Prelude To Double-Cross

Prelude To Double-Cross

Music=
1. Down To The Market- The Kooks

UFOtext=
The very next day Astira rose before daybreak & took to the streets of
the Trading District. Riding a skateboard she navigated through a maze
of streets & alleys, arriving at Temasek's Pier District just as a
bright orange sun rose up over the bay. People of all types &
description moved about her & along the streets. She stopped & pulled
a small drink off her backpack & slaked her thirst, scoping out her
surroundings as she put on a new pair of shades- special optical
shades purchased from Foundation traders who had visited Dauphine.
Here at Temasek, such traders from the Foundation would be rare at
best. But here at Temasek the local Black Market flourished, & this
Astira had to find a way to crack. And then she noticed a delivery man
carry a package into a nearby shop & this gave her a new idea.

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Black Letter

Black Letter

Music=
1. 18- Moby

UFOtext=
Astira wrote in a silky trail of black ink,
Dear Father,
How are you? How are things in Dauphine? I hope you don't work too
hard and find time to hike in the mountains. Things here in Kalgon are
so beautiful- a vacation paradise!

And Astira had to stop, for a lie did not come easily to her. Someday
she would tell her Father who she really .....

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Prelude Of The Honey Trader

Prelude Of The Honey Trader

1. Why Don't You Get A Job- The Offspring

Astira & Spotz set up camp in a small second story room overlooking
the Trading District. She took her fork & scraped a portion of her
rice & meats onto a small dish for Spotz, as she fed Spotz only that
which she would eat herself. As they enjoyed their first dinner on
Temasek, Astira gazed out the window over the Trading District. Lights
began to appear throughout the darkening city as a round orange sun
gradually turned into a sliver of deep red on the distant horizon.
Gleaming spacecraft floated up and down throughout the airspace as a
canopy of stars gradually grew bright in the night. Of course, none of
the star patterns were familiar to her. Everything about this world
felt strange & dangerous. But Temasek defined a critical thread in
psychohistory. If Temasek fell into barbarism, the string of worlds
along the Silk Path trading route would collapse like a row of
dominoes and a galactic backbone of civilization would be lost. This
could delay the emergence of a new & better galactic empire by
thousands of years. Thousands of years she thought, & she smiled at
the thought of Temasek as a single silken thread of microhistory one
millenium in length.
But what about tomorrow, and the day after that? For that she would
have to think of something, figure something out on the spot, so to
speaks. At least she did not have to worry about money, after all she
carried 4 leaves of gold- each one ounce leaf could be discreetly
traded for one year of goods & services anywhere in the galaxy,
regardless of hyperinflated local currencies left behind in the wake
of the fallen Galactic Empire.

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Temasek

Temasek

Music=
1. Gotta Get Away- The Offspring

UFOtext=
Astira had never been so far from home. Temasek, the last civilized
trading world at the end of the starry Silk Path, traded heavily in
the black market of the surrounding barbaric worlds. Somehow she had
to infiltrate the black market & create a new identity, a new cover
from which she could monitor & affect the flow of psychohistory. And
most important, she needed to stay alive because she was only 18 years
old & wanted to live many excited years. This explained why she
carried 5 passports, 2 knives & 1 laser pistol. And one dog.

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