Flidoring The Early Wars (2 page)

Back on Graznos, young Tessslan was arriving back to the city after three days in the Cline forest. He had struggled with his inner desires to the point of exhaustion. He was from a ruling family that never withheld anything from him. That meant his real conflict was whether he could sacrifice the comforts to which he was accustomed for the peace he had experienced with the Flidoring, or slip back into is old self-centered ways. The peaceful bliss he felt was more than words could explain, but he was astounded at how fast it was fading away. By the third day of his “Walk of Decccision”, he concluded that peaceful living was better than desire-full existence, and he started walking back to the city. The entire experience left him tired, hungry and hoping he would not totally forget the peace of the Flidoring.

Tessslan’s family had been taking turns keeping watch for him at one of the courtyards near the north entrance to the city, which faced the Cline forest and the Sea of Enlightenment. Tessslan’s mother, Lasssafay, was sitting with her eyes fixed on the gateway when he walked through it.

“Tessslan?” she whispered, and then as she realized that it was really him, she said it louder and more enthusiastically as she started running towards him, “Tessslan, oh Tessslan! Are you all right, my ssson?”

“Yes mother,” he replied as they hugged, “I am ssso hungry I could eat a water polt.” A water polt is a two-foot long, eighteen-inch diameter, green colored and very juicy fruit. It is a favorite for most Graznosians.

“Come home with me and we will get you whatever you want. Everyone isss waiting to hear about your ‘walk of decccision’,” Lasssafay said with a sense of pride and anticipation.

At their home, which was at the top of one of the highest buildings in the city, as Tessslan walked through the door, Timsssack leaped up and said, “There isss my young man. I want to hear all about your adventure.”

For the next few hours, everyone except Fassslan swapped stories about his or her own “Walk of Decision”. Only adults talk about the Flidoring experience, because no one can truly understand the phenomenon until they have encountered it. Fassslan was only six years old, so he had left to spend the night at a friend’s house, which was only on the next floor down. The tall pinnacle of the building they lived in had one home per floor, with plenty of insulation between them for privacy. The Graznosians are very hospitable and outgoing, but they cherish their personal time with family. Listening to young ones romp around is just not acceptable to them.

After Tessslan had eaten and fallen asleep, his parents and grandparents were reclining in Lazy-tail chairs and talking while sipping on some Tasley Tea. Tasley is a green mint plant well known for its healing and longevity properties. The Lazy-tail chair is a plush padded recliner that has a special hole cut in the back to accommodate their large tails. A padded ledge in the back provides complete comfort to the tail by keeping it off the cool floor. Their normal chairs are nothing more than fancy benches that their tails can hang off the back edge. The homes are modestly decorated—a few technical devices and conveniences, a potted plant or two—but no pictures or works of art because they are considered sacrilegious. The Graznosians believe that no image or picture made by hand could do justice to the created item—it could only defile or give occasion for pride of self-accomplishment.

With a serious tone to his voice Timsssack said, “I am sssomewhat concccerned about the upcoming visssit from the Electeriansss. From our communicationsss with them, over the lassst few yearsss, it ssseemsss they have very little underssstanding of ssspirituality.”

“True,” replied his father, Mussslant, “but we mussst keep our mindsss open. Remember how far we have come sssince that firssst sssignal wasss deccciphered and we realizzzed that we were not alone in the universsse.”

“You are right,” interrupted his wife Amesssa, “but how ssstrange it will be to sssee an alien raccce. The very thought of it ssscaresss me.”

***

Meanwhile on Electerus, Lyemad had won first place in the school science fair and they hung his picture on the “Wall of Fame” with his name under it. After a
big
family celebration, Bellmus left for the “Hall of Elders” where the ruling members were taking a vote for the position of Supreme Ruler.

Upon his arrival one of the chamber apprentices yelled to him, “Sir Tomolack, you must hurry, they just called your name for the vote.”

“Thank you young lad,” he replied as he ran straight through the grand vestibule into the inner chamber.

“Last call for Sir Bellmus Tomolack!” called out the “Recorder of the votes” with an almost theatrical presentation.

“Present and accountable for my decision, I cast my vote for Sir Bellmus of the house of Tomolack!” shouted out Bellmus, using the appropriate formal voting rhetoric.

After calling for a few more votes, the Recorder yelled out extra loudly, “The final vote for Supreme Ruler of Electerus is in and recorded. All hail the new Supreme Ruler—Sir Bellmus of the house of Tomolack!”

As the cheers went up for him, Bellmus felt his pride swell up inside him larger than ever. He thought to himself that he had finally risen to his rightful place in life. From the time he was a child, he knew that he would be the Supreme Ruler one day. Part of that was from the grooming that all children of the ruling families go through, but mostly, he felt deep within himself that it was his destiny. Now he would lead the diplomatic trip to Graznos and could take his son with him, and no one could object. He wanted to secure a place in the history books for Lyemad also, and carry on the family influence to the next generation.

***

Standing at the east gate of Eatnosss, on Graznos, Timsssack was looking intently upon the landing platform that they had built to receive the Electerian spaceship, when Tessslan walked up and said, “Father, are you ssscared of the aliensss coming to our world?”

“No my ssson, we have come to a crosssroadsss in our cccivilization. We are no longer able to ssstay isssolated from the ressst of the Creator’sss universsse. We have already picked up sssignalsss from sssix other worldsss that we are trying to transsslate. I think that your generation will travel to many other ssstrange worldsss and meet ssseveral alien ssspeciesss. But I am cautiousss about our valuesss and traditionsss not being compromisssed by the other beingsss,” Timsssack replied.

“Now that I am a man, may I be here at your ssside when the Electeriansss arrive?” Tessslan asked in an adult-like manner.

Impressed with his courage and maturity Timsssack answered, “It would be an honor to have you at my ssside.” After a brief hug he continued, “Shall we go and tell your mother the newsss?”

“No father, I will inform her myssself, after all, I am a man now,” touted Tessslan.

“Yes you are, and a fine one at that, my ssson,” said Timsssack, “but do not let it go to your head. Pride in ssself is a robber of peaccce,” he cautioned.

***

Back on Electerus Bellmus, Lyemad, and the rest of the delegates from each city were receiving a hero’s sendoff—complete with a parade, music, dance, and lots of food. The procession ended with excited farewells and a few tears as the delegates entered the spaceship. The spaceship was large enough to accommodate a large number of representatives with private quarters for sleeping and had a large dining facility and recreation hall. From the outside, the dark gray ship looked triangular and thin—only being twenty-five feet tall and three hundred feet wide. There were portholes all around the edges in a single layer for the passengers to look out. Above and below the passenger level there were only utility crawl spaces. The bridge was located in one of the points of the triangle and the engine was centered in the middle of the opposing side. It also had blast engines on the bottom for landing and takeoff. It had an impulse drive that was fast enough for travel between the worlds in the Styner system, but it was not practical for trips to other stars. A prototype was in the development stage for a warp engine that could “jump” them across the great distances between stars.

The Electerians had received signals from seven other worlds, including Graznos, and had already translated them. After first contact with Graznos, they planned to travel to Angelus, which is the third planet in the Styner system. Once the Warp-ship was completed they planned to go to the next closest star system called Simnius, and then continue from there to: Paylee, Tamsek, Demsey, Sinkar, and Bancy. The Electerians had determined that no other star systems in their region of space had planets that could sustain life.

The Electerians had already made contact through communications with the Furzonians, Wicterians, and Platonians from around Tamsek; and the Maceonians, Mechs, and Zanars from around Bancy. For communicating over those long distances, the Electerians had developed a subspace communications array on permanent orbital platforms. They had intended to use the array for their own ships as they traveled deeper into space, but they were quite surprised to find out that the aliens from both the Bancy and Tamsek systems had developed their own versions of it. Even though that technology was not necessary for communications between Electerus and Graznos, the Electerians sent the designs to the Graznosians, so that they could be in contact with the other star systems. The Electerians had also developed a universal translator and had planned to take extra handheld versions of it with them to give to the Graznosians.

The Electerians had decided that a free exchange of technology was the best approach for establishing relations with new worlds. They had even drafted laws forbidding interplanetary commerce. Thinking each planet to be self-sufficient, they thought that the only thing the commerce would do is allow greedy merchants to take advantage of the situation. Commerce on Electerus had evolved into an elaborate bartering system for goods and services, with the exception of food. Because food is a necessity of life, the ruling families agreed that it would not be a commodity. Each household was required to donate one day per month to the care and maintenance of the automated farms. Failure to comply would have led to the city security guards escorting one member of the family to one of the farms to serve a one-month sentence of labor.

Bellmus was the last one to enter the spaceship. He kept stopping along the ramp leading up to the door to wave at the cheering crowds. Finally, once he was inside, the door shut with a loud thud and a hissing sound as it made an airtight seal. Bellmus was still waving through the thick glass porthole in the door as the docking clamps released and the ship lifted off.

Mussslant, Timsssack, Tessslan, and a host of other delegates, including some from other cities, all stood in a protective glass bunker at the side of the receiving platform. They were expecting the arrival of the Electerian ship at any moment. Mussslant, being the oldest generation of Fessslanders, would be first to greet the newcomers. However, he had determined that Timsssack, being younger and wittier, would handle diplomatic relations and the eventual drafting of a peace agreement.

The receiving platform was a well lit, five hundred foot diameter, flat circle of steelwork that stood fifteen feet into the air. Dozens of ten-foot-thick steel pylons, which could sustain the weight of a small city, supported it. Around its edges there were bunkers made from reinforced glass. The Graznosians designed them to protect the delegates and workers from any debris kicked up by the ships blast jets. Among other workers were the light controllers, the docking clamp attendants, and the emergency personnel. From above the platform, the incoming ship would see a series of colored flashing lights in circular formation. The pattern started from the outside edge of the platform having three consecutively smaller red circles, followed by three yellow ones, and then five green ones ending with a single neon colored blue disk at the center of the platform to help guide the landing ship.

As the Electerian ship approached the platform, everyone watched in awe at the spectacle. Some of the Graznosian delegates were trembling at the sight. Timsssack felt his tail rattling on the floor. Tessslan was trying to hold back tears while his jaw was quivering uncontrollably. When the ship came within several feet of the platform, great swirls of dust and gasses from the blast engines blocked most of the view from the glass bunkers. Just as the large pads on the bottom of the landing-legs touched the platform, all the swirling came to a quick end. The docking clamp attendants pushed a series of buttons that raised the huge steel clamps up over the pads and anchored them down. Within seconds of the clamps locking in place, all the delegates, led by Mussslant, exited the bunkers onto the platform.

Inside the ship, Bellmus had been practicing what he would say to the Graznosians until he thought it was perfect. The trip between the two worlds took them seven Electerian days, which are slightly shorter than the Graznosian day. In that time, Bellmus had managed to disrupt everyone’s peace-of-mind with his constant reminders of the proper procedures that he wanted them to follow on Graznos. His desire to have everything go smoothly, for the history books to record, was creating a very stressful atmosphere.

Just as the ship touched down, Bellmus, in his most diplomatic voice said, “My fellow Electerians, we are no longer just leaders of cities. From this day forward, we are Ambassadors from the world of Electerus. Let us bravely and boldly step out into this new era, and let us create a future of which our forefathers would have been proud.”

Right at that moment, the seams around the door hissed as the pressure equalized to the outside. The door swung open and out stepped Bellmus. Immediately, he had noticed that it was hard for him to draw in a good breath of air. It reminded him of being in the high mountains on Electerus. The air is much thinner on Graznos, but it was breathable for the Electerians. Bellmus started down the ramp with his emissaries behind him. At first sight of the Graznosian lizard people, he gasped, as his two hearts seemed to skip their beats. He thought that the Graznosians looked very threatening, and he wondered if he had made a mistake in pushing to lead this mission.

Bellmus noticed that the Graznosians were not wearing clothes, which reaffirmed his notion that they might be dangerous. He was wondering how beings that look so much the little sand lizards on his own world, could have evolved into a technological society not far beneath his own. He was also wondering if he could maintain his composure once he started speaking. More than once, he felt his legs wanting to buckle under him.

Mussslant had been anxiously watching for the door to open. When it did, he saw Bellmus standing in the opening and he felt somewhat relieved. He thought that the Electerians were rather docile looking, and he felt they were not intimidating at all. The technology that they possessed is what had made him cautious. He noticed that Bellmus was dressed in loose fitting royal red pants, fancy yellow foot coverings, and a long green robe that hung open in the front. Graznosians would wear a wrap on occasion, but Mussslant had never before seen someone completely clothed. He was assuming that they were cold because Graznos is a little further away from Styner than Electerus.

Taking a deep breath and stepping forward, Mussslant said, “I am Mussslant Fessslander, we welcome you to Grazzznosss.”

Somewhat surprised by the long tongue flapping at him, Bellmus recaptured his composure and handed the extra translator to Mussslant and replied, “Thank you, I am Sir Bellmus of the House of Tomolack, from the world of Electerus, and we come in peace to your world.”

Mussslant, puzzled by his long introduction responded, “I presssent to you my ssson Timsssack and hisss ssson Tessslan. Timsssack will have the honor of conducting your ssstay on Grazzznosss.”

“Yesss,” said Timsssack, “we can finish our introductionsss over a cup of Tasssley tea in our ‘Hall of Resssolutionsss’. I trussst that your trip was a pleasssant one.”

Bellmus answered him, “Again, thank you for your kind hospitality. I present to you my son, Lyemad. Our trip was without incident and quite peaceful. It would be an honor to join you in this ‘Hall of Resolutions’.

After making the rest of the introductions at the “Hall of Resolutions”, everyone began to sit down at a large round table in the center of the colossal circular room. The Hall was located in the bottom of the tallest building in the city. It was five hundred feet across, with progressively smaller circular tiered balconies around
the outer walls, rising up to a cone shaped peak in the center of the Hall. Thick round steel pillars supported each layer of balcony, and the very top of the cone was six hundred feet high. The cone was shining spectacularly bright with the Styner light because of a network of fiber optics that guided the light in from the exterior of the building. Parabolic dishes inconspicuously scattered around the outside concentrated the light, while fifty sets of lenses and mirrors dispersed it around the inside of the cone. It was sufficiently bright enough that Bellmus was not able to stare straight at the lenses.

Surrounding the round table in the center of the room were railings that separated the table from hundreds of curved benches. The benches formed larger and larger broken circles until they expanded all the way to the outer walls. The breaks between the benches and railings formed isles that extended from the outer walls to the center table. Thousands of Graznosians would assemble in the Hall for city and regional meetings and city leaders would sit at the center table to conduct the meetings. Around the outer edge of the Hall was a maze of hallways that led to various rooms for city offices and small meetings.

Once seated on the benches at the round table, servers brought in cups of Tasley tea. When Bellmus took a sip of it, he said, “Well, well…I must say that this is the best tasting tea I have ever had.”

“Thank you,” replied Timsssack, “it is well known amongssst our people for itsss healing and longevity propertiesss.”

Bellmus, thinking to himself,
“Healing and longevity? Our herbal scientists have been working for years to come up with something like this.”
Aloud he said, “If everything on your planet tastes this good then I look forward to exchanging some recipes with you.”

“I would be very interesssted in trying sssome of your cuisssine,” said Timsssack

“Excellent, then your envoy must dine with us this evening on our ship. We have a rather nice dining hall and plenty of food from our world,” Bellmus replied, trying not to sound too excited. “Perhaps you could bring some of this wonderful tea with you. We do not have any tea onboard.”

“That would be wonderful. I would like to sssee your ship. We have a very primitive ssspaccce program compared to yoursss,” stated Timsssack.

“Yes, and that brings me to my second proposal,” said Bellmus cautiously. “I would like to suggest that our two worlds sign a ‘Free Information and Technology Agreement’. We feel that by keeping it outside of commerce, there is less room for over-zealous merchants to take advantage of our new friendship.”

“I agree,” said Timsssack enthusiastically, “our world wasss onccce controlled by greed and merchandisssing until our ancccessstorsss found the ‘Way of the Flidoring’.”

“I am not familiar with this ‘Way of the Flidoring’,” said Bellmus.

“It is the ‘Way of Peaccce’—a giving up of ssselfish desssiresss,” replied Timsssack.

“Very good then,” replied Bellmus, “I see we have a lot in common.”

After an hour of discussing more about their worlds and customs, the Electerians parted for their ship to prepare for the evening meal. Upon entering the ship, Bellmus spoke to all the ambassadors saying, “My brethren, I believe that went as well as anyone could have hoped. This is a day for us to be proud. We have taken the first steps to creating a Galactic alliance of which our forefathers never even dreamed.”

The entire group congratulated Bellmus on his success, while Lyemad looked at him with a sense of pride and satisfaction, thinking,
“My father is the greatest Electerian who ever lived.”

As the dinner hour approached, Timsssack and the rest of the Graznosian delegates had arrived at the Electerian ship, where Bellmus greeted them at the door.

“Welcome friends,” Bellmus called out, “please come in. We are ready to serve the meal now. Did you bring your tea with you?”

“Thank you for your generosssity,” replied Timsssack, “here isss the Tasssley tea leavesss. I sssuggessst a short sssimmer in sssteamy hot water, then cool it ssslightly with sssome warm water to pressserve the bessst flavor.”

“Very well then, please come this way,” said Bellmus, barely able to contain his joy over receiving the tealeaves, “I see you brought your son Tessslan with you. My son will be thrilled. He is looking forward to spending time with him.”

In the dining hall, the Electerians had replaced their comfortable high-back chairs with padded benches, taken from their living quarters, for the comfort of the Graznosians. Bellmus had perceived that, with their tails, it would be impossible for them to sit in the high-back chairs. There were a number of large tables set up in the hall and he had arranged them so that an equal number of chairs and benches were at each one. He wanted to ensure that there would be no segregation due to fear or uncomfortable feelings. Once everyone found a seat and sat down, waiters brought in plates of food and served the guests first and then the Electerians.

Each plate was the shape of a half circle on the bottom with a slightly raised triangular section on top. A fresh assortment of fruits and vegetables—all considered delicacies on Electerus—filled each plate. There was the Tamlick—a purple colored, ball shaped, sweet fruit; and the Martent—a gold colored, pyramid shaped, sour fruit. For the greens, there was the Kabla—a thick, meaty leaf covered in a sweet red pepper sauce; and the Tilkner leaf—a dark-green, two-inch-round, thin leaf with a pale blue tart sauce. Both were from plants engineered for maximum nutrition on the Electerian farms. Topping off the triangular section of the plate was the Ritnum root—a bright yellow, crunchy, flower root with a light cinnamon and honey taste, covered with a powdered sweetener. For drinks, they had pure water and an orange-colored citrus juice called, Matia.

“Ah, this is my favorite,” exclaimed Lyemad as he went to stick his fork into the Ritnum root.

“May I have your attention,” said Bellmus, giving Lyemad a quick stare, “Let us toast our new found friendship, may we have many such meals together for generations to come.”

“Yesss, yesss,” said Timsssack, as the rest of the hall echoed his salute.

Although the Graznosians eat some insects, they are mostly vegetarians and they found the Electerian food to be pleasant. They were not accustomed to sauces covering their vegetables, but it was an interesting taste experience for them.

As they finished the meal Bellmus said, “Tessslan, would you like for Lyemad to show you around the ship?

“Oh yesss, that would be niccce,” Tessslan replied.

As the two young men left the hall, Bellmus asked, “Now, would anyone care for some of that Tasley tea?” hoping that not too many would say yes.

While all the delegates sat talking, Lyemad took Tessslan and a translator around the ship. When they got to his quarters, he passionately showed him all the wonderful things that he had brought from Electerus. He had pictures of his family, science projects he had made, some carvings he had done as a child, and many other things.

Somewhat alarmed by Lyemad’s attitude towards the items, Tessslan said, “Why do you disssplay ssso much affection towardsss objectsss that are made by your own handsss, do you not believe in the Creator?”

“Yes, we believe in a Creator, but what does that have to do with being proud of what I have accomplished?” Lyemad asked in a perplexed tone.

“We have found the ‘Way of the Flidoring’ and do not cherish ssselfish thingsss anymore,” replied Tessslan.

“I do not believe that I am being selfish at all,” argued Lyemad, “besides, what makes your Flidoring thing so special?”