Aquari by DD White
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When Hanson left the star-door to join in the Magite armies that were forming to defend King Worapor, his people greeted him like a messianic savior. The photos Handirlas had took of Aquari resurrecting the dead body of Hanson were published and broadcast on the news, and also the new networking technology that Hanson/Aquari invented revolutionized society to make Hanson very wealthy in value. The rest of the Ministry of Science obviously wanted it known that Hanson only helped invent the device, but the world had already focused their collective fascination on Hanson.
Because of Hanson’s tremendous popularity, King Worapor had been quick to appoint him as a General in his infantry forces. Hanson appointed his old friend Ploabot to be his Grand Lieutenant Major in the war effort, which had been a much more generous appointment than what Ploabot originally had been recruited for. As the Magite forces were gathered to meet the Aungtalli/Swerite forces on the Swerite plains, Beataphoriah proclaimed to the people in the Magite lands that they were welcome to move into the star-door as refugees from this war. Many took Beataphoriah up on this offer, and were teleported to the star-door paradise. There had actually been more than enough room in the star-door’s folded realities for everyone on Urania. Contrary to popular belief the star-door was nothing like claustrophobic. In fact, there were so many folded realities, and illusions of space that it seemed like there would be more room in the star-door than all the rest of the planet. Beataphoriah had been interested in any excuse to convince Uranians to live in its star-door because that would preserve the species when a more dreaded disaster strikes.
Infantry armies gathered on the Swerite plains where Swerites joined with the Aungtalli to wage war against King Worapor the devil worshipper. King Worapor became disowned by his own family, and clung to his kingship by his own popularity with the people. That allowed him to command a militia of Magites that were happy to be rid of Aungtalli control of their government. All the Swerites needed to know would be that the gods were demanding this war. The Bishop arranged a meeting with the gods where Chronolus appeared, and the Swerites were then whipped into war frenzy by it.
The other great family had been the Worites, whose people pressured their leaders to remain neutral on this major matter of war. The Worites were a very self-reliant people, and were the least influenced by politics and religion of all Uranians on the planet. The Worites wanted nothing to do with the war, except to offer their lands to refugees with their neutrality respected.
Uranians were almost foolishly regimented in how they fought war, similar to how the old British forces behaved against the American Revolution insurgents. When both sides behaved in this regimented way however, it had its own strategy that had been adhered to. This would probably look laughable to Earthlings because there had been nobody to cry foul when the complicated Uranian rules of engagement were broken. The side that broke the rules of war just had to all live with it for the rest of their lives. Uranians did have a natural reluctance to live with violations of honor like that. It’s probably something Beataphoriah switched on long ago in their DNA.
Grand Lieutenant Major Ploabot approached General Hanson who watched through a binocular telescopic device the enemy forces gather along the boarder of the Land of the Swerites. The sun went down, and it got late. The troops knew there would be no fighting at night during sleep, but everyone had to get up early to be ready to fight when the sun did glimpse above the morning horizon.
“It seems that our leader King Worapor
has made us vulnerable in this war.
I must voice the worry that is gnawing
while enemies are upon us drawing.”
Hanson took his eyes away from the visual amplifiers to look at his friend. “Don’t worry, enemies at the borders
are gathered according to my orders.
We are covered by hills along the north.
We’ll stay dug in there, and let them come forth.
My orders are to not try to give chase.
I’m to draw the enemy to this place.”
Ploabot now felt even more like they were being used as bait. “Well the clash starts tomorrow. That I know.
I’ll get my night’s rest for tomorrow’s show.”
Just before the next morning King Worapor in Keshdesh nervously watched the light start to gather along the eastern horizon of the morning. Beataphoriah was supposed to be there to carry out whatever brilliant strategy he assured the King would save his 14th Regiment that were deployed like sitting ducks along the Swerite borders.
Beataphoriah advised him to lure the Swerite forces all to one place. When the King asked him what would be done Beataphoriah said, “At your service my King I am here for
I can do anything with a star-door.
In one place all their forces you should meet.
Not a Magite will perish or be beat.”
Now the King had started to let doubts creep in about his alliance with this magical star-door being. He remembered an old proverb. “The path on your own leads to misery.
The path of the gods will win history.”
Then Beataphoriah suddenly appeared. “Good morning my King of honor and grace.
Now you’ll see why I brought them to one place.”
Meanwhile Ploabot had been up overseeing two platoons of forces that were also out of bed to confront the enemy out there in the darkness anxiously waiting for the morning sun to pierce the horizon, and herald the time for fighting to begin. Ploabot still felt that they were sure to be overrun by the enemy forces in this morning’s battle. The enemy had the eastern horizon advantage, and could begin the fight first when the sunrise appeared in their vision. He figured it must be for some greater strategy, and it had not been his place to question.
The Swerites saw the morning sun in the east at least 30 seconds before Ploabot and his forces did. He could hear their battle cries in the fading darkness, announcing the confrontation now stampeding on its way to them.
Then there appeared a light flash all across the morning horizon that caused some of Ploabot’s troops to give off their sun rise battle cry, but then it became just dark again like the sun suddenly changed its mind. It had only been a flash of light, not the morning sun, which Ploabot could tell still had not quite poked above the horizon from his perspective.
Soon the sun did rise and his troops roared in anticipation of the fight, but no enemies ever appeared into view where Ploabot’s troops anxiously waited for them. Their orders were to dig in and hold their ground, but soon some troops were venturing toward the borders to see where the enemy hid. There was no enemy to be found. The troops that they saw gathering along the boarders last night, and who let out a Urania-shattering battle cry this morning when the sun rose, were now all gone. They had just disappeared under the morning dawn without a trace.
It turned out Beataphoriah needed the enemy lured into one location so it could try out the one-sided wormhole function that Goag Ralus and Begalius had taught it. Beataphoriah’s hologram startled the King with sudden laughter as the star-door controls offered output that indicated that the wormhole worked. Beataphoriah teleported the Swerite/Aungtalli armies thousands of miles away to the base of the glacial slopes that were surrounding the Great Glacier Mountain. Thousands of Uranian and Aungtalli troops now slid around the ice of the Great domed mountainside. A teleportation platform would be no longer necessary to establish a portal matrix on the far side of the wormhole, which creates a single point of time/space that exists in two locations. Beataphoriah had some fun taunting the already frightened armies that were now outside its star-door.
It addressed the horrified armies from deep within the mountain with voice amplification equipment that made the voice of Beataphoriah thunder in the skies for miles. “Fear me followers of false gods. I say
this planet’s god is Beataphoriah!
Your gods only use you so you’ll destroy
Within the star-door on Urania were realities made out of folded space, and quantum nanocoded virtual imitations of reality that existed as realties of their own. One of these realities had been the city of Tze-Doldusdoor, which featured skies and geography reminiscent of the planet Pripica, but the smaller-scaled city looked more accommodating to Uranian architecture. The ancient Pripican species were larger four legged furry beings who merged with Nephricans, and Doldorians way back in the second age of Magphoreus to eventually evolve the species known as Nephaprican. They had discovered that their DNA became genetically compatible as they evolved into galactic beings all existing in a tight cluster of 15 stars that once long ago speeded through the Carina arm of Magphoreus.
The city of Tze-Doldusdoor had warehouses that were along shores of a void of nothing just like in Doldoor within the Dol star-door. Somewhere along these shores of the void there were Tze-Doldusdoor warehouses filling up with digital neutrinos, which were being programmed into a nova bomb. A quanta-nanocode virus boss in the form of an Aungtalli anxiously overlooked the arrival of shipments of neutrinos to soon teleport them as a bomb into the sun Tze-Doldus. This would finally fulfill its quanta-nanocoded purpose, which had been to finally blow up the white dwarf star Tze-Doldus. Even at 707.2 times the speed of light, Aquari would never make it back to Urania before this bomb would be ready to be teleported into the star Tze-Doldus to at last collapse the star’s already fragile core.