Covon has the water. But it's Optome that needs it. And they will get it no matter what. |
Word Count = 4,994 âWater Breathersâ A Short Story Written By PureSciFi aka SpaceFaction A Wall of Water about twenty feet tall, one hundred feet wide and ten feet thick was headed for Covon Control. It was only a few miles away. And it was headed their fast. That could be seen by all watching it as it struck Covon Control a few seconds later. Destroying everything that got in its way. Pieces of structures and body parts were flying everywhere. Even being inside those structures wasnât safe. Gasping could be heard from in front of the destruction going on. Jaws dropped, and small round black circles popped out of the Water Breatherâs faces as they continued to watch the devastation on a large image monitor. A single gasp made Soranne look over to her left, parallel to the rest of them. âThat is what is going to happen to you if you donât help us.â Forlic turned and walked toward five Water Breathers seated behind a large table. Soranne looked at the two light green Water Breathers on both sides of her. Then at the two more light blue Water Breathers seated by the light green ones. âWhy did you just threaten us? We already agreed to help you.â Polrick, the male Covon seated next to Soranne on her right, continued. âYouâre the ones that decided not to accept our help. So, what did you do instead? You took what you wanted anyway.â âThatâs not true,â Forlic said angrily. His face starting to turn red as he continued. âWe didnât know you existed when we started doing that. Once we did, we stopped. Then we came to you for help.â Tracci, a female seated on Soranne's far left, spoke first. âYes, you did seek our help. But the request you asked for was too much.â Soranne took over after swiveling back toward Forlic. âWe tried to help you with your need. But we couldnât agree with what your need was. Your solution. You stormed out of here mad.â âWe thought that was that,â Yenstan, the other male Covon, said. âSince we havenât heard from you in almost six months, we thought it was over.â Forlic sighed. Then he took a deep breath. His red started returning to a pale tan. âIt may have been six months for you, but it only been a couple for us.â âThe month difference doesnât matter,â said Soranne. âWhat does matter is that you requested our help again. But even that was a lie.â Nickta, the other Covon female, spoke next. âYou didnât want our help. The only reason why youâre here is to threaten us.â Forlic took another deep breath. âHow deep is Covon? It must be at least a couple of hundred miles.â âItâs about a hundred more than that,â said Soranne. âBut that isnât whatâs the matter with your request. What is the problem is that you are asking for too much of our water.â âWe donât understand why you canât help save Optome,â said Forlic. âSurely you can spare twenty miles of it to save our planet.â âNo, we canât. We could maybe give you five miles,â said Soranne. âBut even that is too much for us to survive.â A few seconds later Soranne continued. âThe answer to your request is no.â âYouâre not even going to discuss it first?â Forlic turned sharply. His human arms flying randomly as he stormed out of that meeting room. The red face had returned too. âI will give you thirty of your hours to change your minds. If you donât, you are going to regret that decision.â Dorrissa came out of the darkness parallel to Soranne and the others. She walked to Soranne, who swiveled around to face her. Her twin pointed tail split down the middle. âIs that the reason,â Dorrisa pointed her long fin at the disaster still showing on the large monitor there, âyou asked me to come to this Covon Control meeting?â =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== Soranne entered a small office and walked over toward a desk. She sat behind it as Dorrisa entered and the entrance slid shut behind her. âDo you think a weapon like that exists?â Soranne asked as Dorrisa sat in front of her desk. âUnfortunately, I think they do. The big question is, are they going to use it against us?â âThatâs what you need to find out. Because I agree with you. They do have that weapon. I donât think that they are just trying to scare us into helping them.â âIâm a little surprised that you asked for my help. I didnât think that you liked me.â âI like you. What I donât like is the way that you do what you do. But I do have to admit that you are the best Covon to take care of this threat. And I do believe there is a threat. I also believe that they will use that weapon against us.â âWhat I donât understand is why they are just threatening us here at Covon Control. Donât they know there are six hundred and twenty-four other Land Masses within Covon?â âOf course, they know that. They also know that all the other Land Masses have Speakers For them. The stupid humans think that if they destroy Covon Control, they will destroy Covon.â âOther Aliens can be so stupid sometimes. Destroying us would only cause the rest of Covon to join forces to stop them.â After about a minute of silence, Dorrisa continued. âSo, what exactly do you need me to do about this Wall of Water. Isnât that what the Optomes call it?â âWhatever you have to do to stop them. First, you need to learn if there is a weapon. Then you have to destroy it.â Soranne sighed. âBut you canât just destroy it. You also have to destroy anything or anyone connected to it.â Dorrisaâs smile could barely be seen on her shocked face. âYou really do need me, donât you?â âI hate to admit it. But I do need your kind of help. Whatever and whoever you need you got it.â A few seconds later Soranne continued. âYou only have one day to do it. Do you have any ideas how you are going to destroy this threat?â âEver since we saw that Moving Images display I have been thinking about it. I know exactly what needs to be done. And I only need one other to do it too. You will like him. Heâs almost as bad as I am.â =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== Covon, a light silver and gold planet, floated in the center of a darkened room. Small red dots hover within it. One after another those dots disappointed. There were several hundred of them. And within a few minutes, there were none. Dorrisa walked around that image of Covon. Whenever a dot disappeared, she looked at the mini monitor in her hands. She also tapped that monitor. âThatâs the last of our contacts. All of the contacts have contacted us. Did anyone find them?â Nathum swiveled around to face Dorrisa. The information monitor behind him still flashed words and images randomly every few seconds. âNo one has seen them. And I donât think they will. I think you are right. They are still near here.â Dorrisa turned to face what appeared to be a wall-sized glass structure with the same silver and gold water splashing behind it. âIâm sure they are still here. I just canât find them. And time is running out. We only have twenty-seven more hours to find and destroy them.â After getting up, Nathum joined Dorrisa. âMaybe they are here. We just canât see them.â âI donât think thatâs what they are doing. They havenât done that before. Why would they be doing it now?â âBecause of their weapon. If I had threatened someone with a Wall of Water, I wouldnât want them to see me.â A few seconds later Nathum continued. âMaybe they are in Space around Covon or one of our three small rock worlds.â âNo, they arenât doing that either. I have been monitoring Space between Optome and us.â Just then a small white flickering light appeared from behind the glass water. âI think we just found them.â Dorrisa tapped the white light. A few seconds later it grew to cover all the glass to reveal a Watership hiding just under a small floating mountain. âThere they are.â =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== With her twin pointed halves of her tail together again to form one tail, Dorrisa swam through the water very quickly. Her tail flapping up and down or sideways depending on her direction. No wonder we had so much trouble finding them. You were sort of right about them being unseen Nathum. They are using their spaceship as a Watership. Blending in with the color of our water to hide. Youâre right too. They are still near Covon Control. A few seconds later Nathum continued his thoughts. Should you be swimming directly at them? Arenât they going to be expecting us to attack them? If they were smart they would be watching out for us. But Iâm not worried about it. Because of my speed, they arenât going to see me. Besides they are probably expecting a small army to attack them, not just two Covons. Dorrisa continued her swim toward the Watership. And she used the small floating rocks between her and them to cover her approach. One rock she went under. Another rock she went to her left. And another one she swam over. By the time she reached the enemy she had swam under, over, or to one of its side of several hundred rocks. The Optomes arenât just using the floating mountain as cover. They are also using the small rocks in this area. Dorrisa thought as she swam under the silver and gold spaceship. One second she was under it, and the next she wasnât. Nathum, Iâm in. Now itâs your turn. =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== Where are you? Iâm in. And I didnât have any problems either. Dorrisa slowly scanned a very large but almost full storage room before she thought. I told you it wouldnât be. Iâm in a storage room on the lower level. Where are you? Iâm in a side corridor. But I came up through the floor in the main corridor. A few seconds later Nathum continued thinking. I had to quickly get into this side corridor because I heard a couple of Optomes headed for the main corridor. Luckily, there arenât any in this one. Do you need any help? Suddenly, Dorrisa stiffened straight. Weapon fire could be heard within her head. Dorrisa started running toward the entrance to that room. The entrance barely slid open enough for Dorrisa to run past it. Dorrisa turned and started running down one corridor. A few seconds later she turned around and headed down the same corridor in the opposite direction. Just before reaching the end of that corridor, Dorrisa slapped her fins against her watery light blue skin. Her fins came away with half a hollow ball in them. As she came to the end of it, Dorrisa skidded around it with her fins up. No one was there. So, she continued her running. Dorrisa ran down four more corridors and backtracked after going down three side corridors that led to nowhere before she reached Nathum. She kept her fins in front of her as she ran. But she didnât encounter anyone until she almost ran into Nathum. Nathum fired two Water Balls out of his half fin balls. The balls struck two Optomes in their chest seconds before they fired two laser bolts. Both bolts struck the wall on either side of Nathum and Dorrisa after the balls struck them first. When the balls struck the Optomes, a static discharge engulfed their entire bodies. A few seconds later the discharge disappeared. So, did the two Optomes. =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== An alarm began. Pulsating red lights started flashing all around Dorrisa. I think they know we are here. Itâs all my fault. I only planned on killing the first three Optomes who saw me. But then the others seemed to come one after another. There was about twenty of them. And I thought I got them all without an alarm going off. But it looks like I didnât get all of them. A few did fire back before I killed them. Maybe one of their Laser Bolt triggered the alarm. It could have been one of our Water Balls too. But it doesnât matter what started it. All I care about is finding that weapon and destroying it. A few seconds later Dorrisaâs thoughts continued. I didnât want them to know we were here until after we destroy that weapon. But I donât really care if they know about us or not. We were going to destroy them too, anyway. It doesnât matter if we do it before the weapon is destroyed, or after, or in-between as long as they are all destroyed. Dorrisa never stopped as she continued down the numerous corridors. Using the flashing red light to cover her advancement. Besides, I havenât encountered any more of the Optomes. Maybe you killed all that there were to kill. Everyone except for Forlic, and Iâm on why way to talk to him right now. If there is a weapon, he will know all about it. Dorrisa continued. I will get him to tell us everything about it. Even if I have to almost kill him in order to do it. =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== I have no doubts about that, except for the âalmostâ part of it. Dorrisa smiled. A few seconds later Nathum continued. What do you want me to do? Continue looking for that weapon. And if you encounter any more of the Optomes go ahead and kill them too. The alarm suddenly stopped. So, did the pulsating red light. Iâm happy thatâs over with. It was starting to get me mad. But now I donât have the red light to cover my continuation. Did you just think something to me? Nathum thought. Dorrisa stretched out her fins in both directions with her fins raised as she continued using the wall as cover as she sidestepped down that corridor. Just thinking to myself again. A few seconds later Dorrisa continued. Where are you? Have you found that weapon yet. No weapon so far. I just finished checking out the lowest level. And all that was there was storage rooms, about fifteen of them. Iâm heading up to the next level now. Iâm a couple of levels above you. I think that I have one or two more before I reach Forlic. Several minutes of silence passed before Nathum broke it. I havenât encountered any more of the Optomes. Have you? I donât think there are any more of them. Forlic probably sent all that he had after we were spotted coming in. There must be other Optomes here. With a spaceship this size, thereâs at least twenty-five to thirty times the ones we have encountered so far. I just donât know why they havenât attacked us yet. =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== Dorrisa suddenly stopped. She fell to the middle of her leg tails in front of a thin oblong square seam. Her fins raised as the seam slid open to reveal a three Optome enclosure. No one was in there. Dorrisa looked down at a sideways oblong square with about an inch of space between it and the walls. Opposite the entrance, there were three flat metal steps. After stepping onto the sideways square, Dorrisa tapped a button next to the entrance. The entrance slid shut, and the square started to rise. A second later Dorrisa hit the button again. And the square stopped. Dorrisa started climbing up the middle metal steps. When Dorrisa climbed to the next entrance, she hooked her fin around the metal steps side rail and pushed a button by the entrance. Her other fin was raised toward the entrance as it slid open. No one was there either. Dorrisa stepped through the entrance and started walking down that long corridor. She stopped about halfway down it. Dorrisa turned toward another seemed oblong square. Only that time she stepped to the side of it and walked into the wall. But she didnât go through it. Instead, she became one with that wall. Dorrisa could now see into that room. Iâm at the Control Room. And I know where some of the other Optomes are at. They are here. The rest are probably in sleeping rooms. Except for the patrols that you encountered. As she slowly scanned that room, Dorrisa saw three walls filled from floor to ceiling with small image monitors. Ten per height and an Optome sat in front of each height. On each one of those monitors, a simple Covon Watership faced those in the Control Room. After Dorrisa started her scan again, she stopped when she saw Forlic standing with two other Optomes behind the height Optomes. Using the wall as cover Dorissa slid until she was only a few feet from Forlic and the other two Optomes. âAliens can be so stupid,â said Forlic. âDo they really think that a couple thousand of their single Covon Waterships can stop a Wall of Water?â Stupid Aliens! Thatâs exactly what I said to Soranne. Maybe they were listening to us. That would explain how they knew me and Nathum was coming there. And that we would be the only ones coming. A big smile appeared on the wall near Forlic under three black circles. The Optome didnât appear to notice them. Nathum, those alarms werenât meant for us. They came on when a group of Covon single fighters approached this spaceship. The Optomes might know we are here. But the alarms didnât happen because of us. Suddenly, Forlic started laughing. âThe Covons really think we are going to destroy them with a Wall of Water. We arenât. And weâre not just going to destroy Covon Control either. Not only are we going to kill every Covon, but they wonât even know itâs us doing it.â =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== The smile and black circles disappeared from the wall as Dorrisa stepped away from the wall back into the corridor. Dorrisa started running down that corridor to the entrance that opened as she reached it. Nathum, where are you? Wherever you are, stop and meet me back where you killed those twenty Optomes. Whatâs going on? I havenât found the weapon yet. That doesnât matter anymore. Forlic lied to us. They donât have a Wall of Water weapon. He just used that as a diversion until he got his real threat against all of Covon ready. Dorrisa stepped into the sideways oblong square, pushed the button, and used the square to go down to the lowest level. When the entrance opened, Dorrisa ran out of it. She didnât stop running until she caught up to Nathum a few minutes later. Once again, she almost ran right into him. Nathum, I want you to return to Covon Control and tell them about the real threat against us. You also need to contact all our contacts to tell them about it. As soon as I find out what it is I will contact you. What are you going to do while Iâm doing this? Nathum asked. Iâm going to stay here. Not only to find out what the real threat is but to make them regret threatening us with it. I was going to kill them quickly. But now Iâm not. =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== Hovering above the storage containers, Dorrisa started firing Water Balls at those containers. Dorrisa did it randomly. And with each container hit it exploded into a billion pieces. Whatever was in it shattered too. Within a few seconds, that whole room was engulfed in flames and debris. Dorrisa floated back down to the floor near the destroyed entrance. She exited that room with her fins in both directions. Only that time she was firing Water Balls down the corridor. Also, randomly each ball exploded when it hit a wall, floor, or ceiling. A few seconds later that corridor was covered with holes. After Dorrisa reached the next entrance shortly down that corridor, she created a hole in it too. Once inside another storage room, Dorrisa did the same thing as she did with the last one. It only took a few seconds there too before that room is in flames too. Only that time Dorrisa did leave by the entrance she came in. No, she exited through a side entrance into another empty corridor. Once again, Dorrisa destroyed that corridor. One second the Water Balls were flying everywhere. And the next there were holes everywhere. After she destroyed that corridor, she entered another storage room and destroyed it too. She did all that within about a minute. And after that, she did the same thing to every corridor and storage room on that level. Iâm surprised there are no alarms or Optomes for me to destroy. Maybe they donât know Iâm doing this or they donât care. They will, once I start killing the Optomes on the next two level in their sleeping rooms. =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== Walking down a long corridor, her fins stretched out beside her, Dorrisa fired Water Balls just before each entrance along that corridor. The balls destroyed the walls and the sleeping rooms beyond. Dorrisa looked into each room just after the destruction to see who was in there or wasnât. About half were empty. The other half had one to three dead Optomes in them. Dorrisa also spun around in the opposite direction in-between each entrance. Her fins facing that direction for a few seconds. She also used her two lower eyes to watch both directions at all times while she used her centered eye above to look into the sleeping rooms. After she reached the end of that half of the corridor a few minutes later, Dorrisa turned to face that corridor. She nodded her head âyes' at each hole she created. Then she turned her head toward the two corridors on either side of her and did the same thing. First, the one on her left. And then the corridor on her right. There were only about half of the Optomes in their sleeping rooms on these two levels. Between the number of rooms and those in the Control Room, there should have been a lot more of them. Where are they? A few seconds later Dorrisa looked at the floor in front of her. Then she looked down the right corridor at the wall at the far end of it. I find them because they arenât here to kill. They are already doing whatever it is they are doing to Covon. =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== Nathum, can you still hear my thoughts? Did you contact Soranne and Covon Control yet? Dorrisa stepped out of the level entrance with her fins up. She started walking down that corridor. Of course, I can hear you. I can always hear you. We are Twos. Why do you ask? Have you found out what they are really doing here? Dorrisa wasnât destroying that level too. At least not yet she wasnât. Instead, she walked into the walls before every entrance. A few seconds later she backed back into the corridor and continued on. If you have heard my thoughts, then you know what I have been thinking. I thought that I could hear you. But I didnât think I was listening to you. Whatâs going on there. Thatâs why I contacted you. At least half the Optomes on this Watership isn't here. That tells me they are already at Covon Control and the rest of Covon. Have you contacted our contacts yet? Yes, I have. And they are already looking out for the Optomes. So, are their contacts. Together, we have all of Covon watching. A few seconds later Nathum continued thinking. Almost all of them. Covon Control isnât listening to me. Soranne believes us. But the rest of them donât. Dorrisa sighed. Iâm not surprised about that. There will need to be several billion death before they are convinced. Keep trying to convince them. Between you and Soranne maybe you can. But I doubt it. Dorrisa continued thinking after a few seconds. I still donât know what the real threat is yet. But Iâll contact you when I do. =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== Dorrisa walked into a wall. But she didnât go into it. She bounced off it. Dorrisa tried it again with the same results. It must be a protective seal. What donât you what me to see? For several minutes Dorissa did nothing. She just stared at that wall. After a few minutes, Dorrisa went to the other side of that entrance and did the same thing. Then she went further down that corridor before she tried it again. Both times she got bounced back. Dorrisa tried it twice more from the side that she started from. But the results were the same. She was getting mad. Her light blue skin started pulsating. After taking a deep breath, the pulsating stopped. Dorrisa raised her fins and started firing Water Balls at that wall. Each one exploded. But the wall remained the same. So, Dorrisa fired fifteen more Water Balls. Thirteen of them didnât cause any damage. But the fourteenth broke through the protective seal. And the fifteenth one destroyed the wall. Dorrisa stepped into that room. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes turned from black to red. Now I know why they didnât want us to know about this room. Hovering above the floor, Dorrisa saw about twenty huge glass structures filled with Covon water. And at least twenty others partially filled with it. Dorrisa pointed her fins at the nearest structure. But she didnât fire. Instead, she fired four Water Balls at the floor a few seconds from each other creating a pathway from the spaceship back to Covon water. After creating those two pathways, Dorrisa floated around that walkway between the structures and the outer walls. She created pathways all around the structures. Within a minute there were about fifty small pathways. Thatâs when Dorrisa pointed her fins at the structures and started destroying them. =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== An explosion destroyed the center of the floor in the Control Room. A second later Dorrisa floated through the hole that explosion created. Now she hovered just above it. âI thought I would take the quick way to get to you. Oh, I could have just come through the floor. But I wanted you to know I was coming first.â Forlic turned toward her. So, did the other two Optomes beside him and the height monitors. All had shocked looks on their faces. And some started bringing up weapons to fire at her. A few even did fire Laser Bolts at her. She easily diverted them. âNow itâs my turn.â Dorrisa started firing Water Balls at the Optomes. First, she took out those that tried to kill her. Then she aimed them at the ones with weapons. And finally, she killed all the rest of the remaining Optome height monitors. Dorrisa saved the two Optomes next to Forlic until last. Within a few seconds, everyone in that room was dead. They all died the same way as the fifteen did. The only two that werenât dead was Dorrisa and Forlic. âWe can do this the easy way where you just tell me what you are really going to do to Coven or we can do it the fun way. Where I force you to tell me.â âI would prefer the fun way.â Dorrisa continued a few seconds later. âBut the choice is yours. Either way, I will get you to tell me.â Dorrisa smiled. âI have given the water back to Covon that you have taken from us again. But itâs going to take some time for it all to be returned. And this spaceship will fill up long before then. I can live in water. But you canât live without special equipment. And you donât have any with you right now. Do you?â =====-=====-=====-=====-=====-===== Sitting with her one tail leaning against one of the height monitors, Dorrisa was looking at Soranne and Nathum on two of the monitors. âThey really believed that they could kill us by treating our plant life with death chemicals. What a stupid plan. We donât eat our plant life. They are for beauty only.â âThey obviously didnât study us very long before they came up with this master plan of theirs,â said Soranne. âOtherwise, they would have known we donât need to eat or drink to survive.â âTheir plan wasnât all that stupid. If we did eat our plants, they would have succeeded. The threat was real. But we took care of it. Me, our contacts, and their contacts killed several hundred Optomes. We think we killed them all. But weâre not sure if we got all of them.â âSpeaking of killing, have you killed Forlic yet?â Soranne asked. âYes, I have. But I did more than that. I prevented Optome from sending anyone else here.â âHow did you do that?â Nathum asked. âI sent a message back to Optome. They thought it was from Forlic. It said that Covon water was deadly to us. And that we have been exposed to it already. Thatâs why we are destroying ourselves to save Optome from being exposed to it too. The Covons only pretended that it wasnât deadly so that they could destroy us.â A few seconds later Dorrisa continued. âI donât think we will be having any more trouble from them.â Dorrisa got up and swam over to the hole she created in that now water-filled Control Room. She swam through it. Then the other holes she created on the other levels. A few seconds later she was out of that spaceship. After swimming for several more seconds, Dorrisa stopped. Dorrisa turned back toward the spaceship, and started firing Water Balls at it until it exploded a few seconds later. |