The Star Agency (The Star Agency Chronicles)

by R. E. Weber

  As the ship closed in on the city and Theo stared at the huge central tower, he found himself wondering about the shimmering thread that he had seen attached to it above the clouds. And strange as it seemed, he had an idea. He’d been browsing in a Library one day when he’d come across an old book. It had been a science fiction novel, which he’d picked off the shelf just to browse. And on the cover there had been a scene not unlike that which had met his eyes, moments ago. Then, when he’d read the book’s description on the back cover, he’d discovered that the story had centred on the building of a huge lift, or elevator, from a mountaintop to a space station in orbit. A Space Elevator! He had thought, at the time, that the idea seemed crazy. But as far-fetched as it had sounded, he’d never forgotten it.

  Suddenly, the craft banked sharply again, and for a couple of minutes it circled the huge central spire, spiralling slowly downwards. Several hundred meters above the ground, it came to a halt and hovered motionless for a few seconds, before dropping vertically towards the city. Seconds later, the ship reached the city surface with the dark spires surrounding it on all sides, but instead of coming to a halt, it continued to drop. Suddenly, it became dark outside and Theo realised that they had descended below ground.

  For about a minute, the ship continued to drop, with the only sign of movement being a handful of lights that were rising slowly upwards, around them. Then the ship slowed and came to a halt on a large circular landing pad.

  Orientator rose from his seat, looked at Theo and then gestured towards a doorway at the back of the cabin. Quickly, Theo rose, headed through the doorway and down a shallow ramp towards the landing pad. Orientator and the other Polisians followed closely behind.

  As Theo reached the bottom of the ramp and stepped off, he suddenly felt an intense shiver as a wall of cold air hit him. But the shiver didn’t last long. From beneath his jacket and trousers, a wave of warmth coursed through his body, almost as if he’d been plunged into warm water. Feeling the cold still stinging his cheeks, he quickly pulled up the hood of his unitard around his head. Then he took a deep breath and held it in his lungs for a moment. It was almost as if he had swallowed freezing cold, liquid oxygen. Slowly, he breathed out, and a fine shimmering mist condensed in front of him, hanging almost motionless in the still air. He unzipped his jacket a little and felt around inside. His unitard was warm to the touch. It was clearly some kind of high tech thermal underwear rather than the outfit of a ninja warrior.

  Theo walked a few meters ahead, stopped and then stared straight up. In the distance was a small circle of light at the top of the cavern, perhaps a thousand meters away. But save for a few dim strip lights on the landing pad, it was the only thing illuminating the cavern.

  As he looked around the landing pad, he heard some distant footsteps and turned to see where they were coming from. Then, from out of the shadows, a group of about seven Polisians appeared, striding quickly towards him. One of them was walking a little in front of the others and was wearing what appeared to be a long, flowing, black robe, trimmed with red and gold, which flapped around its birdlike feet as it walked. It was also carrying what looked like some sort of wooden staff, with a single glowing crystal mounted on the top. Suddenly, Theo felt a gentle tap on his shoulder.

  ‘Theo, remain here,’ said Orientator. ‘I will greet Governor Tallus first.’

  Governor Tallus and the other Polisians stopped a few meters away from Theo. Orientator stepped forward and dipped his head lightly, then stepped back and stood beside Theo. Then Governor Tallus held out his staff towards Theo.

  ‘Theopolis James Logan,’ he said in English with no need for a translation. ‘I am Governor Tallus. Welcome to Polisium.’

  ‘Yeh, thanks,’ replied Theo nervously. ‘I’m honoured to, erm, be here.’

  ‘Before we continue, Theopolis,’ said Governor Tallus in his own language, with a translation following moments later, ‘I would like to ensure that you feel warm enough. With Polisium entering its coldest season, it is especially cold today.’

  ‘Oh it’s just Theo. And yeh, it’s very cold. But I’m OK thanks,’ said Theo, pulling the hood of his unitard tighter around his face.

  ‘I am gratified to hear this.’ replied Governor Tallus. ‘The seasonal changes on Polisium are more extreme than you are perhaps familiar with on your own world. Our orbit around twin stars means the seasonal differences are more complicated and severe. It will become even colder later in the season.’

  ‘So why don’t you just change the weather – you know, warm it up a bit or something? You must have the technology.’

  ‘Do you believe,’ said Governor Tallus staring unblinkingly at Theo, ‘that just because you have the ability to do something, that you also have the right to do it?’

  ‘Erm, I’m not sure what you mean?’ said Theo, feeling defensive and more than a little nervous.

  ‘OK,’ said Governor Tallus, ‘let me phrase the question another way. Do you believe that the other species on this world have an equal right to live here alongside us?’

  ‘Yeh, I suppose,’ said Theo.

  ‘Then I believe you have answered your own question. We consider ourselves the planet’s guardians, not its owners. It would be arrogant and selfish of us to artificially alter the climate to suit our own needs.’

  ‘Yeh right,’ said Theo, ‘I guess we could do with learning that back home, on Earth.’

  ‘Indeed. Now, would you please walk with me? We have much to discuss,’ said the Governor gesturing to his side.

  Nervously, Theo stepped forward and accompanied the Governor away into the darkness, with the remainder of the Polisians following closely behind.

  They continued walking until they had almost reached the edge of the landing platform. Directly in front of them, embedded in the rock wall of the cavern, were a set of heavy metallic doors, which swung open as they approached. Governor Tallus gestured for Theo to walk through, which he did, closely followed by the other Polisians. But as soon as the heavy metal doors creaked shut behind them, Theo couldn’t see a thing. It was pitch black.

  ‘Wait here,’ said the Governor.

  Theo heard some light footsteps and then a heavy metallic clunk. Then, from behind him, there was a mighty rumble, and suddenly two huge tongues of fire appeared and tore past him overhead, brilliantly illuminating a large circular cavern and long corridor made of polished marble. The fire, or whatever it was, appeared to be enclosed within transparent tubes embedded in the walls and ceiling, and as it raced ahead of them, around the walls and down the corridor, it looped up, down and around under the floor before finally reaching the end of the corridor perhaps sixty meters away. Then the flame just seemed to stop and hang there flickering, as if frozen in time, while all around them, the marble walls of the cavern danced in the shimmering reflected glow of the orange and yellow light. It was a truly spectacular sight.

  Governor Tallus turned to face Theo. ‘Welcome to the Tomb of Fire,’ he said. Then he turned and strode confidently away down the corridor ahead without looking back. Nervously, and thinking that he didn’t much like the idea of being in a Tomb, even one so spectacular, Theo followed.

  As they reached the end of the corridor, Theo could see that the tongues of fire were encircling a large, polished, wooden double door, set directly into the marble wall. There were already two Polisians standing either side of the door, clearly awaiting their arrival, and as the Governor approached, they stepped aside to reveal two great, curved, metal handles. Governor Tallus stepped forward, clasped both handles and held them for a moment. Then there was a loud clunk and he twisted the handles down, pushing forward at the same time. Slowly, the huge doors creaked open. Governor Tallus spoke briefly to the other Polisians in their own language, who then turned and headed back down the corridor. Then he gestured for Theo to enter, which he duly did, closely followed by the Governor. The doors closed automatically behind them.

  For a moment they were in total darkness, but then fro
m each corner of the room, a shimmering light appeared, and Theo could now see that he was in a large room about forty meters long, by twenty meters wide, by four meters high. Like the chamber they had just left, the walls, ceiling and floor were made from polished streaked marble. In each corner stood a large metal rod with what looked like a glowing quartz crystal mounted on top of it, dimly illuminating the room with a pale white light.

  Governor Tallus approached one of the rods and rolled his eyes, and the crystals began to glow a little brighter allowing Theo to see the rest of the room more clearly. At the far end, close to the back wall, were what appeared to be an old fashioned looking, ornately carved, polished desk and chairs, made from black and crimson streaked wood. Around the walls, mounted in plain gold coloured frames, were a series of pictures. But they weren’t just any old pictures. Within them, were swirls, lumps, blobs and long sweeping strokes of texture. Paintings were the last things that Theo had expected to see on an alien world. But they were there none the less.

  Governor Tallus walked over to the desk and then, standing behind it, turned to face Theo.

  ‘Welcome to my private office. Please sit down,’ he said, gesturing to a chair in front of the desk.

  Theo walked quickly over to the desk and sat down. Then he looked back at Governor Tallus, who was already seated with his four arms folded across his lap, staring intently back at him.

  ‘I am judging by your reaction,’ said Governor Tallus as he looked at the bemused expression on Theo’s face, ‘that this is not quite what you had expected to see.’

  ‘Not really,’ said Theo. ‘It’s this room and everything. I mean, it reminds me a bit of Earth. You know, the paintings and all that. It’s like a royal palace or something.’

  ‘We have a proud tradition of representing our history in this manner, not unlike yourselves.’

  ‘My grandfather used to paint a little,’ said Theo nervously. ‘He said he found it relaxing.’

  Without replying, the Governor just stared intently back at Theo, who began to squirm in his seat. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable and more than a little unnerved with the unblinking eyes of a planetary leader staring back at him.

  ‘So anyway,’ said Theo trying to break the difficult silence, ‘why is this place called the Tomb of Fire? I mean, I get the fire bit. But where does the Tomb come into it?’

  ‘This is the historical residence of the Polisian Government and its leader. The first Governor of Polisium ordered the construction of this residence to house the newly formed world Government. He lived and died here and his remains are buried beneath us. Shortly after his death, the ceremonial entrance was constructed to welcome leaders from across the planet and eventually from other worlds too. For the last one thousand five hundred years, each Governor of Polisium has lived and governed from here.’

  ‘So those towers, or whatever I saw, when we were coming into land – they’re all part of this Tomb of Fire, are they?’

  ‘Correct. We are now directly underneath the central tower.’

  ‘And that thing I saw attached to the top of the tower, you know, above the clouds. I was wondering what that was.’

  Governor Tallus stared back at Theo, expectantly. ‘Perhaps you have your own hypothesis?’

  Theo paused for a moment as he visualised the scene is his mind.

  ‘Well erm, I was thinking. Possibly it was, you know, some sort of lift into space?’

  For a few seconds, Governor Tallus looked at Theo with his head cocked to one side, clearly confused at the translation. Then, as Theo was about to try and explain further, the Governor suddenly seemed to understand.

  ‘Very impressive Theo, especially considering you have never seen one before. The device is known to us as a Cabled Orbital Ascender. If you like, a lift into space’

  ‘How long is it, I mean, how high does it go?

  ‘The orbital anchor is sixteen point five thousand Hotah from the surface.’

  Theo did a quick mental calculation. Thirty three thousand Kilometres.

  ‘Wow that’s impressive,’ replied Theo.

  ‘It was an impressive achievement in its era,’ replied the Governor. ‘However it has now been superseded by more advanced technology.’

  ‘Its era?’ replied Theo. ‘So how old is it then?’

  ‘It was constructed seven hundred years ago.’

  Theo looked at the Governor, stunned. Even though humans had conceived of the idea, they were probably hundreds of years away from building one. Yet here, on this world, it was ancient technology.

  ‘Does it still work?’ said Theo.

  ‘It has been maintained in working order as a monument to our past achievements. The device, in its time, enabled us to begin construction of our orbital habitats. It was a crucial development on our path to becoming a true space faring civilisation.’

  ‘But it’s now a monument?’

  ‘Correct,’ said the Governor.

  ‘Wow,’ said Theo.

  ‘So what are your impressions of Polisium Central then, Theo?’

  ‘You mean here, this city?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Theo glanced around the room with its ornately carved wooden table and chairs, polished marble surfaces and paintings. Then he thought back to Polisium Prime with its drab featureless grey/white walls and ceilings.

  ‘Well it’s much nicer than Polisium Prime,’ he replied.

  ‘This residence has a proud and ancient tradition and this is reflected in its appearance.’

  ‘And these pictures, who painted them?’

  ‘If you are referring to the representations mounted on these walls, then I created them,’ replied the Governor.

  ‘They’re very good,’ said Theo. ‘I’m not much good at painting. That was more granddad’s thing. I was always….’

  ‘Do you understand why you are here, Theo?’ interrupted Governor Tallus.

  ‘Erm, yeh. Well I was told that I was, you know, representing my world. You want Earth to be in The Affinity.’

  Silently, Governor Tallus rose from behind his desk, walked towards one of the walls and stared at the row of paintings while Theo remained seated.

  ‘These representations,’ said Governor Tallus, ‘show each of the Affinity’s races. They depict of the ceremony of joining when a species is formally invited to become a member of the Affinity.’

  Slowly, the Governor walked along the row of paintings, looking at each one, without speaking. Finally, he stopped at the end next to a blank patch of wall.

  ‘This area is reserved,’ said Governor Tallus.

  ‘For us, I mean, humans?’ said Theo.

  ‘More precisely, for the next race to join the Affinity. A representation of your race could fill this space. Do you believe you can foresee a time when there will be a depiction of the ceremony of joining for your species?’

  ‘I…I don’t know,’ said Theo.

  ‘You are wise, Theo. It is of course possible that your species may not be accepted for inclusion. Not all species are, shall we say, suitable.’

  ‘So what do we have to do, you know, to be accepted – to be suitable?’

  ‘Put simply, prove that you can give back to the Affinity what you receive. Every race has something to contribute, even those with limited technical resources. All species have unique talents and abilities. Different perspectives can teach us many things.’

  ‘But I mean, why do you need to test us when you’ve been watching us for years? You must know all about us – you know, what we can do and what we can give you?’

  ‘Ah,’ said Governor Tallus. ‘It is true that we have extensive knowledge of your species. But our centuries of observation have been from a distance. We have not interacted. Knowledge and facts are no substitute for intimate experience.’

  ‘Intimate experience?’ said Theo, his cheeks flushing red.

  The Governor paused for a moment, clearly searching for a different translation. ‘Ah, I believe first-hand experience
would perhaps be a better analogy. History has taught us that we cannot possibly know exactly how a species will react and adapt to changing circumstances, however much we believe we know about them.’

  ‘But how will you know if humans are OK to join? How does it all work?’

  ‘You and the other invited representatives will, once your Orientation has been completed, train for and then take up a suitable role within the Affinity. If you can then excel in your roles and prove to us that you work effectively and co-operatively with other species, then this will show us that Earth can become a valued member of the Affinity. We can then consider you for formal membership.’

  ‘When you say a role, what do you mean – like a job or something?’

  The Governor paused for a moment.

  ‘The human term job,’ he said finally, ‘does not fully or adequately describe your role. It is instead your vocation into which you must fully immerse yourself, selflessly. It is finely tuned to match your abilities and interests. It also defines your place in society and is a statement of your dedication to the Affinity.’

  ‘Right…’ said Theo after a short pause. ‘So what sort of role would I have?’

  ‘Until you have completed your Orientation, we cannot say. From the moment of your arrival on Polisium and throughout your Orientation, everything you do will be monitored and carefully scrutinised. Analysis of this will tell us what kind of role would be suitable for each of you.’

  ‘You mean everything I do?’ said Theo, slightly alarmed, thinking back to his confusion at the icons in his quarters.

  ‘Everything is recorded,’ said Governor Tallus, ‘except where you would expect it not to be. Your privacy will of course be respected.’

  Inwardly, Theo let of a sigh of relief.

  ‘So how am I doing? I mean, what do you think of humans?’