It was the first time he had rode in a plasma yacht. The yacht streamed through the boundary of space and time propelled by the power of plasma engine. A plasma field held the ship together and created the rip itself between space and time. This fracture between space and time, otherwise known as hyperspace was what allowed ships to stream through the galaxy in shorter amounts of time. Sure, there were a myriad of ways of breaching and travelling through hyperspace, but the plasma yachts were the most relaxing and beautiful. They showed the inherent fractallic nature of the multiverse.

He was an apprentice Volus, and he was being taken to meet First Volus Ortrius. His fellow apprentices had mocked him, jealous at his honor, telling him that he had done something to mess up the cosmos. Even if the apprentices had not said this to him he would have been nervous, but watching the plasma soothed him and took some of the bite off of the nervousness.

The First Volus' home was in the Milky Way, the galaxy that had once held the great Azeroth, and it was far from Apprentice Jasis' home of late, the Pazerion. The plasma field's slow blue streaks began phasing towards the fast red streaks as the plasma began ripping through to normal space. The captain signaled that chronic monitors should be turned on in case the plasma field failed. Plasma Yachts were one of the safest, smoothest form of travel, but the tearing between spaces was heavily taxing on the plasma engines, and should the plasma fail, whose duty was trifold1; the monitors would turn on smaller plasma shields to shield the passengers from hyperspace.

The return to normal space was uneventful, and the First Volus' planet looked like any other human occupied planet. A shuttle was waiting and brought Jasis to the surface.

On the surface First Volus Ortrius himself was waiting for Jasis.

"Hello Volus Jasis-"

Jasis interrupted, "Sir, I still have two years of Apprentice training."

"Nonsense, a bright lad like you? Well, Volus Jasis, I've got your first mission for you."

Jasis stared wide-eyed, his innocent grin gone from his face for a second, "But sir, shouldn't the Doctor give me my mission..."

"Normally, yes, but with you, I am going to make an exception… I am getting old and I need good young smart Volis like you to help the Guild prosper… I also need a successor."

Jasis grinned, "Sir, I am glad for the recognition, but I could never take charge of the guild..."

Ortrius smiled, "No, of course not..."

"So, what is the mission?"

Ortrius held up a beaten book, "This children's book speaks of the Great Kings of Azeroth, we would like to learn more about them for us..."

"What about the Azeroth restriction?"

Ortrius smiled, "Don't interrupt me lad, I was getting to that. I would like to introduce you to someone... let's go inside."

As they walked towards the house a person came out to meet them. She had fiery red hair, and an attitude to match. Her smile was slightly cynical, and she appeared to be about Jasis' age.

Her inquisitive brown eyes seemed to burn a hole through Jasis, "Good day Ortrius, Volus Jasis, I am Deet Halden of the Sales and Acquisitions department of Azeroth Corporation. I will be accompanying you to Azeroth."

Jasis smiled, "Well then, let's get going."

Deet didn't even give a slight smile, her face remained a militaristic deadpan; "We shall use my corporate ship. We'll use the Pazerion's hyperspacial phase gateway."

The ship, the AZ Love of Iron was a sleek Barnel Single Plasma drive ship with a Jump discharger and contiguous Titan Chronimetric-resistant hull. It wasn't as large as a Dual Plasma drive based Yacht, but it was small and efficient. It was a corporate ship and held no luxuries. The trip was short, it wasn't the scenic route a Yacht pilot would have followed, but a quick short computer generated route. Hyperspacial travel has to do with the Gravity of Mass making hyperspace denser in places were mass is. It was like you bunched up the carpet underneath a table, but each piece still was related to the original point above it. Using these pockets of density, plus the different temporal laws of hyperspace a ship could cover larger distances in less of the time.

By no time the ship was near the Hyperspacial Phase Gateway (HPG) which was a passage to the phase generator that existed in Hyperspace allowing a ship to be phased in Hyperspace. Phasing works different than Hyperspace, Hyperspace is the fabric of our lives, while Phasing is a temporal displacement. In Physics, energy is converted from one form to another, in Phasing, energy is converted from Brain Power and Highly complex equations (plus a huge generator) into transit through the Second Temporal Dimension, and sometimes if required, the Three Spatial Dimensions and the First Temporal. No one has ever tried to move through the Third Temporal, but with the amount of energy required, it isn't worth it.

Deet frowned in thought as the ship moved inside the Gateway. She watched the numbers as the phase generators hummed.

"Relax Deet, you won't feel a thing," said Jasis.

The ship phased. Deet checked the instruments, "We're still in Hyperspace, but we haven't moved..."

"Oh, we've moved, just not in a direction your instruments measure..."

Deet interrupted, "I know that, and that is what I was saying, anyway, I have to restart the Hyperdrive."

Barnel once explained hyperspace like this, imagine an ant flying around inside the magnetic field of a planet and you grasp the concept. Hyperspace is just the Gravitic Field surrounding the universe, and thus, there are variations in the field and different frequencies... the drives have to be on the right frequency or you could find yourself embedded inside star.

The drive clicked, and they soon arrived at Azeroth. They felt the ship roar as it tore into normal space. In front of them was the Azeroth Hotel Association Headquarters. The company had made lots of GalactiCreds in its day, but the company had lost it all after the destruction of Azeroth. They avoided the Hotel and set down near a building the book said was where the Kings were throned.

After a small brisk walk the arrived inside the building. There were no security guards, and no secretaries. Jasis and Deet entered the largest office. A tall man with a large smile watched them enter. There might have been ancestry between them because Jasis and the man had the same overeager smile.

"Hello, can I help you?"

Jasis took charge, "Yes, we are looking for the king."

The man's smile grew larger, "Hmm... I guess that would be me... you must be farmers, right?"

Deet who had been prepared for societal integration (Azeroth Society 434 at the AZ2 corporate college) interrupted Jasis, "Yes. From beyond Farmestown."

The man looked Jasis and Deet over, "Yes, I see that now. My name is Edjer Wallis. Anyway, I must tell you," his eyes narrowed and he leaned forward as if he was telling a big secret, "I am actually the President, Azeroth has never had need of a King."

Deet furrowed her brow, "President?"

Edjer leaned back, "Yes, I just make sure that our laws are noble and right, and frankly, its pretty boring, but people do remember me and I get a nice glass of Coffee every morning and the nice..."

Deet frowned, "So then who rules Azeroth?"

Edjer frowned in consideration, "I guess I would have to say that the people rule Azeroth."

Jasis and Deet said goodbye to Edjer and chatted outside.

"I thought all the primitive cultures had Kings and Queens…"

Jasis chuckled, "Not all of them. Have you heard of Moltis?"

"No."

Jasis waved his hand in a circle, "The Lizards of Moltis believed that they died just before they were born and they were born after they died, they basically felt that time was circular and not linear. So throughout their lives the strove to leave the world a better place for themselves to live. The planet was rated 'Cleanest Planet' in Azeroth Hotel Digest and the Azeroth Hotel Association was considering adding a resort there just before Azeroth was destroyed. Anyway, because they were always so involved in helping themselves have a great life that they didn't have time for leaders of any sort."

Deet glared at Jasis, "How do you know that?"

Jasis shrugged, "We went on a field trip there once in Grade School."

After arriving back at First Volus Ortrius' planet he immediately wanted a debriefing.

"So, there really aren't any Kings of Azeroth," Ortrius smiled, "The Great Kings of Azeroth are a fairy tale with no real power."

"Yes, sir," acknowledged Jasis.

"Well, good research, Volus Jasis, too bad AZ isn't ready to let us to do anymore."

Ortrius left Jasis and Deet to say farewell.

"Deet, will I ever see you again?"

Deet looked over at the horizon, "Maybe. Right now I have a job to do, and I have to deliver my report to my boss."

1 The Plasma Field provided the medium of breaking through the spaces. It also acted as shield separating the nearly normal space that the ship itself occupies and hyperspace. Third, plasma engines are the fastest way of covering distance (if such a concept holds) in hyperspace. Back

2 Azeroth Corporation is referred in passing as AZ, its GalactiStock abbreviation. Back