“The Commander of the Department of Strategic Re-Establishment”, the Kelen had announced. Zoron thought about that title as it resonated through the great hall. It was most certainly a real title, but it was known only to those in the hall and to the staff who worked behind the scenes, all of whom were sworn to secrecy. Had such a title been made public, unanswerable questions would have been asked, and that couldn’t be allowed to happen. Publicly, the department was known as the DSE, “Department of Strategic Establishment”. The “Re” had been dropped, so that any inquisitive minds could rest knowing that the on-going establishment of Karonia was in good hands.

“Distinguished members of the Supreme Council, honored Kelans and Salleems of Karonia, I greet you all with great respect” Zoron said. “I also pay respect to those who have addressed this hearing before me, who have played such an important role in securing the future of all Karonians. It has been my proud duty to examine all that has been submitted, and to present what I believe to be the most satisfactory solution to this planet’s impending crisis. This has taken much time. The submissions of seven hundred and four before me have been reviewed, and now the time has come for decisions and action”.

Zoron was a tall and robust Kelen. He stood at just over eight feet, and his face was somewhat ant-like in appearance. His head was long and almost heart-shaped. His chin was pointy and he was, like all Kelens, completely hairless. His eyes were large, teardrop shaped and a deep green. They were placed horizontally with the thinner edges to the outside and angled upwards at about forty five degrees. With a broad muscular chest and strong arms and legs, he was an imposing figure, and if there were such a thing as a modern day human to compare his stature to, one could easily describe Zoron as a giant. His skin was not really brown, but rather a light reddish-yellow color, and it glistened gold-like under the bright lights that shone down from the rear of the hall.

He wore the uniform of a senior public officer, which gave him a definite air of distinction. A long emerald green cape hung from his shoulders, and a maroon sash crossed his upper body from his left shoulder to his waist, where it was secured by a large black and gold belt. Over tight silver grey trousers, he wore black knee high boots which gleamed in the light.

Looking around at many nervous faces, he continued. “I have formed the opinion, and I recommend to the Supreme Council that the proposed mission into space proceed without delay, and that all resources should be made available to this end”.

There was loud murmuring in the hall as the audience digested Zoron’s words, then silence as he spoke again.

“I will now proceed to describe the necessary procedures and events which must take place to make such a mission possible. I ask that you remain patient as this mission is of paramount importance to our planet’s survival”.

After two long hours, Zoron had fully explained to the Council and the delegates the plan, the objective, the best and worst case scenarios, and the most likely prognosis, which was that as few as three ships would survive the mission, and of those, only one might return to Karonia. But one would be enough.

He was then vigorously questioned about matters such as food, water, fuel, anticipated ages and gender of travelers, animals and plants to be taken, how many and why and the method of selection of these. The likelihood of planetary encounters, defense needs for the ships, and most importantly, the time frame in which success could reasonably be expected were all discussed.

Zoron had explained that the Department of Extraterrestrial Physics had calculated there could reasonably be as many as 20 planets, many of which might be able to sustain Karonian life, within 35 light years of Karonia. While none had actually been found, they were likely to be there. The reason none had been found is that up until now, there had been no way to travel such vast distances, so these planets’ existence was theoretical. Now, newly developed NLS (Near-Light-Speed) technology would allow the ships to travel in space at NLS so that those planets, if they existed, could all be reached within about 35 years. A very long time, but a return trip was easily possible within a normal Karonian life-span, which averaged 165 years. Even so, for obvious reasons they would still need to have infants on board these ships, infants who may grow old never having seen Karonia. There would also be fertile salleems on board.

Karonians were indeed a very advanced life species. They had had over 7000 years to develop, not just technologically, but psychologically and, it should be said, spiritually too. While they were not yet telepathic, those older than 3 years were easily able to invoke a type of deep self-hypnosis, which enabled them to effectively slow their metabolism to a near stop. This would help preserve them on their long journey. Zoron had thought that this would prove an interesting experiment. The young ones on board may spend many years in this hypnotic state. How would that affect their ageing processes? Would it be possible for them to live to an older than average age in their NLS environment? No one really knew, but it seemed most likely, and if so it was another edge in Karonia’s quest for survival.   

When all these details had been considered, and Zoron’s presentation had ended, the consensus was that this mission must surely be undertaken, and as quickly as feasible. But there was still much to be done. Of course, the final decision rested with the Supreme Council, but it seemed obvious to all that they would pass into law the provisions for this enormous and incredibly ambitious space expedition. 

For Zoron, the presentation was the culmination of three years of exhausting work. Provided the Supreme Council accepted his recommendations, he was now free to rest for a least a short while. Right now, he felt tired, and although many kelens and salleems surrounded him, congratulating him on his wonderful work, his mind was elsewhere. He just wanted to be at home with is family. He would go to them and spend a week or two just relaxing. Maybe they could take a trip to Protella, their favorite satellite, which the children would always choose if they were asked where they wanted to go on a vacation.

He made his way home through the long tunnel-like conveyers that weaved their way through the beautiful city of Karloor. It was always a pleasant trip, with clean crisp air and lots of interesting shops to look at as one passed them by. It was possible to exit a conveyer at any time, simply by stepping off, and the multi-level conveyers all interlinked so that one could move up and down and forward without needing to take even one step. It was easily possible to spend an entire day on these and enjoy a tour of the entire city. When a conveyer left the enclosure of a building, it remained covered above by massive sheets of transparent material that afforded protection from the weather.

It was now approaching 6:15 bfs (Before First Sunset) KMT. Fisram waited eagerly to greet her husband, whom she knew was close to home. She could not say how she knew; she just did. She had spent the last hour preparing herself for his arrival, because this was a special day, and she wanted to be special for him tonight. She had married Zoron at the age of just eighteen years, and although she was now forty, she looked much younger than her years, and was still a most attractive salleem. Zoron loved to see her expression whenever he arrived home. It was clear that she loved him even more now than ever before.

Normally, after greeting the children, Zoron and Fisram would sit and talk about the day in their “forest” room, a special room that they had designed and built themselves. It emulated a remote temperate forest, and it even had its own stream, which flowed out into their spacious garden as well, and then made its way back again. This was their tranquility base, and here, they would talk for hours and sip Tyner, a lovely lemon-tea-like drink, and nibble on Pintas, a unique Karonian equivalent of Tapas, and these nights they would both cherish, for they had grown almost completely together. Sometimes, they could say out loud the exact words that the other was thinking, and because their bond was so great, such an insight was never a problem for either of them, for there were no secrets here.

Tonight though, they chose instead to sit outside. It was a pleasant evening, and Zoron was happy to just sit and talk before thinking about food. This was convenient, because their meal tonight was cool grilled vegetables, which could be served at any time. So together they sat on a swinging bench type seat which had soft netting on its bottom, and they looked out across the garden. Zoron spoke about the day; his nervousness and his surprise that he had managed to present his findings more effectively than he thought he ever would. But Fisra was not surprised at all.

In the far distance, they could see the millions of lights from the tall buildings of Karloor, and when they looked up, now that the sky’s light had faded, they could see the fireworks above. Comets splashing and playing, laying multi-colored light-trails in the outer atmosphere, as though taunting them, daring them to try running a terrifying gauntlet of massive rocks that were traveling faster than the eye could see.   

Fisra herself worked very hard too. Apart from caring for the three children, two of whom were nearly adults, and the other just 14 years old, Fisra held an important position at KBT Bio-Technics. She was a senior micro-biologist, and her work involved studying ground-dwelling bugs, many of which had already proved to be invaluable in health care. Thousands of proteins or enzymes, firstly discovered in and then extracted from these bugs had been commercially synthesized and manufactured for medical use. Of the total number of bugs so far identified on Karonia, Fisra estimated that only about 15% had been fully researched, and their bio-chemicals harvested. Tonight she told Zoron about a big sticky bug that could spit a blue, foul smelling fluid at you from two meters away, and that if you were hit, no one would want to be near you for at least a week. “Lucky for you” she said, “They didn’t get me today. ‘Want to come to bed?”