On land the media called this mission the "scrapping pilgrimage". The clever idea this company started, lead to the retirement of the first generation of civilian, tourism and military orbiting ships, whose fate had been to become scrap metal; being able to create a habitable super-structure with all the vessels in the vicinity of the planet Saturn. The station, funded by the American conglomerate, would become the most distant stable human population from Earth up to that moment. A place for research and preparation for future missions to the outer solar system. It was speculated that if this idea worked as efficiently as the American conglomerate authorities stated in every speech, it could be the first of many space posts that would facilitate future exploration, mining and expansion mission trips. And, in turn, it would return the lead of the new space race to the people of the Americas conglomerate; creating novel opportunities to find resources and raw materials, which were needed for the new era of human space expansion.
This work was a huge engineering challenge, as they had to connect all of those pieces that came from different technologies and times, first in the company's computers; choosing which of the spatial structures would serve better for the different purposes and needs of the new station. Some of the vessels, would only act as space cellars, which were very necessary for any faraway stations, for the terrestrial service entailed by nine months of travel. These ships were chosen due to their resistance to solar radiation and the robustness they'd demonstrated throughout their lives. They didn't include any boost or manoeuvring engines, they'd just be space shells which were often unpressurised. The pilots called them "refrigerators" and these were the ships that would travel chained to others. With each manoeuvre through which one of these ships was connected by chains to their transportation, the pilots would shout through the speakers:
“Yes, Moby Dick jumps to the sun for the last time!”
And the controllers would shout from mission control:
“And it snorts.”
And Melville smiled from beyond the grave.
Another dozen obsolete orbital vessels had been chosen to act as habitable areas of the station due to their former function. A space hotel which already had several artificial gravity sections; two orbital zero gravity laboratories and several ships from the moon transport fleet, which were already prepared for long trips and equipped with dormitories and dining and recreational areas as well as gyms. All of these luxury details, derived from services these ships had offered in Earth orbit, would now become part of the “comforts” this station would provide to its stable crew.
Despite the significant momentum the Americas conglomerate had given this project; doing it would’ve been unfeasible without international collaboration. Thus, the European and Asian conglomerates had also chartered two separate space high-tech laboratories, to be attached to the station and serve as an exploration starting point of the gas giant by its scientists. Each team would also explore different possible raw material sources in the icy moons that revolved around the gas giant.
Earth's International Congress had to approve some novel laws to allow these facilities to function in interplanetary space, reforming the old space legislation that was nearly a hundred years old.
It also required the American authorities to send a small amount of its global security, which would be under an official designated by the World Congress, to be moved to the station as a police force and legal authority. The large distances made it almost impossible for land authorities to act immediately under certain situations and this measure seemed a better solution to this new human expansion situation.
The central nodes were the most advanced piece of technology and the heart of the station. This section would act as a distributor and central corridor, as well as a spaceport. It had a state of the art communication area and a radio telescope; a fully equipped hospital that could deal with any medical emergency, in which it was expected, when the station was running at full throttle, for three doctors to take turns directing a stable nurses team.
The nodes were equipped with artificial gravity 0.85 factor generators, the most similar gravity in the entire station to that of Earth's. Two restaurants would also be enabled on the sides of the docking ports. The facility's jewel would be the famous panoramic viewpoint, part of the Brandson complex, an orbital luxury hotel that was replaced by a more modern structure on that same year. This viewpoint would close the B node section which looked towards the gas giant; creating a quiet area with a relaxing atmosphere, which would be used as a walking and meeting area for the crews.
The scrapping pilgrimage flew towards the station's basic structure which had been recently automatically assembled in the Saturn orbit. The first crew of engineers, the doctor in charge and the brand new station director flew in a "Daedalus" class military ship, which reached the highest speed among the mixed fleet, guaranteeing their arrival a month before the rest of the fleet ships. They'd be the first to arrive and would check all of the structure's safety before the bulk of the ships would arrive weeks later and coupling tasks would begin.
The Guilds of Legend
Two figures walked down the path that night. From a distance they seemed to be two young men, both bald, but with bushy eyebrows, distinguishable in the distance due to the contrast of their gleaming heads. They were dressed in similar robes with different ornaments and patterns.
They walked down the path, paved with iridescent white tiles, arguing softly, as the two moons, companions of these strange people, shone brightly in the night sky of that city of eternal summer.
These beings pronounced their town's name with a single soft word, full of cadences and which we could translate as: "Legend" A hidden world that had been kept alive due to an ancient miracle; a piece of technology from a civilization that had been forgotten eons ago and which still protects and guides them. But this security wouldn't last forever and both the protector and the protected knew that without immediate action, their way of life would not survive the unnamed storm that was forming around their secret.
Fatmir, son of the tower of the dreams, known just as Fa the leader of the merchants’ guild, was a representative of his Caste. A clan of space travellers that survived by infiltrating among the peoples who inhabit the rocky planets of their own solar system: The Caleb, one civilization sponsored by the guilds themselves and with whom they share genetic inheritance; and the Ketuv, an endogenous race of the system, strikingly similar to the reptilians that, as told by Legend's old stories, cohabited the mother planet where these guilds migrated from centuries ago.
Fa lived his life as an infiltrator, posing as a Caleb and negotiating trade agreements with the xenophobe Ketuv, who forbid all physical contact with the inhabitants of the other planetary civilizations, but who needed to exchange raw materials with the Caleb world if they wished to develop as a strong planetary civilization. The Ketuv planet, despite having a life-supporting atmosphere was poor in resources, while the Caleb world, rich in minerals and water, could barely maintain a living atmosphere due to some kind of miracle that the civilization's scientists could still not explain.
Meanwhile, Legend was a large moon of the only giant planet of the system, and was always hidden by a cloud layer, and inhabited by these ancient travellers, survivors; always influencing the system's civilizations, without being seen, without attracting attention and manoeuvring in the shadows to maintain a peace that was constantly imbalanced. A secret kept for centuries, and which the Legend guilds strove to sustain during this new phase of space exploration and exchange between Caleb and Ketuv.
Legend's guilds served Iktis, the great ancient pyramid that had arrived in Legend on the night of the times. Iktis was the machine that kept them alive, and which had developed a scanty planetary civilization in this world-moon. A civilization of guardians and servants of the ancient secrets that the pyramid kept within.
The story of the end of Phaethon and how his legacy escaped the planetary destruction is told in other books, suffice
it to say that the guilds are a poor image of the glory of the civilization and of the planet Mother of all life, lost forever in distant forgotten times. And the mission that Iktis had went wrong from the very beginning, losing forever the contact with his sisters, the other ships that also escaped, and those that still wait roaming the cosmos, for a sign of Iktis to wake up.
On that night of bright moons, Fa was walking with Ri, his close friend and collaborator, while they discussed the events that concerned them and which would possibly change their lives forever.
“Ri, perhaps we were wrong in sending 'Faraway Man' to the Sun system.”
“It was our chance of finding out what had happened to Iktis Guardian so many years ago. We couldn't pass it up.”
“When we received the first transmissions, I thought the same. But it has been over a decade since he arrived and despite his progress on locating the stones on Earth, he hasn't been able to find a key to activate Raploj. I think differently now.”
“What has made you change your mind, Fa?”
“Yesterday we detected a transmission from our system to the original Sun system.”
“Is anyone having a conversation with Earth's 'shorem'?”
“Apparently, and it's not us.”
“Where is this transmission coming from? Who could know Iktis's ways of communication?”
“It came from the Ketuv world and we believe it's not the first transmission they've sent. They have used the channel Iktis has kept open since the shorem's energy was detected through Raploj, but we have only just detected the transmission.”
“So the ancient stories could be true... Is it possible that the shadow has been hiding in Ketuv all these years and we didn't know?”
“We believed, Ri, that humans had finally discovered Zuul's lost shorem and that that'd be the gateway that would allow us to finally contact them. But apparently, that discovery has activated other energies that are present here in our own solar system.”
“And what has Iktis said?”
“Nothing yet. The consciousness that inhabits the pyramid is reluctant to speak out. It worries about this new situation, but lacks the initiative a flesh and blood guardian would have.”
“Then it was wise to send Faraway Man. He can discover the shorem or at least find the key to activate Raploj and reunify Iktis's consciousness with its lost sister. If he manages to do that, nobody, not even Zuul, will be able to fight Iktis's energy and we'll be able to guarantee peace in our system.”
“If everything happened like that, transit to the original system would be guaranteed and we'd be able to work to establish contact with the human civilization. But don't discard the possibility that our enemy is developing similar plans and if he manages to master Raploj, we would have to fight to survive.”
“We'd have to be sure that Zuul is inhabiting Ketuv. What do your spies say?”
“They haven't found any useful information. There's a sujis sect that handles deliveries in the space-ports and they are the only ones who have restricted contact with our envoys.”
“And the military, of course.”
“Yes, the soldiers. But they don't speak. They only look at us with suspicion and examine our ships.”
“They haven't discovered our cover?”
“No. They think we are Caleb traders and we travel on their ships, thanks to our contacts there. But I wonder how both civilizations would react if we were suddenly discovered.”
“We've done a good job hiding our world, I wouldn't worry about that for now.”
“On the contrary, Ri. We always suspected that the Ketuv civilization was being technologically driven by an external influence. And now they're sending scanning probes to the entire system.”
“Are you talking about active space exploration?”
“Yes. And a few days ago we had to destroy a probe that was heading this way. Do you understand that if they send another one and we destroy it, they'll discover us anyway?”
“It's a complicated situation, my friend. We could use our shield and destroy several probes at once, that way they wouldn't discover us and would think it's a design flaw.”
“That's an idea to consider, although I think they're looking for us and sooner or later they'll find us.”
“If that time comes, our situation could be discovered. Although Iktis could repel any attack. Then we'd only need to get the peoples of this system to accept our existence through diplomatic channels.”
“As long as our enemy doesn't act against us...”
“How could they, Fa?”
“The shorem in the Sun system. Do you remember?”
“Yes, it's their energy source. You're saying they could try to retrieve it?”
“Without an energy source Zuul stone is only partially active due to the force it extracts from the world it inhabits. But now it's helping the Ketuv build large spaceships. And while Iktis is still anchored to this moon and Raploj is still inactive, he'll possess the knowledge to travel to the Sun system and the means to attempt to retrieve the shorem.”
“It would have to build a huge attack fleet. Earth is an advanced technological civilization, no fleet can compete with a global army and Zuul wouldn't be able to hide those movements from Iktis either. We'd react immediately.”
“Yes, of course, Ri. I'm only rambling.”
“I know your soul well, my friend. And I know that your 'ramblings' hide an amazing ability of foreseeing situations that others don't see.”
“It's just a feeling. The counsellors are hiding something from us and that thought keeps me on alert.”
“Well, I'll open my eyes and ears, Fa, my brother. If there's something hidden we'll find out.”
“I hope we do it on time.”
Mission
The first personnel contingency had arrived at the station two weeks before, giving a green light to all systems and preparing the first ports for the first sections that'd be installed.
With almost twenty ships that needed to be docked to become permanent sections of the station within the next month, the logistics of this faraway operation seemed quite complicated. Besides from the stations parts, there were also dozens of small towing ships, barges and ferries that would move around the main stations nodes in the upcoming months. All this work would be carried out by a hundred space workers, who'd been trained for months in Earth's orbit by the 'enterprise', and five engineer teams composed of four people each who would oversee each coupling.
The station's stable crew would arrive with the first storage modules and the fridge ships, which would be full of supplies, spare parts and space construction machinery.
Puntshó Blade was travelling in this contingency, who had gladly accepted the position of the station’s Head of Detachment Security or as everyone called him since his appointment: “The people's sheriff”.
When commander Marceu reappeared in person ten months earlier in Oslo, where Puntshó served in a boring post as Chief of Military Police, he could only wonder what new mess he was in. He was truly surprised when his superior explained the details of his new assignment.
“I trust this destination will help you move up in your career, Mr Blade.”
“It's truly an honour you thought of me, sir. And a surprise...”
“Yes, I understand why you'd say that. But despite your insubordinate performance in the Tibet mission, your action saved the lives of your whole battalion and guaranteed the fulfilment of your mission. Some people reproach the fact that you didn't follow orders blindly... But I'm not one of them, Steve.”
“Oh no, commander. Only my mother calls me Steve, call me Puntshó please.”
“I'm sorry, Puntshó. I need someone up there who can make decisions for himself; you need to notice that I'm sending you to foreign territory.”
“I thought, sir; that the Americas conglomerate was part of the world government...”
“Yes, of course it is. But I guarantee that the American commanders of the station will s
ee you as an intruder, who's trying to uncover their asses.”
“And what should I do if that were the situation I'd find there, sir?”
“Nothing. Do you understand? Inform me and limit yourself to locking up drunks in jail for the night. If anything more serious than an altercation occurs in the station, contact me immediately and await my orders.”
“I do not wish to contradict you, sir. But you're contradicting yourself...”
“Yes, of course, chief. Your orders are the ones I just described. But I still think you're the only one who could react if anything more complicated were to happen, and there wasn't time to wait for orders from central command.”
“Do you expect international complications at the station, sir?”
“I don't trust them. This is an evaluation based on my previous experiences in dealing with the former dominant conglomerates. The American, Asian and even ourselves, the proud old Europe... World unity isn't a fact yet and 'comprehension' problems may arise. I hope you can solve them without destroying the station in the process.”
“I'll do my best, sir.”
The conversation with commander Marceu hadn't calmed him, but this assignment would be a major boost in his career and would increase his chances of retiring within a few years and finally live in peace. And he wasn't going to waste it.
Necessary Measures
The offices were just like any of the hundreds that can be found in Brussels, near the World Congress complex. Nobody knew exactly what work was being carried out on the fifth floor, but their neighbours had no complaints whatsoever and the doorman couldn't even tell how many people worked there. Working hours had ended two hours before, but one of the employees was waiting for a transmission and couldn't leave his office until they had contacted him to know what it was exactly that had gone wrong. This mission was too important to his bosses and they expected a report first thing in the morning.
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