The Colony on Meranda IV - Part 29 - Finale

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This post started off as a one-off response to a writing prompt in the Freewriters Community. Then I wrote a part 2 (with the outcome literally determined by a coin toss).

But that naturally leads to a part 3, which is where this short series comes in. I felt that doing it in just one post really wouldn't give enough time to build up a bit of suspense 😀 Enjoy !

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Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio

~ It's around twelve hundred torpedoes, all heading for Meranda. Heading for our sun. They'll be there in less than five minutes, and half Garrad's legion is screening them. ~

Wardek's voice came through in Dafang's mind with total clarity. The more they communicated through the hive mind, the easier it became. He was counting on that now.

The next telepathic message was one he hadn't experienced before; all the Spineder alphas, sending simultaneously. The power was unmistakable. Dafang had started to pick up on the different tones of some of the individual Spineders, but sending like this, the tones blended into an antiphony straight into his brain.

~ We are ready. Every lifeform on Meranda is with us, alert and prepared to transmit with all their mental force. Are you sure you can control this, will it work ? ~

Dafang hesitated. It had started as just an idea, but it meant he would be the focus of every iota of mental energy the whole world of Meranda could deliver, the primal urge to survive of each and every lifeform on the planet.

Then he felt a hand take his. He looked down in surprise. It was Helen. He hadn't even been aware of her coming into the room. She smiled up at him, nodding reassuringly.

~ I'm ready. I know the risk, but it is the only hope we have. ~

~ Three minutes ~ Wardek came through, urgency in his thoughts, a mental image of hundreds of missiles blasting through space straight at their star.

Dafang sent a psychic trigger to everything in the hive mind, and waited for the onslaught. It was almost instantaneous, and only Helen's grip kept him upright as he staggered under the force. Billions of minds all sending the same thought with all their might.

~ I WANT TO LIVE ~

Dafang focused it, onto Meranda the star and Meranda their world. It grew in intensity, to pain level.

Pain beyond anything he'd imagined. The worst migraine he'd experienced multiplied a hundredfold, a thousandfold. But he couldn't waver or they'd be lost. He stayed focused, knowing he had to have not just the effect but the timing absolutely perfect.

The concept was simple; what the stolen cruiser had done with technology, the Spineders had studied and worked out with the help of the colony's human scientists how to do with mental power alone.

In the back of his over-loaded melting mind, Dafang was somehow vaguely aware of Wardek counting down the seconds until impact. Thirty... twenty-nine...

At the moment of impact, he'd release the telepathic energy he was holding. If his plan and all their calculations worked, it would fling the whole system into another universe. Meranda and all it's planets would be kicked into another plane and dimension with enough momentum to keep moving on a 5D trajectory. Possibly even a 6D one.

~ three... two.... one....~

JUMP

Dafang released the energy he was holding, the primal desperate desire to survive of every being in, on and under the world.

Then he blacked out.

Helen caught him, and looked up. Space was visible in the night sky. It was...

~ Purple ? Wow....~

Wardek finished the thought in her mind.

They must have jumped far, far further than they'd expected. So far that the very laws of physics were different. That gave them huge momentum. The odds of the Imperials ever finding them were infinitesimal, and the momentum would keep them skipping between planes and dimensions every so often for an eon. Maybe they were finally safe.

She looked down at Dafang. He was on the carpeted floor. Rigid, eyes open, unmoving.

A Spineder entered her mind. ~ He's not dead. But the power burned his mind. He will recover, but you will have to care for him for a long, long time. ~

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A long way out from Meranda, aboard The Serpent's Bite, Garrad watched as the torpedoes detonated. His legion had pulled back in the last few minutes to be clear of the hellish detonation when the whole system would be destroyed in a flash as the star went nova.

External sensors were locked out behind screens to protect them from damage as the wave-front of faster-than-light tachyons, followed by other more mundane radiations, battered at the fleet.

Only Garrad had the sensor suite which could monitor the destruction. He'd deliberately made sure it was set up that way.

So he was the only one to see the data which showed a gravitational anomaly a fraction of a second before detonation. The only one who would see that the total detonation was slightly less than would be warranted by the Total Conversion warheads turning the star's mass into pure energy as well as their own. The only one who spotted the world of Meranda IV disappearing off the instruments a micro-second before the wave hit rather than at the moment of being swamped.

He turned to his XO and gave the order. "Return to base. Report Meranda system destroyed and the mind virus threat terminated."

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Somehow, in the blackness of catatonia, Dafang felt one final thought. Not from the hive mind at all. It was Garrad's voice getting into his mind, and he had absolutely no idea how it was possible.

~ Farewell, Dafang you old fox. Happy travels and good luck in whatever the future holds for you. ~

....

The End. Of this tale, at least.....

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Previous posts in this series;

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4 comments
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An excellent finale with lots of action, mental battles, and explosions. The epic ending with Garrad's final line.

Thanks for sharing your story with us.

Excellent day.

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Thank you ! Got to have explosions or it's not a proper finale 😁

I'm sure I'll return to this universe soon with more stories, although different characters. I should probably write some more of Alex Deroma's saga....

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You're just too good at writing, arguably the best I've seen of the people I can comment and have a direct response from. Dafang being burned out but still alive makes the ending great like a good movie.

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Amazing! Great job!

I was wondering how you were going to conclude that... it was quite unexpected as a move and it ties things up nicely.

Amazing how your once-off, turned into 2,3,4, etc... lol 29 Episodes later! Amazing!

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