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Robotech: Metamorphosis
Book 11 in the Robotech Series
Copyright 1987 by Jack McKinney


CHAPTER ONE
How could so many of the principals in this vast struggle be so blind to the reason that one
planet was at the center of it all? That is a secret we shall never know.
On blighted Earth, arguably the most warlike planet in the Universe, the Flower of Life had taken
root like nowhere else before-except for Optera (which may or may not have been its world of
origin). And in so doing, it set the stage for Act Ill of the Robotech Wars.
And yet, inventively oblivious, Invid and Human alike attributed that to the vagaries of a plant.
Zeus Bellow, The Road to Reflex Point

Never has the Flower of Life wrought more strangely! it occurred yet again to the Regis, empress/
mother of the Invid species. Earth, your fate is wedded to ours now!
How strange it was that Zor had chosen Earth, she thought, as she poised there in the
center of the stupendous mega-hive know as Reflex Point. Or, more aptly, how well he had chosen by
sending his dimensional fortress to the planet so long ago. Of all the worlds that circled stars,
what had made him pick this one? The thought of Zor made her seethe with a passion that had long
since turned to austere hatred.
Did he know that Earth would prove so fantastically fertile for the Flowers of Life, a
garden second only to the Invid race's native Optera in its receptivity to the Flowers? It was
true that Protoculture could bestow powers of the mind, but even so, what had drawn Zor's
attention across the endless-light years to the insignificant blue-white globe?
But Zor's decision didn't matter now. All that was important was that the Invid had
finally found a world where the all-important Flower thrived. At long last, they had conquered
their New Optera.
Of course, there was an indigenous species-the Human race-but they did not present any
problem. The first onslaught of the Invid had left Human civilization in ruins; the aliens used
many of the survivors to farm the Flower of Life.
A few Humans cowered in and around the shattered remains of their cities or prowled the
wastelands, preying on one another and dreading the moment when the Invid would finish the job.
The only use in letting the Homo sapiens survive a little while longer was to use them to further
the Invid master plan.
Then the Humans would be sent into oblivion forever. There was no room for them on Earth
anymore. And from what the Regis knew of the Human race's history, their absence would improve the
universe as a whole.
And it would be done. After all, the last of the Regis's real enemies were dead. There was
no one to oppose the might of the undefeated and remorseless Invid.

The Alpha Fighter bucked but cut a clean line through the air, its drives flaring blue.
Wickedly fast, heavily armed, and hugging the ground, it arrowed toward the snowcapped mountains.
Lieutenant Scott Bernard eased back on his HOTAS-the Hands-on-Throttle-and-Stick controls.
With so much power at his disposal, it was tempting to go for speed, to exercise the command of
the sky that seemed like the Robotech fighter's birthright, and his own.
One reason not to speed on ahead was that there were others below, following along in
surface vehicles-his team members. It would take them days, perhaps weeks, to cover mountain