In the shadow of the stolen light

“They won’t go far with this kind of damage!” sighed Stan.

Then again someone’s speech was heard despite the interference.

“The passenger ship detected our shuttle and is moving in our direction,” translated Lora. “Now it’s us they’re asking for help.”

“They would surely be able to reach Gron and make an emergency landing there,” nodded the mechanic.

“Within the framework of the active agreement between ‘Solar Flotilla’ and Taria’s government,” quickly commented Paul, “we can help their citizens in case of an emergency. Even in times of battle, this can’t be considered an intervention into their domestic policies.”

The crew members nodded in accordance.

“So we are going to just stay there and watch how they fire at the helpless ship until it crashes right next to us?!” said Derek shocked.

“Yes, because we are bound by this agreement,” Paul sat in the captain’s chair continuing to closely monitor the scanners. “Judging by its trajectory, it’ll land next to us. Chris, activate the protective field and get ready to manoeuvre. There could be the threat of a collision. Oleg, you are responsible for the defence arms. Stan, calculate the possibility of using the teleport ray for transporting the injured onboard. Mary, get the spacesuits ready, they could be useful.”

“What should we do?” Derek looked questioningly at the captain.

“Fasten your belts for now,” he answered calmly. “But the night is young.”

“The object is on our right!” reported Chris.

The earthling and Lora sat in the vacant chairs, staring intently through the panoramic glass into the darkness surrounding the shuttle.

“The speed is too high, it’s going to be a rough landing!”

Soon after these words were uttered, Derek noticed a ship approaching them at speed; moving in jerks, losing and gaining height. When it was too close to the surface, it touched the spiky moon rocks which cut into its cover before bursting in all the directions.

“The scanners show that only one of the brake motors switched on! The ship’s going to turn around now!” reported Chris.

However, within seconds; not only did it turn, but it broke into two parts. One of the pieces of debris flew far ahead, disappearing from view of the onlookers and exploded as shown on one of the scanners. The bigger part bumped into several cliffs before halting one and a half kilometres away from the shuttle.

“Scan the debris for the presence of survivors,” commanded Paul.

Stan shook his head gloomily.

“Fifty-two life forms, but I can’t say anything about their physiological state. By the way, before firing the scanner had shown three hundred and seven Tarians.”

“So, our help could be useful,” summarized Paul. “Stan, what’s the situation with the teleport? Can we transport them one by one?”

“No, can’t do that. The damaged ship equipment could cause a lot of interference. If anything goes wrong, we’ll get the Tarians in pieces. But if we stick small beacons on the survivors, then every object’s signal will become stronger and the risk of harm or injury will be considerably decreased.”

“Is there a risk of explosion?”

“Not at the moment, but the engines of the ship are badly impaired; the beginning of a chain reaction is only a matter of time,” replied Oleg. “I think we have about an hour.”

“This mission isn’t directly connected with the interests of ‘Solar Flotilla’: that’s why I can’t give orders to anyone.” Paul looked at his crew.

“We’re coming, captain,” Mary gave a nudge to Oleg.

“Coming,” he nodded in agreement and, walking fast, they left the bridge.

“I can also help,” Lora said, ready to follow them.

“Great! Stan and Chris will stay with me onboard,” decided the captain.

“I want to go,” suddenly said Derek, loudly and decisively.

Paul raised his eyebrow in surprise, while Lora who was already heading to the spacesuit chamber stopped hesitantly.

“A walk in a spacesuit, despite all its advantages, is quite a tiring thing…”

“But I feel great. Besides, Paul said that he can’t order…”

“I can’t order you to go…” specified the captain, “But if your actions put other crew members in danger, it’s a different matter.”

“I can handle it,” confidently said Derek and pointed at the hologram, “Besides, we have little time to evacuate all the injured. Another pair of hands really could do.”

“He’s right,” agreed Chris, “Fighter planes are taking off from Taria. I don’t think they’ll ignore a ship that crashed on the moon.”

“The injured are all around the ship,” added Stan, “Teleporting our rescue team there will save some time, but they’ll have to move around the inside the spacecraft on their own, which can be very difficult.”

“Alright, put on your spacesuits and wait for departure at the teleport cabin.”

The rescue mission preparation took less than 10 minutes. Getting inside the Tarian spaceship, Lora and Derek looked around. A wide corridor, where they had been teleported by Stan, partially collapsed with clusters of bare wires sparkling, broken pipes and pieces of twisted metal. The flat bio scanner monitor attached to Lora’s spacesuit displayed the ship scanning data. Thus, receiving the directions, they headed to the place with several bio signals. From time to time, the piles of debris became a serious obstacle and moving ahead was badly hampered. Making her way through the blockage, Lora lost her step causing her leg to slip from a pipe, wet due to steam coming out of it. The girl screamed, lost her balance and rolled down on the floor with a crash.

“Hey, are you ok?” the earthling didn’t manage to catch her on time, but immediately rushed down to help her.

“It seems so,” she winced with the pain in her knee.

“Shall we move on?” he was watching her closely.

With the corner of her eye, the girl assessed her physical state indicators that flashed on the spacesuit virtual display right in front of her eyes and nodded affirmatively. Then they continued the way to their destination.

“What do the Tarians look like?” asked Derek, carefully following Lora.

“You’ll see for yourself,” the girl answered. “Here we are! Can you help me move this bulkhead.

Applying a great deal of effort, the young people managed to free the entrance to one of the passenger compartments where, according to the scan results, a few survivors were. The place was filled with thick steam and, judging by the squishing sound under their feet, there was a lot of water on the floor.

Suddenly, from Lora’s side, Derek heard a hoarse rattling sound resembling the kind of speech that they heard during the broadcast from the Tarian ship.

“What’s this?” the young man looked around.

“I just asked in Tarian if there is anyone there” answered the girl.

“How can you make sounds like that?” the young man was perplexed.

“Thanks to another element of the UCD, the personal speech synthesizer,” explained Lora. “The thing is that human vocal chords are not always able to reproduce the speech of alien races. I’m sure you have seen this gadget before. It’s a pendant that all the Titanium citizens wear around their necks. It works as a speech device, receiving signals directly from the brain and wording my thoughts towards it.”

“I need one!”

“Of course, but for now activate the interpreter, installed in the spacesuit.”

“We are the rescuers from the ‘Solar Flotilla’ shuttle, our crew is ready to help you!” Switching on the device, Derek heard a perfectly clear translation of the rattling created by Lora’s synthesizer. “Come out, don’t be afraid,” she added and within seconds they were surrounded by five short humanoids.

Derek had never seen the Tarians before and was now staring with great interest at the creatures that had appeared in the dimly lit compartment. In physique, they looked like short stocky men who, instead of skin, had small red scales. Their short strong limbs had long nails at their tips, while the heads and partially the shoulders and back were covered with a leathery carapace that resembled a helmet. From under this armour, yellow snake-like eyes observed the humans who had just arrived. The young man unwillingly smiled, watching the aliens’ clumsy movements while the rising water was up to their waists now.

“You were asking for help,” the girl broke the long silence.

“Yes, the captain of this ship tried to get in touch…” started one of the survivors, “But we don’t know where he is now…”

“Our friends will try to find him. For now we can offer to evacuate you to our shuttle. The atmosphere created in one of its compartments is the same as the air composition on Taria. We’ll take you to Titanium like this.”

“To Titanium?” the Tarians looked at each other. “But your Council had refused to get involved…”

“We’re not getting involved,” explained Lora, “We’re just offering help to a spacecraft that had crashed. This doesn’t violate the terms and conditions between our races.”

The refugees nodded in agreement.

“That’s great!” smiled the girl, “I’m going to stick a transmitter onto every one of you, and it will initiate your teleportation into the compartment with a suitable atmosphere.”

By the time Chris’s agitated voice was on air again, Lora and Derek had already helped a dozen Tarians they had found in different compartments.

“Guys, finish with it! The fighter ships are already near. Paul is talking to the unit commander, who had been sent to Gron after the spacecraft that was shot down. Their ships will be here in less than twenty minutes. They have orders to destroy the remains of the ship.”

Lora looked at her watch.

“Message received, we’re coming back!”

“You’ll have to climb one deck up so that the beacon signal becomes stronger,” added Stan.

“The scanner has detected three more life forms on the level above us,” noted Derek and pointed Lora in the direction of the correct compartment.

“We didn’t follow this route when we came here. There could be piles of debris,” answered Lora. “Let’s follow the more certain way.”

“But the Tarians will die then!” insisted the earthling. “We’re obliged to save them!”

The girl sighed deeply and peered at the persistently flashing red light at the corner of the virtual screen. She didn’t want to tell Derek about her injury she had got due to the fall. Besides, regardless of the leg trauma, the chances of saving several other refugees were miniscule. At the same time, the risk of dying under the fire of the Tarian fighter planes far away from the place where Stan could teleport them was quite high.

“We’re not going there, Derek,” Lora concluded calmly. “We did everything we could. It’s time to go back.”

“The sooner, the better,” Captain’s voice could be heard on air. “The fighters are seventeen minutes away, and we also need time to fly as far as possible before the shooting. Come back, this is an order!”

“We can’t leave like this!” insisted Derek, “I can make it!”

“Now it’s not only your life you’re endangering,” suddenly firmly stated the girl, “Your efforts are senseless, if the captain doesn’t risk the shuttle and everyone else on board.”

“She’s right,” the captain interfered into their argument, “We’d have to stay very close to the debris in order to teleport you and the other three. And, Lora, what are your bio indicators?”

“Everything’s fine,” Lora tried to calm him down.

“It wasn’t just a minor injury, was it?” guessed Derek.

“There’s no point discussing it now, the main thing is to get out of here.”

On arriving at the shuttle, Lora was immediately transferred into the medical compartment. By the time Derek took off the spacesuit and entered the bridge, the ship had already left Taria’s satellite.

“You did a good job,” said the captain noticing him come. “How’s Lora?”

“Mary said that she’d be fine,” answered Derek. “What about the Tarian fighter planes?”

“A few seconds ago they started heavy shooting at the remains of the ship.”

“What happened to those the cruiser was aiming at?

“They remained there. Not one of them took the risk any more. I think, sooner or later they’ll either land on Taria or die.”

“Can’t we help them in some way?”

“We have no right to interfere in the domestic conflict, but have the order to return back to Titanium. Today ‘Solar Flotilla’ will leave Taria’s orbit. The Council made this decision less than half an hour ago.”

Derek didn’t say anything. For a while not one word was uttered on the bridge.

“Captain, the border cruiser started shooting at the passenger ships,” Chris broke the silence. “We’re outside the affected area, but several ships with refugees followed by the fighter planes are moving in our direction. They are seeking asylum on Titanium. Shall I turn on the loudspeaker?”

The captain nodded. Voices and loud sounds resembling explosions were transmitted on air. Derek was very grateful to Mary for the speaker with synchronized translation. Now he could understand the aliens’ language.

“We have no authority to provide asylum for you,” answered Paul calmly, using his personal speech synthesizer. “We can’t interfere…” Suddenly the connection was lost.

“This ship has just been destroyed,” quietly reported Chris.

Paul shook his head, signs of sincere regret could be read on his face.

“Another one is coming too close. The fighters shooting at it could hit us by accident.”

“Get me their captain.”

“Ready! The connection is established!”

“I am Paul Stones, the captain of ‘Solar Flotilla’s’ shuttle. Your actions threaten the safety of our spacecraft. I am asking you to stop fire!”

“Your ship’s well protected and will not be damaged even if the passenger transport explodes!” answered the Tarian through interference.

Derek approached the porthole – now he could clearly see what was happening outside with his own eyes. The transport with the refugees was awkwardly manoeuvring and trying to stay close to the shuttle in an attempt to prevent the fighters from shooting at them.

“What does our protective field have to do with anything?” said the captain indignantly. “You have no right to put my crew’s life at risk!”

“In this case, go faster so that the ship of the delinquents can’t use you as a shield!”

“We have some cargo onboard that’s slowing us down” confidently lied the captain, which came as a total surprise to the earthling.

Stan hemmed and, looking at the earthling sullenly, put his finger to the lips symbolizing silence. The Tarian was obviously dissatisfied.

“Alright! We’ll stop the fire, but only until your shuttle enters the Titanium protective field!”

The connection was lost.

“But the refugees’ ship won’t be able to pass through the protective field of the artificial planet…” noted Derek, watching the captain closely.

“No, it won’t,” like an echo answered the captain.

“What if we teleport them?”

“Such actions can be viewed as interference into the domestic conflict…”

The earthling swore.

“This is not our war, Derek,” added the captain quietly.

The lighting in the medical compartment seemed too bright for Lora after a long time spent in the darkness of the broken ship. She squinted and covered her eyes with her palm while lying in the regenerative capsule that allowed a quick recovery of the damaged tissues. Her loneliness was disturbed by Derek walking in silently.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine, thanks,” she opened her eyes and noticed a gloomy expression on his face. “Did something happen?”

The earthling explained the situation in short and the girl sighed heavily.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the consequences of the fall?” asked the young man with reproach after a short silence.

“What for? We were on a mission that I could handle. If the situation had been more serious, I’d have definitely told you.”

“Ligament rupture is not a serious situation?!” said the young man indignantly.

“There’ three minutes and twenty seconds left to full tissue recovery,” reported the medical programme.

“What do you think?” smiled Lora on hearing the forecast.

In response Derek scowled even more and sat in an armchair nearby.

“So, you also risked your life,” he concluded.

“I wouldn’t call my actions risky, but rather rational.”

“I think Paul thought differently. He was very worried about your condition.”

“Please, don’t get it wrong but the crew, left on the shuttle, always monitors the physical condition of those who go on a mission. Paul knew about my injury from the very beginning…”

“So, the time when I didn’t want to leave the ship, he deliberately drew my attention to that,” realized Derek, “Very clever…”

The girl nodded.

“You had to be persuaded…”

“I don’t understand… We had a chance to save those three till the last moment… But we just left them to die…”

“The chance to save them was very small, in contrast to the high possibility of being killed ourselves.”

“This is selfish!” said Derek passionately.

“This is rational,” the girl answered quietly.

“Your rationality is a synonym of indifference!?” said the young man with resentment.

Lora shook her head and responded with a question.

“I don’t understand what’s so outrageous about me wanting to save my own life? Or, my life should be less valuable for me than the lives of those Tarians?”

Derek was ready to say something but stopped suddenly. The question hovered in the air for a while confusing him. The recovery programme with a characteristic squeaking sound completed its work and allowed Lora to sit. Now she perched at the edge of the capsule, her legs dangling, and watched closely at her opponent, who was still puzzled.

“So,” he finally spoke, “you believe that your life is more valuable than the life of the others’?”

“I’ll tell you what I believe in,” calmly said the girl, “I believe that everyone has the right to life and freedom of choice from the day they are born. These are the highest values. And I believe that if a human being or any other living creature doesn’t value his life more than anything, he won’t be able to truly value the life of others. And, to make it clearer for you, I’m ready to offer help to those who need it, but for me helping anybody is a display of generosity, not a moral duty.”

Paul’s team completed the mission on Gron, bringing more than thirty refugees to Titanium. The moment their shuttle was within the protective field, the passenger ship, that was trying to hide from the fighters behind it, was quickly destroyed in cold blood.

Before ‘Solar Flotilla’ left Taria’s orbit, a lot of Titanium’s citizens gathered at the viewpoint to watch their departure. Lora, Derek and Paul were not an exception.

“Look how many people have come here!” noticed Paul. “Is one of the councillors going to make a declamation?”

Lora nodded. Behind the panoramic windows Taria gleamed with its greenish-blue glow in the pitch black Universe. What had once been a hospitable haven for ‘Solar Flotilla’ was now somewhat of a hostile civilisation, caught in the wicked flames of a civil war. “Greetings to all the Titanium citizens!” a loud voice resounded in the hall. The humming of conversations died down and everyone was now attentively listening to the announcement from the loudspeakers. “This is Jean Preqeaux speaking. All ‘Solar Flotilla’ ships are at the launch positions ready to leave the Taria’s orbit. Today we have no possibility, as before, to personally thank the inhabitants of the planet for a fruitful collaboration and mutual help. But we are leaving their world with sincere gratitude in our hearts. Safe journey to all of us, dear friends!”

The voice in the speakers went silent.

Derek snorted with resentment, while Paul looked at the sad face of his female companion watching the planet disappear in the distance.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked her quietly.

“It’s not even just a case of what I’m thinking but of how I feel. And I feel so much that I struggle to put it into words. My common sense is telling me to agree with the Council, we really don’t have the right to interfere, we are strangers here. But my heart just isn’t in it at all…”

A few minutes later, Titanium accompanied by the five satellite ships smoothly slid into the open mouth of the hyper tunnel and darted through space leaving Doht and its domain behind. Once again, a whole new world was waiting for ‘Solar Flotilla’ – the Lactian Empire – intricately made up of around a thousand stellar systems and dozens of habitable planets.

Chapter 6

After arriving at Vistana, the Council was much occupied with the collaboration issues with the new allies for some time. This gave Lora, Derek and Paul an opportunity to prepare a well thought-out plan of an Earth expedition. And despite the fact that the shuttle captain had more doubts about the necessity of such a mission than the others, still he put every effort in place to make it look solid in the eyes of the councillors. Meanwhile, working closely with the earthling, Lora realized ever their difference in viewpoints, and she couldn’t help but realize that the human civilization split had been inevitable back then. Once, soon after the ‘Solar Flotilla’s’ arrival at the Lactians’ capital planet, Lora had the chance to be all the more persuaded in the idea that the earthling and herself were far from mutual understanding. On the instruction of the Council, Lora was sent on a mission to Barkan, one of the inhabited planets in the Lactian Empire. In fact, the purpose of the trip was cultural exchange, so without hesitation Lora invited Derek to join her. This assignment was a good chance to have a change of scene by visiting a planet new to them. On Barkan they were welcomed by an official Empire representative, Kumimago Hoto. He belonged to the original Lactian race, although it was the representatives of other races, united under the Empire, which often occupied high political and diplomatic posts. The Lactians were humanoids, but looked very different from people: their average height exceeded the people’s height two and a half times, and it was simply impossible to find a plump Lactian as they were all slim and lank. Their blood vessels could be easily seen under the thin skin of golden shade, while their long snow-white hair was always scraped into tight buns at the nape; making their huge transparent blue eyes look even bigger. The three pairs of hands, which they managed with greater dexterity than humans do with just one, were often hidden under loose colourful capes and could be seen only when it was necessary. Traveling in a huge flying chariot, the Lactian representative and his companions were having a tour around Barkan when Derek noticed a spectacular construction towering over a mountain. It consisted of several very tall semi-circular arches placed in a row one after another. Their incredibly high tops sparkled in the sun like mother of pearl, blindingly bright.

“What’s that?” asked the earthling.

“It’s the Gates of Life, a gift from the Lactians to the Barkan inhabitants.”

“Gates of Life?” asked Derek again, watching an endless procession of pilgrims climbing up a narrow winding path on a steep slope to the top. “Is it some kind of a ritual?”

“You could say that,” Kumimago smiled. “A long time ago, when my race lived on our native planet, we had an incredible technological boom in all the areas of science-in medicine, as well. Our doctors learned to treat the majority of illnesses. However, with time, it became obvious that in spite of all our efforts to stay healthy, every subsequent Lactian generation was weaker than the previous. Just as we found a new vaccine against one virus, another more deadly one would appear. Initially effective treatment methods were turning out to be useless after years, while illnesses became chronic. The doctors had scrutinized over this problem for a long time until a truly genius scientist Armesteh created the Gates of Life. This machine, the prototype of which you can see on the mountain, could renew all the body cells completely, except the nerve cells. After this scientific breakthrough was made, the vaccines, antibiotics and surgeries seemed to become a thing of the past.”

“Apparently, it had some drawbacks,” said Derek quietly, noticing his companion’s glance grow heavier.

“That’s right. The machine worked without causing any side effects. However, for some reason there were Lactians who were able to retain their newfound health for the rest of their days, while the old illnesses were returning to the others after a while. After having carried out a great deal of testing and research, Armesteh and his colleagues found the reason. It turned out that every illness leaves a mark on the subconscious of the Lactians. And the subconscious as a part of the nervous system could not be healed by the machine.”