The Digital Rainbow (Unfinished)

A dying world and its struggle to survive

Prologue.

Reaching out slowly but inexorably, twining, interlacing, searching for nutrients. Surrounded by darkness, unable to see or sense the light anyhow. A slow simple existence, no pain, no thoughts, no desires, just hunger.

In the forest all was well, the sunlight filtered through the leaves, then almost lazily beamed through into the undergrowth below as golden beams that seemed to support the overhead canopy better than the natural wooden supports, which blended with the shadows in this place.

At the edge of the forest the lake was calm like a sheet of glass place upon the land almost a window to the world beneath ….................Then came the blast, the heat, the searing light as of a thousand suns. Trees and plants uprooted and thrown viciously into the air before the shock wave, half vaporising, half burning but all dying except one. Breaking the surface of the now tumultuous lake a scorched branch with its unlikely occupant slowly sank into the depths.

Tendrils streamed out to gather the sudden abundance of moisture and nutrients available, not thinking nor feeling, it gathered sustenance. The lake became still once more, petrified.

The Call.

Jon sat up, eyes still closed and strained his ears. Was it? Could it have been? I'm sure I heard it he half thought to himself and muttered out loud. It came again, a faint electrical crackle muffled and barely audible above the sound of the wind in the tunnel. He looked up excitedly at the speakers high on the walls, waiting. Nothing.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he jumped down from the ledge where he slept and almost knocked down his friend Almon. “Is there going to be an announcement?”

Almon looked down at him with his usual scowl, his pale green luminescent eyes seeming to flare even brighter than usual. “Never mind that, you almost had me over, where are your manners?”

Putting his arm around Jon's shoulders he smiled to the sound of “uh sorree.....but I heard it they're preparing the sound system”.

Looking up at his friend expectantly he thought about how they had become friends.

7 years ago he'd been snooping around in the labs near the surface next to the exit into the wilderness when he came across some recordings from “The time before”. It was late, perhaps 2 am. and he thought everyone would be asleep, no one normally worked at this time so he sat down to watch what it was like in those times.

He was fascinated with how the people lived then but even more intrigued by the oceans and oceans of water and how it fell from the sky on certain days. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and almost died of fright when he turned to see Almon, a lead researcher in the processing of water, glaring down at him with that stern look that seems to be permanently engraved on his face.

Breaking out of his reminiscence in time to hear Almon “Well there have been rumours that a quiet time is coming soon but it is so difficult to know these things for certain. Remember the last time? Just six cycles before the work had to be stopped. I really hope this time will be longer, perhaps long enough to complete the transmitter.”

A shortened scream echoed around the tunnel, they instantly started to run around the twisting tunnel until they found the origin. There on the floor in front of them lay a heap of creamy white powder, they looked at each other knowingly for an instant, “a child” Almon whispered gruffly. Glancing at the passageway number he crumpled to the floor in grief. “Mara!” he cried aloud as the others came running around the corridor, slowly looking up into the crowd he saw his sisters face her eyes welling up with tears. She knelt down beside him. They didn't notice the sound of the alarm, it was too late anyway.

The gathering in the great hall was solemn and almost silent save for the sobs of sorrow from Almon, Dia and a few others. The ceremony passed as always in silence, the remains sealed in a box of purple ardolite, the rarest colour of all, as was the custom for young girls.

As everyone was preparing to go about their respective tasks the hall was filled with the sound of birds, a dawn chorus recording that had been found from the time before, it signified an announcement was coming. Seconds later a voice over the tannoy “Citizens of Szivaran, the Elders feel for the loss to our community of such a young gem and assure you that there will be an inquiry into the failure of the warning system, we would however like to remind you that it is not an easy task to detect Drainer attacks as they are still a mystery to even our finest minds.” A long pause ensued which left everyone a little bemused, muttering could be heard faintly from the speakers but nothing could be discerned from it. “”n this sad day, we also bring good news. A quiet time is upon us, estimates range from 19 to 27 cycles, perhaps even more. Therefore, I urge everyone to be strong in this time and make preparations for the work, however, two days of respect are granted due to the unfortunate circumstances we find ourselves in. That is all.”

An Uncertain Past.

Szivaran, a world with an uncertain future as it careers around its erratic orbit sometimes appearing to leave it's three suns behind and at others almost dipping into the corona of the largest, Cratan. It hadn't always been this way, history says that although not perhaps in the best orbit, it was at least stable and only once every 27 years did the people of Szivaran need to find shelter for a brief period, usually less than one cycle.

The history of Szivaran is short and sketchy. At times it is completely wrong, however being written by the memories of the few survivors of the event that wiped out almost the entire planet it is accurate about the events that followed until the present time, 33 generations after the uncertain event that ravaged the planet, destroyed its orbit and practically every living thing on it.

Time, an uncertain measurement universally, was something difficult for the Szivarans as there didn't appear to be a day or night as such and the only thing that appeared to have a semblance of synchronicity about it was the change in colour of the three suns, around which the planet wove it's current tortuous path. For this reason time was measured in cycles.

Colour was important to the Szivarans, their eyes being sensitive to most parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, this, however was something new, perhaps an effect of their new surroundings, the radiation or even the food, nothing was known as to why and nobody really cared much either way.

The most important thing was water, or the lack of usable water. It is written that there was an abundance of water so much in fact that it formed clouds in the sky, something no modern day Szivaran has ever seen, and water would fall from the sky, sometimes even in a frozen form, again unbelievable these days.

Liquid water here was scant and had to be recycled and protected at all times to save it from the strange fate of all other unprotected sources. All surface water on Szivaran as far as anyone has seen is the same consistency glass or crystal, harder than any mineral on the planet and completely transparent, something which the scientists say is impossible, but it is a fact.

Countless tests and experiments have been done on a continuous basis from the very beginning of current history. So far one process has been found to return it to its normal state, all be it at an enormous energy cost and then it is found to be toxic.

The other troubling thing was “Drainers”, an apt name for the most disconcerting problem they faced, sudden death. All victims of the so called "Drainer" attacks are found as a heap of creamy white powder, all water completely absent. Analysis shows that certain other substances are deficient too, mostly Sugars, Nitrogen, Phosphorous and of course every last drop of water.

The “attacks” are thankfully relatively rare but can happen at any-time and anywhere and so necessary defences had to be developed, not an easy task when the nature of the attacker is unknown. Records show that the first witnessed attack gave little real explanation, but then after all who is going to be able to record accurately what happened when they've just seen someone reduced to powder in front of their very eyes.

Apparently electrical in nature due to its colour and general behaviour. Security camera footage has captured just one full recording of an attack. The victim becomes trapped inside a web of electrical discharge tendrils, which writhe around the victim frantically seeming to penetrate their body at many random points, quickly diminishing until there is just a pile of ash like powder remaining. The unfortunate person normally goes rigid with paralysis sometimes they manage a scream, after which they quickly disintegrate sometimes from the extremities sometimes from the top or bottom but always over in a matter of seconds.

Identification is only by who is missing after a head count or roll call. For this reason everyone lives in small separate communities within the cave complexes that have been built underground.

The complexes usually consist of an entrance with a long corridor that leads to a small reception cave just in front of the main hall with more corridors extending radially outwards and ending in a large cave with sleeping compartments dug into the sides of the cave. An electrical system runs throughout the complex via parallel wires in the walls, ceilings and floors of the complex and the sleeping compartments have a double mesh system similar to the water containment areas, the electrical charge affords some protection as evidenced by the decline in recent years of drainer attacks. The charge is necessarily low, at times it is increased when there is a lot of drainer activity, which fortunately happens on an infrequent basis.

The Quiet time.

Kel looked up from his workstation and looked around, his concentration had been broken but he couldn't see anyone or anything around his lab that could have done it, he went back to staring at the monitor with rows and rows of numbers flashing up on the screen along with an ever changing graphic at the side. Anyone observing him now would have thought it impossible to find whatever information he was looking for, but for Kel this was nothing as he had the strange ability to see things as if they were in slow motion. His ability had helped on many occasions, preventing people from being hit by falling objects, catching things that had been dropped and now searching for information quickly. Kel was in charge of the drainer alert system, a simple enough system that detected electrical disturbances from the petrified lake. It had been discovered a long time ago that the surges in energy from the lake, which affected other instruments, were a precursor to a drainer attack, again, no other information was available. Many sensors had been placed on and around the lake to give an almost instantaneous warning to everyone. In the event of an alarm the first thing to do is, if not in a high protection area, start moving or move faster if you are walking slowly, all drainer victims were stationary at the time of the attack. Secondly, if you are near any of the high protection areas go there immediately or if near the sleeping compartments use any that are vacant as there is extra protection in the walls.

Once more Kel's concentration was broken, he stood up and walked around the lab checking some of his instruments as he went. Walking under a ventilation shaft he noticed the cooler than normal air that fell down around him, he stood there for a few moments, eyes closed, face upward and arms held slightly more away from his body almost as if he were going to fly up into the vent. He smiled to himself, finally the quiet time is here he thought and went slowly back to his monitor feeling much happier even though he had a difficult job to do and the council were not happy with him due to recent events.

Leaving the gravitational clutch of it's three Suns had some benefits, cooler air everywhere was the first to be experienced and the most long awaited for many people, the other was the promise of food. Since the near destruction of the planet almost nothing could grow on the surface and the people of Szivaran relied solely on reserves collected and the little food that grew underground in certain locations, the most important of which lay beneath the cave complex. Now, freed from the scorching heat the normally barren surface would regenerate itself, which it does quickly, almost miraculously. No animals save the Szivarans can live on the surface for long and so without a sufficiently long respite from the searing heat and radiation the possibility of animal life coming back was slim.

Jon came into the lab smiling as usual, bright eyes beaming happiness. “Hi Kel how's the research going?”. “Not too good at the moment, I can't find the problem, I've searched and searched for anomalous signals but there just isn't anything.” Jon looked at the monitor thoughtfully “ I guess you've checked all the sensors are functioning?” he asked tentatively not wishing to upset Kel, who was after all the expert. “Fist thing I did and the second. Everything checks out fine, all the sensors are connected and functioning within the normal parameters”. Jon stood looking at the monitor wondering how it was possible to see the information when it went by so fast, he knew Kel was special but he still didn't get it. While he was pondering the ins and outs of Kel's ability a little seed of an idea started to grow in his mind it grew a little more, he tried to dismiss it as stupid but the thought grew stronger and stronger until finally he couldn't resist asking “what about the position of the sensors? Do we know......er.....their position....um where the signal comes from? Which part of the lake for example?

“No, we only detect pulses of energy in general from the lake area. Why?” Knowing that Jon, although not an expert in anything really, had an extraordinary talent for seeing things that other people overlook a kind of sixth sense for solving problems or seeing deeper into them. “Well, is it....it possible that the sensors have moved or …...been moved by something?

“I don't know how but of course there's always a possibility, it would certainly upset the readings.” “But then what could have moved them?”

“It's late you should be sleeping, thanks for the help, I'll investigate tomorrow now it's relatively safe to go outside” looking at Jon he could see a little tinge of something in his eyes. Sadness? Envy? He couldn't decide but an idea came to him. “How about you get off to bed now and meet me at first call, we'll go and see if your hunch is right together?”

Jon's eyes lit up like beacons “Great I'll be here before first call!”

Jon went off to his sleeping compartment and Kel back to his monitor smiling and thinking about what Jon had suggested, It would be something if the sensors had been moved he thought and tried to think of a way to check without going outside just as a confirmation but they didn't have any maps of the positions so he left the idea and continued checking the data from the day of the incident.

Rite of Passage.

Jon jumped into his compartment not feeling the slightest bit sleepy excitement buzzing through him like an electric current, his mouth dry from the adrenalin that coursed through his bloodstream, fingertips tingling. He knew that he needed to calm down so he took a few deep breaths and lay there thinking about his first and only time on the surface, which seemed like an eternity ago. Closing his eyes he thought about the process of getting ready to go onto the surface of the desolate scorched surface of the planet the thin metallic mesh inner suit that seemed to fragile to protect against anything and yet this thin woven metallic veil could protect someone even if their heavy outer suit had become damaged or even if removed. Made from ultra fine strands of red ardolite it shielded against nuclear, infra-red, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and micro-waves. The outer suit was more like the suits he had seen in the old films of the time before but appearing much lighter, it protected against physical harm, flying rocks, falling and the occasional accident with power tools, it has even saved someone from crushing by a rock 10 times the size of a person. This was made from grey ardolite, the most difficult to process but highly prized for its incredible strength and lightness. Looking through the reslon visor gave one a strange view of the outside world, everything had a purple tint due to the filtering properties of the material, which were necessary for the Szivarans to protect their highly sensitive eyes. Tomorrow Jon would finally see the planet not as a child but as a man for now he was of age, although there were no celebrations for these things he viewed it as a gift from who knows where.

Cratan's bloated huge form filled the sky above Szivaran, never rising, never setting, always blazing down its rays upon the surface. Almost blood red in stark contrast to Ylleren's bright yellow globe which never seemed to change its position much either or at least not for many generations now. Behind and to the right was Nerad shining brilliantly blindingly blue.

On the surface something stirred, cells almost burnt to a crisp but protected by hard layers of minerals that had been ingested and incorporated into their make-up began to awake as the planet cooled, preparing to make a sudden sharp spurt of growth before being forced to succumb to the blistering heat once more than the planet once more approached one of the three suns, this time was different, there were other stirrings, larger, hungrier and fully grown. They had lain dormant during the worst of the scorching, hiding in crevices or holes that had been burrowed into the rocks by powerful claws. A new species born in the last long quiet time, resilient, immensely strong, born of fire and searing heat, slow moving and the same colour as the surface of the planet, in effect invisible except for their golden eyes. Soon they would be discovered by a shocked race and perhaps seen as a good omen by some but scorned by others.

Finally, drifting off to sleep to sound of the air circulation fans he started to dream, standing in a vast field of grass with bright flowers scattered here and there, red, yellow, lilac and blue all swaying softly in a gentle breeze and above him were fluffy clouds tinged with rainbow colours due to the effect of the three suns but the day was warm not scorching, the atmosphere felt moist yet cooling in the distance he could see a shimmering on the ground, electric blue. He ran towards the lake, as he got nearer the shimmering intensified stronger and stronger almost blinding, reaching the edge of the lake his eyes grew wide with horror and surprise, electric tendrils reached up for him he turned to run as one of them touched his skin, it was like ice it froze the spot where it touched then another on his leg the coldness burrowing into his bones anther on his right hand the coldness spread. He looked down at his hand to see his fingers turning to dust and falling like ashes to the floor, sudden realisation dawned upon him, he looked at his leg only to see a pile of ash on the floor he started to scream..........Jon woke up on the cold hard floor of the hallway in panic, a cold sweat upon him and he realised it had just been a dream. He got up and jumped back into his compartment just as the alarm sounded to wake the sleeping Szivarans ready to start their day.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he got up and started the long walk to the preparation room near the exit of the complex, his excitement almost gone thanks to his nightmare which was still lingering in his head. He wondered whether his dream experience was in fact what it felt like when the drainers got someone, he shuddered deeply, perhaps best not to know he thought and tried to regain his enthusiasm for the day that lay ahead. Kel was already there preparing himself with the cream they had to put on before getting into the suits. The cream was to prevent drying of the skin and also aided in protecting against the harsh rays of the sun. In reality it wasn't necessary but just a safeguard as the suits can protect you for at least 3 cycles although no one in their right mind would want to spend that much time outside. The first great explorers had done this however only 2 of the 15 brave people have ever returned, the fate of the others is uncertain. Many people believe that they found other communities of survivors on the planet and decided to stay with them rather than risk their life in the long journey back to the base, others think differently.

Finally, suited up Kel gave Jon some equipment that they might need, two very heavy metal cases and they started for the exit while being lectured about safety policies and a few other duties that the Elders wanted them to perform by the main guard, a gruff individual who appeared to have skin 10 times thicker than anyone else's in the complex, presumably due to living so close to the outside world the radiation or something had affected him. Their first task apparently would be to repair one of the outer cameras which had stopped working some time ago, luckily the backup camera was still working. Although there were many cameras on the surface, none of them functioned now save the ones at the entrance as they were a little more protected by the cave. Nobody cared about the external cameras really, there was nothing to see except a barren scorching landscape, so for this reason they never got repaired.

The guard unlocked the heavy door to the outside world and pulled, it grated horribly with a sound of some great creature attacking, the guard seemingly immune to the sound but Jon and Kel winced visibly holding their arms up to shield their eyes at the first sight of the light from outside. It was their first time for such a long time that they were unprepared for it even with the visor in their suits and being 20 metres or so from the actual outside world their sensitive eyes would take some time to get accustomed to this. They glanced at each other and stepped through the doorway..................

An Unexpected Discovery.

A fine dust swirled around their feet as they walked and behind them they heard the awful screech as the door was closed behind them, it made them wince again even though it had been expected. Looking a few metres ahead they saw the second set of cameras high on the wall of the cave. It was the left-hand side camera that had malfunctioned and a quick examination from below showed no damage, the outer protective box seemed undamaged so Kel suspected an electrical fault, climbing the metal rungs that had been embedded into the walls to make repairs easier he reached for an instrument that was attached to his belt and proceeded to unplug the cable and check the camera. The device beeped to say that all was well, puzzled he looked back along the cave wall and saw a piece of cable sticking out from the wall above the doorway, the wall appeared a little strange there too. He spoke to the guard on the radio and requested a ladder, who appeared at the doorway within minutes and started grumbling about people not being prepared etc etc. Looking up to the spot where the cable was broken he could make out that something appeared to be wrapped around it, he climbed the ladder cautiously, as he got closer he could see there was a small creature that appeared to be sucking on the cable, he looked at it in disbelief and radioed the guard again to ask for assistance. It had a squat form and was the colour of stone, the texture of stone but quite clearly had four legs and a long thin tail. The guard appeared again. “What now?” he enquired and was quite clearly annoyed with the interruptions.

“I need a capture box, we've got some kind of creature here” replied Kel also sounding irritated but for other reasons. The guard hurried inside leaving the door open, he could be heard shouting to someone, perhaps an assistant. Moments later a man who neither Kel nor Jon had ever seen appeared with a capture box. Made of a transparent material with a lid and attached gloves so that whatever was put inside could be handled without harm. Upon receiving the box kel didn't bother with the gloves, he used a screwdriver as a stick to push the creature into the box, it opened its eyes suddenly and they all let out a gasp of surprise. It's eyes shone brilliantly, the colour of gold and it let out a little grunt of indignation at having been dislodged from its little hiding place. After closing the lid firmly and securing it with the catches he took one more look at this strange creature and handed the box down to the assistant. Jon stood thinking about what had just happened, “do you think there are any more of them?” he asked with a tremor excitement and perhaps quite a bit of fear in his voice. Kel responded thoughtfully as he worked at repairing the wire for the cable “I'd imagine so, I've never seen anything like that but it looked small, almost a baby perhaps. We have no way of knowing until they run tests on it in the lab.”

“Wow, those eyes!” Jon felt even more honoured now that he had witnessed the finding of a creature on his first day outside as a man. He decided to stay quiet and think while Kel finished the repair, but his over active mind was far from quiet.

Back inside, the complex was a hive of activity and buzzing with talk of the strange creature that had been discovered. They had taken it to the lab where Byan the chief science officer was looking at the records of animals that used to live on Szivaran, he'd already decided it was a “lizard” but he couldn't find out which species. This discovery surpassed any that had been made even in previous quiet times.

There had already been many suggestions to kill it but Byan refused until he could find out more about the creature, it didn't appear to be vicious but he had placed it in a large cage with closely spaced electrified bars just in case. Lia, Byan's assistant was trying to get skin samples quite unsuccessfully as the creatures skin appeared to be made of stone or as close as it gets. They had tried hypodermics and the like, all of which broke on contact, so now she was trying to coax the creature with various morsels of food, in which it seemed decidedly uninterested. Inspired by the story of where the creature was found she got some copper wire, suddenly it became interested, sniffing the air as though it could smell something and to Lia's amazement it could smell the copper wire. Finally, she got some cells from the creature's tongue and prepared them for microscopic analysis, she had a feeling they were going to find many surprises about their captive. Byan put the microscope image up on the huge monitor in the lab, both he and Lia were confused by what they saw, an extremely thick layer of minerals more suited to rock than living flesh held together by a thin membrane that more closely resembled plant tissue with a nucleus that also was unknown to either of them, they both looked at each other with raised eyebrows and set about cross referencing the cell with the data banks in the computer.

Kel Finished the repair to the camera and radioed the guard who checked that it was functioning, after the all clear Jon and Kel started the walk to the lake, it wasn't far but they went slowly allowing their eyes time to adjust to the light and every now and again they stopped to adjust their visors which had been put on maximum for their initial exposure to the outside world. The reslon visors were made from many sheets of reslon which could be slid up inside the helmet and so increase the amount of light that came through although the minimum amount that could be left in place was 5 sheets as this was the protection that was always necessary for their eyes, any less and their eyes would be permanently damaged.

As they approached the position of the lake Kel kept looking at his locator screen and looking around concernedly, “We should be able to see it by now Jon, I don't understand it”.

“Could it be a problem with the locator? They aren't always reliable I've heard”.

“I'll radio through for a position check”

Jon squinted and put his hand up to shield his eyes from the glare of the suns, “There, I see it very far in the distance” he said excitedly.

Kel did the same and confirmed that he could see it too. “Base have confirmed that it's just ahead but it doesn't look right to me, it's been a while since I was out here though perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me.

Getting closer they could see the surface of the lake was covered with small rocks of varying sizes, oddly shaped rocks at that.

“I've never seen it like this, I don't understand how it's possible unless something exploded.”

“It's possible the heat from the corona could have heated the rocks so much that they exploded” Jon added thoughtfully.

Then they got to the edge of the lake and all became clear, looking across at the clear glass like surface of the petrified lake they could see it was littered with strange creatures exactly like the one they had caught back at the base, they stood there gazing across the lake in amazement when Jon saw the problem with the warning sensors, Along the length of the cables that carried the signals the creatures had congregated and were seemingly attached to the cable the same as the other one, apparently feeding.

The Tower.

Behold, The sky's changing countenance,

The dancing stars,

Night's grip upon the day,

Entranced.

Since the discovery of Szivaran's past technological feats, many had tried to copy some of the same achievements but with little success, the scorched world now lacked many vital elements for the manufacture of certain things. Perhaps the minerals existed somewhere on the planet but time was not only against them but also unmeasurable in most respects. So close to three stars and on occasion closer than anyone would like caused bizarre relativistic effects, the clocks that their ancestors used were useless and many that they had tried to make based on calculation were of even less use when calculating the orbit of the planet and even things that happened in their own solar system. The pulse of their stars was the only thing that helped keep some track on time and the colour changes that presumably only they could see.

After the destruction of the planet and most of its inhabitants it took some time to learn about the world that they now inhabited, one can only imagine how difficult this had been for the handful of survivors, slowly they came to understand that their world was doomed and so they started to plan for that eventuality. The records told them that their race had developed space travel and had even sent people to other worlds relatively nearby. The lack of some basic resources and ability to tell the time prevented them from doing this, and so their only hope was a transmitter that was powerful enough to overcome the interference from their suns.

Work on the tower was difficult now, adequate protection could not be provided for anyone when they were pulled towards the suns, even their armour could not protect against the full force of the corona, so the work was done in the quiet times as now. Everyone was hopeful that the work could be completed this time and an SOS sent to their distant relatives who hopefully had the power to rescue them.

High on the hills above the lake the tower shimmered in the sunlight they both looked up to see what had happened, a gasp escaped Jon's lips and Kel stood dumbfounded at the sight of the tower. A rainbow of colours seemed to be reflecting off it's honeycomb structure, both realising what it meant they turned to see Nerad their blue sun setting on the horizon, a sight no Szivaran alive today had ever witnessed. Although the sky had barely dimmed thanks to the other two suns, the light quality changed dramatically, even more so when they looked back at the lake as the creature had also sensed a change and opened their eyes to see, revealing their brilliantly shining gold eyes, thousands of golden eyes peering up into the sky behind Jon and Kel they both shuddered at the sight. An eerie sight that would surely stay with them.

Standing there looking at the sea of golden eyes seemingly staring up at them neither speaking nor indeed appearing to breath. Their contemplation was broken by a crackle on the radio and an inquisitive voice asking if they were alright and what the hell just happened.

Kel explained the situation as best he could and reassured them that they were fine. He was explaining for a second time that one of the suns had set while looking at Jon, Kel noticed that he appeared to be in a trance, clearly he was thinking about something but as to what he couldn't hazard a guess.

He finished on the radio, “Come on Jon we'd best be getting off to check the transmitter station.”

“The.....there's going to be a problem isn't there?”

“How so Jon?”

“W...well the......er.... creatures.....um....f.feeding on the electricity, that's going to be a problem i.isn't it?”

“Hmm, well we don't know that's what they're doing yet and I'm sure we'll find a way around it when the time comes.”

“P...perhaps so I guess, what about the alert system? We'll need to do something about that.”

“Yes of course we will and fast that's for sure, we'll need to be extra vigilante once everybody is concentrating on finishing the work for the transmitter. Any ideas?”

“W...well I'd thought about a radio link but signals don't work so good out here do they? I thought...may....maybe light......beams.”

“O.k. well we'll see what can be done when we get back to base but first let's go and see the generator room at the transmitter, my guess is these little blighters have got in there in the hopes of a free lunch”

Jon was still thinking about a problem that he still hadn't solved, indeed he had a few but this new one raised more questions. He was thinking about the creatures, why do they need electricity and where on this planet do they get their water? For certain they needed water and if so how is it that there didn't seem to be any drainer activity, he had looked across the lake and it's true that he had been mesmerised by the sight of so many creatures he hadn't seen any of the tell tale heaps of dust, which necessarily would have been small compared to what he was used to, but there should have been something.

The long walk up the hill gave them an opportunity to look out across the landscape which had taken on a new light since the setting of Nerad with its harsh blue-white glare. The normal purple tint from the reslon visor was gone and they saw their world perhaps as no one had seen it, everything now was every shade of orange imaginable they both adjusted the visors to their minimum protection after a brief discussion about whether it would be safe. Kel looked a little concerned when he looked at the landscape, it was very different from how he remembered, as soon as he reached the first lookout point halfway up the hill he looked at a photograph on the portable communication device he had with him, he took another photo with it and asked the controller at the base to compare the two and send him the results. He already knew there had been a lot of changes but was surprised by it. They reached the tower and looked up at the honeycomb structure it all looked intact, although the beams had a glossy finish to them at the joints, apparently due to fusing in the intense heat there didn't seem to be any warping of the structure.

They entered the building below the tower, where unsurprisingly there were a few of the creatures, but not as many as expected. There was no electricity here at the moment as the generators had not been installed due to their sensitivity to heat, there were a few electrical cables here without electricity and the creatures had attached themselves to these. Upon seeing this Jon instantly realised the creatures didn't feed on electricity. It's the copper they want, but why? Hmm, guess we'll find out soon enough with the prof working on it.

Xantrica

Six gleaming new circuit boards lay on the workbench, next to each one was placed an assortment of even shinier wave guides, copper spacers and a wide array of nuts and bolts and above them all the appeared the giant eye of Tyr through the large magnifying glass as he examined the parts for his much awaited new addition that would hopefully aid him in his quest. Every part must be exact, there could be no room for even the slightest error and so he examined the parts individually as he slowly pieced them together, checking and rechecking the positioning and then soldering them into place. Sindri his wife entered silently and walked across the room to stand close behind him, not touching just close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body. Smiling she looked down at him working away at his prized possession. He had worked so hard for this and for the moment when it would prove that he had been right all these years. That moment would be soon, she prayed that he would be successful, not just because of his position or the effect it would have on his name if he were wrong but because she also like he, truly believed. His colleagues respected him for his great work on other projects for the people but this......well... believers were few and classed as crackpots “Impossible!” they would cry “The chances are out of this world” they said.

I pray you find them darling. As if sensing her thoughts he stopped, put down the piece he had been working and turned to her gently reaching for her hand and squeezing it, he looked into her eyes, smiling he said “ Tomorrow I'm certain to have the proof if all goes well and the equipment works as I anticipate. Finally, we will know and I can ask the council for use of the guild's equipment”. Even though he was the head researcher they had always blocked his requests to use the facilities they had at their disposal since the time he had been found out. Their blindness always confused him. Surely you want to know about our origins he would say to them and always the response was the same; Nothing remains of our old world now, you have to accept the facts it was certainly torn apart and from the readings that you yourself presented to us there can be nothing left of our old world least of all any life.

Thinking back to that night when he had gone back to the telescope to check the data and he had pointed the radio spectrum analyser at the region where the home planet had been, he was certain he'd seen a life signature no matter how faint, he'd seen it there before his eyes and even though he was incredulous at the time he had slowly but surely come to believe that their race still existed on Szivaran. The head of the council Alvis had always been jealous of him and his work and so plotted against him to get him removed from his position as chief astrophysicist and even though he had convinced many of the others to side with him there was never a majority vote except when it came to using the guilds' equipment for further research into Szivaran.

Several hours later his work completed he was tired, almost too tired to see straight and he had a pounding pain behind his eyes from working so long at the magnifying glass. Sindri came in just has he finished with a cup of oord, the strong spicy scent reached him before she had barely closed the door. Passing him the cup she looked into his eyes and could still see that even through his tiredness he had that little spark, which could only mean one thing. Sure enough moments after draining the cup of sweet spicy refreshment he picked up the spectral analyser and headed for his own telescope facility. She knew him so well and she too was excited about the prospect of finding their point of origin.

He had spent countless hours building his own telescope and slowly piecing together the other necessary equipment needed to pierce the interstellar darkness and pinpoint objects invisible to the naked eye, indeed his research was renowned the world over, his work on the starpulse engine would gain him a place in history now that it had been perfected, some even say that without him it would never have been achieved.

After carefully placing the module into place he switched on the system and ran the update program that he'd written days in advance. Sindri standing behind him placed her hands on his shoulders gently and watched almost breathless as he pressed the scan button, seconds later the monitor lit up showing the three stars and in between them a little orange dot that was the unmistakeable view of Szivaran when looked at from 4.7 light years away.

Tyr awoke early despite his weariness from the previous long day, refreshed but uneasy; lying on his bed watching the first rays of the Xantrican sun play across the ceiling. He could imagine their path from Ondin, the nuclear processes that had given birth to these tantalisingly delicate beams of light, that had streaked across empty space passing through the atoms and molecules of the atmosphere to be finally filtered by the Xintrin trees with their deep red leaves and pastel yellow flowers. As they danced across the ceiling he thought about how all his life he had sought to understand the physical world and yet the more he learned the more he marvelled at how non-physical it was. How life depended on light even in places devoid of light, where there was life there was light. In the soft underbelly of a forest were the light was soft and diffuse, so too was the life a similar nature and in the deserts where the harsh light scorched everything in its path the life there was the same, harsh, aggressive and vitriolic in nature.

He mused on this for some time, mesmerised by the patterns of light, which slowly changed from dappled darkness to a faintly shadowed constant glow. He got up and absent mindedly got himself ready to go and check on his equipment, which he'd left working away all night gathering data on the long lost home-world, half knowing what it would show and half hoping he was wrong.

In the lab his instruments were working away tirelessly gathering data on the orbit and composition of the target planet; glancing at the data as he adjusted the resonant filter he saw some strange readings that brought a frown to his face; adjusting the instrument once again he watched to see any changes. Impossible! How the........there must be something wrong with the instruments, this can't be right.

He walked across the lab muttering to himself and sat down at the main console, everything was controlled from here and could be individually tested while running, he could even run simulations from here based on adjustments that he might want to make to the equipment; he started typing frantically at the keyboard all the while keeping an eye on the screen to see what was happening.

As Sindri crossed the room she sensed something was wrong; looking across at the panels she wondered what it could be but she had no knowledge of this part of his work and couldn't understand what she saw; she approached softly and almost whispered “ Alvis is here to see you dear, I told him you were busy but he insisted on seeing you.”

“ Alright show him in” he replied as he leant across to shut off one of the monitors.

Bowing gently as they came face to face Tyr noticed something different about his old adversary; unaccustomed to seeing a smile from him he returned the gesture nonetheless.

“ You have great news then I hear my friend.” again smiling warmly.

“ How did you hear about it?” Tyr responded somewhat taken aback more by the friendliness than anything else.

“ Dear friend you know that nothing is a secret here and big news travels the fastest, but let me get to the point; We have held a meeting and decided to give you free use of all the resources available”

Tyr was suspicious at first by this announcement but slowly realised that it was genuine as he showed Alvis the data excitedly and asked his thoughts about the strange data that he had collected.

One month later the final tests were being run on the Starpulse engine and if successful it was to be inserted into the first ship designed especially for it, Niji.

Tyr and Alvis had worked together on the final assembly and testing of the components for what would potentially be one of the greatest inventions of all time. The Starpulse engine would enable vast savings to be made on space travel and exploration.

It had long been known that time was not constant and that depending on where you were in the universe time runs at a different speed, but what Tyr discovered changed all concept of time forever. Local time in any star system ran faster or slower depending on the mass in that system but all systems across galaxies were synchronised by a gravity pulse emitted by the stars at regular intervals; the drive could lock onto this wave of gravitytime and surf between the stars almost instantaneously. The biggest problem had been what happened to anything contained within but not an integral part of the device; normally it was smashed to pieces or worse; now a safe matter containment shield had been devised and today would be the ultimate test. By only travelling within their own solar system the data could be relayed quickly back to the control room and so within 2 hours they would know if the test was successful.

In the main control room of the ship just one slightly off-centre control panel gleamed and shimmered into action as the final preparations were made. In front of the panel was a large screen looking almost like a window except for the delay that was not noticeable from inside the ship for technical reasons, being that if the pilot could see directly outside the ship he would see his destination before actually getting there. Or at least that's what the last test procedures had shown before the test vessel had disintegrated and the calculations made had predicted problems like this.

Just below the screen, seated in an ornamental pot was a miniature Xintrin tree, its red leaves stood out brightly from the gleaming metal of the hull, looking oddly out of place here in the ship and yet adding some relief to the monotonous sphericity that had to be used on the rest of the ship due to its nature. Everything a sphere within a sphere set with spheres controlled by yet another sphere.

Behind and to the right of the Control panel sat a cube of Perman, the hardest, most durable material known in this solar system and to the left a filigree crystal of Tortan, being the exact opposite in that it was the most fragile material known. These then were the test subjects, save one which would be placed near the control panel minutes before final countdown.

Thirty five minutes to go and the place was strangely still all the instruments flashing or beeping, a loud murmur of activity but little movement from the Xantricans as they prepared for this hopefully triumphant moment, when distance would become nothing more than a blink of an eyelid opening a huge gateway of opportunity for discovery.

Tyr approached the ship carrying the final test subject, it sat in his hands unstirring, looking almost asleep, which is more or less how the frail blaents spent their entire lives except when startled, which was an easy thing to do. This particular one had been the family pet for about a year now and although they would be sad to see it go Tyr had decided to donate it to the name of science and to show how much faith he had in the team who had spent many years working on this project. Quickly making his way to the ships controls he placed his little friend on the floor waved and left the ship, the door closing silently behind him.

3.......2........1

The anti-grav engine fired up with a soothing low hum and seconds later Niji rose from the platform and slowly sailed across to the launch site, suddenly and silently it was gone. In the control room everyone's eyes turned to the onboard cameras and the view from outside their atmosphere, all systems green. The anti-grav turned off and Niji started to sink towards the planet, then disappeared as the starpulse drive came online. An eerie silence filled the room, so quiet that one could imagine that even the blinking of a light would shatter the silence, the onboard monitor was filled with a weird static image that slowly merged into another weirder image like oil on water but in super slow-motion. The scientists should have been working, busying themselves with their data screens etc. but no one moved for at least 15 minutes. The picture changed more and more rapidly now and then suddenly it was working correctly, everything looked good, the plant was intact as were the cube and filigree but where was the blaent? The camera panned around and found it sitting in front of the screen behind the column of the control panel apparently gazing at the view before him on the ships viewing screen, unharmed and not in the least perturbed by what had just happened, it was doubtful even that it had been aware of the trip. A great cheer resounded around the room, glasses chinked together in celebration briefly as they now had to bring it safely back and then examine all the data and the test subjects in great detail before actually venturing out.