Alexander Kazantsev - The Destruction of Faena

“Dzin?” asked Mada, on the alert “Really?”

“Settle yourselves in,” suggested Gor Terr. “I’ll go to meet Ton! Fae, otherwise he might be met by someone else.”

Mada smiled as he left. Such friendship between Faetians was a joy to her.

Ave began fashioning a door, skilfully wielding a home-made axe. The Faetoids might attack the sleeping Faetians in the night As he barred the windows and the door, he wondered what the future held in store for them all: it would be bleak enough if they had to live in a permanent state of siege.

When the windows had been barred with stakes, the atmosphere in the house had a depressing effect on Mada. As she watched the imperturbable Ave, however, she too was filled with confidence.

Twilight was deepening. Mada felt uneasy as she thought about Toni Fae and Gor Terr. The fate of the faraway Faetians on Deimo also gave her no peace of mind. How she wished that all the survivors could be together!

Mada peered out of the window through the stakes. It was totally dark in the forest. Tired after his walk, Um Sat was sound asleep. Mada had given him a whiff of stupefying gas from an ampoule.

Ave was admiring his newly-made door, rough-hewn, but solid. He locked it for the first time.

Mada looked at it regretfully.

“Ave, wasn’t it you who said that the Faetians must preserve the civilisation of their ancestors?”

“Of course, and I shall go on saying it.”

“Then how is it that we, as carriers of civilisation, could abandon in space the Faetians who are so close to us? Is there no way of bringing them to join us? If we could only find fuel here!…”

Ave Mar heaved a sad sigh.

“Even the fuel we found here wouldn’t help. We wouldn’t be able to process it the way they used to in Faena’s fuel workshops. Where are we to get all the pipes and distil ling spheres?”

“Surely Engineer Gor Terr will think of something?”

“Hardly…”

“Couldn’t we fly to Deimo and all work together to extend the greenhouse, improve the machinery and still live together? I’m afraid of staying here on a hostile planet. It’s not at all what it seemed on that first day. D’you remember the watering place, with the baby reindeer and the beast of prey drinking together in peace? But now?”

The door opened with a creak. Mada jumped up and seized Ave by the arm. Gor Terr was standing in the doorway. He moved aside to admit a distraught and dejected Toni Fae.

Mada rushed over to him, clasped him to her breast and began sobbing.

“Was there a session?” asked Ave Mar.

Trying to control himself, Toni Fae replied:

“It would have been better to die than hear the answer that Ala Veg came out with when she heard our refusal.”

“R-refusal? It’s an impossibility!” interrupted Gor Terr.

“She was sobbing. Sobs have never been broadcast over the air before. It was too much. Only why did Mada take the yellow ampoule from me?…”

“Calm yourself, my dear Toni Fae. I’ll give you a whiff from that ampoule in a moment. Look how well Dm Sat is sleeping.”

“But how can I sleep in peace if out there, on Deimo, Ala Veg has given up all hope and has lost faith in the power of love? I would fly to her without a second thought.”

Ave and Mada exchanged glances.

Mada gently calmed Toni Fae down. Sitting by the window stakes, Gor Terr was plunged in gloom. The damp came wafting in from the forest. It had started raining again. The Faetians couldn’t possibly have imagined so much water coming down from the sky. There had never been anything like it on Faena.

Toni dozed off, but tossed and turned, moaning in his sleep.

Ave Mar squatted down at the rough-hewn table, took a split branch and began making marks on it.

Gor Terr, his shoulders hunched, was still sitting by the window. He looked like a huge boulder. He was asleep.

Exhausted by all she’ had been through during the day, Mada settled down on some bedding not far from Dm Sat and Toni Fae, who were sleeping side by side.

Ave Mar was doing his best to save the batteries for the portable lamp. He switched it off and lit a taper which he had improvised out of a resinous splinter similar to the one he had split to make a tablet.

The rain finally stopped in the morning, the wind dispersed the clouds and Sol peeped into the Faetians’ new house. A mother-of-pearl footpath showed through the trees, the water on it shimmering.

Mada, barely awake and already busy with the household chores, instantly noticed a change in Ave.

Gor Terr was in a bad mood.

Mada offered everyone some plain food, economising in the stores brought from the ship.

“If only you’d heard her voice,” said Toni Fae to no one in particular.

Gor Terr exploded.

“They’re selfish! All they think about is themselves. Who gave them the r-right to demand such a sacrifice of us as the r-re-fusal to live on a bountiful planet? And they’re the ones who tried to blow up a space station like their own! If I was deciding whether we should fly to them or not, I wouldn’t allow it!”

Mada was frightened to detect a familiar ring in his booming bass voice.

Toni Fae looked dismally at his friend.

’They’re not all in the wrong. We’ve got to distinguish between the station chief, the Supreme Officer of the Blood Guard, and Ala Veg and the roundhead Luas, neither of whom is in the least to blame.”

“And there are some Faetians on Phobo who aren’t in the least to blame either,” interposed Mada.

“No matter how many of them there may be, how can we possibly help them?” snapped Gor Terr.

“It’s not quite like that,” intervened Ave suddenly.

All turned to look at him. Even Dm Sat, lying on a bench near the table, tried to raise himself on one elbow.

“I did some calculations during the night Gor Terr, as an engineer, could verify them.”

“A specialist on elementary particles has been checking the engineer who designed the spaceship Quest?” inquired Gor Terr darkly.

“Excuse me, Gor Terr, but I’ve been going through your calculations and I found them correct”

“Well, well!… I’m so glad,” said Gor Terr, heaving a sigh of relief.

“What a pity!” responded Toni Fae.

“Even so, Gor Terr’s calculations can be taken further.”

“R-really?” Gor Terr looked sharply round at Ave Mar.

“His calculations were based on the assumption that all the Faetians of Quest must fly to Deimo.”

“But of course! How can we possibly split up?” exclaimed Mada.

“Only by doing that could we save the civilisation of Faena.”

“Let Ave clarify his idea,” requested Dm Sat.

“To economise in fuel for Quest, only two of us must go up in her, not five. Then the remainder of the fuel plus the reserves of fuel on Deimo and Phobo will enable us to deliver the Faetians on the space stations to Mar. Quest, of course, will not be able to return to Terr.”

“Which means,” shouted Toni Fae, “that only one Faetian can go with the pilot Gor Terr!”

“Ave Mar can also fly the ship,” commented Gor Terr. “After all, he’s been fighting so hard for the preservation of Faena’s culture.”

Mada looked at her husband in alarm.

“I haven’t had the time to discuss it with Mada, but she can express her opinion now.

In the name of Reason, I am prepared to stay on Terr if Mada stays with me. True, after Quest has gone, we’ll be living like savages who will from then on have to make axes and arrowheads out of stone.”

“I am prepared to stay with my Ave,” said Mada, “as I would be prepared to fly with him to Deimo.”

“Then I can fly with Gor Terr!” whispered Toni Fae with unconcealed joy.