Chapter Two: Curiosity

The spacecraft of the Kos Team from the Quartpa Space Administration sped through the void at superluminal velocities, soon arriving near the star system of their ancient nemesis, the Kelt civilization.

Kos addressed his crew, “Thank you all for your efforts on this journey. Our ship is about to enter the Kelt system. To avoid detection by the Kelts, activate the ship’s cloaking functions.”

Condon, who was piloting the ship and was renowned for his strict discipline, immediately complied with Captain Kos’s order. He instructed his mantid assistant to adjust the ship’s various systems.

As the ship hurtled along, Kos engaged his team in casual conversation within the cabin.

“Some 150,000 Quardays ago,” Kos began—the Quarday being the legislative core of timekeeping on Quartpa, where one planetary rotation equals ten revolutions around its sun—“the Kelts waged war against our people for nine days. They occupied two of our outer planets and unleashed their most feared weapon: dark energy. At that time, we had no defense against such power. One of our planets was destroyed, and with it perished countless Quartpans, mantids, and sixty thousand other lesser species. In defeat, we were subjugated as a colony and endured a long period of enslavement. Only after generations of sacrifice and struggle did we finally reclaim our freedom and dignity through force of arms.”

A surveyor, weary from the journey, struck up a conversation with Kos. “What kind of beings are the Kelts, exactly?”

Kos replied, “Their life forms are utterly unlike our own. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are their building blocks, making them somewhat similar to our old foes, the Tarl, and rare in our galaxy. Their weakness is that they cannot process food for themselves; each Kelt must consume vast quantities of other organisms throughout their lives. In some respects, they might be classified as a harmful species.”

The surveyor pressed on, “Could you tell me about the current state of Kelt civilization, and our present relationship with them?”

Kos answered, “Right now, Quartpa and Kelt civilizations coexist in a state of uneasy peace, but deep trust eludes us. When two such disparate civilizations interact, many misunderstandings are hard to dispel.”

“What led to our crushing defeat back then?” the surveyor asked.

Kos explained, “Once Kelt scientists solved the problem of faster-than-light travel, they established contact with numerous other interstellar civilizations. Their advanced information networks propelled their civilization forward. They acquired a wealth of technology, monopolized segments of interstellar trade, and amassed resources that drove them to their apex. At that time, our own technology was so primitive that we could not even leave our planet, leaving us utterly powerless to resist their aggression.”

The surveyor inquired further, “What of the Kelts now? Do they still rule other civilizations?”

Kos responded, “Once, the Kelt civilization ranked among the galaxy’s most powerful, but now many others have surpassed them. They still dominate several weak alien civilizations. Militarily, they no longer hold the advantage over us, yet they remain formidable, especially in their mastery of modifying and exploiting gas giants.”

As Kos and the crew chatted, Condon, at the helm, listened intently. The tales kindled a keen curiosity in the young pilot, who decided to seize this opportunity to secretly observe the legendary Kelt system. Driven by a sense of adventure, he quietly activated several observational instruments, eager to glimpse the fabled system firsthand.

Kos suggested the crew rest for a while, leaving Condon in sole control of the ship. Through the optical devices, he caught a faint glimpse of the legendary Kelt system. Overcome with excitement, Condon disregarded Kos’s earlier warnings. To enhance his view, he activated both the optical and radio wave instruments, aiming them toward the Kelt world. Suddenly, the ship’s alarms blared. The crew, jolted from their sleep, found the source: the powerful electromagnetic waves emitted by Condon’s equipment had been detected by Kelt border patrols. As the Kelt soldiers deployed quantum radar to track them, the quantum waves triggered the ship’s own alarm systems.

Kos rushed to the cockpit. “What’s happening?” he demanded. But before Condon could shut down the instruments, Kos had already discovered the breach. Realizing his mistake, Condon promptly apologized. “I’m sorry, Captain. I couldn’t contain my curiosity. I just wanted to see the Kelt planet with my own eyes.”

Kos immediately activated all cloaking systems, but it was too late. The Kelt soldiers had already launched an attack. As a beam of dark energy microwaves hurtled toward their ship, a mantid crew member fortunately managed to activate the anti-dark energy system in time, intercepting and absorbing the deadly beam. The team narrowly escaped disaster...

The Kelt Queen resided on the fifth planet of the Kelt system, a gas giant akin to Neptune, whose population—including residents on its three moons—exceeded twenty billion. Life on this planet thrived floating within the dense atmosphere. The Kelts had evolved remarkable adaptations: two forelimbs, somewhere between fins and wings, and hind limbs resembling those of a sea lion, perfectly suited for life adrift in the thick clouds, though they could move on land as well. Their heads, especially their eyes, were nearly identical to those of humans, perceiving the world through visible light.

They built their homes in special regions a hundred kilometers above the surface, where atmospheric pressure and density were optimal for their survival. Most social activities took place within these dense layers. Residents traveled by airship or “walked” by swimming through the atmosphere. Their food was harvested from the myriad forms of life that floated and grew in the clouds, and the planet’s biodiversity rivaled that of Earth.

In the Queen’s palace, an intelligence officer approached her with poise. “Your Majesty, we have detected an unidentified flying object at the border of our system.”

“Describe the details,” the Queen commanded.

“At approximately one light-second from the outermost edge of our system, a regular polygonal ship appeared, made mostly of ordinary matter. There are signs of life inside. Our soldiers tried to communicate with it in interstellar language, but it ignored our hails and pressed forward. According to Kelt military regulations, our soldiers attacked. Yet, the dark energy microwaves we fired were intercepted, and then the ship vanished.”

The Queen was momentarily stunned. Her aide spoke up, “It must be a Quartpan vessel. Among nearby civilizations, none possess technology this advanced.”

The Queen replied, “The Quartpans would not be so brazen, nor would they dare use matter-based instruments to survey us. Tell the border patrols to be on high alert. We must be prepared in case our system is invaded...”