The Light of Civilization

By Z. M. Wilmot

In the sequel to The Loneliness of Stars, Jakken Servidos, one of the four survivors of a space vessel's crash-landing on a barren planet, is rescued along with his companions by an alien vessel that will bring him to the heart of the universe. On his amazing journey through space and towards his destiny he will encounter terrifying monsters, ruthless pirates, calculating soldiers, dark gods, and a terrible betrayal. Jak's journey has only just begun...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Z. M. Wilmot
• Release date: Dec 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465753441

Z. M. Wilmot

Z. M. Wilmot was born in Rockville, Maryland, but grew up in Carlisle, Massachusetts. He started writing seriously around the age of fourteen, primarily in the form of fan fiction set in the Warhammer Universe. In September 2009, Zachary (Zack) began working on his own universe, what he has dubbed the “Juxian Mythos.” In November of that same year, for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), he wrote the introduction to this universe, The Loneliness of Stars, his first novel. He is also a huge wargamer, roleplayer, budding esoteric, browncoat, GIRophile, and all-around geek. Major influences on his writing are H. P. Lovecraft (and his circle), J. R. R. Tolkien, David Brin, Dan Simmons, Vernor Vinge, and Lois McMaster Bujold. Other writers I enjoy include Tamora Pierce, Brian Jacques, George R. R. Martin, Scott Westerfeld, Orson Scott Card, and Terry Pratchett. Z. M. Wilmot listens to metal (Hammerfall, Nightwish, Avantasia, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Turisas, Lordi, In Extremo, Eluveitie, Rammstein, Rhapsody of Fire, Luca Turilli, Apocalyptica, Sirenia, HolyHell), progressive and older rock (Rush, Kansas, Blue Oyster Cult, Supertramp, Jethro Tull), Irish folk (Lunasa, Solas, Gaelic Storm, The Chieftains, Bothy Band, Cherish the Ladies), and Nox Arcana when he writes. He himself plays percussion (mostly drum set), tin whistle, and bodhran. He also is a fan of Firefly, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Bones, BBC’s Robin Hood, Invader Zim, Trapdoor, Murder, She Wrote, and Phineas and Ferb. He likes tacos.

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The Light of Civilization

Published by Z. M. Wilmot at Smashwords

Copyright Z. M. Wilmot 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Prologue

Greetings. My name is Jakken Jalhalla Servidos – but those who know me call me Jak. I was born in the slums of Raheera, capital of Baja, but I didn’t stay there long. As soon as I could, I stowed away on the Ambassador; a massive spaceship bound for the Seven Seas star cluster in order to investigate strange signals coming from the area.

Of course, the signals turned out to not really be coming from anywhere, but were instead the psychic projections of an ancient alien entity named Psy, who had the physical appearance of a giant, translucent, blue, floating slug. As his name would suggest, the giant slug had the ability to manipulate the minds and mental processes of nearby beings, and he himself was little more than a physical manifestation of psychic energy.

That had taken a liking to me. Psy had secretly been guiding the course of human evolution – or possibly re-evolution – by influencing the minds of humanity’s greatest, crafting an intelligent race that spoke primarily the same language as the rest of the known universe – which was known to its inhabitants as Juxtani Civilization. He had been using the human race as essentially a giant experiment, using various psychic influences and controlled breeding to produce minds that he found "interesting. I myself was lucky enough to possess one of the most fascinating minds ever to arise among humankind, which was more of a curse than a blessing.

The signals that the Human Empire receiving, then, were nothing more than Psy’s attempts to lure me out to the planet that we eventually crash-landed on so that I could be his companion. While in a way this was flattering and slightly touching, it was also rather disturbing, though mostly the latter.

Of the forty-nine crewmembers and single lone stowaway hailing from all over all of the planets ruled by the Terran Home Rule, only four survived the sabotage, murders, manipulations, and tortures that the expedition put us through. I, of course, was one of the survivors, but I can’t claim I made it through on my own merit – it was mostly the work of a mysterious and powerful green-clad man, who fought off the psychic slug and kept me safe.

Michaela Jonson, one of the ship’s officers and the unofficial leader of the small group that survived the Deviant infestation and subsequent destruction of the ship, also survived, though she, I think, can claim it was on her own merit – she is quite a remarkable woman. If I had been attracted to women, I’m sure I would have long since fallen for her. She could do just about everything, and could always keep her cool. She did have a habit of sleeping around – whether or not this was some strange form of woman’s empowerment or a result of her being one of two females on the ship I will never know. She had been sleeping at one point with the captain that succeeded the first – Vincent Magritto, who in a strange turn of events turned out to be a serial killer under a false identity. Following his death, she turned very quickly to Adam Sansson, and the two quickly became stuck together.

She was one of the few crewmembers who had stood her ground against the terrible bioengineered monster – the Deviant – unleashed upon our crew, and had helped me escape from the exploding ship herself. She had gathered the survivors together following the deaths of almost all of the crew during one terrible night, and led us onward to survival. Without her, I have no doubt that I would have been long dead.

Adam Sansson, Michaela’s current lover, former Irish spy, and one of my closest confidantes was the third survivor. He had been captured long before the Ambassador set off by the government of a rival nation – my own nation of Baja. He had then been blackmailed into joining the doomed mission to the stars, working under the orders of the official Bajan represent-ative on the crew, attempting to protect the mission from the terrorists on board. In the end he and his master failed, but with his superior’s death Adam was finally free to be himself, and he quickly apologized to me for the harsh actions he had taken against me in the past, becoming a close friend. Considering my first vocal encounter with him was him pinning me against the wall interrogating me, I’d say our relationship had improved a fair bit. For a man who always wears massive sunglasses, a bandana, and tight pants, he’s pretty nice.

The last survivor – other than myself, of course – was Mikhail Nikkelei, a former member of a second group – or civilization – of humans outside of the reach of the Terran Home Rule: the Tyrrhish nomads. The Tyrrh, as they often called themselves, had formerly been members of the Spacer’s union under the first incarnation of the Terran Home Rule, and after a bloody civil war had essentially been kicked out of human space to fend for themselves – which they did rather well, forming fleets of nomads who roamed endlessly amongst the field of stars.

Mikhail had been cast out by his own outcast people because of a small amount of bad luck, and was forced to return to proper human space to survive. Though Michaela had once been my best friend among the crew, as she grew more distant, I turned more and more to Mikhail. I found the quiet, thoughtful man to be more to my liking, and I was learning a lot from him – not just about his people, but also of his worldview, opening up new vistas of perception to me.

The four of us would have been doomed to die on that planet, either killed off by Psy or starving or dehydrating to death, had not Tracking Unit 12 found us.

It was humanity’s first contact with sentient alien beings, but the four of us were too weary to appreciate it at the time. The effect of the encounter was somewhat lessened too, I think, by the fact that the Shortel – the aliens who had discovered us and made up Tracking Unit 12 – looked exactly like humans, down to the last detail, and spoke perfect English, though they called it ‘Kordic.’ The crew of the Ersel – the strange dolphin-like silvery ship they manned – was part of a team tracking Psy, the terrible being who had attempted to have me join him for eternity. They drove him off and saved us, promising to return us to Earth – after they presented us, a newly-found Ayudaric lost race, to Juxtani Civilization, the largest conglomerate of sentient races in the universe.

And that was exactly where we were headed.

1

He took the emptiness and with it created Space. Jux inspected the Space he had created, and he was pleased. He then created two offspring to fill the Space for him, for he could not linger long there. He created the first in his own image, and named him Juxtan, for he was in the image of his father.

What do you mean that gods exist? Mikhail sounded incredulous, and I could scarcely blame him. Despite my previous experiences with green-cloaked men and psychotic slugs, I found the concept as difficult to come to grips with as he did. How on earth does one go about proving that?

Thyrak – one of our Shortel saviors – leaned back and sighed. It’s not that difficult to prove if the gods themselves come to subservients.

Right. And have you ever seen a god?

Well, no…

Are there real-life images?

Well, you see, their images can’t be captured with current techno-

Then how on earth can you prove that they exist? Mikhail’s argument seemed reasonable enough.

The being sitting opposite us hesitated a moment. Well, I suppose that I really can’t. We have illustrated pictures and sculptures, though.

So do we, Mikhail pointed out. "And yet there has been no proof that our gods are real."

"But our gods are universal, and shared by countless civilizations. And there are documented recent cases of our gods being seen by us. Mamnuskes, for example, regularly frequents the members of his Holy Order in the Qoreshan."

How recent is recent? My companion was still highly doubtful.

Only a few weeks before we left, actually – the head of the Holy Order of Mamnuskes reported that the Elder had made contact with him.

And you just believe him?

Thyrak blinked. Well… err… yes, I suppose. What else am I to do?

Mikhail sighed.

Thyrak sighed in return. You’re never going to get anywhere in Juxtani Civilization with that attitude. The gods – who are really just higher levels of beings – do exist and interact with us mere mortals every day in meaningful ways. You have to accept that basic tenet to understand the rest of our society.

Mikhail muttered something about bloody theocracies under his breath, but acquiesced. Alright. I’ll play along.

I suppose that’s all I can ask for now, Thyrak commented drily. He leaned forward. Here is the tale of Juxtani Civilization…

***

We had met our rescuers formally after our first night’s rest on the Ersel, the alien vessel that came down to save us from certain death and was even now carrying us into the heart of an alien society. It was the least we could do for our rescuers – they had picked us up off of the surface of a planet that would surely kill us and saved all of our lives. It was only fair that we allow ourselves to be shown into the heart of their empire, to meet their ruler, and allow us to be introduced to the glorious Juxtani Civilization. Of course, the Shortel Empire would be given the glory for discovering us, as our rescuers were Shortel themselves, but we could accept this. It was only fair.

We had all been given separate rooms – it was standard Shortel policy to always have six extra rooms available on a ship, apparently – and after a good night’s sleep, the four of us met Captain Hygarth and most of the crew in the common area.

The Ersel was much smaller than the Ambassador – while the Ambassador was designed to hold forty-nine people, the Ersel was designed to house only thirteen – and six of those slots were deliberately left empty, leaving only seven crewmembers on board the entire ship. Due to such a small crew, the ship didn’t need to have much space, and so only consisted of an engine room, a galley, a bridge, a common room, two bathrooms, an environmental unit (which also contained the artificial gravity drive), as well as the thirteen private chambers, which also doubled as laboratories (most of the Shortel specialized in some kind of science).

The rest of the crew had been up for some while – as far as we could tell, they operated on an approximately twenty-five hour day, the standard in Juxtani Civilization. When we arrived in the common room, which doubled as an exercise area, six of the seven crew members were waiting for us, seated upon various pieces of furniture. Hygarth, the captain, gestured for us to do the same. As we sat, all in a group on the far side of the room, I looked at the Shortel. Of them, I only recognized Hygarth, Thyrak (the first Shortel we had seen, who stepped out of the ship to greet us), and the dietician.

"Well, humans, welcome to the Ersel. We hope that you will enjoy your stay here – and that you will find Juxtani Civilization to also be a pleasant place."

None of us answered him. Hygarth cleared his throat awkwardly. Well, we thought that we should tell you how this is going to work. As we are finished with our tracking – I hope that Psy doesn’t get away again – we are heading back to Juxtani Space, both to report our findings and drop off a wounded crewmember, who is not with us right now. He smiled. "And now to report the rediscovery of a lost race, it seems.

As such, feel free to roam about the ship – just stay off of the bridge if you can while Jalakk is piloting, please. We all nodded. The bridge on this ship was unlike the Ambassador’s, as the helmsman actually piloted the ship directly from it.

You are to dine with us at the appointed eating times – I will review these with you later – and you all will be treated like members of this crew. He paused a moment. No… more like honored guests. I think that is more accurate. He grinned. "In the meantime, we would appreciate it if you would tell us about your people – we need to submit a report to Sharrack, and the more we know, the better. In return, we ask that you learn more about Juxtani Civilization – I imagine it will be very strange to you.

Now, since we will be living together for another fourteen days…

Michaela interrupted. Excuse me, but can we clarify one thing before we go on?

Hygarth nodded his head. Certainly.

You said that you measured your large units of time in dateyns and subdateyns – which are equal to about fifty and two human years respectively – but that for small units you used months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds, like we did. Your days, though, seem to be of a different length than ours, as I mentioned earlier. How many hours to you have in a day?

Twenty-five, responded Hygarth instantly. But those are only the length of our space-days, which like subdateyns, dateyns, hours, minutes, and seconds, are universal. Planets keep track of their own orbit-times – or years – months, and days for the most part. Additionally, just for reference, our space weeks are ten days long, and our months fifty. Also, our hours might not be the same length as yours. He smiled. The math probably isn’t worth the effort.

Michaela nodded in agreement, and Hygarth continued. As I was saying, we have fourteen more days together on this vessel before we reach Port Ryfe, so I think that you should know who everyone on the crew is. I couldn’t fault his logic.

You all know me, I hope. We nodded. And of course you’ve met my first mate and the communications specialist, Thyrak. Hygarth gestured to him, and he dipped his head our way.

To his left is Jalakk – our pilot. Jalakk was a blonde female, relatively tall and with bewitching blue eyes. She smiled at us. Next to her is Kardish, our biochemist. The dark-skinned male Shortel gave us a small wave.

To the left of me is Yavamaat, who you’ve also met – our dear dietician. She smiled and nodded at us. And next is Jarken, our engineer and physicist. A taller male Shortel with a white lab coat and brown ponytail smiled warmly at us.

Not with us today is Suzevek, who was beset by one of Psy’s mental attacks. Unfortunately, she was also our doctor, so we urgently need to return to civilization before anything else happens. She is in her chamber right now, in a coma – please do not disturb her. We all nodded in understanding.

Hygarth took a deep breath and carried on. Michaela, Adam, I wish to learn more about your civilization. Thyrak – can you please begin informing Jak and…. Mikheel, is it?

Mikhail smiled slightly and bowed his head. Mikhail, captain.

Right. And Mikhail about us, please? We can exchange stories later. Thyrak saluted and walked over to us as the rest of the crew adjourned, and Adam and Michaela followed Hygarth to the bridge.

We’ll just stay here then, I think. He pulled a nearby chair closer to Mikhail and me, and sat down in front of us.

Okay… I suppose I should start at the beginning.

Mikhail nodded. That sounds like a good plan.

Well… in the beginning, a powerful being from another Space…

Another space? asked Mikhail.

Thyrak nodded. Yes. Do you not say it that way?

Mikhail shook his head. No. Are you referring to everything that exists, perchance?

Yes. That is what Juxian Space is – there are other Spaces, though, from whence Jux probably came.

Mikhail leaned back and looked at me. He means another universe, I believe. He looked back to Thyrak. So then, this Jux is God? Or a god?

Thyrak leaned back for a moment. I suppose you could say that, yes – if by god you mean a being with supreme powers of creation and destruction that formed everything we can see and touch and feel and hear and taste, then yes.

So then this story you’re telling us is a myth, then?

No! What makes you think that?

You just said that this ‘Jux’ was a god…

Of sorts, yes – what of it?

Don’t gods not exist?

Why ever would you think that? They most certainly do!

And so began our conversation about the origins of Juxtani Society, the largest conglomerate of alien races and civilizations in the universe, the center of which we were headed towards even now. After a long argument between Mikhail and Thyrak, the Shortel finally convinced Mikhail and me to at least play along, and then the story truly began.

"So, Jux – what you might call the God – came from another Space, and he created Juxian Space from nothing. He then created two offspring, Juxtan and Diviari, to fill his Space with things. Then Jux left, and Juxtan and Diviari divided Space in two and filled each side with their own beings. Diviari created a massive opulent palace filling up half of Juxian Space, while Juxtan took his creator’s words to heart and made Juxtani Space – which is where we live.

"After that, there was a lot of creation, and the first incarnation of Juxtani Civilization was made from the subservients – what we call us lesser beings – created by the offspring of Juxtan and Diviari. After that followed several wars between the Elders – the godlike children of Juxtan and Diviari – during which our conglomeration of empires was dissolved. During this time, Jux returned to his Space and admonished the beings dwelling in it, promising to return a third time to exact a final judgment upon everything. Jux left again shortly thereafter, after putting the shivvos – the Gods of the Apocalypse – in place, but our civilization was still in pieces. A shiver went down my spine. Both Psy and the green-cloaked man had said I was linked to these gods somehow. To my disappointment, Thyrak did not elaborate. But a savior eventually emerged from the Qoreshan to save us all-"

Mikhail interrupted again. What is the Qoreshan?

It looked like Thyrak barely restrained a sigh. It must have been annoying to have to explain everything to us ignorant people. Well, Juxian Space is divided into five different dimensions. We live in Juxtani Space, which uses up less than half of Juxian Space. Exactly half of Juxian Space is taken up by Diviari’s Palace. That was a very large palace. "About one third of our half is taken up by something called the Haze. Not much is known about it, but it is where Juxtan is said to dwell, along with some of the surviving Elders and a few other beings. Between the Haze and Juxtani Space is the Qoreshan, or the Netherrealm – where another aspect of Juxtani Civilization, the Nether Kingdoms, exist. Some of the unconscious thoughts and dreams of those dwelling in Juxtani Space manifest themselves physically in the Qoreshan, making them a very… interesting place. One must pass through the Qoreshan to get to the Haze.

In between some of these different dimensions is what we call the Insterstices, inhabited by strange beings that we have very little to do with that make up the Interstitial Kingdoms. The Interstices exist between Juxtani Space and Diviari’s Palace, as well as between most of Juxtani Space and the Qoreshan, except at a few key gateway points. The Haze is directly accessible only from the Qoreshan.

Thyrak took a deep breath. Is that clear?

I nodded, but Mikhail had a question. So, which one of these dimensions do you use to travel long distances? I mean, surely you must, at least for small periods of time, enter into another dimension to travel faster, like we do with the Ethyr? It was a good question.

A good question, Thyrak said, echoing my thoughts. We use the Interstices, but try to minimize our invasiveness there – we have a tentative peace with the Intersticial Kingdoms, who allow us to use certain lower areas of their territory for our speedy travel, who in turn are rewarded with certain resources only to be found in Juxtani Space. He smiled. I can only wonder why they have not done anything about your intrusion into their territory, presuming your ‘Ethyr’ is in actuality the Interstices.

He waited a moment, and then continued with his history lesson. "So, Chivak Warbringer, our savior, emerged from the Qoreshan and reunited the peoples of Juxtani Space after the catastrophe, giving them all the same language and customs. The language that we speak, Kordic, is a remnant of the work that he did in unifying our peoples.

He then went back to the Qoreshan, and hasn’t returned since. A while later, one of Diviari’s children – arguably the most important, named K’Shatryan – rose from his prison and began attacking Juxtani Civilization. This event is known as the Rise of K’Shatryan, during which Juxtani Civilization was almost comp-letely destroyed, and countless civilizations ceased to exist or lost contact with everyone else. Once K’Shatryan was subdued and re-imprisoned, we began our efforts to reunite Juxtani Space, empire by empire and planet by planet.

So… where do we fit into all of this? Mikhail asked. He still seemed skeptical; even more so than myself.

"We believe that your race was one of those lost during the Rise of K’Shatryan. It is now our duty – and by our I mean the Shortel Empire’s – to reintroduce you to real civilization and help you become adjusted to your new life.

After his semi-enlightening history, I got the courage to ask Thyrak a question. What about Psy? Is he a god

Thyrak half-smiled and half-frowned as Mikhail looked on me approvingly. Psy is a Kreton… he was created, actually, before the Elders. He is the oldest being in all of Juxian Space other than Juxtan. He has, since his creation, wandered aimlessly throughout all of Juxian Space, mostly in Juxtani Space, meddling with the minds of subservients, glancing at us, he clarified himself, or us non-godlike beings, and every once in a while kidnapping the most interesting of us and adding them to his consciousness. I shivered. That was what he had wanted to do to me – or something similar, at least.

And it is our job to track him – it is a duty shared by many of the races that make up Juxtani Civilization, and it is currently the Shortel’s shift. We picked you up while we were following him. We had wondered why he was lingering for so long around this planet… when we investigated, we found signs of life other than the native flora and fauna, and found you. Thyrak smiled at us just as I heard the door to the bridge open behind me. I turned around to see Hygarth step into the room.

Jak? he said.

I sat up. Yes?

He beckoned to me. Come with me. I have some questions to ask you.

I swallowed, stood, and slowly walked over to him. Mikhail winked at me as Hygarth led me to the bridge.

2

He then created the second in his own image, but twisted its form and thoughts so as to add different thoughts to the Space. He named this Diviari. And he said unto them that they were free to create what they willed in this space, so long as it upheld the Codes of Shanqwa, and was not devoid of life or filled completely with it. The two sons agreed, and Jux granted them powers of creation and of destruction before departing.

Hygarth closed the door to the bridge behind me. The pilot, Jalakk, was seated in a comfortable-looking chair, staring at a series of screens laid out before her. Her fingers flew over a strange series of touchpads, and after a moment, I realized that she was using those pads to guide the ship – quite a different steering mechanism from the archaic wheel on the Ambassador.

Jalakk’s back was turned to us, and seated nearby, in front of a wall covered with monitors and blinking lights, were two chairs, seating Michaela and Adam. Hygarth looked at me for a moment, and then politely asked the two of them to leave. They did so without complaint, and Michaela smiled at me as she walked out the door, closing it behind her. Hygarth gestured to one of the vacated seats, and I took it. He took the other.

We sat in silence for a while. Hygarth was staring at me intently. I met his eyes for a few moments, and then looked down at the floor.

So, let’s get to the point, Jak. Michaela and Adam told me the story of your expedition, and gave me a general outline of your race… but they had only one experience with Psy – or so they say. They mentioned that you, on the other hand, know much more about him, and had encountered him multiple times.

Hygarth leaned forward. Is this true?

I nodded.

In that case, would be so kind as to describe to me, in detail, exactly how you interacted with Psy? Anything you tell us will help us gather information on Psy’s abilities and thoughts, and allow us to better prevent him from wreaking havoc.

I thought for a moment, then sighed. Okay. So, it all started with dreams. Hygarth nodded. He appeared to me first as a bunch of stars, and he called out to me, telling me that I should join his family, and that we would be happy together. I always began to fall towards the stars, but I… awoke at the last second. I thought back to the green-cloaked man who had again and again pushed me out of the dream. I decided not to mention him – I had a feeling that his existence was not my secret to reveal.

When did he first appear to you in reality?

I thought for a moment. Through the helmsman, Fineas… on the day when the Deviants were unleashed. Did Michaela and Adam tell you about that? Hygarth nodded . "I hid in one of the docks for the landing craft, and I ran into Fineas there. He spoke in the voice from my dreams.

The next time I saw his influence was when Vincent, our captain at the time, who had supposedly been killed by the Deviants, came to me while I was on watch. It wasn’t really him, though – just a psychic projection cast by Psy. Psy attempted to seduce me, and…

Hygarth interrupted. How?

I explained how Psy had offered me a better life, where I would be loved and would see all of the universe – or rather, all of Space – and Hygarth nodded and took down notes.

I explained then to him all of the other times Psy had attacked me – during my exploration of a path in between the tree-fungi on the planet, where he had lifted me into the sky and shown me Ezekiel, my dead boyfriend. Recounting the tale almost brought fresh tears to my eyes, but I managed to hold them back.

Then there had been that terrible night, when Vincent had kidnapped Stephen, and my Servidos curiosity had gotten the better of me and caused me to go find them. It was then that I fought and killed Vincent – the real one this time, not some psychic illusion created by Psy. Then I told him about the next day, when Fineas led us to the cave and tried to trap us, and where I had exposed Psy to the survivors of the crew. We were rescued shortly thereafter. The memories were still fresh in my mind; less than a week had passed since most of the events I was recounting had occurred.

I spent about half an hour talking to Hygarth about Psy. When we were done, he thanked me, shook my hand, thanked me again, and then sent me back out into the common room. As I left, he called Michaela and Adam back onto the bridge.

Mikhail and Thyrak were still talking. I sat back down, and after answering their inquiries about what Hygarth had wanted, listened to them continue to discuss Juxtani Civilization..

From Thyrak I learned enough to prepare myself to deal with the trauma of entering Juxtani Civilization. One of the first things that became apparent was that there was a distinct hierarchy of beings in their society, with us subservients –normal living things with no powers at all, including animals, plants, and most sentient beings – at the bottom. Above us were several classifications of higher beings with varying degrees of godlike powers that I didn’t bother memorizing at the time. At the very top of this classification were Jux, the creator, and his two children, Juxtan and Diviari.

Mikhail accepted all of this without further questions, and I did as well, though only just. I was terribly curious about these matters – especially about the shivvos, the terrible gods of the apocalypse – but our mentor refused to discuss them. The mere thought of them made him uneasy.

Following the explanation of this hierarchy of beings, Thyrak began to outline the basic political structure of Juxtani Civilization. It was most definitely not a unified entity, but rather was made up of countless – almost literally – races and empires, all bound together by a common mythos-religion and desire to thrive.

Most civilizations that made up Juxtani Civilization were tiny, often inhabiting a single planet or less. These races were insignificant, and while they interacted frequently with other planets and empires, typically had little say in the government of Juxtani Civilization.

The aforementioned government that ruled Juxtani Civilization was called the Juxtani Congregation, which was divided into two parts: the Juxtani Assembly and the Juxtani Council. The Assembly consisted, theoretically, of one am-bassador from each civilization, sometimes the race’s leader, but more often a second or third in command. The Assembly, however, rarely accomplished anything themselves, and spent most of their time debating. The true power behind the Congregation was the second part, the Juxtani Council, which consisted of seventeen individuals from various races who managed the affairs of Juxtani Space.

What they did was rather impressive. They moderated wars and trade laws between civilizations, provided resources that could be used for public works, and managed interstellar and intergalactic transport and communications. Mostly, though, they resolved disputes between member civilizations. Apparently they managed to do so rather effectively.

All of the seventeen council members were members of multi-planetary empires, the most powerful forces in the universe (or Space). The most powerful of these empires were the four – soon to be five when us Humans were added into the mix, for our race was identical in appearance to the Shortel – Ayudaric empires. The Ayudari were a group of four (now five) races that bore the exact image of one of their gods, named Ayudarin , one of Juxtan’s children – and were said to have been created in her exact image. As Ayudarin had created most of the subservient races, those made in her image were viewed as the best, and so had the most respect in Juxtani Civilization. Of these races, the Elfviyat were the most prestigious, followed by the Ayakk, and then the Shortel and Dassens were on more or less equal footing.

In terms of actual power, however, it appeared that there was a struggle between the Dassens and Shortel. Both the Elfviyat and Ayakk were reclusive races, far older than most others currently inhabiting Juxtani Space, and so the Dassens and Shortel were left with most of the political influence. They were also the two largest (both in terms of population and planets) empires in all of Juxtani Space.

There were, of course, many other powerful civil-izations. Most of these races, Thyrak explained, were humanoid (though he called them pseudo-Ayudaric), and looked similar to the Ayudari, but some had completely alien forms – such as the Octax and the Arachno.

After filling our heads with all of this knowledge – almost too much to remember – Mikhail asked him about where exactly it was we were headed.

Port Ryfe? It’s a major border and trading post of the Shortel Empire. See, Juxtani Civilization is still expanding, and we use Port Ryfe to coordinate expeditions into the frontier of unexplored space. It’s also where our Psy-tracking units are – it’s our base of operations. From there, though, we’ll be taking you to Sharrack, our capital, probably through the slingshot to Koruskanti.

The slingshot?

Thyrak grinned. You’ll see. I won’t say any more on that matter; I want to see your faces when you see it for the first time. It’s a relatively new technology for us – most travel through space is done, like I said earlier, through the Interstices, as is most of our communication. The slingshot… circumvents the need to go through the Interstices, somehow. I don’t understand the physics behind it, but I know it works. He grinned. And it’s quite a ride – it moves you pretty damn fast.

He stood. Any more questions for me? I have to go attend to some official matters momentarily.

I shook my head no, but Mikhail had one. I see that your space travel is not instantaneous, but what about your communications? We have not developed an effective method of communicating over long distances, and often have several days, sometimes weeks, of delay between worlds – have you anything better?

Thyrak smiled and nodded. "Communications are my specialty. If you wish, I can show you my room – it has all of the communications equipment in it. But yes, we do. Our communication between worlds is instantaneous – distance is irrelevant in the deeper layers of the Interstices, and comm-unications can travel through channels there that ships cannot. The devices we use, however, require large arrays of equipment – more than can be fitted on most ships. Space vessels are then forced to use non-instantaneous communications equipment.

I need to prepare a communication to be sent to Port Ryfe using said inferior equipment now, actually – I can show you how everything works as I do that if you like.

Mikhail accepted Thyrak’s offer, and the two of them set off. I returned to my room, and took a short nap before lunch. After lunch, we humans reconvened in Michaela’s room, and we each shared what we had learned and told the others.

I let Mikhail do most of the