Ths Sacking of Triolux North
Page 15
The ship had moved on and was doing the same thing it did here to their sister cities and nearby towns and they could feel the wail of the planet as it vibrated under their feet. And a sadness descended on the men as they listened for any sign of wounded. In the tunnels they found the people were dead from bad air and all the rest were crushed beneath the mangled metal and stone buildings. Out toward the sea they heard the ship melting the islands laden with plankton and the creatures that were known as waterfalls. Many of them would die. Tee wondered if they would ever come back to the numbers needed. A bitter twinge of hate coursed through him as his trigger finger twitched and he ached to kill a Zellhigh soldier.
But it was not to be. They waited for two days and never heard the ship again. Eventually the women and children drifted into the ruins and they discussed the need for food and clean water. They were once again reduced to building fires and searching the woods for food. Only this time they had no home to return to once the electricity came back on. The heads of all the trades restored power here and there and so there was some light against the darkness where people could huddle and feel some modicum of safety. Lain and Lacy and Tee gathered milled stones and stacked the blocks against a dirt berm. They created four walls and gathered steel pipes and wired them into a slanted roof and then found enough insulation battens and plastic to have a roof against the rain.
Rains did come and it was a mad rush to collect clean water. Eventually they had a power cord run to their little shed. They found enough wire to create a makeshift hot plate and the cities that went unscathed sent supplies and machines and skilled labor. The planet was slowly waking up from the nightmare and with the encouragement of the surviving towns and manufacturing facilities they were trying to have hope. A large contingent of men and women buried the dead.
Word had come that the ship had run out of power near a city known as Vinter. The people set up local defenses and as the Zellhigh poured down from the ramps they were met with a ferocious welcome and most were destroyed without causing any damage. The ship was stormed and all the Zellhigh were killed. None were taken captive. The ships that were dispatched to Zellhigh saved enough power to return to Triolux North. They spoke of massive destruction and upon seeing what the Zellhigh had wreaked upon their planet they swelled with pride at the damage they had done to those savages.
Triolux North was reduced to a third - rate planet. It was hobbled in the plankton producing business and so there was no more items to export and it stifled their growth. The Sea of Velt was spared destruction and all the waterfalls and plankton were intact. Their offspring were once again introduced onto manmade islands and the production would one day return. Temporary shelters were becoming permanent as time gathered at their feet. The rebuilding of the super high-rises was slow. The people often spoke of bad decisions and bad luck and always with a bad taste in their mouth for the Zellhigh. They couldn’t rest until the final blow was delivered and that planet was sent into deep space to float in subzero temperatures without any atmosphere. It was sometimes their only motivation.
A small group of retired engineers and scientists was assigned the grim task of making the bomb that would kill a planet. It was a low priority but at the same time it gave the people a lift when they thought of the creatures on that planet struggling under more stress and strain than themselves. Then, when they thought there was a bit of progress they would be sent sailing into oblivion when they least expected it. So much for improvement. The Triolux had learned their lesson. They weren’t on the far side of the spectrum, someplace where they only thought of themselves. But they were no longer evangelists for improvement. They were moving toward a new philosophy of live and let live. That is, until another planet raised its ugly head and attacked a neighbor. Even if one planet was provoked they felt it important to help the universe avoid violence. They could become the arbitrator of the universe.
This is the kind of talk that replaced striving for improvement. The people were human after all and they’d been attacked three times. It didn’t matter that they had attacked Zellhigh. What mattered was that they needed to send a signal that their planet was not to be pushed. And so in the cold days of winter and hot days of summer they worked like mad to have decent living quarters and at the same time have a planet that was impenetrable. They wanted to knock out anything that was not invited and at a long distance from Triolux North.
A large amount of their time and effort was spent on defense and they were finished with their Zellhigh killer weapon. It was the size of a spaceship and fast and stealthy. It had been three years since they’d last dealt with the Zellhigh. They had bombed them into the dark ages and their satellites told them they were still struggling to have even the basics. They were never producers of anything other than war. So it was decided by the committee and the vote was unanimous. Send the Zellhigh to outer space and let that message go out across the universe. It wasn’t an uplifting happy ending. It was a sober note and it was simple. Don’t attack Triolux North.
Tee had aged. Lain was still beautiful and she was no longer anxious and jittery. She had come to terms with her past and her present. She now saw only the parts of her in Lacy and not the unfamiliar jaw and cheek bones. And Lacy was their girl. Tee was a gentle guide to her and he no longer gave speeches and rarely made suggestions. Occasionally people came up to him to thank him and at other random moments people told him he should have stuck with the original plan of improvement and helped the Zellhigh.
Triolux North was no longer a beacon of improvement, but they were a shining star for freedom and they let any other planet know that invading one of its neighbors would have consequences. They also raised the price of the life - extending plankton to pay for their standing army and their often tedious and heavy research when they were arbitrators for planets with trading and ownership disputes. The joke was if both planets ended up hating them then they must have found the right outcome.
Chapter 21
Lacy explains what she learned in school
“A planet is found and then explored. The explorers are the first to settle on it. Slowly word gets out and then the settlers come. Where do they come from? They come from overcrowded planets or places that don’t have opportunity for a better life. As far as the planet goes, this is a time when its resources are plundered and the low hanging fruit of easy pickings is reaped. Then the land is scarred and the minerals and metals are pulled from the ground. This eventually begins to be regulated and falls under the jurisdiction of the area in which the plunder occurs.
“The settlers become organized and laws soon follow. Enforcement of the law is paid for in the form of a tax, either on individuals or industry or both. This causes land that was once before up for anyone to claim to become a ward of the state. The state then auctions it off and the rich who own the industry usually pick it up while its value is low. They parcel the land off into segments and often triple their investment. Over the years the land is developed and eventually the whole of the planet is settled and a world of rules is put into place and disagreements are brought before the courts.
“After three hundred years of having a capitalist economy with socialist aspects of housing and medical needs the Triolux North experimented with a new social charge. Their aim was for improvement and the laws and the society slowly moved into a form of government and social behavior that transformed their country into one that was as close to utopia as any population of their size had ever come. People were placed in jobs where they had a natural inclination. Estates were demolished as communal warmth spread across the planet and housing became based on square footage per person. The animosity between the haves and the have - nots was removed. And the whole system swung toward a period of human improvement.
“Then there came the invasion by the Zellhigh and their mad escapades involving rape and murder and destruction for the sake of demoralization. Before the rebuilding began people made their own homes out of materials scrounged on the grounds from
the ruined skyscrapers. That began a new strategy of housing in which people were given new homes based on the square footage of the shacks they built for themselves. Those who had put out the most effort were the most rewarded and thus began a return to the capitalist ways of old.
“The great experiment with human improvement evolved. Dad, we read about you when you first emerged from the tunnel and reported you had a vision. It was contrary to what the people wanted and you really tried to devise a plan to improve the outcome with the Zellhigh. But they were crazy. And you can’t reason with crazy people. So,” Lacy tossed her hands in the air and shrugged her shoulders, “they had to be blown to smithereens and that’s that.”
Lacy was twelve when she gave her father and mother a lesson in the history of Triolux North. They smiled at her and at each other. And after she was no longer present and it was the two adults their faces betrayed their fake appearance. They were both saddened by the new direction of the planet. They had once wanted to change the universe and make it a place that followed them into a path of improvement. Now they were a society that was armed to the teeth and had a standing army second to none.
Peace through strength resonated across the planet, from the artificial islands that now produced more plankton than ever to the great spaceships that could deliver a powerful blow to any planet that attacked another one. Their courts were full with disputes and they charged stiffly to arbitrate. They were the last word in the law, one that wrote and all had to conform to it. In a way the Triolux believed they were always superior and that their exceptionalism was a light that would always shine for the fairness of all. Tee felt their ego would one day be their downfall.
The End
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21