"So those supposed stories were real..." Solanus allowed his mind to drift off a bit once more. As a kid, he had heard some stories from the various denizens of the local bar. The heavy Corsair presence upon Gran Canaria made for some interesting tales, and often, they told of hostile aliens at the very edge of what could still be considered inhabited space, and the battles that had occurred between their forces and that of the aliens, who had ships that were several kilometers long and shot purple fire. Nomads, they called them. But others had assured that these were nothing but fairy tales, deliberately constructed to scare children, or made up as a side effect of the overzealous alcohol use some Corsairs were famous for.
And then there was the matter of his parents. What had really happened to them.
His relatives had said that they were lost or killed in a jumphole accident. It was actually fairly plausible, considering the unstable nature of jumpholes in scarcely-explored space. But then he couldn't remember any memorial or funeral being held for them, which could only mean that even they held out hope that his parents were still alive. Then there were others, who, in hushed whispers, while his relatives weren't watching, told him that something unknown had happened, that the aliens might have had something to do with the disappearance, and that they might very well still be alive, hiding in some distant system without communications access.
He then snapped back to current time again, and said, slowly, "I had always thought that those stories were just fairy tales, made up by some odd passing traveler who might have had a bit too much to drink. Of course, none of the houses seem to acknowledge that anything of the sort exists. And I suppose they have their reasons as well. But... if those aliens do actually exist, it would explain a lot, indeed. Both in my life, and in some of the current events going on. Do you ever get the sense that some of the current wars going on are completely pointless? Perhaps this has something to do with it."
