On the main viewer the relativistic tunnel effect fades away. You see a brilliant white star in the centre of the field. A smaller pinpoint of light - also almost painfully bright - hangs in space nearby. "We have stopped just outside of the Lipsey Barrier for the Sirius star system," Steve Jobs announces. "Where do you want to go within the star system? Sirius consists of two stars - Sirius A, a main sequence star of spectral class A1 - and Sirius B, a white dwarf only slightly larger than the planet Earth that you call home. There are two planets orbiting Sirius A and one orbiting Sirius B, plus a large amount of debris in the system. I am detecting electromagnetic transmissions from the smaller of the planets circling Sirius A, indicative of a moderately advanced technological civilisation." "Can you tell what level of technology they have? Are they capable of interstellar travel? Please scan for space stations and ships." "They are capable of interstellar travel," Steve Jobs replies. "In fact a ship has just Jumped into our vicinity." Darian looks at the others. "Do you know of what race the beings in this system belong to?" "Can you determine what race is here?" "My records are historical. The planet - named Wolfus - was once a mining colony, back when minerals were still mined. It was populated by a small population of humans." "Interesting." "What is the ship doing? Prepare to jump if they attack." "The ship is maintaining position fifty meters away from us." "Can you hail them on all channels and see if we can establish communication with them. Also, is their shipped armed?" "Hailing frequencies open," Steve Jobs replies in his best Lt. Uhura voice. "Commencing active scanning." There is a pause. "Any response from our hails?" "I am waiting for you to say something, captain," replies Jobs, still in his Uhura voice. Tully nods. "Very well. My message is as follows: Greetings. This is the starship Steve Jobs on a five-year mission to explore new systems and boldly go ... pretty much everywhere. We come in peace and would like to visit your planet." There is a pause. "Receiving a reply," says Steve Jobs. "Verbal but non-human. Common roots, however. "The reply translates as - "Say what?" Tully says, "Did they happen to send a video feed so we can see what they are?" "There is no video." "Please relay to them this message: We come in peace. We would like to visit your planet." A moment later Steve Jobs says, "They are inquiring what species you are?" Tully says, "Tell them the following: We are human and half-elf. What species are you?" Darian clears his throat. "I'm a full elf, Tully." Black-eye clears his throat next. "What race are you?" The creature seems to grin at the elf. "AND WHAT ABOUT ME?" asks the robot. There is a pause. "'By all means you may honour our planet by visiting it, Oh Great Uplifters Of Our Species! We are the Canis Majorans of Sirius!'" Darian raises an eyebrow. "Dogs?" Steve Jobs passes on the question. A moment later he gets the answer. "'Errr, yes.'" Tully says, "That is what it sounds like." "Steve Jobs, please bring up a screen showing that race. Please also describe their disposition, tendencies toward violence, overall goals and anything else that might be relevant to visiting one of their planets." An image of a German shepherd comes up on the screen, followed by a collie...followed by a Labrador retriever... "I do not have any images of how the race looks currently, or information about its current behaviour. During the later centuries of the Federation of Galaxies the advanced races experimented with the forced evolution or 'uplifting' of lesser species to intelligence. However, this practice was ended by the time interuniversal travel was achieved in the thirteenth millennia. Perhaps a later civilisation has revived the practice." "There have been occasional visits to the Toliman star system by uplifted species. These are the Canis Minorans and Regulans, who visited last month. We had a prior encounter with the Regulans, when they tried to nuke us. It seems that they are at war with the Canis Majorans and mistook us for them." Tully says, "I think this might be a good place to visit. What do you guys think?" "I believe it can't hurt, but we need to focus on locating the nernal." "I agree. They may have a library or know where we should go next." With the Canis Majoran ship leading, the Steve Jobs falls into the Sirius system. Your guide does not seem to be in any hurry for you are traveling well below the speed of light. Eventually, though, you come into orbit about the planet Wolfus. It is an Earth-sized world, but with no oceans or seas. From space it looks very arid, with a thin atmosphere and large, patchy ice caps at each pole. After a half an hour your escort heads down for a landing, and you follow. The two ships land on a paved strip in the middle of a large, featureless plain. Very little vegetation grows here and what you do see does not look healthy by your standards. Several large buildings lie along the perimeter of the landing strip. The Steve Jobs comes to rest at the end of a long red carpet. To either side are rows of Canis Majorans: bipedal dogs of various subspecies, wearing what appear to be metallic space suits, but with opening for their heads, paws (three fingered, you note), feet and tails. You emerge from your ship, and as you do a large Canis Majoran of German shepherd descent steps forward, then drops to the ground and rolls at your feet. "I am the Grand Pack Leader, King Lobo III and I welcome you to Wolfus," he says in credible Common, once he has regained his feet. "Our prayers have been answered! Our Human uplifters have returned to save our world!" Tully says, "It is nice to meet you. I am Tully of Sandas. Can you explain why your world needs to be saved?" Zanax chimes in, "Perhaps the Sirians need to be saved from the Regulans?" Lobo growls. "The Regulans need to be saved from us!" he says with a snarl. He tries to calm himself. "But we can talk in more comfort at my palace." He turns and walks down the red carpet to the building. You follow. Once inside you are led down a broad flight of steps to a wide concourse. Crowds of Majorans are being held back behind barricades to see your passing. You enter a large carriage and a team of huskies pulls it down the street. You realise that the Majorans live mostly underground and their subterranean city is quite large. Eventually the carriage stops and you climb out. You are led into what can only be a large palace. It is richly furnished and decorated, with many items and artifacts that are clearly very old. You are taken to a large hall where has feast has been prepared. It is crowded with dignitaries, all of whom have to be introduced to you. After an hour you are seated at the head table, flanking Lobo. As the first course is being served - a delicious looking dry kibble - the Grand Pack Leader says to you: "I hope you enjoy this feast. My chefs have been working on it ever since you agreed to visit us. Our historians looked into their records about your culture, and discovered that you like your meat cooked. "To answer your question, Tully of Sandas," he continues, "Humans originally terraformed this world to make it inhabitable. That was many thousands of years ago and the terraforming is wearing off. You have answered our prayers, to return at this time to terraform Wolfus again for us." Tully says, "Interesting. Unfortunately, we cannot solve this problem yet. We are on a mission to solve it for another world and once we find the solution, we can probably help your world as well. Do you know where this world's Nernal is located?" Lobo looks up from his kibble. "But...but...you are Humans! All powerful Humans! Our uplifters! Have we not been devoted enough to you?" Crotchety steps on Tully's foot. "What my friend meant to say is once we find the nernal, we can help you. Help us help you. Where is the nernal?" "Oh," says the top dog, relaxing. "What is a nernal?" Tully asks, "Do you have any great black towers on this world that are sentient or of much more advanced technology than yours?" "No towers," he says, as he resumes crunching on his kibble. "There are ancient ruins all over the planet that your ancestors made, though." Tully nods. "Does your world have magic as well?" "What is magic?" "Never mind," Crotchety says, "Are there any ruins where your people ... ummm, where you and your friends do not go? Or any old places about which there are old stories that seem particularly peculiar?" "We avoid all of them," the canine replies. "They are holy places to your kind and our presence would defile them." "Then we should check them. Do you know of any that have electrical or other "We do," he replies, as the second course arrives: heaping plates of raw meats for the canines; cooked meats for you. "We could get used to this," Lo and Wang say in agreement. "Well, once we are done here, maybe you can have someone show us a map and locations." "Arf - err - aye! Now eat up! Dessert is Milk Bones!" Tully laughs and, being a good bard, digs in as if he is loving the kibble! Crotchety gives Tully his share of the milkbones. "Enjoy!" Once he feast is over there is entertainment, consisting of a bevy of attractive young bitches howling until your ears ache. Wang, however, loves them. Lobo tells you a bit about their history. Sirius was originally colonised and terraformed by humans many tens of thousands of years ago. The planet was rich in minerals and was heavily mined. Apparently the world is riddled with old tunnels, vast chambers and huge halls. The underground city of the Canis Majorans was originally delved by humans. The mining colony was eventually abandoned and the planet lay fallow for more tens of thousands of years. More recently it was reoccupied by a group of humans and elves practicing an ancient and long dead art: scientific research. The Canis Majorans were the result of this research. When the Third Ptarton Empire collapsed, though, the humans left, leaving their uplifted creations behind. The Canis Majorans have worshipped them as gods ever since. "And now," Lobo concludes, "Our uplifers have returned!"
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