From Stardust A Lotus Blooms

Music=
1. Girl & The Sea
-The Presets    
2. When You’re Bored
-Joywave


🦓
UFOtext=
I. The Emperor’s Island 
The Silk Path forked near the edge of the galaxy. Star travelers far & wide traded rare & valuable goods through the nebula outpost at this critical vertex. Known history faded into a mist of lost millennia....
Joshua walked in home territory- but it felt different these days. The rise of the Mule tore at the equations of psychohistory. They still worked- except near the tears of the Mule. That’s where the equations broke down. Now that rip in psychohistory reached all the way to the Silk Path- & the rebellious stellar outpost hiding secrets from the ancient Lotus of Civilization. 

II. The Canyon 
Astira took refuge in the shade from the blazing sun. A natural rock ledge covered the passage from the subterranean world. She watched Ozymandias in fascination. He stood in the bright sun & one by one removed his garments. Then he lay down on the baked rock in a spread eagle position. For the remainder of the long day he slept, soaking up the energy carried by the solar radiation. As the sun set he stirred back to life. He put his garments back on & tested his legs. Satisfied, he walked back toward the entrance.
“You feel better now?” asked Astira.
“My energy level is 99.98%. I’m loaded & ready to go.”
Astira started to crack up a little bit.
“OK- so how we contact others without alerting every goon on this God forsaken planet?”
She stared intently at the robot, waiting for an answer.
“There is no electronic solution. We must find them physically- if they are still alive.”
Ozymandias looked at Astira with sympathy.
She sighed. One by one the stars formed their patterns in the sky. She remembered from long ago M telling her that in their darkest hour the stars shown the brightest.