PRELUDE: LUMINOTH
Only actions done for the interest of the universe as a whole are truly beneficial in the long run. Even the survival of us as a race is utterly irrelevant. One cannot owe allegiance to a one faction, one nation, or any one body and at the same time, work for the good of the universe as a whole. It is upon this philosophy that our society is based. It is because of this that there has never been a war between sentient races for two and a half thousand years.
Exert from the Introductory Book of the Bible of Stewardism
One would not have expected to find the grandest palace in all history within the caves of hell-planet Zebes, but none could deny that the Temple of Unity surpassed any competitor in its vastness and beauty. Its floors, walls, and ceiling were a chrome shade of crystal, and magnificent statues, paintings and other works lined the halls, every one crafted by the greatest artists of the modern age. It was created to symbolize, as its name would suggest, unity, between different faiths and governments. All of the races were now ruled by the single Government of Counsel and primarily practiced Stewardism as a religion—that is, the belief in a higher being, and that all races with sufficient intelligence and complexity must put those without sufficient intelligence and complexity first in their concerns, so as to preserve a balance in the universe that, when broken, would ignite the wrath of God or the gods and the ultimate extinction of the race causing the imbalance.
Some Stewards had argued at the beginning that they should declare themselves monotheistic, which stirred conflict for a time, but eventually the famously simplistic saying, "Leave it" won out. That was a question to leave to theologians.
The real conflict had come when it came time to decide whether to install priests of Stewardism. Ultimately, the decision was made that a member of the highest Council would be the pope of their faith. In the interest of peaceful undiscriminating unity, the line between church and state had faded, a philosophy no longer needed.
This pope, the High Counselor (it had once been "Councilor", but when the government underwent a name change to express they merely provided guidance to the Way of Unison, the title had changed as well), made his home inside the Temple. Since he was deemed holy, his physical body was stored in stasis, and he, his mind stored in the magnificent True Water, could access it as he pleased, or choose to incarnate himself inside a computer or in any form he chose. Precious few people had ever seen him in any form at all, although some would swear he had appeared as sand or fire or wind. He usually sent one of his attendants to represent him when the Council was held.
No one, no one, was allowed near his body—most didn't even know where it was. Merely asking where to find the True Water was forbidden. It could be found only on Zebes, in a sole location, and there was little more than a few gallons of it in existence. The source had been long sealed off. Only the High Counselor could access it.
U'Hau, delegate of the Luminoth when Council was held, had never seen such a site and took a few moments to absorb what he saw. The Luminoth were wanderers, as their original home had been contaminated long ago, in darker times, and so they lived on asteroids and visited the worlds of other beings. In ancient times, when space travel was a bold new development, when their boundaries lied at the edge of their solar system, they used the sun for navigation, and became known as "those of the light". Ultimately, they earned their name. ("Luminoth", of course, was merely a product of the Translator Module, and they used their own word for "light".)
The entrance to the meeting hall recognized his eyes and allowed him to pass, and he beheld the grand room with its golden table. Most of the members of the Council were Chozo (Chozo, too, was a product of translation, the real word being their own accented word for "Chosen"), with a few of various other races, among them the Healu, always respected as prophets of nonviolence, in the mix. Their counterparts, Ku'us, were also present. The Ku'u were often infamous for their violent actions at the formation of the councils and for that were often seen as aggressive and headlong, though among them were some of the greatest logicians known by history. It depended on the individual. The High Counselor had one of his direct servants in attendances, a Chozo like himself.
With a traditional opening, the meeting began. "The topic at hand," said the High Counselor's attendant, Juyama-Siya, "deals with the problem of the Luminoth homeworld. I do not wish to make assumptions, but I believe we are all in agreement that it would be nigh impossible to restore their former planet to habitability. Therefore, a new world must be chosen.
"The Luminoth, having a relatively small fleet, have requested the use of our ships for their purposes. As we are all aware, every ship we have is currently in use keeping the peace across the galaxy. This means that we would have to allow at least one planet, likely more, to go unwatched. We have had no disorder for over a thousand years, but this does not mean that it could not spark at a single moment and spread through a virtually defenseless galaxy. However, the Luminoth have recently been having difficulty accessing necessary resources, as the air and food they consume is unique to their species and those of their former homeworld and can be found in large quantity only on the planet Onoli, which was devastated recently by the crash of a hyperspace ship. The planet may be utterly destroyed—we must assume the worst."
"Is there no synthesis?" asked a Counselor.
"Research has been done in the field," said U'Hau, being more knowledgeable in the field than anyone else in attendance, "but so far none has been found. It should be noted that the actual air we breathe is not where we are having trouble—we can take in nitrogen, carbon dioxide and helium, though the first is preferable to the others. The concern lies with a certain form of micro-bacterium, tiny, sometimes comparable in size to an atom, with which our species adapted and ultimately became dependent upon. This micro-bacterium is believed to have in fact evolved from a larger organism that shrunk over time for reasons unknown. We feed on plants that are also dependent on the micro-bacterium to survive. Until the unforeseen destruction of Onoli, we did not consider such dependence a dangerous condition. This micro-bacterium can survive in a vacuum, allowing it to spread to different planets—there is a chance that another world will have the conditions we need."
One of the Chozo began to speak. "We can build the ships they need. There is no need for such drastic measures as leaving a planet unsupervised. What they need we can build in less than a Zebesian year."
"I believe we can find middle ground," said a Ku'u, Aujar. "We can provide them with a single ship, from a planet virtually uninhabited- maybe a few colonists, but hardly enough to stir a fight. This ship should be enough for them to explore worlds high in likelihood to house the bacterium they need. Less probable locations we can explore using ships built later on." Murmurs of agreement rose. Eventually, though, several people began asking generally the same question: "Which planet?"
Candidates were presented. Many began to suggest what we know as SR388. "Why not?" asked one. "We only have two or three colonies there, and even then they're isolated from each other. The planet has resources enough to support them anyway."
"You're forgetting," said another, "that the world harbors the Metroid organism. We have all agreed that all precautions must be taken to prevent another spread."
"There is no other option," said Siya. "Besides, the Metroids cannot simply pack up and travel elsewhere—if anything, pulling out of the world will prevent them from getting offworld. Shall we have a vote?"
"Let the Luminoth decide," said one, "it's his race that calls for all this concern." There were both nods and accusations, but ultimately they came to agree.
"Don't abandon the home of the Metroids," U'Hau said, "it would be a greater risk than any of us care to take after the last spread. In theory, they could 'simply pack up and travel elsewhere', considering the avian fire-breathers of their sister planet that travel through space without need of protection. Athenia. There's your uninhabited world. Abandon Athenia."
"There are colonies on Athenia," said a Ku'u.
"But no indigenous life, and all the colonies are uniformly Healu. Never in history since they first ventured the stars of the Healu warred of their own accord—we need not fear any uprisings."
"We are all forgetting something," said the Healu Juamasin. "We do not know for a fact that Onoli was entirely destroyed. The chances are slim, yes, but planets of its density have survived even hyperspace collisions. We need first to confirm that it has in fact been lost to history, then seek out more worlds."
"This is too urgent," said Siya. "Only if we were willing to employ two ships, one to investigate Onoli, would it be a reasonable course of action."
"Then we can employ two ships," said a Chozo siding with Juamasin. "A small ship, one that could be manned by a single pilot—perhaps even someone young, so that more experienced officers could handle the more important venture. Such seemingly unneeded ships can be spared easily."
U'Hau said, "I agree with Juamasin."
Siya said, "The Luminoth has first say and last say in this matter. We have chosen a course of action. Lest anyone have anything more to say, this meeting is closed."
