She strolled into the park, touching the perfectly placed hedges, and was overwhelmed with the scent of flowers. She turned and walked to a large garden, sat down on the closely mown grass, and closed her eyes. She really wished her twin sister was with her to enjoy the moment, but knew she was elsewhere and wouldn’t be able to join her. She shed a tear, realizing her sister would never experience the wonder of this amazing planet and what it was capable of being.
She sat there for the remainder of the day, until darkness arrived and the city took on a new life. The lights lit up the night and made the city even more beautiful than the sun had during the day. She felt the thoughts of all the Allowen moving around her and felt their peace with the universe. She opened her eyes and knew it was time to go.
She stood and morphed back into her normal form and flapped her wings to lift her over the park. She stared down at the flowers and locked the view in her memory. She turned and slowly moved over the giant metropolis, until she saw a huge structure just beyond the city. It was different than anything she had seen; it appeared more purposeful than any of the wondrous buildings she observed during her brief visit. She realized it must be the power facility for the Allowen Civilization. That one incredible creation powered everything on the planet. The power flowing out of that single structure was unbelievable. She flew quickly toward it and marveled at the feat of engineering that produced it. She flew through the force field surrounding it and landed on the roof. She looked lovingly at the building she was standing on and knew her long search was finally over. She leaned down and caressed the roof with her right hand; it felt wonderful to touch. This is what she had come so far to find; she closed her eyes and gently kissed the roof.
*
The massive explosion ripped the planet apart and blew giant pieces of it out into space in a massive shock wave. The nuclear explosion that killed the planet grew hotter and began feeding on the remains of the planet starting a fusion reaction. Soon, a small star appeared where a vibrant, beautiful civilization lived just a few moments earlier. The thousands of Allowen Warships that jumped in from the Defense Globe arrived in time to see the shockwave blowing out into space. They looked on with horror at what had once been their home world.
*
The Allowen Command Center on the planet’s fifth moon was in turmoil. The Defense Fleets that surrounded the planetary system inside the force field was in disarray and shock. The Commander of the facility yelled at his subordinates, “HOW DID THAT MUCH ANTIMATTER GET THROUGH OUR FORCE FIELDS!?!”
“We don’t know! Nothing appeared on our sensors!”
“What civilization uses antimatter as their main power source!?”
The subordinate ran a search in the databanks and looked up, “There was a planet that was the third planet out from a G-Type Star that used it before we destroyed it.”
“When was that done?”
“A century ago.”
*
The small creature sat on the hull of the moon sized defense facility and had her ear pressed to its surface to hear what was being said. She was identical to the being that visited the planet. She raised her head and looked off in the distance at the shockwave moving rapidly toward her and knew she would never see her sister again. She put her ear back down to the hull of the Defense Facility and cried as she heard the torment of the beings inside at the destruction of their home world. They were so sad! So incredibly sad!
She looked out at the giant force field used to protect the former planet and marveled at the power of a facility that not only produced that force field but also powered all of their massive fleets of warships. The technological discovery of sending power to their ships through subspace was an advancement beyond anything ever done in the universe. It made the Allowen all powerful. The facility also provided power to all the commercial transports that brought back riches forcibly taken from other civilizations they destroyed to enrich their population.
She cried at the sorrow taking place on the huge structure and leaned down and softly kissed the hull. The explosion of the giant structure ripped the moon apart and moved at an incredible velocity through space, where it merged with the planet’s shockwave, and destroyed every Allowen Ship floating powerless in the star system.
The millions of Allowen Ships scattered across the universe suddenly found they were stranded with no energy to power their jump drives or any other system. The planets being invaded by the Allowen Landing forces discovered that the invader’s blasters and force fields stopped operating. The Allowen on those planets were quickly killed. Most of the crews on ships stranded in open space survived on emergency generators, which were designed to only power their communicators and life support systems. The millions of ships tried to contact their home world and, after enough time had passed, they knew they were never going to answer. It wasn’t long before fights broke out on board the stranded ships as they struggled to take possession of what little food remained.
Even those that turned to cannibalism to extend their lives, at the end, died a slow and painful death. Unlike the sisters, they did not receive a goodbye kiss. The twin’s creator kissed them gently before she released them. Doctor Miriam Weaver watched the twins fly high into a crystal blue sky and wept for what she had been forced to do. They had been created to bring joy to children; not to be a weapon of destruction. They disappeared from view and she continued to stare at the sky, as she wept for them and what they were forced to become.
She finally lowered her head and wept for herself and her planet. An hour later, she was vaporized by a nuclear explosion fired by Allowen Warships still in orbit above Earth. The Allowen knew if no one lived, no one would come seeking revenge later. They were an hour too late to stop the goodbye kisses sent by the Earth Scientist to their doomed civilization.
*
Saxon Andrew has written several popular science fiction series, including Annihilation, Ashes of the Realm, Lens of Time, The Fight for Creation and Star Chase.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3407413.Saxon_Andrew
*
Kiss No. 43
C. A. Newsome