[capnq]

Despite having known him for over fifteen years, Cunsi Davdi still felt a bit awestruck in Sinta Farki's presence. The average Eifralo retired at sixty-one, but Farki was still serving as Chairman of the Board of the Eifralo Conglomerate at seventy-three, and almost as active as someone half his age. He'd taken Davdi as his protégé, and had used his influence with the board to make Davdi the youngest CEO in the Conglomerate's history. Facing the biggest challenge of his career, Davdi had come to his mentor for advice.

"Doctor Timho certainly writes a detailed report," Farki commented as he slipped the stack of pages back into the envelope.

"That's one of the things that makes him such a good Vice-President of Research and Development," Davdi agreed. "Once he latches onto an idea, he doesn't release it until he's looked at it from every possible angle."

"A heavy burden when the subject is so serious. None of the legends of the Masters even hint at their capacity for violence, or of such brutal enemies. It makes one wonder if they deliberately hid this from our ancestors, or if our ancestors found it too terrible to remember. Or perhaps they created us after the war ended, and didn't think we needed to know."

"I hope it's that Last possibility. Soctu has had to start taking sedatives to get any sleep at night; he's worried that either the Masters' enemies are still out there somewhere, or the enemies left their own servants behind, as well. That's why I need your advice. How do we prepare the Conglomerate to meet hostile aliens, and how do I spin the preparations when the necessary budget items come up before the rest of the Board?"

"First things first," Farki replied. "We need to know what the money has to be spent on before we can draw up a budget proposal. And I know exactly whom I'd go to for help in deciding that."