Once every two hundred years the planet of Razziek deviates from its standard orbit around the two stars in its binary system.
Instead the position of both stars in relation to the planet, means that the inner planets get slung inwards and complete a full figure of 8 orbit between and around the two stars.
On the second crossing between the two mighty suns comes the equinox, at that point Razziek sits almost perfectly in between the stars. In less enlightened days there had been stories about how their planet had always been stuck in this way, unable to orbit because of the equal and opposite pulls both sides of the planet experienced.
Legend had it that the Great Lifegiver had freed them from their perpetual embrace, and that every 200 years the Lifegiver allowed the figure of 8 orbit to remind them all of his benevolence.
Of course nowadays they knew that it simply had to do with the binary stars uneven orbits around themselves, coupled with Razziek’s irregular, inferior orbit which caused the bicentennial change in course.
They were still another six months from the equinox whereby both stars and the planet would be in perfect alignment, Trem-Faddok wondered again whether their game of Mesh would be finished in time.
This would be his sixth equinox, though he was too young to remember the first, he wondered how many the gnarled old General Gryp-Saddah had seen.
The old man looked up from the Mesh board and spoke directly to Faddok.
“Am I right in thinking that you have been sent by the Habius Delegation to persuade me to be more proactive in the current crisis?”
The question had thrown Trem-Faddok, which was probably Saddah’s intention seeing as he was a cunning old so-and-so who was at least twenty times Faddok’s age.
He had indeed been sent there by Habius, their consensus felt that we had been a bit too slow in dealing with the current crisis, they had made rumblings that they may just go ahead and deal with it anyway, regardless what the general military consensus was.
That could easily lead to conflict as they were technically in a state of martial law, which made Gryp-Saddah the Supreme Leader. However this grated with the civilian council who felt that the crisis, seeing as it was off-planet didn’t constitute a military crisis. Thus it should not warrant the usual rule triggering martial law and thus the attentions of General Gryp-Saddah.
Conversations between Razziekians could, and often did take place well over a century, and it being tradition not to interrupt a person’s train of thought once you had finished asking the question, it was very important to be concise with one’s meaning.
Unfortunately being concise did not come naturally to most Razziekians, especially the older ones. Trem’s skill as a diplomat stemmed from his skills on not only asking the right questions, but also establishing meaning from questions asked of him.
The question he had just been asked was clearly not intended to find out the information it claimed. Saddah of course knew full well that Trem had been sent to him on a diplomatic mission, and the only thing that Habius would want to talk about would be the machines that were eating their way through this corner of the galaxy.
Trem realised that the question could have simply been stalling for time, as a simple ’yes’ from him would allow the old general another few weeks of contemplation before allowing the conversation to continue.
However Trem didn’t think this likely, in the few months he had spent in Saddah’s company, playing this infernal game of Mesh, which as far as Trem could tell you had to be at least a thousand orbits old to understand all the rules. He had noticed that the general did not waste words, each one was deliberately used and placed with meticulous care.
The general had used the term, 'am I right in thinking that . . .’, as far as Trem could see this was an oblique threat, and also a way of gauging what the Habius Delegation, and indeed Trem himself thought of Gryp-Saddah and his methods.
A mere two hours after Saddah’s question, Trem spread his two outer tentacles and allowed air to billow through his upper gill portion, the Razziekean equivalent of a shrug, and then spoke very deliberately and simply.
“Venerable Gryp-Saddah, please be assured that I and the Habius Delegation hold you and your fellow generals in the highest of regard.
We would however ask you to indulge us, for as you know by the very nature of our society it is you and your peers who hold the most experience in your tentacles.
Perhaps if you could explain your reasoning, only for the benefit of the younger among us who have not come across such a crisis before and may be prone to rash action brought on by panic.”
Trem sat back and smiled to himself, his subtle reference to the other generals reminded Saddah obliquely that civil war would not just happen because he was angry with the civilian population.
There were other generals who held a lot of sway with the general populace who could perhaps be persuaded that Saddah’s time had come.
Then he had given Saddah a way out, by giving him a chance to explain his vague, previously unexplained wait-and-see policy and by that same token giving the old man a chance to amend the policy without losing face.
Trem plunged one of his mid manipulator tentacles deep into the Mesh board and wrapped its end around his dominator piece.
He removed it from its holding and placed it deep within Saddah’s main territory. Even though it was a move that could not be backed up with any real strength, as the rest of his forces were too spread out around the board, it did force Saddah to do something about it.
The young diplomat sat back and smiled, he looked into the general’s impenetrable features and wondered how long it would take him to answer.
Metal Rain: Chapter 14 - Scorched Earth
Metal Rain: Chapter 13 - Self Doubt
Metal Rain: Chapter 12 - Timeless Start
Metal Rain: Chapter 11 - Child Psychology
Metal Rain: Chapter 10 - Paradise Eaten
Metal Rain: Chapter 9 - Message From Home
Metal Rain: Chapter 8 - First Born
Metal Rain: Chapter 7 - First Contact
Metal Rain: Chapter 6 - The Impossibility Of Being
Metal Rain: Chapter 5 - Entropy Envy
Metal Rain: Chapter 4 - Vacuum Call
Metal Rain: Chapter 3 - Transformation Requiem
Metal Rain: Chapter 2 - Nanostorm
Cryptogee Chronicles Book Two: Metal Rain - Chapter 1 - Void Edge
Altered image: Cg