Category: I See Fire

The confrontation had stopped. The courts found that the procedure had been disrupted. The reason was unusual radar signals that appeared near Uranus and then disappeared again. Was it alien spaceships? You couldn’t say that.
Adjungit Inkibus and his vice Iteriú Rangatira had met in the main animal of the Darctomes to discuss the situation.
“We can’t let him get away with that, Senator!” Said Rangatira. Her pulse was racing. She was angry. “Of course this is a diversionary maneuver on the part of Praetor Scurra! He wants the confrontation to end. He’s like a wounded animal that bites.”
“My dear friend,” Inkibus said calmly, “of course it is. But what should we do? We have no evidence! If we make accusations that we cannot substantiate, the Senate and the Chamber of Government will stand against us . Then the confrontation is over! “
Rangatira looked at him angrily. “How often has the praetor lied? Blank spread the untruth? While his compliant followers had nothing to do but follow him blindly. Why don’t we do it exactly like that?”

“Because we are not like that!” Contradicted Inkibus. “Right now! Scurra’s actions have shattered enough dishes. We have to think about the future. I think about the future a lot because I think of living in it.”
Rangatira nodded. “Right. But then I have the perfect solution.”
Inikbus frowned. “What you up to?”
Rangatira went to a cupboard that stood in a corner of the room. There she pulled out an ornate sword that was sheathed. “My parents gave this to me when I decided to get into politics,” she said. “I come from a long line of fighters. We don’t give up so easily. But we are also able to adapt to the situation. So if you say we need evidence, I’ll get it. With the will of the ancestors!”
Inkibus did not seem happy. “That will be dangerous. Scurra’s friends are capable of anything. They won’t shy away from shooting down your ship, especially if they find out you’re inside.”
Rangatira grinned. “I even hope so. Let them come and blow their cover. I’ll be prepared!”
With that she stormed out of the room. Inkibus knew he would not be able to change her mind anymore. Asserting herself, that was the story of her life. A fighter. No, thought Inkibus, a warrior.

It had been tiring until now. Hardly any confrontation had lasted that long. That morning the Lokubami people saw the fourth day approaching. And something changed. The senators felt that too. Because in the last few days the praetor had shown his really ugly face again. The ugly face that revealed his ugly character. In fact, it had been seen every day since Scurra took office as praetor, but the past few days had been the melting pot, so to speak.

Deosimilis Denarios, the deputy of Scurra, was concerned. During one of the many pauses the discussion allowed him, the praetor had gone into the ready room to confer with Denarios.
“My lord!” Said Denarios. “The senators are starting to turn against us! We might lose the confrontation!”
“We won’t lose,” said Scurra. He activated one of the screens in the ready room. The screen showed the Senate. At the moment, it was Scurra’s son, whom he had named after himself with a touch of vanity, speaking at the lectern. It was a fiery speech.
“Do you want total war?” He called. “Do you want it – if necessary – more total and radical than we can even imagine today?”
The Balcerpinus side seemed to agree. What came in response to the question, however, was not an orderly answer, more a loud murmur.
“The Darctomes claim the people have lost their trust in the leader. Do you trust the leader? “
That strange loud murmur again. If you listened carefully, you could hear something like “yes” and “yeah”. The rest was drowned out in a kind of background noise.
“Do you vow with a holy oath to the front that the homeland stands behind the front with strong, unshakable morality and will give it everything it needs to win?”
The murmur turned into wild screams. Balcerpinus senators bleated like a flock of sheep. Scurra’s son passed it and continued.
“Do you want women to step in wherever possible to free men for battle?”
The answer was no more. Words, if spoken at all, were drowned out in a crescendo of tones.
“Do you approve of the most radical measures against a small group of slackers and pushers? Do you agree that whoever refuses to accept the leader will lose his head? “
Silence.
The screaming and bawling died away in a split second. What was that just now? Had the praetor’s son demanded the death penalty for political enemies, and did so in the hallowed halls of the Senate?
As strange as that sounds, it was a line he’d better not have crossed. Lokubani policies were corrupt and depraved, but they still had a few tiny, whimsical principles. One of them was never to wish the enemy death in the hallowed halls of the Senate. There was an ancient superstition attached to it that it would bring bad luck or end the world or something.
Denarios clasped his hands over his head. What just happened? Scurra’s son had become so furious that he had completely forgotten himself. The demand to kill political opponents was not new to the Balcerpinus camp. But that had a new quality.
“He’s got bite!” Said Scurra. “He really shows them.”
“But most splendid!” Exclaimed Denarios. “That could finally cost us victory in the confrontation! That is an affront! No one has ever dared to do that! At least he could have waited until the confrontation was over!”
“Do you think so?” Asked Scurra.
“Indeed!”
“I don’t think so. Wait a minute … oh, here it comes! The grand finale!”
On the screen, Scurra’s son started talking again. He ignored the embarrassing silence in the Senate and said: “The leader has ordered we will follow him. If we have ever faithfully and inviolably believed in victory, it is in this hour of national reflection and inner alignment. We see victory tangible lie close in front of us. We just have to take hold. We just have to find the strength to subordinate everything to his service. That is the order of the day. And that’s why from now on the slogan is: Well, people, get up, and storm, break loose!”

“Most splendid! Is that a call to revolt?” Asked Denarios.
“Is that it?” Replied Scurra. “Of course it is, and the Darctomes will say so, but I can deny anything. As always. And those parts of the stupid people who made the mistake of trusting me will be my compliant henchmen.”
“Most splendid, that’s … brilliant!”
“Of course. He’s awesome.”
Denarios winced. “He”? Who did Scurra mean by “he”?
“He will prevail and continue to rule Lokubami as is his right.”
The praetor spoke of himself in the third person!
“Now it is time,” said the praetor, “that he contacted his allies. His son has declared war, it is the father’s job to implement it. The new kingdom of Lokubami is baptized with fire. The Lokubami will be the new masters of the solar system. “
He activated another screen. A line of soldiers dressed in strange light armor became visible.
“All attention!”, Scurra spoke into the radio. “Start Operation 1776!”
The soldiers began to move.

It seems silly and stupid, but Praetor Scurra had a spiritual adviser who was even more caught up in religious madness than he was. She loved ceremonies and quoting from the Chronicles of Nab’gen. After the confrontation continued, she felt called to invoke the Great Spirit of Quonzar and …

By evolving, we reflect.

The universe is full of chaos-driven reactions. Consciousness consists of pulses of quantum energy. “Quantum” means a flowering of the dynamic.

The goal of bio-feedback is to plant the seeds of curiosity rather than discontinuity.

We are at a crossroads of nature and illusion. Who are we? Where on the great story will we be recreated? We are in the midst of a sublime maturing of intention that will align us with the stratosphere itself.

Humankind has nothing to lose. Our conversations with other beings have led to a deepening of ultra-conscious consciousness. Reality has always been radiating travellers whose chakras are opened by self-actualization.

Throughout history, humans have been interacting with the quantum cycle via supercharged electrons. We are being called to explore the cosmos itself as an interface between presence and ecstasy. Shakti will amplify our connection to non-dual power.

Pain is born in the gap where grace has been excluded.
It is time to take empathy to the next level. We must strengthen ourselves and ground others. The future will be a spiritual awakening of self-actualization.

The Lokubami were – like all peoples of the solar system – humanoids. Descendants of a tribe that the ACELS had settled in the solar system a long time ago. They had a head (which didn’t have to mean anything), two arms and two legs. The actual body sat in the middle of the extremities. Most of them had fair hair and strange orange skin. Strange because it looked unnatural. The pigment that gave the Lokubami’s skin this unnatural orange was created after the first settlers from Jupiter’s moons arrived on Uranus. And with that the disaster had taken its course.
These settlers did not come in peace. They were radical religious humanoids who belonged to the pure church of the great prophet Quonzar. Quonzar had interpreted the books of Nobilius very literally. No word could be changed. Quonzar declared whoever did that as an enemy and fought them, and that’s just funny, because the religious founder Nobilius was known for his extreme pacifism.
The people who came from the Jupiter moons brought death and ruin to Uranus and its inhabitants, in the name of a humanoid who kept saying how nice it would be if everyone were nice to each other for a change. The settlers had left Jupiter’s moons because science and research were valued there, something that was rejected on Quonzar’s behalf. Didn’t these scientists say the solar system was somewhere on the edge of a galaxy? One galaxy among many galaxies? No, Quonzar had clearly stated that the humanoids of the solar system were the special chosen, above all others. The solar system was flat and in the center of the galaxy, as befitted the elect!
In the name of the pacifist Nobilius, the settlers first slaughtered the inhabitants of Uranus until only a few were left. Then they started a war with the moons of Jupiter and declared themselves the Grand Empire of Lokubami. At some point the “Empire” was lost and they only called themselves the Lokubami people. Another funny story, because Lokuba was the name of the guy who ran the arks that brought the settlers to Uranus. Rumor has it that he spent a lot of time in the bathtub because he wasn’t taking anything very seriously. He wasn’t a very good leader either, but he had a good historian. “Lokuba’mi”, translated “Praise of Lokuba”, was the name of his work about the leader. And that’s what the country was called after all.

But as it is, religion is not a matter of reason and two faiths soon emerged. There were the Darctomes, who realized that blind clinging to a script that had origins more than a thousand years ago wasn’t good in the present. On the other side were the Balcerpinus, who did not want to deviate from the radical line. When it suddenly occurred to the Darctomes after a few decades that it might be a barbaric idea to keep other humanoids as slaves, there was war between the two sides. In the end, a law was enacted that was intentionally complicated to make it difficult for the people to see through. In addition, representatives of the Balcerpinus had managed to accommodate a few privileges of the former slave owners.

Whenever Praetor Scurra spoke of the “good old days”, he meant exactly that. The times were good when there was still oppression and inequality. Not that Lokubami was no longer oppressed or inequality. On the contrary.
But that was exactly the crux. That is why representatives of the Darctomes and the Balcerpinus had been implacably opposed to each other in the Senate of the Lokubami for days. Scurra blew speeches outside and the mob gathered outside. The Balcerpinus were known for their high potential for violence. Scurra had sown the seeds. And the seed was ready to grow. Should Scurra’s challenger Inkibus win the Senate, they were ready to strike.
Something was brewing …

It is said that one of the most elegant games that the people of planet earth has ever produced is chess. Those who say this emphasize the strategic part of the game, how to play and place the pieces. How to plan moves ahead. How to calculate what your opponent is up to. And how you always have to react flexibly to the opponent’s move. But just as there are white and black pieces in chess, the game also has a dark side. After all, it was about two irreconcilable parties facing each other. Two parties fighting each other. And the name and certain phrases also indicated the dark side. “Chess” was derived relatively neutrally from the Persian word “Shah”, meaning “King”, but the phrase “Checkmate”, which was pronounced when the opponent was defeated, translated meant: “The king is dead.” In this way, you had a war situation before you: two kingdoms that were at war. The names of the playing pieces also had a dark side: the “pawns” who stood in large numbers on the playing field and could be defeated quickly and easily, while the higher playing pieces could sometimes make very complicated moves.

In utter despair over the situation in which Earth politics found itself, a new variant of chess had been invented. It was called “pigeon chess”. It was said that discussing with some people was like trying to play chess with a pigeon. The pigeon does not obey any rules, knocks over all the pieces, shits on the board and struts off as if it had won.
The situation on Lokubami was the same as in pigeon chess. The “confrontation” had already started over 24 hours ago and the praetor Scurra kept telling nonsense. The Lokubami Senate was often referred to as the “Holy of Holies” because it was where the senators sat who decided on laws. Scurra had no trace of respect for this “holy of holies”. In one of the language of the planet Terra there is a saying that someone lies, that the beams bend. If that were literally the case, the Senate ceiling would have turned into a barrel vault that day. It was impossible to trace all of Scurra’s lies. His reign so far had been a nightmare. Now that he was confronted, he had lost all inhibitions.
His challenger Inkibus tried to counter it. He had no idea about the Praetor’s “Plan B”. Because while the Senate was still hotly debated, the praetor’s militia was formed. The dark side shroud fell over Lokubami.
But some hope arose when a murmur arose among the senators and some of them pointed out that the people no longer fully agreed with the praetor’s antics. Then there were voices from those senators who support Scurra, who tried to create a good mood with honey. You have to come together and be nice to each other.
At that moment a senator named Arat Atrandom rose. “Oh yeah?” She exclaimed indignantly. “Now all of a sudden I hear Scurra’s supporters saying we should ‘get together’, ‘allow other opinions’ and be ‘nice’ to each other! Then listen carefully!”
She took a deep breath and called it out, so loud that you could hear it throughout the Senate building: “TE FUTUO!”

The chronicler cannot translate this phrase at this point; children could read along. But be assured to the reader that it was nothing nice.
“If you have agreed with fascism up to now,” continued the senator, “with racism, bigotry and violence, then you now have no right to demand civilization!”
Denarios, Scurra’s deputy, took a deep breath. Of course he knew what his boss was up to. He wondered if this was still a good idea. But he quickly wiped the thought aside. That was mainly due to the fact that he had no conscience.
Something started to boil. And not all of the characters were played yet.

Remember, remember the third of November,
betrayal, treason and plot…

From the works of Salgoud Smada, one of the great poetrists of the Solar System

The Senate was a building built to impress. And that was a real shame, because the Senate was supposed to be the seat of the Lokumbani government. So it looked more like a kind of government simulation. Anyway, the real center of power was in the Praetorial Palace. As the name suggests, the praetor stayed there, provided he was nowhere else.
Like that day.
Whoever entered the Senate building had to do so through the front, where there were huge pillars. One then came through a portico into a large room, behind which – finally – the Senate Hall was. The Senate used to meet here. Sometimes also to spend the night, that depended on how much there was to do and seriously the senators took their job.
Quite apart from the fact that all the senators were never present anyway.
Except that day.
It was an important date. Senator Adjungit Inkibus had called an urgent meeting. The weeks leading up to this session had been preceded by real arguments between him and the praetor. And the closer the day drew, the more unscrupulous the praetor became. It seemed impossible, but yes, even with Scurra there was an increase in the loss of scruples. It was feared that sooner or later the man would have “zero scruples”. Most of them knew what would follow: he would be proclaimed unrestricted ruler. And then good night.
The Lokubami procedures were lengthy and complicated. When the Lokubami rose up against their colonial rulers and founded an independent country, there was a consortium that worked out these rules. The idea behind it was to make the rules so complicated that future regents and senators had to grapple with them in order to do their government work. This was to ensure that only serious regents and senators take up these posts.
The shot backfired. Instead of getting serious politicians who seriously dealt with the regulations, those who took advantage of the complicated set of rules in their favor soon came to power, along with the fact that hardly anyone understood all the rules. The richest families of the Lokubami had quickly divided the rule among themselves. Then they started to fight. Each side tried to fill the post of praetor. In fact, for a while it had looked like there was moderate current. An influence that would break the rigid system. But that was thwarted when the side of the so-called Balcerpinus appointed a number of praetors who disliked the common people and encouraged their exploitation. Not obvious, of course, but behind the scenes. The former praetor Tormento had probably exploited the thicket of laws and added a few new provisions. That was decades ago, but his decisions still had an impact.
At the same time, the side of the Darctomes, the opponents of the Balcerpinus, had tried to counteract this. It hadn’t always worked because, unfortunately, praetors of the Dactomes also allowed themselves to be seduced into wicked deeds.
Today was something special in the Lokubani proceedings. Scurra’s challenger had scheduled “Confrontation Day”. On this day, a long and complicated process was supposed to find out how loyal the senators were to which candidate. The senators, in turn, each of whom were responsible for a specific area of ​​Lokubani, should inquire beforehand with the people what is desired. And at the end of the day it would be decided whether Scurra should remain Preter or whether Inkibus took over from him.
Adjungit Inkibus believed that he was well prepared. He had done what he could. Although he had heard rumors that the Balcerpinus were setting up militias to keep Scurra in power by force if necessary, along with the institutions of the state that Scurra had already corrupted.

There had never been such a case in the history of the Lokubani. However, one has to admit that the history of this people slowly drifted towards such an event. The warning signs had been there for a long time. They had been ignored. Senators leaning towards the Darctomes had been optimistic enough to believe that anything could be resolved politically. The fact that the system with which the praetor himself came into office had to be reformed did not seem to matter to them. When they finally hired a praetor again, they seemed happy and didn’t touch the complicated laws.
On that day the Senate Chamber was full to the last seat. Now it was a matter of convincing the senators what is best for the people. Yes, of course they had checked with their constituents beforehand, but that did not mean that this will penetrated. Ultimately, the senators were free to choose what they considered best. Of course, if their constituents disagreed with the decision, they could vote out the appropriate senator. But until he was voted out he had the great life. However, as was customary on a “day of confrontation,” senatorial elections actually took place in some areas of the country. These elections could actually affect the bottom line of the confrontation.
The Senate Chamber was round in shape. On one side was the chairperson’s desk, in front of it was the lectern. The chairman of the Senate was an elderly man named Valijum.
“The floor has the praetor, the candidate of the Balcerpinus,” he said.
Praetor Scurra stepped forward and went to the lectern. He put it unusually clearly: “Dear Senators, we have gathered here today because a tragedy has occurred. A tragedy that began in these halls with the taxation of trade routes. As a result, the Senate Chamber is now in the stranglehold of the Darctomes … “
“That’s an allegation!” Shouted a senator.
The challenger Inkibus sat quietly in his seat. He took a deep breath. It was going to be a long day. He had only just started and Scurra had already launched the first lie. Just like he always did. None of this had anything to do with taxing trade routes. It was just a diversion to remind the senators how well they were making a profit from the decisions of the Senate. Yes, the day should be long.
As every day.

Remember, remember…

ibid

The building had a large tower with a dome. It looked just like you would imagine a house where a couple of conspirators meet. That, the praetor found, made it all the more inconspicuous.
The preter was a strange figure. He was humanoid in shape, but extremely round. It looked more like someone had put a ball on a ball. The round head had some residual hair. The lips were thick and looked like a stark contrast to the otherwise pale face. When the praetor spoke, it sounded like drawing chalk over a piece of glass.
“I am glad that you are all here,” he said in greeting.
The people who had gathered in the large room of the building belonged to what, under normal circumstances, would have been called a “circle of friends”. In that case it was wrong. Because Dumno Dvalo Scurra, the praetor of the planet Uranus, had no friends. Only people who wanted to be close to him because they wanted to come to power, prestige and wealth themselves. The most precious thing in the universe, real life, meant nothing to them.

“The joy is entirely on our side, O most splendid chosen one!” Said the Second Praetor submissively. To do this, he leaned particularly far forward. That was difficult, because everyone present had already taken their seats at the long table. But the second praetor bowed his head until it almost touched the table top. Praetor Scurra was eaten away by vanity, he loved it when people behaved like that towards him. He especially loved the address “most splendid chosen one”. A strange religious cult was spread on Uranus, which actually only waited for the end of all worlds. And someone chosen by the gods should come to … Well, what exactly he should do was not entirely clear. The Shima scriptures said there would be a chosen one, but things got confused afterwards. Serious religious scholars of the solar system suspected that the Shima scriptures were created under the influence of mind-expanding drugs. That would explain the mess of words that made up most of them. Everything that existed in the entire solar system as religious scriptures was processed in it. And it was declared that only on Uranus – whom its inhabitants called “Lokubami” – would the “pure people” live. The chosen one, no, the most splendid chosen one, should emerge from the “pure people” in order to exalt the “pure people”. And then would … blah blah blah. Or so it read.
No one in their right mind took the Shima scriptures seriously. The problem was that Lokubami had a caste of rich and powerful who took them seriously. And even literally. That Scurra could have become a praetor was a result of this belief in the Scriptures.

“Good,” said the Praetor. “We’re having a meeting. It’s going to be a great meeting. Perhaps the greatest meeting we’ve ever had.” Then he turned to the Second Praetor. “Second Praetor Denarios, Deosimilis, old friend, how has our action progressed?”

“Oh most splendid chosen one,” replied Denarios, “everything is going according to plan.”
Deosimil’s Denarios was about the same age as the praetor himself. He was an old man in his seventies who wore a head of white hair like a helmet, because it gave his otherwise expressionless face a little more shine. You couldn’t have guessed it, but there was sheer calculation behind his submission. Because of course he wanted to be praetor if Scurra ever abdicated. But first he had to prevent Scurra from leaving his post. The steps for this had already been taken.
“Major General Rabunge!” Denarios barked. “Your report!”
One of the men at the table rose. He was wearing a pretorial armed forces uniform.
“Everything is in position. Should your adversary, O most splendid chosen one, introduce the motion to the Senate, our troops will go on alert to bring the people under control. Then the Praetorial Court will rule in favor of the Praetor and dissolve the Senate . And with that we have unlimited power. “
“UNLIMITED POWER!” Repeated Scurra loudly. “I like that. Everything seems to be going according to plan.”
“Well, uh …” stuttered Rabunge. “Not … uh … not quite.”
Now it was Denarios who raised his voice. “What?” He called out loud. He turned his head and looked madly at Rabunge.
“Well … uh … it’s about the spy.”
“WHAT SPY?” Denarios got louder.
“The one who came from Terra. The spy was apparently infected with an illness on Terra. Our people only noticed too late. He infected other people on the spaceship that brought him to Lokubami. Workers at the spaceport also did signs of the disease. That could spread. “
“Humbug!” Contradicted the praetor. “Terran diseases are far too weak for the great immune system of a Lokubami. This disease will be quickly under control and the planet will be ours.”
“You heard the praetor!” Denrios snapped. “A cold like that won’t interrupt our plans! Better tell the praetor why the praetorial tribunal will decide in our favor!”

“Uh yeah.” Rabunge tried to pull himself together. “It’s pretty simple in principle. We have removed judges from the Praetorial Court and replaced them with people who are loyal to the Praetor.”
“Great!” Said the Praetor. “This is the greatest court of justice there has ever been. Was it difficult to replace the disloyal judges?”
“Actually, it was super easy, barely an inconvenience. We recently declared a judge to be insane. She is currently in an institution for the mentally ill. And if she stays there for a while, she will certainly be.”
The praetor laughed. The Second Praetor laughed. Everyone laughed. They laughed like a band of bush thieves who were very sure of their cause.

“Great. Great,” confirmed the praetor again. “I have also received a message from Brother Jonathan. Our friends from outside are happy that we want to support them in their endeavor. Of course, the Usovai’i plan only helps us to keep them in control. That is why we are participating . And we have to support them, because unfortunately they have a few problems. “
“The problems will soon be over!” Declared the Second Praetor. “Our number three and number six might have something to say about that.”
A man got up. He was an important man in the economy of the planet Uranus. But here, in the cave of the conspirators, his name was simply “Number Three”.
“Our problem is organizations like ASTROCOHORS, or more precisely, ASTROCOHORS CLUB,” he began. “They uncover our plans where they can and try to let people know. If too much becomes known, that could really cause us trouble. But my company, which controls a large part of the solar web, has already taken countermeasures: We are blocking theirs Broadcast channels, so that not all information comes out. “

“My company is doing its part too,” confirmed Number Six. “We have placed spaceships with energy generators in orbit the planet. The generators will recharge the Ift field so that it can disrupt communication again.”
“When will that be?” Asked the Vice Praetor.
“It’s already started,” replied Number Six. “The energy will reach its maximum in four hours at the latest. And then it will be difficult for ASTROCOHORS CLUB, no matter what they do.”
“Great, great,” said Scurra happily, clapping his little hands. “We’re going to build a great government. The greatest government this planet has ever seen. We are going to remove everything that stands in our way.”
“Then why stop?” Asked the Second Praetor. “We are the greatest people in the solar system, we have the most glorious chosen one on our side, so why not take control of the whole system?”
“Ruler of the Solar System … um … Space Emperor …. I like it.”
And again he laughed. But apart from him and his subordinates, nobody really had anything to laugh about.