"No no, today you're having dinner with us!" he said firmly.
Marcius cast him a tired look and feebly shook his head.
"Let"s go! Gayla is finishing up earlier, and they've brought in some fresh seaweed from the fields! Come on!"
For Marcius, the idea of running into Gayla, Karii's girlfriend, was not at all appealing. She disliked him quite openly, but he couldn't disappoint his friend with a refusal.
"Okay, but only for a bit," he timidly replied.
"We'll just pick her up from work, and then head over to my place!"
Gayla worked as an overseer in the observatory, in the department of external cosmic influence. She'd felt useless for a long time now, since there were no changes at all from day to day. For a long time now everything had been excruciatingly stable, and even though technically this was the goal, Gayla felt oppressed by such hyper-structured well being. It goes without saying that if any of the neighboring worlds were to impinge unto the Tulonian channels of information, or say, tried to unlawfully enter the space surrounding the planet, Gayla would be the first to know. If a meteor were to approach their world, it would be her duty to immediately let everyone know. On top of that, she also had to report any changes in the activity of the main star of the Seven Worlds. But for three years now, from the moment she had taken up this post, nothing had happened. Many made fun of her and joked that this was due to her stern and watchful eye, but Gayla did not lose vigilance and continued to do her job accurately and responsibly - after all, these were the very traits that landed her the job in the first place.
When the two pilots passed through the protective shield of her laboratory, she didn't even turn, so as not to get distracted from the images on her screens.
"Wait by the entrance" she said sternly.
But neither Marcius nor Karii heeded her request. A screen display of potentially dangerous asteroids had already captured Marcius' attention. He'd encountered several of them in real life, and on some he'd even landed his ship. On the screen, however, they looked completely different.
Like many others, this observatory was powered by Tulona's magnetic field, and for this reason many of its devices were made of magnetized liquid metals.
Marcius' wandering gaze fixated upon the most important thing amidst the seven worlds - quite rightfully, this was Onyx. It shone bright and merciless, scorching like a flame. It was a regular red dwarf, the most common type of star in their galaxy, but labeled as "main object" on the screen, it seemed extraordinary, as if there were no others like it in the whole entire universe.
Gayla turned to face Marius and Karii, and immediately froze. The alarm signal went off. The monitors started to melt apart, the space of the room got distorted. Some of the wall barriers cracked and crashed to the floor with a clatter, wounding several people. The shiny smooth surface of the walls rippled and boiled over, and the liquid amalgam lining of the ceiling swirled around in a spiral and burst forth in thin needles. The sensors and devices surrounding Gayla went haywire. The liquid in the magnetic meters climbed up the columns. The one closest to her burst from the pressure, staining her shoes. Her frightened screams were mixed in with the metallic buzz of malfunction. Rushing over to the panel of direct contact, deafened by the sudden onset of otherworldly ringing, he discovered, much to her horror, that she was unable to reach headquarters
"It's coming from outside - it's an attack!" She said decisively, having analyzed the readings on the screen, and pushed Marcius towards the exit.
Gayla realized that if she couldn't transmit the message herself, then Marcius was the only one present that could make a run to headquarters in person and relay what had happened. He still had direct access, even after being degraded. Marcius ran out onto the street. He was met with glitches all around. The lanes lined up along the lines of the magnetic field had collapsed. The citizens' flying capsules were swept up by the chaos. Some collided in midair and fell into the icy lake below, and the multilayer overpasses mixed among themselves. It was as if an enormous magnet hung over their city, massive enough to overthrow the structure of Tulona's magnetic field.
It was useless to try and take the capsule, so Marcius ran on foot, jumping from bridge to bridge, heading towards the base of the tower of Council.
The main headquarters were located in a white building shaped like a slanted cube, raised above the city by three giant spikes. It was the most elevated point of their world. Only the emergency elevators remained functional - they were powered by hydraulics, not magnetism. The others stood motionless with people trapped inside. Marcius traced his finger along the shiny smooth panel all the way to the top, indicating the direction of movement.
Having reached the last tier, he ran out into the hall. He kept going past the checkpoint without identifying himself, hearing a string of intergalactic swear words behind him as well as some gunshots. But he didn't stop, he only ran faster. Security had recognized him - otherwise he would have been dead. He stopped at the end of the hall.
He threw the door wide open and immediately came face to face with all eleven members of the council. The round table spiraled down in steps, going from member to member. Marcius' rightful place, the twelfth one, was still empty. General Indro, the gray-haired ruler of their world, stood behind the top step of the table. Across from him lay a communication device, now rendered completely useless. He looked worried, and his eyes betrayed a lack of understanding. Was the malfunction a result of internal glitches in the city's systems or was this an attack? This was the main question on everyone's mind.
"The force is coming from outside!" Marcius yelled, not waiting for permission to speak.
Indro dropped his head, sharply and with disdain. The thought of yet another war was too much for him to bear.
"Raise all defenses to the maximum!" he barked.
Not wasting any time, he activated the table. It instantly transformed into a cascade of control panels.
The council members directed the whole army to the external border, closed off all exposed water and fields, hid zones with cities and provinces under invisible electric domes, setting them to the highest pressure. All the residential areas were transferred into night mode in an effort to save energy and lower the chances of being detected. Neither one of the two satellites could be reached. Kata and Aiax were silent.
They spent several minutes in complete silence, watching. All of a sudden the impulsator on Indro's table came to life, which was the main mode of communication in the underground world. Like a chain reaction, signals started coming in all along the table, to the other impulsators.
"The connection's back!" Marcius exclaimed.
"Yes", the general confirmed sternly, accepting the signal.
Gayla's face, illuminated by blue beams, appeared above the surface of the table. She expertly hid her worry, speaking calmly and clearly, as was her manner.
"We have been rushed by an immensely strong magnetic wind. The magnetic field of our planet was unable to withstand it and let it through. For a time, the magnetic poles and lines of power were disturbed."
"Have you identified the source of the turbulence?" Indro asked.
Gayla paused.
"Who??" yelled Indro.
"We haven't identified the source of the turbulence. Nothing of this sort has ever happened in the history of our city, but we're working on it," she said, justifying herself.
Indro threw the impulsator off to the side and collapsed in his chair, exasperated. Of course the primary suspects were the Krameans, their main enemy. Silence ensued at the table. No one wanted war.
"The magnetic shields at the orbits are up and running again," reported one of the generals. "What will you have us do, sir?"