Zoron had been sitting in a very large room next to the Grand Hall for almost thirty minutes. He was looking down, just staring, as he rolled his thumbs, one over the other. If you had walked past him, you might have thought that he was day-dreaming, but in fact he was pondering the response to the submission he was about to present. In just a little while, he would walk through the huge doors behind him into a room where almost 500 Karonians sat, sifting through vast amounts of data, and his submission would be vital to their ultimate finding.

He knew that this was going to be the most important day of his life. He would be, in fact, the last to be called, in a hearing that had lasted for over 3 years, and that had heard submissions from over seven hundred Karonians. Would his recommendations be accepted? Had he contributed sufficiently to a positive outcome? He felt sure that he had.

If he had turned around, he would have seen dark shapes moving about through the huge smoked glass windows behind him. There was a good deal of activity taking place in that room, and the low pitched sounds of the many voices was like an incessant drone, like a huge swarm of bees somewhere in the far distance.

Of all the discoveries and all the calamities in Zoron’s life, he never would have dreamed he would be compelled to stand here today and present such an overwhelmingly bleak picture for his planet. Yet here it was; the grim reality that an entire planet was left with no alternative but to abandon everything that had taken so long to build.

Outside, everything seemed perfect. The sky was a clear blue-green, and just a few small grey-white clouds were visible. Now and then, Zoron would catch glimpses of birds flying past in the open sky. Sometimes even great flocks were visible in the distance, all following their leader to some new place of rest.

Zoron pondered the significance of those birds, so far away that they were barely visible. He visualized his own people doing exactly what those birds were doing - searching for a new place to rest. How ironic it seemed. A whole flock of birds, perhaps thousands, who like most of the citizens of Karonia, were completely oblivious to the fate of their entire planet. Nothing could be more symbolic of the times ahead, for indeed it seemed inevitable that many thousands of Karonians would soon take to the skies seeking hope and rest from the uncertainty that had occupied their minds for so many years.

How could nature have allowed such intelligent beings to face such a tragic, apocalyptic event as was now facing them? How could the most ingenious minds, developed over so many thousands of years, be finally subjected to likely extinction? It didn’t make sense.

The only hope was that perhaps travelers from some distant planet might someday arrive and utilize what remained intact. It would need to be a smart civilization that discovered Karonia, and what an incredible find it would be. Ready and waiting to restart, just as it had functioned for centuries. This would be a real jewel in the heavens for those bold enough and brave enough to seek a new planet on which to live.

Just a little less than a half a century ago, it would have been unthinkable. Karonians had established a perfect order. They had found solutions to all problems that been presented to them, and they had created what other reasonable beings would only describe as Utopia.

Zoron remembered those days, when he was just a child. He was now nearing fifty years of age, but he could still clearly recall many events in his childhood. He remembered times when he was just two years old. He remembered looking upwards at the stars, seeing bright yellow flickering lights, and sometimes even hearing the voices that whispered to him through tiny earpieces which he had worn since he was just a year old. He remembered how just a year later, at three years of age, his night skies changed to a dazzling display of flashing lights, of hundreds of colors, and he would often try to count the number of burning lights he saw in a minute as they sped through the sky above. By morning they were always gone.

It was the age when education, or more accurately, indoctrination, effectively began for all Karonians. It was not a negative thing, but rather a kind and loving introduction to things to come; a kind of positive induction into life. Since those early times, Zoron’s life had been full of adventure and hope, spurred on perhaps by those early times of listening to those who whispered in his ear. His parents had nurtured him with much love and affection, along with his brother and sister. Of the three, he was the eldest, and he took on the responsibility of ensuring their well-being from the time he was just seventeen, for it was then that he and his siblings had to bear the loss of both their parents in a Serindal flight crash.

Serindals were common in those days. They were a type of craft that was jettisoned from a skyward angled tunnel-like tube at enormous speed, so that by the time they settled in flight, they were already at a safe altitude, well above the slower, mushroom shaped Trandas, the routine air traffic below, which bustled about in every direction, even upwards and downwards, transporting Karonians with such extraordinary efficiency that there was hardly ever an incident or injury. The Trandas could carry as many as two hundred Karonians, but they were unable to achieve great speed or altitude.

There were more than three thousand small, working, moon-like satellites above Karonia, and each had its unique purpose. Most were specifically built for leisure, offering visitors extended resort style vacations or even day tours. Others were used for surveillance, GPS, a vast array of signaling and of course monitoring and planetary shielding. Apart from the working satellites, there were more than seventy thousand other pieces of equipment in various orbits around the planet. Every one, working or not, was tracked and monitored.

Serindals were a domestic craft used almost exclusively for satellite travel, and for a Serindal to encounter difficulties was virtually unheard of. They were finitely controlled by sophisticated computer programs that had been developed to envisage any possibility in flight, and to counter any deviation from normalcy. There was no input at all from the pilot or passengers, other than setting their destination and preferred arrival time. Some journies to the outer satellites of Karonia could last for almost an hour, although this was rare, for the ships traveled at over thirty five hundred kilometers per hour, and most popular destinations were just minutes away.

So it was indeed an aberration that as Zoron’s parents were about to launch their craft, a huge fireball erupted in the tunnel, and the craft was completely engulfed in flames.

That in itself was not fatal, for Serindals could withstand enormous heat, which indeed they sometimes needed to do during even routine flights. But as with most catastrophes, a series of events led to the total destruction of the craft. Not realizing that the fire had started because of a starboard engine fault, Zoron’s father had in fact tried to escape the flames by requesting an immediate launch, thinking that he could leave the fireball behind. The launch was confirmed, but instead of proceeding directly forward, the Serindal suddenly spun to one side, and with a deafening noise it began ripping itself apart as it veered right, and then left, then right again, smashing itself against the tunnel walls as it tried to make its escape. It had not stood a chance. The Serindal was literally welded to the tunnel wall. It had not even made it to the exit.

This event was significant in those times for more than one reason. It wasn’t an engine failure that could be explained in any enquiry, for the fire had burned at such an incredibly high temperature that no possibility remained for determining the cause of its engine failure. It was also such a rare event that many Karonians questioned the possibility of sabotage. In Kaoronian society this would have been most unlikely, although it had been conjectured because of the fact that Darminda, Zoron’s father, had been a military general of great importance before his retirement, just two years before the incident. Had someone tampered with the Serindal? Had someone blamed the military, or even Darminda himself, for the looming planetary fate which was only just being envisaged, and which might well cause all Karonians to rethink their entire future?

Indeed, matters of survival on Karonia were, for the most part, left to the Supreme Council, which oversaw long term stability and was responsible for planetary security. However, the Council itself relied heavily on advice from its own military arms in order to formulate its own recommendations and procedures. While there was always the possibility of an oversight, or even a deliberate attempt to sway the Council on certain points, Karonian order was for all intents highly automated and refined. It would be a very brave or very foolish Karonian who would try to manipulate such a system. The chances of discovery were far too high. In reality, such intentions, or even thoughts, probably no longer existed on Karonia. Crime had been virtually non-existent for over a thousand years, and when a crime did take place it was usually the result of a misunderstanding, or perpetrated by a young person not yet fully conversant with the laws of Karonian society.

Crimes were never harshly punished. Instead, two Karonians were always nominated by the appropriate local authority, and these were appointed to oversee the re-integration of the person or persons involved into their society.

For Zoron and his siblings, the loss of their father Darminda, and also their mother Sabrath, both of whom they had loved and respected, was not only a life changing tragedy, but also a mystery which would never be solved. Their loss would prove to be a driving force for Zoron, who had yearned for his parents to be proud of his achievements in life.

He himself now sat in this room next to the Great Hall of Karloor. It was a hall that only a very few privileged Karonians would ever see, for to be called here meant that one was immensely important in society, respected by all, and held in the highest esteem by the Supreme Council. He wondered what his parents would think if they could know the enormous weight of his power on Karonia.  

It had now been almost an hour since he arrived, and he was beginning to feel a little nervous, even anxious about what he would present to the Supreme Council. He, of all Karonians, would certainly be trusted to have assessed all available options, and to speak the truth with the best interests of Karonia at heart.

He had exhausted all possibilities, save for a chance encounter with other life forms in routine patrols, but the reality was there. What he said today would set in motion the final collapse of an entire society that had endured successfully for over seven thousand years.

The droning sound from inside the great hall became louder, just briefly, as a door swung open and a Kelen approached Zoron. “Welcome, and thank you for attending today. The Supreme Council extends apologies to you for the delay in receiving you. The Council is now ready to hear your submission”.

This Kelen was quite tall for a Karonian, nearly eight feet tall in fact, and he was, like all Karonians, completely hairless. He was dressed in traditional, loose silver colored clothing that looked permanently pressed, silver and black boots that came nearly up to his knees, and a light silver and black jacket which was secured right up to his long, slender neck.

His face was almost bronze in color, and his skin as smooth as silk. His skull protruded well back so that his head, in profile, was almost horizontal. In fact, his forehead was almost as deep as his face itself, so that his large oval eyes sat nearly two-thirds of the way down an exceptionally shallow face. His lips were thin, no more than slits really, and he had a nose shaped like the beak of a bird, except that the nostrils were at the bottom, rather than at the top of his nose, as a bird’s are. He was exceptionally thin, and this, combined with his height, gave him the appearance of an ant-like match-stick figure. His hands and fingers were long and slender, with nails that were somewhat claw-like, curled slightly downwards, and these appeared to be painted gold.    

Zoron followed him to the main doorway, and thanking him, entered the Great Hall, where he was greeted by two more similarly dressed Kelens, one white and one black, who led him to the front of the hall, where he was to stand before the Supreme Council.

There were in total sixteen members of this Council. Eight Kelens and eight Salleems. A Kelen is a male of the Karonian species, and a Saleem is a female. In matters of security and law, each gender is always represented in equal numbers. Gender equality was something the Karonians had adhered to for many centuries. It was fundamental to their social system, and no one ever questioned it.

But that was about to change, and it was the reason that Zoron stood here today. There was going to be upheaval on Koronia. The laws that had been crafted and perfected to benefit and preserve a vibrant, happy and co-sexual society were about to be overturned and relinquished, perhaps forever.

The Great Hall fell almost silent, and Zoron felt a thousand eyes resting on his lips. He looked about and saw a multitude of what appeared to be flat crystal light panels, all displaying some sort of data, and all glowing brightly so that the entire hall seemed to be immersed in a kind of blueish haze. The huge room was not quite circular, more hexagonal really, but gave the impression of roundness because of the huge curved windows which faced the outside of the building.

Zoron could hear a deep distant rolling sound, like continuous thunder, and when he looked slightly upwards, he could see an entire wall, some twenty meters across and almost as deep, covered with what must have been billions of stars, and swirling amongst them, distant white, yellow and red galaxies rotating in an artificial, indigo sky. As the galaxies moved slowly, some spinning in perfect circles, others eccentrically, they had the easy ability to mesmerize anyone who looked deeply into them. Ordinarily, one would gasp at their first sight of such a beautiful and phenomenal sky, for it was truly awe-inspiring.  But it was not here today for the purpose of being admired. It was instead a three dimensional virtual rendition of the known universe, a map that would lead Karonians away from extinction, and hopefully to a new future. Zoron observed the spectacular, luminous sky with dismay. He had of course seen it before. In fact, he had contributed to its design, and his knowledge of its real purpose was deep and profound, but it was still such a tremendously powerful thing to see. No one could be unmoved by the sight of it.  

A Kelen stood and called the hall to attention, announcing that Zoron, Commander of the Department of Strategic Re-Establishment, based in Karloor, would now speak. Zoron looked around, and saw that many of the faces in that room were long standing friends who were now relying on him to lead them to a new world. A place where they could live and prosper, have children, and be happy. All of them already knew, even before Zoron spoke, that their own planet, their home, was doomed. In just a few short decades, unless some miracle occurred, they would be faced with extinction.