Chapter 86: White-Blacks

Safo washed his face and teeth with a special light and ran out from his room. Kutch and others were waiting for him on the way to the deck.

On the deck everybody was present, except O'rmon; she was still in her room doing the special task that Safo gave her.

"Safo! Come look at these beauties." Captain Seaghoul pointed to the lonely planet of the average size yellow star. The planet itself was emptied barren with no atmosphere. Many craters could be seen on the surface. Its size was rather big.

The panoramic screen of the Green Twinkle had a function of a screen. It could zoom to distant objects to give a better view. In one of the windows on that screen was a closer look at the surface.

"Strange. It looks like a pterodactyl from Earth." Safo's first impression was complicated.

Two creatures that could fit into the regular sized room each, somehow resembling pterodactyls of the Earth, rested on their pit. Their skin was primarily black with white pigmentation in the form of lines and dots. That is where the name came from - White-Black.

The spine of the White-Black was slightly spiked, sticking out from the rough skin. White-Black had a small tail tucked to make a comfortable position while resting. On top of the head was a horn-rattle. It was their weapon and sensory organ.

The rattle horn was very sensitive to vibration and could create vibrations. It served as a warning organ and a defense mechanism at the same time.

By vibrating the horn White-Black could send waves of vibration enough to explode a person. They easily could destroy the force fields of the ships and with the powerful resonance vibrations shatter the outer carapace of the armored ships.

As the researchers and many conflicts over the decades indicate, there was no energy that Blacks could not consume. Any known weapon type was basically based on energy outbursts that could be absorbed by the Black species.

It was their unique and most dangerous feature, consuming and releasing the energy. The skin of the Black was coal-black, with different color pigments depending on the species. Their skin was a sponge for energy.

Blacks never ate, they didn't need to breathe, the only thing required for their survival is an energy source.

It didn't mean that they were immortal. Mechanical injuries still could damage their body and kill the creatures.

Due to the lack of organs, the most vulnerable parts of the Blacks were their brain and core. Core was organic and mineral at the same time. The price for the White-Black core was several million zees.

For thousands of years, people craved to pet the creature or at least carve out their cores. Millions of Blacks were killed until the Dark-Blacks' appearance.

After the incident, the Emperor issued a decree to ban the hunting of Blacks and announce a restricted area where only Blacks could live. No one was allowed to travel there, the same was for Blacks who couldn’t traverse to the Empire territory.

The two White-Blacks, that Safo observed on a giant screen on the deck of his Green Twinkle, were exceptions from the rule. They came hundreds of years ago and occupied the planet. The fact that they rarely, near to never, attacked the ships that flew by the system, unless being provoked, of course, let them stay on a planet without the Empire kicking them out back to the restricted zone.

For some time the system and the planet became a tourist spot. Many people wanted to see the living Blacks that they heard so much about.

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The Empire made money from the Track that they installed near the system, to make it easier for ships to teleport to the place. But very soon one the ship decided to come closer and check the absorbing abilities of the Black's skin. The ship was destroyed by vibrations from both creatures and the place was shut down.

Still, some daredevils came to visit the spot, traveling a week on high speed, without any Track nearby.

Captain Seaghoul and Kutch told Safo everything they knew about the White-Blacks while Safo admired the devilish look of the creature and wondered: "Why do they look so much similar to pterodactyls?"

"Aren't they gorgeous? I envy those who could fight them, many hunters grabbed millions of zees selling the core of Blacks in the past. Now their kin lives a carefree life." Kutch dived to the dreamland where he was rich and had many concubines.

"If you really want you can try your luck with them, boy. Black market will buy the core offering a tenfold price." Captain Seaghoul instigated Kutch for some actions.

"But you said that hunting them is illegal." Safo looked confused, he understood the concept of the black market, but he couldn't believe that the Empire would let them hunt the Blacks easily.

"It is banned but poaching is still a thing. How do they know? Even if they know, they will charge you a fine. With the money that you receive from selling the cores, you can afford the fine. Sometimes even four times. Haha." Captain Seaghoul's past and knowledge disturbed Safo a bit.

"No, let's not do silly things for now. We don't want the Empire ships tailing us in addition to hunters." Safo suggested the most logical decision.

Kutch was about to voice his dreams once more when suddenly everybody in the room gasped. White-Blacks stood up from their rest and started to prepare themselves to fly to the yellow star. It was mealtime for them.

Once in a while, they flew closer to the energy source to consume the necessary portion of energy to sustain their almost endless lives.

Safo expected that anytime soon the White-Blacks would flap their wings to arise from the surface of the deadly hot planet. But it didn't happen. Instead, from underneath the wings came a yellow flame rocketing the creatures from the land to space.

'Right, there is no air on the planet. flapping the wings won't help. How could I forget it?!' Safo looked awed at the magnificent picture of two giant prehistoric birds gliding through space.

"What the fuc* is that?" While everybody was hypnotized by the fantastic beasts, Kutch's sight noticed something inside the pit of the White-Blacks.

"Fuc* my mechanical body, oh god of wires and chips. Is that what I think it is?" Captain Seaghoul's excitement couldn't be more.

Even Dost and Yon moved forward to the screen, nobody could believe their eyes.

"Eggs? Is that a rare event for Blacks?" Safo still didn't understand. It was only natural for creatures to have offspring.

"There is no record for Blacks to have babies. Not one. We are witnessing the historical moment." Kutch's mouth was wide open thus his words came a bit unclear.

"We are so lucky to see this. We have to report this to the Empire." It was the right thing to do, so it was only right that the suggestion came from Yon.

"It changes everything that we knew about Blacks," Dost said but continued his speech, he knew that Safo didn't know much about the history of the Universe.

"Initially, it was believed that Blacks cannot reproduce. Meaning that by hunting them we brought the Blacks to the level of endangered species. But as we can see, they can have offspring. And by letting them live in a restricted zone for so long we most likely helped them to overpopulate and created a danger for ourselves."

"Which means that if there are more Dark-Blacks out there, we are doomed." Captain Seaghoul finished the thought of Dost.

"We have to go to the capital planet of the Empire and tell everything. The Emperor has to go and check the restricted area for more Dark-Blacks." Yon began to panic, he learned about the devastations that one Dark-Black caused. If it was more than that, he believed that the Emperor and his sons had to take care of them.

"Or... We can steal the egg or two, bring it to the New Tenga for newborn souls and then show living proof to the Empire." Safo for a moment thought that it was a good idea, but when he saw the dark faces of his team.

"What? We have to think about ourselves, okay. The Empire has lots of resources and power they can deal with the problem, while if we have a psiora with White-Black body... it will be awesome, no?"

Safo wanted to convince his team but was out of arguments. "We are not killing anything. O'rmon could do it in no time. White-Blacks won't even notice us."

The explosion of counterarguments came as a shockwave to Safo. Captain Seaghoul was afraid that the Black parents would follow them to the New Tenga.

Dost said that the operation was too risky for O'rmon.

Yon was dedicated to his option of reporting everything to the Empire and leaving the place.

Kutch said that they could've just sold the eggs, not bringing troubles to New Tenga.

They shut up when a screaming voice of a crew member came with shocking words. "Somebody is stealing our eggs!"