RC18

"High Priest Axel! High Priest Axel!

A man in a white and black tunic jostled the walkers who had wanted to enjoy the sunset of the capital, RC 18, the planet with two suns and 3 continents. It was the pearl of the RC with its many palaces and embassies reserved for the rulers of the 116 planets forming the Royal Confederation, more often called Heart or RC. Traders gathered every day in front of the doors of the guilds to perhaps receive the sesame, the authorization to trade on RC 18 and to rub shoulders with the many aristocrats who stayed there regularly instead of remaining on their planet. Tourists darkened the streets 1 time per solar cycle. This period lasted one month. It corresponded to the celebration commemorating the founding of the RC and was aptly named Creation Month. When this party was over, the travelers were invited to return to their planet.

But for a short time, the curious could admire the golden trees of RC 2, the ice palace of the king of RC 50 and the slaves of RC 45 the barbarian.

Axel had not been on this planet for 10 cycles. He therefore took advantage of his return to walk in the virtual gardens. All around him, plants belonging to each of the planets were represented virtually. They could not all coexist in this climate. Some like the Devil's palm were so rare that it was impossible to see them outside of their natural environment. He was just staring at the blood red petals of the most poisonous plant in the world when he heard the call from the Hall employee.

“High Priest Axel, I finally found you,” the man said, trying to catch his breath. The Assembly will soon be open, your brothers are waiting for you.

Axel looked at the red plant one last time with regret before going to the meeting place, without having said a single word to the man who was next to him.

The walls of the Hall still gave him a slight shiver, he still remembered the first time he had been invited there, a hundred years before. He trailed behind the robes of the grand master who was to present him to the RC Assembly. He had been intimidated by all these leaders and ambassadors who had watched him with curiosity, skepticism, even jealousy. However, he had come to understand that his rank was higher than theirs.

The luminous white of the Hall's facade was only cut by sections of black walls which signaled the entrance and gave the impression of entering a dark tunnel. The Hall was a cube-shaped building that dominated the space with its height of thirty stories. When Axel passed through the doors, he entered a transparent cube that served as a scanner and a prison. If anyone wanted to harm the RC, they were quickly intercepted. The airways were then blocked until the intruder lost consciousness or suffocated. When the examination was completed, the cube rose to reach the fifteenth floor. Arrived at his destination two nameless brothers escorted him to a wall on which he laid his hand nonchalantly. It vibrated before giving way to a liquid surface. The high priest came forward.

In front of him now stretched a huge circular room. The assembly was organized in several rings, the farthest was the widest, and those who sat in them, the least powerful. The second, smaller circle was made up of twenty seats for the original twenty members of the Confederacy, the twenty planets with the most influence. A final circle in the center of the room had ten seats, but only two seats were occupied. This was the first circle reserved for the Grand Master and high priests.

"Still late... you're still so immature even after more than a hundred years of existence," one of the high priests said in an exasperated tone. Black braids, in which hung gold rings, framed his face, the greatest peculiarity of which was his eyes, in fact, the iris astonished by its white color which was found only among the inhabitants of RC50. He wore a similarly colored tunic with a collar adorned with orange gemstones.

"And you are still as rigid Haïdar. The RC will not collapse, if your mouth ever sketches even a smile" says the second high priest.

Goran was, to say the least, a singular being. Perhaps it was because of the yellow circles that marked his high priest's tunic and the stones of the same color or his long snow-colored hair. Her eyes of the same hue as her jewels reminded the gaze of a predator. Besides, the mocking smile that was fixed on his face never boded well. The Grand Master himself had paid the price too often.

“Stop joking Goran, he's just following orders. This meeting, on the other hand, worries me more, the viper came to attend the meeting, said Axel, whose attention was now turned to Eglon who sat nonchalantly next to Prince Jonah, heir to the RC 3 royal family.

“Jonah certainly invited him, he always had little respect for tradition.

Haidar looked at Jonah disdainfully.

“I wonder what Eglon promised him to be here,” Axel continued.

"I will contact the brothers on RC3. They can monitor Jonah more closely. Unfortunately, Eglon's whereabouts remain unknown. We do not know if he lives on one of the confederation planets or on one of the still unexplored colonies" specified Goran.

As Axel was about to answer, the leader of RC1 appeared on the screens placed on the walls.

“Honourable members of the Assembly, I invite you to take your places. The session will start soon."

When the members of the Assembly were seated, a number corresponding to their planet appeared on the seats of the leaders and ambassadors of the second and third circles. The first circle was represented by a golden circle reminiscent of the enclave in which they remained, the Sacred Circle. Because the domain of the Brotherhood was an independent territory on the planet RC20.

"I declare the meeting open. We will deal today as a priority with the decision voted by the Brotherhood concerning the future of the Earth and its consequences."

"Send the earthlings to RC45, I already have very interested buyers. Exoticism is selling very well!" interrupted Katan in a booming voice.

The intervention of the representative of the barbarian enclave was quickly followed by the laughter of the slave faction of the Assembly.

RC 45 was an inhospitable planet. No one could enter without an invitation. Residents there raised and trained different types of slaves, preceptors, servants, bodyguards, soldiers, sex slaves, anything one could want as long as one could pay. Bad payers quickly found themselves sold at low prices in a brothel. The fortune of RC 45 rested exclusively on slavery. Its inhabitants were looked upon with disdain, but no one dared to abolish the slavery practiced in the RC. Having a slave was considered a sign of wealth, a way to increase the prestige of princes and aristocrats who had been the first to practice enslavement, followed by the rulers of democratic planets eager to establish their legitimacy. Without this system, the economy of some planets would collapse, only a few operated with free or robotic labor. But that wasn't the biggest fear. If RC45 no longer sold his slaves, they would form an army that the leaders of RC45 would not hesitate to send to plunder their enemies.

“Ambassador Katan, please give the floor to the inner circle before any comment” ordered the leader of RC1

“If the earthlings pass the test, they will be allowed to have citizenship,” Haidar replied firmly.

"With no disrespect High Priest Haidar, there are only 3 of you at this table. I don't believe your success rate is so high that we need to worry about giving citizenship" Jonah interjected amusedly. .

"Earthlings might surprise us, it's been several million years since they were expelled from the confederation and condemned, we know very little about them now, Haidar continued. And that only represented 1000 years for us! Have you forgotten that high priest? Our floors are still soaked with the blood they shed"replied the leader of RC1.

How many generations have been wiped out? How many planets have been victims of the atrocities committed by these degenerates? But you still chose to free them! she continued, encouraged by other factions of the Assembly.

"Planet RC 26 is still witness to this today, only a crater remains of its capital."

"She's right !"

"They have destroyed more than half of our forests! "

"There are only two large houses left on our planet, the ten others have been decimated!"

As the tone rose in the Assembly, Axel fixed on the ceiling, a hologram representing the planets of the RC, he had always found that very beautiful, a perfect harmony in a largely unexplored universe.

"So you're no better than him." Axel's voice had dominated the hubbub.

At these words, the conversation suddenly ceased. Goran looked at him with an exasperated look. The faces of the rest of the assembly differed from each other, fear, disgust, outrage, respect, admiration, indifference mixed in the crowd.

"You dare to talk about him in this room!" exclaimed, once the effect of surprise had passed, one of the members of the assembly who was called… Abi, Arri, Bori, Axel no longer remembered his name or the tiny planet he ruled.

"Honesty is one of the virtues encouraged by the brotherhood and I will not hesitate to practice it. 300 years of terror, against 3 million years, isn't it time to question ourselves?" Axel continued calmly before returning to the observation of the ceiling.

"The brotherhood is the sole judge when it comes to planet Earth, the vote has been cast, we cannot go back on it"Haïdar decided in a soft but firm voice. He then turned to the representative of RC1 to invite her to continue the session.

"High priest Haidar is right, the decision has been taken as dictated by our laws, it is now time to organize the modalities of the selection and the first contact. Do you have any ideas, members of the Assembly?"

"We could use the brand of Azul"proposed the leader of RC14

"Impossible, Azul's mark may indeed allow sorting, but it must be personally applied by all members of the confederation in order to work. Also, the ink needed to place it has become very scarce. We cannot allow us to waste it on several billion people" said Goran speaking for the first time in this assembly.

"He's right, the vein discovered on RC50 is too small for us to be able to use it with so much generosity"Haïdar confirmed.

" The sphere. »

The members of the assembly turned to the voice that had just spoken these words and which had not been heard for more than a hundred years.

"We can reactivate the Sphere" repeated Jonah.