Tomb World Chapter: 1

Galactic Chronicles: Tales of the Galaxy

Tomb World

I was sitting on sand stone boulders, blinking into the sun and then gazing down the stairs in the faint hope to see movement. Manjeet, my best friend looked down the stairs as well and said. "I don't think there will be any archeologists, tourists or pilgrims today. It is already past two and if anyone came with the space bus, they aren't coming up today."

I opened the flap of my left shirt pocket and took two strips of Sparkle Bright Gum, handed Manjeet one and unwrapped the other and agreed with him saying. "I guess you are right. The Stair-bus would have been here by now if there were any visitors today. Well that isn't too bad, gives me a chance to catch up on my school assignment."

Manjeet leaned back while chewing and grunted. "Don't remind me, I haven't even started on that one either." He turned the gum wrapper into a small ball and tossed it over the ledge, where it would fall and perhaps eventually reach the valley 3,600 meters below. Then he said. "An essay on the Stairs he wants us to write, at least six pages. Anything that can be said about those stairs can be said in five sentences."

I turned to look at him and said. "These steps have been carved into the rock of the White Mountains by a long gone species of beings and have a length of over 12 kilometers. Starting on the other side of the mountain right where Downstairs Village is and spiral and zigzag all the way up here 3,601 meters above the desert level to the first table. Then they go on for another 2,022 meters to the peak of White Mountain and the second table where the Gaze stone is. Each step rises between seventeen and nineteen centimeters height has 18 to 21 centimeters tread and all are more or less 300 centimeters wide. There are 83,959 steps altogether." I finished the same sermon I gave the tourists and the same what was printed in the brochures and said. "That's more or less all there is to know about the stairs."

Manjeet shrugged. "Maybe we can add the annual stair race event." He didn't get up to commit his ideas to writing and despite the pressing assignment, I too did not have the urge to get up and start on home work. "

From our perch we had a good view and could see far down the stairs at least the parts that were on this side of the mountain anyway and as I looked down I saw movement and said. "Looks like you going to get your wish after all. I can see the Stair Bus coming."

Manjeet shaded his eyes with his hand looked down and shook his head. "It's not the bus, the thing is red. Therefore it's Burt and Burt didn't call ahead, that means he brings freight, supplies or someone local who doesn't need us."

I got up and checked my gear anyway. "Well, we know for sure once the bus is here. Maybe there is a scientist after all, or we can help Burt unload. He is always good for a few credits of work, and if he doesn't need us there is always the homework assignment."

Manjeet agreed with a grunt, spat the rest of his gum over the cliff and got up and he too checked his gear. While you couldn't call it a uniform, real Tombers more or less looked alike and had similar gear.

I wore sand colored Never-wear Dura-fab pants with broad suspenders. The pants, despite the tough fabric started to show signs of wear. As a top a faded light-green cotton t shirt. This one had been a gift from a pilgrim who had given it to me as a souvenir. It had the words flashy words 'Hőllen Lärm' printed on it along with a weird logo of some sort tentaclemonster having suggested sex with a very busty girl that held an oversized gun. According to our teacher it was the fan merchandise t shirt of a real old Ultra Cling Clang band of the early twenties or almost two decades ago. No one of course, but real old folks and our teacher would still listen to Ultra Cling Clang nowadays. To me this kind of music always sounded like someone being real angry with a bunch of metal pots and throwing them repeatedly against a wall, while trying to vocally mimic the sounds of real wet bowel movements. Well the logo, the print and the picture was even more faded then the T shirt itself. I didn't care what was on it anyway; it was free and saved my buying something. My feet stuck in a pair of decent Terran All Terrain boots with multi surface soles.

In my opinion these boots were best thing the Terrans ever invented. Manjeet's father always said we would be technically Terrans as well, as we Manjeet and I were human and did not have the characteristic olive tan of Sarans or the curly hair of Pan Sarans and neither of us had any particular talents in Psionics which ruled out Saresii descent. However there were several hundred thousand places and planets inside the Union with Human populations and at least in my case my family could have come from any of them with a very slim chance being directly from Terra.

Manjeet's grandfather had done some genealogy research for his family and claimed his family roots could be traced all the way to a place calledIndia which was supposed to be a region on Terra.

Since Manjeet was already the fourth generation born right here, that made them Tombers to me as I was a Tomber.

My father was a Tomb Guide just as I was, but he had died two years ago as he fell drunk down the Chasm of the Howling Spirits and broke his neck. My mother had left the planet with a tourist right after I was born, I had never heard from her and didn't even know how she looked like, to me she never really existed.

We were technically Union citizens, but Tomb World wasn't Union territory and while Union Laws theoretically applied to us, there was no one really enforcing them. Sure there was a Ranger Station Downstairs, but he was busy with the tourists and pilgrims and their problems and cared little about the locals.

I was reminded of all that because the knee and elbow protectors I was wearing, once belonged to my father, they were important in the really low passages and caves of the tomb chamber network.

I kept my helmet folded in my left breast pocket until I was going in. It was an expensive Fold-N-Rigid bright yellow helmet complete with a bright light; Manjeet's grandmother had given me for Diwali that was a special holiday Manjeet's family observed each year. Like a real Tomber, I too believed it was bad luck to wear a helmet under the open sky so I was wearing a Brown baseball cap instead, it was just as faded as my T Shirt. The rest of my gear consisted of a memory material rope, grappling hook launcher, several folding hooks, twelve Grow-a-light sticks, Two Inflat-a-Johns, a small water purification system, 2 Water Bottles and a Megabright- Flashlight. My pride and joy was a Kendall Rockman Caver's Knife, and I carried it on a strap under my left arm. The Ruger Laser Gun I carried in a hip holster was more a tool than a weapon as it came in handy cutting rock and hand holds. Of course it was also a good defense against some of the nasty denizen of the deeper passages, but most of them could be scared away with a good dose of bright light.

Manjeet's gear was, except for his tight wound dark red turban pretty much the same as mine.

The Stair Bus was close now and would reach the first table and us in a few moments. These vehicles were perhaps the only vehicles in the known Universe designed to climb and descent stairs, but then there weren't stairs like this anywhere else in the known Universe discovered so far.

The bus was riding on a pair of tracks with rubbery wedges that fit the stairs almost exactly. The main body of the crawler with the cargo and passenger compartment was kept level by hydraulics regardless of the pitch of the steps.

Since there were almost as many stairways as mountains on this world, there were quite a few stair crawlers, official ones as well as privately owned. The yellow one was owned by the Union School and it came four times a week to take us to class, the green one belonged to the Ranger station. Four of the purple ones were operated by the Tourism Board and this one, the bright red one belonged to Burt Severs. He was a Tomber and ran his one person, one machine courier and passenger transport service he called "Burt's Stair Express Corporation". That it wasn't a real corporation didn't bother Burt, he just liked the important sound of it.

The Crawler Bus stopped at the first table. What we called the first table was a flat rock ledge in the side of the mountain that had been carved out of the stone by the same beings that made the stairs. It was about 30 meters wide and 100 meters long. On one end were the stairs and on the other the entrance to the Catacombs and the reason why that table was there. One the mountain side of the table was a rock wall that extended in a steep slant all the way to the actual summit of the White Mountain and on the valley side, where we had been sitting it dropped almost vertically down for over 800 meters to a narrow shelf and then continued a less steep slant all the way to the valley floor.

The stairs went on all the way to the summit but it was here below the summit were one of the five known entrances to the tombs and catacombs below the planet's surface

This entrance was known as the Maw of the Dead.

The Bus hydraulics lowered the passenger and cargo compartment closer to the ground before the metal ramp extended and clanged down.

Burt opened the door and stomped down the ramp. He was followed by a fat man dressed in a garishly colored suit. No archeologist, tourist or Pilgrim I had ever seen before was dressed this way and that should mean something as I had seen the most outrageous choices of fashion worn by tourists before.

I guessed him to be about 180 centimeters tall and weighing at least 150 kilos. He wore a tight fitting two piece suit and the color fabric was constantly switching and swirling between pinks, neon yellows and greens. He looked human but perhaps he was a member of some alien species I did not know about. He also wore sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat of similar colors.

The man stepped of the ramp, puffing for air and padding sweat of his brow with a bright red towel, a very expensive Nikon Camera drone, looking very much like a black baseball was floating behind him and followed his steps.

Burt said to the strange man. "This is the first table, Mr. Eslin. Over there is the entrance to the tombs. To the right that stack of Standard Containers contains the Hotel I told you about. Are you certain you want to stay here? There are more suitable accommodations available Downstairs and there is a five Star Hotel at the Port."

The fat man waved at him and said. "No this is where I wanted to be brought; you may leave as soon as my luggage has been unloaded." The fat man's voice resonated with impatience and then he stepped to the ledge of the small plateau. The rock was almost vertical there and it dropped down over 800 meters to a small rocky ledge. The fat man did not look down, as his stepped to the very edge and stopped and said to the floating camera. "Here I am on the top of White Mountain, near the Catacomb entrance they call the Maw of Death. " He fanned his hand before his face and continued to say to the Cam bot. "The heat is almost unbearable and the air is paper dry, not to mention very thin this far up, but the vista is spectacular. I think I can see as far as the Space port in the far distance. The rugged mountains and the vast desert plain before me, void of life and untouched, yet underneath it all the secrets of a long gone civilization. Deep catacombs filled with the dry bones of a civilization long gone yet there are legends of ghosts, ghouls and undead monsters."

Burt crossed his arms and watched the stranger then said to me. "Aslan, do you remember that hand sized dried out insect like skeleton you had found and gave to me about a month ago?"

"Yes, I do. I usually sell them as souvenirs to tourists and pilgrims."

"I want to send one to my sister, you know Elsa. She has married and moved to a Union planet."

"Sure I get one for you."

"Thanks, Aslan." He then pointed with his chin towards the stranger edging even closer to the ledge and said. "He sure is a strange one, seems to be someone important. You know some sort of VIP, but if he isn't careful he will end up at the bottom of the ravine."

Burt was more calloused and I almost expected he wanted to see if the stranger actually stepped over the ledge, so I yelled. "Mister, better be careful. One more step and you going to add your bones to the ones that are already here!"

He turned angry. "Locals must be silent when I work!"

But he did look down and yelped in panic threw himself backwards into the dust, and slowly crawled away from the edge. "For Mickey's sake, why is there no safety force field or railing, having a ledge like this without any safety measures is criminal!"

I said. "Due to the Treaty of the Five nothing permanent can be installed or build here, Sir. However there used to be a sign warning of the steep ledge."

He eyed me still sitting in the dust." And where is the sign now?"

"A tourist stole it for a souvenir last month and the Tourist authority has not been up here to replace it, yet."

He got up and Manjeet stepped before me and said." I am Manjeet Sikh, Sir. You won't find a better guide to the upper tombs anywhere. I know all the passages and won't get us lost. My daily rate is 25 Credits, and that includes water, four Ration bar food and a Tomb Tent Rental."

The fat man got up with a groan and said to me. "I assume you are a guide too, what is your rate?" fat man asked.

I said. "Sir, looking at you and seeing how unprepared you are for Tomb excursion, I would not guide you for 500 Credits a day."

"You are quite presumptuous, aren't you?"

I shrugged. "I rather have you think of me that way and be angry than me being responsible for you being injured or worse."

He suddenly grinned and said. "That is actually quite wise for someone as young as you. How old are you and what is your name?"

I said. "Fifteen in Union Years and I am Aslan P. Rodan."

Manjeet elbowed me in the side and said. "I am almost Sixteen, and way cheaper than he is. I know all the sites and for fifty extra I rent you a roll around, so you don't have to walk much."

The fat man ignored Manjeet and said to me. "How come your friend offers me a tour and you don't? Is that a trick to get more money from tourists? Or is he less concerned about my safety?"

I glanced at Manjeet and grinned. "He is usually only concerned about his bottom line and he needs to earn money fast to pay for his Mystery-Child fan gear he ordered from GalNet. Besides the tour he is offering is the standard tourist tour, with toilets every five hundred meters, well lit rest stops with snack machines and pre-recorded audio at every corner. It's the Grandma Pilgrim tour, even a child can do completely safe, not that I think you would be happy with the Easy tour."

He looked puzzled and before he could ask I added. "You don't look like the usual tourist, you certainly don't look like a Pilgrim and I bet my last credit you are not a scientist."

He brushed the dust of his color changing pants, pressed a little sensor on his lapel and the suit changed from garish neon colors to a much less offending olive green. He said. "Interesting and that makes you conclude what?"

I thumbed towards the stair cat and answered him. "You hired Dave and came up here all by yourself, no one else. Tourists never travel all by themselves. That also means you paid full rate and since I you do not belong to the usual visitors your guide request won't be the usual kind."

He snatched the camera ball out of the air and put it in a belt case then he said. "It seems you are quite the bright fellow and I think you are just the person I am looking for. You are quite correct, I am not on a Pilgrimage, I am not a scientist and I am not a tourist. I am here on business."

He pointed to the collection of Standard Housing container that had been stacked to the mountain side just next to the tomb entrance. "If I was informed correctly this is a small Hotel and a restaurant. I am buying you two lads lunch or dinner or whatever you call your next meal period and you tell me all about this weird place. Then I might tell you about my business and after all that or perhaps tomorrow I might discuss a deal with you two."

My friend said. "My parents own the Peak Hotel and the Maw of the Dead Restaurant. I believe we have still two suites available, if you're lucky, I know the rest is booked."

As we escorted the big man towards the 40 meter standard containers stacked in two wide and two high against the rock wall of the mountain that had been converted to a Hotel he asked. "How many suites does this hotel of yours have?"

Manjeet answered. "We got twenty four rooms and eight suites." He pointed towards the cave entrance and said. What you see here is just the reception and the restaurant. The actual rooms are inside the Catacombs at the upper Howling Spirits gallery."

I added. "That is the main Corridor right after the maw entrance. It is where all the other buildings of the Upstairs village are."

After climbing the short metal steps to the main door and passing under the cool air curtain that was meant to keep the dust and heat outside, Manjeet went straight to the reception desk and alerted his great grandmother who as always sat right there behind the counter. She had a real name but I knew her only as Ammama, which meant something like grandmother. She muted the GalNet terminal and the program she was watching and greeted the fat stranger. "Welcome to Tomb World Peak Hotel, what can I do for you?"

The man pointed at Manjeet and said. "This enterprising member of your family made me aware that you do have two suites available?"

Ammama checked a desk PDD and said. "Indeed, Sir, we got a cancellation called in this morning and two suites are available. If you want Manjeet can show them to you then you decide which one you want?"

She turned the desk PDD and made it show several still images and she explained. "The Spiral Path Suite has a spectacular view of the inner stair case. If you are more of an adventurous type, you might like the Howling Spirit Suite on the other side. From it you can see far down the Howler's Chasm, it features a transparent floor in its salon."

He made a sweeping gesture over the PDD and said. "I would like to book both suites for the next 12 month."

Ammama did not blink an eye and said. "If you rent both for a whole year which would include the off season, I charge you the off season rate of 50 credits a day and if you pay right in advance I make it an even 36,000 Credits."

Manjeet and I however did blink at the amount and even more so as the stranger did not hesitate a second pulled a Credit strip, and paid, saying. "Sounds like a good deal to me."

Ammama waved their S-10 robot into attention and said to the stranger. "Do you have any luggage? The Porter Bot will take it to your suites."

The man finished filling out the registration form, spun the Desk PDD around and said. "Yes there are several suit cases on the stair crawler and I appreciate if your bot can take them to the Spiral Suite. And before I retire I would like to visit your restaurant and have dinner with these two local experts."

The robot was already on the move while Ammama said. "Please use that elevator over there; it will carry you to the upper level. There are serve-matics are and they are well stocked, but if you want to wait just fifteen minutes more, then our staffed kitchen opens and we serve dinner."

The man thanked her and squeezed himself in the small open front elevator cabin that carried him up in the top container where the restaurant was located. Manjeet and I had taken the spiral stair case and arrived ahead of the fat man in the upper level. While the elevator carried the fat man one floor up, Manjeet grinned at me looking at our reflection in the mirror next to the elevator shaft. "I guess we better wash our faces before we sit down or Mama will be upset."

We both had the usual traces of dust in our faces. Manjeet used to be shorter than me but recently he had grown faster than me and was a good five centimeters taller. He had dark olive skin, dark expressive eyes and his hair was as black as could be, of course only his big bushy eyebrows showed as he always wore a dark red turban. In contrast to him my skin had a much lighter and compared to his almost unhealthy tone. My hair was sandy blonde and my eyes had the same gray blue color as the ones my father used to have, both Manjeet and I were quite athletic and fit as it was a side effect of crawling and climbing caves and catacombs all day long. We both rushed to the washroom and made ourselves more presentable.

Like the lower level that contained the Hotel Lobby, and the private quarters of the Sikh family, the upper level was inside two 4o meter containers. The one closer to the Maw of Death was the one with the restaurant. The other held the kitchen and the stasis freezers. From the view ports of the restaurant one had a great view over the lower mountains of the range, the valley below and the desert plains in the distance and especially today as it was a clear day without any sand storms in the valley, that often obscured much of the view.

I was Manjeet's best friend and we both could and did eat whatever we wanted from the kitchen or the Serve-matics, we never really ate in the actual restaurant. Of course I had vacuumed the dark red carpet countless times before, washed the windows or polished the red pseudo leather upholstery of the chairs and booth benches. Manjeet's mother wanted everything clean and especially the restaurant. That I helped wherever I could was not required but I still felt it was necessary. The Sikh where a tight knit family, but I never felt like an outsider and was always welcome.

Manjeet showed the guest to the best table, a seat right underneath the short side window.

He invited to join him with a gesture.

Vasina, Manjeet's oldest sister came over, wearing her server uniform, which was a neat little black dress with flaring skirt and a white apron. She used to look just like Manjeet, but now her midnight black hair was much longer, her eyes looked bigger and her lips fuller. Of course Manjeet didn't have any boobs either. Vasina used to play with us when we were younger and explore the passages with us, but she was very good in school and now went to College far away on a Union planet called Quadro, and she was only here because it was her semester break. She gave us both a smile and then said to the guest. "Welcome to the Death-Maw Restaurant, I am Vasina your server. The kitchen will be open shortly; can I bring you something to drink in the mean time? The Serv-matic selection is printed on the blue page of the menu and available around the clock of course."

The Fat man smiled. "Now I expected pretty much everything here on this strange planet of yours, except a good old fashion Terran booth service restaurant." He had taken the menu out of the holder but had not yet looked at it and said. "Now don't disappoint me, young lady, but do you have milk shakes or malts?"

She said as if accessing a recording. "We got Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate, Mango, Hellberry, Hostun fruit and Mint shakes and malts."

The man rubbed his hands and said. "How absolutely delightful, I take a large Vanilla Malt then. I assume so far from Union space, it is of course Serve-matic, protein based, Nanite assembled?"

She shook her head. "Sorry Sir, but our Serve-matic has only pre packed stuff. We don't have one of those fancy Nano Assemblers. My dad buys our groceries fresh at the Xchange by the port every week and the food is prepared the old fashioned way by my mother and Aunt Calya in the kitchen, including the malts."

The fat man padded his belly. "You made my day saying that, pretty girl and I am so looking forward to try your fare and bring those lads whatever they want."

She thanked him and turned away.

He stopped her. "Young lady, those lads are my guests you may take their order."

She gave him a smile and said. "I already did. They always eat and drink the same thing: Big Terra Cokes, with a Double Death Maw Melt Burger with extrafries and extra bacon."

He actually licked his lips. "I have the same, whatever it is it sounds mouthwatering and if it comes with bacon it must be good!"

Manjeet spread his hands to pantomime the size of the sandwich and said. ."It's just a big double burger with lots of Nul pickles, Satora Cheese and spicy Saturn-Moon Mushrooms."

He took of his wide brimmed hat, put it on the seat next to him and revealed that he was completely bald. He said. "Sounds exactly what I would have ordered. Of course peace and stability is supposed the he most important thing we gained as the Nul joined the Union, but I think the Union was really blessed with their Pickles. There is nothing quite like it."

I elbowed Manjeet and said. "My friend likes them more than candy."

The man said. "And right he is, despite being delicious they are a whole lot more nutritious than candy."

He took one of the packed crackers from the basket on the table and unwrapped it, then pointed at me. "It is your turn now to earn this meal, tell me about this world."

I said. "I am guiding tourists and pilgrims and made it my business to know a lot about this world, so I ask what do you know already or is there any particular you want to know?"

He nibbled at the cracker and said. "Think of me as of a person who never heard of this place, who came here by accident taking the wrong Space Bus by accident and knows nothing and is too dense to use GalNet."

Vasina brought the Cokes and the Malt. He guided the straw in his little mouth and then rolled his eyes. "By Donald Duck's hat, this is delicious, maybe I am going to settle here permanently, just to eat here every day."

I sipped at my coke and begun. "As you may know this is the so called Coreward Sector of our Galaxy. This sector is almost completely unknown and un-explored and we are over 56,000 light years away from Pluribus Unum, the closest Union System is Mercy 78 Light from here."

Manjeet put down his coke and added. "Now that the Nul are Union Members we are not as far as we used to be from Union space anymore."

The Fat Man nodded kept sucking at his shake and motioned me to go on and so I did: "This planet is known as Tomb World now, to the Kermac and the Galactic Council it is known as 'World of the Ancient Dead'. The Nul called it H'naktahr which means something like Honor debt and the Belmac call it 'Place of Sacred Duty'.

Its existence is known to the Nul ever since they made contact with the Belmac almost 2 million years ago.

The fat man produced slurping sounds as his straw hit the last remnants of milk shake, waved for another one and said. "The Nul aren't the best historical record keepers and only since their membership can scholars access their archives. I've been to Nultaa and their record archives, they do keep records but without any sense or pattern and records and documents are simply stacked without labels, dates or other system. It will take decades to digitize, sort and make sense of it all." Then he realized so it seemed that his comment interrupted my task telling him about the planet and again motioned me to continue while he got his second shake.

I picked up the thread of my monologue and said. "This world was discovered simultaneous by Galactic Council and Union forces, during a Space battle that had been fought sixty light years from here.

Two escape modules landed here, one carrying the last survivors of a Kermac Battleship and one filled with the remaining crew of a Union Destroyer."

Manjeet waved his sister to get another coke and added his knowledge. "That space battle was fought in 4881. In Union History books it is called the Back-Door battle, as five Union fleets tried to circumvent Kermac Space and attack from the rear, this area was guarded by a Galactic Council Thrall civilization, and then known just as the Jellies."

The fat man nodded." I know of this battle. It ended in what the Galactic Council called the 41st Union Terran atrocity as Union battle ships obliterated sixteen star systems and 23 planets of the Jellies and affecting the extinction of the Jellies by destroying their incubation centers." He then smiled. "I am sorry lads, I keep interrupting you but history has always been fascinating to me. So please do go on with your story, you doing great so far."

The food came and I dipped a fry into the delicious signature Cheese ketchup garlic sauce and said. "Anyway the Kermac and the Union crews stranded on what they thought was an unknown, uncharted planet deep in unknown space and what they had started in space they continued on the ground. Besides trying to survive they were fighting each other and while doing so, discovered the sub planetary necropolis of a long gone civilization. The Terrans assumed wrongly that they had found a Seenian planet and feared that there was Seenian technology hidden, that could fall into Kermac hands. At the same time the Kermac believed they found remains of the UNI and didn't want the Union to gain any access to it. One of the Union Engineers managed to fix and extend the reach of a GalNet Comm unit they had along and called for help and reinforcement.

While the Kermac do not have the same instantaneous communication technology the Union does, they combined their psionic powers and magnified their psionic amplifiers as much as they could and send long range telepathic messages to Kermac Prime."

While I had talked, the Fat man had almost completely devoured his burger and groaned. "Most delicious burger I had in decades. I am quite amazed about this little community up here. Then he pointed at my burger and said. "Go ahead Aslan and eat your burger while it's hot."

While I started at my burger, the fat man wiped his small mouth and said. "While there were fighting here, the Second Armistice and Cease Fire treaty of 4801 was signed by the Big Four. The news of the find arrived at the respective sides just one day after the signing of the armistice. Neither side wanted to let a find like this get into the hands of the enemy. There were, especially on the Union side voices that didn't like the terms of the Armistice and wanted to finish the Kermac and the Galactic Union once and for all. Any excuse to start fighting again was especially welcome by the Union War hawks. So both sides send massive fleets to this region, only to be met by a third fleet of advanced space ships from a previously unknown society, the Belmac.

No one in the Union had ever heard or made previous contact to the Belmac, and the Kermac last had contact with a Belmac representative as they talked about forming the First Galactic Council 27,000 years ago and mostly forgotten about them. "

The Fat man was quite knowledgeable as he talked while finishing his fries." Both the Union and the Kermac learned that the Belmac were technologically almost on par with the Kermac or the Union and that they rules over a sizeable sector of space in the similar unexplored Downward Sector and had considerable resources. To all this the Kermac and the Union were met by Nul ships and back then the Nul did usually not communicate, but signaled that all Nul would go to war and commit everything to their last ship and warrior to assist the Belmac, as they both had an ancient pact concerning this very planet."

While I had my mouth full, Manjeet was down to his last Fry and said. "Yes, exactly, there were literally thousands of space ships in this system, ready to fight each other over this dust ball."

The Fat man had completely cleaned his plate and shoved it away and said with a grin. "I wasn't there of course and such details never make it into the history documents, but I bet the Terran Commanders among the Union Fleet who actually wanted to take on the Kermac, the Nul and the Belmac all at once and confirm Union supremacy over this Galaxy once and for all."

While we were eating and as it was usual the small restaurant had filled to the last seat. The S 10 robot now acted as server. The machine and Vasina were quite busy with serving the twenty tables. The Fat man looked around and said. "It is clear I am not the only one who thinks this place is a hidden treasure."

Manjeet said with pride in his eyes. "Off season or not we are always filled."

A dignified looking being wearing an egg white flowing robe covered with intricate swirling embroidery around the seams sat across the aisle at a table with two similar dressed beings. The being was remotely humanoid, had a long elongated skull, and shaped like an eggplant with the bigger end at the bottom where it had a horse like mouth filled with a double row of flat teeth. There were four black eyes of increasing size on each side of the head, the smallest eye having the size of a pea while the biggest was about the size of a cookie. The skin of the being was smooth and just like the heads similarity to an eggplant, it had the same look, color and feel as that Vegetable. The being used two arms with three fingered hands, but I knew there were two more pairs of very small almost useless and degenerated arm pairs underneath the robe. It turned his head and looked into our direction and said to the fat man. "I beg your forgiveness, Stranger, but we Belmac are blessed with excellent hearing and I could not help but overhear your conversation."

The Fat man waved jovial and said. "We are not discussing any secrets, so no worries."

The Belmac declined his head in stately fashion. "I am One who serves the Dead, and I know these human youngsters well. They are very knowledgeable about this holy and cursed place, but of the early history I might be a better witness and source."

The Fat Man declined his head and said. "Please honor us then with your knowledge, after all this is why I came here and I gladly repay your services of knowledge by inviting you to share your meal with us, if you eat that is."

The Belmac gestured to the two others that shared the table with him and said. "Yes we do eat and I am particular fond of this eatery and the carnal specialties it serves. It is why we are very regular guest here and already enjoy a great reduction in price, what I have to share I share gladly."

I knew the Belmac Priest for a very long time. He always came here to eat, not always with his two acolytes but always at the same time. It was the first time that he spoke to anyone else but us or outside of ordering food.

The Belmac plotted his wide maw with a napkin and begun by saying to the fat man. "You would have won your wager if anyone accepted it. No other than your famous Admiral Richard Stahl was here with a sky full of the most magnificent and terrifying Union Battle ship war machines and of course with his immense ship the no less legendary Devastator. While he signaled that he was willing to listen to reason, he was also here to secure this world for the Union, no matter who tried to stay in his way."

One of the Acolytes said. "Revered master, may I correct you, the human Admiral Stahl commands a ship that is called the USS Dominator and it is 30 times as big as the Union ship Devastator."

The Belmac priest had always a very soothing and patient voice, but as he replied to his acolyte there was a clear edge of anger in his reply. "One who mistakes ignorance for knowledge must first know all the fact before one tries to correct." To us the priest said. "I was a very young acolyte aboard one of our ships at that day and during that time, Admiral Stahl commanded the First Fleet from aboard the USS Devastator, which was commanded by a Human named Captain Farnsworth. Back then the USS Devastator was the biggest known battle ship in the Galaxy. Remember I am talking about the year 4805 in Union years."

Manjeet said to the younger Belmac, "Admiral Stahl receives the USS Dominator in 5024 that was only 55 years ago."

The Belmac priest spread his arms and said. "Youth can be so impatient and intrusive, but then we all have been that way once." He arranged the folds of his robe and continued with is lecture. "We Belmac told the Union and the Kermac forces that this world was not free for the taking but has been placed in our care for more than two million of your years. We Belmac exist solely for this purpose, to safeguard this world. It is not Seenian as we knew the Seenians. It is not of the UNI, Pree or the Dark Ones. The ones that ate buried here, the ones whose spirits and sorrow still haunt the chasms below have tasked us to guard this world and their resting place. We are not allowed to deny anyone access, but no one may claim or exploit this world, but we guard it for them until their ghosts fade away or we the Belmac cease to be. It is their world and we are its guardians."

I had finished my meal but now that the Belmac priest was speaking there was no need for me to continue.

The Fat man nodded slowly and said. "I can imagine our Eternal Soldier would have loved to fight and either go down in glory or vanquish the Kermac once and for all, if the Nul fell with them and the Belmac perished that would have been acceptable collateral damage."

The Belmac faintly smiled and declined his head again. "Quite so and it was our most high reveredPriests of the Task, who is also our people's leader feared that this might happen, but then it was not up to the soldier Stahl to make that decision but to the Union Council and they accepted and quite wisely so to hear us. The Assembly of the Union is a marvelous collection of so many beings and they declared that by their by their very own rules it was us who had the sole rights to decide." The priest paused only long enough to sip from his water and then said. "However we could not ignore the wishes of the Dead and the fate that brought the Union and the Galactic Council to this world and so the Treaty of the Five was drafted and signed. The Five parties being the Galactic Council, the United Stars of the Galaxies, we Belmac and of course the Dead of this word."

The Fat man asked. "I mean no disrespect when I ask this, but how could the Dead of this world sign or agree to anything?" The Priest's voice sounded amused and schoolmasterly at the same time as he answered. "The Dead of this world have tasked us Belmac from the beginning of our time with the guardianship of this world and they are quite capable of making their will known to us. They are dead in a physical sense but quite active in another sense. Do not ask how this is accomplished, while I do take no offense of your question, I must ask you not to insist to ask me again, as it touches the core of our believes and speaking about it is taboo."

The fat man raised his hands. "I am not here to offend anyone. Your answer was more than I could ask for."

The Priest actually put his thin spidery three fingered hand on my shoulder and also smiled at Manjeet. "These young humans are more in tune with this world as even some of us. I believe they might one day hear the answers the spirits will give them and release us of the Burden of Guardianship." The priest raised his arms and so did his two acolytes and they said with a solemn tone. "The Dead know all yet share only what we can understand, we only serve and what can be might never come to pass."

This of course was the general closing chant the Belmac and the Pilgrims always said and so Manjeet and I dutifully put our hands vertically before our faces, declined our heads and replied. "Those who serve the spirits are blessed and cursed. Blessed for insight and knowledge, cursed with eternal duty and servitude. What will be might never come, may all that seek reach the light and find true peace."

The Belmac priest got up, bowed before us and said. "It pleases us to see you know what is right so well." He took the brown paper bag Manjeet sister held out for him, containing the twelve sugar donuts the priest always took along and the three Belmac said in unison. "May you two reach the light and find peace." With these words they turned and left.

The Fat Man took the opportunity, and ordered a second burger. Then he said to us, padding his stomach. "I carefully grew this belly as you see it. In this world of ours where everyone is healthy and obesity is unknown, where any unwanted body fat can be instantly removed, I relish being fat as an expression of my individuality and since our medical science allows me to ignore all the ancient health risks associated with it, I tend to grow it even a little bigger once I settle down."

He took the menu and studied it and then said to me directly. "Don't let me stop you. I am sure there is more to know about this world."

I gestured towards the Belmac who stood at the counter paying for their meal and said. "Well you heard the Priest, they drafted and signed the Treaty and each party, except for maybe the Dead became quite active. The Kermac established a settlement and a landing field down south and the Union placed a spaceport and a settlement in the North. The Nul placed a Battle-Fort in the middle to make sure there was no fighting between the Kermac and the Union, since this was also prohibited by treaty. All sides put considerable resources and efforts in establishing their bases, even though they all knew it was just an acropolis and not a secret UNI or Seenian weapon depot. The Belmac expanded their tiny chapel outpost they had maintained with three or four priests over the last millennia and reopened the big temple with over 12,000 Belmac Priests and servants. The surprising part is that this planet became quite a tourist attraction and the Belmac cult attracted followers from both the Union and Council side."

Manjeet, who to my surprise also studied the menu lowered it and expanded on what I had just said. "Of course at first it was Union and Kermac Spies and agents who tried to infiltrate the Belmac Religion and thus gaining their trust and getting to the bottom of their secrets." He then stopped his sister and pointed to an item on the menu and asked her. "I never knew we had Chicken Wings, what are those?"

She used the plastic menu card to pound him on the head. "Since you both always order the same and never bother to read the bloody thing how could you know? I introduced them already three semesters ago and we got them on the menu ever since."

Our benefactor held up his thick fingers. "Bring us four orders, one for each boy and two for me."

This time she blinked surprised and said. "In addition to the Mountain Top Triple Burger you already ordered or instead?"

"In addition, lovely girl as my young friend here still has to finish his story and I hate to sit on an empty table, besides I have to teach these young men how to eat Chicken Wings."

Manjeet took before I could continue and said. "The Church of the Ancient Dead is the 764th biggest religion in the Union and has over 500 Million believers. The CAD members travel at least once to Tomb World to visit the Catacombs and the old temple. Since it is quite a trip they usually do it during Union week when the School year ends and the big School vacation begins, or they come during the end of year school break and so two seasons of Pilgrim visits developed. It gets quite busy around here and then you won't find a free Hotel room anywhere."

The robot came and placed four basked of golden fried things on the table and Manjeet finished saying. "The Church of the Ancient Dead is one of the few religion also shared by at least that many Kermac Followers and there are even a few thousand Nul that now adhere to this religion. " Then Manjeet waved at me. "Your turn again. Those wings look real good!"

The robot put a basket filled with chicken wings before me as well, but I ignored them to keep my end of the bargain and watched Manjeet try the first wing. I said. "The Union send scholars and archeologist and so did the Kermac. No one is really allowed to dig or build anything permanent, but anything that can be found and carried away by one person can be taken, that excludes of course the remains of the dead. So with the scholars and scientist came merchants and technicians and besides the big settlement around the Spaceport, a few smaller settlements established themselves. Like Downstairs and this place we call Upstairs. You probably landed on the Union Port and took the railway to Downstairs that is the town on the bottom of these long stairs. Up here is one of the entrances to the Tombs and caverns below. The Belmac believe that the entire planet is hollow and that all caverns, passageways are connected. There are three known entrances to the Tombs on Union side and two on Kermac side. There are four more entrances in the former Nul Zone. The Nul now being members of the Union, are by token still guarding the middle but the Kermac accuse them to be no longer neutral. The Union and the Nul of course claim that the Nul still take their protector role quite serious."

Manjeet wiped his greasy fingers on a napkin and licked his lips. "My father says the status quo has secretly ended since the Nul are Union now and he says, that all it takes is someone to find a device of an advanced alien technology and the gloves are off and the fight over this world is on again."

Then he said. "Those wings are the rule! Awesome stuff, Mr. Eslin, you sure know what's good!"

The fat man glowed. "I made it my lives mission to know what's good. I also think you father nailed the planetary situation quite astutely. "To me he said. "Go eat your wings. You are almost done with your task of telling me about this world. What I still like to know, does someone know the actual name of the civilization that is buried here?"

I shook my head while sampling the incredibly delicious chicken thing." No they are simply called the Dead. I can show you burial pits, with the remains of at least 23 distinct different species, but there are individual graves and tombs, at least those that are open visible are all of a single humanoid like species."

Manjeet burped and looked embarrassed around if anyone had noticed and said. "I exaggerated a little when I said I am the best guide, Mr. Eslin, no one not even any of the real guides .I mean the professional adult ones can hold a candle to my friend Aslan."

The fat man said." I always want the best, the best food, the best help and before I commit to something I do my homework. I heard of you Aslan and this is why I am here. Dave the crawler operator told me where to find you. "

I blushed and said. "Dave is a friend of ours. I am sure there are better guides. Besides I am not a professional or officially sanctioned by the Tourist Board, as the real ones are. I only do it like Manjeet to earn a little extra. Since we are considered Union we go to Union School Downstairs and I am not so sure I am going to stay here on Tomb World."

"Why is that?" He asked.

Manjeet answered for me. "Aslan is an orphan, his dad died some years ago, he was a guide. Once he is adult he has to give back the Container he stays in. The bank who owns still most of it let him stay till he is full of age."

I glared at Manjeet. That's my own business."

Manjeet disregarded my glare." He flatly refuses to live with us. He knows very well that my family lets him stay forever if he wants to."

Mr. Eslin thanked Manjeet's sister as she took away the empty plates and asked me. "How much do you own the bank, if I may ask?"

I crossed my arms being mad at Manjeet for blasting my personal misery in the open and ruining this splendid evening. "It should be no one's business but my own, but if I don't tell you, my loose lipped friend will." I sighed and said. "4,453.45 Credits"

"Well maybe you can make a dent into that sum after you heard what I have to propose."

"Won't hurt to listen."

"I am Edgar Eslin, in other places this revelation would cause quite a stir, but then in those other places my, let's say distinctive appearance would not have gone unnoticed."

Manjeet rubbed his chin. "Now that you mention that Edgar part, I somehow think I heard that name somewhere. I think you're someone famous."

The fat man smiled widely. "Yes that is about right, I am quite famous but obviously my fame has not reached Tomb World. I am the Owner of a company called Shrill Thrills, host of a GalNet show of the same name and the manager of the Mystery Child franchise."

Manjeet's chin dropped. "I watch that all the time, I am a huge fan of Mystery child and have all her music!"

Edgar kept his smile and looked at me. "You are not a fan, I presume?"

I looked at him sheepishly and said. "I don't mind the music but all the stuff that comes with it is too expensive for me. I simply can't afford to be a fan."

The famous manager said. "No worries, I am glad we can talk normal without my fame being in the way. This is part of the reason I am here as well. Tomorrow I will tell you what I have in mind and I am going to hire the both of you as guides for the next few weeks, but now I am getting tired and I wonder if you can show me to one of the suites."