Of all the stories I've covered during my journalistic career, this one has to be the most heart-rending: demonstrating as it does the breathtaking indifference all too often shown by political leaders to their fellow citizens once they have suckered them into voting them into office.

The location of this report is the Cumen-Lanska Nebula: a vast, trackless wilderness, located near the Lyaca planetary system, situated on the spiral arm of the Spindrift Galaxy (NGC 237809236). Just one of the planets in this system is inhabited. When we first discovered its existence, we called it, Lyaca III. Its population call it, Bastario.

There are two races, in terms of culture and beliefs, 'Tingu' and 'Astu', though they share the same ancestral heritage. Separated by a high mountain range, running north to south, which cuts the single continent in half, their development has followed significantly different routes, resulting in an endless conflict over the millennia, whenever they encountered each other.

Possibly the worst thing that could have happened to these peoples was the arrival, six decades ago, of an energetic group of galactic explorers, called the Missii (that's Miss-eye): a migratory race, who wander the galaxy trading with each world in turn, exchanging goods for technology, or vice versa. When they reached Bastario, they must have thought they'd struck pay dirt. With two races so clearly distrustful of each other, and each anxious to gain an advantage over the other, the Missii were able to demand a high price for their technology - which both the Tingu and the Astu were ready and willing to pay. Result: an exponential growth in destructive capability on both sides, and the transfer of that ancient conflict to space itself. With both sides virtually bankrupted by this costly conflict - both in terms of revenues and people - they eventually settled into a state of 'Cold War'. It is an uneasy truce that has been maintained these last twenty years.

Picture the scene: a lone Cyra class, hunter killer satellite [no image is available, sadly], drifting helplessly. Blown from orbit around Bastario by an explosion in one of its on-board air tanks, it is moving ever closer to the Cumen-Lanska nebula, where corrosive gases will remorselessly eat away at its metal hull. Its crew of fifty - both male and female - can only watch through the large window as their home gets smaller, becoming more obscured by the nebula with each passing minute. Back on their homeworld, Tingu's government ministers are faced with a public relations dilemma. Should they slavishly follow dogma and allow fifty of their own people to die a slow, hopeless death, simply because they lack the technology to rescue them, or do they seek assistance from the Astu, whom they suspect of having developed ceramic based hull materials which can resist the corrosive embrace of the nebula.

A representative of the Astu government apparently contacted the Tingu government less than six hours after their intelligence service had been apprised of the accident by the captain of one of their own, hunter killer satellites. This was a propaganda 'opportunity of a lifetime', proving once and for all that Astu's administration was superior in every way to Tingu's. Indeed, that was his government's only motive for offering to help. At no time did it occur to him, or his political masters, to try to save these people because they were 'Bastarian', as well as 'Tingu'.

Hours passed, while Tingu's politicians sought to come up with a plan that didn't involve asking for help from their mortal enemy. More important, however, was the need to present their actions in such a way that wouldn't instantly cause them to lose face with their own people, because their own technology was clearly inferior to that of their opponents. This last point was a serious one to them, highlighting perhaps that their negotiations with the Missii were less well conducted than were their enemy's. Maybe they didn't ask the right questions? Perhaps, unlike the Astu, they omitted to consider the possibility that their conflict might one day extend out into space, where they'd be faced with a truly hostile environment.

However, instead of demonstrating true vision and seeing the offer of help from the Astu - whatever its motivation - as an opportunity for establishing a precedent for future co-operation, and eventually, even a peace treaty, these self-serving, self-interested 'servants of the people' wasted precious time searching for a scapegoat. 'Who was responsible for the shortcomings of the trade agreement with the Missii?' was the question that occupied them for the first day. While they struggled with this important matter, the crew of the crippled satellite fought to maintain hull integrity by sending volunteers outside to apply sealant to the pipes supplying fresh air. Six men and women died screaming into their lip mikes, horribly burned by the nebula gas as it digested their environment suits in less than ten minutes. With their death cries still echoing around the cramped living quarters, the captain's entreaties to, 'Do something…. please', never reached the government, who were now in closed session.

The Astu government decided to force the issue and instructed the commander of their nearest satellite to move out of orbit and make for the Tingu satellite, with the intention of rescuing them anyway. Almost half of that night's news broadcast was dedicated to the topic, accompanied by much flag waving and martial music.

The Tingu government, on learning of this development, ordered two of their own satellites into the area, and arranged to send a transmission to the crippled satellite, informing them of the fact that the Astu were taking advantage of their perilous situation and using their temporary superiority of numbers in that region of space to launch an attack on the remaining Tingu satellites. The last transmission received by the commander told him that his satellite had, in fact, been fatally wounded by a newly developed Astu weapon. He was ordered to open fire on the approaching Astu satellite, and not allow his own to fall into their hands. Both satellites were vaporized in the ensuing, brief, exchange of fire.

The respective chairmen of both governments appeared on their news channels that evening. The Astu lambasted the Tingu for slapping aside their hand of friendship at a time of national crisis, and labeled them 'callous' and 'incapable of compromise'. The Tingu denounced the Astu as being 'warmongers' and 'completely without morals'.


This story was sent to SciFi-Babe by Youl Scofa, a courageous reporter who placed truth above personal safety.

Editor's Note:   Since publication, SciFi-Babe has learned that Scofa was arrested as a traitor to his people by the Tingu Government, tried and summarily executed. His property was confiscated and his body was incinerated. To his grieving relatives, we send our condolences, and the hope that he will descend slowly through the Canyon of Mists until he reaches the River of Forgetfulness; and that the sacred river will transport his spirit to the Cavern of Rebirth. Youl Scofa, we salute you.