The Consul again gave him a look of surprise.
“I thought you were just—” He broke off, and then continued dryly. “The people are rioting, trying to catch some foreigners. Two months ago, the Tyrant allowed some scientists into the Sacred Area of the First Landing, and last week an unknown fleet entered the system. Local religious fanatics announced it to be retribution for the sacrilege and encouraged everyone to destroy all the infidels in order to avert the punishment.”
Yv looked around the room which was full of suitcases and trunks. “Are you are going to evacuate?”
The Consul nodded. “The local staff have already abandoned us, and I am afraid that some of them will bring these thugs here. Tell me, can you operate a space shuttle?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” nodded Yv. “I can, but why?’
Joy flashed in his companion’s eyes.
“I see you are a man of experience.” He got up, walked over to one of the bulky trunks, opened it and turned to Yv, leaning his hand on the cover. “I’ll give you clothes, and you can come along with us. Help us get to the port. I have a diplomatic shuttle there, and a mother ship parked in orbit.” He paused, and without seeing much enthusiasm on the face of his potential savior, he continued eagerly. “Not only that, I will help you to escape from the planet, and take you wherever you want!”
The fat man fidgeted impatiently, waiting for an answer. He was probably very frightened by the situation he found himself in. Unable to stand it any longer, after a few seconds, he blurted out. “Well, what do you say?”
Yv chuckled to himself. It was because of such coincidences that he was nicknamed Lucky.
“Agreed.”
The Consul almost jumped for joy but restrained himself and asked cautiously. “Where do you want to go to?”
Yv thought for a second. Ahead of him lay more than one hundred and fifty years of the conquest, which no one else knew about yet. The boy had been born into a family who had been Pakron farmers for generations, and Yv’s future father was not yet a year old. So, he had plenty of time to better prepare for his mission. Especially since there were still twelve years to go before the fall of the first civilization on Simaron, so that at his next meeting with the Creator he could show off to him a diploma from the legendary university on Simaron. Yv smiled and replied. “To Simaron.”
Postscript. Throughout our existence, Gods have been seen by people as being more powerful, wiser, but still very similar to themselves. So why do we still refuse them a sense of humor?
Glossary of terms.
Doctor Storm, Professor at the University of New Simaron, on the topic of. “Features of the socio-political status of classes in the modern world.”
Boarding party. A melee or fight to capture enemy ships. As a rule, used in armed clashes between ships of a similar class or as part of combat units within squadrons. The revival of such a style of fighting was caused by a lack of efficiency in the weapons used and the characteristics of the force fields in use, which allows for crafts to safely approach enemy ships at very close quarters, regardless of the velocity, vector, and convergence.
The Scarlet Princes. One of The Enemy Castes, whose representatives come into contact with humans the most frequently. This warrior caste, because of their appearance, the distinctive feature of which is a bright scarlet hue to the skin, are known as Scarlet Princes.
The Noble Dons. A class of mercenaries. The date of their formation is considered to be the year 3582. These days, many states have started the practice of issuing letters of marque to freestyle captains who have expressed a desire to fight The Enemy. They are known as masters in the art of boarding combat and multiple styles of military training. In social terms, they are distinguished by their democratic morals, valor in battle and deeply superstitious values. As a rule, they have no major warships. Sometimes they engage in piracy or, conversely, the protection of trade routes.
The Eternal One. One of the superstitions of the noble dons. A messenger from God or his Son, sent to the people, in order to ensure their courage and faithfulness to the Lord. He lives among the people under the guise of a Noble Don, observing the behavior of people in the battle with the forces of hell, who in the minds of the dons is embodied by The Enemy. The dons are convinced that if Eternal Ones decides that humanity has the dignity to ‘spread the word and spirit of God across the universe,’ then, when the time comes, he will rise up to lead them in the final battle, in which the forces of hell will inevitably be crushed.
The Enemy (also known as demons, or red assholes). Representatives of an intelligent race, dominating many other sentient species. Their social structure is based on a caste system, but, according to the assumptions of Saint Dagmar, caste is not something set in stone. The transition of individuals from one caste to another is quite acceptable and is accompanied by a change in skin pigmentation. In contrast, humans tend to prefer expansion to uninhabited worlds, whereas Enemy expansion is aimed at obedience and their inclusion in the social structure of inhabited worlds. That is why such a huge quantity of sentient species are part of the civilization of The Enemy (estimated to be about eight hundred species). By reserves and resources, they are approximately on the same level with humans, but control around a third more areas of settlement to those of humans.
Blasting charge. A small explosive charge usually used for punching holes in the hull of a ship for the purpose of allowing access for boarding parties.
The Conquest. An era that began after the publication of the Encyclical of Pope Jerome XII that The Enemy is nothing more or less than Hell’s army, which had finally decided to wipe out mankind. From this point on all the encounters acquired pronounced religious connotations.
Manticore. a slang expression denoting a particular form of life that is used by The Enemy to isolate planetary systems. A kind of organism that is only able to exist providing gravitational pressure is consistently lower than 0.001 G. Its vital processes are carried out at the expense of an atomic decomposition of matter. Its lifespan has not yet been determined, but according to the noble dons, it can exceed hundreds and even thousands of years. According to information from similar sources, during its existence, it can reach millions of kilometers in size, it is fully capable of moving with tremendous speed, almost reaching the speed of light momentarily, and is capable of recycling matter at a distance of 0.01 light years from a star, before dying from a lack of food. Specific studies have not been conducted because there have been no survivors of incursions into a system in which there is an adult Manticore.
Order. The marching order of a battle squadron or fleet.
Gravity guns. Outdated type of weapon still used on some orbital fortress. The principle of operation was to create a point of focus of sharply increased tension in the gravitational field. The power of the field depended upon the class of the weapon and planetary mortars could reach up to 1500 G. The force field from even lower-class weapons weakened the impact of a simple gravity gun by half.
Ray guns. Gravity gun, using the principle of special focus. Since the force field is dependent on the power weakening the gravity beam by only one or two frequencies, the focusing produces several rays, the focal point occurs repeatedly, enhancing the effect of the weapon.
Classification of weapons.
2-barrels. Arkebuz,
3-barrels. Tufeng,
4-barrels. Culverin
5-Barrels. Bombard
6-barrels. Orbital mortars
7-barrels. Planetary mortars.
To settle down. the idiom of the noble dons. Since the main wealth of any noble don was certainly the amount of kelimit on his weapon’s blade, then when he completes his military career, a symbol of its completion is the selling or pledging of the weapon. With the money the former dons can arrange their civilian life.
Plasma Blaster. Originally a slang name for a plasma rifle, it evolved into the official name of the class of weapons used as a means of firing high-temperature bursts of plasma. Extre
mely widespread due to the simplicity of its design, ease of production, and cheapness of ammunition. The noble dons found themselves with an upgraded version with a standard capacity of up to eight hundred blasts. The conventional military options in different states had a standard capacity of two hundred blasts.
Reflection field. the weakest kind of force field, which does not require the use of power in applying a structure. Characterized by the ability to cut out all types of radiation emitted by machinery and equipment from a ship, as well as being able to absorb the rays from enemy sensors. Identifiable only by using ‘effect of failure’ to pinpoint it, for example, in areas where there is no radiation. Used to hide ships or their potential combat performance.
Force field. Energy structure used to create an impermeable closed loop. There are two types. a pulsating field and a shimmering field. The most common one is a pulsating field as it requires less expenditure of energy. Impervious to any kind of impact, except for low-intensity radiation used for communication and location, and concentrated fire from multipath weapons. A space is created inside the closed loop, which can be synchronized with other similar space ships. It does not matter how the ships are moving relative to each other at the moment of contact of the fields. Upon contact, they begin to move in parallel.
Power frame. Interferential pattern of lines of force that occur inside the cocoon of the force field. Allows maintenance of a constant structure just inside the force field at the speed of light or above. Extremely sensitive to sharp changes in energy potentials as a result of experiencing strong local disturbances.
Timar. a small fiefdom of the Sultanate of Regulus.
Troll, Balrog, Kazgarot. slang terms for members of the lower castes of the social structure of The Enemy used as ordinary soldiers. They became household names among the dons, representing The Enemy as an unclean host associated with the forces of evil in the folklore of planet Earth. Distinguished by their combat capabilities. In the folklore of the noble dons, the expression ‘to run into a Kazgarot’ usually means certain death.
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