Gob stood in the meeting room, waiting for rest of the council. There was a lot to discuss, it had been some time since the last time the entire council had gathered. Drak was busy setting up the room, they prepared briefings for everyone to refer to and was setting up refreshments. It was going to be a long session.

The first to enter the room was Watcher Kar, one of the core memes of the Watcher group. Gob had always had respect for the Watchers, their ability to take theoretical thought experiments and turn them into practical equipment design had helped make leaps in technology. The mining equipment the Rock Hoppers used were inspired by designs for hunting weapons one of the Watchers had designed. Kar was a pessimist at their core, pointing out flaws and potential threats before they occurred to anyone else. Perhaps this is why Kar was such a core member for the Watchers, thinking about security and potential threats must require a cautious mind. There were other representatives from the Watchers that joined Kar, but they were not familiar to Gob.

Next came the Elders, unsurprisingly late for an important meeting. Gob expected more Elders to be present, annoyingly only younger members had been sent to attend accompanied by Elder Kadd. Kadd had been an Elder for a couple cycles now but their reputation made it hard for them to be considered wise. Often asking obvious questions, Gob and Kadd had a history of getting in each others way. Kadd wore the Elder’s delegation badge which meant one of the senior members had personally sent him to attend this meeting, but this just made the whole situation more frustrating for Gob.

Majority of the Observers were assigned to constantly monitor communications from the belt and to keep watch on the automated systems in case of another anomaly. Drak was the only member present in the meeting, not that anyone took issue with this since Gob was originally an Observer before being promoted to Overseer.

The Book Keepers were not included in this meeting, it was very clear during the early sessions that they were not very interested and only required a report about equipment used and funds required at the end of these sessions.

Once everyone settled down, Gob began.

“Thank you for attending this meeting everyone, we are here to discuss our ongoing communication with the Kom as they approach Seb. It has been 5 cycles since we made the information about the Kom’s journey public and since then we have sent and received several signals from them. I will cover only the major moments from these communications but the information placed on your seats by Observer Drak provides a detailed timeline of all signals sent and received.”

Gob waited, giving everyone a chance to find and glance at the reading material provided to them. Some of them seemed surprised and some of them simply did not seem to care. Gob had asked Drak to setup the meeting room in a very specific way so that all the members of the council would be seated directly in front of the podium, it was very important for Gob to be able to see everyones reaction as this meeting went on. The situation called for an important decision, one that required everyone’s input. Gob already had a chance to go over the series of events in the last few cycles multiple times, and had his own conclusions. But it was important to see if there were others that came to the same conclusions without being prompted.

“5 cycles ago, we received another signal from the Kom explaining their trajectory towards Kom and that they would reach us in 10 cycles. This would have left us with another 5 cycles from today to prepare for their arrival. Along with this communication they requested information about our region of space, information about objects outside the belt, space rocks and so on. The council had agreed to defer to the Observers and my opinion on matters of communication which is why we had not consulted everyone here at the time. We provided this information to them and inquired about what they hoped to gain by travelling to us along with information on what the two objects we received were. This exchanged is highlighted in the material provided to you.”

Gob paused to allow everyone to catch up.

“We received a response after another cycle or so, they provided some information about their home planet and its surrounding region in space. They do not have many space rocks with mineral rich composition from what we could tell, our assumption is that they wish to trade with us for our resources. The Observer on duty noted however that the Kom had failed to answer our questions directly.”

Gob paused again to let that sink in, waiting to see if anyone reacted. Everyone was listening keenly but did not have a real reaction so far.

“They also inquired about our planet, mainly on its mineral composition and terrain details. It was unclear what they wanted to know specifically and we provided them some basic information on the ore and minerals found on our planet and about the terrain and weather of Seb. We also inquired about their species and technology, we also included questions for elaboration on why the two objects were so different and why their ciclisation seemed to be in decline. Our calculations at this point showed that they would reach us in about 8 cycles.”

Again no reactions.

“We received a response within a cycle, communications would be faster the close they get. They provided information about their planet and its neighbouring objects in space. They have encountered several planets in their journey, some large and some small. They shared all this information with us along with some information on their technology, we noted that this matched our findings about the second object which reinforced our assumption that their civilisation was in decline. They also shared the details about their navigation through the belt, this matched what we have learned about the belt so far. This information if not of importance, but it is a good confirmation that our understanding of the belt is valid. They provided some information about their species. The Kom have loose grey skin with a lot of wrinkles, their appendages are large and have hardened endings. Their face has no notable features other than the dark crystal like front. They also do not use light for sustenance, images about their planet suggested the same. At this point our calculations showed that they would reach us in 7 cycles.”

Although Gob did not say it out loud, the Kom had ocne again failed to answer their questions directly. It was still unclear why they were making this journey or why the technology in the second object was so rudimentary when compared to the first. This time there were a few members with a slightly worried reaction, most notable was Watcher Kar. The Watchers were discussing among themselves, Gob was hoping they came to the same conclusion.

“I dont understand the point of this meeting Overseer Gob, if there is a problem can you please state it directly. This is a waste of our time!” said Kadd.

Kadd was young and had only been an Elder for a couple cycles when the Kom began their journey towards Seb. Gob had never liked his overzealous nature and use of the word “waste” whenever Kadd had felt lost in a conversation. Perhaps this is why the Elders had sent them, to incite Gob into making a mistake allowing the Elders more control over the Stargazers.

“I am simply providing you context of all events that have occurred so far, so that there is no confusion” explained Gob

“I still dont see why…” started Kadd before he was interrupted.

“Elder Kadd, allow the Overseer to finish please” said Kar “I believe we are about to find out why this is not a waste of your time”

Kadd looked embarrassed but there was not a single person in the room who would not take Kar’s words seriously especially not an Elder, part of the reason why Gob got along with Kar. Kadd took his seat and muttered “Very well”

“Thank you, Watcher Kar” said Gob as he continued “They requested information about our species and specific details about the mineral compositions of ores found here. They wanted to know about our population and how many settlements we had, they also wanted to know how common a specific mineral was. The mineral in question was the yellowish rock that they sent along with the two objects, the one we commonly use in storage devices. As you know this mineral is extremely common on Seb, but because we have not found traces of it in the space rocks we assumed it is not as common in other parts of space. This could be one of the reasons why the Kom are exploring space as well. We provided them information about the mineral and its several deposits on our planet. We also provided some information about our population, but on the advise of the Watchers we left out specifics about our settlements and outposts on the surface. We also did not provide any information about our underground structures.”

Gob paused but this time just to take a break.

“We also inquired about their numbers both on their home planet and on for their journey. We received a response in another cycle which included information about their communication technology which we used to boost our own and some basic numbers about their population on their home planet, there was however no information about the number of Kom travelling to Seb. At this point our calculations showed that they would arrive on Seb in 3 cycles.”

This was the important part, Gob needed to know how many of the council realised what this meant. As Gob predicted, Kar’s demeanour changed and his face became serious. Several of the Watchers had the same reaction. Kadd as usual looked lost.

“Are you finished Overseer?” asked Kadd, not wanting to annoy Kar any further by interrupting.

“Yes” replied Gob.

“In that case, I must say I still do not understand the point of this meeting” said Kadd

Kar let out a heavy sigh and gestured as if to dismiss Kadd. Kar stood up and joined Gob at the podium, this formal gesture was not required but Gob appreciated it nonetheless.

“What I do not understand is why the Elder leadership refuses to join these meetings. Or why they insist that these meetings are a good way to groom younger members of their group” Kar said as he walked up to the podium. Kadd sat down, refusing to make eye contact.

“Let us review the facts” said Kar. “First, the Kom have so far failed to provide a direct answer to any of our inquiries regarding their species, numbers and objective.” Kar paused and then continued. “Second, they wanted specific information about the yellow rock that may not be very common in other parts of space.” Pause again. Gob was impressed with how much intrigue Kar was able to build, even though he was only at the podium for a few moments. “And finally, upon learning that the rock is very common and that we only have a few settlements on the surface of the planet. They accelerated.” This time Kar gestured to the council members to indicate that he had finished and was waiting for one of them to provide a conclusion.

“You consider them a threat?” said Kadd.

Gob could not help but be slightly impressed that Kadd came to the conclusion. Then realised that this was only because Kar was handing them the answer and the feeling faded.

“We still assume that their intention is to trade, we believe that the inquiries may be because they need to make repairs on arrival. Remember the broken state the second object arrived. But we cannot deny that questions about our population and accelerating after learning about our numbers is suspicious behaviour.” said Gob

“I suggest you communicate to your leadership the urgency of the matter Elder Kadd” said Kar

The room erupted with chatter among its members, some sounded panicked with some suggesting that this was not a problem. Kadd looked to the other Elders in the meeting and they all decided to leave the room.

Gob let out a sigh and then took a seat, not to allow the chatter to die down but because they needed to.

Chapter 3

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