Alexander Kazantsev - The Destruction of Faena

“We’ve found a world of amazing beauty, but we haven’t proved that we can live on it.”

“We must remember Dm Sat’s warning.”

“What is there to be afraid of? Dangerous invisible beings? But light is the best medicine for them. I myself am a Sister of Health. Our ancestors didn’t take thought, they injected themselves with illness-creating microbes in order to rid all Faetians of deadly diseases. It is the doctor on Terr who should be the first to shed a space-suit! It is a duty! Besides, I want to bathe in the lake. Will my Ave, who tamed the ocean waves on a board, back out now? Take the tablets I gave you. They will protect you from the unknown world of the Planet of Light. And its light will help us. Take off your space-suit! And help me.”

“Why are you tempting me, Mada?”

“So that we can be the first to do what must be done anyway. After all, we can’t go back to Faena without having tried to live here in real freedom. And not in a shell.”

So saying, Mada plucked a golden apple and held it out to Ave.

“Peel it for me, please. It has a skin as bright as Sol and as tough as one of our space-suits.”

When Quest began approaching the orbit of Terr, the members of the expedition found the brilliant light of Sol more and more intolerable. It became particularly searing when the ship went into orbit round the planet.

Mada established that Terr’s atmosphere was strikingly like that of Faena. Except that there was little carbon dioxide and there was no greenhouse effect. The planet freely emitted the excess solar heat into space. The conditions of existence on it were consequently similar to those on Faena, as Ave Mar had once suggested.

Toni Fae, the astronomer, observed the planet with the enthusiasm of a poet. Most of it was under water and seemed to be hatched with the lines of the waves. The land and sea surfaces were strikingly varied in colour. But most of all, there were clouds over Terr. Singly, they cast distinct shadows onto the surface of the planet, and in the misty oceans here and there it was possible to distinguish the spiral whirlwinds of hurricanes raging down below.

But nowhere, neither on land nor on the sea coast, could they see the patches of towns stretching out the tendrils of roads. This was what struck everyone at the first sight of Terr from space.

“Must be a dead planet,” suggested Flight Engineer Gor Terr.

“It’s a live one!” exclaimed Toni Fae. “The green of the continents means vegetation. And the others…”

“That’s the whole point; you won’t guess what they mean.”

“Why not?” said Toni Fae animatedly. “It’s easy!”

“R-really?” said Gor Terr, astonished.

“The priests in ancient times believed that every living being was surrounded by an aura. Its colour was supposed to enable the ‘psychic vision’ to recognise the most secret thoughts and feelings.”

“You mean the pr-riests would have looked on Terr as a living cr-reature?”

“Yes, so as to draw a map of it,” laughed Toni Fae.

“All r-right, let’s get on with it. I can see black gaps in the mountain r-range.”

“That means the Mountains of Bitterness and Hate.”

“Much as on our Faena. There are dirty green valleys r-running into the distance.”

“The Valleys of Jealousy.”

“And the black and gr-reen ones?”

“Base Deceit.”

“Is it worth it, starting with such gr-rim names?”

“Then look at the big land areas.”

“Bright gr-reen.”

“The priests considered that colour to be a sign of worldly wisdom and subtle deceit.”

“Let’s be indulgent to Terr and call the dry land the Continent of Wisdom without any deceit. And here is a narrow sea with r-red lightning flashing over it.”

“The Sea of Wrath.”

“It has a pink bay.”

“The Bay of Love.”

“And the sea coast here is r-russet brown.”

“The Coast of Greed.”

“Not bad for future Terrans. Will it be better with the dark blue ocean, perhaps?”

“The Ocean of Hope.”

“And its light blue bay?”

“The Bay of Justice.”

“That’s better already. And these fire-breathing mountains with the r-red flames and the black smoke?”

“The Volcanoes of Passions.”

As they carried on with their game, the young Faetians gradually drew the first map of Terr with amusing names recalling the members of the expedition.

“As for Mada’s aura,” continued Toni Fae, “that’s a spectrum of dawn in space.”

“And what about Toni Fae himself? Hasn’t he been blazing with a bright r-red aura ever since the visit to Deimo?”

Toni looked embarrassed.

“You see,” continued Gor Terr, “I interpret your aura no worse than one of those ancient pr-riests.” And he laughed knowingly.

“It’s not so difficult,” said Toni Fae in an attempt at self-defence. “You can see into Ave and even into Smel Ven.”

“R-really?… Even into Smel Ven?”

“We’re all blazing red,” sighed Toni Fae, “only the shades are all different.”

“Then shouldn’t we name the seas after lovers?” said Gor Terr, clutching at this playful idea.

“It would be better to call Terr the Planet of Eternal Passions.”

Toni Fae had been right not only about Terr, but about Smel Ven. If he had an aura, then it must inevitably be fiery red. He was burning with love for Mada, and the feelings she inspired would have streaked his own aura with black and dirty-green.

Fate’s darling on Faena, a celebrated astronaut, the favourite of the Faetesses, he had not even dared to make Mada’s acquaintance although he had often admired her on the Great Shore. He had hoped that the prompt departure into space would cure him, but… Mada was close at hand to humiliate and destroy him with her marriage to an insignificant half-breed whose father had gained the Ruler’s chair by nefarious means.

Like many longfaces, Smel Ven never did things by halves. Which is why he had become a celebrated and fearless astronaut and had flown to Terr. He had not been unpleasant or cunning as a young man, but Mada’s contempt had stirred up the hidden sides of his character. Seeing how happy Mada and Ave were together and hating them for that reason, he brooded on plans of revenge as cunning as they were cruel… But he had to remain beyond all suspicion. The planet Terr itself was going to help him!

Quest, its braking engines switched on, was decelerating, without friction in the atmosphere and without any overheating of the cabin’s outer surface. Gor Terr, the ship’s designer, carried out the landing as “lift off in reverse”, in his own words. He did not apply the parachute brakes typical of the early stages in Faetian astronavigation. The spaceship could make landfall as slowly as it had lifted off.

Quest came down on its three landing feet, towering above the tallest trees and listing dangerously. The automatic controls immediately straightened it up.

The astronauts pressed their faces up against the portholes. A dense forest of unrecognisable trees rose on either side of a river.

“This is Terr,” announced Dm Sat, “that is to be the birthplace • of our successors! In the meantime, however, we must refrain from taking off our space-suits. We have yet to explore the unknown world of this planet.”

First, they lowered the instruments through the open hatch, then dropped the ladder, and strange figures wearing stiff space-suits began climbing down to the ground.

The last to emerge were Smel Ven and Mada. Smel Ven helped Mada to put on her helmet.

“Could it be that a Faetess like Mada Jupi…”

“Mada Mar,” she corrected him.

“Could it be that a Faetess like Mada could agree with Dm Sat and disgrace herself with this garb?”