The S.S. Esperanto and it's fighter escort were now about halfway between UE and Miranu space, and Thunder was passing the time by watching a news program on the holovid. The current story was about Zidagar refugees finding new lives in Miranu space. Thunder was only mildly interested in this topic, but as he was about to switch the receiver to a different holo-station, a newly updated version galactic map appeared, and zoomed in on the upper crescent. All but two Zidagar systems had been captured, and the remaining two had gone to the Miranu. What shocked Thunder was that Twyus was in Azdgari hands.
"If Twyus, the source of Aligned Crystals, is in Azdgari hands, then why was that Zidagar so eager for me to keep these crystals away from the Azdgari? I mean, the Azdgari could simply mine all the crystals they wanted!" Thunder thought to himself.
Quickly, Thunder went over to his control panel and linked to the hyper-net, accessing the Encyclopedia Galactica, a joint UE-Miranu publication that was one of the best sources of information from across the universe. It contained the knowledge of mankind, plus contributions from the Miranu, and observations of Miranu and UE scoutships. Thunder immediately pulled up the entry for "Aligned Crystal".
On his viewscreen, an image of a cluster of crystals appeared, with some text below. The crystals were a pale shade of blue, definately paler than than his crystal, at least, but were similarly shaped. Plus they were smaller than Thunder's crystal by quite a bit. Reading the text below, Thunder found out why. The text read as follows:
"Aligned Crystals-- A unique mineral found only in the Zidagar system of Twyus. These crystals are used by the Zidagar to produce their phased beamers, their trademark weapon. The technology used to convert these crystals into a weapon is unknown. Every year the Zidagar mine hundreds of tons of these crystals for use on their ships. The crystals range in color from almost clear to pale blue, with the bluer crystals being purer and highly sought after by the Zidagar, plausably because purer crystals make stronger phased beamers. The chemical composition of these crystals is unknown, being classified information..."
The entry went on from there, but Thunder stopped reading. He pulled out his crystal again, holding it up against the ones on the viewscreen. Obviously his was a far deeper shade of blue than those on the screen, and was more than twice as large. Now he knew why the Zidagar man had been so insistent that he take those two crystals. Obviously they were far purer than any Aligned Crystals coming out of the mines, and far larger too. These crystals could be, Thunder imagined, the source for a weapon far more powerful than a phased beamer. That's what the Zidagar man meant by "The fate of the universe may well depend on it." With a weapon like that at their disposal, the Azdgari would become nearly unstoppable. Thunder knew it was more important than ever to see the Zacha got his remaining crystal quickly.
Getting on his comm relay, Thunder sent a message to Outpost Zachit.
MESSAGE TO OUTPOST ZACHIT<<<
Encryption sequence confirmed. Level 7 encryption confirmed.
This is Thunder, captain of the S.S. Esperanto (former captain of the S.S. Prism). I am en route to your space, along with a small UE fighter escort. I have on board a crystal that I believe could be the basis for a beam weapon that exceeds even the power of the phased beamer, and I want to give that crystal to the Zacha to research and use. Please send some Zacha officers to meet me on Mira. The sooner you get this crystal, the better it will be for all of us.
END MESSAGE<<<
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Do not taunt the Happy Fun Ball. If Happy Fun Ball starts to smoke, run away and take cover.
