A few minutes later, Titanium accompanied by the five satellite ships smoothly slid into the open mouth of the hyper tunnel and darted through space leaving Doht and its domain behind. Once again, a whole new world was waiting for ‘Solar Flotilla’ – the Lactian Empire – intricately made up of around a thousand stellar systems and dozens of habitable planets.
Chapter 6
After arriving at Vistana, the Council was much occupied with the collaboration issues with the new allies for some time. This gave Lora, Derek and Paul an opportunity to prepare a well thought-out plan of an Earth expedition. And despite the fact that the shuttle captain had more doubts about the necessity of such a mission than the others, still he put every effort in place to make it look solid in the eyes of the councillors. Meanwhile, working closely with the earthling, Lora realized ever their difference in viewpoints, and she couldn’t help but realize that the human civilization split had been inevitable back then. Once, soon after the ‘Solar Flotilla’s’ arrival at the Lactians’ capital planet, Lora had the chance to be all the more persuaded in the idea that the earthling and herself were far from mutual understanding. On the instruction of the Council, Lora was sent on a mission to Barkan, one of the inhabited planets in the Lactian Empire. In fact, the purpose of the trip was cultural exchange, so without hesitation Lora invited Derek to join her. This assignment was a good chance to have a change of scene by visiting a planet new to them. On Barkan they were welcomed by an official Empire representative, Kumimago Hoto. He belonged to the original Lactian race, although it was the representatives of other races, united under the Empire, which often occupied high political and diplomatic posts. The Lactians were humanoids, but looked very different from people: their average height exceeded the people’s height two and a half times, and it was simply impossible to find a plump Lactian as they were all slim and lank. Their blood vessels could be easily seen under the thin skin of golden shade, while their long snow-white hair was always scraped into tight buns at the nape; making their huge transparent blue eyes look even bigger. The three pairs of hands, which they managed with greater dexterity than humans do with just one, were often hidden under loose colourful capes and could be seen only when it was necessary. Traveling in a huge flying chariot, the Lactian representative and his companions were having a tour around Barkan when Derek noticed a spectacular construction towering over a mountain. It consisted of several very tall semi-circular arches placed in a row one after another. Their incredibly high tops sparkled in the sun like mother of pearl, blindingly bright.
“What’s that?” asked the earthling.
“It’s the Gates of Life, a gift from the Lactians to the Barkan inhabitants.”
“Gates of Life?” asked Derek again, watching an endless procession of pilgrims climbing up a narrow winding path on a steep slope to the top. “Is it some kind of a ritual?”
“You could say that,” Kumimago smiled. “A long time ago, when my race lived on our native planet, we had an incredible technological boom in all the areas of science-in medicine, as well. Our doctors learned to treat the majority of illnesses. However, with time, it became obvious that in spite of all our efforts to stay healthy, every subsequent Lactian generation was weaker than the previous. Just as we found a new vaccine against one virus, another more deadly one would appear. Initially effective treatment methods were turning out to be useless after years, while illnesses became chronic. The doctors had scrutinized over this problem for a long time until a truly genius scientist Armesteh created the Gates of Life. This machine, the prototype of which you can see on the mountain, could renew all the body cells completely, except the nerve cells. After this scientific breakthrough was made, the vaccines, antibiotics and surgeries seemed to become a thing of the past.”