History of the Galaxy II

[capnq]

The tune of a classic jingle blared from the quadrophonic speakers on the corners of Davdi's expansive desk. He tapped the intercom button and said, "Yes, Loscu?"

A hologram of Davdi's personal secretary's head appeared in front of him. "Doctor Timho is here; he insists he needs to speak to you immediately. Shall I have him make an appointment?"

Davdi glanced at the time display. "No, my schedule's open for a bit, send him in." He must have important news, Davdi thought to himself; Soctu Timho rarely left his laboratory complex if he could avoid it. Davdi bounced around to the front of the desk as Timho bounded into his office. Skidding to a stop in front of the CEO, the doctor politely butted foreheads with him.

"So, Soctu," Davdi asked, rocking back on his hindlegs from the blow, "what has you so fired up, that you had to come in person rather than vidcall?"

"Remarkable news from the new colony on Jalwu! You'll never guess what they've discovered."

"Why should I guess, when you rushed over here to tell me?" Davdi grinned.

"One of the maintenance workers was inspecting the city's understructure, and happened to look down. He spotted a gleam of sunlight reflecting off something. When he took a hover down to investigate, it turned out to be another skycity."

Davdi's eyes bulged. "You've got to be kidding me! We've only built four colonizers so far, and they're all accounted for. Where could this one have come from?"

"Preliminary estimates are that this city was abandoned at least eight thousand years ago. In the time of the Masters."

Davdi took a deep breath, and tried to absorb this revelation. The Masters were figures of legend, the mysterious precursors who had built the first skycities, created the Eifralo to be their servants, and later vanished without a trace. Until now.

Davdi let out the breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "How is that possible? Jalwu has an oxygen atmosphere! We know the Masters must have been hydrogen breathers like us."

"That's true," Timho agreed, "and this skycity is domed, in a similar manner to our modern design. Of course, after millenia of neglect, the dome has lost integrity, and nearly a third of the buoyancy cells have ruptured, as well; the city is listing about thirty degrees, and floating over half a kilometer below standard altitude. It was an incredible stroke of luck to spot it down there; the wind currents would have dragged it out of visual range in less than a month."

"Well, that inspector has certainly earned a discovery bonus. I'll send my personal congratulations, as well."

"He's going to be a wealthy man. I'm told he's already getting bids for the salvage rights. Artifacts of the Masters are bound to be a lucrative collector's market."

"This calls for a toast!" Davdi crossed the room to wet bar in his office, one of the perks of being CEO. He opened the walk-in refrigerator and stepped inside, retrieving a pair of frosted mugs from the freezer compartment. He set them on the bar, then brought out two cans of BLARG. He poured out the frothy amber fluid and handed a mug to Timho. "To the Masters!" Davdi said, raising the mug over his head.

"And to Profit," Timho replied, completing the traditional toast.

[ October 11, 2002, 02:20: Message edited by: capnq ]