The radioactive cinder was ten stops behind us now and still we forged onward through space to a goal yet unknown to me. Five, no, six stops ago we were just setting up for a jump when a huge starliner came out of jump space behind us. The massive bleed-off of hyper-reality kept their instruments blind to us and I had jumped us away from there. Lady Silver assures me that we haven't really lost that pursuer yet. We are approaching a planet now which looks to be a ball of water. There is some land but not much and it's all scattered. Lady Silver and the Iskar are consulting and she has her little silver rod in hand again as we cruise over the surface while she gives us general directions. When we finally find it there is no place to land. Sally deftly brings us down on gravitics and we jump off onto the rocks that make up what we have found. Sally moves away to circle us at a distance to keep the ship's fields from annoying us. The pile of rocks I can now see are the crumbling ruins of some kind of monument or perhaps a temple. Following Lady Silver the Iskar and I find ourselves gathering around the central pile of rocks inside of the ruinous structure. I can't tell if it was an altar, god-image, brazier or what-ever else it might be. Lady Silver approached it and raised her hands like she was warming herself at a fire. Even in the light that filled the place I could see silver sparkles appear over the basin in the top of the rocks. Then, some of the sparkles became an clear, crystalline blue. Before I could see much else they were gone. I activated my comm. "Sally, were you recording that?" "Yes, Captain. The computer is working on it now but even I could tell that it was a star-chart. I think the computer can reference it." "Good! Out." I rubbed my chin with my hand and glanced at Lady Silver. "I think...." She paused as if not wishing to continue on and then sighed. "I think we are very close to the location of the first key." She shook her head. "It's hard to even speak of it. For so very long has it been hidden that it seems almost breed into us to keep silent about it." "A key," I said. "A key to what?" "A legend, Captain. The Elders have told us it is only myth. The burned off planets that we have found prove that it is something more than myth as does that blue glimmer that you saw just now." My eyebrows rose. "You're telling me that your Elders are the ones who burned off those planets? That they've tried to keep the rest of you in ignorance? And we are being chased by them now?" "No. We are not being chased by any Elder. Just a mouthpiece for them as he's not yet strong enough to find a way into the Council." "But I've got the rest of it right? That means that they'll have no compunction about frying us and anywhere that we are!" "Yes. That is very likely. However they will want to find out what we know before they do that. Believe me when I say that us being killed would be very nice in comparison to them capturing and putting us to the question if we fail to find the keys." "So why has no one found this key before? I mean someone has to know where it is." She looked long at me. "It's not that simple, Captain." She smiled sadly. "The universe was many billions of years younger when the keys were hidden. Things move around in time as you well know." I opened my mouth to say something then shut it. I said instead. "Sally! Pick us up now!" I stalked towards the stairs where the ship would back in to let us aboard. "Let's get out of here." My mind was spinning with thoughts I could not organize. And it was impossible for me to call her a liar though that's how I felt. To be Continued.....