The demon watched as the pink haired beauty examined the the large cavernous room and the pool of water before them. He took his time taking in surrounding and wondering what wondrous place he had managed to have to traverse this time. She took the initiative and began speaking to the strange pool. He wondered, would her flowing voice find success? Thoughts drifted, and he couldn't help but dwell on the pondering on why exactly was she here?

As he heard her voice, he knew it as Trixian. He had some dealings with them awhile back. He couldn't remember very many details as he had been working for his old cruel master. For that visit, he had arrived seriously concussed and couldn't even remember if he was successful or if he failed miserably. He was still alive. He figured the dealings could not have gone that bad. Moving closer he wondered what was going to happen, when the glow in the room increased. The gurgling of the watery noise that imparted the female voice intensified.

It was only a few moments before the voice responded, it was shocking that the voice came out less gurgling and more humanoid sounding. What exactly were these being that inhabited this lost civilization? The voice adjusted pitch and timbre and finally settled on a normal pattern. At first it was only random seeming noises, then...

Octavia continued to look on as the she listened the gurgling of the water. It was then that the glow in the room began to intensify. The gurgling water began to intensify as it appeared the water was reacting to Octavia. At first the voice began to sound more human sounding as the gurgly portion of the voice began to fade away. Then slowly the voice's pitch begins to change as it begins to normalize. Octavia waited breathlessly as she wondered what the voice would say soon...

The demon waited along with the princess wondering what was too happen. Finally, the pool responded to her introduction, in a manner than was apparently very disappointing.

Jhek mone po wanfa do... System trhouj mex treng. The pool seemed to be trying to respond in the humanoid voice pattern yet the only word he seemed capable of undertsanding was system.

It was truly a let down, yet was that word his imagination? Maybe it was adapting to her vocal patterns and decyphering her language? All off a single sentence? If so it was truly an impressive piece of technology or magic. He wondered if he should move on or wait to see if she would leave and he could try his own tongue? His homeworlds language was nearly as ancient, even considering their lack of exploration when this civilaztion was thriving...

Soon the pool responded with a female voice, however it did not make any sense as it responded to her. It sounded like complete babble to her.

Normally this was not a problem for the young royal as her mind would simply read the surface thoughts of the person and she would be able to understand their language. But in this case she could not mind read a machine so the voice made no sense.

I am sorry I do not understand what you are saying? Would you say that again? The young woman hoped that what it said next was make a bit more sense. Else she would was not sure what her next step would be. Little did she know that she was not the only one in the room with her wondering about the pool.

The demon waited wondering what would happen. As the princess spoke the pool glowed brighter. Was it interpretting her words? He could only wait and wonder. Finally the pool spoke again...

Thank hertus. Zeco System is analyzing po ilum cafte voice laiu.

As he listened, it seemed the ancient technology was actually analyzing her voice patterns and adapting to her speech. Truely amazing technology for a race so ancient...

Initially nothing was happening as the pool simply sat there. It was then that the pool began to glowed brighter and brighter. The pool then began to speak, some of the words were being were in perfect Trixian, some of those were not.

I do not understand. You are analyzing my voice?

Still this was progress, with luck she would be able to talk the pool in the room and find out more about why this place was built.

The demon wondered at the marvel. Language translators existed, acting much as crude code breakers in todays day and age. Yet this was a one of a kind invention, or so he thought. The devices his race and others employed relied on brute force recognition, using massive computational power to find patterns and assign relationships. All languages possessed repeated sounds and syllables, yet this pool had eloquently decyphered tone, pace and code from a few spoken words. How was it done was all he could try and imagine, his scientific brain working into overdrive hisbuilding lust for the pink haired alien temporarily forgotten. Forgotten at least until her slim lips parted and she guessed the pools process much as he had.

Analysis complete species 5683. Thank you for your patience and welcome to our planet. Is this party of two your entire delegation, or should I be expecting others? Please state your purpose for visitng so that I may best assist.

The demon was floored, this program had not only been able to now speak her native tongue perfectly, but had somehow deterkined his presence even camoflagued as he was. He debated revealing himself and taking the beauty his captive then and there, but perhaps she may take the program as having made a mistake. Who knew how this crazy technology would respond towards such an obviously hostile act so he waited to see what would happen and whether she would notice the revealing words...

Octavia was still trying to figure out what the pool was doing, as continued to process her voice. However it was doing, it seemed by the light and the speed that the pool was translating, it seemed to be learning her language like a child would. Except at an exponential pace, something that the Trixian people had no way to develop. Octavia did not need the techonlogy as her mind allowed her to infer languages from other people's minds, however such abilities would be a boon the Trixian Royal Navy. Perhaps they could more easily find a new homeworld. Or perhaps this machine would know of a world that would be perfect to settle.

It was then that the pool responded, giving her the code for her people. If the code was just a number, that meant the pool knew over five thousand species? Over five thousand? I am Octavia, House of Bellatrix. I represent the Trixian Hegemony as an ambassador. I was here to see if this planet would be suitable for colonization for my people. However if this planet is important to your people, then we should not settle here. Do you know of other planets that would be suitable to support life?

As Octavia finished her little introductory speech, she began to realize that that the machine must have misspoken. The young woman looked around for a moment, to confirm to herself that neither of her handmaidens had found her yet. I am afraid you must be mistaken, there is only one person here. That is me. Maybe you to re calibrate your sensors or whatever it is that machines do to check themselves. She had no idea their was an invisible demon directly behind her.

The trixian ambassador, a pleasant prize he would not mind having as his newest slave, the demon thought as she introduced herself to the amazing pool. He had not heard of her peoples struggles and need to find a new homeworld, but never the less, he stored the information in his mind for later use if needed. Octavia was a beautiful name and it truly matched her appearance.

His thoughts would have to wait though as she looked around not seeing the menacing large demon hidden directly behind her long pink hair. She asked about the importance of the planet to their people, and for other suitable homeworlds nearby. Both bits of information could be extremely valuable so as she return her gaze to the pool he held off capturing the brave lass.

This planet is vital to the makers, though less so than in the past. The answer was cryptic, yet seemed to indicate a few things while throwing confusion over others. This was not a living being, which he seemed to quedtion only moments before as he had encountered stranger life forma in his journeys. It was simply a marvelous technology. Yet he was confused by the need of the planet to its creators. Were they still alive? Even more importantly, were they still here?

The pool went dark after its first reaponse and the demon wondered if the ancient technology had finally succumbed to the ravages of time or had it simply run out of juice. Then it happened. Going from completely black, tiny pinholes of light in the darkness began to form in the image. Quickly gaining in speed millions of the tiny specks of light filtered thriugh the darkness. His jaw dropped as the image was a complete map of the galaxy in three dimensions, suspended in the pool of still waters. Finally, as the stars finished illuminating the darkness green dots began to appear in the thousands, like tiny emeralds floating near the brilliant diamonds of white light. Surely there were not ao many life supporting planets...

Octavia continued to look around for a moment, mainly back at the entrance into the room. Perhaps one of her handmaidens was hiding in the edge of the room, keeping herself away while Her Highness was dealing with this computer. However that was not the case, as there was no one that she could see anywhere nearby. The computer gave no response to her question about two people, it must have been mistaken.

The pool then explained that this world was vital to whoever made it. That was a bit of disappointment to Octavia, it would mean that the Trixians could not settle this world and make it their own. They would have to go somewhere else and they would have to be careful. The young royal realized that if the makers weren't here, they had to be somewhere else and that was another planet the Trixian Hegemony can not make their homeworld. At least if they were still alive.

It was then that the pool was dark once more. Had it simply broken down, wondered the beautiful Princess. She was about to try to see what she could do to restart it when all of the suddenly one then two lights appeared in the pool. Three then four lights, small pinholes formed as they soon began to shimmer into existence at a faster and faster rate. It was becoming clear that the pool was creating a map, a map of the galaxy. Soon there was a huge three dimensional map complete with thousands of tiny small green things floating near white lights. Are these habitable planets in the galaxy. How many of them are uninhabited by sentient life.

The demon watched relaxing a little even as the princess had increasing anxiety over the computers count of beings in the room. He wondered what her ultimate reaction would be? Was she truly here alone? She was an ambassador of sorts and he highly doubted even a people in trouble would send their diplomats alone to secure something as important as a planet. He wondered how she had in fact managed to come here alone, and if she was not alone how much competition may he have for his prize that he sought. Biding his time he waited watching the star map appear.

The pink haired beauty asked the pool to filter the results. It was an odd question to his mind. Sentient life was an intesting concept. What creature did not have senses and an ability to think at some rudimentary level. He had seen the humans use horses and dogs and they were able to perform tasks against the wishes of their masters. Were they driven by needs, or wants? Were they driven by instinct or active thought? It wasn't a question he had bothered to delve too deeply into in the past. It brought out an interesting question of where to draw the line. What level of intelligence would give the proper definition of sentience? Was it simply an awareness of self as even some ape creatures seemed caple of recognizing themselves in mirrors or photos.

As the demon pondered, the pool had apparently some definition. Slowly the lighted emeralds began to blink out until he thought they were almost all gone. It was simply a trick of his mind and eyes though, as the shear massive number of planets made the lesser amount seem miniscule. In fact there were probably hundreds if not thousands of planets remaining. Many seemed distant from this word, although this planet remained on the map. Based on the pool's previous cryptic response regarding this planet the demon was confused. Was their sentient life here or not? What happened to these amazing makers?

Octavia had indeed not alone here as she did have her handmaidens. Handmaidens that would soon be returning to the royal shuttle only to discover that their charge had wandered off on their own. Such a discover would probably send the handmaidens in a panic and send them searching for their lost Princess. However, all that was of no interest to Her Highness as she was sure she had found a discover of a lifetime. If the star map could be some how reduced to only contain planets that do not have sentient life on them yet, she could make the search for a new Trixian homeworld that much easier.

The pond seemed to respond to the royal's request as it began to figure out what it was that Octavia was asking for. She had assumed that the pond would be capable of figuring out her request simply by its ability to understand her language. If it could understand the Trixian tongue then it could easily figure out the definition of sentient, at least that what the pink haired princess thought. By now she quit looking around the room, confident that pond had simply made a mistake. Besides she was way to interested in the results of her query.

Eventually the emerald worlds began to blink out of the existence, as the pool began ruling them out. First it was dozens of worlds, then hundereds, then thousands of worlds, all gone in instants. For a moment it looked like all the worlds were simply going to disappear, which would mean that the Trixians would be doomed to become nomads for the rest of their culture's existance. But some of the worlds still remained. There were probably thousands of worlds still left to search. Octavia eyes light up in amazement all she had to do was get that information to the Royal Navy and her people could finally quit wandering. However even as she thought that she just had one question left. Where is your creators?

Slimer watched as her queries brought up the more refined search. He was no intergalatic cartographer but he certainly was able to recognize quite a few systems. This information was certainly worth its weight in gold. He mentally noted a few familiar systems he had passed and a few he should be able to find without too much effort. Should he need to re-establish a center of operations away from the prying eyes of the ADD, or should he be in need of some cash, this trip had already paid for itself.

The wise princess then asked a question that had been nagging at him since he landed and even before as he learned of the treasure. With eyes watching the pool with its fantastic display of contrasting darkness and light a yellow glow seemed to eminate from the center. It was focused on the planet itself and then in a pulsing ripple it spread out in all directions and vanished.

It was a very curious answer to a burning question. What did it mean? The light did eminate from the center, most likely the very planet they were standing on, but the wave of light that spread out through the galaxy afterwards was curious. Were they still here, and what did the wave mean? Had they started here and left? What exactly were these makers? This level of technology from beings so ancient caused the answer to create more questions than it answered. He sat pondering the response...

Octavia wished she new more about space charts. This was really her blonde handmaiden's area of expertise, and she would probably know in a matter of moments where the worlds are located. It could mean for the Trixian people that their long search for a homeworld was over. All she had to do was tell her handmaidens about it. Little did she know the handmaidens had already found that she was gone and had begun the frantic search for her.

Just then the pool seemed to change as the it appear to prepare to answer her question. The Trixian royal looked down at it as she saw the pool get dark with a single yellow dot that sat in the middle of the of the pool. It seemed to be where one of the planets was but she was not sure. Suddenly there was a pulsing ripple that spread out through the pool and disappeared as it went past the edge of the pool.

The pink haired princess was confused about what had just happened. I don't understand. Did they warp away from here. Did some think wipe them out? The answer is too cryptic for me to understand. The Princess moved a bit closer to the pool to see if she could make out some sort of hidden information that she had some how missed the first time it tried to answer her. What she truly hoped was that race had not somehow wiped themselves out.

The demon watched as the slender pink haired princess approached as close to the pool as she dared to go. Her thoughts seemed to mirror his own as she put voice to her nagging questions. What truly had become of these powerful makers?

The map disappeared as the glow returned and the voice once again spoke, The makers have not warp, nor were they wiped out. Some have remained in their present locations, while other have taken the turn, they transcended. The cold and eerie female voice explained.

Transcended? The demon thought it an interesting choice of word. What exactly did this transcending encompass? Some remained in their present locations? Was this planet not truly abandoned? If the original makers were still here they might not look kindly upon his pilferring their technology. Still he had one purpose for being here, while this level of magic or technology impressed, he would simply need to practice caution. Maybe luck would be on his side and he could complete his mission? The demon pondered these thoughts as he realized he had been staring at the pink haired beauty's backside.