people, and opened it right in the middle. A map of the universe appeared. All the planets in the solar system were listed there.Ranose bent it over her and ran his index finger over the planets. Completely submerged in thought, she only noticed late that her daughter Ravana had sat down next to her. She started up when she said: "Morning, Ma." "Oh, oh, good morning. Well, I don't really know if it's a good morning." "You're worried about Schatza and Fallernara.", Ravana stated with a knowing expression on her face. The mother nodded almost imperceptibly to her black-haired daughter. “What do you think is going to happen?” “I don't know, honey. That's the biggest problem. I just can't tell.” “But you have to have guesses,” Ravana urged in her open manner. "No, I can't allow myself to guess without evidence," Ranose said in a sharper tone than intended. Ravana sighed and leaned back in her chair. The armchair almost engulfed the petite young woman in its red velvet.Her eyes still looked tired from sleeping, but at the same time they were sparkling with life. They were dark blue, almost black, and glowed like two sapphires in the sun. But now worry tarnished her shine, worry she shared with her mother. Her heart was slowly but surely being eaten away by the rising fear and she could not stop this process.


Suddenly there was a violent knock on the door and before one of the two could call "Come in", it was abruptly torn open. Serafin stumbled in, out of breath. Ravana and Ranose looked at him searchingly. There was worry, fear and impatience in Ranose's eyes. And although Ravana shared these feelings, something else mingled in her lost image of colored feelings. It was a bright, beautiful red, which in no way resembled the dark, fireplace-red of fear. It was a color that indicated her relief at Serafin's return. He began to speak in a cracked voice: "Venerable Chancellor of Arastola, I am sorry, but I have nothing good to report."At these words Ranose's heart tightened and something stuck through it like a thorn. Serafin continued:" Rontesle and Musala have tried to outdo each other in military matters, so the Rontulas now own war cyborgs and the weapons and armies of the Muska are ready too. "He fell silent, but Ravana and her mother knew that was not all." What will happen? "So the Chancellor asked the crucial question. Serafin swallowed hard and then said with a fixed look:" In about an hour or two, Schatza will declare war on the Rontulas. "There was dead silence in the room after this shocking statement, nobody could bring anything out of themselves. Affliction would not have done justice to what they felt. It could not be put into words, because none would have been strong enough for it. Ravana composed himself first and announced in a hoarse voice: "I will go and report to the delegates. "Ranose kept wondering how nervous her daughter was, despite her age of only seventeen.> War!it echoed in her head. > War!



Meanwhile on the planet Chowig:


It was still dark on Chowig. What else do you mean, it was dark as always. There was the light darkness in the daytime and the black darkness in the night. At least that is how it was at the bottom of the planet. Swamp covered over 99% of the area.Plants and trees, even animals and the inhabitants of the planet were olive green to blackish brown. Everything adapted well to the environment full of mud and mud. There were no impressive buildings like those on Rontesle or Musala, they never had. The people, the Chesa-Rusala, did not resemble anyone in their appearance either. They were very small and nimble, with pointed ears, claw-like hands and their teeth resembled the teeth of a shark. Small and very dangerous. Two rows of sharp knife points, always ready to bite. Actually, however, they had only adapted to the nature of their habitat. The Chesa-Rusala only ate raw meat immediately after the capture, because each other was too afraid that it would be taken away from them. Suspicion was a common trait among these people. There were around 567,000. 000 of their kind. They didn't live in houses, but rather huts made of wood and reeds. There were no large buildings on the surface.But the planet had a seat of government. Communists had ruled the people for years and so there was no rich or poor. Only one big difference: the leaders lived in luxury, the people in poverty. But thinking was a form of exertion that the Chesa-Rusala did not emulate. Most of them preferred to be steered anyway, because that was the most practical way to do it. Years ago, a Chesa-Rusala named Husro (the H is spoken as in Houston) Chrustle enforced the principle of communism and his family has ruled the planet ever since. Today his great-grandson Winstes Chrustle was in power and he pursued completely different goals than just to rule his planet.


At the moment the stooped figure of a Chesa-Rusala was hurrying through the overgrown swamp, sagging again and again and cursing loudly to himself. His destination was the underground palace where Chrustle lived and ruled. In his hand he was holding a roll of paper that was already full of brown and green splatters.At some point the Chesa-Rusala stopped. He stood in front of a rock no bigger than a house and pressed his hand on it in three places on the stone. Suddenly a hole opened beneath the rock in the ground and without hesitation the little creature jumped straight into the darkness, which from above seemed to be endless. But that was deceptive, because after falling less than two meters, you hit the ground. The impact of the tiny thing made a dull noise and the hatch closed over him. Immediately he ran on, down a long hallway and to a cast-iron door. There he knocked three times and then entered. There were three long tables in the room, and chandeliers hung on the walls to light it up. All in all, it looked quite cozy, apart from the fact that in the largest and most splendid armchair was a small, ugly creature sitting impatiently with his fingers on the backrest. After the messenger bowed to his ruler, he unrolled the message and announced: "The planet Musala will soon declare war on the Rontulas.An attack will be launched soon after. "Chrustle smiled confident of victory. He had been waiting for this announcement. Now the time had finally come. His goals came closer and closer with each passing day. It had surprised him himself that it went so quickly with the declaration of war Schatza a preventive war. <, Thought Chrustle somewhat amused about the folly of the ruler of Musala. "Preventive war", a concept born out of weakness and fear! With this one tried to get ahead of one's enemies.> How can such a clever man use the Opportunity to just make such wrong decisions? "During these thoughts a small smile crossed Chrustle's lips and grimaced his face. The leader of the Chesa-Rusalas was cunning. He had never shrunk from fighting with unfair means, because these brought him his success quickly.He was always ready to make new friends with his eloquent style, if he met Promised a benefit from them.But if they turned away from him for just a moment, he could hit them straight in the back with the knife. You never saw through his games and if there were exceptions, he silenced them. Either through blackmail if Chrustle had something against him or through death, which brought peace once and for all. Of course, Chrustle didn't have to do these things himself, because what were the staff for? But he pulled the strings and the puppets danced. One never got tangled up with the other's tape and when it did, both of them were thrown away. A principle, cruel in its execution, but the cleverest in its use. At least that's how Chrustle thought. He felt strong and invulnerable and he knew that it would stay that way until the peoples of the planets stopped wanting to see what is not there. They should have tried to see what was there, but good faith and folly, according to Chrustle, ruled the days of the universe.It was his days and they were getting brighter, sunnier and his summer was coming. One who belonged to him, who would give him power and prestige, not just among his people. He longed for this beginning of summer for years and he was sure it would come. Soon, thanks to Schatza. The residents of Rontesle would not give in and the Muska overestimate their power. With their premature declaration of war they wanted to get ahead of the others, but they would not be able to bring home a quick victory this way. Chrustle had known about the fact that cyborgs were being made on Rontesle for a year, but he hadn't revealed it to Schatza. Why? To give his colleague an advantage, oh no, that would have been stupid and careless. The Chesa-Rusala knew that. It would not have been of any use to his own endeavors either. No, he would only have an advantage if he waited to see what would happen.At the right moment he could then hit with almost no resistance. At some point one of the leaders would fall for whatever reason. One had to die and then it was Chrustle's turn. Of course, he would prefer Schatza to be first, for who would lead the people of Musala in that case? Tino, the son of the great leader? Oh no. This naive boy, pampered and spoiled, was going to win no victory. But you had to make him believe he