– Ok, then you, become our prisoners, please go out, – said Tomake, already displeased Kaaran.
– I can come with you, – Timba joked.
Kaaran didn't know Timba's humor, so he didn't understand it.
Tomaki's crew left the MEEP, under the supervision of a convoy. Everyone reached the military escort ship, settled in it, and went to the base, the mountain city of the Emperor Maront.
It took about an hour of flight, local time, and then, over a huge platform, spaceships began to land, among which was the one where Tomaki's crew was. Half an hour later, all the military personnel were drawn up in two lines, like a security fence, from the hatch of the escort ship to the hangar gate, which had already been opened long ago.
The arrested, "voluntarily", in handcuffs, were led between two lines of soldiers, in the direction of the hangar, who stood in white military clothes and closed, white helmets, with black and armored glasses. This brought a strange smile to Tomaki's face.
The hangar was completely empty, except for a huge black square in the center of the white room.
Space Commander Kaaran, Tomaki's crew, and several other escorts stood in the center of the square. The floor immediately became an elevator, with protective handrails at the edges, a control screen, and a computer consultant, in the form of a man, on solid glass. Space Commander Kaaran entered a code on the control screen and turned to the glass, saying to the smiling man on the same screen, – To the hall of justice.
– Your identity is confirmed and the command will be executed, – the man on the screen replied, and the black square fell neatly down into the void there, and through the air channel, under the dim light from the gloom, carried everyone to the hall of justice. If there is an entrance, then you can find an exit, so here, in the hall of justice, there was the same black square, it has now changed to a replaceable state and instead of it, there was another one, which was sent here by a man, from a glass screen.
– Good technology, for an extinct civilization, – Timba said, looking around at what they saw.
The hall of Justice was a large room. In the center, as it is already clear, there was a black square, but everything else was done in the style of mixed eras. There were also statues of warriors a hundred times the normal height of people, apparently defenders of good, frozen at the moment of battle, with no smaller size devils and demons seducing the forces of good. And broken, stone, and somewhere iron columns, lay against the walls, the general picture of which, beat a thin blade on the nerves, showing that death and chaos are always near. Two of the walls were closer to the black square, and two were farther away, creating a certain perimeter. And now, in one of the far walls, there was a stone throne, gray with cracks. From the ceiling behind him, the canvases descended, not man-made and frozen in time, the top of which went into invisible blackness.
Many sipurians were convicted here, and some, of course, were acquitted by local laws. Lies and truth penetrated the body, terrible visions, confused thoughts that were confused in the head. Huge pictures, misty and airy, moved everywhere, forcing fear on people. The hall came alive around Tomaki and everyone else. Ancient and modern, harmoniously merged into a single whole.
This was indeed the hall of justice.
While Tomaki's crew was looking at everything, he didn't see the most important thing, that someone was looking at them. It wasn't Chief Justice Gret, who is usually the main person in the judgment room in this hall of justice, but Emperor Maront himself. He stood on the opposite side of the throne, near the wooden gate, and watched carefully as the people arrived on the black square. Usually, at the time of the proceedings, there were always at least fifty noisy defenders and prosecutors in the courtroom, the absence of which, at such an important moment, now embarrassed Kaaran himself.
Silent music, cold, dry notes, floated in the air, bringing an ominous fear to those present.
– This is it, the first humans to visit us since our Sipurian bloodline was forgotten on the dying planet, Malonga the first. And then, unfortunately, you turned out to be thieves, although it does not matter, – said the Emperor Maront in a loud voice that rolled into the silence.
– Great Styr, with all due respect, why are you here to greet us, and not the high officers of the Hall of Justice? – Kaaran asked, alarm in his voice.
– Don't worry, dear Kaaran, today you have witnessed a new history of the Sipurians. These aliens brought to our world what we so lacked, the opportunity to discover the hidden secrets of the unknown to us, distant space. Their intergalactic ship that is in our orbit, we will take it, give it to our scientists, and soon, we will start sending our troops all over the galaxy. We will win everything that can be taken from insignificant people. Those who left us to die, – Emperor Maront replied, and walked slowly towards the "guests", spreading his arms out to the side.
– Yes, Emperor Maaront, as the commander of our army, I had the honor of speaking to you on this subject, on retribution, but we were talking about those who abandoned us, not about the entire cosmos, – Kaaran said, with a sudden sense of doubt.
– Take a closer look, Kaaran, those traitors you speak of have long since spread out from here, spreading their roots across the cosmos, strengthening their roots on different planets. And now, in order to destroy all those who forced our Sipurian race to literally survive, eat their relatives, yes, you know as well as I do what our rebirth cost, here on the planet. How we, for so many years, could not escape from this nightmare. And now that the gods have given us this chance, we just can't turn it down. And since we are grateful to you for this gift, aliens, we will not touch you. You will be under my personal control for the time being. And I warn you right away, don't try to escape or attack me in any way, you will be immediately arrested and your immunity will disappear. They'll just kill you, – Emperor Maront said, trying to guess the leader of the flight crew that had arrived.
After the Emperor Maront, he approached at a fairly close distance, which allowed everyone to get a better look at him. Everyone saw a handsome man dressed in the imperial Sipurian garb.
His black suit glistened on him. The sleeves are wide and worn in white long gloves. The trousers were tucked into high boots, giving the impression of a rider on a horse. A black-and-white cape hung from his shoulders to the level of his knees, tied in a bow around his neck and artificially raised on his shoulders. On his head, he wore a metal helmet with a chased pattern of local gods. The helmet covered his neatly braided hair and part of his forehead, which only emphasized his oval face. A straight nose, thin maroon lips, and a slightly unshaven chin.
His general appearance was similar to the formidable and cunning tyrant, as depicted in the painting "Weight crushing the world of Tania", in the role of the heavenly god Weight, who conquered people, whom Tomaka saw as a child, in a mythical book. You can give credit to the local tailors, his clothes shone with their body-permeable power.
Tomaka understood that it was useless to argue with this important man right now, and decided to simply submit to his conditions for the time being.
– My name is Tomaka, – he said.
– Very, very nice, – Emperor Maront smiled back.
– This is Pythons, my assistant, – Tomaka said, pointing with his right hand at Pythons.
– I understand, – said Emperor Maront, nodding his head slightly.
– This is Timba's co – pilot, – Tomaka pointed at Timba with his left hand.
– I understand, – Emperor Maront repeated, still nodding his head.
– And I, Vella! The crew doctor, – Vella introduced herself.
– Nice to meet you, – Emperor Maront added, and then said, – And you've already met my space commander, Kaaran.
– We didn't want to cause you any trouble, our team didn't know you were here, – Tomaka said apologetically.
– I