Forever Free

Music=
1. Shelter
  -Mikal Cronin












🔮




UFOtext=
I. The Passage
“Ozymandias. Did you see the destruction of the Lotus?”
Astira wrapped her salted roast fish in dried subterranean seaweed. Ozymandias gazed at the stars along the bright edge of the galaxy. Along the fringe a pink ribbon of light outlined the canyon below. Sunrise was only minutes away. After a moment he turned his telescopic eyes back toward Astira.
“No. The destruction of the Lotus occurred before my earliest memory.”
“Which was?”
“On Trantor. I was turned on shortly after the destruction of the Lotus.”
Astira winced. That was millennia before the Foundation.
“My birth mission was to assist Princess Leizu in her escape. She would remain forever free. Since then I’ve stood guard to this very day over the ruins of the Lotus.”
Astira’s mind turned in a slow whirl...

II. The Emperor’s Island 
“Stop!”
Joshua froze. The officer of the Union of Worlds stood at the street corner, waving his pistol. Joshua frantically considered his micro-tree of reactions. Primal instinct= he bolted down the alley. An ultraviolet laser etched a deadly tattoo of trailing black ash on a dirty stucco wall. He sprinted to the short dead end. He whirled around & turned over a trash bin- breathless- a trapped animal. Only a few more seconds...

     

Bluetooth

Music=
1. Coffee
-Tori Kelly 
2. Out Of The Blue
-George Harrison








📲
UFOtext=
I. The Passage
The price of time dropped. The technology of the First Foundation seemed like magic to the rest of the galaxy. The rest of the galaxy included Ozymandias. Ozymandias- probably ancient & forgotten technology- survived as part of the Third Foundation. All these REM thoughts networked in vivid dreams languid & surreal beneath the burning stars. Astira woke. She felt restless. 

    

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. 

       

Yellow Sash

Music=
1. Brainwashed
  -George Harrison
2. Within You Without You
  -Beatles







⚠️


UFOtext=
I. Valloire
The traveler checked into the inn. The clerk gave the man a key. He walked to his room; accommodations were bare but sufficient. No picture of the First Citizen hung on the wall. Good. He opened the yellow curtains by the window. He could see the chalets on the mountain side beneath the blue sky. They looked like flowers decorating the mountain rock.

The Next Wave

Music=
1. Any Road
2. Out Of The Blue
3. Marwa Blues
  -George Harrison 









🎭



UFOtext=
I. The Passage (from the Lost City)
Astira watched the miracle. The sun rose filling the vast canyon with a ruddy alien light. Her eyes adjusted from long months underground with only bare infrared sketches of reality sculpting a black void. She could hear ancient surf crash around her on celestial shores of black diamond.
“This is the passage.” said Ozymandias. 
He looked at Astira & smiled with robotic satisfaction.
“I see it- way of the 3rd Foundation.”

II. Pont du Gard
“Identity?” asked the guard.
“I have some crypto.”
“One can’t be too sure these days.”
The guard looked with disapproval at the destitute traveler.
“Move along. May the First Citizen be with you.”

    
       
       

The Mission

   Music=
1. My Sweet Lord
-George Harrison










🌋



UFOtext=
I. Saint-Emilion
“My Lady, I bid adieu. Tomorrow I leave on an evangelical mission of the highest order. I shall travel incognito. Please understand, the cause of liberty beckons & Paris burns in yellow flames as we speak.”
The Count bowed & held the hand of Princess Lei. 

The Way It Will Be

Music=
1. A Man I’ll Never Be
   -Boston
2. More Of You
   -Victoria Monet 






🎆



UFOtext=
I. The Passage
 (from The Lost City)
“Truth hurts. But it liberates.” thought Astira.
She could see the end. Tears of fool’s paradise, beginning of something new & better. She look across vast canyon. She turn on i6- silver flash of electrons in hand- her only link to Taran, her only link to normal life beyond Foundation. Did Taran know this?
She squint at horizon- beyond last feudal rays of Empire littering sand. Then nadir of light surrender to bright cluster of stars. Somewhere close in mind she see Taran.