The Quarry

[Rage Menelas]

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]Ryan was still iritated by the turn of events when he appeared back on the bridge the next morning. He pulled a chair up and sat staring out at the stars sullenly. Apparently, his master had filled his quota, had left the planet. Ryan felt a strange sadness at that.

Finally, Charlie spoke. "I know you became attached to your new friends back on Pella'agre but you must learn, my apprentice. There are inviolable rules that govern this federation. And neither you nor I are in a position to change them."

Ryan nodded. He was right of course. But he was not used to the notion of not having at least a nominal voice in the government. He had been taught to question authority all of his life, taught that might does not necessarily make right. This was a hard pill to swallow.

Charlie must have sensed his continued dis-ease with the situation. He patted him affectionately on the shoulder and spoke again. "It is time I told you who you really are, my man."

"What? What do you mean?"

"You are also one of the survivors."

"Of what?"

"Let us begin back about ten thousand years ago, shall we?" Ryan nodded vaguely and Charlie went on. "A race of humanoids were seeded on a lush world of perfection. Everything was as if made specifically for their life form. It was an absolute garden of eden. These people immediately began to multiply and build a remarkable civilization. For nearly 1600 years they flourished unabated. They reached the stars, colonized far worlds, explored freely... with not constraints.

"Then one day a cataclysm occured on their home world. A set of undersea earthquakes erupted that were so devastating that they rocked the very core of the planet, actually tilting it off its axis. This precipitated a series of monstrous tsunamis that swept across all the lands, covering it in seawater for months to a depth of fifty feet and more. Nearly ninety percent of the population perished in the first few days of the incident. The rest died within the following year. The only survivors were those off-planet; colonies, supply-stations, mining camps, ship crews...

"My people were on one of the colonies... the people of Pella'agre... well, they were a small resupply base and mining camp."

Ryan nodded his acknowledgment. "Then why won't you help them?"

"There were only a handful of colonies that were self-sufficient when the catastrophe occured. All lost headway on their technology-trees. All but three plunged into a severe dark age, eventually losing all but the most rudimentary elements of civilization. When the three great powers were once more capable of reaching starflyer status they met each other in the stars, barely remembering their distant kinship, for over a thousand years had lapsed. Initially they fell into conflict, then they determined to forge a federation with rules and regulations that they could all live by. Each in their travels were encountering remnants of the ancient starflyer race that had seeded all our worlds... and many unscupulous agents were taking advantage of these lessor civilizations for their own benefit. That is why the rule is now in place.

"Ryan, one other thing you should know... the ancient race of starflyers from whom we all sprang came from Earth... they were your people..."