Voyage of the Stardancer

Chapter 5 - From Darkness to light

With his arms out stretched to enforce his point Melinor said that the entire future of their people was in dire peril and that if they remembered those five years ago that the undercity had been plunged into darkness causing great apathy in the people. In that time the population had started to dwindle with the people thinking that the time of ending was near and all Andoria would fall. I asked Melinor what had happened to the cities power. He replied that in the book of the ancestors, the city had ten generators, two being the minimum for the city and Guardian to function, one by one over the last two hundred years the generators had failed, with the Gentecs (generator technicians) cast being unable to repair them to their great shame. One generator must always give power to Guardian, so when that started to malfunction the central power control computer, automatically switched to the last remaining good generator, leaving the faulty one for the city. The Gentecs told me of the situation that the last generator may fail, they being unable to stop it happening, we started making preparations by constructing the crude fish oil lamps that you see around you. Two months after the switch,the lights in the city grew dim, flickered and went off forever. I calmed the people down by saying that the Gentecs would repair the generator and the lights would once again work, but in my heart I knew that this would be not so. It had been so long since the last ancestor who had designed and built the generators had died. The ancestors had  left books to repair them, but because they ran without problems for the first hundred years, the knowledge of the inner workings were lost, the books a bewildering set of words and diagrams, so when the first started to fail, little could be done has each generator which were by then ancient lasted less and less before failing. So with no power to the hydroponics farms, the plants and trees began to wither and die despite the Hydrotecs futile placing of oil lamps around them, a poor substitute for the city lights. So for the last five years we have lived in a world of darkness, surviving on the fish, sea weed and mushrooms and whatever else would grow without light, but the fishstocks grow low and the people hunger.

Melinor beckoned Bindar to come forward. He advanced to Melinor shaking with the thought of what punishment would be meted out for breaking the taboo. Melinor started by saying that six months ago, after manually forcing opening the inner blast door he had sent out in desperation a squad of Soldats to forage for food in the upper city and to report back to him the situation. Of the ten that were sent, two were killed and three injured as they were caught in an air raid which the bombs had impacted on the outer blast door has they were returning, damaging it, he then knew that the beginning of the end had started.He put his hand upon the head of Bindar how could he punish this boy when he had gone out of the city for food and brought back the salvation of the people. We looked at each other and both thought of what these people expected of us. Melinor said that when the city lights were working a simulated night and day was carried out so although it was always night, we were in the night period and would we like to rest, so we were shown to an upper room were we found two small bunks, and with our legs hanging over the ends we both fell into a restless sleep. I was awoke to a soft tapping on my arm to find a female Andorian, with her head bowed holding a small tray with two mugs of the hot thick beverage that we had had the previous day.I asked her name and with a shy voice said it was Sinara, Melinor soldest daughter, she said that after we had made ourselves ready we would be taken on the tour of the city. When we tried to find our uniforms, we found them on a bench by the door washed, patched and neatly folded. A small room that led off to the side held washing and personal facilities, plus a tub of hot water for bathing in. After we had bathed and dressed we felt like we could now face what fate could throw at us. Down stairs Melinor was waiting with a squad of Soldats, but as Melinor explained his people had not seen an outsider for generations and although the Minevians were of the same race of the Andorians, they might not know that and think of us as the ancient enemy. As we walked I looked at the Soldats, their fatigue type uniforms made out of the same soft leather like material, which we was told came from the tanned skin of the giant mushrooms crowns, the composite helmets and faded insignia which had been carefully handed down from father to son, showing the last reminders of the once powerful army of Andoria. The antique projectile weapons that were also handed down, but now with bullets so old that were more of adanger to the person than the enemy, were held across their chests as status and pride. As we walked beyond the city limits and further into the complex we met Telbar the Hydrotec leader, Melinor showed us the huge barren Hydroponics tunnels where lush fruit and vegetables once grew, now dead and shrivelled. Telbar who was responsible for food production was left with only the lake as a food source. Brigsy turned to Melinor and said after visiting Guardian, could he be shown the power generator room. Melinor with a start said, do think that you could repair them. Brigsy replied that he would try, but not to hold him to it, remembering how they looked to us as saviours. We walked on and suddenly felt a sea breeze, I looked at Melinor who smiled as we turned a corner, and made a sweeping motion with right hand, and there it was, a vast underground lake, nearly big enough to be called a sea.The shore line swept around to our right and left with an eerie fluorescent glow, which gave the huge cavern an eerie half-light. Melinor said this was a type of seaweed which was edible when cooked and could also be made into the beverage which we had drunk. In the dim glow I could see forests of giant mushrooms rising to a height of at least three to four metres growing on both shorelines. Looking out into the lake I could see several large fishing boats, some near the shore, and others far out, the oil lamps twinkling in the distance, with which fish were attracted to the surface. Wood which I noticed was stacked in piles nearby were told came from the dried mushroom stems, which when dried looked and felt just like a fibrous wood, the bark or skin used to make ropes. Around the lake were slipways where boats were being repaired and built, fish being dried and smoked in small huts. It was like looking at a small fishing village, unbelievable so far underground, the descendants of the first Andorians who had never been above ground, this was all they knew.