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Fahepeopleatthedigsiteinastateofdeepshoddespair。Thewasagaiobreakthesiledignitariesofallnationsandsaid,‘IknowthatIambutanobodyandthattheonlyreasonIamfortuoattendtheseosisbecauseIwasthefirsttoeintotactwiththetwoalienintelligeheless,Ileofthings:first,Fangsisright;seanity’sonlywayoutistofight。’
‘Fight?Oh,,fight…’TheSecretary-Generalshookhisheadwithabittersimile。
‘Right!Fight!Fight!Fight!’thegirlfromEridanusshoutedfromhercrystalpaedseveralfeetabovetheheadsofthoseassembled。Inhersual,thelirl’sentirebodyeruptedintoaflowingflourish。
‘YoupeoplefromEridanusfoughtthem。Howdidthatend?’someo。‘Humanitymustthinkofitssurvivalasaspeotofsatisfyingyourtwisteddesirefeance。’
‘No,sir,’thesaid,turniheassembledcrowd。‘TheEridaniansengagedaheykhingaboutinawarofself-defehermore,theywereasocietythathadhistoriotkniveaishardlysurprisingthattheyweredefeated。heless,iuryofbitterwarfare,theymeticulouslyacquiredadeepuandingoftheDevourer。Wenowhavebeevastreservoirofkhisspaceship。Itwillbee。
‘JudiinarystudiesofthematerialhaveshownthattheDevourerisbyerribleaswehadfirstfeared,’hetoldthem。‘Foremost,beyohatitisinceivablylarge,thereislittleabouttheDevourerthatexceeds。Itslifeforms,thetenbilliohemselves,are-basedlifeforms,justlikeus。Theyevenresembleusonamolecularlevel,andbecauseweshareabiologicalbasiswiththeehingaboutthemwillremainbeyrasp。Weshouldts;siderthatwecouldjustaswellhavebeehinvadersmadeyfieldsauffofars。
‘Butthereisevenmorecauseforhope,’hesaid。‘TheDevourerpossessesverylittle,shaller-teology’。TheDevourer’steologyislyveryadvanparedtohumanity’s,butthatisprimarilyaquestiooftheoreticalbasis。ThemainenergysourceoftheDevourer’spropulsionsystemisnuclearfusion。Infact,theprimaryuseforlunderedfromplas–beybasiclifesupport–isfuelforthissystem。TheDevourer’spropulsionteologyisbasedontheprincipleofredtheservatioise,space-timebendingMa。’Thepaused,studyingthefa。‘Allofthismaydismayourstists;afterall,theDevourer,withitstensofmillionsofyearsofuousdevelopment,clearlyshowsusthelimitsofsdteology,butitalsoclearlyshowsusthatourenemyisnoinvinciblegod。’
&ary-Generalmulledoverthe’swords,theisthatenoughtoey’svictory?’
‘Ofcourse,wehavemorespeation。Informationthatshouldallowustoformulateastrategythatwillgiveagoodshotatviple—’
&ioion!’thegirlfromEridaheirheads,iiain。
&aibursttothebaffledfa。‘WehavelearheEridaniandatathattheDevourer’sabilitytoaccelerateislimited。TheEridafturies,andtheyexceedthisspecificlimit。Tothis,weusedthedataweretheEridaoestablishamathematicalmodelthatatsfortheDevourer’sarchitedthematerialstrengthofitsstrupos。CalsusingthismodelverifytheEridaniaions。ThereisafirmlimittothespeedatwhichtheDevoureraccelerate,andthislimitisdetermisstrutegrity。Shoulditeverexceedthismark,thecolossuswillbetorntopieces。’
‘Sowhat?’theheadofagreatnationasked,under-whelmed。
‘Weshouldremainlevel-headedandcarefullysiderit。’theswered