Candles In The Sky

by MarioGuti

Music=

1. Starlight- Muse

2. I Will Be Your Friend- CoCo Lee

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Confucius

UFOtext=

The Hummingbird perched upon a key branch of psychohistory spanning 75,000 light years over one millennium in space and time. Aristarchus smiled in deep satisfication, but he realized how precarious the situation remained over the next few hours. He pulled away from the crack and padded back to the moonlit window. He spied the three dark figures hiding in the shadows below.

Deal in hand, the Princess returned to the moonlit window. She touched her black diamond. Somewhere above she would find the Twinkling Star. But now the only stars above her burned low like candles in the night.

………….

Astira stood still, reading the emotional patterns around her. The patterns were strange and cult like- Kafkaesque- as if she found herself in an insane asylum….

 UFOtwit

Too Good To Be True?

Foundation & Bridge

Music=

1. One Friend House- Adam Panic

2. This Book Is A Movie- Spoon

"You cannot open a book without learning something."
- Confucius

UFOtext=

Aristarchus peered through the crack. He stretched his awareness to read the emotional patterns of the
Princess. He felt the sense of wings rising and falling until she launched into flight- she quickly turned from her perch and flew to Saveur.
"Ok- 1 trillion up front- we have a deal."
And she hovered in the air above the pythons of the night.
…………….
Astira knew she could trust nothing or no one- except herself. She stretched her awareness to read the emotional patterns of the people around her- at present her only bridge across the downfall of the Second Foundation.

UFOtwit

*

Black Diamond

Music=

1. Let's Go (Ikimasho)- Yuto Miyazawa

2. The Mystery Zone- Spoon

"The Essence of Knowledge is, having it, to use it."
- Confucius

UFOtext=

Princess Lei  touched her black diamond and the hologram vanished. The half moon of Lutetia was now half full.

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

Astira knew her cover blown- they mark Astira for death- but they not know she know. How to apply her knowledge?

*

UFOtwit

Twinkling Star

Lanterns

Music=

1. One Diamond, One Heart- Smashing Pumpkins

"The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death."-
O. Wilde

UFOtext=

The Milky Way spilled across the black velvet hologram as if poured from the half moon of Lutetia. A ghostly image of Princess Lei framed by a broken window materialized and undulated like a mirage of thermal waves in atmosphere.
"Only 1 trillion up front- is there any hope for a deal?"
"No- the Mongols face great risk from the Empire."
"Try again to get a deal with the Mongols. We cannot fail."
"Princess- nothing less than 50% up front will suffice."
"Wait," said a figure dressed in the black of night.
Two crew members of the Twinkling Star turned to the figure.
"I am willing to provide the full 5 trillion euros with only nano interest. But I insist on one austere condition. "
"What is that?"
"My involvement must not be revealed to the Princess. In fact- I was never here."

………………

Astira clicked off her i5 and stared at the green walls of the ladies room. Hacking the network produced a normal array of local white nodes, but the saphire bloom revealed a mysterious hyperspace link- most likely a gated interstellar connection. But who? And for what? What sort of organization could set up its own private hyperspace network? She felt a cold chill of fear but gathered herself and hurried out of the hideous green room. If only she had a bodyguard

1 .

 UFOtwit

A6*

Diamond Glow

Music=

1. Crystalised- The xx

2. A Message- Coldplay

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."-   Arthur C. Clarke

UFOtext=

Princess Lei watched the half moon of Lutetia seemingly drift through a light mist in the night air. Somewhere nearby, in geosynchronous orbit, her personal spacecraft "The Twinkling Star" kept a distant watch and monitored her position to the nearest millimeter. She touched her black diamond necklace, the Yin diamond  <> , and a biosensor verified her identity. She could now transmit a very low power signal to the The Twinkling Star on a very unusual set of frequencies. Those frequencies formed an encrypted braid of information- the secret whisper of the Hummingbird in the wild.
………….
Astira pinged her surroundings with her i5. A network of active white nodes appeared with a mysterious saphire bloom.

*

UFOtwit

Burning Empires

Prague

Music=

1. Let's Go (Ikimasho)- Yuto Miyazawa

2. Disarm- Smashing Pumpkins

"takenoko no sanbon me yori tsuki yo kana" - Issa

UFOtext=

Aristarchus watched the troika of figures split up and take positions of cover surrounding the house. For the next three or four minutes nothing happened. Aristarchus then turned away from the balcony window and returned to the crack in the floor.

"Look," said Sauveur.

"I'll pay 1 trillion up front, and 4 trillion when you deliver- assuming the euro drops like you say."

"Only 1 trillion?" exclaimed the Princess.

"Make it 2 trillion up front and we have a deal." 

"No can do," said Sauveur.

"Look- my connections to the Foundation are money good- but they have to see the product first."

Princess Lei then turned away from Sauveur and walked to a broken window where she gazed upward into the moonlight of Lutetia. 

………………

Astira knew Prague as a child on Name Day, and then later in her early youth. But now everything changed- her city transformed into a beautiful but dangerous underground for the Second Foundation. Like herself.

UFOtwit

Graffiti

Breaking Wave

Music=

1. Amazing- Seal

"I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each." -- T.S. Eliot

UFOtext=

The sun broke above the horizon and spread its morning fire. Xanthia bolted across the hard pack sand running in long clean strides to the distant pier. Deep blue waves crashed upon the perimeter of the beach and spread into thin shiny fans about his flashing feet. 

"Xanthia- my love, tell me what you see."

"I see a white tiger- a white tiger dressed in stripes of graffiti."

"Xanthia- my love, I am here- the tiger is but an illusion in your mind. You must look through the tiger of graffiti."

"Athena- my eyes are clear, my soul is clean."

Xanthia then burst across the fleeting shadows of the pier. 

 UFOtwit