Microstory 675: Hide the Bar Catel

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The Bar Catel is not the only ship of its kind, but it is the most famous one. A bar is a type of interstellar vessel known for its brute sturdiness and massive capacity. Bara (true pluralization) are not elegant or attractive, but they are quite useful. They are cargo ships, often used to transport large amounts of sometimes extremely volatile substances. Bara were created 4,000 years ago in Lactea, the origin of the name being lost to the obscurest of historical trivia. The Bar Catel was one of the early models, and has been passed down across multiple cultures over time. Though obsolete, it has proven its worth time and time again, having shipped any number of precious commodities for various owners and clients. While large enough to accommodate an astral collimator capable of traveling intergalactic distances, bara were not built this way. All space needed to be designated for cargo. Around the time we were leaving our home galaxy in pursuit of Fostea, our peoples came into possession of the Bar Catel. In order for our ancestors to take it with them, they had to retrofit it with a red astral collimator, which was something that had never been done before. Honestly, there was a fairly decent chance that the whole thing would vaporize somewhere in the middle of the trip, but it didn’t. It survived, just like we did; just like we always do. We consider the Bar Catel to carry with it the spirit of Fostea. It is still in use today, with its red collimator, making frequent trips back and forth between here and Lactea. We take what we feel we deserve from them, and then we leave, while the Lacteans remain entire oblivious. Seemingly randomly, the Sacred Savior foretold in the Book of Light that the Bar Catel would have to be hidden, and that everyone who knew of its whereabouts would have to die so that the secret would die with them. In order to minimize the damage, only three people took the Bar Catel out, and no one else knows where they went. They could still be in Fostea, or they could be in a galaxy we’ve never even heard of before. A later taikon will explore its rediscovery, and we’ll go over that when the time comes.