it.

I did not like visiting their planet. I was able to survive, but I never really liked hot places that much. Iraq had been miserable for me, and not much had changed as far as I was concerned. I did stay long enough to take tissue samples of these creatures to see if we could develop something this flame resistant back at home. The small amount of architecture they did have, basically the floating shelters in which they dwelt, also seemed to be quite useful, so I got blueprints and instructions on how to form the building materials used. One advantage in getting their help is that Phos would not have been the least bit suspicious seeing their technology crop up on Earth or one of the neighboring planets.

The next world I visited, Mayima, was almost the exact opposite of this place. It was in Gabriel’s realm, and it was entirely underwater. There were no land masses, so everything was aquatic. “The Atala would be speechless with excitement if they could see this place,” I told the Mayimans. “Could I get the blueprints and manuals to your undersea vessels?” These were a lot faster and sturdier than those the Atala had and would dramatically improve their transportation assets in the water. They were more hydrodynamic and mimicked the living sea creatures on that planet, so unless one was specifically looking for them, they’d be mistaken for whales. I hoped the Atala wouldn’t feel insulted that I included these design improvements. They were very proud of their maritime technology.

“No problem!” their leader answered. “Anything to help your poor planets stuck in the middle of ol’ Phosphoros’ realm.” Wow, the news of our situation had traveled disturbingly far. I made sure they didn’t mention this to anybody else.

Another realm in Gelashalem named Luculentia was shockingly opulent. The entire place seemed to be made of precious metals! They weren’t even that precious here. Practically everything they built was made from gold, silver, platinum, palladium, etc., or some alloy or amorphous combination of them. The cities here were breathtakingly beautiful. I warned them to defend themselves, should Phos get greedy and try to capture their world. They were a good ways from the border of the Doxades though, so it would have been somewhat difficult for Phos to achieve victory here. Gabriel’s realms were not big on warfare and defenses, but they knew enough to prevent Phos from overrunning them. Besides, had Phos tried a massive invasion of Gabriel’s realm, Michael would have attacked him viciously on the other side, and Phos would have gained nothing.

I really couldn’t find anything useful on this planet. Earth, Venus, and Mars all had these metals and knew of all the uses they served. Granted, we had not even a fraction of the amount they did and weren’t using them to build houses, streets, or spaceships! I recorded a few images of what I saw here so I could show the Martians and make their jaws drop. Otherwise, I left empty-handed unless you count a few dozen pieces of normally priceless jewelry I picked up for Cala for the price of a song. Now I just needed to find a planet that had diamonds, rubies, and sapphires instead of sand!

The next world I visited, called Palusingens, wasn’t nearly as glamorous. This one was in Mallachia, and the entire planet had no distinctive oceans or landmasses. Instead, it was a gigantic swamp! The creatures there were straight out of a ‘Swamp Thing’ horror story. They were kindhearted, friendly swamp-things, but they looked just like I’d have imagined – scaly, fish-like amphibious creatures with fangs and claws that lurked just under the surface and would pop up, scaring the daylights out of any unsuspecting visitor (me). After I explained to them that where I grew up, we had horror stories involving creatures that looked similar to them, they understood why I was so jumpy, but they seemed to be somewhat offended that we’d paint such a negative picture of life in a marshland.

I did not find many useful things on this planet, but the variety of creatures did astound me. They had every sort of creature imaginable, from minuscule little flies to gigantic loch-ness-like creatures which would dwarf the most enormous whale or sea-lizard back on Earth or Venus. One species I saw was a mile long. I couldn’t believe it! When it opened its mouth, it could have swallowed a blue whale whole. Fortunately it only ate plants. Still, I wouldn’t have wanted to be one of the gargantuan trees that lived on this planet when one of these was hungry. I’d watch thousand-foot-high, sky-scraping swamp trees as wide as a mountain disappear in a matter of minutes when this creature dined. I felt sorry for the smaller birds, bugs, and lizards that inhabited the doomed tree, but they usually could hear this behemoth coming from a long way off and fled for another one before it started chomping down on their home. These gigantic beasts thankfully didn’t eat very often, but watching them when they did was like witnessing a natural disaster.

I took some more pictures for the Venusians to marvel at when I got home. The only useful bit of technology I could find here was a device that enabled them to navigate through swamps easily. It would help us build headgear that could ‘see’ through mud, using a rather complicated combination of sonar and viscosity sensors. I figured the Venusians could use it to hide in their abundant swamps, sneak up on any enemies who might venture into those areas, and scare the living daylights out of them. When the ‘swamp-things’ demonstrated how their navigation equipment worked, they scared the pants off me. One minute I’d just be wading through some mud, and the next minute some swamp creature would emerge next to me, grab me, and pull me under before I could even let out a scream of horror. I later convinced the Venusians to add horns and fangs to the headgear so that the wearer would look truly horrifying. I suspected I’d have to explain my adventures here on this planet to a psychologist someday.

On my expedition through the universe, I predictably came across a civilization of creatures that could change shape. This planet, named Polydermata, was also in Mallachia. I couldn’t honestly say what they looked like. There were various levels of beings here. I guess some of them could be classified as insects, birds, land animals or sea creatures, but it was hard to distinguish them any further. Perhaps there were only five species – the four I just mentioned plus the intelligent beings. Any further classification would have been impossible for me. The intelligent beings were actually capable of taking on any form imaginable in any size. They could look like a tiny insect or a large sea creature. They changed size by changing density. If they shrunk to the size of an insect, they were still as dense and massive as they were before, but if they took on the form of a large sea creature, they would end up being rather airy and light. To counteract this, they would swallow a large amount of water or mud while in this form to add to their mass, and when they converted to something smaller, they’d regurgitate it back out. It was somewhat disgusting to watch, but entertaining nonetheless. I think it would have been neat to be able to sprout wings and fly. Forget changing size! Just give me the ability to fly or swim like a fish, and I’d be happy.

They didn’t have any technology I could have considered useful. They were not near the border with the Doxades, but if they needed to defend their planet, they could sprout deadly weapons from their arms and legs. I watched as one turned his hands into swords and sprouted tiny spikes and dense plates all over his body to defend himself. He then proceeded to chop up a nearby tree faster than any lumberjack I’d ever seen. I certainly would not have wanted to attack an army of creatures which could do that! Add wings or fins to one of these living porcupines, and they’d be able to stop anything anywhere. I took one last longing look at them and their amazing anatomy before leaving in search of other strange worlds with more useful technology.

One world I encountered, named Hygrosiderous, was pretty incredible. There was no water whatsoever on it. It was like a desert. The only liquid available was mercury, which would be deadly for the carbon-based life forms I was trying to help. Here the creatures consisted of silicon and mercury – the two most abundant substances on that planet. Their bodies were therefore very tough and dense, which was fortunate since their climate was so arid and replete with sandstorms, dunes, and oppressive heat. It brought back too many bad memories. Their usefulness to me was limited, owing to their lack of advanced technology and the fact that contact with any living creature here would have been deadly for my neighbors. They were from Gelashalem and did not feel the need to travel through space or develop into an advanced civilization. The only thing at which they excelled was surviving in one incredibly harsh environment. They were friendly enough and very helpful to me, but they understood when I told them they had nothing I could use. Apparently a lot of creatures living near them couldn’t survive contact with mercury either. I thanked them for their hospitality and continued on my journey.

One of the last places I visited was in Mallachia on the planet Thaumasthesia. The creatures here were, hands down, the most unusual I found anywhere. The flora and fauna were rather normal in comparison to other worlds I visited, but the intelligent beings I met were beyond weird. They had no distinguishable eyes, noses, ears, or mouths. They looked quite scary actually. The only sense they had was their metaphysical one. When they communicated with me, it was via telepathy. When they moved about, they sensed the metaphysical aspects of nearby objects to avoid collisions. Now, I had some sense of spiritual things, or I would have truly been lost here, but their senses were far beyond mine. It was probably because I had not spent much time developing my own, but since they only had the one sense, they had honed it into a finely tuned instrument. They could ‘see,’ ‘hear,’ ‘smell,’ and communicate on a spiritual level, which actually enabled them to take in their surroundings with perceptions normal creatures couldn’t have compared with. There was no sneaking up on them, for example. In a fight they would have been almost undefeatable, for they could sense what others were going to do before it happened. They did have a standing army, since they dwelt closer to Phos’ realm than most and could sense disturbing things coming from there. One of them showed me how well he could fight in an unarmed duel with me. I couldn’t land a punch nor could I defend myself from him because he anticipated everything I did and countered me with exactly the thing that would best exploit my weaknesses.

I actually spent a rather long time with the Thaumasthesians. They recognized my underdeveloped spiritual sense and insisted I spend some time training with them. They blindfolded me, stopped up my ears, administered medication that eliminated my sense of smell and taste, and forced me to rely on the metaphysical realm. I perfected telepathic communication, although it would be useless back on Earth except for talking to agents. I learned how to fight using their techniques until I was good enough to hold my own against one of their warriors. I felt like going back to Venus to see if their war champion could defeat me now that I could fight blindfolded. I also felt like I could perhaps facilitate the development of theirs and the Atala’s and Martians’ own metaphysical senses a little more. If that worked out, then what I learned on this planet would come in most handily.

After a few months of training and learning from these amazing creatures, I bade farewell and headed back to Earth. I spent the rest of the time we had before the impending rebellion imparting the knowledge I had picked up on my expedition to the Venusians, Atala, and Martians. The technological devices were the easiest to share, but the spiritual training I had received last was the most difficult to pass on. The other creatures simply did not have as developed a sense for metaphysical things as I had. I managed to teach them a few tricks, but I never could manage to telepathically communicate with them well or teach them to move objects with their minds. This last skill – telekinesis – was something I used quite sparingly. In a battle, I might discreetly hamper an opponent by spiritually ‘tripping’ him, but I did not use it in day-to-day business. Everyone to whom I showed it found it to be incredibly disturbing, so rather than risk being ostracized, I refrained from openly displaying my new talent.

The creator also advised me to use sparingly any abilities I had that the other creatures did not share. He reminded me that later on when I was dealing with humans, they would find such abilities to be downright revolting or evil, and so I’d best not flaunt them in public. Still, when I was alone, it certainly was convenient to be able to grab something from across the room by making it float to me or by switching on a light without getting out of bed. Cala knew how I had learned such skills and tolerated it better than most, but I could tell that even she found such activities to be a bit unnerving. She absolutely forbade me from telling her something telepathically or trying to read her mind. This last ability I could never have done without her express permission anyway, but I refrained from any metaphysical communication with her. She didn’t mind when I turned on a light switch from across the room or made a book float off a bookshelf through the air into my open hands, so I left it at that.

The metaphysical training setback notwithstanding, our defenses on Earth, Venus, and Mars were never better. Adding to the relentless war preparations, these new little technological bonuses I picked up on my expeditions had me thinking we were pretty much unstoppable. The only way we’d know was once the rebellion started. Time was running out as far as I could tell. The transfer of creatures from Semesh to Neptune was nearly complete, and I couldn’t see anything else that would further delay Phos.

Chapter 06 - Mars And Venus

While preparations on Earth were underway, I decided to see how things were going on our neighboring planets.  I first went to Mars, for I feared this diminutive race would have the most difficulty in war.  They seemed to be thinking the same thing I was, so they focused their efforts on building impregnable fortresses and defensive artillery, hoping they wouldn’t have to fight on the many open plains of their planet.  They also had large units of aerial fighters – basically just pteranodon-like creatures with Martian sharpshooters strapped to their backs.

I toured one of the completed fortresses, and afterwards I was impressed.  The structure was actually built right into a mountainside where an entire underground Martian city lay.  The structural improvements were camouflaged to look like the mountain itself.  The old city entrance was undetectable now, and the slopes bristled with hidden missile silos and powerful lasers.

Marradok, High King of Mars, showed me another ingenious defense.  “We modified an antigravity shield from a spaceship and used it on all the entrances and around the weapons.  If enemies get too close to a gate or try to sabotage a weapon, they’ll bounce backwards as if they had struck an invisible rubbery wall.  The harder something hits the shield, the harder it flies back!”

“Brilliant!” I said.  “The only drawback is that these shields use a lot of energy.  I see you have solar generators and windmills, but these have to be protected as well.  If a massive invasion were to occur, you’d have to engage your nuclear reactors at nearly full capacity in order to power all the shields and weapons on the same power grid.  Bringing that many systems online will take time. You’re going to need an elaborate early-warning system.  If it can’t be completed before the impending invasion starts, the entire planet might be overrun before a suitable defense can be mounted.”

“I told Proxima about this weakness,” admitted Marradok, “but he was unconcerned. ‘I wouldn’t worry about an early warning,’ he told me.  You’ll know about an invasion long before anything gets through my defenses.’  I don’t know what he could have meant by that, Malkin.”

I wasn’t sure what he had in mind either.  Proxima had a penchant for flashiness and drama.  His defenses would either work incredibly well or would kill everybody.  I had an image in my mind of flaming meteors orbiting the planet at incredible speeds crashing into anything and everything.

“Proxima, just remember these Martians can’t handle massive meteor showers or violent climactic upheavals.  You’ll need to show restraint when protecting them,” I warned him.

“Not to worry!” he assured me with a wave of his hand.  “Our defenses will work quite well, and no Martians, Venusians, or Atala will be harmed…that is unless the rebels break through.  Of course, that won’t be easy! What they need to focus on, Malkin, are finishing construction on the strongholds and figuring out a way to produce food underground.  I can’t imagine the invaders will leave their farmlands unharmed.  It will do them no good to defeat the enemy if they starve to death afterwards.”

“I’ll relay your concerns to the High Kings,” I told him.  “Just be sure you tell us about your dramatic defense plan.”

“All in good time, little guy!” said Proxima with a wink.  “We’ve got to tweak the design a bit.  I’ve never made one of these so small before.  If it doesn’t fit properly, the whole planet might expl…, er, not be adequately defended.”

My heart leapt into my throat at this Freudian slip of his.  “If there’s a chance the planet will explode, don’t go through with it!” I pleaded.

“Relax,” he said soothingly.  “I’ll test it on some large asteroids in my system.  It’ll be completely safe before I set it off here around these planets.”

Now I had less reason to relax than ever.  Did he say “set it off” or “set it up?”  I went to the Martian High King to brief him.  He assured me he’d have the fortresses finished in time, and that there was a contingent of Venusian botanists working to develop subterranean crops for their survival.  He seemed to have complete faith in Proxima’s secret, potentially cataclysmic defense system, so I left it at that.  I had warned him, but he wasn’t worried.  I’d done what I could do.

My next stop was Venus.  Their fighting force looked ready for anything.  They were as tall as trees, as strong as granite, and as fast as a striking cobra.  I sparred with a few to test them.  Anyone I fought could easily hold his or her own against me, and the more talented ones could toss me around like a rag doll.  I was so impressed that I decided to stay a few months longer to train with their best fighter and learn what I could.  He was so good!

Their defenses weren’t as good though.  They didn’t have impenetrable mountain fortresses, mainly because they hadn’t used their mountains at all up until that point.  A contingent of Martian and Atalan architects were hard at work helping them build fortresses in their unused mountainous terrain.  They only planned on using these for underground crops or as a last refuge, should the battle go horribly wrong.

Their entire race preferred living outdoors.  They barely constructed any shelters at all, in fact.  Venus was always warm and rarely experienced bad weather.  Besides, a domicile large enough for a giant Venusian would require felling a lot of trees or moving a lot of rocks.  They just didn’t feel it was worth the effort.

They understood the importance of underground havens, however.  It was only the farmers selected to tend these new crops who weren’t too excited about their new living arrangements.  If any Venusian loved the outdoors the best, it was a farmer.  Whereas most Venusians could at least identify a particular patch of trees or a clearing as their homes – places where they kept their possessions and slept at night – farmers were true nomads.  They would tend their crops and herds all day and sleep wherever they found themselves at sundown.  They usually kept an enormous beast of burden with them – something that looked like an apatosaur – to transport their possessions and tools, but that was it.

Now that some of them had to live in gigantic caves without their beloved beasts – apatosaurs didn’t like the dark claustrophobic environment underground – they were a bit more agitated.  Their High King decreed that all the farmers had to rotate underground duty with each other so that they could all learn how to take care of the new crops and so that those underground wouldn’t go batty from a lack of natural light or fresh air.  I think if I were an enemy fighter, the last thing I’d want to face on the battlefield would be a Venusian farmer fresh from cave duty.  Venusians are the most pleasant, good-natured beings in the galaxy, but the ones straight from the caves were the closest thing to grouchy you could meet.

The Venusians also reinforced their vast forests.  Missile silos, lasers, and deadly booby-traps abounded.  Once those were in, encircling the forest boundaries several miles deep, I insisted one of border guards escort me so that I wouldn’t fall into some bottomless pit or get swallowed by a Venus bear trap.  Yes, these were similar to their diminutive earthbound cousins.  Instead of trapping flies though, these gigantic plants would lie, jaws open, on the forest floor, waiting for creatures to step onto one of the two enormous leaves.  Once this happened, the leaves would swing shut, trap the animal or fighter, and slowly digest it.  This sort of plant was specially bred and mutated by Venusian botanists.  It didn’t occur naturally.

The Venusians also had a large assortment of war beasts they were breeding and taming for our three planets.  I was quite impressed at what I saw.  As if a Venusian foot-soldier weren’t bad enough, they now had large formations of their own enormous, dinosaur-mounted cavalry armed with gigantic bows, swords as long as telephone poles, and spears at least twice that length.  Whenever a formation of them galloped past, the entire ground would quake, making it difficult for little me to even stand up.  Like the Earthlings, they had hunter dinosaurs, but these were no mere allosaurs.  The carnivorous raptors they used would dwarf a tyrannosaurus rex!  Their flying beasts were limited in number however.  They needed a really small Venusian paired with a really large pteranodon to make it work, and this combination did not occur often.  Still, they were not altogether without an air force.

A few months later, right about the time I finished my combat training with the Venusian warriors, Proxima returned to declare his project a complete success.

“What exactly is it that you’ve designed?” I asked him.

“It’s a large shield,” he responded.  “After the dispute with Helios over my stray asteroids, we both erected shields to protect our systems.  Helios’ was rather lame.  He just put three rings of asteroids in and around his system at various intervals.  Most were just ones that had flown there from my system.  How unimaginative!  I, on the other hand, designed something far grander.  My shield incorporates an electromagnetic shell, coupled with specially designed asteroids at set intervals with surprisingly powerful antigravity generators.  Where do you think the Martians got their idea from?”

“And you are sure you can safely set one up around each planet?” I asked.

“Sure!” he said.  “The only risk involves making the shield the wrong size.  If the antigravity satellites and the electromagnetic shield don’t balance right, the shield will either collapse, crushing the planet like a python crushes its prey; or it will fly apart, sending errant antigravity projectiles on a collision-course with who-knows-what.”

“Wouldn’t their repelling force prevent them from colliding with objects?” I asked.

“You’d think so, but no,” he answered ominously.  “A large object like a planet would pull the satellite inexorably closer.  Rather than striking the surface, it would burrow into the planet, forcing a path for itself until it encountered the core.  At that time, the entire inner workings of the planet would fall apart, destroying all life and potentially rupturing the entire globe.  If several of these struck a planet, it would definitely come apart.”

“Proxima, are you sure these shields are safe?”  I asked again, feeling a knot develop in my stomach and heart.

“Yes, certainly,” he answered.  “I rigorously tested them.  Also, if the enemy manages to breach the shield, the satellites near the breach will explode, ripping any nearby enemies to shreds.  The rest of the shield will remain intact.  Oh, and the debris from the destroyed satellite will burn up in the planet’s atmosphere long before it strikes the ground.”

It sounded as though Proxima had really done his homework on this project. I felt slightly better.

“Once all three planets are done with their preparations, I’ll set off the shields.  The satellites are already in place around the planets.  Once they’re on, though, interplanetary travel will be impossible.  The only way to shut the shield off again is to detonate the satellites.”

“How is this supposed to stop spirit beings?” I asked.  “Couldn’t they just materialize on the inside of the shield?”

“I’ve gotten some outside help on that,” he informed me proudly.  “Once that shield goes on, I don’t think even I’ll be able to get through.  Ah, that reminds me.  Make sure I’m on one of the planets before they’re turned on.  I don’t want to face a horde of angry agents by myself.  I’d end up stealing all your glory,” he grinned nervously.

Now I was impressed.  Only an extremely powerful agent could design something that thorough.  I suspected Gabriel or Michael was helping, which made me feel significantly better about the safety of this shield.

“Well, Proxima, I’m impressed,” I confessed.  “The Venusians are nearly finished, so I think I’d better head back to Earth before you seal everyone in.”  With that, I bade farewell to the Venusians and him and flew home.

Back on Earth, Atal called a meeting with his continental kings and invited their counterparts from Venus and Mars as well.  He wanted to discuss the overall strategy with them and with Proxima.  They first reviewed their current standing.  Mars and Earth were finished with their preparations, awaiting deployment of their shields.  Venus was nearly done, too.  Their dietary needs were dramatically higher than their neighbors, so preparing the underground farms took the longest.

High King Verelion confessed that they simply had too little room underground to grow enough crops.  “We’ll focus our defenses on the massive above-ground farmlands, but if the enemy forces prove to be too much, we’ll have to abandon these fields for the better defended forests and strongholds.  If that happens, we could feed our population for a year at most.  If many fall in battle – may the creator forbid – then the crops will last longer.”

The Martians also would have this problem.  Their planet did not have as robust a plant life as their warmer neighbors, so their sparse farms would take a long time to recover, should they get destroyed.  They estimated their underground facilities could sustain their full population for about 18 months.

Atal assured us his planet would not have this problem.  “Our strong link with the oceans has us growing most of what we eat underwater anyway.  Those crops alone could easily sustain us indefinitely.  Even if our dry crops and subterranean farms don’t survive, we’ll still be able to feed ourselves and even assist Venus and Mars with our enormous stockpiles of rations and robust undersea farms.”

He continued, “I fear more for our defenses than for our food.”  Earth at that time had few good-sized mountains and much shallower oceans.  “Building good strongholds is difficult,” he said.  “Our fight will mostly be on open land or in the oceans.  Granted our fighters are much larger and stronger than the Martians, but Proxima said that wouldn’t help much against an agent.”

To demonstrate this, Proxima physically manifested himself in full battle gear.  He was as big as the largest of the Venusians, could move lightning fast, and was incredibly strong.  It would take about a dozen Atalan warriors or six cavalry to take him out.  We were disheartened by this.

Proxima said, “I estimate that if only the agents under Helios’ command invade, there will be at least as many agents as living beings per planet.  Although my entire system of agents plans on supporting you, if Mephistopheles sent reinforcements, we could potentially be facing an enemy so numerous that they couldn’t all physically fit on the planets.  If Phos should bring more galaxies to the fight, we’ll never have a chance.”

Some murmurs of despair could now be heard, so he continued in a louder voice, “My realm’s agents can easily defend your planets from Helios’ forces.  Depending on how arrogant he is, or how much he fears the wrath of Mephistopheles, we might not face reinforcements until it is too late for the rebels.  If Helios seeks help quickly, which I fear he will have enough sense to do, then the war will become much more challenging.  Still, I doubt very much that Mephistopheles will go running to Bel, his immediate boss, for help.  Those two despise each other.  If he shows any weakness before Bel, he might get fired.

“Phos himself, of course, will be far too preoccupied with his neighbors, Michael and Gabriel, to worry about a siege on a few tiny planets.  Long before he gets word of what’s happening, reinforcements from Mallachia and possibly Gelashalem will have arrived here.  I don’t foresee this war lasting longer than a month or two; six months max, assuming everything were to go wrong for us.”

“How long do you think your shields will hold?” asked Atal.  Of all the planets’ High Kings, he was the most skeptical of Proxima’s invention.

Proxima answered, “Helios and his underlings have no chance of breaching.  Helios will soon realize this and call on his boss for help.  Mephistopheles can probably break a hole in them, so depending on how soon he finds out about us, you’ll have some peace at first.

“Now about those shields: you CANNOT activate them until I tell you.  My agents have to first invade your planets and evict the meager guard force Helios leaves behind.  His main forces will of course be helping Mephistopheles put down any insurrections in the Milky Way.  While they’re gone, we’ll slip in and boot the rebels out.  Your citizens are to do NOTHING to help us.  This first strike is an agent-only engagement.  If Helios suspects you’ve had a part in this, he’ll alert Mephistopheles and possibly others immediately.  Besides, I don’t want any of you killed while you’re most vulnerable.”

Pacing back and forth in his physical body, Proxima continued, “Let the evicted agents assume we’re just temporarily taking these planets hostage, and Helios will not take it too seriously.  He already assumes the Atala are fully behind him and that Venus and Mars will follow suit once they realize they’re surrounded.  If he thinks the largest insurgency in the Doxades is underway in his own system, he’ll lose his mind and overreact.  Mephistopheles will be bad enough to deal with.  I don’t want to go toe to toe with a dozen of his kind or with Bel himself.” He involuntarily shuddered upon saying this.

The kings, agents, and I all liked Proxima’s plan.  I inwardly felt that it would take intervention from the creator to withstand Phos once he eventually found out about this.  Granted, Proxima was on good terms with Michael.  If he came to our aid, we might just succeed.  From what I knew about my own history, I was quite sure the Earth would survive this war intact, and that Michael himself would most likely be the reason for it.  This comforted me more than anything.

We all agreed that Proxima would be the overall commander of this operation.  His second-in-command would be Atal, followed by Verelion, followed by Marradok King of Mars, followed by me.  Our combined forces numbered about sixty billion – every living soul on the three planets would be participating.  There were an equal number of agents as well.  Each planet also had an enormous number of war beasts – cavalry mounts, attack carnivores, and flying monsters.  We also had countless missile silos, high-power lasers, and the shields.  We felt more than ready.

Incidentally, the one other planet in our solar system with a race loyal to the creator was readying for the war in a completely different way.  On Neptune they had been hard at work preparing to leave the Doxades altogether, and they had been at it for a long time – shortly after my first informative conversation with Proxima Centauri, in fact.  Owing to their unusual physiques, they could survive in outer space without protective suits.  They could also build lightweight spacecraft capable of extremely high speeds.  Their leader insisted on going to Michael’s section of the universe.  A long time ago I had paid the leader of Mallachia a visit to discuss this with him, and he assured me he would bend over backwards to personally ensure their safe transport to his realm.  He’d have plenty of worlds available should the few rebellious agents and beings in his sector leave.

In order to properly evacuate over such an enormous distance, we knew the Neptunians would have to move beyond the speed of light, which meant subjecting them to wormholes.  Michael and I showed them how to create a temporary black hole – something that could only be built in empty space half a light year away from the nearest planet or asteroid in order to prevent these objects from getting sucked in.  Once the black hole portal was constructed, I urged them to experiment with inanimate objects similar to their anatomy to see if they would come out the other end in one piece.  I knew their skin was elastic, but could it stretch trillions of light years?  Our own experiments seemed to indicate the only things that could injure them were caustic chemicals that reacted with the molecules in their bodies, not physical trauma, but I was still deathly afraid of sending an actual Neptunian through a wormhole.

After numerous experiments with artificial flesh prototypes which passed through the wormhole with no apparent damage, the Neptunians finally felt confident they would survive.  A small contingent of them, including their High King and Queen, made the long journey out to the portal.  Michael agreed to examine the Neptunians’ dark matter, spiritual, and physical natures in ways no one else could in order to determine if they could survive.  After he gave us his blessing, the high king of the Neptunians, named Salashemu, volunteered to be the first of his race to go through the portal to ensure it was safe.  His wife Eshemisa refused to watch.  He approached the event horizon and went in feet first, trembling like a leaf.  When he came out the other end, the agents waiting for him said he was screaming in fear and extremely dizzy, but otherwise unhurt.  Michael went in right after him, and I followed.  We found Salashemu, who had taken on a spiralled seashell-like shape, muttering incoherently, his limbs spinning around and around.  He gradually regained his equilibrium, untwisted himself, and calmed down.

“Are you all right?” I asked, with my heart in my throat.

“I’m n-not hurt,” he said, “But I n-never want to do that again.  I think I was r-rotating slightly as I entered the event horizon.  Once in the wormhole, that turned into a rapid spin.  I came out the other end more dizzy and nauseous than I’ve ever been in my life.”

Michael examined him again to be sure there was no unseen damage.  Once he determined everything was fine, he and I went back through the wormhole.  I purposely started slowly rotating before I entered, just to see what it was like, and I regretted it afterwards.  I, too, came out the other side feeling like I had spun about a billion revolutions per minute for three hours, and I was incoherent for quite some time afterwards.  I guess the other times I had done this, I hadn’t been turning prior to passing through, and I vowed never to do it again.

It reminded me of the time long ago when I jumped out of an airplane in the U.S. Army Airborne School.  The jumpmasters drilled us over and over again on how to exit the plane properly.  When we went out of the 20-foot towers attached to a rope slide, if we didn’t jump straight out, we’d start spinning while sliding down.  When I did this the wrong way out of the airplane, I started spinning too, except I had the rest of my life (approximately one minute) to untwist myself, go into a Parachute Landing Fall (PLF) position, and hit the ground safely.  Due to one bad PLF, I sprained my ankle on impact on my first jump and had to fake being unhurt around the jumpmasters in order for them to let me do the other four training jumps out of an airplane.  Seeing Salashemu like that brought those memories back to me pretty fast.  Only out of morbid curiosity did I purposefully start myself spinning as I passed through the event horizon.

The sight of me curled up in a ball, spinning like a neutron star, dry heaving, and babbling like a lunatic was not very encouraging to the other Neptunians, but we assured them that traveling through the wormhole was physically safe.

“Just be sure you go in straight and don’t spin any as you pass the event horizon!” I warned them, once I regained my senses.  We sent a very nervous Eshemisa through so she could rejoin her husband and help prepare for the arrival of the rest of their race, but the remaining contingent returned to Neptune to start bringing the planet’s ten billion inhabitants to the portal.

It took them six months going nearly the speed of light to return home.  They had been gone over a year total with the first journey, the construction, and the experiments.  Now they had to prepare an armada of spacecraft to shuttle the Neptunians to the portal.  There they would abandon their spacecraft, travel through the wormhole one at a time (at a rate of one being every half second, it would take nearly 161 Earth years!), and then board different spaceships to travel for six more months to a nearby planet in Michael’s realm named Semesh.  Those beings wished to join Phos’ realm.  Since they were of a similar composition as the Neptunians, we would have them go through the portal the other way use the Neptunians’ abandoned shuttles, and take up residence on Neptune.  The entire process would end up dragging on for 322 years total.

We hoped this would be just a few years longer than it would take us to prepare the Atala and their neighbors.  Now this planetary exchange program was not something I wanted to be a part of.  It was so boring!  I could never wait in a line that long!  It would be like going to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a drivers license, getting in line, and then finally receiving the license three centuries later.  I’d have rather fought a horde of agents than do this!  So leaving the Neptunians and their endless convoy of spaceships wending their way to the portal like a line of tourists waiting to ride a rollercoaster, I made my way home.

We most likely would not have to wait much after the Neptunian exchange program ended for this rebellion.  This couldn’t come fast enough in my opinion, for some of the lesser agents were starting to get a little suspicious.  We hid our true intentions as much as we could from them but they knew we were arming for war.  This was not that unusual any more, however.  Most planets by now had standing armies, but the others were arming to assist Phos and his rebellion, not the creator.  Our three planets went way beyond any others’ preparations.  Some of the lesser agents were downright intimidated, especially the ones on Venus, where they hardly would have a physical advantage should it come to blows.  Helios also knew about how powerful our three planets were becoming, though he seemed not to care too much.  He didn’t know about Proxima’s involvement, nor did he know of our real purpose, or else he would have been a lot more concerned.  We were careful not to write anything down, and Proxima had to sneak everywhere he went to avoid the near-ubiquitous agents loyal to Helios.  We’d stage bogus meetings and festivals to attract their attention, and then the war planners would secretly meet with Proxima or one of his less suspicious subordinates at remote locations.

Soon everything was ready, so we went back to life as usual for a few centuries, awaiting the end of tranquility as we knew it.  It was a difficult wait.  We had to act as though nothing were wrong, but we also had to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.  The Venusians despised the waiting most of all, what with their farmers having to pull underground duty from time to time.  Meanwhile, the Neptunian exchange program was wrapping up.  Very few of the other planets had any involvement with this operation and knew virtually nothing about it.  I inwardly suspected that once this was done, Phos would spring his trap.  He may have been arrogant, impatient, and cruel, but he at least wanted to ensure one planet worth of loyal beings was completely evacuated and repopulated with like-minded rebel beings.  Had he suspected us, I think he would have already begun his war, or at least have struck our three planets.  Since he had done nothing of the sort, I figured we were still safe – that is, until the Neptunians were done.

From what I could see, there were still almost five decades left before they would be finished.  I decided there was one more thing I could do to occupy my time and help prepare us for this war.