"Perhaps I have expressed myself too bluntly here and there," Amodt replied, "but you are correct, Paronn. I do in fact consider Project Exodus to be a waste of valuable resources. That is just what I wish to speak to you about."
He reached for a writing stylus and turned it over and over. "You have built three ships to date and launched them to the stars, including the AKAN HATA ... "
" ... the HENTECK AVRAM and the GELMA UATH," Paronn said.
"Even without taking into consideration the cost of materials, nearly 60,000 people have left Lemur. Our economy is deprived of this workforce, and the result is reduced growth of our economic potential. There is even the threat of stagnation, which tosses all economic plans out the window. Your Project Exodus comes at a price that we all have to pay, not just the Star Seekers. How many more ships are to be built?"
"Several dozen," Paronn said unmoved.
"Several dozen!" Amodt stared at Paronn as though he had just made a bad joke. "The drain on our economy ... "
"It is the price of survival," Paronn said.
"That is ... insane."
"You've stated that opinion publicly, to be sure. May I assume that you did not invite us here to repeat it to our faces?"
"I'd ... like to ask you to see reason and terminate Project Exodus. We need all our resources to bring about a global climate change and prevent the coming ice age. That is a very real danger!"
"You mean a danger more real than the Enemy that appeared in a spacesphere four years ago and destroyed three Lemurian spacecraft before we Star Seekers succeeded in annihilating it?"
"The First continues to believe as she did then that she would have been able to make peaceful contact. You acted at the time in defiance of her express orders!" "If the First had followed through, there would be no Lemurian cities left by now."
Deshan saw Amodt's right hand feel underneath the desk, and he heard a slight click, like that of a switch.
From the corner of his eye he noticed a movement. He turned his head and saw the mirror swing out, revealing itself to be a door. Two tall men entered the office, and in their hands were pistols that they silently aimed at Paronn and Deshan. Following them was ...
... the First. She wore a severely tailored pants suit, almost the same color as her large eyes. On her hairless head was a kind of crown with small media Zephalons, connected by a data cable to a whisperer in her ear. She also held a pistol in her right hand.
Paronn raised his eyebrows.
"I'm sorry." Herbon Amodt was now standing as well, pressed against the wall and looking as though he wished he could vanish into thin air. "I'm really sorry. But you didn't leave us any choice."
Deshan suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation and a cold jolt of fear shot through him. The First was quite obviously ready to disregard all the principles of the Great Solidarity and achieve by force what she could not with arguments and intrigues. She wanted Levian Paronn out of the way.
The Cell Activator on Deshan's chest suddenly seemed to triple its weight. The device somehow stopped the aging process and protected against illness, but it was no defense against a projectile fired by a pistol. As an immortal, the Chronicler suddenly found himself confronted by death, and his reaction was that of horror.
The First stepped closer, though still keeping a certain distance. "I regret this very much, but I don't see any other possibility," she said to Paronn, and in her voice Deshan heard deep sorrow. "You and your Star Seekers ... You're destroying the Lemurian economy. You have an obsession, Paronn, and unfortunately you have succeeded in infecting many others with your madness. You turned the first contact with an alien intelligence into an act of violence because you believe in some sort of 'Enemy.' And for years you have wasted precious resources on a project that not only sends materials into space but also people who are much more urgently needed on Lemur. A new ice age threatens us, Paronn. Lemurians must again all pull on the same rope as they once did. You have destroyed our unity."
Deshan saw something almost like desperation on the face of the First. It vanished at once.
"We really have no other choice," she added softly.
"A murder is your only way out?" Paronn asked.
"Are you prepared to give up on Project Exodus? Are you prepared to admit your error publicly and order the Star Seekers to reenter our society and try with us to prevent the ice age? Give me your word, Paronn, and our weapons will disappear."
Paronn shook his head. "The Enemy is not just a figment of my imagination. He really does exist. Project Exodus is necessary for the survival of Lemurians." He gave Deshan an inconspicuous sign to step closer to him.
The First appeared sad. "I wish there was another way."
Deshan saw ...
... Director Amodt, pale, a helpless witness of events that were too much for him ...
... the First's two companions, two men with expressionless faces frozen like masks, in their eyes a coldness similar to that in the woman's ...
... and Levian Paronn, cool and calm, one hand moving without anyone noticing, feeling for his belt, and then Deshan heard a muffled humming, like an insect close to his ear ...
... and the First as she raised the pistol a centimeter and pressed the firing stud.
Deshan almost believed he could see the bullet emerging from the pistol barrel and racing towards Paronn to bore into his chest.
But it did not reach its target.
Just in front of Paronn, it struck an invisible barrier and fell to the floor with a slight clatter.
Paronn did not move from where he stood.
The First's eyes went wide.
The two men stared.
"Didn't I say I am the immortal Twelfth Hero Vehraáto?" A thin smile played at Paronn's lips as he looked at the First. "It is often a mistake not to believe in the myths. Drop your weapons."
The First fired again, and then again. The bangs of the shots seemed unnaturally loud to the amazed Deshan. What was preventing the bullets from striking Paronn?
"Stay close to me," Paronn whispered to the Chronicler and stepped forward.
Something pushed the First back, an invisible barrier in the air that first pressed against her hands and then against her face. She staggered backwards, backed up against the mirror that had closed again in the meantime, and let her pistol drop.
Paronn looked at the two men. "Put your guns away."
Dumbfounded, they complied with his demand, staring not at Levian Paronn but at Vehraáto, the immortal Twelfth Hero.
Again Paronn's hand slipped to his belt, and a few seconds later the office door opened. More armed people entered. They went immediately to the First and her companions, picking up their weapons and confiscating them.
Two Solidarity Tamans followed the first new arrivals: the Fourth and the Fifth. In contrast to the First, they wore their official garb, white robes decorated with Merit symbols and the emblems of the forty-nine Solidarity Communities—an indication that this was a matter of an official visit. They appeared to be a little older than Paronn but were in reality much younger.
"You are hereby placed under arrest," said the Fourth, a tall, thin, and bearded man who towered over Paronn by more than ten centimeters. The Fifth was shorter with a fuller frame, but not as stocky as Amodt. His face was striking because one of his eyes was glassy, seemingly unfocused and unseeing.
Deshan saw Paronn's hand reach for his belt once more. The strange humming that he had been hearing abruptly ceased. "You were right," said the Fourth, turning to Paronn. "The First actually was prepared to violate the principles of the Great Solidarity and commit murder. We will make her face an accounting for this."
"You arranged all of this to remove me from power," the First said as the armed guards led her and her companions away. Herbon Amodt still stood in a corner of the large office and did not appear to understand what had just happened.
The Fifth looked at the First, one of his eyes fixed and glassy, the other bright an
d moving. "You set yourself up for a fall." He gestured and a few seconds later only five people were still in the office: the two Solidarity Tamans, Paronn, the still astonished Deshan, and a very worried Herbon Amodt.
"I had nothing to do with it!" the Director of the Spaceflight Solidarity exclaimed. "Please believe me. She forced me. I had to ... "
"I think the Spaceflight Solidarity will soon be getting a new director," the Fourth said, then turned to Paronn and his Chronicler. "I apologize in the name of the Coordinating Council. That such an incident could occur is an outrage."
"Lemurians should never turn on other Lemurians," Paronn replied earnestly. "We are one people. We must stand together."
Deshan was able to say something only when they had left the Administration Tower and were sitting in the car. The humming of the hydrogen reactor seemed to free him from an inner paralysis. His thoughts and feelings suddenly moved again.
"You knew it!" he exclaimed. "You knew what was waiting for us in the Director's office!"
"I wasn't completely certain," Paronn replied, leaving it to the guidance Zephalon to steer the car through the thick traffic.
"What was protecting you? Why couldn't the bullets do anything to you?"
Paronn glanced briefly at his Chronicler. Deshan sat in the passenger's seat, his walking stick on his knees. "Do you think I'm invulnerable?"
"I saw the bullets falling to the floor. Something blocked them."
"It was this." Paronn raised his jacket and shirt, revealing a flat device underneath. Wires connected it to a switch on his belt. "Fortunately, everything was over with quickly. The energy stored in its small battery is only enough for a short time."
"What is it?"
"The prototype for a defense field generator. Perhaps we will be able to build larger ones to protect the ships."
"You've planned everything, haven't you?"
"Not to the last detail."
"But by and large," Deshan said. "You planned to remove the First as a threat, in order to prevent her from acting against the Star Seekers and endangering Project Exodus."
"I am certain that she was behind the attacks on me."
"And if she wasn't?"
Paronn sighed, and when he answered, Deshan heard a strange tiredness in his voice. "You are of course not unaware of the polarization in Lemurian society. The First has done everything to turn public opinion against us. Supposedly by wasting resources we are responsible for the lack of progress in environmental research and no solution being found to control the world's climate and prevent the looming ice age. Perhaps she would have succeeded at some point in getting the agreement of the other Solidarity Tamans and banning Project Exodus. I couldn't risk that."
"And so you did arrange everything. In order to deprive her of power."
"In a certain sense, I had just as little choice as she did," Paronn said. "Sooner or later, it had to come to this confrontation. I prepared myself for it. Now the First can no longer put up any roadblocks in front of Project Exodus, and that is all that matters."
36
Roder Roderich
Within a second, utter chaos had broken out. The prospectors and the Akonians leaped in all directions and tried to find cover. Sharita, Grresko, and Echkal fired their handbeamers, and Icho Tolot ...
The black colossus in the red battlesuit whirled around and stormed towards the robots that were coming through a door in the opposite wall. He did not take the time to go around the obstacles in the room. Tables, machines, consoles, glass cases, and metal frames—everything was smashed under pillar-like legs and four arms. The Halutian, with his cell structure hardened, raced towards the floating combat machines. Several energy beams struck him, but only burned portions of his battlesuit. The destructive energy was unable to injure the body underneath.
Just in front of the robots, Tolot reared up, and four fists slammed into two of them. Half-crushed, the robots hit the wall, fell to the floor, and lay there without moving. The third robot dodged, and a bolt from Sharita's handbeamer scattered against its defense field. However, the invisible barrier around the robot was not up to the kinetic energy of Tolot's fists. The shield flickered under the blows, became unstable, and the rage of the normally so peaceful Halutian struck unprotected metal, turning it into scrap.
Quiet returned to the laboratory.
Icho Tolot stamped through a debris field. "Please excuse me, my children," he rumbled as he reached Sharita and the others. "I was a little indignant because of Torg Kaltem."
"Did you hear that, Yu'lli and Tru'lli?" Roderich said. "He was a little 'indignant.' I wonder what a Halutian does when he's annoyed? Let's not even think about when he's mad."
"Back to the platform!" Sharita's words were directed not only to the prospectors but the Akonians as well. Amazingly, Echkal cer Lethir followed the order immediately. "You too, Denetree," Sharita said to the young Lemurian, who turned only hesitantly away from Torg Kaltem's skeleton. Solina Tormas helped her onto the platform.
"One thing I swear," Roderich muttered as he took his place next to his Blue friends and glanced enviously at Grresko's handbeamer. "Once we get back to the PALENQUE, I'll never go around without a weapon again. Even if it's something as tiny as that."
The Gurrad growled.
"And another thing," he added as the platform started off and flew through the laboratory that Icho Tolot had devastated, "I've decided to be reborn as a Halutian in my next life. Well, Yu'lli, what do you think of that?"
"Can you decide in this life what you will be in the next?"
"I've heard that it depends on the last thing you think of. When my number's up, I'll think of four arms, not four eyes. And certainly not a lion's mane."
"Do I smell a challenge there?"
"I think my beamer will be bigger than yours," Roderich said. "Yes, I'm very sure of it."
Yu'lli appeared thoughtful, at least to the extent that anyone could tell that from a Blue. "And what if your last thought was of a ... flea?"
Roderich smiled. "Then Grresko had better watch out. I could really get under his skin then."
The platform left the laboratory behind and flew through a corridor that suddenly grew dark. It took a few seconds before flashlight beams played along the walls.
"Are you still there?" Sharita asked.
"The strange fire that also burns metal is spreading faster," the voice whispered from the darkness. "It started in a number of places at the same time and more and more connections are being interrupted."
The platform slowed down and its humming grew softer. A few seconds later, it sped up again, but its humming no longer sounded as regular as before and it vibrated a little.
"Is it my imagination or has it gotten warmer?" Roderich asked.
"The temperature has increased by eight point two degrees Centigrade and is now almost thirty degrees," Icho Tolot said, looking at the readouts on his scanner. "Strong energy readings at a distance of about 800 meters. The atom fire is rapidly approaching."
"Take us to the spaceship," Sharita urged the invisible helper.
"Losing ... control ... losing control ... "
And suddenly the darkened corridor lay behind them. The platform flew across a colossal shaft, tipping to one side as it went. Grresko lost his hold and slid to the edge.
Roderich acted without thinking. He threw himself forward and grabbed the Gurrad's right hand at just the moment when Grresko fell.
Almost a kilometer below the platform, the red glow of the atom fire ate away at the metal walls. Grresko hung over the deadly abyss, held only by Roderich's hand.
"Jokes like this I don't appreciate at all," Roderich gasped. "Yu'lli? Tru'lli?"
"We are holding your legs and will not let go."
"That's just what I was about to suggest." Roderich pulled with all his strength as the red glow seemed to leap towards the platform. He had the feeling that the fire had reached his arm and was spreading within it as he slowly pulled the Gurrad up and back
on the platform.
Other hands took hold of them and finally Grresko and Roderich lay panting next to each other.
"You are surprisingly strong for a flea," the Gurrad then said.
"In that case, imagine what I'd be like reincarnated as a Halutian."
"Losing ... control," repeated the voice, or rather the voices, of the invisible helper. It was no longer a whisper, but an unpleasant mixture of squealing and crackling sounds.
The platform's vibrations grew more severe, then it tipped to the other side.
"Not now!" Sharita exclaimed, struggling to keep her balance. "Take us to the other side of the shaft! If the platform falls here, we'll all be killed."
"Only a few connections remain," the voice squealed as the platform headed for the dark opening of a corridor and the glow of the atom fire surged upwards. "I cannot ... help you ... any more ... "
The platform hummed into the corridor, tipped again, and struck the floor. Everyone on it lost their hold and fell.
Roderich stood up along with the Blues Brothers. Next to him stood Grresko, who grinned once more and raised his right hand with his handbeamer. "A small weapon is better than none at all, cub."
Roderich pointed his finger at him, but before he could say anything, the squealing voice was heard once more.
"Through the corridor. It leads to the ... spaceship. But the fire is ... near ... near ... "
"I can carry several of you and still reach the ship first." Icho Tolot sank onto his arms. "Climb on."
Denetree did not hesitate. Solina Tormas and two Terran women followed her.
"Hang on tight," Tolot roared and stormed off.
"Let's follow him!" Sharita exclaimed and started running.
They hurried through the almost completely dark corridor at a trot. Catchpole and the Akonians lit their flashlights, but in running their beams jerked back and forth, hardly allowing Roderich to make out any details of their surroundings. They went past windows that remained dark and did not reveal what lay beyond.
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