The stars were drawn into thin lines

instead of little dots, because of the relativistic effect of moving at three-quarter light speed. The star sailors sliced at an angle across one spiral arm of the galaxy, heading away from the Wandering City, towards Xanadu. The constant pressure of the dark energy wind against their golden sails drove their ship relentlessly onward, through the light-years. They would not see anyone they had ever seen before when they reached port, only their grand-children....for time reeled away on the planets and spacestations, while it dragged lazily aboard the ship. They trimmed the sails, and repaired the rigging, and scrapped stardust from the hull....and sang the old songs, and told the old tales, and spent days and weeks at dice-and-ball....the romantic life of astrogation.....you could get bored shitless....or you could gather at the foot of the Master, and let the star-current sweep across your mind, focusing your attention on the Transcendent.......