Star Clash

Chapter Eight

(Harmony, Sirius System)

The older Vishnan, Councillor Zwan, was watching the display with pride, but the younger turned to look at the humans, to gauge their reaction. He flinched as he recognised the horror in Steven's eyes. Both young men looked away from each other, fixing their gazes on their superiors.

"Shall we return to the Hall?" asked the Ancian, turning the chariot around and gliding towards the door. It was clear the suggestion was not open for discussion.

They returned to the Hall, and seated themselves around a circular table which had been brought in during their absence. All except the Administrator, who was still standing in the chariot, towering over everyone else.

"Have you considered a peaceful resolution of the conflict?" asked the Ancian calmly.

Instantly there was a clash of conversation as the two elders spoke at once. Phrases such as "won", "surrender" ,"rather die", peppered the air.

The Administrator listened for a few minutes before interrupting. "Enough!" it announced firmly, silencing both of them. "You have both asked for our assistance and you shall have it."

Steven felt a coldness seep through his body. He glanced at the others, was he the only one who heard the utter implacability in the Ancian's voice?

He felt exactly as if he was standing before a judge passing sentence. He was terribly afraid the sentence going to be 'death'.

The Ancian flicked a quick look at him, as if it could read his thoughts, then it addressed the two elders.

"Henceforth, you will be placed in isolation. Both your races will be prevented from communicating with any systems outside your own, until this problem is resolved."

"What?"

"You can't do that!"

"You have no right ..."

The Administrator stood silently allowing the protests to wash over him. When they eventually ran out of steam, it continued, "The decision has been made. You, personally, are welcome to stay here on Harmony, or you are free to visit another planet, anywhere except Sol or Vishna."

"I would like to be escorted back to my hovercraft, Administrator," announced Commander Parker in a stiff tone. There was no way anyone was going to prevent him from returning to Mars, but it wasn't worth making a fuss over, here and now. This whole thing had been a complete waste of time, the sooner he got back to Mars and wound up this war, the better.

Councillor Zwan was fuming inside. What had gone wrong? Right up until the last minute he had been certain the Ancians were going to support the Vishnan side of the conflict. Then, suddenly, it seemed that the Ancians were lumping the two of them together as both deserving of some sort of punishment!

What did the Administrator mean, 'placed in isolation'? Whatever it meant, he knew the important thing was to get back to Troni as soon as possible, Premier Nesa needed the information he had gained from watching the exhibition here.

As soon as he was seated in the hovercar, on his way back to Harmony City and the spaceport, Commander Parker signalled the Captain of the Voyager 21 to get ready for immediate departure. He gritted his teeth, if the Ancians tried to stop them, they would just have to blast their way off the planet.

They reached the spaceport without incident and Parker ushered everyone on board, brushing aside Coleman's foolish request to stay on Harmony. The quicker they were on their way, the better. He hadn't heard any reports that the Ancians had weapons or even a spacefleet, but his gut was telling him to get out of there as fast as he could.

He didn't start to relax until the ship moved out of orbit and prepared for the first FTL stage on the way back to Mars. He allowed a brief sigh of relief as he strapped himself in for the jump. Just as he had thought, they were all talk and no substance. No-one had lifted a finger to stop them.

He came out of a brief doze after the jump, to the loud sounds of irritated voices from the bridge.

"What do you mean, you can't find it?"

"Check the damn co-ordinates again! A whole star system can't just disappear!"

"Get the engineer up here, give the whole frigging system an overhaul. There must be something wrong with it, and switch over to the backup system in the meantime."

"It's not? Look again! Both systems can't fail at the same time, it's not possible."

"What's the problem Captain?" Parker asked, a cold lump already settling in his stomach.

The Captain gave an angry laugh of disbelief. "Apparently Sol has become invisible since yesterday! The navigator can't find the damn co-ordinates, can you believe it? If we can't get this thing fixed soon, we'll have to go back to Harmony and get the whole navigation system replaced!"

"See if you can get the co-ordinates for Vishna," Parker asked, his voice urgent.

"What?"

"Just check!" insisted the Commander, already dreading the answer.

There was a short pause. "Damn it! That's missing too! The whole navigation system must be screwed. There's no choice, we have to go back, while we still have the co-ordinates for Harmony!"

Only Steven Coleman was unsurprised by the news. He had begun to suspect, from the moment he entered the City, that the Ancians had far more sophisticated capabilities than they wanted people to believe.