Starquake.pdf

Qui-Qui would arrive at each clan cluster flying high above in the sky in her flyer, circling until each
individual in the tribe had seen her. She would then skim low to the surface and hover the flyer above the
ground next to a large rectangular
stone altar that the clan had erected and piled high with food offerings. While her acolytes were
transferring the food offerings to the flyer on one side, the God of Youth and Knowledge glided out on a
nearly invisible crystallium platform on the other side. She seemingly floated in space, while above her
flickered brightly colored curlicues of light from compact ion generators she had pouched in her topside.
Qui-Qui would ask to see the hatchlings and younglings. Then seemingly out of nowhere, she would
materialize gifts for the young ones. There were educational toys, special treats (full of important trace
elements) to eat, and beginner scrolls to read. Just before the younglings became adults, they were
treated to a ride on the flyer back to the Maze Temple at Bright's Heaven, where they were tested. Only
a few were chosen to stay. The rest returned to their clans, awed by what they had seen. Once every
three dozen greats, Qui-Qui retired to a special room at the sacred center of the maze for a half-great
and came back restored to youth.
08:26:37GMT TUESDAY 21 JUNE2050
The last three scout ships came in from deep space together, and Far-Ranger reported to the Space
Council. "We found them almost at the core. Plenty of neutron stars, even some with life. But none had
progressed past the savage stage. Life is too easy on the typical neutron star. With no competition, there
is no need for intelligence. I guess we can thank the humans for arousing curiosity in us so long ago."
"How are things on Egg?" Steel-Slicer asked Hohmann-Transfer.
'Terrible," she said. "It has been over a whole human hour since the starquake and things are only getting
worse. I'm tired of it all. I'm tired of making decisions. I'm tired of fighting to keep us going. I'm tired of
life."
"Perhaps you should rejuvenate early," Admiral Steel-Slicer suggested.
"No, I'm tired of rejuvenations, too. You can have my rejuvenation. I resign. You take over. I'm going to
tend eggs." She pulled the twelve-pointed stars off her hide, gave them to Steel-Slicer and headed off to
the main conference bowl, now the hatching pen and creche-school.
09:31:11 GMT TUESDAY 21 JUNE 2050
After generations of use, the old flyer stopped flying despite the best efforts of the engineers in space and
on the ground to keep it running. The clans now had to bring their food offerings to the Maze Temple.
There were more clans now, however, and many stayed near the Maze Temple where they traded food
for labor-saving machines. The clans farthest away became forgetful, drifted away from the influence of
the God of Youth and Knowledge, and reverted back to savagery.