Chapter Eleven
Chud-Loo
5,028 Year of the Mother.
“Where is that worthless piece of naat-jii dung, Tuh-Kar?” the chief engineer asked. “The transmitter is malfunctioning and he’s the only one who knows how to fix it.” The orbital power satellite no longer transmitted power to the surface and the orbital navigation beacon flashed uncontrollably. He shivered, for the temperature had steadily dropped overnight. The emergency lighting had begun to dim. And Tuh-Kar didn’t answer his summons on the communicator.
“I don’t care that Tuh-Kar has disappeared. All I care about is getting the electrical power turned on,” said Wod-Jur, the leader of the Disobedient. He gave off a threatening odor. “Why haven’t you fixed the power shortage?”
“What do you think I’ve been trying to do? Teaching my paat-kli to fly?” The chief engineer was fed-up with Wod-Jur’s stupid questions and peremptory commands.
For the eighth squared time, he wondered, how did this idiot end up as leader?
“If I need comedy, I’ll use the holo-terminal. Explain why you cannot fix the orbital power station and restore power.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the orbital power station,” the chief engineer said. “The navigation beacon is locked in a strobing mode and its energy demand leaves nothing for the power satellite to transmit. For some unknown reason, the ground-based transmitter is sending signals that triggers that mode.”
The power shortage caused a shutdown in heating and other systems dependent upon electricity. That had gotten everyone’s attention.
“That’s too complicated for me to understand. Just fix it. I’m tired of the cold and all the complaints about power shortages. Get it fixed, and soon.” Wod-Jur gestured dismissal.
“I cannot.” The chief engineer emanated a hostile odor. “I’ve tried everything I know. The entire system checks-out properly. There’s something wrong with the transmitter. We can shut down the navigation beacon, but that poses a danger to the supply ship. It needs to get through the asteroid belt. When the beacon strobes, it illuminates the asteroids.”
“Why did you build it to use so much of the satellite’s power output?” Wod-Jur’s spines erected as though ready to do battle.
“Me? You don’t remember? You said we need the strobe mode to illuminate the orbit of every asteroid and rock fragment for the supply ship, so it could see any danger, that’s why. It was designed and built the way you ordered.”
“That’s all well and good, but we need power now. Get it, I don’t care how you get it, just get it.” Wod-Jur rose to his full height. He snorted fiercely and filled the air with an intimidating odor.
The chief engineer solved the power shortage by shutting down the navigation system. His solution worked until the supply ship arrived, and again there was a power outage.
A comet passed so close to Chud-Loo that reflections from the navigation beacon’s radar revealed its composition to be mainly ice fragments. Even though it proved not to be a threat to the planet, it drew attention to the geoscientists’ earlier report on asteroid strikes. That convinced the settlers in Freedom Valley a planetary defense system must be built.
The responsibility of constructing the system fell to the chief engineer who chose a laser system previously used but later banned by the priests. He placed three fusion pumped lasers in geosynchronous orbits above Chud-Loo. He calculated the lasers had enough power and range to change the course of an approaching asteroid. Since the lasers were so powerful, he knew safety demanded the lasers had to query every target multiple times before firing to prevent the accidental destruction of a spaceship. It was a complex and lengthy project.
Wod-Jur continued with his demand that the power lost from the orbital powersat be replaced immediately.
Immediately would take time and the chief engineer needed help now. “Tuh-Kar, please answer me. I need to know why the ground transmitter is behaving so erratically.”
Even after many calls for Tuh-Kar’s help, no one answered, and the radio navigation beacon continued to strobe.
No one knew it would eventually catch the attention of others, elsewhere.
Di-Nah continued to recruit both males and females to be members of her Hive. Her new servants carved out a home. It was a rudimentary Hive that was carefully concealed from the main Disobedient community in the Freedom Valley.
With followers to feed her, she became more powerful and her venom more deadly. Her discipline upon her followers was like other Hive-Mothers; she killed any who disobeyed her. When Tuh-Kar tried to answer the chief engineer’s call for help, she killed him, too. Now that there were plenty of males available for mating, Tuh-Kar mattered little.
Chud-Loo
5,029 Year of the Mother.
It was only after I, Kot-Nih the historian, led an investigative expedition to Chud-Loo with excavation equipment, we learned the Disobedient had broken into two factions. It was one of those things they concealed, even when the supply ship arrived. I suppose they feared Hool would cut them off if we knew about their internal dissent. Many of the records of this time were destroyed. Even today, other historians continue to dig in the wreckage of the failed colony on Chud-Loo, seeking to fill in the details of the Disobedient’s civil war.
Apparently, it was at the ceremony for the start-up of the new ground-based power station when Wod-Jur offended his chief engineer with an intemperate remark about the length of time it took to build the fusion power station. Since the chief engineer had expected accolades for his effort, not a public chastisement, he walked out of the Disobedient’s camp.
Through the years, the radio beacon continued to strobe. Sometimes, inexplicably, it would cease and then start again. During this time, the former chief engineer wandered at the fringes of the Disobedient society until Di-Nah recruited him. Apparently, he appreciated the order and discipline of her Hive, for once he joined them, he worked hard. Di-Nah’s Hive grew until it finally attracted Wod-Jur’s attention.
It was clear Di-Nah refused to acknowledge Wod-Jur’s leadership and the philosophy of the Disobedient. After negotiations failed, war broke out between them. Wod-Jur knew how to motivate the Disobedient in the face of a threat and drove them to unceasing war against the Hive of Di-Nah in the struggle for supremacy. This war was different from the strife on Hool. The issue was not religion; it was survival. Whoever controlled the supplies brought by the spaceship had the power of life and death over all others. It was a bitter war, pitting brother against brother, and sister against sister.
Di-Nah moved her Hive out of Freedom Valley into an adjacent valley they named the “Nest.” It was small and deep and protected by a narrow pass and sheer walls. About this time, the former chief engineer revealed his talents, for Di-Nah promoted him to a position of Chosen-Male cohort leader.
It wasn’t until much later, that I, Kot-Nih, had traveled to the home planets of both of the Others—the Qu’uda and the humans—and searched through many records that I learned the following from the aliens.…