Turn 55

Making a determined effort to regain their cheery mood, the party goes on into the night and eventually winds down with no decision being made on the matter so troubling to Pham. The Volants prove very pleasant guests, although Sidney tends to go on a bit about his insect collection.
    In the morning, Val has done some asking around after an item he's thinking of purchasing. It raises a couple of eyebrows, but he is eventually directed to the Silverstream offices. If he wishes to make enquiries there, it is likely they have what he seeks, and maybe even a good price.
    That afternoon is Alais' talk. Of the crew, only ibn Fadil and Nyala (who is very bored on Bral) attend, as does Yestin, the latter out of politeness and also because he's (gulp) First Mate now and thinks he ought to learn more about both Alais and his theories.
    The small lecture hall of the Bral Unified and Licenced Astrophysical and Theosophical Society is filled with wizards, philosophers and assorted interested parties of all species. Melkin is there, and Master Stormcloud from the Brightring Consortium (he's known to have ambitions toward being a wizard), and Aelfyr who runs the bookstore (not a wizard, but one of the most learned people on the Rock), and Alais' parents. There is also, ibn Fadil notes, a man he does not recognize. Some observation eventually reveals him to be Garrick Jonte, the new pilot Victor had been forced to hire for the trip back to Bral after his old one quit.
    "Wasn't expecting I'd be able to attend, actually," Garrick was saying to another attendee. "Though it's such an interesting topic, it would have been a shame to miss it. But Master Victor actually gave everyone the day off! I haven't been with him long, but I gather that's not common. He seemed to be in a very good mood today, better than last night at least. Perhaps he's finally had some good news."
    Alais runs to the podium several minutes late and begins filling the chalkboard with diagram after diagram, hastily ill-erasing until it's almost impossible to tell new marks from old. He has obviously been doing a great deal of reading since he got back, and has connected his previous sketchy theories with large amounts of both established and fringe cosmology, along with half the unexplained events of the past five decades. Suddenly he's discussing the intermingling of Rassellian prophecy and the rumored destruction and even more rumored reappearance of the Spelljammer, and then it's back to the Conversion, with a side theory on the implications of the theory for ideas of the Spelljammer's hull composition (the current consensus position is, of course, wrong).
    Rising to a climax, Alais triumphantly announces that the imminent destruction of the universe will reveal certain basic data that will conclusively disprove Shrende of Astheson's theory of elemental order (the cornerstone of mainstream astrophysics) and prove that the 8fold Lily theory (the one that Alais and his late mentor favored) is indeed correct. That no one will be around to appreciate this newly proven truth is one of the tragedies of science.
    He surveys the room with a wild look of triumph and contempt. "Questions?" he asks, steeling himself for intellectual combat. Although he made it plain early in the lecture that this was a tentative working hypothesis, by the time he's finished that disclaimer has been all but forgotten.
    Being a roomful of wizards and philosophers (well, mostly; Alais' parents look distinctly confused and a trifle upset), they're willing to give the idea of the immanent destruction of the universe due consideration. An argument promptly breaks out between Faustine, a gnome from the Emporium, and Abayomi, ship's mage on the _Yasar_, about whether or not Shrende's final published work actually used the word "carrots" or if that was a printer's error and it was intended to read "carbinium," and then over whether if the latter, what sort of material exactly he'd been referring to, if the former, for what use they had been intended.
    "While your theory is quite diverting, Master Alais, don't you believe there could perhaps be a... simpler explanation?" Melkin, as usual, looks like the word is particularly annoying to him. Probably anxious to get on to the refreshments, Alais knows.

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