6 The Emperor and Prince
TETRAHEDRAL PALACE - The Imperial Palace of the Xai Family. The seat of the Empire's power and authority. Situated on the Sadareepo Plateau, near the Equator, and ninety degrees east of the planet's Prime Meridian. The Palace is actually a crystalline Pyramid, although some areas are lined with metals rather than transparent crystal. The size of the Pyramid is 2.5 kilometers long on a side. Each side has three parabolic shaped gates - the central one is the widest and the largest. A wall six meters high and six meters thick surrounds the Palace. Within the Palace is a biosphere in itself, supporting diverse plant and animal life, complete with forests and small lakes, imitating the lowland ecosystem of the planet.
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"Lah Ribheg reported that they sighted a vehicle approaching Hammada." Emmer reported to his father.
"A vehicle?" Emperor asked. "Is there something unusual about it?"
"Ribheg said the vehicle is not catalogued. Visual sighting indicates a primitive, yet functionally efficient type of ship."
"Uncatalogued vehicles usually come from the Fringes. Pirates?"
"Hardly. Even Pirates use Wormholes. I doubt Pirates use such a ship. Ribheg knows a lot more than I do."
"Speak further, Lah Ribheg." Egher asked. Ribheg then stepped forward and bowed before continuing what Emmer introduced.
"Yes, your Majesty. The ship was discovered, wandering aimlessly near Hammada. While the Prince was in the planet, the Star Sailors detected its presence. Although it is moving at high speed, it was obvious that it was merely being propelled by its momentum."
"Have you done something? Did you retrieve it or make contact with it?"
"Not yet, Sir. We radioed in different frequencies but whatever computer or machine that controls it either ignores us or is completely disabled." Ribheg answered.
Emmer added, "There is one more thing about its location. The first time we detected its position, it is about twenty-two light-years from the 'defined edge' of Andromeda, in Sector 90, at the third arm. At the border of the Fringes."
When Ribheg mentioned the position, Egher was surprised temporarily. Q'ara and the other Mekholis noticed it. The short silence of Egher forced Q'ara to ask.
"Is there something special with that location, Egher?"
"I may be wrong. But that vehicle could be of human origin, earth human. It is near the Mother Wormhole."
"Mother WormHole? I never heard about it." Emmer complained.
"That is the shortcut from Andromeda to the Mother Galaxy, the Milky Way."
Even Q'ara realized the possibilities.
"Does it mean that the discovered vehicle could have come from the Milky Way?"
"It not just that. If it contains humans from earth," Bikho Xai said, as he stood up, "then it must be destroyed."
"Destroyed? Why? We do not have evidence that they are on a war mission." Emmer protested.
"They are a threat to us."
"But why should we destroy a vehicle that would give us insights of our origin? We could know about them, and their technology." The prince countered.
"Their technology is not important to us. Their thoughts and ways might contaminate the peaceful Andromedans."
"Duke Bikho, please take your seat." Egher said firmly, but with respect to the elder Bikho, his uncle, Kowes's youngest brother.
Egher thought that complications could arise if he allows these humans to come in contact with their evolutionary ancestors. The Mekholis have suffered much from the hands of earth humans whose thinking remain warlike, and confrontational. The humans of Andromeda are physically alike with humans from the Milky Way, but Andromeda humans did not experience the way of life from Earth, nor were they influenced by them. The Mekholis made sure that humans of Andromeda live in constant prosperity and peace. They have done it successfully that humans have almost forgotten the ways of war. Almost, but not quite. Minor problems may still arise, such as the case of . . . Hammada.
"The vehicle may have entered the Wormhole our own descendants opened thousands of years ago. We know that it is the only way to Milky Way. They could never have arrived here from earth using their traditional technology, unless they themselves created the Wormhole. Even light takes two-million light years to reach from Milky Way to us, and the Exodus was only twelve thousand earth-years ago."
"Do we risk the peace of the Galaxy?" Ollo Xai asked.
"The Canon of Plain Gem decrees that Peace must be preserved." Bikho reminded Egher.
"But not at any or all cost." Egher countered. "I rule because the Ruling Gem I possess is Onyx. Under the Onyx reign, Peace is important but not at the expense of lives of any creature. "
"Or nature." Q'ara added.
She is correct. Mekholis may also not do anything, even if they have the power to stop an event that can cause death. But Egher decided the issue.
"We shall try to make contact with the vehicle, with Emmer and Ribheg leading the mission. See what you can do with its passengers if they are still alive. Revive them if you must. Try as much as possible to make visual and audio contact with them."
The others remained quiet. Emmer felt that his father seemed to have grown confident of him. But Ollo, could not agree.
"The Empire is at peace for thousands of years, why risk it?"
"There are some things that you cannot possibly know, that I know. I cannot say my decision is good for the entire Empire, but it is the only good one that I have right now."
