From the Author: this text has been translated from Russian into English with the help of online translators. The original text in Russian is here (link).

If you notice an error in the translation, please let me know. Friends, none of us is immune from mistakes. And if you saw a glitch in my logic, then do not hesitate, without hesitation, leave your angry comment.

...and even what cannot be can happen one day...

Legend IX.  "Hope for freedom"

­"We know everything about them! We are ready to make contact!" an enthusiastic voice echoed several times through the circular Hall of the Council of Elders, until silence fell.

The large round Hall of the Council of Elders was designed in such a way that every word of anyone speaking, even in a low whisper, was perfectly audible to everyone present. Stunning acoustics were achieved by the semicircular arches of the hall and a specially treated mineral on the floor, amplifying any sounds. This dark blue stone was mined on one of the planets of the old World and specially delivered to the ship for the decoration of the Council Hall. Opposite the entrance to the Hall, the gaping blackness of boundless space floated in a huge panoramic porthole.

There was nothing in the Council Chamber but a large round stone table and five heavy deep chairs. An armored crystal hemisphere was built into the center of the table. The special gas filling the sphere created ideal conditions for the performance of the "heart and brain" of the flagship. The gas inside the sphere was in constant motion and sometimes changed color, imitating the "mood" of artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence, also known as an on-board computer and navigator, did not have the right to vote in the Council of Elders, did not make decisions, but had a certain indisputable power and even its own name: GLAZ. Possessing incredible power, GLAZ did not interfere in the life of the ship's crew and its passengers. Formally, GLAZ obeyed the Viceroy, technically, it does not obey anyone.. The maintenance of the ship with the help of a team of mechanical droids was his primary task, but not the main one. The main task of GLAZ was known, but they preferred not to mention it once again...

The four chairs at the table were occupied. Who had just entered the hall was walking confidently towards the fifth, vacant chair. The Council of Elders met in full. Like everyone present in the Hall, the newcomer was dressed in an armored set of clothes made of noble metal with a black sheen. The helmet covering the head completely concealed the identity of the newcomer. Only the faceplate around the helmet's T-shaped visor glowed bright red.

The color of the helmet's faceplates denoted the title and position of an Elder.

On the helmet of the first of the Council of Elders, who bore the title of "Viceroy", there was a gold-colored plate. The Viceroy was responsible for making crucial decisions throughout the mission.

The Priest's helmet was distinguished by a green plate. This Elder was responsible for the canonicity of the Knowledge entrusted to him and the general psychological attitude of the crew and passengers of the flagship.

Elder Chancellor's helmet was decorated with a white plate. He was responsible for the management of economic affairs and the competent allocation of resources.

The Elder Admiral's helmet was decorated with a bright red plate. The Admiral controlled the troops and was responsible for armament.

The Master's helmet was distinguished by a plate of bright blue color. This Elder was engaged in the education and preservation of the acquired knowledge, was responsible for the health of the crew members and passengers of the ship.

All five Elders: the Viceroy, the Priest, the Chancellor, the Admiral and the Master, made up the Grand Council of Elders. The decisions of the Council of Elders were not disputed and had no retroactive effect, it was impossible to cancel them. The decisions of the Elders were taken for execution by absolutely everyone: both the crew and passengers.

The newcomer lowered the information storage device in the form of a crystal ball into a special compartment on the table. Above the receiving compartment, in the red glow from the helmet's faceplate, one could notice a faded, almost completely erased, barely noticeable inscription "Gl@bal adaman! zeal@!".  The storage ball contained all the information obtained during the observation period. Having taken the ball into his bowels, GLAZ began to process the information. At this time, the newcomer took his chair.

Finally the silence was broken.

"I understand, but I don't share your enthusiastic optimism, Admiral," a calm, firm voice rang out. It was possible to understand who was speaking right now by the appropriate gestures - the speaker connected his fingers on his hands together. "At the moment," the Priest said, connecting the tips of his fingers, "the actual data is known only to you and the Viceroy. In order to make the right decisions, the Council must have complete information. After all, not only the success of our mission depends on the decisions of the Council of Elders, but also our future fate and the lives of the ship's passengers. Therefore, I demand that all available information be brought to the Council."

Joining the tips of his fingers together, the Master took the floor:

"Many years ago, our ancestors decided to set a course for the planet KS-1307 in the constellation of the Minotaur.

Of all 227 habitable planets discovered by scientists at that time, this one was not chosen by chance. Our ancestors established not only signs of life on this planet, but also the presence of a comfortable living environment that is completely suitable for us.

44 years ago, the flagship reached the point of direct visibility of the planet.

The Council of Elders decided to send navigation droids to the orbit of the planet to collect information and plot a route in hyperspace.

What do we know at the moment about the planet KS-1307? The planet is located in the habitable zone of the star KS-13, this is the local Sun, our scientists have named it "Farus". Farus is a red supergiant whose life stage will be calculated in the near future.

The length of the planet's equator is 50450 kilometers. The main area of the planet is occupied by water. A huge ocean is located almost all over the surface of the planet. Only 20% of the total area of KS-1307 is occupied by two continents located very close to each other. They are separated by a strait about 3,000 meters wide. One continent is located in the northern hemisphere of the planet, covered with numerous forests and mountains, the second continent is located mainly on the equator, but it is not a desert, but rather humid tropics and impenetrable jungles.

A year on the planet lasts 1.5 standard years of the stellar measurement system. The axis of the planet is stable, there are no sharp seasonal changes. Only during the passage of the Planet perihelion (the point of orbit closest to Farus) does the drifting glacier in the ocean begin to melt, and then comes the season of thunderstorms with numerous lightning in the atmosphere. The planet is not only 100% habitable, the conditions can be called ideal for colonization. The climate and air composition are stable."

The GLAZ sphere suddenly turned red.

The Viceroy raised his index finger up, interrupting the Master: "We all know that colonizing planets is NOT the main goal of our mission."

"That's right, Viceroy," the Master replied calmly, "I brought this fact to discuss the possible colonization of the planet by representatives of other intelligent races. We must consider all options for the successful completion of the mission..."

The GLAZ sphere became transparent again.

The Master continued: "Even before the route was laid in hyperspace, our Ancestors made detailed maps of the terrain of the continents and this is what is interesting: traces of ancient, rather large buildings in the form of pyramids and walls were found on the planet, the purpose of which is not yet clear to us. The structures are clearly made artificially by an existing or disappeared civilization. I give the floor to the Admiral."

The Admiral brought his fingertips together and spoke: "It's exactly like that. We've been waiting 43 years for the navigation droids to reach the mid-planetary orbit. Data collection on the planet began immediately and a route was laid out in hyperspace. As soon as a safe route was laid, two reconnaissance corps went into orbit for observation. The first intelligence corps observed the northern mainland, the second - the southern one.

The first data received confirmed that the planet KS-1307 is not only inhabited, intelligent life forms are also present on the planet!"

The members of the Council of Elders looked at each other and nodded their heads approvingly to each other.

The Admiral continued: "The intelligent inhabitants of the planet are upright protein creatures, humanoid type. They have forelimbs and hind limbs, a kind of head with appendages, of an incomprehensible purpose to us. Their appearance is quite unpleasant: adults on the front of the head have mandibles-fangs, which enhances the disgusting appearance. They are quite primitive in their development, kept by communities and clans. They are not engaged in agriculture, although they eat the fruits of some trees. Their main diet is meat. They get it by hunting. The cult of hunting is very much developed in all clans. They know fire and, oddly enough, electricity. At the same time, they do not know the wheel. Based on the information received, we assume that there was another civilization on the planet earlier."

"Are they mortal?"  The Priest asked.

"Yes," the Admiral replied.

"How do you know such details, Admiral? You didn't make direct contact, did you? What makes you think they're intelligent at all?" - the Priest asked the next questions.

"We did not come into direct contact with them, guided by the directive of the Council of Elders. All observations were conducted from orbit and on the ground by Seeker droids . Many of the creatures die hunting. The creatures are a kind of symbiosis of arthropods, reptiles and mammals. They communicate with each other. The language of creatures is quite primitive, but also complex at the same time. According to our assumptions, this is not only a set of sounds at different frequencies, but also smells," the Admiral replied.

"Smells? Communication with help smells?"  The Master held up his finger, interrupting the Admiral's speech.

"Yes. They have a very developed sense of smell. There is no other way to explain the fact that these creatures found and destroyed the seeker droids very quickly. They are natural hunters. We have deciphered a set of sounds made by creatures. I am fully confident that we will be able to communicate with them," the Admiral continued.

The Master raised his finger again, interrupting the Admiral: "Tell us in more detail, for example, what do they call themselves and their planet?"

The Admiral calmly replied: "They call their planet Yau-ten.  it means "Home planet" or "our world" or "our planet" or "planet Yau". Using different frequencies, the sound "Yau" can mean different concepts, it is "I", and "you", and "he", and "she", and "we", and "clan member", and "individual", and "person". Everything that concerns the designation of themselves and beings among themselves. At the same time, there is a separation between them. For example: creatures living on the northern mainland call themselves Yaudoo, which literally means "cold wind individual". The creatures living on the southern mainland call themselves Yautza, which literally means "an individual of warm light". And interestingly, in the course of observations, it turned out that the blood color of the creatures is different. Yaudoo (northern creatures) have bright blue blood color, Yautza (southern creatures) have bright yellow blood color. There are differences in the coloring of the creatures. We assume that these differences are somehow related to adaptation and adaptability to living conditions.

Viviparous creatures. They reproduce by classical mating of a female and a male. They live in clans with a rigid hierarchy inside. Every clan has elders. The whole life of the clan is under their control. Clans of creatures live by hunting, for them it is a whole cult or religion if you want. When hunting, they use the simplest types of weapons: spears, bows with arrows, throwing darts and knives."

"Hmm... Yaudoo... Yautza... one language... I wonder if they know about each other's existence on different continents?" - the Viceroy asked a question.

The Admiral replied:

"Yes, they know about each other. During the period of thunderstorms, when numerous lightning strikes from the sky in structures resembling pyramids, there is a certain ritual that is still incomprehensible to us.  The elders of the clans located closest to the strait separating the continents gather on the coast on both sides of the strait. They line up on opposite shores in two chains opposite each other and, holding hands, silently look at the opposite continent for several hours. At this time, something unusual is happening between all the pyramids, and we counted five of them on the northern mainland and three on the southern one. Constant electrical discharges connect the tops of the pyramids into a single contour, which is visible from the orbit of the planet with the naked eye. The contour of the discharges resembles an eight-pointed star. This lasted several hours and we still do not understand the nature or the meaning of this phenomenon."

"Why don't they unite together? The width of the strait is small, it can also be crossed. Or these... Yau-hunters don't know how to swim?" - the Priest reasoned aloud.

"They are excellent swimmers," the Admiral replied.

"Then what is the problem of moving from mainland to mainland?" - The Master asked in bewilderment.

The Admiral lowered his head slightly: "Water. It occupies most of the planet. The ocean is deep and teeming with unknown underwater reptiles. During the observation period, two Hunters fell into the water of the strait. One accidentally, chasing prey, he stumbled on the edge of a cliff. The second one intentionally, apparently trying to move to another continent during the "mudroo" period. Both disappeared into the seething abyss. Some underwater creatures instantly tore them apart. Smooth water is deceptive."

"Admiral, don't forget that now you know more than we do," the Priest literally threw up his index finger, "what is the period of "Mudroo"?"

"Mudroo," the Admiral replied, "is a special ritual of Hunters. I'll try to explain. Sometimes, in some clans, it happens that mostly females remain in the clan. Males either die hunting or... This issue has not been fully studied, perhaps there are simply more females born in a certain clan. Then the period of "Mudroo" is announced - the females go hunting. These are such strange mating games. At this time, if one of the Huntress catches a Hunter from another clan, then he replenishes the clan of the female. If a female is caught by a male hunter, then they have the right to form a new clan, where this pair will be elders. The process is complicated, the hunter must be very experienced to catch a female. He should go around her from behind and put his arms around her. It's very difficult. Females just don't let themselves be caught, knowing that they themselves become prey during the hunt. It is almost impossible to go to them from behind. The ritual has not been studied to the end, since the period of "Mudroo" does not occur so often. During the observation, this "mating" ritual was announced only once"! "

The sphere in the center of the table turned from transparent to milky white. This meant that the information on the carrier was processed.

"GLAZ, announce the verdict of the analysis of the received data!"  The Viceroy's voice trembled a little with excitement.

It is unclear from where an emotionless voice with metallic notes sounded: "The data obtained has been analyzed. The inhabitants of the planet are suitable for contact and transfer of your Burden."

All five in the hall breathed a sigh of relief.

"We will vote! - said the Viceroy. - Who is in favor of making contact immediately?"

The Admiral and the Chancellor raised their right thumbs up, which meant "FOR".

The Priest and the Master lowered the thumbs of their right hand down, which meant "AGAINST"

Everyone had their own motives for such a decision and it was not discussed.

Responsibility for the collective decision once again fell on the Viceroy.

"Let's not rush, repeating the past will cost us too much," Viceroy got up from the table and went to the porthole.-

Yauten... Yautza… Yaudoo... We will give you what you need. We will do everything for the success of the mission. We will do everything to free us from the Burden taken by our ancestors! Chancellor, mobilize resources! We will build them a bridge! After such a gift, they will gladly accept our other offers. This is the way!

The other members of the Council repeated after the Viceroy with one voice: "This is the way!"

To be continued (?)

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