Tomarkus and the Betrayed Planet

1. The Suffering Land Tomarkus

Dueso was life. Every species on Tomarkus breathed it to stay alive. Insufficient quantities of dueso produced effects akin to strangulation. And that, in effect, was what was happening: Tomarkus was slowly strangulating to death.

Dueso level on the planet had declined terribly. Its quantity in the atmospheric composition of Tomarkus was decreasing at the rate of 0.02% a year, which had brought the overall level down to a bare minimum of 4.3%, not enough for the survival of all species on the planet. Meanwhile, the deadly fungi responsible for the catastrophe was rapidly spreading in the oceans of Tomarkus, its huge and disgusting saffron floating mountains consuming dueso morning and night.

How had this fungi started to pile up on the ocean surface all of a sudden, threatening all life in a matter of mere years? Some said it was the work of a wicked fugit, while others believed the fungi had been brought from another world and planted on purpose by a secret society to summon the apocalypse. But, whatever its origins, the fact remained that the dueso cycle on Tomarkus had been disturbed and the outcome of this could be nothing but annihilation. Low dueso availability had suppressed the living standards of all life forms, who could never enjoy a deep satisfying breath like their ancestors had. Meanwhile, having conquered almost two-thirds of the ocean, the fungi, it appeared, was weaving a funeral pall for the planet.

Fugits, the civilized inhabitants of Tomarkus, continued to research day and night, but no solution had been found as yet to wipe out the fungi. So far, they had only succeeded in controlling the rate of its spread by adding the salt of Arcanum crystal to the ocean waters.

Arcanum was a unique element on Tomarkus, first discovered near the mountain range. It was soon declared the most precious element present on the planet. When Arcanum salt was mixed in ocean waters, the fungi couldn't conquer that region—salt prevented local fungi from regenerating, thus stopping its breeding cycle. At one time, the fungi mountains had been huge and violent, stretching well beyond a hundred feet in height. Now special fugit infantry units deployed to each fungi colony location in the ocean, with the sole task of keeping the arcanum salt concentration in the surrounding waters sufficiently high, kept the fungi in check, but the Arcanum came with its own problems. Transparent and clear oceans had become things of the past, fascinating, but hard to believe in. Extensive use of salt had changed the color of seawater to dirty yellow as the salt formed a colloidal mixture with the minerals present in the ocean waters, messing them up completely.

The falling levels of dueso was a major problem, but not the only one on Tomarkus. The planet was huge, which had its own consequences. The fifty-six moons orbiting Tomarkus gave rise to extreme tides in the oceans, and a significant amount of fertile land on the planet had been claimed by the ocean. For a population of over a hundred thousand fugits the fertile land available wasn't enough, neither was there much prey left to hunt. Forests could not be cut down at any cost as they were the only source of dueso production. Hence, the fugits were bound to practice underwater farming, compromising on taste and hygiene.

A few hundred years ago, they had genetically re-engineered their crops to keep them alive in the oceans in the colloidal mixture of Arcanum salt; no other aquatic flora or fauna could survive the high concentrations of arcanum salt. This left the oceans of Tomarkus lonesome, filled with skeletal remains of aquatic life. The ocean bed was scattered with the skeletons of the aquatic monsters that had once inhabited the waters, and often broken fragments of these bones could be found floating on the surface or cast upon distant shores after cyclones.

Some of the distinct aquatic species of the past were big fishes, over 300 feet long, and weighing close to 2 million pounds. Lethal fishes with poisonous tentacles, about 180 feet long, had been the most dangerous of all; they had survived by poisoning the surface water, and swallowing hundreds of dead preys from the surface on their way back. But, despite their size and ingenuity, none survived. The land animals fared no better. When dueso became scarce on Tomarkus, fugits killed each and every large mammal on the planet. No trace could be found of big animals, not even in the densest regions of the forest. The giant 18-legged hopping monsters went extinct, whose ultrasound whistle had once deceived nearby prey into coming out of their holes. Gone too were the gigantic 5-eyed caterpillars whose dueso consumption was way higher.

Biodiversity, at this point, was on the verge of collapsing, and fugits could not waste a single ounce of dueso. Everyone was forced to compromise, especially the prisoners who were dying miserably every day in Carcerem due to dueso scarcity.