In the shadow of the stolen light - Nika Veresk

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.