1000 YEARS - Book 1 - Awakening

15. The 'Holy Grail'*

Once again, he sat in the meeting rotunda of the Council of Ancients.

The collection process of the specimens had, of course, been recorded and broadcast to the waiting masses. By the next morning, the Populus from the four corners of the human space: Earth, Luna, and Mars, had been abuzz with questions about the mysterious 'Holy Grail'. — And, of course, by the second day their questions had been brought to the Ancients' doorstep, because they were, after all, the Ancients; and if the Populus sought answers where conventional wisdom failed, this was to whom it turned. — It was tradition.

A scan of the bodies late that first night had revealed that eight of the nine had been implanted with a primitive old-fashioned identification chip. And while the technology had proven so old that it would require some historic experts' research to learn how to extract any pertinent information, there was nonetheless hope that some pertinent data might be contained and could be retrieved. Aside from that, at the very least, for each of those Primals the birth and death dates were known from the plaques on their cryonic pods.

But no such information existed for the 'Holy Grail', the Alpha 4. Her container had born no tag and her body no identification chip. — This had placed her death date sometime before Old Calendar year 2090, when such identification chips had become a worldwide requirement. The only real hint to her origin had lain in Professor Phlox's recognition of a 'Franco Company' logo, and anecdotal history surrounding that company's role in early cryo science. But who this Franco Company had been, was presumed lost in the Missing Age.

Cora had called an informal meeting of the Ancients, 'for those who are interested' — just to review the findings. There had been little expectation or hope that any additional details would come to light.

Much to his surprise, they had all participated — in various formats. Even Seberius, his brother, had made an appearance — holoed in from his underwater home. He could feel Seberius' eyes on him, probing, scrutinizing.

Marten and N'Dabey had logged in on a level 5 video-only call from their green dome garden on Luna 4.
Also in level 5 video format, Gaelen and YinYee had patched in from Mars, from the balcony of their Lemuria penthouse, which overlooked the green terraced slopes with its hanging gardens and vast residential structures that wrapped around the great crater lake, Atlantis. — In the backdrop, beyond the crater rim and the geodesic dome that protected the colony, the red skies of Mars were visible.
Nebula, in low holo 6, linked in from her display-covered work-living room atop the observatory deck at the weighted end of the Lunar Elevator which looked out into the star-studded inkiness of space.
And Kydelle — or more precisely, her avatar, which today happened to be the large orange, bug-eyed head of a goldfish — had joined, like the Lunars, on a level 5 video-only from the clutter of the Archives...

Cora called the meeting to order; and he settled more deeply into his opulent cathedra chair at the apex of the round.

"Hello, everyone," Cora started, "I assume you have all seen our successful samples collection two days ago?"
Acknowledging nods made the rounds.
"As you all know our Populus is extremely excited. And of course, questions abound regarding the discovery of this mysterious Alpha 4 — Professor Phlox's 'Holy Grail'.
"We know that the Cryon vessel was part of the Orion Solar Fusion Relay Station which was operated by the Futura Enterprises before it became part of the ONEI conglomerate. And Professor Phlox believes to have recognized the 'F.C.' logo on the cryo container as belonging to a 'Franco Company'.
"Kydelle, do we have anything that could corroborate this identification?"
"Gloourb glaaub glaaah graaaw," came the response from the fish face.

"Kydelle! — Turn off your avatar!" Cora huffed.
The connection clicked and a face replaced the fish head.
"KYDELLE!? — By all that is precious, what is WRONG with you?" Cora cried out. Assorted gasps could be heard from the other stunned attendants.