
Deep beneath the glittering ruins of Diskra, a colossal brain named Braanol stirs after five millennia of dormancy. When two imperial messengers arrive, fearing the ancient intelligence, Braanol calms them and offers to fulfill the Empress’s request for a tale of the planet’s earliest venture into the stars. The listener is drawn into a vivid recollection of a golden age when cities floated on wings and the three neighboring worlds—Mirla, Venia, and the little‑known Terra—sparked the imagination of a thriving civilization.
Braalon’s narration promises a sweeping portrait of the reign of Palladin, the rise of science, and the daring first space‑flight that linked Diskra to its distant kin. He hints at the cultural marvels of winged architecture, the stark contrast between the desert that now covers the seas, and the enigmatic figure of Thid, whose mutation would shape future events. As the trans‑telector hums, listeners are invited to witness the beginnings of interplanetary ambition through the eyes of a being that has watched ages pass.
Language
en
Duration
~24 minutes (23K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2009-02-10
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1913–1977
A lively pulp-era science fiction writer, he published energetic stories in the 1930s and 1940s and later became especially remembered for working with Ray Bradbury on an early fanzine. His fiction mixes big ideas, adventure, and the imaginative spirit of classic magazine SF.
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