Continued from The Plunderers
The Nitrogen Era
The Nitrogen
Era, era 7, lasted 37,759 days - or 129 Earth years. In duration,
therefore, it was one of the minor eras. But it has left
a huge shadow on
the collective memory
of Uranian civilization.
Unfortunately we don't know nearly
enough, as yet, to fill out our picture of the era. As with
Earth's various Dark Ages, the incompleteness of the record can get
translated imaginatively into real, literal "darkness", as though people
had to grope around with flashlights during those times.
Also like Earth's Dark Ages, the Nitrogen Era
leaves us with awkward questions regarding urban life during
the period. Basically, how did civilization endure? For endure it did,
somehow. What finally put paid to the archaic cities of Syoom was
not the perils of this transition period but - as we shall see - the
mighty rebuilding which took place shortly afterwards at the beginning
of era 15.
Era 7 was a time of disorder, partial chaos, wars
and demoralization. The fair distribution of the dwindling remains
of the Sun-Egg broke down and there were battles to control what was
left. Furthermore, the centralized supervision of
research into alternatives, carried out by the Rin-Stazel, had
ceased; the Rin-Stazel itself was disbanded. Hope dwindled,
and many people believed that human civilization was on the
way out; that the eternal pressure of Fyaym would
overwhelm Syoom.
Guilds and corporations and secret societies, as well as
a few of the city governments, tried to take over where the Rin-Stazel
had left off. Research became competitive and less
scrupulous. Some avenues of research, which had been shunned as
repugnant and dangerous in the previous two eras, were now
surreptitiously embarked upon. These included some lines of
inquiry into certain sinister relics left by a previous Great Cycle
civilization, far pre-dating humanity. Also, we suspect, some
organizations investigated other dimensions apart from Chelth.
Finally there were some emanations haunting the remains of Dmara, the
now-dry sivvan from which humans had originated. One
theory goes that there must have been a fateful attempt to sample and
utilise the exhalations from that sacred site, resulting in a perversion
of the natural order, due to a mix of qualities analogous in some faint
way to our paradoxical juxtaposition of ghosts (unholy) and churchyards
(holy).
From some such source, or perhaps (though this seems
much less likely) from some home-grown evil genius, came the dread
invention known to posterity as the corruption ray.
This is no mere legend; it definitely existed, and on at
least one later occasion was actually rediscovered, though fortunately
not for long. We are (fortunately) ignorant as to how it worked,
but the effect is certain: it was a long-range weapon, trained in
secret upon a city by another city or fortress, and what it did can be
summed up in a phrase which, at first, may raise a laugh - namely,
the weakening of moral fibre.
At first, this was hard to trace upon individuals, but
it could be detected statistically as a drop in the level of public
spirit and cultural integrity. To give a historical example, it is
analogous to the cultural revolution in Britain, Earth, during the
century after World War II, when the country's constitutional,
institutional and cultural heritage was
abandoned. One symptom of such an illness is
that referents are abandoned. For example, by the alteration
of historic boundaries and the abolition of historic weights and
measures, historic institutions are "brought into line" with abstract
notions of modernity and thus shorn of their character and
individuality; and finally, when the people have been deprived of all
their roots, the enemy's task of conquest or absorption is rendered
easy.
The Uranians of era 7, however, did not altogether give in to this
sad process. Enough of them resisted, to make the users of the
corruption ray feel unsafe. We hardly know any of the details, but
it seems that the culprits were driven out of city after city until the
last and most desperate phase of the struggle, when, towards the end of
the era, the ray emanated from a hidden fortress. By this time,
the users of the ray had obtained help from some non-human enemies of
mankind in Fyaym, and had become much harder to overthrow.
It may, by the way, be not absolutely fair to
characterise all the users of the ray as villains. In the early
stages at least, their action may have sprung from a ruthless but partly
justifiable desire to increase the tough-minded element in human
society, to concentrate on facing the energy problem and dare to plunder
the dimension of Chelth as had been planned before the disastrous end of
era 6. But by the finale of era 7, the corruption ray and its
users formed an unquestionable and increasing force for evil.
Terrific and heroic efforts must have been made to seek
out and battle the users of the Ray and to destroy their horrendous
weapon. We hope that in due course research will reveal how it was
done. Meanwhile, one of the things we do know about
the period of that epic struggle - the last few thousand days
of era 7 - is that a certain Hyala Movoun was growing to womanhood
among the crystal groves of Opahej.
The Oxygen
Era
Crystal groves are actually small
forests of crystalline plants, with so many natural defences that they
are virtually immune to attack. The proprietors of these groves are
people whose families have, over many lifetimes, patiently fostered a
relationship of trust with the groves. Often nicknamed the Lucky
Ones, these proprietors are in a position of comfort and security, with
the lucrative crop of excess crystals ceded to them by the grove in
return for services easily rendered such as weeding and
pruning.
These families form an independent class of people, able
to withdraw deep into their groves in times of trouble, and thus
relatively unaffected by the political chaos and moral darkness of
periods such as the Nitrogen Era. So by merely existing, the Lucky
Ones have performed a service to Uranian mankind. On the debit
side, they have tended to be rather selfish, and their positive
contribution to history has been surprisingly small. Except, that
is, for Hyala Movoun.
She first became famous as a teacher. Educational
systems in the Terrestrial sense are not a feature of Uranian
civilization, for Uranian children do not have to be coaxed to learn;
but Uranian teachers do exist: freelancers who appear on the scene if
and when they see a need for some special service which only they can
perform. Hyala Movoun, as a young woman of about 7000 days,
decided that her vocation was to help restore the meanings of words
which had become blunted and rendered almost useless by the cynicism
prevailing during the blight caused by the Corruption Ray.
Accordingly
she perfected some mental exercises and some appropriate dialectical
techniques, and set up as a tutor - a sophist, our ancient
Greeks would have called her - to advise those in positions of influence
in her adopted city of Narar. But her success was so astonishing
and so widespread that she was soon established at Contahl, then still
the most powerful city on Ooranye. Her message of verbal purity
swept through Syoom like flame through dry tinder. Part of the
explanation must lie in her own exceptional nature, and part in the fact
that this was what the world was desperately waiting for: someone to
wean it from sniggering, from flippancy, from the whole miasma left
behind by the evil events of recent times. The effect of her
teaching built up quickly to the point at which the general public
emotion affected the rhythm of daylight, and this eomasp
marked a change of era.
This Oxygen Era lasted a mere 40 days, heady days of
pan-Syoomean renewal. Hyala Movoun was invited to make her home
and office in the central north-polar city of Skyyon, and to take the
government of Syoom into her hands. She agreed to the move, but as
to the government her answer was neither a straight yes nor a straight
no. No single individual had ever ruled Syoom, and she went on
record as saying that it could not be done. On the other hand she
saw the need for some international focus, some living symbol to whom
the cities of mankind could give their allegiance in certain matters of
common interest and common principle. In short, she recognized the
need for a Noad of Noads; and she became the first one in history - the
first individual to bear a number after nen's name: Hyala Movoun
1. Her investiture as Sunnoad and the festivities associated with
it caused another heightened, etheric wave of emotion: the 22 hours
known to history as the Fluorine Era.
The Neon
Era
Lasting 5,558 Uranian days
or 19 Earth years, this era is also known simply as the Reign of
Hyala Movoun. Naturally it is crammed with legends, some
believable and some not, centred around the personality and exploits of
the First Sunnoad. A few critics have tried to find fault with
her, but it has not been easy. Obviously her charisma must
have inspired such a combination of awe and affection that
problems which would have baffled other statesmen simply
dissolved before her glance. Yet this reliance on individual
greatness has been cited as a defect of the regime; for what then
happens when the individual who sustains it is no more?
Another criticism is that Hyala as
time went by began to rely too much on her own past record; in other
words, it could be said that she became lazy, or at any rate
naive, believing that her influence, her beauty and kindness and
lremd intuition, would suffice to solve every
problem.
A few people voiced these doubts at
the time. Historians will argue forever as to whether they were
justified. What is certain, is that Hyala came to agree that a
Sunnoad must submit occasionally to freelance Correction - provided the
Corrector was willing to put nen's life on the line.
The institution of Correction, therefore,
is almost as old as the sunnoadex: for the first Corrector,
Lehal Thoal, corrected the first Sunnoad, Hyala Movoun.
The occasion was close to the end
of the Neon Era. The issue was, yet again, the energy
crisis. The crisis had been muted for a while because the very
depths to which society had sunk during the Nitrogen Era had lessened
people's demands for energy, and humanity during the Neon Era for a
while had lived on gratitude and euphoria; yet the situation was not
stable, and Hyala Movoun knew that the problem had merely been shelved
for a short period. Any concerted threat from Fyaym would
find Syoom unable to defend itself.
Be it noted that the gentle,
charming, beautiful Hyala Movoun made the ruthless decision to
renew the project of the Rin-Stazel to plunder the dimension of
Chelth. She saw no other way to obtain for her people the
power-source they needed. Tapping the last dregs of the Sun-Egg,
the great Project was revived. Since the records have
been hidden or destroyed, we do not know how it was done, and it is
doubtless best - though of course frustrating for the historian
- that we do not know.
What we do know
is that towards the end, Hyala Movoun had doubts about this transdimensional solution to the energy crisis.
She found out something - we are not sure what -
which made her try to delay or even halt the Project. This is where
Lehal Thoal took the action which might have resulted in his execution
- he coerced the Sunnoad. In fact he kidnapped her and kept
her hostage for three days, until he managed to persuade her to
rescind her order and let the Project go ahead. Then he released her, and
she - with a genius for turning defeat into victory
- created an institution and a tradition out of what had happened, proclaiming
Lehal Thoal the first Corrector.
These events, dramatic though
they were, are overshadowed by the universe-shaking epic which
followed. The next four eras lasted a very short time in total,
but it is fair to say that no other period has had such an impact
upon Uranian history.
Here it will be mentioned, in passing, that one of the
memorable achievements of the Neon Era was the invention of the
skimmer, the vehicle which ever since has been used more than
any other for individual personal transport on Ooranye. The
skimmer's design grew out of that of the hover-raft of the Lithium
Era. A skimmer is lighter, more streamlined and much more
swift. Mounted on skimmers, Uranian wayfarers feel most in their
element, roaming free across the plains of the giant planet.
Legends grew up around the pioneer skimmer-pilots of the Neon Era,
though the vehicles were not mass-produced or available to all who
wanted them until the Phosphorus Era.
Chelth
It proved
impossible to keep the plunder of Chelth
a secret. As soon as the source was tapped, as soon as
power began to flow from Chelth to a receptable at a location in
our universe - namely the Vaults of Skyyon on
Ooranye - such a disturbance arose in the air, that everyone
knew a new era had begun. The need for secrecy was, however,
universally understood. Secrecy not with regard to Uranians, but
with regard to the people - if any existed - of Chelth. In other
words it was feared that other things besides power might flow along the
transdimensional "cable" - namely, knowledge, tension, guilt. The
people of Syoom made a supreme effort to quieten their thoughts, to say
"Sh....." with their minds, to avoid the subject which was uppermost in
all their thoughts.
For 130 days and 6 hours (the Sodium Era) it
worked: the tapping of energy continued,
the energy-vats in Syyon and other cities grew fuller, the
enterprise went ahead successfully. Then came what became known in
history and folklore as the "flare of arrest".
It lasted 58 minutes, and has counted
in history as the Magnesium Era. No one who lived through it
ever described it scientifically. Poets and storytellers
have likened it to a sense of being tapped on the shoulder by an
invisible being who somehow personifies a whole universe.
Scientists generally assume that the mental effect was caused by
something real, namely the action of a Chelthan entity who had become
aware of what our universe was doing to his, and who was trying to
reverse the process.
Then came the last great action of
Hyala Movoun. At least, it is supposed that the action was
hers. It is unlikely that anyone else could have done it - could
have made a mental bargain with the forces from Chelth, could have found
an ally there who was willing to come to an agreement: "destroy the
Project now, destroy its records, and we will allow you to keep what you
have gained so far; provided that you also give us....
yourself." This bargain was struck during the 2 hours and 43
minutes of the Aluminium Era, while the world held its collective
breath.
The deed was done, and a strange
peace fell over the land of Syoom, a quietness of sorrow and
triumph. The Silicon Era lasted one day and 26 hours, during which
millions of inhabitants of Uranian cities sat or stood waiting for Hyala
Movoun to die. Her people all had the idea in their minds,
that her soul would soon be borne away to Chelth, to be experimented on
by her adversaries. They trusted that her ally there would spare
her torment, but there was nothing they could do. Everyone quietly
knew these things, though since the tap was now off, the cable cut,
between Chelth and our universe, this knowledge was fading like a dream,
and would not outlast the hours of this era.
>> The Phosphorus Era
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