Star Kitten (53 page)

The clever little Slart (who had been imprisoned twenty years
ago for involuntary homicide when he accidentally started a
laboratory fire)
went on to detail his proposal to Solomon and the rest of the
team. Reactions were mixed; but as much as Solomon could understand
from Cuttlefish's scientific explanations, it was indeed clear that
the planet had everything necessary to cause a massive volcanic
eruption. The only question, as Cuttlefish cautioned his commander,
was the issue of TIME. Could the circumstances and triggers be put
in place at just the right time—and cause an eruption at just the
right moment—when Earth forces were massed in a confined area and
most vulnerable? An even better question was whether the rest of
the planet could indeed survive the succeeding eruptions which
would likely consume thousands of miles of tunnels and
shafts.

Luckily for the Slarts… it was really up to their commander to
decide if they should proceed. That’s what Solomon had taught them…
just compile the information and let Solomon take the heat if the
idea failed. They were more than comfortable with that. This time
Solomon didn’t hesitate. He listened to Cuttlefish explain his
plan
; and when the
presentation concluded, Solomon just said “Very good. Let’s do
it.”

After that
meeting, Naustie Central Command sprang into action. Orders were
issued, and tasks were delegated left and right. Solomon himself
actually went out and organized units of tunnel crews... even took
some Prokonji battle units out of the front lines to begin digging
a new network of tunnels. These soldiers in the tunneling units
were not really told why; but each day they'd be given digging
plans and told the direction and distance they were to cut. Teams
worked in shifts basically 24 Earth hours a day, rotating in fresh
crewmen regularly to keep up the progress. No, they didn’t know
exactly why they were cutting all these new tunnels; but they were
told this: They had to hurry. Earther tunnel tanks were progressing
rapidly toward them from many different sections of the mine
network.

The plan
behind all this from Cuttlefish was complicated but ingenious:
devise a system of channels for the intense heat from volcanic
vents to reach subterranean glacial ice above them. These glaciers
were located throughout the planet; and above them were
subterranean aquifers that held millions of gallons of water. The
heat from the volcanic vents would melt the ice and then drain
glacier water down into the giant magma chamber below. The water
would create instability in the magma and cause pressure to build
up (just like the sea water did in Krakatoa). Eventually, once the
magma chamber reached an acceptable level of agitation and
instability, charges could be placed underneath the cavern floor
located above this massive magma chamber and detonated.

The resulting blast
would release the pressure and likely cause an eruption which would
send lava shooting up tunnels and shafts—even all the way to the
surface—killing or incinerating most everything in its path. It was
dangerous, yes, but Solomon believed in his staff completely. They
would, he believed, calculate all probabilities for success; and
take into consideration all potential threats to the rest of the
planet. In other words; they would also calculate “acceptable
losses” to the Naustie population. This part of the plan, Solomon
really didn’t want to hear about….

Such a "scorched earth" approach to the planetary defense did
indeed have its drawbacks, as Solomon's team
warned him; because once unleashed
after all, lava flow was bound to go practically wherever it
pleased. It might very well wipe out significant numbers of enemy
units, yes. But it would also devastate much of the planet in the
process; and that was only if they created an eruption large
enough. There was nothing they could do to control it; once it
began, but Solomon knew it's what he had to do (despite the fact
his conscience tortured him most every night worrying about the
potential consequences).

Solomon wisely sent Felina out to visit the threatened areas
which seemingly sat in the path of the enemy tank pincer movements;
or which might be devastated by the resulting floods and eruption.
She pleaded with some of the more stubborn Chieftains there to
evacuate their homelands; and move further away from the enemy to
new safer locations below. It was a tough sales job at
times!

Felina gave speeches to terrified villagers and
demoralized
warriors saying things like, "The tanks are coming my friends.
Leave your homes so that our army may kill the invader right here
at your doorstep. A new homeland awaits you all elsewhere, but for
now you must leave...." To each village she'd give that or a
similar speech; and each time it was argued vehemently. Schpleefti
tribes working down near the planet core were adamant about staying
and fighting. Pumalar tribes who'd been isolated down near the
volcanic core of New Australia for decades protested as well. Had
not Vlad already visited months before and told them to stand their
ground and fight to the death?

It
was a
ctually a
Pumalar tribal chieftain who posed this argument best by
confronting Felina at one of her evacuation campaign speeches.
After she spoke to his tribe all gathered in the center of their
great cavern; Chief Razor of the Cave Lions climbed up on a huge
stalagmite with a flattened top and addressed the very agitated
crowd. Speaking to the crowd while gesturing toward his honored
guest with a giant paw he bellowed in a gruff voice, "Princess
Felina... great wife of Solomon, Chieftain of Schpleeftkorkii...
She tell us leave this place and abandon our homes. She tell us not
stay and fight. Invader come our way. Army going to flood cavern
and kill Earther soldier with fiery lava.” He glanced over at the
lovely Felina and nodded his head out of respect. Then he
continued, “So be it. We love Felina; and so we shall do as she
bids us. However... Cave Lion all know that lava has
no
master.”

He
put his hands on his hips and thrust out his chest defiantly,
inhaling before he spoke loudly, “Takes no commands from anyone.
Lava does what it wills. Lava goes wherever it wishes. Lava, Felina
says, will kill the invader. And I, Razor, Chieftain of the Cave
Lion tribe, agree with Felina.
But…
the lava will kill Nausties too.” He pointed out toward the
crowd, then concluded, “Earther troops will die, yes... but I
believe… so will all of us!”

The crowd cheered their leader Razor and jeered at poor Felina
as she stood on a platform of steel plating erected over a group of
stalagmites inside this cavern which was roughly the size of an
Olympic sports stadium. Though relatively young as a tribe, having
been established only within the past thirty years, the Cave Lions
were extremely loyal to their lands and considered the volcano
beneath them to be
sacred
. For
three decades they'd been scratching out an existence mining
industrial diamonds. And before that, they dug out perovskite
crystals, one of which created much of their cavern when it was
removed.

The resulting cavern was located right next to a volcanic
fissure that bubbled up hot mineral water into a large spring
located at one end of their tribal lands. Meanwhile, they'd carved
out caves to live in over the decades, and recently even begun
breeding with purchased Pumalar females; whom they'd also now freed
and made members of their tribe. Mewing kittens could be heard back
in their caves, while a thousand warriors, farmers, and their
tribal "wives" stood voicing their disdain. They matched their
chieftain’s intensity with their yells and shouts. They shoved
their paws into the air in protest at having to flee in the face of
an enemy. This would be a disgrace, most of them felt. If they were
going to die, then let them do so in battle with the enemy.
That
would be honorable.

Felina... cool and calm as ever, merely nodded patiently and
waited for the uproar to subside.

She replied to the Chieftain in a raised voice as though
answering him but still also addressing the crowd, "Yes, brave and
mighty Chief Razor, I wish for you and your Cave Lion tribe to
follow me out of this cavern and abandon your homes. Yes… if you
heed my request, you may escape with your lives. Escape to fight
another day, we all hope. But when the tunnelers have burrowed
under us to allow charges to be placed in the floor of this cavern
underneath our feet... when the blasts create a gash in this
rock below us... the
effect could very well be global volcanic holocaust... a debacle
that wipes out all life on New Australia." She paused for the crowd
to absorb all this. There was no use telling them everything was
going to be
okay
; when
she had no real assurances to give them from her husband (or his
planning team) in the first place.

But then after a few moments she went on, "However… wise
Slartigifijians, working for my husband have calculated that the
seams created from this detonation will explode gases and
lava
up
through the shafts
occupied by our enemy. If successful, fireballs capable of
incinerating an Earthman to dust will race through the shafts...
back to the planet surface... wiping out all Earthers coming toward
us and decimating their army where they stand."

Felina then paused and thought for a moment. Her audience was
almost completely silent by now, and in a sense they seemed to be
just hanging on her words
; anticipating her next sentence with great anxiety.
If she could just say the right thing, they'd follow her right out
of that cavern. But what could she say? Oh, how they wanted to
believe in her, she could tell. They truly loved her, they really
did. But perhaps she was asking too much of them; and that was the
problem. That's when it occurred to her. They worshipped the
volcano underneath them! Not like a god... Pumalars did not believe
in a supreme deity of any kind... they merely worshipped ancestors
and believed their souls existed in the afterlife in a manner that
reflected the honor with which they once lived their
lives.

A
smile grew across Felina's face. A kind and warm, loving smile. The
words formed in her mind and her lips formed them into speech,
without her even measuring what she said with any form of logic.
She was merely channeling what she felt from her audience and
speaking instinctively. "Therefore, let us let the planet decide if
we live or die!" she blurted out... then paused to give herself a
chance to think about what she'd just said and consider whether it
even made sense. Suddenly she started nodding enthusiastically.
"Yes! That's what we need to do. If we are, as a people, to
eventually inherit this planet as our very own, then let the planet
choose us... or… if the sacred volcano below us wishes instead for
us to join our ancestors in Fukuoka... at the great table in the
hall of warriors... then so be it! Let us all die with honor, if
that shall be our fate!" Murmurs began arising from the crowd.
Shouts rang out too. She was actually making progress! The crowd
started nodding together in agreement; with even a few raising
their paws to show their support. Felina continued, sensing she was
winning them over, "If we are wrong my friends, and the planet
kills us all, then let THAT be so! Because...."

The crowd began cheering as she raised her voice even
higher... "Because if we are to possess this planet... if that was
ever our right to do so... then I believe this planet SHALL choose
us…." she then paused to let her audience finish the thought
process themselves.
They could see it now. The sacred volcano below them, once
released, would determine who was to live or die; and who was to
possess New Australia once and for all.

Razor interjected, "Yes Princess! We must let the sacred
volcano decide… whether we live with HONOR… or join our brave
ancestors at the great table!" The crowd rumbled with excitement.
Felina had convinced them. They had literally nothing to lose.
Felina called out one last time to them, saying "Thank you Chief
Razor… and now those of you who wish to follow me to safety, pack
up your belongings and families
. We leave tonight." And in a wave of cheers and
enthusiasm, the entire tribe did just that. Finally, the last of
the endangered areas had been evacuated.

Over the next few
weeks, Cuttlefish’s plan seemed to be coming to fruition. The vent
tunnels were dug, which routed intensely hot volcanic heat up to
the sides and to the bottom of one of New Australia’s largest
subterranean glaciers. Porko crews worked in the stifling heat
wearing their surface environmental suits which kept them
functioning well for up to two hours at a time. But even those
hardened Porkos couldn’t take much more of it. That’s why Solomon
recruited so many out of the Naustie army to perform this job.

The result was that
in only a few weeks, water was trickling—and then eventually
gushing in torrents—down through those tunnels and into the magma
chamber below. Cuttlefish’s predictions were coming true. The
ongoing rush of water was leading to great agitation in his magma
readings. He watched for daily changes caused by the movement of
pressurized magma. Plus he watched for associated changes in the
hydrothermal system surrounding the magma. The steady increase in
bubbling at the magma surface was what indicated to him that things
were progressing toward a major eruption. It just needed one last
trigger to set the whole thing off.