“Hello, Norrin Radd?” I asked politely.

“This is he,” the somewhat startled and liquid metallic voice asked from the Vaccine. “Dynamo, is it? I seem to remember you from our visit to Terra?”

“Yes, I was there monitoring the extraction. I have a dual issue I’d like Galactus’ help with.”

“You would like Galactus’ help with,” he repeated, as if that was the strangest thing he’d ever heard. “My Master is famously aloof to most mortal requests, Dynamo,” he warned me politely.

“Oh, this is right up His alley. I’d like Him to extract a Celestial Seed under the same terms as Terra, and do an in-depth scan of another system to make sure there’s no Seed there. In return, I’ll give you the location of a Celestial Seed which is nearing fruition, but it might even be too late to consume it.”

Cosmic Awareness, his shock came right through the Vaccine. “I... believe He may be open to your terms, Dynamo,” the Silver Surfer acknowledged. “Where are you now?”

I reached out with my Cosmic Awareness and pinged his. He was literally a billion light years away, all the way across the universe. His head snapped around, and our eyes met across a really long distance. I waved, and he waved back before he could catch himself.

“This system I’m in is called Galador. They are very urgently getting the gravimetric and biomagnetic data for the planet Galactus needs to perform the extraction, and Elder Lensherr is already here managing the attunement process and overseeing the construction of some properly attuned rings. We should be ready for the extraction process in about three months?”

“The fully extracted Seed sustains my master far longer than His normal methodology. The delay is more than sufficient.” I watched his course change as he entered hyperspace, moving at speeds that could nearly rival teleportation as he shot through higher space at truly unbelievable speeds. “Where is the system that you would see scanned, and where is this nearly mature Seed?” he asked from hyperspace, our Awareness keeping up as we juiced up our Vaccines, his being worn on his wrist, naturally.

“The system is the former Dark Nebula, which had a bit of a tiff with Galador here on the genocidal scale. I managed to reverse the magical polarity of the sun, and the necroic energies which gathered here have been dispersed back across the universe via the Underweb. We’d like to get an in-depth scan of the system done and see if there’s a Seed here, because that sort of machination stinks of Celestial fingers all over it.”

“That... is a remarkably prescient view, Dynamo,” he told me, his opinion of my power and status having shifted remarkably once our Awareness crossed. “I will notify my Master and begin the scanning process myself. If the amount of energies you allude to is that vast, even the best-concealed Seed should have betrayed itself, but of course only my Master being present can be absolutely sure.”

“Well, there’s a good chance, is all I’m saying. As for the extant Seed, the synergy with this place and the Black Nebula over there caught my eye.” His head turned to a location hundreds of millions of light years in the distance from both of us, a shadow in the universe that not even Cosmic Awareness could pierce at all. Such places were usually the sign of powerful Entities wanting privacy... or stealthy powers trying to remain unnoticed.

“That...” he trailed off, clearly startled he’d never noticed it before. “I will direct my Master’s attention there immediately,” he informed me. “I sense something ominous about that place...”

“Like the echoes of this Dark Nebula, but all matured, right?” I asked him, looking in the same direction. “That’s not shielded, that’s murk, meant to slide Cosmic Awareness right past it without even acknowledging it’s there. The perfect defense against a certain World-Eater.”

“Indeed. If this is true, Galactus may even owe you and Terra a debt, Dynamo,” he said seriously.

Cosmic Entities took the exchange of favors very seriously, as it was the only currency they could really barter with. Material assets literally meant less than nothing to them.

I considered that. My discovery, my favor to expend, right? “Would he consider mentoring another cosmic entity? Showing him the ropes at that level?” I inquired.

I think Norrin Radd almost fell off his board. “That... is definitely the most unusual request I’ve heard one try to make of my Master, Dynamo.”

“I’m dead serious here, Surfer. Galactus is aware of who it is, so it is not a question of power and recognition. The Molecule Man is totally qualified to speak with Galactus as an equal in power, but experience and wisdom... they are different things at that scale.”

“I see. I... can only inquire?” he replied to me.

“Good enough. I doubt they’ll have any problems contacting one another, and I’ve just notified our protector that I’ve made the request. He’s interested in hearing from your Master.”

“Having subordinates exchange letters and greetings for their lords?” he replied wryly after a moment.

“It removes egos from the equation. Misunderstandings can have ramifications at their level.”

“This is very true,” he agreed with a sigh. “Shall I meet you for a tour of the Dark Nebula you’ve altered so much, and verify the presence of a Seed upon Galador?”

“Certainly. Come scooting in on me down at the pole here. I’ve notified the Spaceknights you’re coming, there should be no fireworks.”

---------

It took him an hour to literally cross most of the universe and arrive at Galador unerringly. The Spaceknights pinged him in, radioed their acknowledgement of him as an honored guest (something he’d only gotten once before on Terra, to his wry amusement), and he zipped down to the north pole of Galador and the machinery put in place there in an improbably fast streak of silver.

“Surfer!” Erik Lensherr greeted him, rising from his meditations over a many-hued assembly of Isotopic Rings as the gleaming alien slowed smoothly to a halt.

“Master Lensherr,” the Surfer greeted him, extending a silvery hand and getting a firm armgrip in return. “The Master has been very intrigued by the methodology used to attune His extractor so precisely to the Celestial Seed.”

“I regret to say that greater speed is not something I am able to do at this time. The Galadorans have provided as much relevant scanning data as they could, but without knowing what they were looking for, it is naturally less complete than on Terra. On the flip side, we know much better what to do this time, and the technology behind the scans is more powerful.” He waved his gauntleted hand at the Isotopic Rings he’d set up. “It appears every planet is very different in some very subtle ways.”

“Yes, this array is quite different from Terra,” the Surfer acknowledged curiously, his cosmic energies playing over the assembly.

“With your help on the cosmic side of things, I should be able to get the proper metrics in place much more quickly, and set up a custom attunement to the Celestial Field here with the Galadoran technology.” He pointed at a complex machine nearby, and the Surfer’s energies played over it. “Your Master’s tech might be at a higher level, but the restriction here is the wavelengths and harmonic convergences of the field over time, not processing power. Once we get the proper Isotopic resonance for the Rings, it is merely a matter of accumulating the data.”

The Surfer studied what was going on, and slowly nodded his gleaming head. “Understood. There is little need for me to be surveying worlds when there is a Seed right here. I will join you in this process again.” He tilted his head slightly. “How long did this process take you to perform for Terra?”

“The old man had me working on the project for nearly thirty years,” the Champion of New Israel half-laughed, his eyes flashing as he remembered the time he’d put into it, developing the expertise and skill needed to repeat this task. “I didn’t even truly believe him until he took me out into space and showed me a planet where Galactus was feeding from a safe distance, and the lifeless remains of several He had fed upon in the past...”

“It is a cruel yet necessary thing my Master does,” the Surfer agreed grimly. “I try to find worlds that are not inhabited, but the Celestials hide their Seeds well, and the cosmos is a large place...”

“I admit to being totally insensitive to Celestial energies outside the magnetosphere of a world,” Erik admitted, shrugging. “As a point of note, I did tour the Dark Nebula briefly, and there is definitely something strange about what was done to the sun there, although I cannot be sure.”

“And so I and my Master were called to verify,” the Surfer understood with a nod. “I will check as closely as I might, and then return to help you here.”

“Very good. Between the two of us, I believe we should be able to get Attunement in a week or so of work, and then it is simply a matter of gaining enough data for resonance,” Erik agreed readily.

“You are far from home, Master Lensherr,” the Surfer noted. “Is Terra now selling its expertise in this matter to other species?” he asked curiously, looking at Master Lensherr and I both.

“Yes and no,” I replied. “We are not selling the ability to sense Celestial Seeds at play. That would essentially be declaring war upon the Celestials, and would probably not end well. However, knowledge of what we did isn’t something that can be truly concealed, anyway. Gathering the data and trying to find Attunement and Resonance is all something that can be sold. Doing it effectively, however, takes someone with either great cosmic power or an intimate knowledge of biomagnetic and geomagnetic forces.” I nodded at Master Lensherr tellingly. “I don’t have the experience or cosmic power needed to do his job effectively. Even if I replicated it, I would need a great deal of time to do the same thing.” Which actually wasn’t a bad idea. That service would sell for a LOT. Just the knowledge of what to do was gaining us some impressive GalCreds, as I understood things.

Getting Master Lensherr to come there and work on it himself cost a ton more.

It also built up a database of worlds with Celestial energies, which Galactus would find most convenient.

“Saving a world’s biosphere with your technique is a monumental act of mercy,” the Surfer agreed. “Since it is in His benefit to do so, Galactus Himself would prefer to extract and devour the Seed directly, instead of going after it.

“Might you be interested in entering the Master’s service directly?” Norrin Radd inquired.

Master Lensherr smiled faintly. “The old man told me that an offer like that would likely come if our system worked, Surfer. The fact my homeland exists is due to an act of mercy, and I would not deny similar mercy to those worlds worthy of such things.

“However, I am not an old man, and I still have a mortal’s cares and wants to work through before I leave all my friends and family behind.

“I have a counter-offer. If Galactus deigns to give me the power to do so, I will answer His Calls and go to the worlds He intends to feed upon. If I am capable of allowing Him to save the world instead of destroy it, I will aid Him in doing so.

“When my mortal days are past, I will join Him directly among the stars and take up my duty with him, as do you.”

“Such a duty would spare Terra His touch until life upon it is extinct,” Norrin Radd assured him. “I will convey your words to Him, Master Lensherr!” He turned to me. “Shall we go, Dynamo?”

“Of course.” I spun my hand, and opened up a Portal to the newly-renamed Ghost Nebula. “Heralds of World-Eaters first!” I gestured, and he even smiled slightly as he slid past without hesitation on his Board, and I followed him.

The Portal closed behind us, and Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, returned to his task of saving Galador.