M01 1 <#FROWN:M01\>Chapter Twenty-eight

M01 2 "Do We See This?" (part II)

M01 3 Friday, July 22, 2059-7:30 A.M.

M01 4 Crystal and SJ hovered about, caring for Mary-em and M01 5 encouraging her. "Got to be careful," Crystal said M01 6 soberly. "After all, you're climbing for two."

M01 7 "Hee, hee," Mary-em growled, fingering her belt M01 8 knife. The very worst part, a traitorous voice whispered M01 9 in the back of her mind, is that you love it.

M01 10 SJ soberly triple-checked both lines, Poule's and Clavell's. He M01 11 studied the faulty epoxy weld while cursing most inventively. Just M01 12 for safety, he disassembled and reassembled the Spiders, checking M01 13 every component three times.

M01 14 Mary-em sat back, doing her best to project a maternal glow. M01 15 Not a difficult task - her tummy was, after all, emitting a soft M01 16 and lovely radiance that intermittently took the shape of a M01 17 humanoid infant.

M01 18 "Hell of a woman," SJ said soberly, patting her M01 19 shoulder. "Glad to have a breeder in the tribe. Now. We've M01 20 got a sling rigged for you, and it should be fairly comfortable. M01 21 What does it take to miscarry a godling? Don't know, don't want to M01 22 find out. You're our walking talisman. Just hope you're up on your M01 23 Lamaze."

M01 24 While Mary-em's reply did indeed have something to do with M01 25 motherhood, it could hardly have been considered complimentary to M01 26 SJ.

M01 27 They had rigged her a sort of basket, anchoring down one of the M01 28 Spiders to act as a stable braking platform. Mary-em sat in the M01 29 makeshift seat. At a signal from Poule and Clavell, they began to M01 30 lower her out of the lip of the modular apartment.

M01 31 This was humiliating. She had watched Clavell's free climb, and M01 32 knew it would make him famous. Mary-em's descent would be laughed M01 33 at - unless she played it for all it was worth. She composed M01 34 herself with an aplomb worthy of a queen. The pulleys creaked, and M01 35 she began her descent down the weathered face of MIMIC.

M01 36 Clavell reeled Mary-em in with a coat hanger rigged to the end M01 37 of a mop handle. Poule had already lifted the weather shield, and M01 38 as soon as she unhooked herself from the sling she wandered back M01 39 into the apartment and checked the refrigerator. Empty.

M01 40 The basket went back up, and Crystal got into it, and the M01 41 procedure was repeated...

M01 42 Alphonse Nakagawa was the second-to-last Gamer to take the ride M01 43 down; SJ worked the brake mechanism.

M01 44 SJ had no one to work the brake, and that was just fine by him. M01 45 He rode down on the Spider, whooping all the way, the morning M01 46 desert spinning below him. It was glorious. Best of all, for the M01 47 very first time, they were ahead of Bishop and Da Gurls.

M01 48 Alphonse and the major braced themselves beside the front door, M01 49 opened it gingerly, and peered out.

M01 50 They were greeted by a strong marine smell. Faint echoes: M01 51 sounds of laughter and water play. Clavell, his wrenched shoulder M01 52 wrapped now, raised an eyebrow at Alphonse. "Well, M01 53 Civilian, what do you think?"

M01 54 "Nommo."

M01 55 Clavell called Mary-em up to the front, and they formed another M01 56 circle around her.

M01 57 Alphonse knelt by her side. "Hail," he said, M01 58 "Holy infant, holy mother." The shape of the infant M01 59 reappeared.

M01 60 "I'm going to be sick," Mary-em said.

M01 61 The baby covered its little eyes. "I'm M01 62 sleeping," it said petulantly.

M01 63 "We need your help."

M01 64 "I want a song. If you want my help, you be nice to M01 65 me," it insisted.

M01 66 Alphonse pursed his lips. "Does anyone know a M01 67 lullaby?"

M01 68 SJ cleared his throat and sang:

M01 69 Mary had a little lamb,

M01 70 Her father shot it dead.

M01 71 Now Mary takes the lamb to school

M01 72 Between two hunks of bread.

M01 73 The infant looked at SJ with disgust. "Is that any kind M01 74 of poem to tell a small, vulnerable child?"

M01 75 "Mary-em. What are your views on abortion?"

M01 76 She narrowed her eyes and placed her hands over her tummy. The M01 77 flesh flowed around black finger bones. "Not another word, M01 78 twerp."

M01 79 Crystal smiled, came forward, and knelt by Mary-em, putting M01 80 both hands on her stomach. And she sang, in a surprisingly clear M01 81 and sweet contralto.

M01 82 Oh, the queen is giving a ball today and the talking M01 83 flowers are there!

M01 84 We'll play croquet with guinea pigs and all the cards will M01 85 stare.

M01 86 A bird will be my mallet, and I will win the game!

M01 87 But the queen will have my head, just the same...

M01 88 After she finished, the infant rolled over and looked at her M01 89 with its star-child eyes. "Insane but nice. Now. Here's M01 90 what you do..."

M01 91 M01 92 Up in the control chamber, Doris Whitman had curled into a M01 93 fetal position. Remarkably agile and limber for a woman her age, M01 94 her alignment and action of limbs precisely duplicated an unborn M01 95 infant's.

M01 96 The DreamTime Virtual system translated every motion, every M01 97 flicker of a finger, with a time lag of less than three thousandths M01 98 of a second. Doris was the unborn godling, the spawn of Mary-em's M01 99 loins, and her performance was flawless.

M01 100 She spoke as she rolled. The DreamTime system altered her M01 101 voice, raising it in register and pitch until it became a sleepy, M01 102 childlike whisper.

M01 103 For a moment the entire control room stopped, leaving all M01 104 programs on automatic loop routines.

M01 105 Doris was something very special. Her entire body arched, M01 106 muscle control so complete that she could imitate weightlessness. M01 107 Heavy as she was, it seemed absurd that she should move so M01 108 effortlessly.

M01 109 And when she finally stopped, allowing her body to rest once M01 110 again, the entire control room exploded into applause.

M01 111 Tony McWhirter was heavily in conference with Mitsuko Lopez, M01 112 studying one of the skeletal diagrams of MIMIC.

M01 113 "All right," he said. "They're all M01 114 playing California Voodoo outside the boundaries. Everybody. M01 115 Weird."

M01 116 She laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "But still M01 117 playing a damn good Game," she said. "So. We have M01 118 to help them get back onto the track. Start with M01 119 Army/Tex-Mits."

M01 120 Tony pointed, his forearm sinking into the model. M01 121 "They're here on the tenth level. They've gotten around all M01 122 of the traps we laid for them, but they also can't get to the M01 123 Nommo. For obvious reasons, we sealed the doors and shored up the M01 124 walls here and here. What do we do, and how do we keep M01 125 them on camera?"

M01 126 Mitsuko thought for three seconds, then pivoted and punched out M01 127 a code on the main board. "Mitch Hasegawa, please report to M01 128 Security."

M01 129 Tony cocked his head. "I know Mitch," he said. M01 130 "He's a nice guy, but don't we need someone a little M01 131 higher?"

M01 132 "Sometimes rank isn't as important as M01 133 communication," Mitsuko said.

M01 134 "You know Mitch?"

M01 135 She twinkled. "He's my little brother."

M01 136 Mitsuko and Mitsuo 'Mitch' Hasegawa hugged briefly, then he sat M01 137 down to consider their problem.

M01 138 "I can do it," he said, "but I'll have M01 139 to activate some of ScanNet's maintenance relays on the M01 140 tenth."

M01 141 "Aren't they already on?"

M01 142 "Naw. The way the system is now, it would overload. M01 143 They're on manual. In fact, most monitors on the tenth have been M01 144 turned over to the DreamTime system."

M01 145 "So where's the security?"

M01 146 "Well, we've got the entire exterior sealed, of course. M01 147 We know the instant anyone moves into one of those peripheral M01 148 units, let alone the wall. And then we have spot checks throughout M01 149 the inner building. As soon as the whole thing is activated, we'll M01 150 be able to scan you right down to the blood cells, big sister. M01 151 Forget metal detectors - we'll know whether you had secret sauce on M01 152 your cheeseburger."

M01 153 Tony scooted forward. "Now listen to me. I need to get M01 154 our Army group from here-" He indicated a sector in the M01 155 tenth level that was coded blue. "- over a restraining wall M01 156 and back into the Gaming area. To do that, I want to take them M01 157 through a service tunnel. Here. I can guide them into it, but I M01 158 don't have cameras to follow them inside. Whatever shall I M01 159 do?"

M01 160 Mitch tapped out commands on the main console and then grinned. M01 161 "All right. We have maintenance 'bots in there. They've got M01 162 cameras, of course, and some other senses, too. We'll let the 'bots M01 163 follow your Gamers around. You'll have to give them one of those M01 164 'you can't see this' orders."

M01 165 Tony laughed. "It's been a long time since we've had to M01 166 use one of those. Can I see this maintenance unit?"

M01 167 Tap tap. It looked like a crab on roller skates. It M01 168 was intended to motor along a tunnel two feet in diameter, M01 169 cleaning, inspecting, providing routine maintenance.

M01 170 Mitsuko raised one lazy eyebrow. "How strong are those M01 171 arms?"

M01 172 "Exert about fifty pounds of pressure."

M01 173 "How precisely controllable?"

M01 174 "Very. Good for close work."

M01 175 "And how resistant to damage?"

M01 176 "Well..." Mitch's eyes narrowed at her. M01 177 "Chi-Chi, what are you-"

M01 178 "Just answer the question, little brother."

M01 179 "Well, anything really valuable is inside the central M01 180 casing. Pretty well shielded. The external arms are all M01 181 replaceable. Maybe a thousand bucks, tops."

M01 182 "And can you get a second one into the M01 183 area?"

M01 184 "To watch the first, right?"

M01 185 She smiled expansively.

M01 186 Tony was slow, but caught on. "Ah, Chi-Chi - Mitsuko, M01 187 he's right..."

M01 188 Her smile had broadened further. "Players aren't the M01 189 only ones who can improvise."

M01 190 Fast as a snake she twisted, calling, "Owen! We need M01 191 some Virtual imagery here!"

M01 192 In Mary-em's womb, the godling rolled back over toward them, M01 193 its eyes as vast as a moonless sky. "Is there one among you M01 194 who is a pathfinder? One who seeks?"

M01 195 SJ came forward.

M01 196 "Touch my mother's stomach."

M01 197 Mary-em growled, said growl disturbing the beatific expression M01 198 she had cultivated so carefully. "Watch yer hands, M01 199 buster."

M01 200 "Sorry. Heh heh."

M01 201 "Now," the child said. "Reveal!"

M01 202 A map of the entire tenth level rolled out before them like the M01 203 ghost of a carpet. Their route through it was plainly mapped. A M01 204 line of green dashes pointed SJ's path, and he stood - saying, M01 205 "No offense, Yer Godliness" - and followed the M01 206 dashes to a wall grille set too high for him to reach on tiptoe.

M01 207 The major threw him a chair.

M01 208 SJ tested the screws at the sides of the grille. They were M01 209 fairly standard, but probably hadn't been worked since the original M01 210 replacement two years earlier. SJ dug into his backpack and found a M01 211 multihead screwdriver.

M01 212 He hummed happily when he'd finally levered the grille free. He M01 213 snapped an electric lamp headband above his visor and said, M01 214 "Boost me up!" Clavell and Poule boosted him, and M01 215 he eeled into the duct.

M01 216 He wiggled in, elbows and knees braced against cold metal. He M01 217 adjusted his virtual visor. The green dashes bobbled in the air M01 218 before him.

M01 219 After a half hour, SJ's back was sore and his knees and elbows M01 220 were a little skinned up. He was grateful that the duct was clean. M01 221 He didn't relish the notion of getting an infected cut.

M01 222 Newer ducts would have rounded corners. These antique ducts M01 223 were square. Steel sheeting, and maybe rivets, under new M01 224 insulation. How did they clean these ducts? Did they get M01 225 midgets to crawl around in here with wet rags, or what? Had the M01 226 squatters managed with dirty ducts?

M01 227 The other six Adventurers of the Tex-Mits/Army combine inched M01 228 along behind him. SJ found himself slipping into fantasy.

M01 229 Corporal Waters, at great risk to life and limb, leads the M01 230 way for the major and the general, crawling across no-man's land, M01 231 under barbed wire, and through a minefield under heavy machine-gun M01 232 fire, to retrieve a live grenade...

M01 233 A humming sound up ahead had grown steadily louder, finally M01 234 crossing the threshold of his attention. Belatedly, he wondered M01 235 what it was.

M01 236 He was suddenly uncomfortably aware of the cramped, M01 237 night-dark space. He widened his flashing beam.

M01 238 Nothing. From a distance throbbed the soft, regular, hushed M01 239 pulse of the air-conditioning. Somehow that was a reassurance, akin M01 240 to the comforting rhythm of a mother's heartbeat. The building was M01 241 alive. It breathed.

M01 242 He called, "Hold it!" The column behind him M01 243 stopped.

M01 244 Scratch scratch.

M01 245 There it was again, damn it. Closer now.

M01 246 He turned onto his side and held the flashlamp out ahead of M01 247 him, eeling forward until he came to a branching pathway. From here M01 248 he could see up, down, right, left ...

M01 249 Left. The sound came from there. And now it was closer.

M01 250 M02 1 <#FROWN:M02\>32. M02 2 By Phase Five there were only twenty-one left in Dekker DeWoe's M02 3 class. That was no worse than was to be expected from normal M02 4 attrition, but the other new fact was a lot more unpleasant. Dekker M02 5 himself hat dropped to number eleven in the class standings.

M02 6 That he had not expected at all. It was Ven Kupferfeld's fault, M02 7 he told himself grimly. If he hadn't wasted so much time playing M02 8 lovesick Romeo to Ven's bloodthirsty Juliet, he would have been M02 9 right up at the top, where he belonged. But, thank God, that was M02 10 over, and now he could get back to what really mattered....

M02 11 It was annoying, though, to see that Ven herself was still M02 12 proudly number one.

M02 13 It was even more annoying to have to face the fact that he M02 14 didn't stop thinking about her. He missed Ven Kupferfeld. He missed M02 15 all of her; her talk, her touch, her pretty hair, her sweet, wet M02 16 interiors, her perfume, her warmth beside him as they drowsed in M02 17 her comfortable bed - yes, he even missed her startlingly M02 18 rough-edged way of looking at the world, which was certainly M02 19 improper and wrongheaded and even by any reasonable standard M02 20 actually repulsive; but still her own. They had disagreed M02 21 irreconcilably on some of the most fundamental questions of human M02 22 values, of course. Yet even their disagreements had been M02 23 interesting.

M02 24 Dekker felt obscurely cheated by the way the woman kept M02 25 creeping into his thoughts. It didn't seem fair. It seemed to him M02 26 that the fact that they weren't lovers anymore should be easy M02 27 enough to take under the circumstances. After all, he was the one M02 28 who had made the decision to break it off. But it wasn't.

M02 29 The good part was that Phase Five was only four weeks from M02 30 Phase Six, and Phase Six would end with Dekker actually going off M02 31 to tame comets for Mars - assuming he got his grades back up where M02 32 they belonged, that was. He devoted himself to doing so.

M02 33 What made doing that easier was that in Phase Five he was M02 34 actually seeing the greening of Mars happening. Each M02 35 workstation in the training room had its own simulations, two sets M02 36 of them. If the student controller selected one of them he was M02 37 looking at a display of the surface of the planet Mars. If he M02 38 selected the other he saw a tank, like the one for the Co-Mars M02 39 stations, but much smaller in scope; it showed nothing but the M02 40 region around the trailing segment of Mars's orbit. The rest of the M02 41 solar system didn't matter. Apart from the odd ship in nearby M02 42 space, the orbiter controllers only cared about Mars, its moons, M02 43 the three Mars orbiters... and the string of trailing dots that M02 44 were comets - all yellow now - that had been handed over to the M02 45 orbiting stations for their final creeping approach toward M02 46 impact.

M02 47 The instructor for Phase Five was a Martian named Merike M02 48 Chophard. "Chop-hard," Dekker said the first time he talked M02 49 to him, but the teacher corrected him amiably enough. "It's M02 50 'choe-fard,'" he said; but, however he pronounced his name, M02 51 Dekker was pleased to have him there. Chophard was the first M02 52 Martian Dekker had seen to occupy a position of authority in this M02 53 enterprise devoted to Mars's regeneration. Well, of some M02 54 authority - as much as a teacher ever had - at least it proved that M02 55 Martians weren't always restricted to the very bottom of the totem M02 56 pole in this Earthie-dominated place.

M02 57 At the first session Chophard started by sending all the class M02 58 to workstations - "Any ones you like. Just sit down, and M02 59 familiarize yourself with the controls." There wasn't much M02 60 competition for seats. With the class now attrited down to the mere M02 61 twenty-one survivors, they filled hardly half the available M02 62 spaces.

M02 63 The most demanding part of the job was the part shown in the M02 64 orbit simulation; that was where the final approach trajectory was M02 65 shaped, and where the last-minute work of fracturing the huge comet M02 66 body into manageable bits took place.

M02 67 It wasn't the part that most fascinated Dekker DeWoe, though. M02 68 When time permitted he delighted in switching the view from the M02 69 incomings to the Martian surface itself. The view was marvelous. M02 70 The Mars-orbit stations were in five-hour orbits, circling even M02 71 closer to the planet than the nearer of its two little moons, and M02 72 in the simulation Dekker could see the Martian landscape sliding M02 73 slowly by beneath him. He could identify the familiar geography M02 74 easily enough, regardless of whether it was day or night below; the M02 75 station's sensors were not limited to visible light. He was even M02 76 able to pick out the sites of individual demes, though the M02 77 buildings themselves were too tiny to be visible in the M02 78 simulation's coarse resolution; he caught his breath when he first M02 79 saw the mountain on whose slope Sagdayev rested come up over the M02 80 horizon toward him.

M02 81 And he saw comet strikes actually happening. Well, not actually M02 82 'actual.' Like everything else in the training displays they were M02 83 either simulated or recorded from the real events that had already M02 84 taken place, but no less thrilling for that. He saw two of them M02 85 close together in one session, one just inside the dawn line, the M02 86 other coming down eight hundred kilometers away and half an hour M02 87 later. He saw the gases boil up from each of the fifty or sixty M02 88 impact points that came from the fragments of each strike.

M02 89 The gases formed instant mushroom clouds, towering into the M02 90 sky... and, Dekker realized with a thrill, the clouds were M02 91 lingering. He didn't have Ven Kupferfeld anymore, but he had M02 92 something that was far more important: Mars was beginning to come M02 93 to life.

M02 94 When he got back to his quarters that night there were two M02 95 messages waiting for him. He played the picmail message first. M02 96 Surprisingly, it was from his old Nairobi classmate, Walter M02 97 Ngemba.

M02 98 It was odd, Dekker thought, that Ngemba had sent him a recorded M02 99 visual message instead of just calling him up. Because of the time M02 100 difference? Surely not simply to save the extra cost of a two-way. M02 101 When the Kenyan's image flashed on the screen Walter didn't look M02 102 any different - same smart, well-pressed shirt and shorts, same M02 103 carefully coiffed hair, same friendly smile - but the smile faded M02 104 as he began to speak: "Dekker, my friend, I am sorry to say M02 105 that I won't be coming to join you in Denver after all. On my M02 106 birthday I told my father of my plan to apply for Oort training. He M02 107 asked me to wait until he could make some inquiries, and I did. M02 108 When his replies came he invited me into his study and let me read M02 109 the screen.

M02 110 "Dekker, I'm afraid that there would be no point in my applying M02 111 for the course. I am not permitted to say what intelligence agency M02 112 my father consulted, but I am convinced their report is quite M02 113 reliable. It stated that there is definitely a decreasing need for M02 114 the terraforming of Mars, because the farm products that would M02 115 justify it can be produced more quickly and cheaply in other ways - M02 116 I suppose, because of the new farm habitats that the Japanese are M02 117 building - and it said that the entire project was going to be M02 118 under review within the next few months. I'm afraid that means M02 119 cancellation. Under the circumstances, my father said, it made no M02 120 sense for me to apply. I was forced to agree. So, sadly, I will not M02 121 see you there. But, Dekker, please remember that if the training M02 122 center closes you are always welcome at our farm."

M02 123 When the message was over Dekker stared at the blank screen. At M02 124 least, he thought, that explained Walter's using picmail; he hadn't M02 125 wanted Dekker to be asking questions about these 'intelligence' M02 126 sources. But how reliable were they?

M02 127 Dekker glanced up as he caught a flicker of motion at the door M02 128 to Toro Tanabe's room. The Japanese was standing there, looking M02 129 guilty. He coughed apologetically when he saw Dekker's accusing M02 130 look. "Please excuse me, DeWoe. I didn't intend to M02 131 eavesdrop."

M02 132 "But you did."

M02 133 "I heard, yes." He hesitated, then added M02 134 quickly, "I think it is unfair of this African person to M02 135 blame the Japanese; we are not alone in this, you know."

M02 136 "But your own father put up the money for the habitats, M02 137 didn't he?"

M02 138 "He invested heavily in them, yes," Tanabe M02 139 admitted. "Please remember that my father is a businessman. M02 140 In business it is necessary to be practical. The habitats can be M02 141 producing crops in large quantity in less than ten years - and how M02 142 long would it be for Mars? Another thirty or forty years at best. M02 143 So I fear there may be some truth to these reports, though I would M02 144 not say it is definite that the project will necessarily be M02 145 canceled.... But, Dekker," he added pleadingly, "we M02 146 Japanese are not all unwilling to help your planet. I don't want it M02 147 canceled, either. After all, I'm here."

M02 148 He didn't wait for an answer, but retreated into his room and M02 149 closed the door. A moment later he came out again, his coat over M02 150 his arm, and left the apartment without speaking again to M02 151 Dekker.

M02 152 Dekker sighed. Well, he thought, he had heard plenty of rumors M02 153 already about the project being in danger. Assuming they were true, M02 154 what could he do about it? No more than he was doing already: Keep M02 155 on plugging away, and hope the rumors turned out to be wrong.... M02 156 Then he remembered the other message. This one was voicemail and - M02 157 he saw with a quick uplift - from his mother.

M02 158 He wished he could see her face, for Gerti DeWoe sounded tired M02 159 as she spoke. "I've got good news and bad news. The good M02 160 news is that maybe I'll see you soon, Dek, because I have to go to M02 161 Earth for a meeting about the Bonds. The bad news is that I have M02 162 to. The Commons appointed me. The Earthies are being bitchy about M02 163 the next issue. They want to renegotiate the terms, and they're M02 164 getting really tough about it. As long as I'm coming, though, I'm M02 165 going to try to steal a little time for myself and make it to your M02 166 graduation - so there's a silver lining, anyway."

M02 167 That was all.

M02 168 After a moment Dekker turned off the screen, stood up, washed M02 169 his face, and left for the mess hall. He went alone. The fact that M02 170 Toro Tanabe had left without waiting for him was all right with M02 171 Dekker. He didn't much want to talk to Tanabe just then. He wanted M02 172 to sort out his thoughts on his own.

M02 173 The thoughts were not joyous. It was certainly a real pleasure M02 174 to think that Gerti DeWoe might be there soon - maybe even to watch M02 175 him graduate? - but the rest of the thoughts that crowded through M02 176 his mind were a lot less pleasing. Renegotiate the terms! But there M02 177 was simply nothing more to give; the Earthies had the next six M02 178 generations of Martians mortgaged already! He wished his mother M02 179 were there already so he could talk them over with her. Or with his M02 180 father. Or even - running through the list of people he would have M02 181 liked to talk to - with Ven Kupferfeld. She probably would know no M02 182 more fact<&|>sic! than he did, but at least she might have been M02 183 able to help him understand what was behind all this, even if only M02 184 to tell him what the Earthies really wanted. They already had M02 185 everything. Couldn't they spare a little assistance for their M02 186 fellow humans on Mars?

M02 187 Just asking the question gave Dekker the answer. He knew M02 188 exactly what Ven would have said, and that she would have been M02 189 laughing at him as she said it. What the Earthies wanted was M02 190 undoubtedly what Earthies always seemed to want. They wanted M02 191 more.

M02 192 He had no appetite, but he collected a tray of food at the mess M02 193 hall counter. When he sat down in the corner of the room where his M02 194 class usually assembled, he wondered if he should talk to any of M02 195 them about his questions.

M02 196 The opportunity for that wasn't there, though. M02 197 M03 1 <#FROWN:M03\>TEN

M03 2 Captain's Log, Stardate 8492.5:

M03 3 Yet another of those mysterious messages from the Empire has M03 4 been passed on by Admiral Cartwright. The Probe has done M03 5 something to rattle the Interim Government's cage, but our M03 6 source apparently isn't privy to the details. He knows only - or is M03 7 telling us only - that there have been several high-priority and M03 8 high-security exchanges with a ship called the Azmuth, whose M03 9 last known coordinates would put it very close to Federation M03 10 projections of the Probe's course into Romulan territory.

M03 11 Meanwhile, Spock has completed a first run through the Exodus M03 12 Hall data, but we are no closer to learning where the Erisians went M03 13 - or even if they went anywhere - than we were before Temaris. At M03 14 last count, just over a thousand of the ten thousand sets of M03 15 coordinates have been matched with known objects, including M03 16 twenty-three supernova remnants, roughly five hundred novas, and an M03 17 equal number of particularly violent flare stars. As Dr. McCoy M03 18 remarked, "If these are the stars the Erisians migrated to, M03 19 they should have fired their travel agent." The theory most M03 20 often heard is that the coordinates have nothing to do with where M03 21 the Erisians went but were part of some long-term study and M03 22 research program involving unstable stars. No one, however, has M03 23 come up with a convincing reason for the coordinates and the star M03 24 map to be virtually enshrined in a series of 'museums' on every M03 25 known Erisian world.

M03 26 Of most immediate concern, however, are the diplomatic M03 27 developments. After almost three days of silence - except for his M03 28 stony-faced 'socializing' at the Galtizh-hosted reception M03 29 yesterday evening and his grudgingly retracted 'demands' about the M03 30 Exodus Hall crystal - Tiam has suddenly requested a second meeting M03 31 with Ambassador Riley. Whether or not his request has anything to M03 32 do with the crystal or with the Probe's alleged activity - or even M03 33 with its alleged existence - will presumably become clear at the M03 34 meeting, set for 1400 hours. Another puzzle is the 'informal' M03 35 meeting Commander Hiran has requested with me, not on either the M03 36 Galtizh or the Enterprise but on Temaris. It, too, is M03 37 scheduled for 1400 hours.

M03 38 "You will not be in attendance, then, Captain M03 39 Kirk?"

M03 40 Tiam, flanked by only two of his aides as he stepped down from M03 41 the transporter platform, managed a hurt look, though it was M03 42 undercut by the gleam in his eyes. Something, Kirk thought, M03 43 has certainly cheered him up since last night.

M03 44 "I'm afraid not, Ambassador. Business with Commander M03 45 Hiran."

M03 46 A millisecond scowl flickered across Tiam's face. "I M03 47 see." He turned and looked back at Kirk as the ensigns M03 48 assigned to escort him and his aides to the conference stepped M03 49 forward. "I would remind you - as I have already reminded M03 50 Commander Hiran - that Ambassador Riley and I are the only official M03 51 representatives of our governments."

M03 52 "I'll remember, Ambassador. I wouldn't have it any M03 53 other way." And I'm glad to see that it wasn't M03 54 your idea for Hiran to have another chat with me.

M03 55 "I am pleased to hear you say that, Captain." M03 56 There was a faint emphasis that said, at least to Kirk, that the M03 57 reminder to Hiran had been less well received.

M03 58 "Ready, Captain," the transporter tech informed M03 59 him.

M03 60 "Ready, Ensign," Kirk responded, centering M03 61 himself on a transporter circle. Moments later, the transporter's M03 62 energy field gripped him and the Enterprise flashed out of M03 63 existence, replaced by the ruins of Temaris Four.

M03 64 Hiran was waiting, unsmiling, his eyes fixed on Exodus Hall a M03 65 dozen meters away.

M03 66 "Welcome again to Temaris Four, Captain Kirk. Has the M03 67 diplomacy begun?"

M03 68 "It will shortly. Or something will begin shortly. M03 69 It could be interesting to see just what it is."

M03 70 Hiran's smile returned briefly. "May I assume M03 71 Ambassador Tiam warned you of the dangers of impersonating a M03 72 diplomat? Not that it has kept him from attempting M03 73 it."

M03 74 Kirk laughed. "He 'reminded' me that neither you nor I M03 75 am an 'official' representative."

M03 76 "More's the pity," Hiran said, sobering and M03 77 then falling silent, leaving Kirk to wonder what Romulan saying M03 78 could have caused that particular Earth human colloquialism to M03 79 emerge from the translator. He was about to speak when the Romulan M03 80 continued abruptly.

M03 81 "What do you know of Kalis Three, Federation M03 82 captain?"

M03 83 Kirk masked his surprise with a frown. "I know it was M03 84 not one of the Empire's finer hours. Why do you ask?"

M03 85 The Romulan remained silent for several seconds. Finally, he M03 86 pulled himself even more stiffly erect than his normal stance held M03 87 him. "I am starting to think that this entire conference is M03 88 also not one of our finer hours, as you put it." he M03 89 said.

M03 90 Another surprise, masked by a deeper frown. "Would you M03 91 mind establishing some kind of connection between your last two M03 92 utterances, Commander?"

M03 93 A faint smile touched the corners of Hiran's mouth and M03 94 vanished. "That is good, Federation captain. You are M03 95 careful with your words. You ask me to explain. You do not deny M03 96 knowledge of what that explanation might be."

M03 97 "And if I did?"

M03 98 "I would not openly question you."

M03 99 Kirk nodded. "You are careful as well, Commander Hiran. M03 100 However, since you initiated both this meeting and this M03 101 conversation ..."

M03 102 "I assume you are aware of your Dr. Benar's experience M03 103 on Kalis Three."

M03 104 "I am. I was given to understand the opportunity to M03 105 work here on Temaris was intended as a form of M03 106 reparation."

M03 107 "As was I. As were many others."

M03 108 "But ...?" Kirk prompted when Hiran again fell M03 109 silent.

M03 110 "Were you also aware that the one who must work closest M03 111 with Dr. Benar is the brother of the one who was in command on M03 112 Kalis Three?"

M03 113 "Dajan, yes, brother to Reelan. But I learned of it M03 114 only two days ago."

M03 115 "How did you acquire that knowledge, Federation M03 116 captain?"

M03 117 "How did you acquire it, Commander? Or have you M03 118 known all along?"

M03 119 "No! If I had ..." Hiran broke off sharply, M03 120 shaking his head. "I would like to think I would have done M03 121 as I am doing now."

M03 122 "I have no wish to offend you, Commander," Kirk M03 123 said. "I seek only information."

M03 124 "You have not offended me, Captain. In this instance, I M03 125 am offended only by the actions of my own people. How did you learn M03 126 of this - two days ago, you said?"

M03 127 "From Dajan and Dr. Benar themselves."

M03 128 "They know, then?"

M03 129 "Since just before they entered the Exodus M03 130 Hall."

M03 131 "And yet they still work together?"

M03 132 "There are some rough moments when each discovered who M03 133 the other was, but they agreed that they couldn't let it stand in M03 134 the way of continuing their work on Temaris. If anything, they're M03 135 working more quickly and more efficiently now than M03 136 before."

M03 137 Hiran's eyes widened in surprise, but then comprehension came. M03 138 "Yes, of course. If their selection was an attempt to M03 139 sabotage this conference, then there will almost certainly be other M03 140 attempts - attempts that could succeed and bring an end not only to M03 141 the conference but to the dig as well."

M03 142 "Exactly," Kirk acknowledged. "In fact, I M03 143 suspect that was one of the reasons Dajan agreed so quickly to M03 144 allow the crystal to be brought to the Enterprise for M03 145 analysis."

M03 146 Hiran almost laughed. "Then their learning the truth M03 147 has already proven useful. The information in the crystal has been M03 148 extracted without damage, and Tiam was driven wild."

M03 149 "He did seem somewhat perturbed," Kirk M03 150 admitted. "But tell me, Commander, do you have any idea why M03 151 he suddenly decided to demand a second meeting? Has he decided to M03 152 admit that the Probe actually does exist?"

M03 153 "I am not privy to his thoughts, nor to his private M03 154 communications with the Citadel. I only know that he has engaged in M03 155 a number of the latter."

M03 156 Probably receiving information similar to what the M03 157 Federation obtained from their so-far-secret informant, Kirk M03 158 thought, and for a moment he considered confiding in the Romulan M03 159 commander. But no, this was not his secret alone but the M03 160 Federation's, and no matter how much his instinct told him that M03 161 Hiran could be trusted, it would be treasonous foolishness to M03 162 follow through on that instinct. Even if Hiran himself could be M03 163 totally trusted, there were obviously others on board the M03 164 Galtizh who could not. And whoever it was in the Empire who M03 165 was risking his life to get these messages out, he didn't need some M03 166 starship captain he'd never heard of going fuzzy-minded and M03 167 lowering his odds of survival even further.

M03 168 "No matter," Kirk said. "We'll know M03 169 soon enough. In the meantime, Commander, do you have any thoughts M03 170 as to what other strings these would-be saboteurs might have to M03 171 their bow?"

M03 172 "Tiam, of course."

M03 173 "Of course. Is he a dupe, like Dajan appears to be, or M03 174 a conspirator?"

M03 175 "Dupe, I suspect, although that might be wishful M03 176 thinking. His background, as given to me, at any rate, was that of M03 177 a midlevel bureaucrat of no particular importance."

M03 178 Kirk nodded. "Dajan said much the same. My own guess M03 179 would be that Tiam was picked primarily because of his marriage to M03 180 Dajan's sister. He was promoted for no discernible reason, just as M03 181 Dajan and Jandra were 'rehabilitated' for no discernible M03 182 reason."

M03 183 "Other than their close relationship to Reelan and M03 184 Kalis Three."

M03 185 "Exactly," Kirk agreed. "Is there any way you M03 186 could learn who recommended Tiam for the job?"

M03 187 Hiran frowned thoughtfully. "Perhaps, but not without M03 188 calls to the Citadel that would doubtless raise M03 189 suspicions."

M03 190 "Then don't make them," Kirk said flatly. M03 191 The last thing I need, Kirk thought, is to lose the M03 192 one Romulan in authority here who can be trusted, even M03 193 provisionally. "If you're so inclined, do some M03 194 discreet checking when this is over and you're back M03 195 home."

M03 196 "I will, Federation captain, for all the good it will M03 197 do." Hiran smiled. "But for now, before the M03 198 sabotage is complete, perhaps I can deliver the tour of the M03 199 Galtizh that I promised."

M03 200 "I would be honored, Romulan commander," Kirk M03 201 said, returning the smile.

M03 202 "Then we had best waste no more time," Hiran M03 203 said, reaching for his communicator.

M03 204 For the first time since the mission had begun, the commander - M03 205 he found it hard to think of himself as anything else, despite M03 206 Hiran's assumption of the title for this mission - was pleased.

M03 207 Above, in the Enterprise, the 'peace' conference - which M03 208 in any sane universe would never have begun - would be ended as M03 209 soon as that buffoon Tiam and the Federation ambassador completed M03 210 their meaningless ritual. It was here, on Temaris, that the real M03 211 work would be done. Hiran would get his due, as would his opposite M03 212 number from the Federation.

M03 213 And their deaths would ensure that such dangerous foolishness M03 214 would not soon be repeated.

M03 215 The traitors - 'reformers,' they called themselves! - who had M03 216 tricked their way into power would be out within days, if not M03 217 hours, never to return. If the Federation could not be convinced M03 218 that their legendary Captain Kirk had murdered a Romulan in cold M03 219 blood, what matter? It was in the Empire where it needed to be M03 220 believed, and in the Empire, treachery and Federation M03 221 were virtually synonymous. There would be few who would not accept M03 222 unquestioningly that the Federation had tricked that spacegoing M03 223 behemoth into slaughtering thousands of Romulans on Wlaariivi. Nor M03 224 would they doubt that a Federation starship captain, when M03 225 confronted with irrefutable evidence of his own role in that M03 226 treachery, would kill the Romulan commander who brought that M03 227 evidence to him. If necessary, there would be ample testimony by M03 228 civilian witnesses to the 'collusion' the two had engaged in prior M03 229 to their falling out, while he himself could testify to the anger M03 230 and disillusionment felt by the naively reform-minded Hiran when M03 231 the evidence of the Federation captain's deceit forced him to M03 232 acknowledge his own gullibility. This scenario, which had come to M03 233 him almost the moment news of Wlaariivi had reached him, would be M03 234 at least as effective as any of the earlier ones he had considered M03 235 and far more satisfying.

M03 236 But where was Jutak? He looked around, suddenly uneasy for the M03 237 first time. Hiran and Kirk had been talking for minutes, and Jutak M03 238 had still not returned with the phaser rifle he had earlier M03 239 concealed in the ruins. He fingered his own phaser and wondered if M03 240 it would serve in the event that Jutak had met with unforeseen M03 241 problems. M03 242 M04 1 <#FROWN:M04\>Chapter 1

M04 2 Even death will not release you.

M04 3 An expression of the

M04 4 Los Angeles Science

M04 5 Fiction Society, ca. 1949

M04 6 Jay Omega decided to wait until the shouting stopped before he M04 7 knocked. Against his better judgment he had left the happy anarchy M04 8 of the Electrical Engineering building and ventured into the M04 9 English department to see if Marion wanted to go to dinner, but the M04 10 sounds coming from her office indicated that Dr. Marion Farley was M04 11 otherwise engaged. The typed index card on the door announced that M04 12 she had office hours from 4 to 5 P.M., so Jay assumed that she M04 13 was in conference with a student. He had put his ear to her office M04 14 door to see if she was nearly finished and had heard the following M04 15 exchange.

M04 16 "This is a world literature class, not a science M04 17 fiction class!"

M04 18 "But -"

M04 19 "And I can't believe that you actually wrote a paper M04 20 comparing Joseph Conrad to Robert Silverberg!"

M04 21 "But, Dr. Farley, when I read Heart of M04 22 Darkness, I recognized Downward to the Earth almost M04 23 exac-"

M04 24 "And you accused Joseph Conrad of M04 25 plagiarism!"

M04 26 Jay Omega sighed and walked away. Marion was going to be a M04 27 while. He wondered how late their dinner date was likely to be. Jay M04 28 Omega and Marion Farley had little in common besides the fact that M04 29 they were both carbon-based life forms, but despite the differences M04 30 in temperament, interests, and income, they had been a couple for M04 31 two years now. The relationship began when Jay ventured into the M04 32 English department with the manuscript of his first book, and M04 33 Marion asked if he had a note from his adviser. He still looked M04 34 young for a Ph.D., and his jeans from the tenth grade did still M04 35 fit, though Marion had made him throw them away. He supposed he had M04 36 changed for the better since then. Marion had once seen his high M04 37 school yearbook photo and said, "You looked like a M04 38 mosquito." Now he had contact lenses instead of Coke-bottle M04 39 glasses, and his brown hair was cut in a longer, more flattering M04 40 style. They had both blossomed after adolescence. Marion had M04 41 endured high school as a fat and friendless intellectual; now she M04 42 was a slender, dark-haired Ph.D. who ran in the local marathons and M04 43 sparred with the women's fencing team. It was no coincidence that M04 44 the poster above her desk featured The Avengers' Emma M04 45 Peel, Marion's role model in adolescence.

M04 46 Jay looked down at his khaki work pants and plaid shirt. He M04 47 still didn't dress like the dapper young professors in English, but M04 48 Marion had given up on him in that department. He didn't wear power M04 49 ties, but kept her decrepit car running, which more than made up M04 50 for it. Jay and Marion were in a romantic holding pattern, waiting M04 51 to see if they would both get tenure so that neither would have to M04 52 leave the university and start over elsewhere.

M04 53 Jay ventured back to the office door. She was still at it. He M04 54 sighed. If things dragged on for too long, he could always go in M04 55 search of a snack machine, but since most of the English professors M04 56 seemed to be on a health and fitness kick, he wasn't even sure that M04 57 they had a snack machine, and if they did, it might offer such M04 58 arcane items as wheat germ and carob candy bars. Long ago he M04 59 decided that the English department was about as alien as anything M04 60 Rolbert Silverberg could come up with. Even after several years' M04 61 association with one of their assistant professors, he didn't M04 62 understand their tribal customs. Or their bulletin boards. Every M04 63 now and then he would come in and read the notices while he was M04 64 waiting for Marion, just to see if any literary culture had worn M04 65 off on him Apparently, it hadn't.

M04 66 "WARREN WRITES BETTER THAN ANNE."

M04 67 Now what did that mean? Jay Omegy turned to a pink-haired M04 68 young woman in overalls who was pinning a Literary Lions notice M04 69 over the campus newspaper clipping annoncing that Professor Byron M04 70 Snipes had just been published in the avant-garde (which Marion M04 71 said was pronounced "mimeographed") literary magazine, M04 72 The Maggots Digest

M04 73 Jay knew about the Literary Lions. They were a group of English M04 74 instructors and other town writers who gave readings every Sunday M04 75 afternoon in the New Age Caf<*_>e-acute<*/>. Marion had dragged him M04 76 there once when her office mate Toni Richardson was reading from M04 77 her stream-of-consciousness novel about a Labrador retriever who M04 78 thought it was Virginia Woolf. Every time the dog had to go into M04 79 the water to retrieve a duck, there would be pages and pages of M04 80 inner dialogue over whether or not it would get back out. Jay M04 81 didn't understand it at all, but everyone else had told Toni that M04 82 it was very experimental and definitely not accessible. (Marion M04 83 said that "experimental meant writing in the present tense, M04 84 and "not accessible" meant that they didn't M04 85 understand it either.)

M04 86 Jay Omega's opinion was not solicited. He was the only M04 87 nationally published author in town, but since he had written a M04 88 science fiction novel called Bimbos of the Death Sun, he M04 89 was not invited to read with the mineral water and tofu crowd at M04 90 the New Age Caf<*_>e-acute<*/>. Not even for their four-dollar M04 91 beans and rice fund raisers in support of El Salvador. (Or was it M04 92 against support in El Salvador?) Anyway, Jay didn't remember M04 93 any Literary Lions called Warren or Anne. So what was that M04 94 about?

M04 95 "Excuse me," he said, pointing to the M04 96 hand-lettered graffiti. "Could you tell me what that M04 97 means?"

M04 98 The pink lady glanced at the sign. "Warren Writes M04 99 Better Than Anne." She nodded, with a frosty smile. M04 100 "Beatty, of course. Only they spell it M04 101 differently." Seeing that he still looked blank, she M04 102 explained kindly, "Warren Beatty is Shirley MacLaine's M04 103 little brother."

M04 104 Before he could explain that it was Anne he had never heard of, M04 105 she had walked away with her sheaf of notices, and another student M04 106 was tugging at his sleeve. "Dr. Mega, I'm glad I ran into M04 107 you!"

M04 108 The tall red-headed guy with a Starfleet patch on his jacket M04 109 looked familiar. What was that kid's name? Second row, first seat M04 110 in engineering fundamentals. Jay managed a feeble grin, hoping he M04 111 wasn't about to be asked for a reference.

M04 112 The young man set his books on top of the covered trash can and M04 113 chattered on, happily unaware of his anonymity. "When I was M04 114 home on spring break, I tried to buy a copy of your book for my M04 115 high school physics teacher, but our local bookstore said it wasn't M04 116 on their order list." M04 117 Dr. James Owens Mega - aka science fiction author Jay Omega - M04 118 heaved a mighty sigh of resignation. "Did you look under M04 119 G?"

M04 120 "No. Is that a new one? I wanted your first book - M04 121 Bimbos of the Death Sun."

M04 122 "I know. It's listed under G. For Galactic Wonders M04 123 #2: Bimbos of the Death Sun. The first part is the series M04 124 title. Alien Books lists all their titles that way. The first one M04 125 in the series is Galactic Wonders #1: Betrayal at M04 126 Byzantium by Susan Shwartz." She's not happy about it M04 127 either, he finished silently.

M04 128 Several months earlier, when they found out about this M04 129 nation-wide blunder, Marion had remarked, "This is M04 130 the only book in history that requires a password in order to M04 131 purchase it!"

M04 132 The student was looking at him as if he were crazy. M04 133 "Under G," he repeated carefully. "Uhh - M04 134 I've taken some marketing courses, Dr. Mega, and I have to tell M04 135 you, that doesn't sound like a good idea."

M04 136 Jay Omega nodded sadly. "So my royalty statements would M04 137 indicate."

M04 138 It seemed to Jay Omega that he had the worst of both worlds - M04 139 another reason that the English department made him uneasy. The way M04 140 he figured it, an author could either go for respect in the M04 141 literary world - critical reviews in prestigious journals, M04 142 scholarly articles on one's works, smallprint runs at respected M04 143 university presses - or he could write popular fiction and receive M04 144 fan mail and big bucks. The lurid bikini-clad girl on the cover of M04 145 Jay Omega's paperback original left no doubt in the English M04 146 department as to which category his work fell into. They M04 147 assumed that he was making a fortune, and that it was easy M04 148 money.

M04 149 Every time Marion talked him into attending a faculty party, M04 150 one of her colleagues would sidle up to him, margarita in hand, and M04 151 say, "You know, maybe during spring break I'll dash off a M04 152 science fiction novel. I could use the extra cash."

M04 153 Apparently they didn't intend to be insulting. They all thought M04 154 that he was rich and lazy. Jay suspected that if he admitted to M04 155 them how hard he worked and how little he made, they would simply M04 156 replace their envy with contempt, so he left well enough alone.

M04 157 The professorial misconception was that genre writing was easy M04 158 and high-paying, and that anyone with scholarly training could do M04 159 it in a matter of hours. Occasionally one of them tried. Jay Omega M04 160 had been forced to read some of these dashed-off manuscripts, and M04 161 he found them to be plodding exercises in obscurity. They sounded M04 162 like dissertations. Finding excuses not to give out the name of his M04 163 agent or his editor was beginning to require more creativity than M04 164 his latest book. He was losing patience. Sooner or later one of M04 165 them was going to sneer at him once too often, and he was going to M04 166 say, "Look - if you really want a surefire scheme for cash M04 167 from trash, forget genre fiction. Just write a long convoluted M04 168 novel in the present tense with no quotation marks and sell it to a M04 169 university press. Get your friends to write reviews of it in the M04 170 MLA Journal, get tenure on your literary reputation, and M04 171 then sit back for the rest of your life collecting a fat salary and M04 172 teaching two classes a week."

M04 173 Marion would kill him.

M04 174 He decided that he'd better stop loitering in the halls of the M04 175 English department, before one of them accosted him with a new plot M04 176 summary. Perhaps he could write Marion a note asking her to meet M04 177 him at his office.

M04 178 "Ah, Dr. Mega! I've been meaning to speak to M04 179 you."

M04 180 Too late!

M04 181 Jay Omega looked up, hoping that he wasn't about to be M04 182 presented with another manuscript. To his relief he saw Erik Giles, M04 183 empty-handed, beckoning from the door of his office. Professor M04 184 Giles taught nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British M04 185 literature, and as far as Jay knew, he wrote only for scholarly M04 186 publications.

M04 187 "I take it that Marion is busy," Giles was M04 188 saying. "Why don't you come in for a cup of coffee, and you M04 189 can keep an eye on her door." He raised one eyebrow. M04 190 "Or at least monitor the noise level."

M04 191 With a grin of considerable relief, Jay Omega hurried into M04 192 Professor Giles' shabby, book-strewn office. Compared to the M04 193 engineering offices, it was a Victorian parlor. (Marion once said M04 194 that his office looked like the inside of a pinball machine.) M04 195 He removed a stack of papers from the Goodwill armchair and sat M04 196 down. Despite the clutter, it was a comfortable room, well suited M04 197 to Giles himself. It had the same air of old, but still M04 198 serviceable, and its genial mix of well-worn books and prints M04 199 of English landscapes suggested an old-fashioned gentility M04 200 indicative of an aging scholar. This, of course, was a carefully M04 201 cultivated pose on the part of Erik Giles, and it served him very M04 202 well. His Dickensian office, his rimless glasses, and his baggy M04 203 cardigan sweaters tallied with everyone's expectations of a kindly M04 204 but dull middle-aged professor of English; few people bothered to M04 205 look beneath the facade.

M04 206 Marion had found out the secret quite by accident, on her way M04 207 to her science fiction class to lecture on the histore of the M04 208 genre. Four minutes late as usual, she had scurried around the M04 209 corner, balancing a chin-high stack of paperbacks, and crashed into M04 210 Professor Giles, who was just leaving his lit class on Kipling. The M04 211 collision sent the books flying. Ever the gentleman, Erik Giles had M04 212 stooped to help his colleague gather up her belongings.

M04 213 M04 214 M05 1 <#FROWN:M05\>His Cool, Blue Skin

M05 2 Caroline Spector

M05 3 So much pain.

M05 4 It pierces like a knife -and the blood. Nobody told me there M05 5 would be so much blood.

M05 6 Now the faeries come with their tiny hands, caressing my brow, M05 7 saying words meant to soothe me, but I'm not comforted. The pain is M05 8 relentless. I feel I'm washing away, caught in this circle of M05 9 agony, the ebb and flow of my life stretched out in endless minutes M05 10 of suffering.

M05 11 They say it won't last much longer, but what do faeries M05 12 know?

M05 13 I want this to end. I cry out, and remember how it began.

M05 14 It started with the storms. Terrific, pounding water crashing M05 15 from the sky rocking the earth, making the world tremble. The M05 16 lightning looked like huge grabbing hands and the thunder was M05 17 deafening. I thought the storm lasted for days -maybe weeks. But M05 18 I'm not certain anymore. Maybe it only lasted minutes.

M05 19 Benedict said the storm was the beginning of the Millennium, M05 20 the Apocalypse. He looked out the window as if he expected to see M05 21 Famine, Plague, War, and Death riding down on the farm. There was a M05 22 gleeful look on his face when he stared out the window, the M05 23 expression of a wicked little boy with something to hide.

M05 24 We'd come to England for our honeymoon.

M05 25 I loved the accents, the bad food, the eccentricities. London M05 26 charmed me.

M05 27 But London made Benedict nervous. He said there were too many M05 28 years there, that he could feel the pressure of history on him like M05 29 heavy weights.

M05 30 Eventually, we decided to rent a small farmhouse in the M05 31 countryside. Quaint and rustic, we could pretend to be gentlemen M05 32 farmers, cozy in our cottage hide-away.

M05 33 I like to remember that time -it didn't last long.

M05 34 Everything changed. Except me.

M05 35 I tried to talk to Benedict about it, but he just looked at me. M05 36 Looking into those unblinking, ebony eyes was like staring into the M05 37 abyss. He didn't know what I was talking about.

M05 38 "Everything has changed," I said. M05 39 "Can't you tell? You didn't use to be ... like M05 40 this."

M05 41 "Like what?"

M05 42 "Like this. Blue."

M05 43 Silence.

M05 44 He toyed absently with his long braids. Crew-cut Benedict M05 45 wearing a rasta hairdo.

M05 46 "I think you should see a healer," he said.

M05 47 "You mean a shrink."

M05 48 "I don't want you to get smaller, I want you healed. M05 49 You are obviously cursed by some strange magic."

M05 50 "Bull."

M05 51 That was one thing that hadn't changed. Benedict had always M05 52 been good at putting off blame. It infuriated me when he did M05 53 that.

M05 54 "Look," I said. "I know this sounds crazy. You M05 55 think I don't know how insane I sound? But I swear I'm not making M05 56 this up. Things have changed. I remember microwave ovens, M05 57 computers, television, CD's, for heavens sake. Now you look like a M05 58 Smurf on steroids and we're living in fairy-tale land. Don't you M05 59 find this disconcerting?"

M05 60 He stared at me, silent and cold.

M05 61 "I must go out now," he said.

M05 62 ***

M05 63 My dreams.

M05 64 They were vivid, full of omens and import. Bad dreams for a bad M05 65 time. The first dream went like this:

M05 66 She stands in a field of flowers. Her robes billow in M05 67 slow-motion, hugging her, outlining her breasts, thighs, and M05 68 stomach. In her hand is an obsidian crown. She raises it over her M05 69 head then lowers it to her brow.

M05 70 Hordes of foul creatures appear on the horizon behind her, led M05 71 by four horsemen.

M05 72 She could stop them, but she doesn't. The thrill of the power M05 73 is in her now. A delicious wickedness -seductive and damning. She M05 74 runs her hands over her body as this evil force flows through M05 75 her.

M05 76 In the end, the meadow is ruined, blackened and scorched beyond M05 77 recognition.

M05 78 She leans forward and I feel her warm, fetid breath. Her face M05 79 is a parody of beauty, twisted by her cruelty.

M05 80 "Remember, I am Ardinay. I am Death."

M05 81 Her voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

M05 82 There's someone with me, a shadow, grey and vague in the M05 83 background. He reaches for me, but his hands slide through me. I'm M05 84 as insubstantial as a ghost. He tries to speak, but I can't hear M05 85 him.

M05 86 I woke in a sweat. Benedict was still asleep. I touched him, a M05 87 reflex. His skin was cool, hard and unyielding, like a pebble under M05 88 fast, running water.

M05 89 The tears began then, hot tears in my frosty bed.

M05 90 ***

M05 91 Benedict and I argued. He denied that the world had changed. M05 92 These fights left me so frustrated that I often ran screaming from M05 93 the room.

M05 94 I began to mistrust him.

M05 95 The local villagers knew something was wrong with me, too. They M05 96 gave me strange looks when I went into town and stared at me out of M05 97 their crude huts. They didn't think I noticed them looking, but I M05 98 did. I could feel their eyes on me like ants crawling on my skin. M05 99 It got so bad I didn't go into town after a while. Instead, I spent M05 100 my time tinkering with the few items left from before the storms. M05 101 My portable CD player still worked. When Benedict came home one M05 102 evening I showed it to him. I even made him sit down and try to use M05 103 the damn thing. It stopped playing the minute he touched it.

M05 104 He told me I was a sorceress, that I was playing with evil M05 105 magic and I must stop. He said I mustn't tell anyone what I could M05 106 do.

M05 107 I began to hate him.

M05 108 ***

M05 109 I had many dreams. I couldn't escape them. They were so real, M05 110 and seemed to become more real as time went by. Sometimes I wasn't M05 111 sure I was dreaming anymore. I don't remember all of them.

M05 112 ***

M05 113 I stand on that familiar field. Ardinay is here. Clad in armor, M05 114 she rides a huge horse. Her lance is drawn and aimed at someone. I M05 115 think it's me, but as she charges forward, I see her rush toward a M05 116 man. He looks like a Viking. Her lance strikes him. I run to him. M05 117 His chest is soaked in blood.

M05 118 I cradle his head in my arms. He looks at me. I'm drawn by his M05 119 eyes. Seduced. I'll do anything for him.

M05 120 "See what she's done," he says. "Save M05 121 me from her."

M05 122 "How?" I ask.

M05 123 "Kill her."

M05 124 "Who are you?" I ask

M05 125 "Uthorion. Angar Uthorion."

M05 126 He coughs blood. It spatters my face like teardrops. The light M05 127 goes out of his eyes, and I'm left holding his limp body. The pain M05 128 of his death hits me in waves of agony. He is my life and Ardinay, M05 129 that bitch, has killed him.

M05 130 I lay him on the ground. A shadow falls across us. I look up. M05 131 Standing before me is a knight clad in armor similar to M05 132 Ardinay's.

M05 133 "You are not supposed to be here," he says.

M05 134 "Who are you?" I ask.

M05 135 "Noble of the House Gerrik. Who are you?"

M05 136 "Martha Ayers. From America."

M05 137 "You are dead," he says.

M05 138 ***

M05 139 One morning after one of those terrible dreams, I asked M05 140 Benedict what he knew about Ardinay.

M05 141 "Lady Pella Ardinay of the Houses?" he asked, M05 142 surprised at my interest.

M05 143 "I suppose. I've been having nightmares about M05 144 her."

M05 145 "Oh," he said. "Tell me."

M05 146 Something in his voice made me cautious.

M05 147 "I don't know. Just dreams. I've never heard of her, M05 148 but I have this feeling that she's a real person. Pretty strange, M05 149 don't you think?"

M05 150 "I do not know what to think. I do not know you M05 151 anymore, Marka."

M05 152 "I told you, my name isn't Marka. It's Martha. Martha M05 153 Ayers. Good god, Benedict, we've known each other for years. You M05 154 know my name."

M05 155 "I know that you are my lifemate and I do not M05 156 understand this strange behavior."

M05 157 "You and me both."

M05 158 We stood and looked at each other. Even with all the changes, I M05 159 still knew him. It was a queer sensation, as though reality were M05 160 layered over by a fine film. In that moment I could almost see the M05 161 truth, but not quite. Not then, not until later.

M05 162 I'd never felt so alone. I came to England believing that M05 163 Benedict and I were starting a life together that would last until M05 164 we died. Now my life was slipping away from me faster and faster M05 165 and I couldn't stop it.

M05 166 I went riding my bike in the countryside one day. What I saw as M05 167 I rode along scared me even more than when Benedict changed into an M05 168 elf after the storms.

M05 169 The countryside had turned into something awful. Green rolling M05 170 hills and meadows had been transformed into scarred, blackened M05 171 earth. The trees were twisted and gray beyond recognition and I M05 172 could barely identify what type they were. When I stopped and M05 173 touched one of them it seemed to cry out. For an instant, I could M05 174 have sworn I saw a woman's face in the bark.

M05 175 All around me the trees sighed. Mournful sounds. I wanted to M05 176 gather them together and ease their pain, but I couldn't. I M05 177 couldn't help anyone. Not myself, not Benedict, not those wretched M05 178 tress.

M05 179 I began to pedal faster, as though I could outrun the terrible M05 180 images I was seeing. That's when I came upon the group of dwarves. M05 181 I'm not talking about little people, although they were. I mean M05 182 real dwarves, with beards, crossbows, and armor. They stopped me, M05 183 fascinated by my bike.

M05 184 Their names were Diver, Wart, Ferris, and Brown Billy. I tried M05 185 hard not to laugh as they introduced themselves. It felt good to M05 186 laugh. It'd been a long time since I'd felt happy.

M05 187 Diver was the leader of the group, outgoing and talkative. M05 188 Unlike the others, he kept his beard short-cropped and M05 189 neatly trimmed. Wart also liked to talk and had a sense of humor, M05 190 but the other two, Ferris and Brown Billy, didn't seem to have M05 191 anything to say. I wasn't sure if they were taciturn or just M05 192 stupid.

M05 193 All of them were dressed in shades of brown and gray. Their M05 194 clothes seemed practical and sturdy.

M05 195 They told me a lot about Aysle, which is where they said they M05 196 came from. And they talked about Lady Ardinay. They seemed to like M05 197 her. I felt sorry for them, being duped by that woman. Obviously, M05 198 she had deceived them into believing that she was good and kind. M05 199 That she would take advantage of their trusting nature revealed a M05 200 lot about her character to me.

M05 201 They talked about the storms. Slowly, I began to understand M05 202 what had happened to my world. Ardinay had invaded Earth and M05 203 imposed this fantasy world on us. My dreams were signs that I had M05 204 to stop her. I didn't want to be involved with this, but it was M05 205 beginning to look like I didn't have a choice. If I wanted my world M05 206 and my life back, I had to take some action to stop her.

M05 207 I spent the afternoon together with the dwarves, and when I M05 208 left, I felt better than I had since the storms.

M05 209 Dwarves and talking trees were becoming commonplace to me.

M05 210 ***

M05 211 "Join us," Mara says.

M05 212 We stand in the field where the other dreams took place. This M05 213 time it's covered in green grass dotted with delicate pink and M05 214 white flowers.

M05 215 Mara looks ultra-punk, her hair a white mane. She touches me M05 216 with her cybernetic arm, pointing towards a castle in the distance M05 217 I've never noticed before.

M05 218 "I know you think Ardinay is the enemy, but she's not. M05 219 Uthorion is deceiving you."

M05 220 "Liar," I say. "He's my life. And you want to M05 221 kill him."

M05 222 "No," she says. "Uthorion is using you. Can't M05 223 you see?"

M05 224 "I don't believe you. He warned me about M05 225 you."

M05 226 I put my hand into my pocket, fingers closing around the handle M05 227 of a knife. I don't remember putting it there, but feel a surge of M05 228 confidence at its presence.

M05 229 "Please, listen to me," she says. M05 230 "You're important to all sides right now. You're the M05 231 balance. If you go to him, he'll use you up and throw you aside. M05 232 But we need you. We will always need you. Every Storm Knight is M05 233 important in this struggle."

M05 234 M05 235 M06 1 <#FROWN:M06\>Seekers

M06 2 Todd Fahnestock

M06 3 Gylar Radilan, of Lader's Knoll, set his mother's hand back M06 4 onto her chest, over the rumpled blanket. It was done then. Gylar M06 5 wasn't sure whether to be relieved or to crumple into the corner M06 6 and cry. Finally, though, it was done. Stepping back, he fell into M06 7 the chair he'd put by her bed, the chair he'd sat upon all night M06 8 while holding her hand.

M06 9 His head bowed for a moment as he thought about the past few M06 10 days. The Silent Death had swept through the entire village, M06 11 killing everyone. It had been impossible to detect its coming. M06 12 There were no early symptoms. One minute, people were laughing and M06 13 playing- like Lutha, the girl he had known - and the next, they M06 14 were in bed, complaining weakly of the icy cold they felt, but M06 15 burning to the touch. Their skin darkened to a ghastly purple as M06 16 they coughed up thicker and thicker phlegm, and in a few hours M06 17 their bodies locked up as with rigor mortis.

M06 18 Poor Lutha. Gylar swallowed and sniffed back tears. She'd been M06 19 the first one, the one who had brought about the downfall of the M06 20 village. Gylar could remember going with her into the new marsh, M06 21 the marsh that hadn't been there before the world shook. People had M06 22 told their children repeatedly not to go in. They said it had all M06 23 sorts of evils in it, but that had never stopped Lutha. She'd never M06 24 listened to her parents much, and once she got something into her M06 25 head, there was no balking her. She'd had to know about their tree, M06 26 his and her tree.

M06 27 Now she was dead. Now everyone was dead. Everyone, of course, M06 28 except Gylar. For some reason, he hadn't been affected, or at least M06 29 not yet. His parents had seemed to be immune as well, until the day M06 30 they collapsed in their beds, shivering.

M06 31 Gylar rose and crossed the room. He looked out the window to M06 32 the new day that was shining its light across the hazy horizon and M06 33 sifting down over the trees skirting the new marsh. He clenched his M06 34 teeth as a tear finally fell from his eye. If it hadn't been for M06 35 the marsh, none of this would have happened! Lutha never would have M06 36 brought the evil back with her, and everyone would be okay. But, M06 37 no, the gods had thrown the fiery mountain. They'd cracked the M06 38 earth, and the warm water had come up from below, and with it M06 39 whatever had killed the town.

M06 40 Gylar banged his small hand on the windowsill. Why did they do M06 41 it? The villagers all had been good people. Paladine had been their M06 42 patron; Gylar's mother had been meticulously devoted to her god, M06 43 teaching Gylar to be the same. She had loved Paladine, more than M06 44 anyone in the village. Even after the Cataclysm, when everyone else M06 45 turned from the gods in scorn and hatred, Gylar's mother continued M06 46 her evening prayers with increasing earnestness. What did she, of M06 47 all people, do to deserve such punishment? What did any of them do M06 48 to deserve it? Was everyone on Krynn going to die, then? Was that M06 49 it?

M06 50 Gylar was young, but he wasn't stupid. He'd heard his parents M06 51 talking about all the other awful things now happening to people M06 52 who'd survived the tremors and floods. Didn't the gods care about M06 53 mortals anymore?

M06 54 Caught up in a slam of emotions, Gylar turned and ran from the M06 55 house. He ran to the edge of the new bog and yelled up at the sky M06 56 in his rage.

M06 57 "Why? If you hate us so much, why'd you even make us in M06 58 the first place?"

M06 59 Gylar collapsed to his knees with a sob. Why? It was the only M06 60 thing he could really think of to ask. It all hinged on that. Why M06 61 the Cataclysm? How could humans have been evil enough to deserve M06 62 this? How could anyone?

M06 63 For a long moment he just slumped there, as though some unseen M06 64 chain were dragging at his neck, joining the one already pulling at M06 65 his heart. Gylar sniffled a little and ran his forearm quickly M06 66 across his nose.

M06 67 Stumbling to his feet, he looked at the sky again. Clouds were M06 68 rolling in to obscure the sun, threatening a storm. Gylar sighed. M06 69 Although he had nowhere else to go, he didn't want to stay in this M06 70 place of death. His eyes swept over Mount Phineous. The towering M06 71 mountain still looked overpoweringly out of place, like a sentinel M06 72 sent by the gods to watch over the low, hilly country. The top M06 73 fourth of it was swept by clouds. Another result of the Cataclysm, M06 74 the mountain seemed a counterpart of the new swamp. Brutal and M06 75 imposing, powerful, the towering rock was the opposite of the M06 76 silent, sneaky swamp of death.

M06 77 His fatigue overcame his sadness and revulsion, at least for M06 78 the moment. Slowly, he made his way back to the house, back to the M06 79 dead house. Stopping in the doorway, Gylar turned around to look at M06 80 the land that was growing cold with winter. It was likely going to M06 81 snow today.

M06 82 He turned and slammed the door shut behind him. It didn't M06 83 matter. Nothing much mattered anymore. His limbs dragged at him M06 84 heavily. Sleep, he thought, that's all. Sleep, then, when I wake up M06 85 - if I wake up - I'll figure out what to do.

M06 86 So, for the first time in three days, Gylar slept.

M06 87 Eyes focused on his pray, Marakion stilled his breathing, M06 88 though a haze of white drifted slowly from his mouth. The scruffy M06 89 man before him leaned heavily against the tree, huffing frosty air M06 90 as he tried to recover from the run. Although exhausted, the man M06 91 never once turned his fearful eyes from Marakion.

M06 92 "A merry chase, my friend," Marakion said in a M06 93 voice that was anything but merry. "Tell me what I wish to M06 94 know. This will end."

M06 95 The man stared in disbelief. Marakion was barely winded. The M06 96 man gulped another breath and answered frantically, "I told M06 97 you! I never heard of no 'Knight-killer Marauders!'"

M06 98 Marakion hovered over the thief, his eyes black and M06 99 impenetrable, his lip twitching, barely holding his rage in check. M06 100 The bare blade of his sword glimmered dully. "Knightsbane M06 101 Marauders," he rumbled in a low voice. The scruffy man M06 102 quivered under the smoldering anger. "You are a brigand, M06 103 just like them. You must know of them. Tell me where they M06 104 are."

M06 105 "I told you!" The thief cringed against the M06 106 tree. "I don't know!"

M06 107 In brutal silence, Marakion let loose his pent up rage. One M06 108 instant his sword, Glint, was at his side, and the next, the flat M06 109 of it smashed into the man's neck. The thief was so surprised by M06 110 the attack that he barely had time to blink. The strike sent him M06 111 reeling. Two more clubbing strokes dropped him to the frosty earth, M06 112 unconscious.

M06 113 "Then you live," Marakion said, breathing a bit M06 114 harder. Leaning down, he searched the body thoroughly for the M06 115 insignia that gave his life burning purpose.

M06 116 There was none to be found.

M06 117 Furiously disappointed, he left the useless thug where he lay M06 118 and headed for the road.

M06 119 The town that had been his destination before the small band of M06 120 ruffians had attacked him lay ahead. He had searched all of the M06 121 towns and outlying areas east of here, only to come up M06 122 empty-handed, forever empty-handed. But this desolate area showed M06 123 promise. Marakion was sure the marauders were here. They had to be. M06 124 During the last few days, he'd come across numerous wretches like M06 125 the one he'd just felled. None of them belonged to the Knightsbane, M06 126 but their presence might be a sign that he was getting close to M06 127 their hideout.

M06 128 It wasn't long before sparse trees gave way to a huge, rolling M06 129 meadow. On its edge stood a squat, dirty little town. Marakion M06 130 didn't even look twice at the ramshackle buildings, the muddy, M06 131 unkempt road, the muck-choked stream. The sight of people living in M06 132 such squalor was not unusual to him, not unusual at all. In fact, M06 133 this place was better than some he'd seen.

M06 134 The few people he saw as he followed the road to town gave him M06 135 quick, furtive glances from beneath ragged, threadbare cowls. M06 136 Marakion ignored them, made his way to the first tavern he could M06 137 spot.

M06 138 He didn't even read the name as he entered. It didn't matter to M06 139 him where he was, and the names only depressed him - new names, M06 140 cynically indicative of the time, such as 'The Cataclysm's Hope,' M06 141 or old names, which the owners hadn't bothered to change. Those M06 142 were even worse, sporting a cheerful concept of a world gone M06 143 forever, their signs dangling crookedly from broken chains or loose M06 144 nails.

M06 145 Marakion opened the door; it sagged on its hinges once freed of M06 146 the doorjamb. He pushed it shut, blocking out the inner voice that M06 147 continued to remind him how worthless life was if everything was M06 148 like this.

M06 149 Marakion turned and surveyed the room, walked forward to the M06 150 bar that lined the far wall.

M06 151 The innkeeper had smiled as Marakion had entered, but now M06 152 blanched nervously at sight of the hunter's stony face, the dark, M06 153 deliberate gaze.

M06 154 "Uh, what can I do for you, stranger?"

M06 155 "What do you have to eat this day, innkeep?"

M06 156 "Fairly thick stew tonight. Mutton, if you've the M06 157 wealth."

M06 158 "Bread?"

M06 159 "Sure, stranger, fairly fresh, if you've the M06 160 wealth."

M06 161 Marakion did not return the man's feeble attempts to be M06 162 friendly. "A chunk of fresh bread and the stew." He M06 163 tossed a few coins on the bar. "I'll be at that table over M06 164 there."

M06 165 The innkeeper scooped the coins off the counter in one M06 166 movement. "I'm Griffort. You need anything, I'm the man to M06 167 talk to. I don't suppose you'll be staying for the night. Got a M06 168 couple of rooms open -"

M06 169 "One room," Marakion interrupted, "for M06 170 the night." He left a stark pause in the air and waited.

M06 171 "Uh, um, another of those coins'll do it," the M06 172 unnerved innkeeper stuttered.

M06 173 Marakion paid the man and made his way to the table he'd M06 174 indicated. As he sat down, he touched his money pouch. Not much M06 175 left. A filthy inn, rotten food, a room likely crawling with rats, M06 176 and costing him as much as a night in Palanthas - that was the type M06 177 of world he was living in now.

M06 178 The type of world he lived in now ...

M06 179 Marakion put his fingers to his face and massaged his eyes M06 180 gently. He couldn't make the memories go away. Even if he blocked M06 181 the images, the essence of them still came to him. He couldn't seem M06 182 to shut that out. It infected his every thought, his every M06 183 action.

M06 184 He relaxed, and his muscles began to unknot from the day's M06 185 exercise. He could feel the pull of exhaustion on him. His fingers M06 186 continued to massage closed eyelids, and the inn slowly drifted M06 187 from his attention.

M06 188 Where is she, Marakion? A familiar voice asked the M06 189 question again inside his head.

M06 190 "I don't know. Nearby somewhere. I don't know," M06 191 he muttered.

M06 192 That's not good enough, Marakion. Where is she? M06 193 Where?

M06 194 "I'm looking, trying to find her!"

M06 195 Not good enough, Marakion. There can be no excuses. M06 196 They'll kill her, you know. Every day you fail to find them is M06 197 another day they could kill her, or use her.

M06 198 "I know. I'll find them. If I have to rip apart this M06 199 entire continent. I will."

M06 200 You'd better.

M06 201 The accusing voice drifted away, to be replaced by the vision M06 202 that haunted his nights when he slept and his waking hours whenever M06 203 he lost the concentration that kept it at bay.

M06 204 Fire. Fire and smoke. The flames licked the top of the M06 205 tower windows. The smoke spiraled up from every part of the castle, M06 206 blackening the sky. Despair wrenched at Marakion's heart. He had M06 207 returned home in time to see it fall to the hands of a pillaging M06 208 group of brigands.

M06 209 His horse slipped on the cobblestones that led into the castle. M06 210 He yanked brutally on the reins, pulling the galloping animal to a M06 211 stop. The horse almost stumbled to its knees. M06 212