In the shadow of the stolen light. Nika Veresk

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      The expedition team of five was quickly appointed by Doctor Blake. Three of them were Paul’s crew members accompanied by an expert from the Universe Exploration lab and, finally, a junior Council member, Lora Merion. In only a matter of hours, all of them set off on a journey in a small shuttle.

      Having entered the coordinates of their destination, Paul switched on the autopilot and slightly stretched his body placing his hands behind his head.

      “Are we entering hyperspace?” Lora glanced at the panoramic view opening from the front part of the shuttle, dashing into the endless darkness of the space.

      “Yes, without the speed of light it would take forever to get there,” chuckled the young man.

      “I see,” the girl nodded, “I just can’t wait… I want to know who or what is in there so much! It’s been more than 200 years since we last contacted home.”

      “You’re probably the only one who calls Earth ‘home’,” grinned Paul.

      “I can’t help it,” admitted Lora honestly.

      “We lost our home,” said Jane Forest, the lab expert, who sat next to Lora, compassionately patting her on the shoulder. “The time will come when we’ll find a new home; a place where we can live in harmony and build our future without fear that someone may encroach on our way of thinking, abuse our knowledge or use it to their profit.”

      “But people on Earth could also change for the better,” objected Lora confidently, “We haven’t heard from them for so long!”

      Jane shrugged her shoulders.

      “Facts of our history are very obstinate. Earthly civilizations appear and perish, one after another. Throughout the thousands years of human history, our kind failed to tame the energy of destruction. Except us.”

      “But if we could, it means others can, too!”

      “Andre thought so, too,” Oleg Butoff, who was sitting silently till now, joined the discussion. “He died with this belief in his heart…”

      Lora remembered a video recording of the clash shown in their history lessons and her hazel eyes filled with sadness. It happened a long time ago.

      Back then the ‘Solar Flotilla’ was only one of the many scientific projects developed by the ‘Unity of Opposites’ society, founded by Andre Mendez. Within ten years, a small group of his followers who accepted his philosophy turned into a movement of people able to control the energy of self-destruction, inherent to their consciousness and, thus, able to increase the creative power of the mind. Their great scientific discoveries in energy-saving technologies, ozone layer recovery, treatment of deadly diseases and the revival of the endangered species of plants and animals were made for the good of the people and the whole planet. However, harmony and equilibrium in the society were not easy to sustain in a world where politicians strive for power, industrialists crave super profits, and religious leaders try to manipulate minds. Sometimes facts really are obstinate things.

      “Our voyage won’t last forever,” added Jane. “I’m sure about it.”

      Lora nodded, staring out the window. The blue glow of Titanium and bright contours of Taria, the planet orbited by the space city, vanished in the pitch black space and her eyes got lost in the dark, as if pierced by silver-blue threads, endless hyperspace.

      The autopilot was confidently leading the shuttle to its destination. The majority of the crew members were sound asleep except Lora who could not really understand why she was the only one waiting for this encounter so restlessly. Since 22^nd July, 2025, the day when the ancestors of the contemporary Titanium inhabitants left Earth on board five spaceships made by the ‘Unity of Opposites’ society, their descendants never looked back; never sought any information about their home planet. There were many reasons for that.