by Karl Morgan
“Brother, it is wonderful to see you again,” Darlene said to Fa-a-Di as she pressed her hand against the glass in front of him. “Dave sends his regards, and hopes to visit you on Gallia in the near future.”
Fa-a-Di pressed his hand against the same spot on the glass and laughed, “Sister, I cannot wait for that day! I would love to fly Dave around Gallia. I told him before we would have a large audience which would be a spectacle not to be missed. As you know, Charlie Watson and Jon Lake have been traveling through our space looking for planets suitable for human inhabitation. I believe they have found several good candidates.”
“Yes, Brother, I have been told. Currently, Dave is on Tak-Makla working on plans to build more Hives. Hopefully, one can be built on one of those planets,” she replied.
“Can we please get on with the meeting?” Kogala the Palian asked. “Sitting so close to this Predaxian is very uncomfortable for me. It wasn’t so long ago that I was their slave.”
“Quiet, Kogala,” Fa-a-Di shouted. “You know well that without Zak and Pan, you would still be their slave. I know the wounds have not healed yet, but certainly you can make some allowance for the woman who saved your civilization?”
“It’s okay, General,” Zak replied. “Kogala, I understand your feelings and you have every right to be suspicious. I hope that over time you will learn that we are changing.”
“I will try Ambassador Vondee,” Kogala said. “As the first matter for discussion, I think we need to address compensation to Palus for the destruction of our planet.”
“No race here was involved in that,” Mak-Kal-a said. “Perhaps that issue should be raised with the tekkans?”
“Without the tekkan intervention, the Predaxians may have won the war and taken this planet and more,” Nominus said. “Palus would still be enslaved, and all the Galliceans on this world as well, including you. I cannot see how we could ask Tak-Makla to pay.”
“The bottom line for us is that all the other races here and the tekkans were deliberate participants in the war,” Kogala said. “The Palians were the only race that was forced to fight against their will. Our minds were controlled and we were like machines to be used. Yet, when the war was over, only one planet was gone, and it was our world. Where is the justice there?”
“I hate to admit it, but I agree with Ambassador Kogala,” Zak replied. She stood and began to walk around the room slowly. “On the other hand, it had always been a prison world, even before the Predaxian Empire took over. The surface was not inhabitable, and Palus only sent their most hardened criminals there. It is not the same as if Palus itself had been damaged.”
“You’re right, Zak,” Kogala said. “We recognize that Localus was not a vital colony or resort for our people. But it was a planet in our space, and now it is gone, through no deliberate action of our people. It must be worth something.”
“Fa-a-Di, have you considered the treaty between us?” Darlene asked. “Could something like that work with the Palians?”
“That’s an excellent idea, Darlene,” Nominus said.
“You want us to offer a planet in our space to the Palians?” Fa-a-Di asked. “Why not a planet in Predaxian or Earth space?”
Kogala stood and placed his hand against the glass in front of the general. “Dear General, you already know the answer to that question,” he snickered.
“Nom-Kat-Un. You want us to give you Nom-Kat-Un, right?” Fa-a-Di said.
“That’s preposterous,” Mak-Kal-a replied. “I don’t want them in my system. This is highly unusual, general. I understand your treaty with the humans. I have flown through the Red Spot there myself. But the humans have never waged war on us.”
“Either have we, Governor,” Kogala pleaded. “You must remember that Predax was controlling our minds. They were fighting you. We were simply tools they used to avoid dying themselves. My grandfather told me of the great relationship he had with your grandfather, Fa-a-Di, before the Predaxians came. Our cultures are linked by DNA and many generations of trade and friendship. Surely, this gesture is small compared to the opportunity to be friends again?”
“Brother, please allow me to make a proposal,” Darlene began. “I recommend a treaty between Palus and Gallia for planet sharing. It will be different because both sides must provide a planet in each exchange. That way, neither gets an advantage.”
“That’s intriguing, sister, please say more,” Fa-a-Di replied.
“Wait a minute,” Kogala stammered, “you want us to give a planet to Gallia in exchange for Nom-Kat-Un. I don’t have the authority to make such an agreement. Doesn’t that mean we get nothing for Localus? How is that fair compensation?”
“It’s not about planet A or planet B, friends,” Darlene continued. “It is about building mutual trust, friendship and trade. Palus has been isolated for more than one hundred years during the domination by the Predaxians. How much trade has been lost in that time? Nominus and I have been to Nom-Kat-Un. It is a beautiful world with a good atmosphere for Palians. Sixty percent of the land surface is covered with huge forests, many hundreds of feet tall. The oceans are full of fish and many species of fauna inhabit the land. A Gallicean would suffocate in one minute if he was exposed to that air. The planet is useless to Gallia.”
“My father told me about it,” Kogala reminisced. “His father took him there many times for vacation. He told me about flying through the tree tops and how sweet the air was. I believe there used to be hundreds of resorts there for Palians.”
“Nominus and I have also visited Nartang 6,” Darlene continued. “It is a massive gas giant, as big as Gallia. There are two Dar-Fas, one in each hemisphere. We took a group of maklans there and they found extensive Ka-la-a and wildlife on a scale with Planet 5 in the Golden Dawn system. No Palian has ever explored that planet. It has done an excellent job of shielding Nartang from asteroids, but provides no other benefit to the Palian systems.”
“Darlene, I can really see why Dave loves you so much,” Fa-a-Di smiled. “In a few words, you have taken a bad situation and turned it into a great future for Gallia and Palus. I know that Kogala must take this offer to the High Council as I must do as well. I am confident that my council will agree. I must also confess that I visited Nartang 6 just after the end of the war. My grandfather had told me about it too. What a wonderful idea. What do you think, Kogala?”
“I don’t know, Fa-a-Di. My orders were to get compensation for Localus. I feel that I have failed. The deal sounds wonderful, except that Localus is forgotten. While the High Council may agree, I feel I will be reprimanded,” Kogala whimpered.
Mak-Kal-a stood and pressed his hand to the glass in front of the Palian. “Dear Kogala, perhaps we can upgrade this offer to keep our great relationship. I believe the general would approve adding Nom-Kat-Zuk to the deal. It is a horrible and desolate rock in space at the outer rim of this system. It is twice the size of Localus and there is no measurable atmosphere. In all ways, it seems much like Localus. It may not be pretty, but it could be a replacement prison world for you. What do you think now, brother?”
Kogala stood and pressed his hand to the glass, smiling. “Governor, thank you for that gift. I am certain this new deal can be approved. Let’s all toast to our success!”
Chapter 4
Var put his face in front of the panel in the tube room. He touched the panel and said, “Hive, level nine-nine-zero-zero-zero, ring fifty.”
The green light illuminated his face. The panel responded, “Security scan confirmed. Welcome Minister Var. Ready.” The shuttle door opened and he and Dave Brewster stepped in and strapped on their restraints. The wall opened and the shuttle flew into the open tube. Immediately, it turned straight downward and shot into the darkness. There were no other tubes in this area and the walls around glowed light red showing that the security systems were fully activated. After several minutes of flying down, the shuttle leveled off as it approached the bottom of The Hive.
Dave could see that the surface
below was solid rock. “Var, is this the surface of the original planet Tak-Makla was built upon?”
“Exactly right, Dave,” Var responded. “You can see the curving wall to our left. That is the edge of The Hive. It was built upon the bedrock of the planet for support. Outside this small tunnel, you would find thousands of support columns and mechanical equipment that provides power and light for the underground communities.” The shuttle turned sharply to the left and slowed as it entered a tube room and stopped. Waiting for them were two heavily armed guards, who snapped to attention when they saw Minister Var.
“Minister, can we assist you or your guest?” Nik, the guard lead asked.
“No, thank you Nik,” Var said as he shook hands with the two guards. “It is very good to see you and Vil again. Let me introduce you to Dave Brewster. He is going to help us build more Hives to protect this region of space.” After they exchanged pleasantries, they left the guards and entered another long curving corridor.
“Var, this is the lowest level of The Hive. What happens here?” Dave asked.
“As you know, there are one hundred rings on most of the ninety-nine thousand levels of The Hive. On most levels, each of those rings consists of hundreds of rooms with chambers for our agents to enter the stream of Universal Power. On the bottom fifty levels, there are only fifty such rings. The area outside ring fifty is reserved for the equipment that makes The Hive function. You will note that there are doors on both sides of this corridor. On the left are the circular doors leading to chambers. On the right are normal doors leading to the equipment rooms.” He stopped and touched a panel near a door on the right side. The green light again illuminated his face. The door slid into a pocket in the wall, and they stepped in.
The massive room was filled with electronic equipment which rose from the floor several hundred feet into the air above. Metal walkways jutted out from other doors higher in The Hive. Two guards stood by each door. Dave had not noticed them when he walked in, but they were standing next to him. Tekkans walked around checking control panels and hurrying to small rooms constructed in the middle of the equipment. Var led Dave down three steps and onto the rock surface of the planet. The surface had been smoothed and polished until it was as smooth as glass. They walked down a corridor between two banks of equipment that soared over their heads until they reached a room. Var knocked on the door and opened it. Inside were a small conference table and two desks facing one another. The walls of the room were computer screens. Sitting at the desks were a tekkan engineer and what appeared to be a human female. Both wore white scientific uniforms.
“Dave, please let me introduce you to Chief Engineers Nit Valasan and Loni Arrak,” Var said as he walked toward the two who rose to shake his hand.
“Hello, my name is Dave Brewster from Earth,” he said as he shook the tekkan’s hand. He turned to the woman and shook her hand as well. He noticed she was several inches taller than him with very white skin, light blonde hair and startling silver eyes. She was also quite beautiful.
“Hi Dave, I’m Loni Arrak,” she smiled. “Var, I don’t know why they stuck you with this job.” She laughed.
“They say it comes with the Minister’s position, Loni,” Var sighed. “Let’s all sit down and chat. Nit, have someone bring us coffee and biscuits or something.”
After they sat, Loni said, “Okay, I’ll answer the obvious question in Dave’s mind. I am human, but I have never been to your home planet. Well, let me take that back. I have traveled there extensively, but only through The Hive.”
“I am completely confused now,” Dave replied. “Where are you from, Loni? You can’t be from one of the colonies. My ship was the first to discover Tak-Makla. Can you explain what’s going on here?”
Loni reached across the table and touched Dave’s hand. She smiled warmly at him. “Dave, I am from the Non-Ti civilization. We have been around a very long time, probably three billion of your years. My ancestors saw the rising culture on Ai-Makla. We helped nourish it in hopes they would be our friends one day. When it became apparent their world would die in a nova before they could escape, we dropped some hints to help them discover portal technology. Once they began to build this Hive, we finally formed a relationship that has thrived for millions of years.”
“You said you were human, like me,” Dave said. “I understand how you helped the tekkans, but didn’t humans evolve on Earth?”
“No, they did not, Dave,” Loni replied as she sipped her coffee. “As far as we know, humanity originated on the planet Non-Ti which is in what you call the Andromeda Galaxy. We faced a similar problem to the maklans. The sun in the Non-Ti system became a supernova long ago. Fortunately, we had the technology to escape. Since it was so far in the past, we can’t be certain whether we developed it, or if some other race gave it to us. Either way, we expanded into our galaxy and others. There are over fifty thousand planets in the Society of Humanity.”
“Humans are not like us in that regard,” Var interjected. “We are very hesitant to inhabit worlds with other life that may become sentient. We believe those planets should develop on their own.”
“Humanity has a different view, Dave,” Loni said. “We try to avoid planets with sentient civilizations, even if they are very primitive. However, we have found those to be very rare. In all of the galaxies we have explored, we have only found a few hundred truly unique sentient species. Look at the maklans themselves, Dave. They took over five hundred systems when they escaped from Ai-Makla. Now, some of them have decided to be altruistic, like here and on No-Makla. But remember the Predaxians? That war just ended. I know that Zee has also told you about the Paxran. They have conquered hundreds of worlds to expand their dominance. If we find a suitable planet that none of our friends have the rights to, we view it as fair game.”
“What about Earth?” Dave asked. “When did you go there and why did you leave? I studied history and there are no records of any earlier human civilizations.”
“Dave, you are sitting here. I think that proves we never left,” Loni replied. “Rather than talk about it, why don’t I show you the highlights?” They stood and Loni walked over to Dave and took his hand. She led him back into the corridor to an open room on the left side.
Chapter 5
Dave and Loni’s lights descended rapidly toward the tekkan outpost on Earth. It had been six months since the tekkan ships had arrived and Zon Palaka was attacked on the surface. Security fields were now in place providing a two mile secure radius around the ships. Dozens of structures were either complete or in progress. Half of the colonists had been able to move to permanent homes on the planet. In the center of the newly constructed city center was a government building and a temple. Near the security fields were acres of truck and grain farms producing food to replace the rapidly depleting stores from the ships.
Dave and Loni floated into the center of a group of ten soldiers wearing flying packs. They had assembled on the steps of the Council building. Commander Nan Fongala was their leader. He was promoted quickly after saving Zon’s life. “Okay team,” Nan began, “this is a normal security sweep of the area. There have seen some odd sensor hits twenty miles to the south. We’ll fly in formation in that direction. Keep your eyes focused and report any unusual activity. It is not our goal to engage any targets. You can only respond to attacks on our team. Let’s go.”
The group of flyers floated up into the air and they headed south toward the security field. As they approached the field, Nan signaled and a small opening appeared ahead of them. They flew through and the hole closed behind them. They rose to five hundred feet above the surface to avoid the frequent clouds of insects and continued southward. They could see small groups of animals foraging for food below them. There were no flying carnivores in sight, which promised an uneventful trip. Ten miles from their encampment, they crossed a wide, slowly flowing river. Clouds of insects could be seen on the surface. Nan was happy to be above them as their stings had proven to be quite painf
ul. Smaller packs of larger insects dove through the clouds to gorge on the smaller prey. A large jungle sprang on the far side of the river. The trees grew two hundred feet tall. They could see flying creatures roaming the tree tops for prey.
“Nan, I see a reflection dead ahead,” Nit shouted over the com-link.
Nan looked forward and saw the glint of light on the horizon at tree top level. “Top speed, men,” he ordered. The ten flyers accelerated toward the anomaly. It appeared to be the reflection off something metallic. Whatever it was, it turned and shot south at high speed. In a moment, it was gone from view. They continued their pursuit.