The Circle

by Harold R Watson

  Japea is the last planet close to the neutral zone. Once we left it, we would be moving away from the Atlantean Empire. We should be safe after that, we were told before we left Erie.

  After a little more than a month on Erie, we said our good byes and headed out toward our next planet named Japae ever the richer for our experiences with the snow people. We added another planet to our half circle symbol as we left Erie.

  CHAPTER 9-GREETINGS FROM THE TOREN

  TWENTY-TWO

  According to our study tapes, Japae is primarily an industrialized planet. It is the planet in the Toren Empire that builds the mother ships. Its people built THE TOREN TWENTY and all the other mother ships used by the empire.

  Japae is very strict about forbidding visitors from the other Toren planets from marrying its people or from engaging in sexual activities with its people. It does not allow any kind of racial mixing with people of other planets in a sexual way or any such relationships that might lead to forbidden activity. It has a pure race and it intends to maintain its status quo. Should such relations be discovered, the engaging parties are exiled from Japae and never allowed to return.

  We were warned in advance that our people were not to have intimate relations and that there are severe penalties for any one caught in such activity. We issued the warning through out the ship of this strict code of conduct while we are guests on their planet.

  Our mother ship was scheduled for a complete overhaul during our time on Japae. Because this is the only stop along the trade route to the planet which makes the mother ships, it is customary that while any mother ship is there, that it be serviced and up dated with the latest Toren technology and protective devises.

  Servicing a mother ship normally takes six months to a year depending on how long it had been since it’s last stop at Japae.

  We continued to study their laws and customs. One thing that we found very strange was the fact that there are very few marriages on Japae. The planet’s population is controlled by sterilization before child-bearing age of a certain percentage of the population determined by a lottery type system.

  Information on who has been sterilized and who has not been sterilized is a State held secret and not even the individuals affected are told. Bearing children is looked upon has a high honor on Japae. The child is supported by the State from birth to adulthood and grows up learning to serve the State for a lifetime.

  Although the female parent is permitted to raise her infant and still remain it’s natural mother, it is still trained and schooled by the State just has it’s mother had been. Since marriages are not mandatory on Japae, a woman can have as many male sex partners as she likes. A father’s identity is also not mandatory as long as he is a citizen of Japae. Every adult person on Japae has an occupation. Occupations are assigned to the people by the government according to the needs of the State. All are coded on a central computer owned by the government.

  Salaries are established by the government depending upon the job classification and skill level required. Any person may continue training for a better position and will be promoted on a merit system.

  All schools are free and continuing education is encouraged by the incentives of improving one s position. If a person wants to prepare for an occupation more to his of her liking than the position provided by the government, he or she is furnished with a master plan of things to do to achieve his or her goal.

  This education system apparently works well because Japae is among the wealthiest of the Toren planets. No one s occupation requires more than twenty hours a week. The other time can be spent as it s citizens please with recreational pursuits or with self improvement pursuits or with a combination of both.

  There are no medical costs. Medical costs are paid for by the government. There is no Welfare. Even sick people on Japae are assigned an occupation according to their abilities if any or are assigned a disability status based on a percentage of disability to offset their income if they are impaired. It is possible to receive a 100% disability if the person is a ward of the State.

  Employment opportunities are plentiful on Japae and business is good with the other Toren planets which constantly demand manufactured products from Japae.

  Almost nothing is wasted on Japae. Recycling is a way of life. There are many parks and recreational facilities on Japae. There are places to swim or to play golf or go to theaters and such. There are amusement parks.

  I was surprised that they actually played golf on Japae. I thought golf was originated on Earth but the chronicles we were reviewing said the golf originated on Japae thousands of years before on Earth. The game was apparently introduced to Earth by a traveler that stopped in Japae and eventually lived in Scotland on Earth.

  Life expectancy on Japae is about 750 earth years. Health is like cleanliness on Japae. It is taken very seriously. Deseases have for the most part been eradicated on Japae. Most areas on Japae are quarantined to visitors. They do not want outsiders to bring in germs that might be harmful to their citizens. Sexually transmitted diseases on Japae are almost unheard of in spite of the fact that sexual encounters among the citizens are a common occurrence. Sexual encounters before the age of majority are controlled by surgical implants put in the female at birth that would make having sex extremely painful.

  At the age of majority which is 25 on Japae, the implants are removed and there are no further restrictions placed on the female should she desire to have sex with any man she chooses unless she becomes a married person. Then both she and her husband agree to abstain from having sex with another unless both approve in advance.

  Having sex, kissing, petting, and the like are never permitted in public on Japae. Privacy is a requirement as is consent by the participants. Otherwise, any willing adults may participate in a private setting.

  It is uncommon for people on Japae to become married but it does happen because of what we describe on Earth as love between two people who wish to remain true to each other. They do not necessarily regard having sex as a recreational pursuit but as an act of love for each other.

  Because of all the restrictions on Japae, it was decided that we would continue to live on the ship while there. We would visit the planet in small groups and then only under the apices of a chaperon furnished by them to show us were we could and could not go.

  We also learned that there are several small Class M planets in the neutral zone not claimed by either the Toren or the Atlantean Empires because they are considered too primitive by the standards of either empire.

  Our journey would take us very close to the neutral zone and some of these planets. Of course, they were also considered to be off limits to either empire due to their location in the neutral zone. We knew that the Atlanteans had already broken the neutral zone treaty and would probably do so again to stop us from ever returning to Earth.

  We reached the marker closest to the neutral zone about half way between Erie and Japae. We had been warned to be on high alert when we slowed down to make our turn necessary to avoid the neutral zone. We were also warned that we should not stop at any of the planets in the neutral zone even if we received a distress call.

  In the past, pirates had been known to make distress calls in order to raid passing ships. These bands were often made up of escaped criminals and or other of society s misfits from either the empire. What we didn t expect was to receive a friendly call from another Toren mother ship, the TOREN TWENTY-TWO. Seldom do mother ships encounter each other in outer space.

  Their commander suggested that we spend a few days aboard his ship, before proceeding on to our respective destinations, in order to exchange information about places we and they had recently encountered attacks from Atlantean forces.

  He said that we are safe here especially if we stick together. He said no force would want to attack when two mother ships are together because it would be suicide
. His request seemed reasonable enough. After much discussion on procedures, it was agreed that we would send one of our star cruisers to their ship and that they would send one of theirs to our ship to exchange reconnaissance parties for a few days.

  I would go over to their ship and their executive would come over to our ship in the exchange. I decided to take Dr. Collins with me in THE BONNIE ONE because he understood the computers better than I in case he was needed to answer some technical questions. Marvo stayed on the mother ship with Tess.

  We in the “BONNIE ONE” had hardly cleared the hanger before we were fired upon and partially disabled. We never raised our shields because we were still too close to the mother ship and we had not anticipated any danger from another Toren mother ship.

  Then THE TWREN TWENTY-TWO began to fire on THE TOREN TWENTY from near point blank range. Its shields were also temporarily down because of our leaving star cruiser. It is necessary to lower the shields on the mother ship when launching a star cruiser. Otherwise the magnetic forces cause problems for the instruments of the ship being launched. The entire encounter had been a rouse to place us in an untenable position.

  THE TOREN TWENTY TWO was in the control of Atlanteans pirates who had apparently taken it over like they had taken over THE TOREN TWENTY between Earth and Starsis in our first encounter. It was all that I could manage to crash land the “BONNIE ONE” on the surface of one of the small planets located in the nearby neutral zone. We were unable to make contact with the mother ship.

  The enemy had fired several of its first shots at the communication antennas on the mother ship so they couldn t notify anyone of their peril.

  Fortunately, the BONNIE ONE had been designed by Dr. Collins and it had the necessary spare parts so it could be repaired but it would take some time.

  It was a week before our ship was repaired enough to lift off safely again. We then left the planet and headed toward the last known position of THE TOREN TWENTY. We used our cloaking device so we wouldn t be detected.

  We found THE TOREN TWENTY floating aimlessly in space orbiting one of the planets in the neutral zone. It contained fires that were burning out of control in several areas. We managed to land aboard in one of the undamaged bays and headed for the Control Center. It took us several hours to reach the Control Center because we had to make our way around and through so many damaged areas.

  We were fortunate to find the Control Center was still intact for the most part but weapons controls had been rendered inoperable by the attack. Many of the star cruisers which had been on board the mother ship were no longer present. Most apparently made it out but some were destroyed before they could leave.

  There was a message from Tess on the computer screen. She had no weapons systems operation on the mother ship except those on the star cruisers so she launched as many as possible to try to fight off the enemy. She said that she was in the CRYSTAL ONE.

  Dr. Collins was able to set up some make shift antennas. We then tried to reach Tess star cruisers but were unable to do so. We did reach several other of our star cruisers and we were informed that the Atlanteans had left and were now regrouping and hiding in the neutral zone.

  The TOREN TWENTY-TWO had disappeared shortly after it had disabled THE TOREN TWENTY. It had launched all its star ships to fight ours they said.

  We then requested that they return to THE TOREN TWENTY and stand by until we could complete enough damage control to start bringing them back on board.

  We turned our immediate attention to damage control problems. Putting out the many fires became our first concern. We still had enough people on board the mother ship to accomplish that task within the next forty eight hours. We then began taking on our star ships and soon had sufficient work parties to again make the mother ship operational enough to resume it s journey on to Japae.

  All ships were accounted for except four. They were the MARION ONE, the AMY ONE, the DAISY ONE, and the one my wife and two daughters had been on the CRYSTAL ONE. It was suspected that all four were somewhere on the small planets in the neutral zone either shot down or captured by the enemy.

  Once things aboard the mother ship began to return to something close to normal, I brought in two of my star ship Captains and made them Acting Admirals, one to take THE TOREN TWENTY on to Japae where it could be repaired and reconditioned and the other as his Executive Officer. I then advised them that I was going to explore the small planets in the neutral zone to determine the fate of the four missing star cruisers no matter how long it took me.

  I advised that if I could accomplish this in time to rejoin the mother ship in Japae before it was repaired and ready to launch again, that I would do so. If not, I would try to join them at the next stop scheduled on Hilo. Meanwhile, the two Acting Admirals were in charge of THE TOREN TWENTY and its passengers.

  I requested volunteers of any who might be willing to join with me in the search efforts. The response was over whelming but I felt that no more than three star cruisers should stay behind and that if necessary, one, possibly two of them would be sent on to Japae later to advise that we in THE BONNIE ONE would be unable to join them before they left Japae.

  We knew that THE TOREN TWENTY was scheduled for an overhaul on Japae that would take at least a year. With all the damages, that year might stretch into two years. I figured we had the minimum of one year to complete the search and still have time to join the others in Japae before they left.

  Dr. Miller, wanted to come with us with his wife as did Dr. Collins and his wife and many of our officers from the BONNIE ONE . Tess had apparently taken Marvo with her when she left the mother ship on the CRYSTAL ONE.

  Otherwise, I would have wanted him on my search crew. I vowed from that day forward until I knew the fate of the four star cruisers missing in action, that I would not shave my face as a sign of my determination.

  The officer that I had earlier promoted to Captain of the BONNIE ONE after I bec ame an Admiral, was the same officer I chose to become the Acting Admiral to take the mother ship on to Japae so he was no longer aboard when we left the mother ship with the other star cruisers the JOYCE ONE and the MAXINE ONE to begin our search.

  CHAPTER 10-THE SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSION

  Our three ships stayed together for the first three months for safety reasons. During that time, we encountered no enemy vessels. Our search during that time had revealed the wreckage of the MARION ONE. We inspected the ship’s remains and surveyed the area. We determined that there had been no survivors. We took time to bury the dead and to have a ceremony honoring them. We also recorded their names from their ship’s logs for our records.

  We had given this nearest planet three months and there were two other planets in the group to be checked. We decided to split up having one ship remain to continue to search this planet and the other two to begin searching the second planet.

  The MAXINE ONE stayed and the BONNIE ONE and the JOYCE ONE proceeded to the next planet. Within a month we found the DAISY ONE on the second planet. We were able to locate many survivors but the ship would never fly again. We took survivors of the DAISY ONE on board and continued our search.

  We contacted the MAXINE ONE commander who had exhausted all its prospects on the first planet to join us to continue searching the second planet. Two weeks after finding the DAISY ONE, we found the AMY ONE and it too had survivors. We had Dr. Collins survey their ship and he determined that it needed some are parts he could remove from the DAISY ONE plus some we had on board the JOYCE ONE to get it flying again.

  We left the JOYCE ONE at his disposal to use in the repair undertaking while the MAXINE ONE and the BONNIE ONE continued the search for the CRYSTAL ONE.

  We spent another month on the second planet and found no signs of the remaining star cruiser. We decided it was time to move to the third planet in the system. Before we moved on, we re-contacted Dr. Collins to learn that th
e repairs to the AMY ONE were nearly completed.

  We were now six months into our search efforts and there were no signs of the CRYSTAL ONE. Soon after we began searching the third planet, we discovered that it had people on it.

  They appeared to be a primitive group of hunters carrying crude weapons that looked form our vantage point like spears and bows and arrows. We observed them going into a cave entrance at dusk. Darkness was rapidly spreading over the plateau as the sun had set.

  We decided to land near by and try to make contact with them the following morning. Meanwhile, we reported to the other ships from the second planet and they said that they could come over and join us in the morning. We didn t know if we could learn anything from the hunters but since they were the first living souls we had seen on any of the three planets, we felt it might be worth a chance.

  By late morning all four-star cruisers were sitting on the plateau. It was good to see the AMY ONE operational again. Dr. Collins rejoined the crew of the BONNIE ONE.

  We took a small party to the cave entrance and went inside. We found no one there. Apparently the hunters had moved out during the night. We sent out shuttles to look for the hunters. Later one of the shuttles reported that they had seen the hunters moving out on a plain a few miles from our position.

  We took another shuttle from the BONNINE ONE and soon were able to overtake the hunters. They were afraid of our armed soldiers and our machines but after a while, we convinced them that we were friends and meant them no harm. We gave them food. Their hunting had not been very successful. They agreed to take us to their chief and we agreed to supply them with more food supplies for their tribe in return.

  We brought them aboard our shuttle and returned to the BONNIE ONE for supplies. We then had them show us the way to their encampment. It was near a stream in a grove of trees well hidden from sight from the air unless you were right above them. I was introduced to their chief. He was an elderly man and very thin with long gray hair. He spoke in a soft voice. He was grateful for the food and supplies we brought to him for his tribe.