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PUTHIYA HARRAPPA 1:HUBRIS

The Ultimatum

Ravana stepped off his ship followed by his ten aides, and looked around Puthiya Harrappa, which was located on one of the many moons that circled a gas giant. They were all dressed in military-looking dark clothing with heavy gloves and boots. Their weapons had been left on board as per pre landing instructions. He was a tall brute of a Wolf, with a low forehead and a pugnacious jaw. Opponents who underestimated his low cunning, ruthlessness and tendency to violence did not survive very long.

He saw a bustling space port full of different Animals buying, selling and gawking. There did not seem to be the usual sight of seedy-looking characters but it was too early to tell. He looked around, and then headed towards a neatly dressed middle aged Cat selling cool drinks under a large brightly coloured umbrella. Ravana noticed he had an indentation in the middle of the fur on his forehead about one centimetre in length above the bridge of his nose. 'Where can I find the thalaivar, the head, of Puthiya Harrappa?' he asked curtly.

The Cat looked at him, smiled, said,'Vanakam, friend. Would you and your friends like a cool drink?'

'No, I do not want a cool drink and they are not my friends!' Ravana snapped curtly. 'Just tell me where I can find your thalaivar!'

The Cat stopped smiling and gave them directions. As Ravana and his aides walked off, he grumbled to the one next to him, 'I do hope he has given us the right directions- if not, I will make him regret the day he was born. It is ridiculous there are no current maps or intel of this sorry place.'

'Yes, sir.' the aide, a young Wolf, acknowledged subserviently. 'As far as can be determined, others have attempted to invade this place, troops have been sent and maps have been made numerous times before, officially logged in, but always missing upon attempting to retrieve.'

'Yes, yes.' Ravana said testily, 'So I've been told. Is this the place?'

Following the directions given, they had arrived outside a simple single storey building, with the original brick colour-terracotta-showing. They went up to the smooth wooden door and as they approached, it opened.

A small middle aged Deer clad in a bright blue cotton tunic looked up at them inquiringly.

'We were told we could find your thalaivar here.' said Ravana brusquely. Before he could continue, she smiled, nodded- not seemingly put off by his manner or the way they were dressed.

'Yes, you are expected, do come in.' She turned to show the way. Ravana frowned but followed her in with his aides. They were shown to a long low room, comfortably and simply furnished. A figure stood up as they entered- it was a young Deer with glossy fur and wearing a simple cotton cream tunic with red and green geometric shapes scattered at random. She was flanked by several Animals of different ages; all clad in simple cotton tunics. All of them had the curious indentation on their foreheads.

'I wish to speak to the thalaivar,' said Ravana imperiously.

'I am the thailaivar, how may I assist you?' she answered simply in a low measured tone.

'You?' Ravana was taken aback- he had not been expecting such a young individual when he could see numerous older ones in the room. For a fleeting moment he wondered if it was a trick. Really, the information blackout on this place and everything about it was totally ridiculous. Besides knowing that it existed and that it was an important meeting point for ships from all over the galaxy, nothing else seemed to be known- its residents, population, strengths, weaknesses. Anyway, after his visit, all that wouldn't matter anymore.

He decided to press on with the matter on hand; she did not mention her given name and he did not ask- it was unimportant, irrelevant.

'I am on an important mission from the Perarasu, the Empire. It is said you do not have weapons, bombs or any kind of defence system,' he began.

The thailavar, inclined her head. 'Yes, you are right.' she said simply and said no more.

For a moment he was taken aback; this was not the reaction he was used to on visits to the other planets and moons which were then ground under the heel of the Perarasu.

He ploughed on doggedly. 'You have one whole day of your time to surrender and accept the dominance of the Perarasu. Submit by this time tomorrow, and you and your people and your way of life will be spared.' he lied. 'Oppose us and you will be annihilated.'

He turned on his heel and prepared to leave. He was not interested in tears, pleas or bargains.

'Wait,' came her voice softly. In spite of himself he stopped and turned around to face her

'With your permission, sir, may I call my people together in the town hall at dusk today, in about one hour's time? We will pray, I will explain the situation to them. The town hall is located just at the back of this building.'

Well, this was even better than he had hoped for. He couldn't wait to transmit his easy victory to his commanding officer, stationed in the home world light years away. This would definitely mean the promotion he had been hoping for, the first step to creating his own empire...

With a start, he came back to the present moment. Submissively, the thalaivar was waiting for his response.

'Certainly,' he sneered. 'Have your prayers and then you may submit.' Turning around, he and his aides strode out of the building. Coming last, his youngest and newest aide, Shurpanakha, a young Rabbit, glanced up, and was startled to meet the eyes of a young male Rabbit near the door. He was dressed as simply as the rest and had a trim athletic figure. She felt a shock run through her as his eyes met hers briefly-large dark eyes, with the indentation on his forehead. It was just for a moment and then she was outside with the others, marching back to their ship. There was a curious buzzing in her ears and the bright sunlight made her dizzy for a moment. She pulled her cap over her eyes, and tilted it to the left so that it obscured the scar under her left eye. Then, she was safely within the familiar confines of their ship.

Ravana barked out some commands; sternly she dragged her thoughts back and concentrated on her tasks until it was time to leave for the town hall. It was bad enough to be the youngest and newest to the crew; she did not have to make it worse by making mistakes through inattentiveness. It had not been easy being a Rabbit in the army of the Perarasu, she had had to claw and fight her way to get even this far- the daily mocking and bullying had eased somewhat, but she still slept with an eye open and her weapon within easy reach at night in her bunk. She was wise to do so; after several night time ambushes that had not gone at all well for the ambushers, all had learned to leave her be.

What Happened

Just before dusk he and his aides entered the town hall. The Animals of the settlement were already inside and more were filing in. It was a large circular building built of wood native to the planet, with a curious high domed vaulted ceiling and numerous windows open to the outside. There was no furniture- no tables or chairs, just a polished floor of the same blonde wood. Many Animals were already sitting cross legged on the floor; there were numerous small young as he saw as he headed towards the furthest end of the hall where he saw the thalaivar standing alone, obviously awaiting his arrival.

All those seated were completely calm and quiet, even the young. This was most unusual, usually there would be fear, panic. He and his aides reached the thalaivar, who acknowledged them with a glance, and then turned back to watch her Animals file in. The last one came in, closed the door; sat cross legged at the back. Before the thalaivar could do or say anything, the door burst open with a crash and his troops ran in, weapons at the ready, and ranged themselves all around the hall. The thalaivar saw a weapon pointed straight at her; others were pointed at those seated.

Ravana looked at her expecting to see fear and shock and was discomfited to find her expression unchanged. Not only that, no one in the hall had made a sound; no one had cried out or screamed or fainted- things that had happened in all the other places.

'May we began our prayer?' she asked in her low calm voice. 'Why not?' thought Ravana to himself. No matter what these fools did, he was in control. He nodded curtly. Calmly, she sat down cross legged facing her people, arranging the folds of her tunic, leaving Ravana, his aides and his soldiers standing.

As if on a given signal, all of them closed their eyes and began breathing deeply in and out. The large hall was now very dim; there did not seem to be any lights. Ravana was about to speak, to order lights, when a low barely perceptible sound began to ebb and swell. He realised it was the people humming; the sound seemed to thrum through his whole body and his brain was filled with it.

A glowing image appeared, seeming to hover in the middle of the hall above the people inside. No matter where anyone was, he/she saw the same image. With a shock, Ravana realised the image showed his fleet of warships hiding from possible sensors within the radiation belt of the gas giant nearby the moon Puthiya Harrappa was on. How could they possibly have known this? How were they showing this?

He attempted to open his mouth to order his troops to open fire but found he could not move. His troops couldn't either. The sound around grew louder and louder, it pulsated all through him. The hall was now almost dark with the image floating above them. Suddenly, he noticed little pinpoints of light all over the hall. With a shock, he realised that although the Harrappans had their eyes closed, the slits in the middle of the foreheads had opened, and light was pouring out.

He became aware that something was happening to the ships massed near the giant gas planet. They seemed to be oscillating and to phase in and out of existence. As he and his soldiers watched in horror, the ships seemed to shatter silently into fine dust, and were dispersed by the storms that raged above the gas giant. Not only that, the weapons the soldiers in the hall were holding disintegrated into fine dust. The planned invasion was no more.

Aftermath

Bharata stepped down from the ship and looked around with eager puppy-dog eyes at Puthiya Harrappa. It was his first time away from home, his very first adventure. His family was large and he had many younger and older siblings. It was barely possible to make a decent living on his barren rock of a home planet, and pups left as soon as they could. He had specifically chosen to come to Puthiya Harrappa because it had seemed mysterious and unknown. He had not wanted to go to one of the more well-known large planets, all of which were full of Animals and cities; he wanted to somewhere fresh and unknown, and Puthiya Harrappa seemed to be as unknown as it was possible to get. He had hired himself out as a ship tech- his planet, though barren and poor, was famous for her pilots, and had quickly obtained his current position.

He had an open friendly face with bright eager eyes. His first pay was burning a hole in his pocket; his stomach rumbled (nothing new there, he was always hungry. His mother said he was a growing puppy; his father called him a black hole because he seemed to have an infinite capacity to consume food. His siblings called him a garbage incinerator).

Led by his nose, he headed towards a stall selling freshly baked breads. He chose what he wanted (he felt like he could have eaten everything in the shop, but his pay would only go so far) and headed towards the counter manned by a young female Rabbit. She smiled as she packed his food and handed it to him. A young male Rabbit came out from the flap at the back of the stall carrying a Rabbit kitten. Bharata noticed that he and the kitten had the same slit on the forehead he had noticed on others but the young female Rabbit did not.

'Sita wants her mother,' he smiled and handed the child to the young female Rabbit, who gave a little laugh, reached out, and took the child. As she lifted the kitten, the child knocked the cloth covering which the female Rabbit was wearing over her head to keep her fur out of the food. As he turned to leave, he noticed a small scar under her left eye.

Munching happily, he walked about, feeling free and happy. His ship would be here for a few days and he intended to enjoy himself. All too soon all the food was gone. He wandered around and then decided to go for a good long walk to stretch his legs. Many of the those he saw had the slits on their foreheads but there were also many who did not.

As he passed a ship where crates were being unloaded, one of the workers seemed to stumble. Bharata rushed forward and managed to steady the large heavy crate the Wolf was holding before he dropped it.

'Thank you,' said the Wolf, smiling gratefully. He was a tall brute, with a low forehead, a square jaw and small eyes. However, his smile reached his eyes and transformed his face.

'No problem,' Bharata smiled back and continued with his exploration. He had a good feeling in his bones, he felt young and strong and carefree. This place had been a good choice to come to.