Chapter 8: Sharif“I wonder how long this will take.” Professor Sharif Vaikkal stared up at the night sky from his chaise lounge. Beside the private pool in the penthouse suite he'd leased for the next month, he calculated roughly that on his current investments, he'd only be able to live in the penthouse for another ten years, six months, and three days.
“Weren't they supposed to travel across the galaxy in seconds?” Thila asked him, sprawled across her own chaise lounge, one foot lazily swirling the water.
“Lemuria stretched the length of the Perseus arm,” he said. “And they were considering an attempt to colonize the galactic core when the Empire collapsed.” He pointed to a vague, spider-like shape in the northeast quadrant of the sky. “Do you see that blob?”
“Uh-huh.”
He was sure sh
