Day of Wrath

Day of Wrath by Bjarne Kirchhoff - The men of the Norgan System had a tough decision to make concerning the planet in A93. Yet there was no hesitation. Can you blame them? Frowning thoughtfully, Lan Yotar pushed a button on his desk and waited till the televisoscreen above it glowed, showing the respectful face of an attendant. "Ask Tir Latoka to come here immediately, please," said the Chief of the Council of Elders. "I hear and obey," came the routine reply, and the attendant's face vanished from the screen. Leaning back in his chair, Lan Yotar gazed somberly at the report in his hand, till the Chief Scientist's voice recalled him to his surroundings. "You sent for me, Excellency?" "Yes, I did, Tir Latoka. Sit down." As the Chief Scientist seated himself on the opposite side of the desk, he continued, "I am a little uneasy about the latest report on Rona." Involuntarily, the Chief Scientist turned to look at the Wall of the Planets, Lan Yotar's eyes following his. The Wall of the Planets was so called because it pictured that solar system known to its inhabitants as the Confederated Planets of Norga. One entire wall of the Council Chamber in the Hall of the Rulers was constructed of slabs of lapis lazuli, so cunningly joined that they presented the appearance of an unbroken whole. In the center shone a huge disc of gold, representing Norga, the sun of the Norgan solar system. Grouped around it at the proper intervals were other discs symbolic of the system's eleven planets. Yula, the planet nearest Norga, was a solid circle of onyx, the black color indicating mystery, as it was too close to their sun to permit exploration; Heta, consisting mostly of water, was a disc of shimmering silver; Mira, from which the system derived most of its minerals, was cleverly worked in seven different metals.