Rex stood, his presence commanding the entire room, his aura expanding until he seemed to loom over them all.
"Then we do not wait," he declared, the command absolute. "The survey and the contact initiation will happen simultaneously."
"Gorvasha, you map the formation and find the leverage."
"I will run the geological contact through the relay points."
"We will hit them with a signal so loud and so intentional that they cannot possibly ignore it."
"The second stratum will receive an active, divine greeting from the Underlayer's new authority."
He turned his piercing gaze toward Mordecai. "You will be at the contact point."
"When they scream back, the diplomatic response is yours. You will be the voice of the new era."
Mordecai met his gaze, a flicker of apprehension in his eyes. "They may not respond today, my lord."
"We are throwing a stone into a very deep ocean."
"They have been increasing their signal frequency for three weeks, Mordecai."
