Politics and Rights Star Map Draftsman I: Federation War

The triangular patchwork ship adjusted its bow, and a bright spot appeared directly in front of it. At first, there was just one bright spot; then, with the bright spot as its center, a bright, blue-tinged circle began to form, and a light like lightning currents surged toward the center of the circle until it was blindingly bright, and the ship was sucked into the circle. The ship disappeared into thin air without starting its engines, heading for another station on the interstellar route, as if it had all happened in just a moment. The solar system needed such technology.

-Earth Log, January 2159 AD, recorded by Katherine. -

This is what Katherine wrote in her memo when Dawn Lucius left on the Moreth people’s ship. The Norm Center wanted Dawn Lucius to stay for no other reason than coveting the Moreth people’s technology, but they also knew that nothing could keep Dawn Lucius, even after this contact. They didn’t know if this Dawn Lucius was the Commander Lucius of 70 years ago, and a conspiracy theory was circulating in the solar system that the current Dawn Lucius only had the appearance of a human and some of the memories of the real Dawn Lucius. He might actually be here to spy on the military power of the solar system, and after spying it out clearly, he would lead troops to kill them. The idealists felt that there was no such threat because the technology of the solar system was so advanced that it did not fear other civilizations, while the realists were more paranoid about being victimized.

“Stop arguing. The only thing he cares about in the solar system is Stacean Lucius.” Katherine shot up, still thinking about how Dawn Lucius had looked when he saw Stacean Lucius. What Dawn Lucius was, she didn’t know, but she knew one thing: Dawn Lucius was just a father, a guilt-ridden father. The words “Protect Stacean Lucius, please” were still echoing in her ears. There was no threat in them; there was even something helpless in Dawn Lucius’s tone.

“What makes you think so?” the old man across from Katherine said in a loud voice. Questions began to fly around the table. Some came out to defend Katherine, but that was only because she was Norm Quentin’s daughter; some took the opportunity to question her, and that was only because those people wanted to challenge Norm Quentin. This was politics, and it had nothing to do with her, Katherine.

“Norm Quentin, please allow me to withdraw from the meeting.” Katherine said this as she turned off the hologram, and her ears cleared. She went to the ship’s porthole and looked in the direction where Dawn Lucius had disappeared; behind that dark space was a vibrant system of civilizations.

The ship Dawn Lucius was on stopped in the outer orbit of Kunek Planet, not directly in front of the building where Jonathan had seen him off, and he learned from the radio that he would need to wait here for inspection and permission to dock before landing on Kunek Planet. The porthole cover had been pulled up, and the blue Kunek Planet was hanging in front of him. Outside the orbit hovered three large fortifications, which resembled a huge triangle with smaller triangles nested inside, and in the middle of the triangle was the energy core, flashing a blinding blue light. Small shuttle vehicles flew by the fortifications, flashing yellow signal lights, like a swarm of bees returning from gathering honey, and the fortifications were their hive.

A blue force field separated Kunek Planet from the starry sky. Dawn Lucius was told on the radio that he could land, and the ship flew rapidly towards the building. A spherical craft rose from below and stopped in front of Dawn Lucius; it was the vehicle that would ferry him to the surface. After he arrived at the building where Jonathan was located, the soldier who had been briefed in advance relayed Jonathan’s message: he had gone to Sundium Planet, since if Moreth Federation would not act to protect its people, then only Jonathan himself would take up arms. The soldier was no procrastinator. He guided Dawn Lucius to another ship bound for Sundium Planet while explaining word for word everything Jonathan had asked him to relay, and Dawn Lucius had more time to continue sorting out what he had to say to Jonathan. If Jonathan could indeed take him to the old woman to save Stacean Lucius, then Dawn Lucius could work with him. As Sandra had said, Jonathan wanted to work with the Star Map Draftsman, and no matter what kind of cooperation it was, he, Dawn Lucius, was willing.

“Back so soon, huh?” Jonathan asked with a smile as Dawn Lucius appeared inside the Sundium Planet circular building.

Dawn Lucius hesitated for a moment, then respectfully walked up to Jonathan and bowed to him as the soldiers had done. “Moreth Steader.”

Jonathan took one look at Dawn Lucius, put on a look of disdain, then laughed out loud, came over, grabbed Dawn Lucius’ arm, and teased, “Do Earthlings learn manners that fast?”

Jonathan pulled Dawn Lucius over to the screen. He first manipulated the screen a bit before turning to Dawn Lucius. “You are a Star Map Draftsman, so there is no need to salute the leader of any civilization. One rule that the civilizations on Orion Arm know is this: we are all obligated to provide all assistance to the Star Map Draftsman. If you wanted Moreth Federation to give you a ship, then Moreth Federation would have to give you the ship.” Jonathan patted Dawn Lucius on the shoulder and continued. “Besides, I don’t want you to treat me as a political symbol like the people of our civilization do, when all I need is a friend.”

Dawn Lucius smiled faintly and asked, “What exactly does Star Map Draftsman do? When do I get to meet the person who assigned me the task?” Dawn Lucius was curious to know what he was in for and what would become of him without his human biology, and he was still confused about the Star Map Draftsman’s mission.

“The one who assigned you the task is Datheon. Only they can take the initiative to find you; we cannot find them. As for what the task is, we do not know. For generations, we have only known that the Star Map Draftsman prevents a disaster of some kind, but specifically, no one knows,” Jonathan said with a wave of his hand.

But whether Datheon would come or not was not the main thing now. Dawn Lucius’ priority was to find a way to save Stacean Lucius and to keep the Earth from being attacked by the Strath people.

“I’d like to make a request. I don’t know if it will offend you?” Dawn Lucius had something to ask for, and besides, one can’t take oneself too seriously, right? His tone was overly ingratiating.

“Go ahead,” Jonathan said, looking at the screen.

“If the Strath Federation really wants to hit Earth, I want to borrow troops from you to stop them.” Dawn Lucius’ voice was low.

“Lend troops?” As if those two words were a pin that had pricked him, Jonathan’s voice rose high as he turned to look at Dawn Lucius.

“Hmm.”

Jonathan was silent for a moment and then laughed out loud. His sudden increase in volume made Dawn Lucius think he was really offended, but now he was laughing so hard that Dawn Lucius’ face felt as if it were on fire.

“That’s not going to happen.” Jonathan finished laughing and said with a wave of his hand.

Seeing Dawn Lucius with his head down, Jonathan patted him on the shoulder and said, “Come with me. Let’s get you up to speed on the politics of the Moreth Federation.” Jonathan led Dawn Lucius through the screen area, and the two walked to a place where chairs were set up and sat down. Jonathan began to tell Dawn Lucius about the composition of the Moreth Federation’s power.

“I’m sure you’ve learned about the Moreth Federation’s power structure from my mother.” Jonathan paused for a moment as he moved the pendulum on the table to his preferred angle and continued. “Moreth Federation has always been peace-loving. We have had only a countable number of large-scale wars with other civilizations over hundreds of millions of years. This stems from our reasonable political structure, and our civilization does not chase power.”

“Power?” Dawn Lucius asked.

“Yes, interstellar power. Even if Earth is a low-level civilization, the way you chase power between different countries follows the same pattern as the chase for power between different civilizations in the galaxy. For a civilization, power is equivalent to currency. The greater the power of a civilization, the more it can dominate the political tendencies of other civilizations around it, and the more it can dominate the transactions and wars in the region. What does power depend on? A nation or a civilization as a whole, of course. Whether it is the Ashton Federation or the Strath Federation, the purpose of chasing power is to dominate other civilizations, and the fastest means of gaining power is war.”

“Does the Moreth Federation not chase power?”

“Of course we chase power.” Jonathan shrugged as he sat up straight and continued. “But the way our civilization chases power is not war. We expand our influence by building interdependence with other civilizations. The political bodies of the Moreth Federation are an interdependent triangle whose parts operate independently of each other, and they expand their influence by building dependence with other civilizations. Take the Military Department: this agency leads all military operations of Moreth Federation, and all our weapons and spaceship manufacturing are managed by this agency ......”

“Is this institution fighting a war?” Dawn Lucius asked impatiently.

“Hahahaha, no fighting.” Jonathan laughed and waved his hand as he continued. “But did you know that most of the Star Bridges on Orion Arm were established by this agency, and Moreth Federation opened these routes to all civilizations that pay us galaxy coin. However, these routes cannot be used to transport soldiers to fight a war.”

“Can’t soldiers be shipped at all?”

“Not quite. Soldiers suppressing a rebellion can be transported.” Jonathan stood up proudly, pointed out the window in a certain direction, and continued. “You see, the Military Department is in that direction, and the administration center is there, on Maniya Planet, a planet armed to the teeth, but we don’t need to start a war to expand our influence. That’s how we chase power.”

Dawn Lucius seemed to understand: the Moreth people actually maintained the interstellar transport order, an order in which there was freedom, and they did not need to use force to promote peace.

“I see. The more developed a civilization is, the more it wants to keep its prosperity from being destroyed, and it won’t easily start a war.” Dawn Lucius also stood up and walked to Jonathan’s side.

“Yes, for most prosperous planets, that’s true.” Jonathan added with a shake of his head. “But you mustn’t forget that behind power are people. Not everyone is satisfied with their power. When human nature’s desire for power is not satisfied, people drive civilizations to wage war for supremacy. The Strath Federation is like that.”

“How does the Moreth Federation prevent rulers from over-reaching for power?” Dawn Lucius asked.

“Our rulers are the people, not the Moreth Steader. Power is locked in the cage of the people, but the problem is that the people of Moreth Federation have been misled. The three major institutions are holding Moreth Federation by the throat; I can’t even protect my own people.” Jonathan gave Dawn Lucius a look as he set his eyes on the lake outside the building.

“What about the Moreth Steader’s power?”

“Moreth Steader?” Jonathan laughed, looking at Dawn Lucius. “I’m just a symbol, representing the Moreth Federation on certain occasions; besides, I don’t need the power. The Federation needs financial support to operate, and our financial institution is on Cunzani Planet, which is rich in rare metals and run by a bunch of smart Moreth people. Barring a cosmic-level catastrophe, the Moreth Federation would keep running in this healthy state. Except this time, the Strath people have come knocking at the door. Did you know that?” Jonathan turned to Dawn Lucius and continued. “The Moreth Federation’s main area has Kunek Planet at the center of the circle, with a ring of defensive fortresses outside it that includes Maniya Planet and Cunzani Planet. As long as our core is not threatened, the rest of the star field territory has no effect on us. The most expensive resource on Orion Arm is people, and even if the Strath people take more planets, they don’t have the people to develop and manage them.”

“And what was the purpose of the Strath people’s attack on Earth?”

“The attack on Earth was mainly for resources, but I suspect it was just an illusion, and they aimed to take the opportunity to loot the passing star fields, which contain the assets of Moreth Federation and Ashton Federation.”

“But what resources can there be in a solar system that is actually quite barren?” Dawn Lucius wondered.

“Population!” Jonathan said firmly.

“Population?” Dawn Lucius thought he had heard wrong.

“Right. The solar system has such a large population. If the Strath people can plunder half of Earth’s people as slaves, then in a few years the economy of their star field will be more developed. Moreover, this time the two Strath princes have clearly defined their goals. Burt wants to grab Ashton Federation’s White Crystal technology, and Carlson’s goal may be the same. He is now heading towards Moreth Federation’s main star sequence, and Sundium Planet, where we are now, is on Carlson’s path. After all, they plunder every planet they pass; every plunder is a provocation to the sovereignty of Moreth Federation, and our people are losing their lives in the plunder.”

“I see.” Dawn Lucius paused. “So if you go and ask the Ashton people to resist the Strath people, won’t that protect the Earth?” Dawn Lucius asked, looking at Jonathan.

“No need to ask; Ashton people are also actively preparing for war. Take a look.” Jonathan walked towards a screen in the center of the hall. The dense image of the nebula could not be made out, so Jonathan marked all the star fields with military activity. In the direction of Strath Federation, the planets with military activity were like a string of pearls; this was the defensive line the Ashton people had established at the edge of their own star field. Outside the defensive line, there were warships heading in the direction of Kunek Planet. Jonathan explained to Dawn Lucius that these were to rescue Lord Winifred, who was held by Carlson. At this, Dawn Lucius told Jonathan the whole story. At this point, both of them felt that the rumors that Burt and Carlson were competing for the position of chief might be wrong; they were more like teaming up. Burt knew that Lord Winifred was on Gyaly Planet, and his purpose was to capture Lord Winifred and send him to Carlson’s ship as a talisman. With Lord Winifred there, the people of Moreth Federation who controlled the army would not easily attack Carlson, and Carlson could keep using Lord Winifred as a card to threaten Moreth Federation, so that when Burt attacked Ashton Federation, the Moreth Federation couldn’t help.

“The Ashton people put all their troops on the front lines?” Dawn Lucius asked, pointing at the screen.

“Right.”

“If there is a seizure of power or a riot in the Federation, then won’t their front lines be in shambles?”

“It’s entirely possible. The Ashton Federation’s political structure is a little more complicated.” Jonathan agreed with Dawn Lucius. He exited the image he had just seen and brought up another star map on the screen. He pointed to one of the orange planets. He was about to tell Dawn Lucius about the administrative structure of the Ashton Federation when two people came in the door.

The thin man wore a cloak that dragged on the ground, and his body was wrapped tightly; the whole person looked like a moving haystack with a head on top, and if not for his arrogant expression, it would be hard to imagine that this was a person. Following at his side was a fat, tall middle-aged man; the years had not left him any merit, but they had left a pile of fat around his waist. As he walked, his two hands fluttered slightly, and the glowing jewelry on his wrists was particularly conspicuous.

The two walked all the way to Jonathan and Dawn Lucius, and the skinny one spoke first: “Moreth Steader.” He just nodded slightly, while the fat, tall one bowed to salute Jonathan like the other Moreth people, with worry written all over his face.

“What brings my CFO and the General here today? You found the time?” Jonathan scanned the two men.

“We heard that the Moreth Steader befriended a Star Map Draftsman and thought we’d come over to check it out.” The thin man glanced at Dawn Lucius as if Dawn Lucius were just a servant with an unfamiliar face, and he turned his face to the fat, tall man and said, “I thought a Star Map Draftsman was some great creature, but it turns out ......” He did not finish his words, just carrying them over with a harsh laugh.

Jonathan watched as the skinny man finished laughing, while the fat, tall man stood to the side with his head bowed, his expression going from worried when he entered to even more worried. Jonathan looked at him and asked, “General, what do you think?”

“Moreth Steader, the Star Map Draftsman has always been chosen by Datheon. They have their own reasons; I dare not guess at them freely.” The fat general finished, his head lowered a little more.

“What’s there to guess?” the thin man interrupted, his eyes looking sternly at Jonathan as he asked, “I’d like to ask the Moreth Steader: the Strath people didn’t attack the core area of Moreth Federation, and you chose to run to this unimportant planet with soldiers to stop them. Do you know they hold Lord Winifred hostage? If you go to war with Carlson head-on and injure Lord Winifred by mistake, what is the Moreth Steader going to do about it?”

“I don’t think it’s the treasurer’s place to ask questions. My general will handle the war. You just be a good businessman and make good money for the Federation.” Jonathan seemed calm, but his voice was raised much higher.

The muscles in the skinny man’s face lifted upward, causing his brow to tighten into a pile of folds as he fired back without showing any weakness. “Our Moreth Steader is the one who shouldn’t worry about it. Just hide safely in the middle of the Federation and don’t cause trouble for the Federation.” The small man looked up at the window, turned his eyes to Jonathan again, and continued. “All the Moreth Steader has to worry about is smiling. You only need to worry about smiling; we can’t.”

“I’ve always felt that my CFO just doesn’t see me as the Moreth Steader,” Jonathan said, giving the skinny man a death stare.

“How would I dare? Our Moreth Steaders are given the qualification of ‘Moreth Steader’ before they are born, and even if they don’t contribute to the Federation, this right is only available to Moreth Steaders.” The thin man turned his face to the other direction as he said this.

“I think it’s time for you to learn what respect means.” Dawn Lucius walked up to the finance officer and spoke in a loud voice.

The skinny man glanced at Dawn Lucius, still looking at him as if he saw nothing, then turned to look at the tall, fat man and sneered. “General, I heard that Star Map Draftsmen are some great people. I’ve lived so long, but I’ve never seen a lowly creature become a Star Map Draftsman.” The skinny man extended his index finger from under his clothes and pointed at Dawn Lucius, and the sneer turned into loud laughter. After he stopped laughing, his face sank, and he spoke loudly to Dawn Lucius. “General, has the Star Map Draftsman become inferior? Has Orion Arm’s once great mentor become a faith that any inferior creature can take on?”

The tall, fat man did not say anything. He looked up at Jonathan, looked at Dawn Lucius, then lowered his head back to its original position. He respected the Moreth Steader, or at least he still respected his position; at least he did not provoke Jonathan as blatantly as the skinny man. The skinny man was indignant. He dropped his hand, turned his face to stare at Dawn Lucius, and squeezed out a sentence from his chest: “I wish Strath Federation could exterminate the solar system and those lowly creatures before the Star Map Draftsman is robbed by lowly creatures.”

Destroy the solar system? Dawn Lucius could not bear this. Stacean Lucius was still lying in that cold dormant silo, and whoever wanted to destroy Stacean Lucius’s solar system, Dawn Lucius would fight with his life. Dawn Lucius stared hard at the thin man as he said, word for word, “You! Try! Try!”

The tall, fat man was the first to react. His mouth opened wide, and he raised his hand to point at Dawn Lucius and took a few quick steps backwards. The ruthlessness on the skinny man’s face disappeared, his face went white, and after swallowing hard, he too took a step backwards as he spoke. “How do you ......” He rearranged his words and continued. “You can master this energy?”

Dawn Lucius came back to his senses and found himself being lifted off the ground by energy, his whole body wrapped in purple light, as if the light were part of his body. It felt strange. He wasn’t a man of rage, but this time, as with the last time he raged inside, he could hardly sense himself; he always felt driven by something. He imagined spewing light from his eyes, cutting off everything standing in front of him, and swinging his fists to break what he had cut off. All he wanted to do was kill, keep killing; it was a terrible thought. Dawn Lucius was frightened by himself. He regained his composure, changed back to the way he was before the two men entered the room, and retreated behind Jonathan. The tall, fat man tugged on the skinny man’s shirt; the skinny man still had the same attitude he had had before entering the room. The fat general gave Jonathan a respectful farewell, and they quickly left without looking back. But the room still felt as if something had been broken.

“Dawn, I didn’t think that you had it in you,” Jonathan exclaimed.

“Moreth Steader, this ability is not something good. When the purple light appears, it’s as if I’m not myself. It feels like something has emptied my heart; I even want to kill. My heart is hungry for killing ......” Dawn Lucius paused for a moment as he looked at his hands and continued. “What is this thing?”

“This is an ability that only Datheon can master, the ability to control dark matter.”

“Dark matter?”

“Yeah ...... I’ll explain it to you later. We still have to think about how to defend against the Strath people,” Jonathan said as he walked back to the screen and went on looking at the diagram he had been about to explain earlier.

“Moreth Steader, I want to ask you something,” Dawn Lucius said as he followed Jonathan.

“Go ahead.”

“I want to beg the old woman to save my son.”

Jonathan’s hand stopped in front of the screen; he was thoughtful. After a pause, Jonathan continued to tap the screen, then he turned, put his hand on Dawn Lucius’s shoulder, looked down at Dawn Lucius, and said, “Do you know the consequences? Do you want a son without a soul? Moreth Federation has very advanced technology, but if someone loses their life, we let them go. Saving is not rebirth; our technology can only do re-creation, and after a person is re-created, they don’t have their previous soul. My mother will not give you a re-created son without a soul.”

“Is there anything else you can do?” Dawn Lucius begged.

“This is the kind of thing that only Earthlings can do. If they become technologically advanced enough to reawaken your son and cure him when he wakes up, I think he’ll still be the same person,” Jonathan said.

“When will Earth’s technology be advanced enough?” Dawn Lucius asked.

“Right,” Jonathan added as he turned to sort out the diagram on the screen. “But only if you can keep the planet.” He tapped the screen.

“I heard from one of the people in charge on Earth that Mars is working on gene therapy technology, and maybe, that’s a solution.” Dawn Lucius remembered what Katherine had told him, and Katherine thought that there was a chance that Stacean Lucius would wake up as the same six-year-old boy he had been when he went dormant.

“That’s what you call ‘karma’, right?”

“Hmm. You guys don’t believe me?”

Jonathan laughed brightly as he turned to look at Dawn Lucius and spoke: “You should know that intermediate civilizations only believe in the rules of the universe that created everything, that existence is existence and non-existence is non-existence.”

“Then you really have nothing to look forward to in life,” Dawn Lucius said with some regret upon hearing this.

“It depends on how you interpret it.”

The two were silent for a while. Dawn Lucius was calculating in his heart: the Moreth Federation was not willing to take part in the war, while the soldiers Jonathan had brought were actively preparing for it. The Centaly still recognized Jonathan, and they aimed to protect the Moreth Steader’s rights, but the Strath people and the ninth legion recognized no one, and if it really came to fighting, maybe the soldiers would leave Jonathan first. Dawn Lucius thought about it, and now he could only bet that Jonathan would be able to rouse the Moreth Federation’s army to stop the Strath people from advancing, and then he would have a chance to protect the solar system from being invaded by the Strath people.