In the shadow of the stolen light
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“A sad story,” Jean’s face became sorrowful. “The planet is on the verge of civil war. Taria’s leader’s authority and ability to govern a planetary system are in serious doubt. He has a strong opponent, a hostile man planning to militarise Doht. He is haunted by the imaginary enemies, and Titanium with ‘Solar Flotilla’ is no exception.”
“What are we going to do?”
“As always, Lora, we adhere to a laissez-faire policy. We have no right to adjust other civilizations to our own liking. They have their own unique path. We‘re all strangers here, able to offer some help in scientific research and world’s welfare, but when it comes to war, taking sides and fighting for others’ values, we stay out.”
Lora frowned.
“But how about all the innocent lives lost in a war, lives of those who were against fighting from the very beginning?”
Jean sighed heavily and, stroking his thick grey hair, approached the holographic interface in the middle of the office.
“Look here,” he said gesturing to Lora to follow him. A large image of a star map appeared there. “Our astronomers and the central computer have developed a new voyage route. The spaceship engines have been improved which spares us the need to stay close to liveable planets. Thus, our search speeds up dramatically.”
Lora nodded.
“Considering the situation on Taria, the Council has an assignment for you.”
“What is it?”
“You are to go to Misgran, the closest populated planet to us that belongs to the Lactian Empire. A Lactian diplomatic mediator is going there too. You are to negotiate all the terms and conditions of our stay on their territory, and our further collaboration within the framework of our peace agreement.”
“I was hoping to stay here on Titanium,” Lora frowned.
“I thought so when I received the report about the findings from Earth. But you are the only one who knows so much about the Lactians and have met with them on several occasions.”
The girl nodded in agreement. Councillor Preqeaux was right.
“It will only take a couple of weeks. As far as I know, the survivor from Earth is in a very serious condition and his rehabilitation will take a long time. I don’t think you’ll miss anything if you set off right now. Besides, I will recommend the Council to entrust you with this project. I’m sure upon your return you will be happy to lead a group of experts who will investigate what has happened to the Earth transport.”
“Thank you,” Lora nodded again. “That’s exactly what I wanted to ask you about.”
The councillor smiled, satisfied with their mutual agreement.
“Now, let’s see the results of the interim report, shall we?”
“Yes, of course,” Lora shook her head fending off sad thoughts about a sudden departure. “The doctor told me about an unknown virus…”
“Councillor Preqeaux, you have a call from the Universe Exploration lab,” his secretary announced calmly.
“Thank you, Kelly. Switch the image onto the holographic interface, please.”
“Good day, Councillor! Hello, Lora! ” a 3D image of Jane Forest, hovering over the projector, was greeting them by joining her hands in a welcoming gesture . “We have a small report about the object delivered on Titanium 10 hours ago.”
“We were just reading the medical report.”
“Well, their report is probably the most detailed. The IT department will need more time than we had previously thought to reconstruct all the data. So far, they have been able to define the exact date of the ship’s departure from Earth, it’s the 13th January, 2077 according to the Earth calendar. The spacecraft with the rescue capsule on board was travelling at super-light speed for a long time and, initially, its trajectory was almost the same as ours… We can suggest that it was deliberately trying to follow the ‘Solar Flotilla’; but, for some reason, it was jolted out of hyperspace before reaching its goal. The reason why the rescue capsule subsequently separated from the mother ship remains unknown.”
“This is very interesting…” mused the councillor.
“Unfortunately, we can only speculate about the events, basing our conclusions on assumptions: not facts. The biggest problem is that we don’t have the mother ship that carried the capsule.”
“Thank you, Miss Forest. I’d appreciate it if I received all the details electronically.”
“Of course, my report is ready.”
Jean rubbed his chin thoughtfully and turned to Lora.
“How’s our guest doing?”
“Not very well. The life support system that has been keeping him alive all these years is far from perfect and eventually caused brain malnutrition. Doctor Borshchevsky sounded hopeful, but didn’t give any accurate prediction about the length of the therapy.”
“I see. So all we can do is wait. Did you say something about a virus earlier?”
“Yes, the doctor said that he has discovered some kind of antibodies in the blood of this man. We can check the report…”
“Of course,” the councillor swiped the sensor panel with his hand, causing the holographic interface to display a series of pages.
“From the look of it, he acquired these antibodies while already in flight,” said Lora, studying the notes carefully.
“It’s an unknown disease. It hadn’t existed before our launch from Earth, but we also haven’t encountered it on other planets. The causative agent could’ve appeared much later…”
“The origin of the virus is still unknown…” added Lora.
“We still only have very meagre information. We can only guess whether the infection was present in the ship from the beginning of its launch or it appeared while in flight, causing the rescue capsules to detach from the mother ship…”
The girl shook her head thoughtfully.
“What if it was an attempt to ask for our help? What if an unknown epidemic struck the people, threatening them with total extinction, and those two were the only survivors?”
Jean raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Your assumptions are impressively fatalistic.”
“You’re so right. I don’t understand what’s been happening to me…”
“You just attach great importance to what’s gone on…”
Lora looked at Jean, puzzled.
“How can I not?”
“What do you mean? How can anyone not think so much and not assume the worst?” the councillor asked her calmly.
“It’s not about my assumptions, though the finding has been really haunting me. It’s just that we are talking about Earth! Our home!” the girl realized that she almost shouted the last words.