CHAPTER 5

Tubiko's pink moon stood full and bright at the horizon, casting soft shadows around the city. Despite the moon though, the city was as busy as ever. Somewhere beyond the state building, a little boy was asking his mother why it isn't the blue moon that night.

Spherical aircrafts zoomed across the sky in all directions, sometimes cutting across the moon and casting shadows over places. Land crafts with no wheels, held up by anti gravity turbines zoomed across the roads, picking and dropping people at various places.

In the space beyond the state building, wild noises issued from a wild party. Even in the building itself, a restaurant on the 7th floor was playing loud music. Yet the Council hall on the 26th floor was nothing like the scenes around it. In fact the hall was eerily silent.

Dr. Trumboy, one of the head scientists on Tubiko was the first to recover.

"Do you realize what you are saying, Dr. Sol?" Dr. Trumboy asked incredulously " making a whole new world underground. Did you realize what it will take? The cities, structures, the reallocation, order, security? You have got to be joking aren't you?" Trumboy rattled off in one breathe. Then he turned to the other dozen men.

"He's got to be joking isn't he?" He asked.

"The biggest joke since the great settlement" another fellow agreed.

Mr. or rather Dr. Sol after thinking for a fortnight decided that Congstan might after all be making sense. What use is it battling nature? Wasting all their resources in avoiding the damn comets? He assessed the state of his planet, Tubiko, and had no doubt that Congstan may be right. It has been three centuries, a good three hundred years since their ancestors settled in Planet Tubiko. Then the speculations were high. It was estimated that in about a century, that Tubiko is going to be more than anywhere else in the universe. But that they soon discovered, was an estimation made too soon. The next year after they have settled fully, their first comet struck. And by Tubiko's pink and blue moons, was it large. The small settlement they have managed to develop was razed clean and many lost their lives. They dismissed it as just some coincidence. That was their mistake. Months later, a larger one hit Tubiko. The settlements farm they have managed to put up went down and with it went their whole livelihood. Farming was their only occupation then and the settlement farm was the only farm they had. Other places were filled with craters, both large and small. They moved to another location, but when the same thing happened again, they realized that first and foremost, they must develop their astrological science. Their survival depended on that. The next 50 years were dedicated to that. But just being able to predict and foresee possible meteors were not enough. So for a century, all resources were geared towards being able to break up those meteors before they reached Tubiko. Only after that this did they have a chance at development. They have come a long way since then, scientist gradually becoming the most respected people and eventually the leaders. The planet was divided into the Northside and the south side. Each division was led by a head scientist. Each head scientist was assisted by Council of six men. The fourteen men made up the government on planet Tubiko and together they made the decisions affecting Tubiko.

Dr. Sol is the head scientist of the north side while Dr. Trumboy is the head scientist of the south side. At an earlier meeting, Sol, convinced by Congstan, Trumboy's daughter, mentioned the idea of having an underground shelter. But Trumboy disagreed, arguing that if they went underground without fighting the comets, their cities will be destroyed. Both men agreed to postpone it till the council meeting which was held every six months at the council hall. Before the meeting however, Congstan convinced Mr. Sol of a different view altogether. What if they make not an underground shelter but a while new world altogether and leave the surface to the comets? So at the council meeting Dr. Sol mentioned it and Dr. Trumboy was like...

"You have got to be joking, haven't you?"

And another fellow was like...

"The biggest joke since the great settlement"

Currently, the same fellow leaned forward in his seat, interlace his fingers an the table and said

" You realize what you are saying, don't you? We barely have enough resources to keep existing and you are suggesting we start building a while new world? And don't forget, the Great comet is coming in a years time and we have to prepare for it."

"That's a year away. The radar reveals nothing else preceding it. If we try hard enough, we should be more than halfway through by then" Dr. Sol argued.

"Just halfway through?" Everybody in the room asked in unison.

A hum began to rise, then died quickly as the steel doors slid open to reveal Congstan.

"Er... Sorry to interrupt but emergency. Unforseen unidentified object headed for the planet. Speculations are that it might be a manned craft" Congstan said, breathless from running.

"And there goes my trust for Dr. Sol's radars" someone said loud enough for him to hear. Dr. Sol however ignored it and ran out of the room. He took an elevator to the 17th floor where the Astrolabe is. He met Drake about to enter the elevator.

"Son, emergency. Round up the comet fighters."

"What the fuck" Drake swore but ran off anyway. He met Pearl in her locker room. Still embarrassed about what happened the day before Pearl snapped.

"What?"

'Emergency. Gat the team to the training room now" Drake said and ran off. Then he froze

"Emergency. Get to the training room now" Congstan's voice came over the intercom. In his excitement, Drake have forgotten to use the intercom. He sighed and walked to the training room. Others were already there and dressed up, so he had to run back to his locker room to put on his suit. By the time you reach the station on this topmost floor, the ship remained 10 seconds to launch. Before he could get to his seat, the ship launched, sending him into a whirlwind of motion. By the time he reached the controls, his father's patience was worn thin.

"Ready the explosives!" Dr. Sol snapped. When they were within firing range though, they could make out the shape of a ship. The comet fighters were a little disappointed but also curious. As far as they knew, no ship was launched that day

"Hey" Congstan said mischievously " we came for adventure, his can we go back without one?"

"Noway!" Six people said in unison.

"Hey kids, let's leave that ship to the space traffic controllers." Dr. Sol tried to say, but the kids were already on their way to the shuttle launch.