Hours. Days. Months have passed. Still no sign of our foreign attacker. There was no way to know who it was. All we could do was recover. Recover our energy centers, the wounded and our mental network.
But, there was one thing I couldn't stop thinking about.
Why?
Why come here and just disappear?
What was its goal? Testing us out? Getting know-how for a future confrontation?
I didn't know.
But I wanted to. I wanted to enter the Zoykwatt and look for an answer.
Zeeve told me I couldn't.
It was too risky to enter it at that point. Our networks were still at a medium capacity. We couldn't afford to loose more Zonans in it, if our planet was to be attacked again.
As I realize this, my thoughts suddenly met with Zira's.
There she was. Unconscious. Lost in the Zoykwatt. Still looking for the missing part of her consciousness. I can know see her, through a bird-like creature, from above.
She was now grey. Her roots dry. The leaves on her finest branches were falling. One by one. But the rate was slow and constant. There were still many to support her. She had a chance to come back till the very last one. Otherwise, Zira would die.
As I told before, we're like what you'd call trees on Earth. But, only on the outside. Inside we're completely different.
We have complex neurological networks spread throughout our bodies, which are connected to our zeddan. The zeddan is what you'd call heart in humans. It is essential to our life. It stores our energy and connects us, Zonans, to our planet's core. Yes, our roots are that deep. We, Zonans, then spread this energy among other beings, who store it in their zeddans as well.
The zeddan is a white metallic sphere made of belodium. Our essence of life and the material of our planet's core. I believe it is non existent on Earth. Even its universe. Belodium is a very heavy metal. About ten times the weight of Earth's gold and tremendously electromagnetic. Its properties are vast and appreciated by all Zon's inhabitants.
Without it, we couldn't survive. Therefore without Zon, we couldn't survive. As we normally say here:
“We were born with Zon, we will die with Zon.”
Which means that we cannot physically space travel. We cannot leave our planet. If it ever dies. We die with it.
That's why we created defense mechanisms, just like the protective shield. We needed to protect Zon from asteroids, sun storms, cosmic radiation. And now, foreign attackers.
We've had visitors in the past. We are a welcoming kind and generally expect the best from everyone. We didn't sense any maliciousness. So, we let them pass and land their spacecraft on our grounds. They were friendly and thoughtful. We learned a lot from each other. We call them…
“Zyek!”, Zeeve's voice emerged in my head.
“Hmm…, hey, what's up Zeeve?”, I asked.
“It's the Frotins!”
The Frotins?! These are the ones I was talking about. We still kept in touch after they left decades ago. But the communication wasn't continuous and easy, because of the high electromagnetic field levels of our planetary system.
“What about them? We don't hear from them in ages!”, I was now fully focused on Zeeve's frequency.
“They believe they found our attacker.”
“What?! How do they know we were attacked in the first place?”, I was surprised and curious.
“They didn't tell us. They kept the message as short as possible, so we could have a higher chance of receiving it.”, Zeeve explained.
I was not convinced.
“Anyway, who attacked us then?”, I was eager to know.
“Well, apparently, a new and unknown kind colonized a planet in a system close to the Frotins'.”, I was glued to his words. “They found the Frotins while exploring in the nearby areas. They were curious about what the Frotins knew of this part of our galaxy. They were particularly interested in the strong magnetic fields.”
I froze.
Interested about the magnetic fields of this area? Could they be only curious or did they know something more?
“I know what you're thinking.”, Zeeve noticed my perplexity. “We seriously need to plan and know more about this kind. What their intentions are.”
“But..., what about the asteroid attack? Why would they do that? This makes no sense.”, I was in denial.
“They were testing this area...”
“...?!”, I was not buying it.
“Yes, you see, the Frotins told them nothing about us. So they had to figure it out for themselves.”
“By sending asteroids? How would they do that?”, It was serious, but I giggled.
“The Frotins said they were still finishing the colonization process. There weren't many of them. They were still on a recon mission. Apparently, they sent the asteroids to analyze the reactions from the collision between them and the source of the high electromagnetic fields.”, Zeeve calmly explained. “The Frotins told us that this kind, denominated Korverans, had abilities. Just like us. That's how they were able to redirect a bunch of asteroids from the asteroid belt of the Frotins' system.”
“Abilities like us?”, I was starting to believe it, but still doubtful.
“I don't know anything else Zyek. That's all. This message is already old. We don't know what the Korverans might have done after the attack. We need to be ready for anything.”
Zeeve was right. There was no time for doubts and second guesses. This was the first time we had some real info about our attacker. We had to go with it.
But...
The message was four months old. A lot could have happened in between its emission and reception. We needed fresh information. Otherwise, we would be running behind.
My curiosity was hungry.
I needed to know more. We needed to know more.
All I could think of was...
The Zoykwatt
If interested, please check the other parts. There is a connection between them.
Zyek's notes:
#1 Meeting Blake
#2 A different reality or just imagination?
#3 The Zoykwatt
#4 Choices
#5 Home planet in danger?
#6 What matters is knowledge!
Thanks for reading.
Zriask xhak!
Zyek