#two more posts

“It’s absolutely true,” Surya said evenly. “Don’t tell me you haven’t done similar in the name of your queen, or her father before her. I’m aware that none of you have seen the depth and breadth of what this galaxy has to offer, but there are beings that worship those Warp creatures, giving them power, giving them strength due to the low, collective psychic power of humankind. That’s nothing to say of the alien creatures who consider them to be gods.”

Is he insane? Marissa wondered. A megalomaniacal genius? Someone powerful and dangerous? Should we stop him now? Can we stop him?

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” Surya said dryly. “There is one other factor that you should be aware of: these storms will last for millennia. No world will remain untouched by them. You can be as angry with me as you like, but the truth of the matter is that this will happen long after you’re dead.”

“How long do you predict this storm will last?” Susanne asked, her voice calm, seemingly unconcerned by all she had heard.

“Anywhere from three to five thousand years,” Malcador said. “None of us have ever experienced this level of Warp storm anomaly before. I wouldn’t wait up for it.”

Marissa blanched, and Harra’s expression twisted with confusion and anger. Hector coughed harshly, sputtering with disbelief. Even Bilaraat looked wide-eyed, and only Susanne looked unmoved. The span of time stretching before them seemed ludicrously long. Civilizations had risen and fallen in such a period of time, though humanity had managed to stabilize, enduring for millennia, and might for many more.

Battered and broken, crumpled marred by death.

“You should go,” Surya said. “Rest, consider. There’s going to be a great deal of work to do. There’s no time to sit around, contemplating the future when the present still has so much to do.”

So dismissed, Harra turned her back first, leaving the room swiftly, as helpless as she was furious. Hector followed, then Bilaraat, then Susanne, with a look towards Malcador, and finally, Marissa departed, leaving Surya alone, illuminated by the light of the galaxy.

No. Not quite alone.

Malcador approached him quietly. “Well, we’ve done it. There’s nothing to be done now except for riding out the storm.”

Surya nodded, and touched a button on the console. From the galaxy, twenty star-groupings, some twisted and distant from one another, others very close, or a single star. Polaris and Canis, Corvus and Cassiopeia. Auriga and Orion, Aquila and Ophiuchus. Aquarius and Capricorn, Scorpio and Libra. Leo and Cancer, Aries and Taurus, Gemini and Pisces. Virgo… and Sagittarius.