Roof Of Stars

From Empire To Foundation

Music=

1. Stand Inside Your Love- Smashing Pumpkins

2. Angels - The xx

"Only after winter comes do we know that the pine and the cypress are the last to fade."- Confucius

UFOtext=

Two armed shadowy figures jumped the strolling man. Aristarchus flinched and watched the three figures argue- pushing and shoving. Then a lone man emerged from the parked vehicle. He walked up to the strolling man and the two began to talk, turning away from the others. After five minutes of talking, the strolling man pointed to the abandoned house. The two men then embraced. Within minutes all of the armed figures withdrew and then drove away. Only the dark figure of the strolling man remained. He turned toward the abandoned house and gazed- his eyes afire as if dreaming of angels. For an hour the candles of night burned low and late. And like the night, the dark figure disappeared with the faint blue of morning.

................

Astira pulled out her i5 and scanned the electronic lock on the door of the apartment. By hacking the network of the apartment complex, her i5 could assume the passbook identity of the renter and open the lock. In a flash the door opened as if by magic. Once inside she streamed a copy of the video surveillance of the prior ten minutes into the security system. Drawing her laser pistol, she then searched the rooms of the apartment. Nobody at home and she found what she was looking for- a small holographic computer device. She flipped it on with her i5 passbook. She quickly found the interstellar hyperlink- the room filled with a sapphire glow. She pinged the sapphire bloom- her i5 indicated a communication link of about 10,000 light years- the approximate distance to the center of the galaxy- and the Second Foundation. She felt a moment of panic- she was not only cut off from her normal channels of communication to the Second Foundation, there was a real possibility the Second Foundation no longer existed! She might be the last star in the long night!
But then she thought of the Dragonfly and their impossible trek to the Roof of Heaven.

UFOtwit