8.Trophy

But you could have left my food there, ”said Tjonre, although the door had already slammed behind them and Ma couldn't hear him anymore.

“Patience”, he thought, “I have to be patient ... and also clear away the splinters. But before that ... ”He went to the wall of books. All of the books had been acquired by his predecessor when he realized that there were no devices here with which one could make memes visible, audible or tangible; at least, possession of such an item was punishable by death. However, he had only acquired many books shortly before his death, including the one that Tjonre was now looking for. Where was the book by the historian Lezart PaDorkis? Ah yes. He took it from the shelf, opened it and had to leaf through it because he hadn't memorized the page. There she was. The 3D holo showed the portrait of PaDorki. No doubt that this was the man who was also shown in the 2D image of the locket, he had noticed that immediately after opening it. Was his new slave this man's daughter? What did she know about his mysterious disappearance? "Patience," he said to himself, "patience".

***

Mond Itirana, administrative headquarters of the Federation

The man was tall and slim, like all people of his race. Long, silver hair framed his pointed, bloodless face. Large, red eyes looked coolly at the crystal corridors and glass rooms through which he walked slowly. The echo of his footsteps clinked through the tunnels, which were deserted at this time, and hurried ahead of him to the huge viewing dome. The corridor felt the rays of the distant sun rising just above the horizon, turning deep red, orange, then yellow and green, finally blue and purple and, visible to the scarlet eyes, ultraviolet.

He looked around slowly. The dome was transparent: the sun seemed powerless compared to the darkness of the eternal night, which ate its way into the vast space. Like frozen snowflakes, points of light lay scattered across the black hemisphere, some bright and dominant, others weak and inconspicuous. Billions of them were pulled into a gigantic vortex, a wheel with only two spokes made of innumerable stars, which rotated slowly in space without ever encountering resistance. A glistening ribbon, once called the Magellanic Cloud, ran across the firmament, a star road that did not touch the star wheel - the origin of mankind. It was like a huge candle procession that came out of nowhere and led into nowhere. It disappeared on the horizon, near the point where the small, distant sun slowly rose higher and finally broke away from the horizon. Not far from her - and apparently much larger - turned the gloomy gas giant whose colonized, cold moon Itirana was. The planet loomed a little above the icebergs of Itirana, the turbulence of its atmosphere colored it red, brown and gray. Masses of clouds, driven by gigantic storms, divided the atmosphere into colored ribbons.

The protector took his eyes off the fantastic spectacle and became aware of a tiny point of light in the center of the dome; not a fallen star, a glistening, apparently human figure. As he got closer, the girl turned to him. Two red lights flickered on, framed by a silver veil. He had recognized Achela from a distance by her irritating peculiarity of floating a few centimeters above the ground. Despite her perfect outward correspondence, she was not a human but an avatar. She greeted the Protector with an implied lowering of her head. Then she knelt down, her expression strangely unemotional; her long white hair gently caressed the bare floor. He spoke to her in a calm, deep and confident voice: “Is there anything new about the incident in Sector 13? Do we already know who is behind the attack on the mining planet Yssar? Why didn't Commander Franak report the attack? I can't imagine that he was actually involved. "

She answered this flood of questions in a soft, ethereal voice:" Unfortunately the facts leave little doubt that the Commander was involved in the attack on the station. The station crew was wiped out by the arms of the patrol. But it is conceivable - even quite likely - that he was deceived by the pirates. This is indicated by the fact that they succeeded in completely eliminating his task force without

resistance . ” “ How did Commander Eres actually realize that Yssar is in the hands of pirates? ”

“ The station did not know the code when he answered. Apparently they hadn't expected the patrol to appear so quickly, and in fact the visit by Eres was not planned. They fled headlong and left a lot of traces from which we can conclude that the OrPhons were the masterminds of this attack. Which, by the way, was quite successful for her. The loss is considerable, practically the prospect of a whole year. ”

“ Besides that, societies will hardly be willing to send their people to the periphery if we cannot protect them! ”He paused to discuss the matter switch. “The OrPhons? That's the megalomaniac clan based on Ivarn. Do we even have agents there? ”The Protector wanted to know.

“Only observers who are poorly trained and far from the actual center of power. From the information I have on them, they not only lack the education but also the skills to play a more active role. Both are more of a second choice, which is even more polite. You are in a delta classification ”, Achela replied. “But there is something else. The crew of the pirates moved into the station for a while. And during the hasty escape, objects were left behind that are of no particular value, which perhaps explains, in addition to the time pressure, why they were ultimately not taken. One of these items is likely to be some kind of trophy from a previous raid. And for the first time it gives us an indication of an event that happened a few years ago, namely the disappearance of the historian Lazart PaDorkis. ”

“ An indication? ”The Protector fell silent as if these two words had already exhausted him. He stood there for a while, motionless, remembering things long ago, events nineteen standard years ago. Only after a while did he speak again. “How stupid of me to give him this job,” he said, “I should have recognized how dangerous it is.”