»I agree with the envoys of the United Kingdom of Zweeker,« a medium built and fully haired extra-terrestrial said. His hair covered his entire body like a terrestrial bear. »The dimensional shield may not be created by the inhabitants of this solar system, but the energy matrix could protect us from the Great Tremor. My scientists have detected a steadily increasing shield potential. The dimensional matrix is charging up.«
»Quiet! Calm down!« Scorge screeched at the crowd. He saw how his leader positing was becoming weaker by the minute … he didn’t want this to happen.
»I brought you here. I know the quirks and idiosyncrasies of these people for several thousand years. Let me negotiate and everything will turn out well.«
A side entrance airlock, behind Nok, opened and several Trox crawled into the Star Hall to be part of the conference. When Scorge noticed the Trox, he began to panic and screamed.
Nok turned around and looked at the Trox leader whom she had personally invited to attend.
Scorge extended all his tentacles and spread them away from his body. It seemed an instinctive reaction. He now looked like a spiked sea urchin.
»The demons of the past!« he screeched. »They secretly conquered the solar system! Save yourselves before they impale us with their battle tentacles and inject us with their nettle poison!«
»LISTEN!« Nok shouted, but it was already too late.
While Scorge turned around in haste and quickly moved toward the hall’s main airlock, the other extra-terrestrials reacted differently. Most of them jumped to avoid being hit by Scorge’s anti-gravity platform. An alley formed and a group of flying intelligent beings rose almost synchronously into the air to form a swarm which began to circulate beneath the Star Hall dome. They probably followed a natural flight instinct. They felt safer inside a swarm.
Others, especially two very muscular, horn protected beings, blocked the Trox’s path while shouting bloodcurdling battle cries. The verbal threat could not be mistaken even without a universal translation device. It clearly meant: This far and no further, or we are ready to fight!
Nok felt helpless and small in the midst of this panic filled uproar. She had paled and watched how some visitors were reaching for their weapons. She raised her arms imploringly, wanting to mediate and explain, but her voice was overpowered by the revolting crowd.
The now openly ensuing aggressions were, however, not only directed against the Trox, who had fearfully retreated to a wall in the background, but between different fractions of extra-terrestrial species. The Trox had just been the catalyst for these animosities between species, which now ran rampant.
Nok looked for Scorge, but she couldn’t see him. He hadn’t only foreseen this chaos, but was also responsible for it. A metallic bang indicated that Scorge’s platform had just collided with the main airlock. Several personal defense fields flared up as the result and crackled threateningly. The air smelled like ozone. The noise of a rattling weapon caused some indignant exclamations and escalated the situation.
Nok held her breath and looked up, horrified.
If the dome gets damaged by the weapon discharges then we’ll have an explosive de-compression and all of us will die! she thought panic struck.
Some nimble beings, amongst them two Pleunatans, tried to climb the Dome’s bulletproof glass enclosure to avoid the turmoil on the Hall’s floor.
Nok tried to make eye contact with the leader of her guards. Her worst nightmare was about to come true. She signaled her guards to drive a wedge between the feuding parties and to establish a buffer zone.
Hassan was demonstratively taking position beside Nok. He was determined to defend her at all cost. With a stern warning in his eyes, he returned the look of a slug-like creature, which, with its six elongated, thin eyes, slowly crawled toward Nok, targeting her.
Nok suddenly saw Nexus Tor take a short run and jumped onto a table. He was standing there stretching his arms over the crowd.
Nok swallowed hard.
With his white hair and bright golden eyes he displayed a sudden charisma which was felt in the room. None of the numerous extra-terrestrials escaped his overpowering presence. He lowered his eyes and focused on the crowd. Suddenly, the threatening gestures and actions ceased. The previously drawn weapons were either pointing down or were holstered. Everybody with eyes in their heads was looking at him. He looked like a prophet and seemed to float above the crowd.
Nok watched breathlessly as the delegates became calmer by the second. They turned away from their adversaries and released beings held in headlocks. They appeared to have lost the motivation to hurt anybody.
Nexus Tor briefly closed his eyes and smiled then he said with a soft voice, »Commander, this is your turn now. Please continue.«
Nok couldn’t believe her eyes and just looked at him.
What just happened here? she thought mystified.
Believe me, you’re not crazy
»So, this is the temple of Synthia?« Herimos asked and looked at the building. He pointed to the slim, high towers which, like minarets, were placed at the eight corners of the building.
»According to myth, the goddess Synthia lives in the center of our galaxy. She is holding the ends of the spiral arms tightly in her hands and dances around her axis. She follows the cosmic sounds of Nebular while holding the stars of our galaxy in motion,« Ramir explained.
»Nice story,« Herimos replied. »We know, however, that the motor of our galaxy is not a lovingly dancing goddess, but a gigantic black hole, which is holding the galaxy together by means of its enormous gravitational forces; a deadly and destructive force, which will swallow up everything at one point in time.«
»I guess that the old Progonauts could warm up more to the young goddess,« Ramir replied dryly.
»I can imagine,« Herimos laughed and asked, »Who or what is Nebular? Another god or a just a muse, entertaining your goddess with cosmic symphonies?«
With his casual and non-serious remark he struck a chord with Ramir who seemed very serious and humble all of a sudden.
»Nebular is not a god but a cosmic force,« Ramir explained and clenched his fists indicating that there was no doubt in his mind. »We should not joke about Nebular and accept it as a living force.«
»I just wanted to understand your myths better. It was not my intention to question your faith,« Herimos said softly and pointed at the towers again. »What is the significance of these towers? Are they part of the belief in your gods? Maybe they are towers of prayers?«
Ramir put one hand on top of the other, indicating a no.
»They are parts of a reception station, powerful antennae, with which the priests of Synthia tried to receive the songs of Nebular in ancient times. They wanted to be closer to their goddess. They never succeeded. At least there is no record of it.«
Herimos showed his yellow teeth.
»That doesn’t surprise me at all. Let’s go inside. I hope we find a hint or even better the Jamal-Comb.«
»Don’t be disappointed if you don’t find the comb inside the temple. As I said before, every Progonaut knows the Jamal-Comb. If the Comb would be inside the temple then we would know about it.«
Herimos pushed Ramir forward.
»Okay now, let’s take a look.«
Their path led up a gently sloped marble-like ramp. Golden characters were set into the polished stone. Over-sized statues of Progonaut warriors carried the main load of the temple portal on their shoulders, supporting the entrance. Herimos estimated the stone sculptures to be more than 10 meters in height. While one hand of each of the sculpture supported a large cross stone that lay across their shoulders, the other arm was holding a large round shield.
»These are shieldbearers,« Herimos immediately recognized as he pointed at them.
»I’m surprised how well and detailed you informed yourself about the Progonaut culture,« Ramir admitted and threw Herimos a suspicious glance. »They were Sura and Sana, identical twins and shield-bearers of the early imp
erial couple Daliminos. He shared his powers over India equally with his wife Nofra.«
»Two rulers, therefore, two shield-bearers,« Herimos concluded. »What’s the connection between these shield-bearers, the ruler and the beliefs in Synthia?«
Ramir pondered for a moment.
Daliminos built the temple according to his wife’s wishes. It was said that she had fallen for Synthia and the connected cult.«
»Apparently a happy couple,« Herimos said.
»Well, not really,« Ramir replied depressed. »The division of powers didn’t work well, that’s why both of them wanted to gain the upper hand. Numerous assassination attempts and intrigues followed. However, the shield-bearers of the opposite sites prevented the murders.«
Herimos suppressed a growl.
»How did the story end? Was one of them successful?«
»No, a balance of power was not reached, despite the fact that both rulers had divided India between themselves. They both were still unsatisfied,« Ramir regretted. »At the end they let their shield-bearers fight it out. The ruler of the winning shield-bearer would then take it all. However, there was a catch.«
»What catch?« Herimos asked while entering the temple.
»The fight of the shield-bearers lasted to the bitter end, a fight to the death. However, the victorious shield-bearer was not only to kill the opponent but also his lord. So it was Nofra who survived this fight. She ruled over India for a long time. According to our records, it was Nofra, who was given the Jamal-Comb to guard. Since then, the jewel was handed down from ruler to ruler until this day.«
»A very historical place this is,« Herimos growled. »If I were at Shanthier’s place, I would have hidden the comb here, inside the temple.«
»Before we go deeper into the temple, you still owe me an explanation,« Ramir reminded Herimos.
»Which is?« Herimos looked surprised.
»How is it that all the Progonauts on this world don’t see us? We’ve passed by hundreds of them and nobody paid attention to us. At least you should stick out like a sore thumb and cause excitement. At first I thought you possess mental powers with which you manipulate us by means of hypnosis or mind-suggestions, but this seems to me more and more unlikely.«
Herimos looked at Ramir interested.
»You’re thinking about it and come to conclusions?«
»Certainly!« Ramir raged. »I’m a chot! Even before we physically met, you entered my mind. How did you do that?«
Herimos placed his big hand on Ramir’s shoulder. The young Progonaut had serious self-doubts. »I promise you that you will find out everything about yourself and your world. Believe me, you’re not crazy!«
Ramir tried to smile and replied sarcastically, »If you, the hairy man from stars says so, then everything is good.«
It’s too late
It was eerily silent inside the Star Hall. The excited extra-terrestrials stopped their animosities at once. This change had come too fast and too sudden, as it could be attributed to the maturity and intelligence of the extraterrestrial visitors. Something had forced the audience to exercise restraint and to calm down.
Nok threw Nexus Tor an undefinable look. He just nodded at her.
He possesses a special ability as well as his mission specialists. So far he had never revealed this, Nok thought, until now.
Nok was facing the front of some bizarre-looking alien beings, each expressing interest in what the Humans had to inform them about next.
Strange eyes looked at her, trunk-like appendages sniffing in her direction, fine tentacles trembled at every air movement and bristle-like tactile organs tried to sense the vibrations caused by her voice. Every being was now waiting to see what Nok had to say on behalf of Humanity.
In view of the assembled aliens, each representing a different nation, Nok suddenly felt small and insignificant. Self-doubt made her hesitate briefly.
Am I ready for this challenge? Should not the Union President stand here and give a speech, or perhaps Friedberg? she thought.
Nok felt the responsibility as a burden, but she also recognized opportunities. Nexus Tor had accomplished, with his powers, a miraculous transformation among the guests. How he had exactly achieved this, needed to be talked about later.
A group of extraterrestrials, equipped with long scale-armored goosenecks, were whistling impatiently. Their heads on top of their long necks swayed back and forth.
Nok briefly looked at her trembling hands.
No wonder, she thought, anybody else in my place would also be speechless.
She pulled herself together and was doing the right thing instinctively. She bravely stepped forward and raised her voice. First still uncertain and swaying slightly, then focused and accentuated. If the universal translator translated her words into the languages of the guests, then no uncertainty should resonate in her voice.
»I don’t know if all of you can understand me, but I’m expecting that your translation devices are doing their jobs well,« she began.
She drew a deep breath and looked at Nexus Tor again who was still standing on the conference table, returning her glance.
»Universal translators are still an amazing piece of technology for us and we are glad that this direct communication will allow us to talk to each other. Yes, one of you has correctly noted that we do not possess faster-than-light space travel. We are still at an early stage of technical and civilizational development, at a threshold which your people long since have put behind you, otherwise you would not be here.«
Nok watched Scorge get up and push his way through the crowd. When he finally reached the front row, he waved Nok with its tentacles encouragingly. His fear of the Trox seemed to have vanished. Nok understood and continued, »I’m not sure if an event such as this meeting has ever taken place before in our galaxy. So many ships and representatives of various civilizations have gathered in a solar system and let us Humans recognize the awesome diversity of life in our galaxy; an impressive fact, because your arrival in the Neptune System almost takes my breath away.«
Nok’s cheeks were glowing as she continued her speech. At this moment, she realized the historic opportunity that presented itself to Humanity.
»This great catastrophe, the peoples of our galaxy have been speaking of for a long time, is threatening the lives and existences of numerous worlds.
The invaders want to rob us of our achievements, destroy the peace and smash our civilizations. We cannot let that happen! We can face this danger only in unity. It is far too overwhelming for a single nation. We are called today, to act responsibly for the entire galaxy! Ancient and hopefully wise beings have chosen us Humans to create a retreat in our solar system, designed to provide protection against the primary effects of the Great Tremor. This plan is so old that we still do not understand it in its entire extent. We do not know how this counter plan came about, who created it or who these hostile intelligences are who threaten our galaxy. What motivated the invaders to attack us, is just as much in the dark as their place of origin. However, we will not just accept it!«
Nok was breathing heavily. She was raging and eventually won the entire audience over. Nuri Jawa’s eyes sparkled. She threw Nok grateful looks.
»Let us here and now form a coalition and work in unity. Together we can actively look for ways to protect our worlds. Anyone who seeks refuge is welcome in our solar system, as long as they come in peace! Let us cooperate to survive this crisis.«
»A coalition!« Scorge screeched aloud in excitement. »Something like an alliance, a union of the people!«
»Exactly!« Nok replied thrilled and clapped her hands.
»Too late!« A voice suddenly sounded in the hall star, which drowned the excited extraterrestrial calls, beeping and whistling with ease.
Between the delegates, an alley formed. Nok saw a remotely humanoid being who nimbly trotted forward. The powerful voice did not match the petite body.
Nok’s eyes narrowed. The stranger was little more t
han a meter tall. His expressive and lidless compound eyes, three in number, shone in the colors of the rainbow and focused on her with a stare. His gaze was somewhat hypnotic.
»It’s too late!« the small being stressed and made a comprehensive gesture with his thin arms, which were fused with skins to the body, similar to bats.
Probably a remnant feature from the early evolutionary history of his people, Nok thought.
Nok looked at Nuri to seek for help, but she was concentrating with all her might on the alien being. Irritated, Nexus Tor looked at the stranger, jumped from the table and signaled his team. Nok saw from the distance that the holographic mirror of the tacticmaster began flashing.
»The intent is praiseworthy,« the deep-bass voice said again. »Your efforts come too late. Much too late! The parasites galaxy is in the process of approaching our space-time continuum in this moment. You have no more time for effective actions.«
»Who are you and which nation do you represent?« Nok asked calmly.
»Who I am and where I come from is irrelevant. I joined this fleet because I was curious. I wanted to see what extraordinary power can bring together so many different races. I know such meetings only from Scutum-Crux. The motivation is always fear and terror. It is amazing that the individuals in attendance did not kill each other immediately. I suspect there are among them or maybe even with you Humans people who are not entirely innocent of this sudden pacification.«
»Stranger, you seem to know a lot about this galactic threat,« Nexus Tor asked loudly.
He signaled his specialists who immediately surrounded the tactic master.
»You can call me Gloon. Stranger sounds so distant,« he asked heartily and produced a noise which reminded Nok of the clicking sounds of castanets. »Yes, we know everything about the parasite galaxy. Unlike you, we have recognized for many centuries that its appearance will shake your galaxy. Presumably, my galaxy will not be unscathed either.
He’s mocking us, Nok thought and took a closer look at him.
His head looked grotesque. It was egg-shaped and covered with scattered, bristly hairs. The three compound eyes, the smallest segments shimmered when light hit them, gave him a wide field of vision. Certainly Gloon could see at the same time, what happened before, beside and behind him.
NEBULAR Collection 6 - The Great Tremor: Episodes 27 - 30 Page 28