Chroniech! (39 page)

It was decided that this kind of existence was preferable to settling back down on a single world. The terraforming project was abandoned and the Kyrra considered all of space as their home. They were very careful about not making contact with other cultures; although the slavers themselves had become a dim memory, what they had done had caused the Kyrra to become isolationist in the extreme.

The Kyrra did not bother trying to follow the activities of all the various races which they had discovered. Instead, they directed the energies of the Hess toward reporting on cosmic events and maintaining the map of the galaxy up to date. The Kyrra themselves delved deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the underlying structure of the universe. Unknown to them, the slavers had rebuilt their empire and were slowly expanding in all directions.

The slavers had changed how they dealt with other cultures. Instead of stealing their technology without learning it and then relying upon their slaves to maintain a technology which they themselves did not understand, the slavers had become scientists and researchers.

Now, when a race was subjugated, the slavers learned all there was to know about the other culture's technology and incorporated it into their own. In this way they no longer relied upon the knowledge of their slaves to maintain their ships and weapons. Subjugated cultures became forced laborers in mines and factories.

One day, a slaver scout entered a star system where several Kyrra habitats were located. Under normal circumstances the Kyrra would have left the system long before they were discovered but two factors prevented this. The star they were observing was being consumed by a black hole and the resulting radiation had interfered with the Kyrra's long range sensors. The other factor was that the slaver scout had been partially cloaked.

The scout detected the Kyrra and reported this to its base. An enormous attack force was assembled. The slavers attacked the first Kyrra habitat without issuing a warning or making any attempt at communication of any sort. Even though the Kyrra had detected the approaching ships, the habitats were caught off-guard and were unable to out run the slaver battle fleet. Before the Kyrra could respond, the habitat was destroyed and fifty eight thousand Kyrra were lost.

After an easy first victory, the slavers then set their sites on the next habitat. The Kyrra had presumed themselves to be safe and had never considered the possibility of being attacked. The habitats were unarmed and were easy prey to the slavers. On that day, three habitats were destroyed, ending the lives of over 160,000 Kyrra. The slavers returned to their base triumphant in their victory. The Kyrra responded in a completely unexpected way — they decided to retaliate.

Of course, the Kyrra did not think of their actions in terms of retaliation. Such emotions were unknown to them. The records were searched and the atrocities of the slavers were once again brought into present memory.

The Kyrra decided, quite calmly and logically, that a species which attacked other races without provocation or cause, did not have the right to exist. They determined that the loss of the entire slaver race would be beneficial to the galaxy as a whole as it would prevent the loss of even more lives. Once the issue had been decided, the Kyrra looked for a way to implement it. Within a very short time they found one.

The Kyrra designed and built a number of automated warships of incredible power. The ships were guided by an advanced version of the Hess AI. This cold intelligence was provided with a single overriding instruction — seek out and destroy all slaver planets and ships. The Kyrra provided the power for this instruction to be carried out.

The warships were protected by the most advanced shield the Kyrra could build, armed with the most lethal weapons possible, and powered by the vast energy of matter/antimatter annihilation. Given the fact that Kyrra technology was vastly superior to slaver technology the ships were virtually unstoppable.

Once a slaver world had been discovered, the ship would settle into orbit and begin seeding the atmosphere with antimatter using the converter beam. The radiation released from the matter/antimatter annihilation would sterilize the planet. Each ship was also equipped with a titanic energy cannon which was used to remove any slaver installations protected by a shield. Any slaver ships that dared to approach a planet-killer were quickly targeted and destroyed.

With a determination to protect themselves and other races, the Kyrra quickly built a small fleet of these planet-killers and sent them off toward slaver space. Unknown to the Kyrra, their mad decision to wipe out an entire race had caused them to overlook a tiny flaw in their logic. To their horror, they watched as the planet-killers not only sterilized purely slaver worlds, but also targeted the worlds of non-slaver's.

If a slaver ship was found in orbit, whether it be a warship or a scoutship reconnoitering a possible planet for attack, the planet-killers incorrectly assumed the planet to be of slaver origin or would soon be under slaver control. Innocent cultures that had never know spaceflight were indiscriminately obliterated.

After realizing their error, the Kyrra rushed to stop their own creations. The only way to do so was to send someone to each of the planet-killers to bypass all the safety systems then program the computer to shutdown the anti-matter containment field thus initiating a spectacular self-destruct. Simply deactivating the ships was not enough. The Kyrra felt they needed to destroy their creations.

After many long weeks, and the loss of even more Kyrra lives, all the planet-killers had been destroyed. In the end, not only had all the slaver worlds been wiped clean of life, but so had the worlds of 7 other intelligent races.

The entire Kyrra race was stunned at the enormity of what they had done. They had been directly responsible for the destruction of all life on over a hundred worlds and the extinction of 7 advanced life forms. For many days, the whole population was in a state of catatonic shock and virtually all activity ground to a halt.

After a long period of recovery the Kyrra carefully considered their next action. They decided to isolate themselves from all contact with any other culture including severing all contact with their Hess probes. Exploration was abandoned as the habitats gathered in the dark-star system. Safe from detection for the time being, the Kyrra began the construction of a single colossal habitat which would become the home of all Kyrra.

Their original plans called for them to leave the galaxy altogether but, before the new structure had been completed, a scientific discovery was made which allowed them to hide even the incredibly massive bulk of the worldship from all means of detection. The Kyrra decided to return to their home system.

After almost 115 years of continuous construction, the worldship was ready. The old habitats had been dismantled and used to build their new home. All evidence of their existence was wiped out and the worldship was moved to its present position in orbit about their original home star where it has remained ever since.

Ken had finished his breakfast while listening to the history of the Kyrra. He sat in stunned silence for many minutes after Doug had finished. The enormity of what the Kyrra had done was hard to grasp. Something Doug had said started to nag at Ken's thoughts. Doug was returning with another cup of coffee when the question solidified. "Doug, you mentioned that this artificial world of theirs was built in the dark-star system, right?"

"Yes," Doug replied with a smirking grin on his face. The tone of his voice indicated that he knew Ken had discovered the implications of what he had been told.

Ken's eyes grew wide as he completed the thought. "In other words, this world-sized habitat of theirs is capable of interstellar flight!"

"You've got it," Doug replied taking a large gulp of his coffee.

Before he could utter another word, a knock sounded at the door. Stricklen and Doug shot questioning looks at each other. "Come in!" Ken shouted.

The door opened and a familiar Kyrra entered the room. "I hope you are enjoying your stay," he said as he walked through the doorway.

Stricklen, who had finally developed an ability to recognize an individual Kyrra, jumped up from his chair and exclaimed, "Trel'mara! Your people are amazing. Have you and your fellow time traveler's been well received?"

Trel'mara settled into a chair as he replied, "There have been changes, but that is to be expected considering how long we have been gone. We have been treated well and soon we shall be able to support our people as we should. There is a matter of importance I need to discuss with you."

Always jumps right to the point, Ken thought. Aloud he said, "I take it your leaders have reached a decision concerning whether or not to allow us to leave and they have asked you to convey their decision to us."

"Very perceptive," Trel'mara replied. "The council has decided to allow you to return. Although you would be comfortable here, you would not be happy. Preventing your departure would be equivalent to sentencing you to prison. We Kyrra have no prisons or jails and we would not want your crew to think of our world as one. You are free to depart any time you wish."

As Trel'mara finished the last sentence the door to the cottage opened and Tasha walked in. "I'd like to stay at least another day," she butted in. "Trel'mara! I'm so glad to see you. Your people have built themselves a paradise. I would love the opportunity to explore it for at least a little while longer."

Tasha walked over and sat down next to Ken. "You should have gotten up sooner. I just had the most relaxing walk in the woods I've had in years."

Stricklen was glad he would not have to try to force their departure. He was certain that if the Kyrra had decided to keep them here there would have been nothing he could have done to prevent it. Grabbing Tasha's hand he turned his attention to Trel'mara. "The council could have conveyed their decision themselves but instead they sent you. That tells me you have another message from them — correct?"

"Once again, you are very perceptive. Although you may leave at any time, I have been asked to request that you remain with us for a few days longer. There is another matter which must be decided by the population and it involves you and your Alliance.”

"When you return, our existence will become known. Many of us believe there are those in your society who will try to contact us for the purpose of obtaining advanced technology which will eventually be used to construct weapons. We will of course not allow this. Eventually, your people may decide to attempt to take the information from us by force, even though it would be an impossible undertaking."

"That sounds like us," Doug said. Ken shot him a warning glare and he shut up.

"What do you need from us?" Stricklen asked.

"Our people have remained isolated from the galaxy for the last forty thousand years. They have become accustomed to this isolation and are reluctant to rejoin the galactic community. I believe my people are afraid and have become mildly phobic."

Ken glanced at Tasha and noted she was nodding her head. "Can an entire civilization come down with a common mental disorder?"

"To an outsider it would appear as a mental disorder, but to a member of the society in question it would be their way of life. There are many examples of one cultures norm being considered aberrant by the standards of another culture."

Stricklen was puzzled by something else Trel'mara had said. "I am not aware of having asked your people for help, although the thought has crossed my mind. I had assumed that if the Kyrra wanted to help the Alliance, such help would have been given freely. Asking for it would not make it happen."

"You personally have not asked, but others in your crew have." Seeing Ken's reaction Trel'mara continued, "Do not be harsh with your crew — they are only trying to ensure the continued survival of the Alliance. After having lived with your people, I agree with their request — we should help."

"I'm not too sure what you could do at this point," Stricklen replied. "Our resources are stretched as it is and trying to develop the industry to support the construction of advanced weapons would mean cutting back on current production. Short of the Kyrra taking an active roll in our war with the Chroniech, I truthfully do not know how you can help."

"There is a small group of us that believe the Kyrra should no longer remain isolated. We believe we can help other cultures and we should no longer hide ourselves. The council will allow the population to debate this issue and a decision will be made in the near future. In order to make a proper decision, we need as much information as possible concerning the Alliance and its various cultures. I have been tasked with asking your permission to place the historical records of the Alliance as they are recorded in your computer into our databanks so the population can make an informed decision."

"You may be shocked at what you find," Stricklen replied. "But, I see no reason why I should not grant your request. If your people decide to open relations with us you will eventually learn all there is to know about us anyway. It is better that you know our history before coming to any decisions. You may transfer the Alliance historical records to your system."

"There is one other request," Trel'mara continued. "You and your crew are here and are thus representatives of the Alliance. We would like each of you to record a message to our people."

"What sort of message?" Doug asked.

"The questions to be considered are; What would be the result of our establishing relations with the Alliance? Why should we? How would your people react? What would you expect from us? How would it benefit all cultures involved? But, you and your crew may record any message you desire, or none at all. Before the population can make a decision, we must have as many facts and as much information as possible. Will you record a message? Will you ask each member of your crew to record one?"

"I'm not going to make it an order, but I will recommend that if anyone so desires, they should record a message. Bear in mind that we are not diplomats, we are members of the Alliance military."