Flidoring The Early Wars (9 page)

“Is everyone in the galaxy a giant?” he said with an obvious disgust. “I would like to greet at least one other race of normal size.”

With that, Tessslan, trying to prove his enlightenment by the Flidoring, wrapped his tail around Huglam and lifted him onto his back: “Allow me the honor of asssisssting you, my friend.”

“Thank you—I think,” replied Huglam as the embarrassment he felt quickly changed to an appreciation for the beauty in his newfound view. “Remarkable! It is breath-taking.”

“I am so glad that you like it,” said Peckenson. “I hope you find my people just as remarkable.”

Once on the vibrant green grass of the cave floor, Peckenson guided the landing party to a large fire-ring surrounded by hand carved stone benches and he asked them to sit-down. Right beside them was a small lake with clear blue water that glistened as the Tamsek light reflected off some of the ripples made by fish. Lyemad was admiring the brightly colored fish when one of the large Lake Spiders startled him as it rubbed up against his leg looking for some affection. “Oh! Friendly creature isn’t he?” he said with a little quiver in his voice.

“They are quite harmless I assure you,” said Peckenson with a little smile, “the children give them a lot of affection and they have come to expect it. They particularly like to have their bellies rubbed.”

“I am sure they do,” Lyemad replied as he reluctantly reached under the spider’s large, round body.

After Peckenson introduced the elders, servers brought trays full of fruits and vegetables to them and over the next few hours, they exchanged stories of their home worlds and cultures. Lyemad was thinking that this was a true paradise.
He had never before felt so at peace with his surroundings. It was a paradox for him to ponder. On one side, there was the inhospitable rage going on outside the caves, and on the other, there was incredible beauty and peacefulness inside. He had even entertained the idea of staying for a while and learning more about the Platonian culture while the Volkran finished its mission to the other planets. Even Bellmus noticed that Lyemad’s demeanor was more genuine then his usual diplomatic front that he puts on to win the trust of others.

“If I may,” Lyemad started as he stood up and held out his glass of fresh lake water, “I would like to offer a toast to our newfound friendship with the Platonians; may this be just the beginning of a long and meaningful alliance between our worlds.”

Lyemad was thinking that this was as close to a perfect moment as he could imagine when—all of a sudden—Tessslan stood up and yelled out, “My fellow adventurersss and newfound friendsss, thisss isss truly a beautiful world and we have the beginningsss of a real peaccceful union between our worldsss. I would like to take thisss opportunity to share with everyone—essspecially the Platoniansss—more about the importanccce of underssstanding ‘The Way of the Flidoring’ or, the way of peaccce, asss we have come to underssstand it on our home world of Grazzznosss.”

At that very moment, Lyemad’s hearts sunk in his chest as he thought to himself,
“Not this Flidoring stuff again. I am so tired of hearing about how wonderful and great the Graznosians are, because they are so-called, ‘enlightened’, by the great and wonderful Flidoring. His hypocrisy is disgusting.”

After about ten minutes of listening to Tessslan’s rambling, Lyemad was not able to contain his revulsion any longer. He leaped to his feet and blurted out, “Must you rattle on and on about your old mystical religious superiority? We were all having a nice peaceful time until you started carrying on about the way of peace. In case you have not figured it out yet, let me tell you that you are not the only ones to have peace. As a matter of fact, I have felt more peace here than I have ever felt being around you with your precious Flidoring.”

With that, Lyemad turned and disappeared into a garden, leaving everyone stunned by his outburst. Tessslan slowly sank back onto the stone bench, while Bellmus quickly regained his composure and said, “Well, I guess the heat must have taken its toll on some of us pretty hard today. I suggest we call it a day and resume our discussions in the morning.”

“Yes,” said Peckenson, “an excellent idea. Let us provide tents for you to stay in so that you do not have to fight the elements to get back to your ship. We will have a morning meal ready for you at first light.”

“Thank you,” replied Bellmus, “we appreciate your kindness. If you will show everyone to their tents, I have to go talk to my son.”

“Of course,” answered Peckenson, “and may I suggest chewing on some of this Barklee Root. It has a calming effect on the nerves, especially
those that have been stressed out by the heat.”

“Again, thank you,” Bellmus acknowledged, as he took off through the garden in the direction he last saw Lyemad go.

On the far side of the garden, Bellmus spotted Lyemad sitting on a rock carving of what appeared to be a six-legged, furry creature with a docile looking face.

“Lyemad, are you all right?” Bellmus asked in a soft tone.

“No father, I am not all right. I am angry and embarrassed,” Lyemad spouted.

Bellmus held out the Barklee Root and said, “Here, Peckenson said that this is pretty good. Lyemad, look around you. This place is full of beauty. Why…”

“I know father,” interrupted Lyemad, “that is why I just could not listen to Tessslan carry on any longer about that fake peace stuff. This place is so peaceful; there is no comparing the two.”

“That is true, but your outburst broke that peace very quickly,” said Bellmus.

“That is why I am so angry,” replied Lyemad. “For the first time in my adult life I found a real peace and I went and messed it up.”

“Yes, you did,” Bellmus said, “but now you have to clean up the mess you made. Then maybe you can get that peace back.”

“You are right father,” answered Lyemad, as he chewed on the Barklee Root. “I will make my apologies in the morning. This is a beautiful place; even the colors of the fruits and vegetables are vibrant and alluring,” pausing to take in more of the marvel. “What do you suppose this creature is upon which I sit?”

“I am not sure, but if these reds, yellows and greens that they used in the carving are its actual colors, then it sure would be an attractive creature,” replied Bellmus.

As the first rays of the Tamsek light peeked into the cave, a low harmonic melody echoed through the mammoth cavern. Little by little, the Volkran crew staggered out of the white tents—looking around to see what was making this strange, but lovely sound. Lyemad was first to spot three Platonians standing on one of the rocky outcrops blowing into horns made from very large gourds—grown in the gardens. The deep sound reminded him of the Flowgan horn back on Electerus, although it was the caves making them sound so rich and full. He wondered about how nice the orchestra would sound performing in the cavern.

Standing in the clearing next to the lake with his hands lifted high in the air, Peckenson yelled out, “Good first light to all our guests. I trust your dark rest was pleasant,” using a traditional good morning. “Please come and join us for some morning nourishment!”

Bellmus caught a whiff of the roasted Darment nuts—a high-protein nut from the Dar tree that grows on the shore of the lakes. “Umm, that smells just like our campfires back home,” he said as he almost tripped over one of the three Lake Spiders that had cuddled up to him for the night.

Within minutes, everyone except Tessslan had gathered around the clearing to enjoy a simple but delicious meal and fine conversation, during which could be heard the light, joyous, high sounds of flutes made from carved stones accompanying the deep rich tunes of the gourds. Other Platonians had sticks that they clicked together to create soothing and alluring rhythmic beats. Once again, Lyemad felt the desire to stay immersed in this peaceful tranquility—at least until Bellmus nudged him and gave him a look that he knew meant that he needed to find Tessslan and make his amends.

Tessslan had been out walking the banks of the lakes for a couple of hours before first light, half stewing over his embarrassment by Lyemad and half frustrated with his inability to stay focused on his own inner peace. Now that it had been light for an hour or so, he was standing on the shore of a lake, flicking up stones and hitting them with his tail like a bat out into the water. With each hit, the stones went further out from the bank. “Why can’t Lyemad jussst let me be who I am?” he said under his breath. “I jussst want to ssspread the good newsss of the Flidoring. I want everyone to have the peaccce that I have found,” pausing to reflect on his words. “Well, I had found… ssstill have… am trying to have… I do not know… he hasss me all mixed up with hisss jealousssy. Maybe the Creator jussst did not give their raccce the ability to comprehend sssomething asss powerful asss the Flidoring. Yesss, they are technologically intelligent but that isss not what isss truly important. Their Technology isss robbing usss of our peaccce,” he said as he hit a stone so far that it bounced off the cave wall on the far side of the lake.

Lyemad climbed up one of the stone staircases to see if he could catch sight of Tessslan. From his high vantage point, he could see Tessslan beside the third lake down from where they served the morning meal. He followed a stone path to another staircase that went down next to the lake where Tessslan was.
Just as he got within shouting distance, he called out, “Tessslan! Hey, Tessslan!” Just then, he ducked to miss one of the stones that Tessslan batted in his direction.

“Go away Lyemad, pleasssssse,” Tessslan said with in extra long ‘sss’ to show his disapproval of his arrival.

“I came to apologize for my outburst last night,” Lyemad said with a slight sound of disgust at having to dodge a stone.

“Are you even capable of making sssuch an apology?” Tessslan said sarcastically.

“And just what is that supposed to mean?” Lyemad responded.

“I mean that you, or your kind, are not capable of underssstanding mattersss of the heart. Important thingsss have little meaning to you. All you care about isss your technology and exploring the galaxy,” Tessslan said as if he was still talking to himself.

Shocked and frustrated, Lyemad threw up his hands and said, “Fine, if that is the way you are going to be, then I will not apologize. I do not like you, and you do not like me. I think you are a hypocrite and you hide behind your talk of peace, but for the sake of this mission I will stay away from you and you spare me any more of your ramblings.”

With that, both Lyemad and Tessslan took separate paths back to the rest of the group. Bitterness and resentment between them was thicker then ever. Tessslan had totally lost his feeling of peace, while consumed with contempt for Lyemad and all for which he stood. He thought aloud, “The only way Grazzznosssiansss are going to get back to the ‘Flidoring’ isss to ssstop thisss polluting of our culture from heathen off-worldersss. Any world that isss able to comprehend, and reccceive, the ‘Way of Peaccce’ should be welcome on Grazzznosss. If a world cannot, then they should be banned from contact, trade, or involvement in our sssoccciety—even if that meansss usssing forccce to pressserve our beliefsss and traditionsss.”

After spending a solid week relaxing in the subterranean
paradise, the crew of the Volkran was ready to depart from Platon. Peckenson was the newest member of the Ambassadors. It was no easy task for Bellmus to convince him to join them. After all, for his entire life he had never left the safe confines of the caves—let alone the planet. Still, with a lot of coaxing and the promise of some Furzonian assistance on carving out some living structures in the Platonian caves, Peckenson agreed to put his fears aside and join the brave adventures. Of course, he quickly felt like he had made a mistake about the time Tessslan was squeezing the Volkran through the narrow opening of the cave where they had landed, especially when he heard him say, “Oopsss!” a couple of times before they cleared the opening. The next stop on the voyage was the planet Lipkus Prime.

Lipkus Prime is the first of two planets around the Demsey star. Demsey is an average-size yellow star. Lipkus Minor, a sister planet, is a frozen rock that is uninhabited. Its orbit is too far from Demsey to sustain life, although it does have an atmosphere and plenty of frozen water. Perhaps at one time in its history its orbit was close enough to Demsey that life could have thrived on it. The Electerian scientists have surmised that the same rogue Black Hole that created Playzorus Prime might have moved Lipkus Minor to its more distant orbit.

As the Volkran approached the Demsey system, Slabriel was the first to notice the bright reflection of Lipkus Minor, “Oh my, how beautiful the Demsey light is reflecting off the ice of Lipkus Minor. It looks like the crown jewel of Lord Uriel.” Lord Uriel was the most famous ruler on Angelus. He united the warring tribes—many generations ago—and
started their modern technological age.

“I believe you can see every color in the rainbow,” replied Bellmus.

“The end of day light must look wonderful,” marveled Huglam.

No world had ever made contact with the Lipkians and Bellmus did not know what to expect or how to approach them.

“Let’s start by swinging around Lipkus Minor and get some sensor readings,” Bellmus said with sureness in his voice, as he tried to hide his hesitation about contacting the Lipkians. “Tessslan, put
us in a high orbit. Lyemad, you know the drill. Let’s see what you can find out about our shiny friend.”

After studying the instruments for a couple of minutes, Lyemad replied, “I read an oxygen atmosphere that is able to sustain life, but I see no life-signs at all. It looks like Lipkus Minor is just one big frozen rock—covered in snow. The temperature ranges from -5 degrees in the sun, to –120 degrees on the dark side.”

Sounding rather surprised, Bellmus said, “Well I guess there is no sense in wasting time here. Tessslan, lay in a course for Lipkus Prime and engage.”

“Yesss sssir!” Tessslan quickly responded, while still getting a good hiss on both words.

Upon approaching Lipkus Prime, Bellmus barked out, “What do you have for me Lyemad?”

“The atmosphere is very oxygen-rich—about
twice that of Electerus. The terrain is mostly flat with a few small hills. I see a lot of plant and animal life and there are sandy beaches all around the two large oceans that cover three-quarters of the planet,” reported Lyemad.

“What about intelligent life?” Bellmus asked as if annoyed by all the details.

“Well, I see advanced life forms but they do not make sense,” Lyemad started. “Some are floating in the water and some are moving at high speeds across the sand, while others are just huddled together at cave entrances by the beaches. We will have to get closer to get a reading inside the caves. They seem to have some kind of energy field that is blocking my long range sensors.”

“Bichael, start the transmission of the prime numbers again. Let’s see if we can get a response,” said Bellmus.

Sounding proud, Bichael said, “All ready on it, Sir.”

About an hour passed with no reply to the signal when Bellmus said, “It seems that the Lipkians are either not developed enough, or they do not want to respond to our signal. Lyemad, do you have anything on those caves yet?”

“Yes, Sir. The energy fields are electro-magnetically
re-enforced with a web of proton beams,” Lyemad replied with a look of amazement. “There is an enormous energy generator at the core of the planet that is supplying dozens of caves scattered along the beaches. All the caves seem to be connected underground by smooth tunnels through which the Lipkians travel at high speeds. I would say that the energy generator is some form of nuclear reactor—perhaps cold fusion.”

“Cold fusion?” replied a shocked Huglam. “I did not think that was possible.”

“It is very unstable, at best,” answered Bellmus. “Our scientists abandoned trying to use it decades ago when a research lab was vaporized in an accident.”

“That is horrible,” said Slabriel. “What happened?”

The scientists built the research lab on an underwater platform in the middle of our largest lake, to insure the safety of innocent civilians,” answered Bellmus. “About six months into the project, they had a reaction going that they thought was under control. Right at the time when the Supreme Ruler was congratulating them over the visual communicator, the reaction started to fall out of balance. Within minutes, the entire facility exploded with enough force to empty the entire lake of its water. The countryside was flooded for miles around the lake, and it rained on cities hundreds of miles away. We lost twenty good scientists and three farmers that day. It took months to rebuild the farms and equipment that were destroyed in the flood waters.”

“That isss amazzzing,” replied Timsssack. “It isss good that the lab wasss not in a cccity.”

Lyemad jumped back into the conversation saying, “That was a small reaction compared to this one.”

Bellmus interrupted and said, “Tessslan, set us down on that beach over there beside that group of balls.”

“Yes Sssir, but thossse ballsss are moving and they look like they have armsss and legsss,” Tessslan replied with bewilderment.

“Those are the Lipkians,” stated Lyemad. “They all appear to have dark-blue skin with a seven inch layer of fatty tissue under the skin. It seems that they can tuck their legs and arms into fatty folds and roll around at great speeds. I would estimate about thirty miles an hour.”

“Just takes us down very slow and hopefully we will not cause them too much panic,” ordered Bellmus.

As Tessslan landed the Volkran, the bridge crew watched as the Lipkians rolled away from them and vanished into the nearby caves. Bellmus stood silent for a couple of minutes and then, as the crew looked to him for answers, he spoke in a soft tone, “Everyone stay here. I will go and open the hatch and stand at the bottom of the ramp to see if any of them will come out to look at me. Then maybe I will be able to talk to them through the translator.”

Immediately Lyemad blurted out, “No father, it is too dangerous for you to go out there by yourself.”

“It will be alright, Lyemad,” Bellmus reassured him. “I do not want to startle them or seem to aggressive. They must be very intelligent to have developed a stable cold fusion generator. They are just not used to having unidentified ships landing on their beaches. Bichael, keep a channel open, and I will let you know when it is alright to send out Huglam, Peckenson, Antamus, Timsssack, and Slabriel.”

Bellmus went to the hatch and pressed the button to open it as he thought,
“I sure hope you know what you are doing Bellmus.”
Taking a deep breath and starting down the ramp, he whispered, “I can not stop now; I must be brave.”

Bellmus stood motionless at the bottom of the ramp for about thirty minutes before one of the big balls came rolling out of the nearest cave and stopped about ten feet in front of him. The Lipkian stood up on two skinny legs that unfolded from the bottom of the ball, and stretched out its two long skinny arms at its sides. Bellmus noticed that its mouth, nose, eyes, and ears were all flush with its round body and positioned near the upper part of the ball-like body.

Holding up the translator and shaking like a Tilkner leaf, he said, “I am Sir Bellmus from the Styner system. I come to your planet in peace.” Since the translator had not yet received anything from the Lipkian to know how to translate his message, he bowed down on one knee in a gesture of non-aggression.

The Lipkian stood looking at Bellmus for a minute and then knelt and started to make low-pitched grunts and humming sounds. Within seconds, out of the translator came, “I am Baskwit, Leader of this city. What are you and from where did you come?”

Bellmus, relieved that the translator worked so fast and pleased that the Lipkian seemed friendly, said, “I am Sir Bellmus from the House of Tomolack, from the Styner star system. I come to your planet in peace.”

“Sir Bellmus from the House of Tomolack, that is a strange name. Does everyone from your star system have names that long?” Baskwit asked in a nonchalant tone.

“Oh, no. My apologies,” started Bellmus; slightly embarrassed, he continued, “My name is Bellmus Tomolack, ‘Sir’ is a title for leaders or people of importance. ‘House of Tomolack’ is a way to say that my father’s last name is Tomolack. Our ways may seem strange to you, but I hope that we can spend time getting to know each other and our worlds.”

“I understand. You are an important person from the Styner star system, you live with your father, and your name is Bellmus Tomolack,” said Baskwit.

“Well yes, but I do not live with my father, I have my own house with a wife and a son. I do have my father’s last name and that is why we say ‘from the House of’. I grew up in his house as his son and I now have my own house and son. In any case, I live on the planet of Electerus, which orbits around the star we call Styner. In this ship, I have with me my son and others from my planet and other planets. May I bring them out for you to meet?”

Yes, important Sir Bellmus from Electerus that lives in your own house, you may bring out these others. I would like to see them. Do they all look as strange as you?”

“You might think they look strange, but I have become familiar with their looks and they do not seem strange to me anymore. The beings from my Styner System traveled to other star system like yours and made friends. I have brought some of those friends with me, in hope that you and your people will join us in that friendship,” Bellmus replied, wondering if he was making any sense to Baskwit.

“I am just the leader of this one city we call Courtyard, not the star system. You own an entire star system called Styner. You are the most important person I have ever met. Do your friends own their star systems too?” asked Baskwit.

“No, no,” mused Bellmus, “I do not own the star system. I am just the leader of
my
world. I live
in
the star system—that is why I said ‘my’ star system. Allow me to call my friends out.”

Bellmus asked Bichael to send out the other leaders and Lyemad so that he could show Baskwit his son. It took a few hours of confusing conversation before Baskwit started to understand the strange ways of all the alien friends he was making. Finally, he asked if they would all like to come into the city and meet the other Lipkians. Bellmus, quite amused by the literal way Baskwit took everything, hoped that no one would say anything that sounded hostile or intimidating.

The cave city of Courtyard had long, smooth tunnels leading down to it. Along the way, other tunnels intersected and branched off in every direction. Bellmus and the crew saw many other Lipkians rolling effortlessly through the tunnels. Baskwit could walk in the tunnels, but he made it obvious that he preferred to roll. Many times, he noted that walking was an inefficient way to travel. Tessslan, after talking Bellmus into letting him come along, asked, “Bassskwit, how do you get ssso much ssspeed when you roll?”

“That is easy,” said Baskwit, happy to be talking, if he had to walk, “We use our hands and feet to push off the ground. You may not be able to see it because we push them in and out of our bodies very rapidly—just at the right moment on each turn. Our young ones are very funny to watch when they first come out of their eggs and try to roll. They sometimes forget to stick their legs out and they roll down hills. Sometimes they stick them out to soon while they are rolling and they pop up into the air. Most of the time, they just flop around for awhile until they figure it out.”

“That sssounds like the young onesss might have a tough beginning,” said Tessslan, surprised that the Lipkians would laugh at the children’s struggle.

“Our hatchlings have to figure it out on their own if they are to grow up strong and independent,” replied Baskwit. “Although we float very well in the water, there are dangerous creatures in the water and on land from which we have to be able to roll away.”

Inside Courtyard, the floors were smooth and sloped down towards the center of the cave, away from where the tunnels entered all around the outside walls. Just inside the cave, where each tunnel entered, there were short, rock ramps that curved up sharply. Lyemad was first to see one of the Lipkians roll into the city and up one of the ramps. The Lipkian flew ten feet into the air and stuck out his arms and legs. His body stopped spinning just as he landed on his feet just past the ramp. With no hesitation, he started walking toward one of the many stone buildings that made up the city.