“Hey, it’s me. I was wondering how my order is coming through.”

• “I’m glad you called. I was meaning to get back to you on that, we discovered that we can’t fix the problem just yet

“What do you mean, you can’t fix it just yet? This is essential for our operations. The whole system won’t work without Eta Carinae and you know that she won’t hold forever.”

• “I am fully aware of this, and you know that. We will have the same problem when Sirius goes, why do you think we’re trying to solve it? But replacing your biggest star is not that easy.”

“If it was easy, I would have done it myself.”

• “Okay, no reason to become snippy. I just need to get some extra information. Do you have any life forms on other planets?”

“Not yet, everything around it is still uninhabited by intelligent life, but I would like to see it being able to develop before Spica blows.”

• “Understandable. No travellers or colonists from other solar systems?”

“Not that I’m aware of, we’re pretty far off the usual route and no one dares to come near Eta at the moment.”

• “Also understandable. Our equipment is still having trouble with the radiation coming off your stars.”

“Yeah, you never explained how that works. You are aware you’re dealing with a double system, right?”

• “Fully aware miss. Sirius works with the same system so we’re quite familiar with it. However, this is what troubles us as we have to find a replacement system that will be compatible with the existing support system.”

“I understand.”

• “So to double check. You don’t have intelligent life forming on any planets around your main power source, and no alien applications present in your system?”

“That is correct. However, I feel like I should mention that we are currently in the middle of developing a rather unique ecosystem that is fully functioning and thrives on the radiation coming from the power supply.”

• “That is indeed essential information, we will make a note of it and send it to our developers. Anything else miss?”

“Not currently. Any idea when I’ll be hearing about possible solutions?”

• “We hope to come back to you as soon as possible. As for the meantime, we sent a crew to your constellation to see if they can maintain the current state of the star.”

“That sounds like a good solution for now. Thank you, and I’ll hear from you soon.”

• “You will. Have a nice day miss.”

“You to, thank you.”