"First Speaker!" she remarked, "I assure you, my interest in The Emperor is only commercial!"
      Everyone laughed again.  "I'm sure it is!"  The First Speaker answered. "Speaking of The Emperor, I am beginning to be concerned.  I believe he is overdue. We may have to send out scout ships if he does not arrive soon.  Do go and make yourselves comfortable!  Later I will want to know all the gossip from Mozambique society."
     "As usual," one of the older women remarked, "there's plenty of it!  But the old homeland seems to get more beautiful every day.  Every project seems to make it better, greener, more vibrant.  From the air you'd hardly know the cities are there!  We make 80% of our income on tourists visiting The Mother World, we're one of their favorite destinations!"
     "I think The Mother World depends on tourism!" The First Speaker remarked.  "But why not?  I, myself, had to make a pilgrimage to Dakota while I was there to touch The Holiest Of All."
     Everybody in the room put their hands together in prayer. 
     "Now, you have to excuse me!"  The First Speaker insisted.  "The first beams will be arriving in three hours, and I really AM getting concerned about The Pulp Ambassador!"
     The First Speaker departed and went up to the operations room.  "Any word on The Pulp?" he asked the ships Commander.
     "Yes, sir," the Commander answered, "got a signal from them moments ago, sir.  The Ambassador's ship suffered an engine failure. They had to sit six hours and readjust their settings.  But they're under way, and should be here in an hour."
     "That's going to be cutting it close!"  The Speaker remarked.  "But there's nothing we can do!  We can't stop the beams.  If anything else happens keep me advised!"
      The Speaker paced nervously in the observation room, watching the huge dark globe off in the distance that could just be made out with the naked eye.  <>
     "You better work,"  he muttered, "or we're all going to be awfully embarrassed!"
     Finally his aide entered.  "Sir, The Emperor is here!"
     "Thank goodness!" The Speaker snapped. 
     A few minutes later The Emperor entered, followed by his entourage.  "A thousand apologies," he cried "First Speaker!  All this incredible technology and a bearing fails in one of my drive systems, and knocks out my entire ship!  We would have never made it at standard speed, so we had to stop and make repairs."
     "I understand!"  The First Speaker assured.  "It just would not have been the same if you had not been here.  After all, this is your grandfather's project.  He and Professor Mud worked on it so diligently, and then pushed for its implementation."
     "How Mud would laugh!"  The Emperor put in, "If he heard you call him Professor!  He hated to admit how much he loved to teach.  He sure taught me enough!  I wish their lives had been a little bit longer so they could've seen this day. But my brothers are waiting on The Northern Star for the beam that will take them to another galaxy....eight of them, anyway; Four Humans and four Pulp.  My father certainly fulfilled the prophecy!"
     The Speaker laughed. "That he did!" he assured, "That he did!"

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