9.Micro-organisms

She reassured: “We knew nothing of a danger.” He

replied, almost angrily: “Yes! When suddenly all documents, all records from a planet disappear ... from all libraries and information centers in the most varied of worlds, then there is something behind it. When we no longer know how to get to this planet, Historia or Gaia as the locals call it ... something is fishy. There are powers at work that are extremely threatening to the Federation. But that's why I had to act. I had to put that man on the problem who was best suited for it and could not take into account that we are friends ... “

Achela looked at him with big red eyes and confirmed him. "Naturally; you could hardly have acted otherwise. In addition, frankly, I did not expect his mission to be successful. And without a success he would not have been in danger. ”

“ You're not quite right, one must always count on success, no matter how unlikely it seems, ”he said finally. And then, hesitantly: “But do we now even know whether he has found the planet? You mentioned a clue. What kind is it? ”

The image of the strange girl quickly turned pale and disappeared. In its place a huge bull's skull appeared - or rather a somber sculpture that represented one, with mighty, golden, wide-curved horns and unnaturally large, impressive eyes. The enlargement of a sculpture little more than the size of a fist. "Minoan ... or rather Historia - Minoan," said the Protector. "Does it come from Yssar?"

Achela's voice could be heard clearly. It seemed to have its origin where the head-high bull's skull floated. "Yes. Commander Eres' patrol found them in the station quarters that the pirates had for a while. The bull skull is arguably part of the booty of a previous company. As you can probably imagine, it comes from Historia. Unfortunately, nothing more is known about how it got into the hands of the pirates. ”

“ And where is the connection to Lezart? ”“ See for yourself! ”Replied Achela. The bull's skull began to spin so that the cross-section through the neck was visible. And there it was: "For Lezart PaDorkis, a very good friend". And as a signature: "Zeus Kronion".

For a moment the Protector was stunned. Then satisfaction flowed through him. “So then he found the lost planet: Historia. He was successful! But what happened then? Where is he now? After all: this find probably shows that he not only found Historia, but also left it again. We need to find out more about the fate of PaDorkis, Achela. It looks like we need to pay more attention to Ivarn in the future. We have to send real agents there. ”

“ It will take a while to get them in, ”she replied.

"Then we have to be content with what we have for the time being," said the protector, dissatisfied. "So what do we have?"

"Tjonre SoErgen and Raft AkRrovaar."

***

Ivarn

A few hours later Ma came to him again, he was still sitting in the library reading the book by PaDorkis to talk to him about the use of the new slave girl. "How is she?" Tjonre asked, his voice showing concern and genuine concern.

"She is sleeping now. I put her in the second bed in my room. I think it is best if we quarter her there, nothing else is available anyway. ”

“ Very good! ”He replied, he hadn't even thought about such trivialities as the fact that she needed a place to sleep. He knew why he left such things to Ma. “Did she eat?”

“Not much. A soup and a little bread, but we'll feed them up. If necessary, I slide each spoon into her mouth one at a time, like a baby. No one has starved to death at Ma, believe me. The most important thing now is to leave her alone and treat her with great kindness. "This appeal was obviously addressed to him.

“Of course you are right. She should acclimatise in peace. ”

“ What are you going to do with her? ”Asked Ma,“ with the harvest of the Nijem fruits she cannot help in the condition in which she is currently. The work in the basement is still too strenuous for them. In addition, as far as I know, we have enough workers anyway. You seem to have a different opinion, otherwise you wouldn't have bought her. ”

“ To be honest, I have no idea what to do with her, it's true that we have enough workers. I didn't plan on buying them. Raft and I were walking down the path by the slave pens when suddenly an object landed at my feet. A locket of the kind you sometimes see children wearing. It belongs to this girl and I wanted to give it back to her. ”

“ And that's why you bought her? ”

“ Yes, that's why. By the way: make it clear to the others that they are not allowed to take the medallion away from her. It's best not to touch it. She's very emotional in that regard, I suppose it's a memento of her parents. ”

They remained silent for a while, then Ma said,“ Of course she could help me with the children, I could really need help and besides, I have then keep an eye on her. ”During the Nijem harvest, most of the women on the estate were in the fields and had no time to look after their children. In addition to housekeeping, Ma also took care of them during the day, together with one or two younger slaves.

“That's an excellent idea,” said Tjonre enthusiastically at first. But then, having become pensive, he objected: “Don't you need experience?”

“Either that or you're a natural. Shall we try it? ”Tjonre nodded and Ma turned to go.

Tjonre held her back. “Oh one more thing: you mentioned beforehand that nobody has starved to death at your place.”

Amused, Ma smiled at him from her wrinkled face: “I was wondering when you would come up with it. Raft just got back. I set the table for both of you in the dining room. At the small table, as usual. ”

So Tjonre went into the bright dining room, which was located next to the kitchen and was dominated by a central long table. There were a couple of small tables by the window. Raft was already sitting on his sturdy, specially reinforced chair at one of them, in front of him a plate with a huge portion of fermented fruits and meat from various Ivarnian wild animals. The basic physiology of the Ivarnian fauna and flora was so fundamentally different from that of Terran - no DNA, no proteins - that only a few plants and no animals could be digested by humans without first being transformed by special microorganisms. When Ivarn was first settled, however, these were not yet known and the attempt to make living beings from the earth live on Ivarn largely failed. Besides humans, only a few plants survived, curiously among them the lemon. A lemon tree stood in the entrance hall of the manor house, the green leaves and yellow fruits as decoration; the lemons were also used in culinary delights.