Young people who decided to participate in the Kressum Games were independently assembled into small teams, where the skills of some were complemented by the skills of others. What skills? You’re about to find out…
All groups of young people were dropped one by one from an air transport ship into the wilderness, far from any civilization. Each team had only a topographical map (given by lot) and the minimum amount of survival equipment. The map indicated the starting point (each team had its own), where a small airtight container with the first task was waiting for them. It was necessary to pass the section of the route indicated in the task and take the next container. And so on, until the whole route was completed (each team had its own). The only thing that all teams had in common was the finish point. The difficulty lay in the location of the containers. They could be at the bottom of a lake, on a mountain peak, in the lair of a bloodthirsty predator. And the route to the next point was not easy. Only a united team, capable of joint actions and mutual support had a chance to pass the route to the end. Of course, in case of big problems on the route, the team could call evacuation transport with the help of bonfires.
But among young people it was so shameful not to pass the route that most of the teams did not even think of such a thing. As a result, the death of a part or even a whole team was not uncommon. The unwritten laws of honor and the high birth rate in those old days allowed society to look at it as an inevitability. The death on route of a young member of the community may have been a personal loss to their loved ones. But, to those around them, that death was a source of pride. So, he, the hero, was raised right and chose honor over dishonor, going to the goal “to the end”! The names of those who gave their lives for the right to be a “defender of home” were immortalized on the central alley of the capital, and those who survived and received the “sign of the defender” joined the elite ranks of the military and pioneers.
A long time has passed since then! Life had changed unrecognizably, and so had the goals of the Zwigg civilization. There was no need for such a brutal selection process. It was now an intellectual competition. Teams were formed not spontaneously, as before, but with the help of special algorithms that took into account the aptitudes and mutual compatibility of its potential members. The nuances, of course, changed from planet to planet, but, in general, the games evolved along with society.
Therefore, as it was customary, the leaders of scientific groups together with Tabit divided all the youth into teams consisting of specialists of different profiles, who had to not only search for containers with notes in different secluded places of the ship, but also to solve riddles from planetology, botany, zoology, astronomy and other things. The first team to reach the finish line was the winner.
Kressum games
– I don’t understand you, Tabit! This kind of thing is not in the charter! Am I supposed to go looking for them in all the nooks and crannies?
– Believe me, Benaip, this is a necessary measure. I don’t want to approach the first planet with a demoralized crew. Are you aware that the number of young scientists on this ship has been increased to almost three times the normal number? I promise we’ll take every precaution possible.
– You’re shamelessly taking advantage of my equal in rank! But I’m warning you: if a single foot of a “civilian” gets near the control room, or if my officers are disturbed by the clattering of these non-statutory spurs… What idiot invented them?! Well, if anything like that happens, I’ll stop it in a heartbeat.
– Very well. I agree, but I don’t understand your reluctance to help. After all, we’re doing the same thing!
The life of the young part of the expedition took on new colors from that moment on. Jumoke joined the group of two more boys and a girl. The guys’ names were Iabis and Dakkarei, and the lady’s name was Tanafriti.
Iabis (Abis to his friends) was a planetary biologist. He was short in stature, stocky, and wore an old blue army jumpsuit, which felt a little self-conscious about. Abys was obsessed with all sorts of animals, and could talk for hours about “rustling one-legged jumpers from the planet Krivz`s” or discuss “wide-mouthed gruss” from a star system he knew only to himself.
Dakkarei was a climatologist and spent most of his day taking notes and statistical models of the atmospheres of various planets. Unlike Abys, he was tall, slender, and aristocratic, but a lively, curious nature. Dakkarei always wore a neatly pressed overalls of the fashionable among young black color. He did not like his long name very much, so he asked to be called simply Dak.
Tanafriti (or simply Tana) was a pretty, short, smiling person. Her voice was quiet and melodic, but very clear and convincing. She liked to wear a bright green jumpsuit of soft feminine cut made of some rare beautiful fabric, which spoke of good taste. Tana studied the internal structure of celestial bodies from stars to small satellites of planets. Many asked her why she made such a choice? Most of the time Tanafrithi grudgingly hummed and avoided answering, but she told the boys that both of her parents, as her grandmother said, had been doing it all their lives. They had died on a distant expedition, and even the name of the planetary system where it had happened, Tanafriti had not been able to learn. She was raised by her grandmother, as were twenty other orphaned “chickens” like her. They lived on a farm in one of the peripheral star systems. Tana decided to study and study certainly in the metropolis to become a planetologist! As soon as she came of age, she ran away from home with the money she earned on the farm, writing a letter to her “sweet grandmother” asking her to forgive her.
To understand such an extravagant step from the Zwiggs’ point of view, one must know that every true female citizen was obliged first of all to bring new citizens into this world. Education, especially in the last three hundred cycles, was not only optional for the female population of the Empire, but was even considered harmful. And only a handful of women from the most noble or famous families could afford a career in science. Nevertheless, to the surprise and delight of Tanafriti herself, the university of the metropolis paid absolutely no attention to such defiant, seemingly uninformed behavior of an unknown poor visiting dreamer and after serious examinations accepted her to study (and even gave her a scholarship).
One evening, after running around and eating a hearty dinner, the whole group sat in Jum’s small cabin and discussed the quest they had almost won first place in.
– If we had been allowed to walk normally around the ship, we could have taken a side corridor to get past those snooty Cogl’s crewmen! – Jum was furious.
– Calm down! – Tana smiled. – You realize that would be cheating!
– Don’t you think it’s strange that there are non-standard restrictions for some of the crew? – Abys said faintly. – As far as I remember the charter of mixed expeditions, it doesn’t say a word about the prohibition of civilian movement on the ship. With the exception of the military arsenal, everywhere else is open. So the truth is on our side.
– Well, well. Take it easy, – Dak hummed. – Who are you going to make a claim to? We’re outside the Empire! And if Thabit has agreed to this development, then… I like your idea of going around the corridor, Jum, though, frankly!
– Boys, what are you doing? It’s dangerous! – Tana said fearfully.
But the trio, looking at each other, were already discussing a plan to win the first place.
As it turned out, Dak, working with his programs on atmospheric anomalies, “unintentionally”, of course, got into the ship’s database. And although almost everything in it was protected, but the young climatologist managed to get to the scheme of rooms. Now they had not only the desire to win, but also the shortest way to this victory.
In the