“Then I have permission to inform you that the command, after going through your personal files, has decided to appoint Gail to the position of chambermaid to Princess Flores, that Hug and Lidia will be engineers at the airport, and Rhus, Isla, and Desia will be technicians.”
“Gail is married to my flight engineer,” said Shay, “Which would mean that it will be difficult for her to take up a position that will involve working during the evenings and nights?”
“If you don’t accept the decision, I will have to arrest you for disobeying orders!” growled the officer, with a surprised look. “We are at war, as a matter of fact. All of those named shall be present in their positions early tomorrow morning, and I hope I have expressed myself clearly enough?”
“Yes, understood,” replied Shay, dismayed.
“Good,” she said, with a quick salute, and turned to leave.
When Shay had informed them of the officer’s errand, only Gail had missed the news, since she was upstairs in the living room, with Ixter.
“Such jerks!” snarled Ixter, perplexed, after listening to what Shay had to say.
“I tried to get them to change it,” said Shay, “But when they threatened court-martial there was unfortunately nothing I could do. You’ll just have to try put up with it. In time, we should be able to find a better solution, and in the meanwhile you’ll just have to console yourselves with the knowledge that if the Olegians had set their claws on us, we wouldn’t even be here and in a position to discuss injustices.”
As he left them and went downstairs, he reflected that he’d never seen such a couple so much in love, with the possible exception of Hug and Lidia. But justice always has a curved edge, with rules that are usually drawn up by those who happen to be in power at the time.
Only a small number of the palace’s servants had been allowed to travel to Urduk, so that the princesses, Zania and Flores Tsirska, were forced to share a chambermaid. When it had come to Flores’ attention that a fashion designer, miraculously, had landed on Urduk, she was euphoric, and after persistent petitioning at the command to have Gail serve her, she finally got what she wanted. Gail, distressed to have to present herself at the palace the next morning, damned the colony’s rules, which had allowed those in power to decide over her life. At the same time as she was preoccupied with how she would prefer to be back with her beloved Ixter again, she found some consolation in looking after Flores’ beautiful clothes, jewellery, and accessories, which surpassed everything she had ever seen. From experience, she understood what fantastic work and professionalism was behind the creation of all of these objects that, according to modern ideals, could never be appraised at their real value. Such were Lorians by nature, she thought; everything, whether beautiful or ugly, must be regularly replaces by something new, only to be rediscovered eventually, after lying forgotten sufficiently long, by new generations. The question, after the Olegians entry on the scene, was whether any more of these cycles would ever return.
CHAPTER 7
On Urduk, in the meanwhile, the cycle was currently stopped, at least for now, and the days passed with little variation, either in the weather or the routines. The mornings were always chilly, whereas in the middle of the day, when the sun stood highest, it was instead so oppressively warm that one could hardly consider doing anything at all. To cope with the situation, they were forced to adapt to Urduk’s daily rhythm; in the afternoon, when it was warmest, they lay down and rested, saving their energy for the evening, when breathing was more pleasant. Most of them took it with ease, but not Caver, who was becoming more bored every day. One morning, when he was looking his usual miserable self, Allur and Shay tried to cheer him up.
“Just think that you have time to sit and think and raise your level of consciousness, while the world is revolving around you, instead of vice versa,” said Shay. The philosopher Grax used to say that when time speeds by, imagination dies, since it can only exist in slowness.”
“Well, as far as I’m concerned, it’d be fine if lots were happening,” said Caver, glumly. “I don’t like sitting and fantasizing and being bored.”
“OK, then look at it like this,” said Allur, smiling. “Grax also said that sometimes we are the ones consuming life and other times it’s the opposite. So it’s better to make the best of the situation, since the one who suffers most from going around and being depressed is oneself.”
“And, if I may ask, what did Grax know about life on Urduk?”
“Nothing, I suppose, but philosophy is universal and independent of space and time.”
“I wonder what chances we have of being able to return home someday? None at all, as far as I can see.”
“Hope is the last to desert one, it’s said,” replied Shay. “Maybe, with time, we’ll have developed the colony and can make a counterattack when we’ve become sufficiently strong.”
“Do you really think that? No, we’re surely going to live here, for the rest of our lives, like a bunch of damned birds in a cage.”
“Now I think you’re looking at things just a bit too negatively. They say that the scientists here have lots of advanced technical equipment at their disposal, and that they’re working day and night to find ways to defeat the Olegians. Also, we’re soon going to begin conducting various research assignments that, if successful, can lead to future breakthroughs.”
“What are those about?” asked Caver, immediately alert.
“I don’t know, but a scientist and a biologist have been posted to our ship, and will be visiting us tomorrow.”
Once again, an early morning wake-up, to a clear, blue sky, and breakfast among the garden’s greenery, while the sun’s reflections danced around the dome’s Plexiglas. They had hardly managed to arrive at the Olina before the scientist assigned to their ship, Anderika Metzinga, a woman dressed in a beige pantsuit and a white coat, showed up. She had a distinct appearance, with high cheekbones, thin lips, and serious green eyes, beneath a thick flow of blond hair. As soon as she’d greeted them, she asked to speak with Shay in private.
“In accordance with the commander-in-chief’s wishes,” she said, after closing the door behind them and ensuring that no one could overhear them, “We intend to utilize your ship to conduct a number of experiments out in Urduk’s desert areas.”
“For what purpose?” he asked.
“For finding ways to win the war.”
“And how have you thought to do that?”
“In the same way that enemies have always been defeated. The Olegians are to be seen as fortresses, which is why we first have to find their weakest points and then apply all our forces to an attack that can break through. At the moment, we’re conducting research in a whole range of areas, including many different scientific disciplines. The tests we are going to undertake together focus primarily on technology, communication, and biology.
“Who will be participating in the work?”
“To begin with, just you and I and a biologist.
After discussing the matter for another half-hour, going over maps and possible routes, Anderika finally stood up and asked if she could introduce him to her colleague.
The biologist, Baria Pantzar, sat in her laboratory, cluttered with all sorts of beakers and test tubes, working steadily with checking and summarizing various analysis results, when Anderika and Shay knocked on her glass door.
“Aha, you must be our new captain,” she said, smiling broadly, and stood up to meet them, stretching out her hand.
“That’s correct,” he answered, and took her hand, which was both smooth and firm.
He guessed that she was 24, possibly 25, hardly older. Her fiery dark eyes glanced out at him from just below her bangs, the rest of her chestnut-coloured hair carefully swept up into a knot at the back of her neck.
“And so, what are you up to here?” he asked, feeling strangely light-headed.
“We’re trying to create a biosynthesis of amino acids by extracting and isolating different ½,” she answered.
&
nbsp; “That information hasn’t made me that much wiser,” he said, “And what are those experiments that we’re going to help you with aimed at showing?”
“Among other things, to produce a deadly virus that is intended to be used as a weapon in our future resistance struggle.”
“I’ve heard rumours that such research is being carried out, but doesn’t it also pose a great risk for the colony’s inhabitants?”
“True, which is why we’re going to carry out the experiments far away from here, out in Urduk’s deserts.”
“And when can such a virus be produced?”
“In principle, it’s already finished.”
“Why, then, haven’t you already used it?”
“Because we still haven’t found an antidote that can neutralize the virus once the Olegians have been beaten. Also, the virus must be further developed so that it only attacks Olegians and no other living organisms, for if all animal life dies, then we ourselves have no future on Loria.”
“No, then it probably is better to go fast slowly and bide our time until we’re ready.”
“That’s true. One who acts too quickly and in a disturbed state often usually draws the shortest straw, although sometimes it can be just as bad to act too slowly. Strategy is about having patience to wait, and then strike ruthlessly when the right moment appears.”
“That reminds me of the tactic I applied during my officer training. Do you also have a military background?”
“No, but my father was an officer, so I heard a lot about tactical reasoning while growing up. Unfortunately, he died at the beginning of the war, as did my mother.”
“I’m sorry,” said Shay.
“And your family?”
“I actually don’t know what’s happened to them, since they lived in a town far from Oboe, where I was stationed and which, because of the war, was long cut off from all contact.”
He was surprised by her directness, since among themselves they usually avoided talking about their families. They all naturally expected the worst, but as long as they hadn’t received any news, they could still hope that they were still alive and that they would be reunited someday. Here on Urduk, those stationed here had long lived in protected circumstances, so they seemed to have another attitude to the war.
“It sounds like you have much to talk about,” said Anderika. “May I propose that we continue the discussion in my office, and I can offer you a cup of lazzo?”
“That sounds like an excellent idea,” said Shay.
He left a few hours later, reassured that they were in agreement about how the coming operations would be conducted.
The next morning, early, when they had slipped away from the docking station and flew away from the colony, an expansive panorama of craters and mountains opened up ahead of them. The landscape gave no clue of the fact that the atmospheric pressure was a mere eight millibars, which meant that someone who went outside without a protective suit would have died immediately. After flying for quite some time, over large lava plains and lunar seas punctuated by boulders and fine-grained sand, they finally reached their destination. Shay shifted to manual drive, and with his left hand pulled on the altitude regulator, at the same time as the movements of his other hand were transmitted electronically via the control lever to the steering system, which banked the Olina into an elegant descending sweep and a landing on a small gravel plateau. When the computers indicated that they were standing steady, Anderika received permission to begin her work, which began with test firing of ammunition, released with high velocity energy. Several experiments later, all of which had the objective of succeeding in a military attack against the Olegians, and that also included placement of a virus culture, they returned to the ship and prepared for the return trip. It wasn’t until late in the day that they approached the colony, and from their low altitude could see the oxygen production facility, with its trucks moving personnel and material back and forth. When Shay had the docking station in sight, he reduced speed and performed a perfect landing. They agreed that the next day they would again meet there early and continue with the work that had now had such a good start.
By evening, Urduk’s sweltering afternoon sun was waning, and a welcome coolness settled in. Zania lay in her large, decorated, canopy bed, among tasselled cushions and stuffed animals, feeling that now life had taken on a bit of the excitement and spirit that she had always longed for. Her room was large and spacious, and created a peaceful atmosphere, with its blue-patterned silk wallpaper, which was refreshingly contrasted by the straw-colour of its thick tatami mats. It was luxurious, by Urduk’s standards, but still nothing in comparison to the incredible ostentatiousness of what she’d had in Oboe, behind the protective walls of the imperial palace. At the end of her bed was her makeup table, of carved apricot wood; to the right of the door stood a large wardrobe; and furthest into the room was a low desk, on which there was a cage holding a female light spirit, called Xingezing, after the sound she emitted, which Zania had received as a present when she turned eighteen. Unable to sleep, she went over to the window and looked out in wonder at all the colony’s lights against the deep blackness of space, nevertheless glittering with thousands of twinkling stars. Everyone here moved about freely, in contrast to Oboe, where the imperial family had no contact with the people. From behind the curtain, she observed a group of people walking across the square below, and noticed that they were wearing the city guard’s dark-grey uniforms. When they suddenly looked up, it seemed that they caught a glance of her; blushing, she stepped back and hid herself entirely behind the curtain. Tomorrow, she thought to herself as she felt ready to try to fall asleep again, I must ask Flores, the new chambermaid, who travelled here with them, who they are.
“What an adjustment it must be for the imperial family to leave all luxury and splendour in Oboe and adapt to life here,” said Ixter, as they cut across Fado Square, by the imperial palace, on their way home.
“It’s probably not so easy for anybody,” said Caver, “And the question is whether it’s at all possible to get used to this environment.”
“Try to think positive,” Shay exhorted him.
“I’ll try,” he muttered.
When they’d come to the other side of the square, for just a brief moment they saw what seemed to be someone watching them from a second-story window.
“Do you think it might have been a member of the imperial family?” asked Esai.
“It’s not impossible, answered Shay.
“I wonder if they think in the same way we do?”
“Certainly. I think that, under all their trappings, they aren’t so different from us.”
On a dark side street, they saw a long, narrow blue neon sign blinking the text, “Blue Star Restaurant.”
“Are you thinking the same thing I am?” asked Ixter.
“You bet!” they answered, with happy smiles.
On entering, they found the place packed with people, in spite of it being so early in the evening, and it seemed that some were already somewhat more than happy. Once each of them had bought a tankard of foamy dark ale and they’d sat down at one of the tables and begun to discuss the day’s events, a heavy-set man in a blue uniform with silver leaves on the shoulders came up to them.
“And so, who do we have here, the city guard?” he cackled. “It seems you’ve gone a little astray, no?”
“Whom do we have the honour of speaking with?” asked Shay, properly.
“Imal Kovix, sergeant in the imperial armada, who puts duty to one’s country first,” he replied, arrogantly.
“Perfect, then. That seems to be every soldier’s duty, as far as I know.”
“Yes, it should be.”
“If there’s something particular you’re thinking about, then sing now.”
“I was thinking that you perhaps might explain your presence here?”
“That is certainly not anything we need to explain to you.”
“It’s not? Do you have so
mething to hide, then?”
“No, that’s enough!” growled Caver, angrily. “There’s no reason to be sitting here discussing trivia with underlings.”
“Is that so?” he said, snidely.
“Calm down,” said Shay, and put his hand on Caver’s arm, as he was about to stand up. The sergeant stared combatively at them for a long while, until finally he realized that they weren’t going to allow themselves to be provoked, and turned back, snickering, to his buddies.
“Why didn’t you let me deal with him?” asked Caver, irritated.
“Because it’s not worthy of an officer to fight in simple pubs, and we don’t have anything to prove for a drunken guy whose lost his senses. One has to choose one’s battles with care, and not let others choose for one. Someone who fights pigs is bound to get dirty, and after a few fights one just becomes one of them. Those guys were just looking for trouble and didn’t deserve our attention, since we came here to have a nice time. Tomorrow, however, I’ll have a serious talk with Imal’s superior and demand an apology of him.”
After another round of beer, they departed in good spirits for home, immediately went off to bed to sleep so that they’d be in good shape the following day. A day, though, which wasn’t going to be at all what they expected.
In the earliest hours of the morning, when it was darkest, the guards that were on duty in the observation centre choked on their lazzo to see how the radar screens suddenly captured hundreds of white points. Distinctly upset, the air traffic controller shouted that they should call the station commander, who, once she’d arrived and understood the seriousness of the situation, immediately called Chief of Staff Orril, who in turn decided to awaken Emperor Tsir.
“I hope you have a damned good reason for disturbing me so early in the morning!” he snarled, furiously, when Orril stood before him.
“Yes, unfortunately, I do,” he said, sadly. “One of our reconnaissance satellites has received indications that a large number of ships are only twenty parsecs away.”
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