“It simply can’t be miniaturized further, Ananuk. This is as far as we can go.” The bold, deep voice of the deputy Head, Hitaruk Puranim, complained through Ananuk’s visotalk.
“Then we would have to have a crew size of at least ten, Hitaruk.”
“Yes I realize that, but there is nothing more that can be done. Even with removing the energy sources and installing terraredundancy algorithms the size still remains sixty percent of the original Conductor.”
“But a crew of ten will mean more men will venture into unknown territories and risk their well being.”
“Ananuk, I realize all this, I reassure you; but you tell me what more do we do? We removed the outer shelling too, replacing it with a talitium alloy skeleton.”
“All right, Hitaruk, that is the best we can do I guess.”
“It is. Do we have the men ready?”
“Twenty of them have been training for this since we got the Emperor’s permission. Gotranik Pulmanim, the chief geologist, is a must; as is his sister, Yutarikin, the vayulogist. Apart from them we’ll need two mobile experts and two habitation engineers. Counting you and me, that’ll be eight.”
“There will need to be two more people who are as familiar with the Reflecting Conductor as you and I are, Ananuk.”
“Why?”
“What if something happens to us? If it’s only us and something happens the others might not be able to operate it correctly, and they will be stranded; or worse. The people on Thea will only assume the worse.”
“I see your point, Hitaruk. Do you have anyone in mind?”
“Chitrakin Ruvitin is the most capable, Ananuk. She has grasped the workings of the Conductor so well that I feel she is way ahead of even me.”
“And the second?”
“Are none of the Yaktukans interested, Ananuk?”
“None that I know of; why?”
“Well, I was thinking of Rabik. He probably knows more than all of us combined, and I wouldn’t doubt his capability for a minute.”
“I could talk to him, though I don’t think much will come out of that. There may well be some obscure Yaktukan scientist who would like to get involved; but I don’t think Rabik is inclined so.”
“Well you talk to him, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll think of someone.”
“But we don’t have much time, Hitaruk. The Emperor grows impatient, as do Vaktuki and Ditana. The longer we take the greater the chances of this slipping out of our hands.”
“It will still take us another week to get the Conductor ready, Ananuk. We’ll decide on the tenth member within the next couple of days so that the final crew has a little time to get to terms with themselves.”
“Sounds good, Hitaruk.”
Ananuk removed the visotalk from his ear and reattached it to his polypod. Things had happened very quickly once the Emperor’s permission came through. Ananuk had feared that of all regions, Vaktuki would protest vehemently against Kadorra carrying out the first test; but to his surprise Retrapi had remained mysteriously silent. The Yaktukans, true to their word, had already prepared two capability modules. The first was secretly carried back to Kadorra and hidden by Ananuk; the second was presented to the Emperor in full regional view. When the official Emperor Order came, Ananuk received the second module from the Emperor and brought it back to Kadorra to begin preparing for the test.
The first part was deciding upon the test target. Edoran was the most suitable, but there were other planets as well, most notably Toladri and Halitar. Once they agreed on Edoran, Ananuk insisted on keeping the crew size as low as possible. This was hampered by the size and complexity of the Reflecting Conductor the Yaktukans had built, which was part of the capability module. While Ananuk headed the team that would observe Edoran magnitele-visually, his deputy Hitaruk set upon reducing the size of the Conductor.
That had been two weeks ago, and after his talk with Hitaruk today, Ananuk knew that the test day was fast approaching. Much of the magnitele-visual analysis had revealed nothing new, and the Reflecting Conductor had been miniaturized as much as possible. There would still have to be the official meetings with the Emperor and Regions Council, which Ananuk was not looking forward to.
His polypod sounded an urgent notification. He flicked on the sightscreen and put the visotalk back in his ear.
Elective One Karuntak Karunik’s soft, paternal face broke onto the screen. “How are you, Ananuk?” he asked in his soft, soothing voice.
In Ananuk’s experience, there was no ruler on Thea as effective and as sensitive to the needs of the people as Karuntak Karunik. His belief was perhaps influenced by the fact Karunik had been Ananuk’s father figure and mentor ever since his biological father had disappeared and been declared dead. It was Karunik who had carefully guided Ananuk away from field work to theoretical research, and had protected him from the reputation and fate of his father in the process. When Ananuk’s father had disappeared, Karunik was merely a Sub-Elective, and Ananuk in his early teens. Karunik was a regular instructor and Ananuk’s school and he had spotted the talent and potential in young Ananuk. When Ananuk joined the anti-Imperialism movement at the age of nineteen, it was Karunik who had advised Ananuk to pursue other causes which would be less detrimental to his physical and mental well being. Ananuk had never forgotten these favors, and part of his loyalty to Kadorra came from his loyalty to its Elective One.
Of all regions, Kadorra was the only one where the rulers were selected by the people themselves. The Electives were selected by a complex procedure of selection by the citizens and these selections were held every ten years. There were seven Electives in all, to represent the mythical seven sages of Kadorra, who had tutored the Tritha brothers in their adolescence. Elective One was their head.
“Doing well so far, Elective.”
“I’m afraid this call might change that a bit.”
“How so?”
“Have you decided upon your crew, Ananuk?”
“I just finished talked to Hitaruk about that, Elective, and we’ve just about decided.”
“Just about?”
“We’re thinking of a tenth member. I have fourteen capable Kadorrans that have been training, and one of them is going to make it.”
“I’m afraid not, Ananuk,” the Elective One rejoined; his pleasant face looking odd adopting a grave expression.
“Why is that?”
“The Vaktukans have influenced the Emperor slightly, and they want one of their men in this too.”
“But that’s absurd; this test is being conducted by the KSA.”
“Yes but it is being done for all of Thea. I think that is the argument that Chief Regulator Retrapi pitted. He contended that one of his men join the crew to insure a full report and no secrecy on the part of Kadorra.”
“And the Emperor agreed?”
“Seems so, since we just got an Imperial Command about this.”
“But now the other regions are going to want to do the same!”
“But they won’t manage like Retrapi did, and he has the military might to bend the Emperor to his will, occasionally.”
“Do we know who he is sending?”
“His chief aide, Utaril Tripun.”
“I’ve never heard of him.”
“I have, at previous Emperor and Region Councils. He’s intelligent, sharp, articulate, and fiercely Vaktukan.”
“Is he safe?”
“I cannot say. It is rumored that he has a nice hold over Retrapi, and much of Vaktuki’s policies are actually formulated by him. But on the other hand, Ananuk, he is also quite capable. He’s a Thinker in Quantum Vedics and Planetary History, apart from being a Postulator in Thean Biology, Vaktukan Politic, and Stellar Astronomy.”
“That’s quite a handful,” Ananuk commented sourly.
“I agree, but it means that he will be a helpful hand.”
“If he intends to be helpful, Elective.”
“True,” Elective One agreed. “So; Edoran…”
“Yes, Edoran. Quite suitable for the first run.”
“There’s a chance it may contain native species, Ananuk.”
“Yes there is, but not native intelligent species. Our neighboring planets Magrea and Tshea are home to numerous insect species and even a few mammalians, but none intelligent.”
“And what do you intend to do if you encounter intelligence?”
“I regard that as mere romantic speculation, Elective. Even if we consider the Quarm’s Equation as accurate there is no possibility of intelligence on Edoran. It may be more probable once we leave this galaxy but we don’t mean to go that far just as yet.”
“Yes; I suppose you are right, Ananuk. I have long forgotten my Thinker’s course in Probability Cosmology.”
Ananuk smiled mischievously, “matters little in your field of work now, Elective.”
The Elective One returned his smile genially, “Right you are, Ananuk. And this reminds me of our upcoming session with the Emperor and Regions Council. Are you ready?”
“Yes we are, Elective. Has its Imperial Command come yet?”
“No, not yet, but anytime now; it’s good that you are ready. I’ll let you get back to your work now, Ananuk; not that I do not have any of my own.” The Elective One concluded with a twinkling smile.
Ananuk disconnected the line. He was among the majority of Kadorrans who had voted yet again for Karuntak Karunik during the Kadorran elections a year ago. Karuntak’s closest contester, the Elective Four, had backed out of goodwill when he realized that Kadorra wanted Karuntak to stay for the job. Kinan Retrapi had come for the official coronation ceremony, but Ananuk could not remember seeing Utaril Tripun there. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. So often during the past month he had caught himself thinking about the near and far future more than the clear present. He had infected Faolvay and Rabik with the same disease, even though Yaktukans claimed they were not interested in the application of the technology. Now, with Retrapi’s latest move, he wondered if the Vaktukan Chief Regulator too was suffering from it. Slapping his tablet hover hard, he got up, closed his window screens, and went off to take a nap.
In another room of the KSA, Gotranik Pulmanim and his sister Yutarikin were bent over a tablet hover, studying various maps, diagrams, and charts of Edoran. The siblings had similar features- jet black, wavy hair that fell to their shoulders; light green eyes contrasted by a dark skin; and heavy, thick jaws. Gotranik looked redoubtable and handsome; Yutarikin was attractive, thought not entirely beautiful.
“It’s hard to pinpoint where exactly on Edoran we’ll land up, but if our calculations about its spin and orbit are correct, we’re gonna end up somewhere near the great ridges.”
“But that might not be the best place to set up the habitation, Yutari,” Gotranik countered. He traced his finger on the chart of Edoran’s terrestrial features, “I would estimate that around two thousand yonganas north of the great ridges would lie the native forests and a large ocean.” Gotranik traced the finger above the great ridges towards a darkly shaded area on the map.
“If we do appear near the great ridges, Gotran, then we won’t have much choice,” Yutarikin reminded him with her soft but slightly course voice. “It won’t be possible for us to take long distance transports when the RC is as huge as it is.”
Gotranik nodded, “I know, I know; but the ridges will present Edoran’s harshest side to us, and we will be strained to the max.”
“What else can be done, brother? It is possible that Hitaruk’s calculations are off, and we fall on the other side of Edoran,” Yutarikin glanced at the map, “where the features are visibly much tamer. But if the calculations are even approximately correct, then will fall at least a thousand yonganas away from your forests.”
Gotranik frowned, and clicked over a different chart of Edoran, this one showing the great ridges in more detail. He and Yutarikin together studied the Edoran plains as they rose in height along the banks of an invisible river from either side. Jagged and irregular, these ridges followed the invisible river as it wriggled its way through yonganas and yonganas of land, often overlapping itself. The overall appearance of the ridges reminded Yutarikin of the terraganglions that every Kadorran adored.
“It would be very easy to get stuck in this invisible river, Yutari. We won’t even be able to scale the ridges.”
“But it doesn’t really matter, Gotran. This first run isn’t really colonization is it? It’s just going to be ten or twenty of us, more to test the technology rather than establish a base.”
Gotranik nodded in agreement, “Yes you are right, Yutari. But I keep forgetting the whole process of how we’re gonna get there in the excitement of actually being there. Think about it, sister; we will be the first humans to ever set foot on a planet outside our star system!”
Yutarikin grinned happily, “I know! It’s a life changer isn’t it?”
“Totally!”
“So think about that, Gotran! And forget trying to decide where we should appear and where the best place would be. We have no control over that.”
“Very well, sister, I will try.”
Over the next few days, the Vaktukan, Utaril Tripun, joined Ananuk’s team. On Hitaruk’s advice, Ananuk decided to take along only one mobiles expert, and the other was replaced by the Ahurun-born KSA astronomer, the aged Triarka Ahuri, making him the oldest member on the crew. It wasn’t long before Ananuk called in the Emperor Sarvaraj and Elective One Karuntak on a multivisotalk conference.
“Emperor; Elective;” he began, as they viewed him through their own screens, “we are ready to go.”
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