Oxygénia

16 – The mysterious booklet
"In the mysterious booklet which led to my doom and that I
never want to forget", ON continued, "the history of Oxygénia was
stated, as well as the transcript of the secret constitutional meeting
of the Oxygénia Trust. When I found the booklet, I hesitated for a
moment. I opened it and closed it again. I didn't want to read it. It
was known to me that from time to time, captious questions and
information was smuggled into our work, tasks that didn't belong to
our specialization. And woe to those who bespoke themselves by
understanding and answering it. But this booklet couldn't have
been smuggled in by Central Control. This could only have been
sent by the Invisibles, the unknown friends and allies, the
mysterious producers of the drug Deep Sleep, the defenders of the
citizens of the canyon. No, I shouldn't have started to read the
booklet instantly. I should have taken it home with me – maybe I
already mentioned that at home or in the club, only in rarest
occasions security checks occured – to read it at home. After it, I
could have taken hibernation tabs and sleep over it, because this
booklet raised outrage. I was taken by unrest and wanted to
struggle with the impossible.
Was it a coincidence that I was summoned to a check just at this
moment? It's possible it was a coincidence. But I just remember my
horror and the fact that I drank way too much of the Deep Sleep.
Well, I don't remember the booklet's content word by word since I
only read it one single time, and terrible things have happened to
me since. What I can remember is about the following:
On Oxygénia, there were continents and seas. Seventeen
continents raised from the Big Ocean, and there were also inland
seas, lakes, rivers and secluded bays... Our geography was quite
similiar to those of numerous other planets in the Milky Way
system. We also possessed spaceships and had relations to
surrounding planets. Many peoples inhabited our planet, and
sometimes they lived together in peace, sometimes in fight. There
was plenty of food, prosperity reigned, culture and science were in
bloom.
There were several centuries in our history that were an epoch of
undisturbed bliss. One by one, inventions and explorations were
made, and the immoderate arrogance of its inhabitants increased
more and more. The means of transport were so fast that one could
fly around whole Oxygénia faster than it spun around its own axle.
Plans for interplanetary traffic were crafted, as well as for
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