Chapter 6
Onyx’s Conference
“This is your doing isn’t it?” said La- zar furiously to Zavier. “That stupid gadget, the one that got you and Saffyre into trouble at school, you’ve got it haven’t you? STOP IT NOW!”
“This has NOTHING to do with me,” yelled back Zavier. “The tervy-blaster was confiscated remember? So I’m definitely NOT using it now. Why do you have to blame me for everything?”
“Quiet,” hissed Saffyre. “I can hear something.”
Zavier and Lazar stopped yelling at once. To their left in the giant kitchen, some tiny creatures were floating in the air not far away from them.
“What are they?” asked Lazar. “Saffyre you’re the closest to them, do you recognize what they are?”
“Well I’ve never seen any before, but they look an awful lot like the pictures I’ve seen of mice,” replied Saffyre.
At the far end of the kitchen a small, plump woman came through an archway. She was wearing a dark green checked dress, with a ridiculously oversized white apron over it and humming a tune. She looked shocked when she saw them.
“Sorry my dears,” she cried. “I forgot Onyx said you were coming.” She flicked a switch and the teens landed upright sharply on the shiny, tiled floor.
“It’s the echo laser,” she explained. “It makes every living thing in the kitchen area, except the one who flicked the switch, float into the air. I’ve lost my little dolomites,” she added.
“Your echo laser is very much like our own tervy-blaster,” said Saffyre. “Your dolomites are floating over there,” she pointed.
“Thanks dear,” smiled the woman. “I’m Perle by the way, the sister of Onyx.” She nodded their surprised faces. “Yes, I know it’s hard to believe. Onyx takes after our very tall mother who is from our home planet, Azurite. I’m like our father who is from Earth, like you three. Now, if you could >step outside the kitchen, I’ll flick the switch again and collect my dolomites. Onyx doesn’t like me having them in the kitchen, you know, she says it’s unhygienic, but I love animals and…”
Lazar cut in, “Right, we’ll just wait outside.” He beckoned to the others to follow him and then closed the heavy door.
“Good grief,” said Zavier. “Do you think we’ll get a word in around her? I was hoping to find out all about this planet. I want to know all about the different species of animals that they have. Is Azurite as old as Earth, and what type of food do they eat?” he paused for breath.
“You sound a bit like Perle yourself,” teased Saffyre.
Zavier glared at her.
After a few minutes the door opened and Perle beamed at them. “I’ve put my little dolomites back downstairs in the cellar. Come inside, Onyx said you could have whatever you like to eat.”
Perle led them to a comfortable lounge area and gave them each a plate with the same soft powder that they used on Earth. Within seconds the teens had spoken their desired meal and were tucking in. They were starving! After they had finished their refreshments, Perle took them to another room just outside the kitchen. She pressed a button and immediately a giant plasma screen lowered. Comfortable chairs appeared in a row, so that the room soon resembled a theatre. “Onyx will be with you shortly,” Perle told them.
Zavier lay across several chairs and closed his eyes. Saf-fyre and Lazar sat in their chairs waiting. “I hope she won’t be too long,” said Lazar. “I don’t like the idea of leaving Krys-tal alone on the Saffyre Starlight”
“You can always contact her to see if she’s alright.” said Saffyre. “If we stay here all day, perhaps Onyx could send someone to fetch her?”
“I’ll check the time on Azurite with Onyx.” Lazar replied. “My watch is set for Star Fire City and it’s currently 12.30pm. We may still be able to look for our parents this afternoon.”
“Did I hear my name?” said Onyx. She came through a side door with Duplex, smiling.
“Yes, I was wondering what the time is here on Azurite?” Lazar replied.
“We are one hour behind your time in Star Fire City. Azurite is a small planet that takes several hours longer to revolve around her sun, than your planet Earth.”
“Wow,” said Zavier sitting up and taking notice at last. “Could you tell us all about Azurite? We’d never seen any live animals before we came here. What other species do you have?”
“I am going to show you a film all about Azurite,” said Onyx. “You will also learn a great deal about your own planet. Some of it you may already know. It is important for you to realize what a fine balance exists between all of the planets in our universe. Now sit back and listen.”
They leaned back in their reclining chairs and watched intently. Onyx softened the lights and the film began. The plasma screen showed pictures of Azurite, some breathtak-ingly beautiful. They saw waterfalls, rainforests, ocean waves crashing onto white, sandy beaches and the sun setting in a fiery blaze of colour. Then the film revealed the many animals on Azurite. They saw species after species making up the ecological chain including nephrites, kyanites and animals very similar to horses and camels. Finally, the film showed their home planet Earth before the destructive nuclear wars.
Onyx stopped the film at that point and spoke to them. “You have no experience or contact with animals on your planet and I want you to appreciate how UGU helped in Earth’s restoration. Your own planet was once very beautiful, just like these scenes. But after the nuclear wars of 2902, almost half of Earth’s population was destroyed. In addition, you suffered the extinction of many animal and plant forms. More than that, life that was left, was threatened by the contamination of both air and water. In spite of this, many planets did not want to have any involvement with Earth at all, not even to help you. UGU had considered making contact with your planet for many years prior to your nuclear wars, but this was always prevented. Your human population was considered far too aggressive and violent. It was doubted that you could belong peacefully to UGU.”
“You mean even when our people lay sick and dying, you refused to step in and help us?” Zavier asked astounded.
“UGU did not want to go against the wishes of those planets that opposed contact with Earth,” Onyx replied. “We had watched you from afar for many years. Time after time, you humans proved how aggressive you can be.”
“But even so! ” exclaimed Lazar. “How could you not help a dying race of people?”
“Firstly, please understand that at UGU we do not differentiate between humans and other species of life. All are important to us. But the most important thing of all to UGU, is keeping the order that it has taken hundreds of years to build throughout the universe. We were not prepared to let your human race threaten that.”
“So, what changed things?” Saffyre demanded. “What made you help us?”
“The Creator intervened,” Onyx told her. “He rarely interferes directly in the affairs of UGU; he prefers to let us make our own decisions. However, he was not prepared to let your race die through our lack of trust in you. Also, we did not feel that it was fair to let the other life forms on your planet perish.”
“But….” began Saffyre.”
“I cannot speak of it,” insisted Onyx. “The Creator has requested that we say very little about his involvement. I cannot tell you anymore. You already know that it was UGU that showed Earthlings how to live in enclosed cities so that you would not breathe the polluted air. We showed you the special powder that makes unlimited food and strengthens the human immunity system, giving you far longer life spans. We also taught you to feed your masses; you cannot imagine how it pained us to watch your race keep all of the riches in some areas, while others literally starved.”
“We are not proud of our past,” said Duplex.
“And we do not mean to keep bringing it up,” said Onyx. “We need to stress to you however that it is disharmony that causes wars and destruction. We are disturbed at the escape of your Professor Quartz from Earth’s Malacite. Our information shows that he embodies the worst of mankind’s attributes. He is power-seeking, aggressive and unforgiving. Worst of all, before he was imprisoned he was building an extensive unit of contact with the rogue planets that refused to come under the peaceful reign of UGU. We have strong reasons to fear that he might try this again. We are alarmed at the damage he could generate with such power. Fortunately, new information has passed into my hands which I have just shared with Duplex and IPU. We believe that Quartz may be heading to a remote planet called Citrine. Naturally we do not believe it is for peaceful reasons that he is heading there. We will not sit back and let this man wreak havoc throughout the Universe.”
“We completely agree with you,” said Duplex. He turned to the teens. “Inspector Jazelle has agreed to let us go to Citrine. We believe that a small team will have a better chance of landing unseen. We will ascertain if Quartz is there and attempt to rescue the Professors if possible. I will then contact IPU and they will send in their special unit to arrest Quartz. Onyx and UGU have agreed to assist us in every possible way.”
“Of course we will,” Onyx replied. “If you require extra assistance, we will send it. We will also provide you some of our most recent inventions.” She spoke into her voicecom. “Perle can you please bring out our latest devices?”
The door opened and Perle walked in. She carried a tray with some intriguing objects on it.
Onyx took the tray. She held up the first object for them to see. “This is called the bullitt ladder. It’s a simple rope ladder and should prove useful on a primitive, terrestrial planet such as Citrine. It unfolds swiftly, will latch on to anything, will literally ‘bullet’ you straight up and is easy to climb back down; it also converts into a simple rope. Along with it, we give you an Azurite light which will run on the tiniest amount of power and will light up an amazing amount of space. Last of all, I give you the Azurite lotion; it heals injuries and will even help relieve serious diseases. We will brief you on how to operate them before you leave,” said Onyx. “Duplex are you sure you want to take the youngest two with you?”
“Leave us out,” yelled Zavier. “No way!”
“We want to look for our parents too,” cried Saffyre. “Please let us!”
Duplex frowned, “I think these young ones would never forgive us if we stopped them going now. I promise that I will send them back to the starship, if I believe that it is becoming too dangerous for them.”
“Very well,” replied Onyx. “Now sit back, I have one final film to show you all before you leave Azurite.”
They made themselves comfortable and waited for the film to begin. This time the action was all around them so that it was possible to believe you were actually involved in the film. Duplex watched intently, as did Lazar, Zavier watched through half-closed eyes which made it difficult to ascertain how much he was actually taking in. Saffyre however watched captivated at the events unfolding before her eyes and deafening her ears. She felt like she had stepped into the middle of a nuclear holocaust!