Remnant ~ Beyond Galactic Empire

Dedication

In loving memory of Megan Elisabeth Miller. She was a huge fan of her father if not of the science fiction genre. She will be greatly missed for the selfless love and joyful appreciation she had for everyone she met.

Chapter 1 – Reunion

Tang Family Farmstead, Mycenae, Apollo System. July 2413 GES.

Rosy Tang came to the window of the farmhouse to see who’d arrived. She was hoping for her father. The aircar’s landing gear whined as if it had been extended once too often, a familiar complaint that likely would be ignored. The clatter of the vehicle bumping down on the stony patch between the farmhouse and the barn called forth a squawk from an offended rooster whose domain the machine had invaded. Then silence. The Tang farmstead salvaged its languorous peace as the dust settled.

The aircar’s occupant got out, carefully leveraging his wiry frame between the raised hatch opening and the uncertain surface at his feet. He looked up but wouldn’t be able to see Rosy standing behind the window. The panes reflected the Mycenaean sun’s orange-hued rays as, chased by shadows, they washed over the weathered eastern side of the building. It was Rosy’s brother, Arun. Not her father.

Arun straightened himself, stretched to remove the kinks from sitting in a space that was too small for his near two-meter height. He shot a brief glance to the underside of the aircar and kicked at a strut. The vehicle settled a final centimeter with a squeak. Then he strode across the open space toward the farmhouse, angling away from the newer house where their grandparents lived. He and Rosy, with their father Ethan, lived in the old farmhouse now. Rosy missed Starchaser, the insulated vacuum-proof vessel she had been born on and, until two years ago, the only place she had ever called home. Now the starship was docked at Mycenae Station, orbiting some 32 thousand plus kilometers above the planet. Almost forgotten.

Rosy pulled her face into a grin and passed a hand through unruly red curls. She was happy to see her brother who’d been gone a few weeks. Dad will be next, she told herself. Soon. Ethan was due to return with news on whether some of the old Starchaser crew would join him in a new adventure—galactic trading. She was hoping…willing the news to be positive. She longed to go back out into the stars. Unlike Arun, though. He was returning from Verde where he had gone to interview for a job. Of late Arun had been acting like he preferred living on dirt. That’s what she called planets, balls of dirt. Not at all like a starship ring’s clean and pristine lines. Three tight dimensions to the world, all of them curvilinear, instead of this falsely flat, uneven surface under an impossibly high ceiling. The sky’s seeming hunger for her had brought nightmares at first when, as a child, she had first been on the surface of a planet.

But the stark emptiness of space was safe—on a starship, on her starship. The infinite void was a spacecraft’s natural habitat, a realm with neither horizon nor final frontier.

Rosy treasured the independence of life in space, the anticipation of new worlds. Always new worlds. She’d heard her mother many times, how Shawna would speak of her dream of going to the stars, of finding what was out there, of understanding why. Shawna had gone to the stars with Ethan. She had seen many worlds. She had given birth in space to both Arun and Rosy. And then… Then she’d gone away. Shawna, just fifty-two, was too young for that fate, to leave her family that way. At fifteen, Rosy had been too young as well.

The thought of her mother caught in Rosy’s throat. It’s two years now she’s been gone. Is Mum’s sacrifice helping humanity? Her presence there in that…realm? The Archoi Realm. Also known as the Archoi Field, it was a kind of fifth dimension. Except not. It wasn’t real in that sense since matter and energy within that dimension were unlike anything humans knew in their own universe. The Archoi realm was not-time/not-place. Its denizens were Beings who called themselves Archoi. The Archoi were associated in some way with human evolution but Rosy didn’t have a clear picture of how.

Before Rosy was born social radicals had kidnapped Shawna and forced her into that Realm, where her presence inadvertently began accelerating human evolution. A new human species was beginning to replace Homo sapiens, which in time would become extinct. Shawna returned from the Archoi Realm but a decade later learned that she must return there to prevent the too rapid extinction of Homo sapiens before the new species was established.

As she watched Arun land the aircar and begin crossing to the farmhouse, Rosy thought about her own future. From her childhood Rosy had been told that she was marked for a unique journey, a ‘calling’ in a word. It had something to do with the new human species. Rosy hadn’t understood what a calling was until she reached adolescence. Then the idea of such a burden on her life had chafed. A vocation she had no say in. Well, I learned that when it came to a calling you did have a say. It was simple. You could just say no. Or yes. Now, at seventeen, as she neared adulthood the idea of her having a mission to help save humanity was at the same time both preposterous and awesome. If that’s what it’s about I’ll go, but it’ll be on my own terms.

Rosy felt she was nowhere close to taking up a mission, and when she did she would need help. Before her mother went back to the Archoi Shawna had asked two friends to help guide Rosy in her calling as she grew to adulthood. Jana Anders, a starship captain, and Sonja Bellesario, an astrobiologist, had mentored Shawna when she was young. Rosy recalled a recent meeting with them. She had travelled by Telpher to Verde to see them.

“Jana, I get it that someday the Archoi are supposed to direct my actions to help my mother in her mission to save humanity. I do understand that I still need to, well, mature in your words. Which isn’t yet, and that’s just fine with me. But what’s wrong with me using my powers to go there now just to see mother? Not for destiny. Just a visit. Just to see her, bring back a greeting for dad. It’s, it’s… Well, I miss her and so does dad. He’s still hurting you know.”

Jana considered the vibrant young woman in front of her, striking in appearance. A strong, sylphlike figure, tall as she herself was. Rosy shared her mother’s Asian beauty with her high cheekbones, rounded face, and almond eyes. Her honey-colored complexion came from her biological father. But her flaming red hair? Definitely not from either of her parents. Rosy was growing up, yet she was still graced with the guileless impetuosity of youth. Jana was direct in her response. “It would be dangerous for you Rosy. Don’t try it. The psychic gifts you have, or psi powers as you call them, are for later when you take up your calling.”

Rosy looked out the expansive crystalline window of Sonja’s apartment. They were high enough to see all of Verde City below them and beyond the city the Galene, Verde’s inland sea. “Yes, I guess I know that it could be dangerous. But stars! When will I know that it’s time?”

Jana was prompt in her answer, “You’ll know in yourself when it’s time. It’ll be when your heart and your head come together in peace. Right now it’s your heart, wanting to help your father.”

Rosy pondered this. “Yeah, head and heart. And my head is trying to sort out who I am and what I want to do with my life apart from both my parents’ desires and influences, or from plans those Archoi Beings have for me. I want to be my own person, not just taking orders from above—or wherever the Archoi are.”

Sonja added, “Give it time, honey. All things will be made perfect in their time. That’s the only advice we can give you Rosy. That and our love and support.” She got up from the a-grav couch and went over to hug Rosy. Jana’s electric blue eyes radiated a warmth that told Rosy how well loved she was. It eased her heart’s disquiet.

Rosy had heard the give-it-time line before. She decided not to comment. Anyway, I’m old enough now to intelligently follow their advice. They’re usually right about such things..

Then Jana changed the subject. “Tell us about Ethan’s plans for his trading venture. And what you are going to do.”

Rosy was quick to answer. “He’s going to contact the old crew, see if they’ll join him. And I’m going with him. I’m going to apprentice on Comms if Stefan comes back.”

Sonja asked, “What about Arun? I heard Jame say that Arun was thinking about his offer of an internship with the company here on Verde.” Jame Anders, Jana’s twin brother, was Sonja’s mate and was CEO of InterStellar, a megacarrier starship company.

“Yeah, that’s so. So far he’s made it clear, at least to me, that he wasn’t going to sign up for dad’s risky adventure, as he called it. Becoming an interstellar buyer and seller of stuff was just not solid enough for him. Solid enough—that was the phrase he used.” She laughed. “Whatever that means! Starships are solid—they must be.” Rosy didn’t want to add that if her brother Arun did stay planetside then she would have her dad to herself for a while. Not that she didn’t love Arun. She did and she was proud of him. And she knew he also filled the hole in her father’s heart, first child and all that. Rosy knew that she also was special to her dad, and if Arun weren’t there then she wouldn’t have to compete for his attention—he’d turn to her for comfort. She could make up for her mom being gone.

The sound of Arun opening the door of the farmhouse brought Rosy back to the present. He had come from the planet Verde where he’d seen their Uncle Jame about the position with InterStellar. Jame wasn’t a biological uncle. But he was an uncle in all but blood relationship. Before she went away, Shawna had encouraged Arun to seriously consider Jame’s offer to apprentice him to InterStellar, in their spacecraft engineering department. She’d told Arun he couldn’t do better than that, even with a university degree. He’d grown up on a spaceship. He’d learned from the likes of Pindra and Jase. He knew more about the practical side of ship construction and operation than he’d ever learn in school. And on and on. Not that I’m jealous or anything… Well, maybe a little. Sometimes it seems that Arun gets all the praise and all I get is warnings about my hormones or not misusing my abilities, as mom used to call them. As if ‘abilities’ were sort of like acne or bad breath or something. Okay, just chill…

Rosy got hold of her runaway thoughts. That kind of thinking was unfair to Arun and demeaning to herself. Her powers, as she liked to think of them, were for humanity’s good. Someday she would come into her own in that. Just not yet. This was Arun’s time, and she was glad for him.

“Hey,” Arun greeted her with a smile as he entered the house. He wondered if she had gained a few more centimeters in height while he was gone—it had been a month. Everybody said that girls were full grown by late teens, but Rosy hadn’t stopped it seemed. Looks like she’s close to a hundred seventy-five centimeters, though I still have ten or so centimeters on her. Same cheery face under that disordered mass of red hair. He was happy to see her.

“Hey, bro!” She returned his fist pump then quickly embraced him, reaching a hand up to dishevel his hair. Wavy like Ethan’s but black, not brown. Arun had their mother’s ivory-toned skin, though a little darker. Other than that he looked just like their dad. Same height. A sturdy masculinity and confident stance with a pleasant, well-proportioned face. “How’d it go? They offer to make you a vice-president?” Her laughter was mischievous, friendly.

“Yeah, they did actually…”

That caught her off-base. “Really?”

“Sure. They said I could give myself any title I wished for as long as I was willing to work graveyard shift in the factory for minimum wage.” Deadpan.

She pushed him teasingly on his chest. “Okay, you got me on that.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the main room of the old farmhouse. “Want something to drink? I’ll bet you’re hot from driving that old aircar.”

“Yeah, one of pop’s beers.”

Rosy gave him a hard look, then let her lips form a thin smile.

“Just don’t tell him, okay?” Their father had taken up brewing as a hobby and had become good at it. So much so that he had a hard time keeping any for himself if he left home for any length of time.

“What’s it worth to you?” But it was just a friendly sister taunt, and she hummed a gay tune as she went into the pantry. Returning and handing the bottle to him she said, “Now, tell me the true story, okay? Seriously.”

He took a swig. Then another. Then another. She was about to swipe him when he coughed and said, “Uncle Jame offered me the internship, just as mom had said he would.”

“So, are you going to take it?”

“I don’t know. It’s really a good deal and all, and I probably should accept it. But…”

“But what? I thought that’s what you wanted most of all.”

“Yeah, so did I. But when I travelled to Verde City through the Telpher it made me…homesick and I got cold feet.”

“Homesick! You mean for here, for this…” She started to say dump. “For this…planet?” Even at that she looked around to make sure Gramma or Grandpa weren’t in hearing range.

“No, not here. For space. For the mission, the Telpher Project. There’s still Telphers to place, still mom’s mission…” At that his face clouded over and he turned away.

Rosy was embarrassed for him, said nothing while he composed himself. When he turned back to face her, his face flushed, she softly said, “But, Arun, that’s over now. Dad’s not going to keep that up. You know that.” Rosy surprised herself with the depth of compassion in her voice.

“No, of course, I do know that Rosy. But to go out into space with dad and you on your trading venture would be almost like that anyway. Going from planet to planet, seeing new places. Just like before… Oh stars Rosy, I really miss mom sometimes. I know you do, dad does. We all do. But there’s no bringing her back, is there?”

Rosy was silent, her tongue felt dry. Well, so much for getting dad to myself…

Arun misunderstood her silence. “Is there? Rosy, look at me! Is there any hope mom will come back before long? You have that ability…oops, I mean power to speak with her. Don’t you?” He had leaned forth in the chair he was sitting on, caught himself raising his voice. “Sorry! I’m sorry sis. I know you don’t like to talk about that…”

She interrupted him, “Not allowed to talk about that, Arun. Not allowed to.” Now her voice was taking on an edge, the memory of her recent visit with Jana and Sonja coming back to her. I need to get my heart and head together on this, just like they said. She continued less keenly, “Anyway, the answer to that is no—she’s not coming back. We need to move on, bro.” At least you and dad do. “That’s what she told us to do, and Jana always reminds me of it. As for speaking with mom, you know that someday I’m supposed to be able to contact her there. But I don’t know how that’s supposed to go down. Now, when I try to touch her mind… And don’t you dare say anything about that to dad…or to Jana! When I think I touch her mind all I get is the feeling of peace and joy. Her joy and contentment. Then I feel…hurt, as if I’m not allowed to want happiness and fun in my own life. That my life here is just so her sacrifice there won’t…won’t be in vain. And then I feel guilty about that and I wonder if it isn’t just selfishness to want her to come back here. Come back to me so I can have a mother again. And a simple life without the heaviness of humanity on my soul. So I…”

The noise of another aircar landing interrupted her lament. Ethan had returned. Soon she would know what lay in her future. However justifiable her anguish, Rosy wouldn’t let it control her life. And that meant embracing the here and now, not some distant fifth dimension.

New Athens City, Mycenae, Apollo System. October 10, 2413 GES.

At the age of sixty-nine, Zithra Grenoble figured she’d almost made it to the end of her life without anyone discovering that she was a telepath. Not that she ever snooped on others’ thoughts. Intentionally that is—sometimes you just couldn’t help it. But it would be embarrassing to say the least for her friends, and particularly her enemies, to discover she had this gift. So-called gift, one that earlier in her life she’d wished she hadn’t received. Then two things happened that changed her mind. Her planet, Mycenae, was rediscovered by human civilization after 350 years of obscurity. At the same time a galaxy-scale teleporter was invented and first used on Mycenae. The machine, with the odd name Telpher, could transport a person instantly anywhere in the galaxy—any place, that is, where there was another Telpher. This discovery, or invention, had brought her forgotten planet front and center into the consciousness of galactic power brokers. The Telpher in New Athens City on Mycenae became one of the original five hub locations for the galactic teleporters.

What did that have to do with her telepathy? Simply this: the Telpher required a human telepath for its operation. The Telpher machine generated a portal through the fifth dimension but only a trained telepath could set up and guide passage through the portals that led to other worlds. At first, every planet that got a Telpher had to supply a telepath for it. Zithra’s fierce loyalty to her people led her to step forward when the call went out for a Mycenean telepath. A sort of national pride, born of the need for her planet to be well thought of in their newly connected world. If it hadn’t been so scary for her at the time, she could have seen the humor in the situation. No one on Mycenae knew what a telepath was let alone had met one.

Though nowadays traffic through the New Athens Telpher was not as heavy as other hubs, New Athens still retained an aura of uniqueness. It wasn’t just because it was one of the original hubs. Mycenae was the home of Shawna Tang, the national hero who had liberated Mycenae from Federation oppression. Ms. Tang, the first telepath to learn to operate the Telpher, was also the founder of the Portal Guardians Guild, the galactic organization whose charter was to seek, train and certify telepaths to operate the Telphers. Original charter, that is. For the PGG had soon veered from the vision of its founder, becoming inured with discriminatory policies that effectively denied Telphers to non-Federation planets and marginalized peoples. People of questionable racial pedigree. In response, Shawna had resigned her position as Guild CEO and turned back to implementing the original Telpher Project vision. That vision, an ambitious dream for the proliferation of machines that would bring every inhabited planet in the galaxy into a network of tightly connected human communities, was still only partly attained.

Zithra took pride in the fact that she had been the first Mycenean Portal Guardian. That’s what the Telpher telepaths were called, PGs for short. Now, a quarter century later, Zithra was retired but sometimes called upon to fill in for one of the younger PGs on Mycenae. Newbies. Zithra was proud of her senior position but humble enough to not take advantage. Advantage that she had authority to take. Guild rules allowed Hub City Guardians to prioritize on an emergency basis travel to and from all the spoke locations the Hub served. Today Zithra was filling in for her niece, remarkable because today none other than Shawna Tang’s lifemate, Ethan Styrnak, had requested first class travel priority. And Zithra had both the clout and the nerve to grant it. She suspected one of the newbies might have stonewalled him.

Ethan had requested travel to Mycenae from Verde City for himself and two others. Followed by travel from several other spoke locations in the galaxy. Over a dozen travelers from all over—more traffic in one hour than New Athens sometimes saw in an entire day. Travel was essentially instantaneous through the galactic teleportation devices, but Ethan’s last-minute request had required considerable shuffling of pre-existing reservations. Though Shawna was no longer in this world her mate retained all her travel privileges. Ethan had rarely if ever exercised those rights. But today was different—special because those who were coming through with him were most of the original crew of the Starchaser, the starship that had taken Shawna and Ethan on a quarter-century mission throughout the galaxy to find telepaths for the Telphers.

Ethan was the first to step through. Spotting Zithra, he quickly walked across the plainly furnished vestibule and gave her a warm embrace. “Thank you Zithra, for doing this for me! You’re the best Telpher telepath in the galaxy!” He hugged Zithra, kissing her on the cheek.

Zithra made to push him away but only far enough that she could look into his soft brown eyes with affection. “Don’t you ‘best telepath’ me you big tease. You know it’s only because of our Mycenean liberator that I even recognized your name when it came up on the Priority Transit Petition for today, let alone granted it.” She could out-tease him any day of the week. Her coal-black eyes sparkled with joy to see Ethan. Tall and with the same well-toned physique he’d had when she first met him nearly a quarter century ago, he was compellingly handsome for a man in his late fifties. Besides Shawna’s two children, he was the only link she had now to her distant cousin. Zithra was descended on her maternal grandmother’s side from the same Captain Arun Tang who was Shawna’s direct ancestor. Zithra had inherited the same black eyes that Shawna had though not her slim physique or complexion. The thought of Shawna hurt, and she turned away to hide the tears that threatened. Ethan didn’t need the reminder, either.

Fortunately, he hadn’t noticed. “Okay, Zithra, a tease. But, sincerely, I know you’ll probably get a lot of flak for diverting travel for so many others of Starchaser’s crew.” He waved an arm back toward Pindra Noeh who was now stepping through the Telpher, followed by Ruby Hitchcock. During the Telpher Project mission they had been Starchaser’s Chief Engineer and Chief Operations Officer respectively. “I appreciate it. It means a lot for me to get all the original crew together here at the same time.” Pindra and Ruby each joined them, giving Zithra hugs and warm greetings also.

“Don’t worry yourself a bit. I know this is important—for all of you.” She stepped back to admire the three seasoned spacers who were about to take to the space lanes again. Not as telepath hunters, she knew. But all the same, it was the Starchaser, the nearly fabled starship that had helped to change the face of the known galaxy. “Now, if you folks will excuse me and allow me to do my job…” With a wink she turned to the wall-mounted reservations panel and began to program the next passage. The three Starchaser veterans watched with admiration, knowing that Zithra was doing more than just looking at an LCD panel. Her telepathic communication with the Telpher behind them was setting up the next journeys. They turned as one and walked over to welcome each of their former companions as they came through, some of whom they hadn’t seen in two years. Two years—that’s how long it had been since Shawna, Starchaser’s former captain, had decommissioned the ship and gone to something like another universe on what some considered a hopeless mission to save humanity from itself.

Pindra turned to Ethan, continuing a conversation that had started when they had met each other at the Verde City Transit Center while waiting for the go-ahead from the Portal Guardian there. “So you were saying that you were surprised so many of us were still available. That so?” She raised her eyebrows as he caught her look. Though not quite as tall as Ethan, the spiky four-centimeter crest of her hair gave that impression.

Ethan’s relaxed smile was usually reserved for times when he was somewhere else in his mind. But today it signaled genuine puzzlement over Pindra’s question. “Two years ago, the idea I had about converting Starchaser to a tradership was only ever that, just an idea. You all needed some kind of income, most of you anyway. I know you and Jase invested some of the personal profits from our previous sideline stuff. But most of the crew…”

“Let’s just say,” Pindra cut him off, “that those profits were only made possible with the help of all of the rest of the crew. So…”

“Ohh…”

“Yeah, that’s right. So let’s move on to the next topic. Like discussing how to use the rest of those gains in outfitting our next mission.”

At her use of the word ‘next’ Ethan was deeply touched. He was thrilled that she and the others supported his efforts to move on. He gave Pindra a kiss on her cheek and a soft embrace, not unaware of her athletic yet feminine figure, the warmth of the physical contact.

Pindra, not much one for overt physical affection, chided him. “None of that lovey-dovey stuff Captain. Fraternization with lower ranking crew is off-limits .” This wasn’t strictly true for the Starchaser family, but she didn’t want to go there. “Besides, Shawna wouldn’t…” Pindra caught herself as Ethan jerked. Oops. Shit! I keep getting our past mixed up with our present. She told us to move on. He’s doing it and I’m not. Pindra quickly grabbed at Ethan and pulled him back to herself, forcing him to look at her. “I’m sorry, Ethan. I’m sorry. Sorry for…”

Ethan tried to pull away, eyebrows scrunched, lips in a frown. He couldn’t free himself nor ignore her eyes, normally mostly green but now shading to a somber grey. Pindra was a strong woman and he had lost his nerve at her remembrance of Shawna. He looked at her, past her. Finally he managed, “It’s okay Pindra. I know you miss her almost as much as I do.” She tightened her grip. He almost smiled. “Okay, miss her as much as I do. That better?” Her grip eased a little and the corners of her lips turned up. Ethan reminded himself that Pindra had known Shawna almost as long as he had and was her best friend. More than just best friends, they were like sisters. Siamese twin sisters, in heart at least. You’d hardly credit such a notion by looking at them together, however. With her coffee and cream-colored skin, saffron-red hair, and muscular build with tattoos running up both arms, Pindra looked nothing like Shawna. Nor did she have Shawna’s endearing and optimistic personality. Compassionate, yes, when compassion was needed. Otherwise, often tough and no nonsense, born out of hardship in her growing up years. “We just have different ways of dealing with it,” he concluded, finally twisting away. He saw Jase Welton come through the Telpher and strode quickly over to welcome back his Chief Navigation Officer. I’m glad Jase will be with us on this venture. He’s got an excellent head for trading, especially for a starship navigator.

Pindra wiped away a tear as she watched Ethan walk away from her clumsy attempt to replace, in a sisterly way, the lost love of his life. A thought occurred to question whether her motives were purely sisterly, but she pushed it away. I don’t dare go there. She had wept over Shawna’s absence as well. Never in public and not more than once or twice.

Pindra’s closeness with Rosy mitigated her difficulty in letting go of Shawna. The youngster was inwardly searching for herself, though seeming so self-contained outwardly. When her mom left Rosy practically glued herself to Pindra, essentially making her a second mother. Pindra had always had a warm and welcoming place in her heart for Rosy from the day she was born. The inconceivable suffering that Shawna had endured after being kidnapped by those so-called New Order social radicals had one happy outcome—Rosy. In her captivity Shawna developed amnesia and forgot Ethan. She had an affair with one her of captors. Pregnant with Rosy, Shawna escaped and was eventually healed of her amnesia and restored to Ethan. Even before she was born Ethan accepted Rosy as his own child without reservation. Pindra had watched Rosy grow up, helped to teach her. She had dried her tears when disappointments came and laughed with her when funny things happened. Pindra was content with becoming a surrogate mother to Rosy—more than content. It blunted the pain of losing Shawna.

One consequence of her new relationship with Rosy was that Pindra became telepathic. Rosy’s connection with Shawna had been as much telepathic as it was verbal. So when her mother left Rosy ‘imparted’ telepathic sensitivity to Pindra by dipping into Pindra’s mind and rearranging some things—as she had later explained. Pindra understood why Rosy wanted her to be telepathic. But she didn’t like it. It was problematic in several ways.

No one else could know that Pindra was telepathic nor how it happened. Least of all Ethan, who had become telepathic himself by Rosy’s intervention, though by a different route and for different reasons. Pindra had also to deal with the guilt of her own part in Rosy’s transgression. Shawna had asked all of them to help Rosy learn to be responsible in the use of her powers. Rosy was not supposed to be exercising any of her powers before starting her mission, let alone something like giving someone else a telepathic ability. To say nothing of the idea that a person of any age could grant such a skill to another. Knowing what Rosy had done would earn Rosy severe repercussions if Jana or Sonja found out. As well as some serious bad feelings between herself and Ethan. So Pindra absorbed the guilt and kept it a secret.

Pindra was also more than a little miffed about the gift of telepathy itself. Supposed gift, that is. Pindra was still learning to keep the thoughts of others out of her head and Rosy hadn’t been much help. Pindra and Rosy often spoke with each other by telepathy. Even across interstellar distances. Rosy’s telepathic power was that great once she had someone’s mind signature. As she did Pindra’s. Rosy’s psi powers were frightening and likely to become more so as she came into her calling.

There was one aspect of being a surrogate mother to Rosy that was next to impossible for Pindra—the monitoring and disciplining of the young woman in the use of her powers. Improper use. Such as imparting telepathy to another. Pindra simply could not guide her in that realm. But there were those who could. Jana Anders and Sonja Bellesario could do that because by linking themselves together they could get into Rosy’s mind even at great distances. Not that they had ever done so, though the parental-like threat was not lost on Rosy. If she made regular Telpher checkups with her mother’s two mentors on Verde, or by telepathy, she would be free from such invasion of privacy. Ethan could handle the vicissitudes occasioned by normal adolescent behavior, driven as it was by hormones, a fertile imagination, and an inquiring mind. Pindra would be the adult female companion for Rosy. All would be well. She hoped.

Rosy was not at all inclined to recalcitrant behavior. But she was very curious, learned most easily by observing and doing rather than by books or teach tapes, and was quick to push the boundaries in every sense. But polite and respectful of authority, always willing to reconsider a rash action or desire when presented with an equitable rationale for doing so. She did have two weaknesses in the behavior department with potentially serious limitations. She was very mischievous. For example, she loved to fox adults or those with any authority over her. As in tricking the same to think one thing of her and then be confronted with the exact opposite. And she was a huge risk taker, even more so than her mother. Mischievousness would lead others to not trust her, hindering what she was called to do. But taking unwarranted risks could be worse, even life-threatening. Rosy’s mother had learned that the hard way. Pindra fervently hoped her daughter wouldn’t have to traverse the same path.

Pindra’s musings were interrupted by laughter and happy conversation among a group of spacers headed her way. Her crewmates, almost everyone who had been with her and Shawna on Starchaser’s last journey. She ran to hug Stefan Erling, their Senior Comms Officer, and Jase Welton. She gave Stig Jornet a high five, saying she was glad he had come back. Jory was Second Engineer on alterday shift but reporting to her. That is, if Ethan planned to have the same lineup as before. That was still in the works.

Then came a surprise. There was a sharp wail, as in an I’m ready to be fed again wail. Pindra looked up as Tahnya Auk shyly approached with an infant attached to her chest in a sling, followed by a very proud Toby Perrin. They had been sweethearts under Shawna’s reign, but very circumspect to show it. Now here they were with a son, a testimony of their love for each other. Pindra hugged Tahnya, who had been Comms Second and gave a high five and mouthed a ‘congrats’ to Toby. The noise of all the catching up among the fourteen crew members was almost deafening, echoing off the marble walls of the New Athens spaceport and Telpher terminal. As they exited the building Pindra joined in the happy conversations and plans for getting together later that evening. She saw Ethan slip away with Jase and knew that they would be planning the navigation for the first journey of the newly formed trading cooperative. Mycenae Mercantile was the name Ethan had given the new venture. In a few days they would all take shuttles up to Mycenae Station and head out into space again. They were missing only one of their past fellowship: (former) Captain Shawna Tang.

Chapter 2 – Trader

Outbound from Mycenae Station, Apollo System. October 15, 2413 GES.

“Captain on the Bridge!” Tahnya’s voice was crisp, her posture correct, her uniform collar straight.

Ethan looked around at his Bridge crew, smiled broadly, and said, “At ease.”

Everyone relaxed, turned away, and started to resume whatever they had been attending to in preparation for undocking from Mycenae Station. Except, Ethan wasn’t through.

“Ahem!” They all looked up, startled. “At ease…and there will be no more such formalities on this ship.” He adopted a stern look at each of them as they sobered. Then gave a big laugh. “You all know me, that I’m a big tease. So that was a tease—sort of.” Ethan paused to let that  sink in. He planned to not lead the Starchaser crew as a military captain would, though junior crew would be expected to listen to and learn from those more senior. Rather, he wanted a family, albeit extended and non-traditional, but nevertheless close. So, for example, romantic arrangements would not be forbidden to crew members as long as they didn’t interfere with attention to duty and professional development. Children would be welcome and familial care for them expected, first from the child’s parent or parents and secondarily a designated babysitter. In this, Mycenae Mercantile was vastly different from both Navy organization and merchanter enterprises. Ethan liked to believe that would contribute to their competitive edge and promote excellence in safety for both crew and ship operations. The ship was their home, belonging to all of them corporately, and they belonged to each other. They would take care of their home as they would each other. Ethan knew this could only work for a small ship and crew, but he was glad that this was what he had created.

He continued, “We do need discipline, and from space faring with most of you over several decades of the Telpher Project I know that you have already honed well-disciplined habits. We’re traders now, no longer pushing the Telpher telepath search agenda. So some things will change. Trading is a different business, and it will call for some different approaches as we go forward. I know a lot of the family traderships have a more or less well-defined hierarchy on board their ship. But converting Starchaser doesn’t have to change anything about the way we’ve always done things, always lived with each other aboard this ship. So I really hope we still can have a relaxed family atmosphere on Starchaser, just as we had before. We’re a different kind of family and most of us have known each other for decades. Those new among us will quickly become part of us and I urge the old-timers to help them along in that.”

Ethan gave each member of his extended family a warm look. “End of sermon.” He walked over to the Captains couch, settled in, and leaned over to his left to chat quietly with his XO, Ruby Hitchcock. Ruby would continue as Operations Officer while adding ship and personnel safety and security to her responsibilities. Ethan trusted her implicitly.

Turning to Tahnya on Comms, Ethan raised his voice enough to be heard at her station across Starchaser’s small Bridge, “Tahnya, request undocking from the Station Master.” Turning to his pilot, Ethan said, “Abel, confirm umbilical status and begin Station services separation.” Then Ethan toggled a private channel to Tabby, the ship’s AI. “Tabby, love, are you ready for this change in command?”

Tabby affected a grumpy response, “Yes, Captain Styrnak. We are ready.”

Ethan jerked visibly, suppressing annoyance with the AI for alluding to Shawna. He knew that the ‘we’ referred to the once very close team consisting of Tabby and Shawna. Tabby had stored years of interactions with Shawna and could, in a sense, consult with her at will. At least he hoped that is what it was. Rather than Tabby actually communicating with Shawna in Archoi Land. He shuddered. Ethan doubted Tabby was in contact with Shawna but you just didn’t dare to try to understand too closely a ship AI. He had tried his best to win Tabby over to the cozy relationship his mate had enjoyed with her. (Tabby was female, according to Shawna.) To no avail so far. So, he shrugged, and continued more formally, “Please confirm outbound coordinates to Mycenae Lagrange Two and review once again the Mycenae SuperTelpher’s insystem transfer requirements. Let me know of any discrepancies from earlier expectations.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Her voice had softened. Tabby clicked off.

Did she just hold forth an olive branch? he wondered. Maybe “stored Shawna” had just frowned at the AI for all I know.

A ship wide alarm sounded, as Tabby coordinated ship systems with Bridge directives. “Yellow Alert: Station undock in five minutes. All personnel must be strapped in. After Station separation expect null g for ten minutes. Orbital transfer delta-vee for SuperTelpher destination will require 2g accel for two point two five hours normal to aft bulkhead. Ring spin-up to normal gravity complete in three hours.”

Ethan prepared himself for a queasy stomach. He’d never gotten used to this part of travel on Starchaser. She was an older generation spacecraft, using a rotating ring to simulate gravity as did most space stations. Modern ships employed anti-gravity systems. You couldn’t dock Starchaser when her ring was rotating, which meant changes in gravity orientation during insystem maneuvers. Ring spin-up or spin-down was fine, but no gravity at all—that got to him. Space station rim velocity determined the duration of null g since the ship must alter its velocity to match the station rim—simple physics. Mycenae Station, with a relatively small ring diameter for space stations, had a high rim velocity for comfortable inside gravity. It only took ten minutes to clear the Station before you could engage the ship’s insystem drive; or cut it on approach for docking. Some large, busy stations had dock/undock null g durations up to forty minutes or more, a combination of heavier congestion at the station and lower rim velocities.

He turned his thoughts to what would be the newest experience in space travel for all of them. The first SuperTelphers in the galaxy had been installed and come into operation. There weren’t many but more would come. The SuperTelpher did for an entire starship what the personal Telphers did for individuals: instantly teleported the ship across hundreds of lightyears of space. A public-private partnership involving several corporations, the Galactic Federation, and some of the governments of non-aligned systems had been formed to bring to reality this new mode of interstellar travel. Each SuperTelpher would serve a sector in the galaxy, as a hub, from which ordinary hyperspace travel could continue to the destination. In general, the SuperTelphers were installed at the null-gravity Lagrange Point Two for a major planet of a star system in the approximate center of the galactic sector served. That Point was preferred because of proximity to the host planet. Mycenae, at 36 lightyears from Earth, was selected as the SuperTelpher for the sector dominated by Sol. There had been a big argument about this, of course, since Mycenae, orbiting Apollo (formerly known as 54 Piscium), was a far less important planet. The problem was that Lagrange Point Two for Earth as well as for Mars was crowded to near capacity with telescopes, research stations, and the like. With the expected volume of starship traffic it was simply too dangerous to try to route ships so near these installations, even if a way could be found to install the SuperTelpher alongside the other space platforms at the Point. In any event, starship travel to Sol System from distant regions in space had been reduced from weeks to a few days at most. Arriving at the Mycenae SuperTelpher from remote departure points, a starship could warp to Earth in two days.

Ethan loved thinking about the engineering and astrodynamics associated with SuperTelpher travel, but his thoughts were interrupted by Tahnya. “Captain, Mycenae Station has given us the go ahead. Undocking window to open in two minutes and remain open for five.” She paused, looked at her display, then announced, “External comm’s clear as well.”

Ethan thought, That’s Abel’s responsibility. I’ll have to speak with Tahnya later.

Ethan turned to Abel and said, “Status, Lieutenant.”

“Ship’s umbilicals secured. Air clear. Water clear.” He hesitated, started to look in Tahnya’s direction, stopped and continued his recitation, “External comm’s clear, Station clamps primed for release on your mark, and thrusters hot.”

Ethan noted that Tahnya’s cheeks were flushed. Think I’ll let it ride for now. We’re a family, like I just said. He turned back to his pilot, “Take us out, Abel.”

The ship shuddered briefly, and null gravity set in as the clamps disengaged and the soft nudge of the thrusters pulled them off Mycenae Station. They were on their way! Ethan’s excitement rose almost to the same level as during his very first journey on Starchaser. But he resolutely blocked any detailed remembrance of that from his mind. And remembrance of his companion on that first journey.

Arun Tang had signed on as Second Engineer, reporting to Pindra. She was showing him the final thruster checks she always went through immediately before undocking.

Arun knew that thruster pre-ignition, attitude jets and vane alignment had already been checked—by him. He had completed the task, under Pindra’s supervision, yesterday. Politely, he asked her, “Why do you check the thrusters again, Pindra. Did you doubt whether I’d done a good job?’

Pindra put a hand on his arm as she answered, “Not at all, Arun. I always check, even if I have just done the initial routine myself earlier in the day. You’ll learn that there’s no harm in extra-careful engineering. Checks and re-checks, and then again if you can.” Her eyes sparkled with a warm smile. She liked Arun. He was bright, well able to become a starship chief engineer in time if he chose that path. She knew he was still undecided. From the fact that Pindra and Arun’s mother had been like sisters with each other it might have followed that she would have been extremely close to both of Shawna’s children. But Pindra had never had with Arun the same cozy relationship she’d had with his sister Rosy. Sometimes, especially since his mother was gone, Pindra felt guilty about this. So she went the extra mile to make him feel comfortable without compromising their official relationship. Maybe it’s just the gender difference. But it’s just as well that there’s a bit of distance between us since a formal relationship with him in Engineering is the best way for him to learn.

At Tabby’s first Yellow Alert warning, they strapped themselves into their flight couches at the side of the main engineering console before continuing their conversation.

Pindra changed the subject. “Are you excited about the jump through the SuperTelpher? We’re one of the first starships to make the jump to Shasta System.”

“For sure!” Arun responded, glad that Pindra was trying to be friends. They’d had a long history on Starchaser, of course. Twenty-four years to be exact from the day he was born aboard ship. The first child to be born on Starchaser. But up to now he’d always been to her just her best friend’s kid. They’d had a good relationship, as long as he didn’t try to mess with stuff in her domain—Engineering. Which he sometimes had done. But now he was hired to work in Engineering, reporting to her. A whole different ball game. A ballgame in which he got to officially mess with her stuff in Engineering, except ‘mess with’ was definitely not the right verb. Keeping up the friendly conversation, while waiting for Starchaser to undock, Arun asked, “Do you know how they’re handling the telepathic part of Telpher operation for the SuperTelphers?”

“Only what Rosy tells me. She and Shawna always talked about how they’d do that. It seems that even such a behemoth machine as the SuperTelpher only requires one telepath. But because the stakes are so much higher should there be a miscue, there are always two backups on duty. An entire crew of about a dozen telepaths lives on the station deck of the SuperTelpher, along with support personnel of every discipline. I hear it’s like a mini-space station, with sleepovers, a hostel for visiting dignitaries, and eateries. I guess I’d like to go see one someday.”

“But the basic operation is the same, isn’t it? The departure point telepath links up with the telepath at the destination and establishes the path through the fifth dimension.”

“Yeah, but I overheard a couple of the Mycenae telepaths talking one day at a restaurant in New Athens City. Apparently the experience of connecting with the distant telepath is a lot more, well cosmic was the word one of them used.

Arun felt he could venture a little more personal interaction with his new boss. Their first destination was Haryana, the planet of Pindra’s birth. “Are you happy about visiting your home world? I know it’s been a long time since you were there.”

Pindra sighed softly and tried to smile at Arun. “Yes, it has been a long time. And I am happy about it. But…” Can I be as open with Arun as I am with his sister? Or at least more open? I know he’s trying for that, and I know I should be. Gosh, they’re both Shawna’s kids! She pulled herself up a bit in her flight couch and looked earnestly into his young face. “But I’m also nervous, Arun. I haven’t seen my mother in almost thirty years. I’m fifty-six now and I left home when I was eighteen, with only a couple of brief returns after that. My last visit didn’t go well. I’ve kept in touch with my mother, and I know she loves me. But three decades are a big gap to span.” There I did it! She watched Arun’s eyes, was surprised to see a suggestion of compassion in them. His mother’s eyes. How had she never noticed? She reached over and touched his shoulder. “Thanks for asking, Arun. That helped to make this trip a good one.”

A jarring whoop-whoop alarm cut off further talk, as Tabby’s final take-hold warning sounded. “Yellow Alert: Station undock complete. Null g in 30 seconds. Find nearest take-hold if not strapped in.” Arun and Pindra checked their straps and prepared for the feelings that occurred during the upcoming ten minutes of free-fall.

If returning to space fulfilled Rosy’s dreams, becoming official crew on Starchaser was like waking to an even better reality. She was no longer just ‘Ethan’s kid.’ Her father had apprenticed her to Stefan Erling, Senior Comms Officer and assigned her to alterday shift for the journey to Haryana. She was determined to absorb all that could be learned of insystem scans, hazard assessment, communications with beacons and other ships. Shift change to alterday was in four hours, and she would report to Commander Erling for her first duty assignment. She was pumped.

Starchaser had left Mycenae Station six hours ago and the Ring was now at full rotation for normal gravity. Rosy’s implants pinged her awake from the nap she had taken to ease the change from Station time to ship time. Rubbing her eyes with one hand and pulling on her ship suit uniform with the other, switching arms back and forth, Rosy idly wondered if she would ever see the planet of her mother’s birth again. Now she hurried. She had cut her sleep short so that she could see the SuperTelpher as they approached. Starchaser was nearing the giant interstellar portal and had just completed decel to the required insertion velocity.

Rosy pinged Arun and he got Pindra to give him an hour’s break. They met in the bubble-shaped observation lounge, arriving early enough to get the best seats. They had a nearly 180-degree view through the three-meter-wide magnetically shielded aluminium oxynitride viewport. Ethan had ordered the Al-ON viewport shutters to be retracted for a brief period to allow crew to see the SuperTelpher as they approached. All crew not critical for ship operations were crowded into the observation bubble. No one had ever yet seen a SuperTelpher up close. Already the gargantuan superstructure was visible as a bright, moon-size object before them, reflecting the orangish rays of Mycenae’s star, Apollo. They were still far enough from the Lagrange Point to be outside Mycenae’s shadow. The Lagrange Point was always on the other side of the planet from Apollo. The SuperTelpher would be in the dark when they prepared to enter it, lit only by the Station lights.

In the remaining time before she had to report to the Bridge, Rosy would be able to witness the starship’s approach and entry through the SuperTelpher, followed by her instantaneous exit into the Shasta System. Rosy turned to Arun and exclaimed, “In just a few hours we’ll be almost six hundred lightyears from here. Doesn’t that leave you a little breathless, bro?”

Arun just looked at her, pretended to yawn.

“Okay, mister engineer. Your new position gone to your head already? Well, I think it’s incredible. Mom would be so amazed to see this. You’ve got to have some sort of feeling about it Arun. Come on!” She poked him.

Arun sighed, then smiled. She was right, he thought. The SuperTelpher was a big leap forward in the direction of achieving their mother’s dream to connect all the peoples of the galaxy. Former dream. “Yeah, mom would be happy to know about this.” He eyed her speculatively. “Or maybe she already knows. You think?”

Rosy turned away from him, looked back out to the approaching machine. “I’m not taking that bait, Arun. ‘Specially, not in such a public place. You know I’m not supposed to use my powers, or even talk about them.” She looked around to see if either their dad or Pindra were present. Of course, they weren’t. They were flying the ship. She leaned over and whispered to him, “Okay, maybe someday I’ll get to tell her.” She turned back to the panorama before them. “But right now I’m having too much fun to think about that.” Though she’d grown up on a starship in space the excitement of new discoveries in its limitless reaches never ceased to engage her. Why can’t my calling in life be exploring the galaxy? Then Rosy remembered that her mission would probably take her all over the galaxy—at least the known galaxy. But is that so important? Our galaxy’s so big there’s bound to be sentient life elsewhere in it. And we’re just one of hundreds of billions of galaxies. Maybe there’s no need to save the sentient life we know about here. We haven’t done such a good job of caring for ourselves or our environment, anyway. Rosy caught herself, remembering her mother and where she had gone, why she had gone there. If for no other reason, Rosy felt duty-bound to honor her mother’s sacrifice with her own.

An hour passed and now the structure of the SuperTelpher was clearly discernible. To Rosy it looked like a giant lotus blossom, flattened somewhat, with exaggerated petals. Three ranks of heart-shaped leaf-like structures encircled a midnight dark central orifice that was three or four times the diameter of the largest galactic starships that would use it.

Rosy asked her brother, “What are those huge leaf things all around the portal?” she thought she knew but she knew how much Arun liked to explain engineering and science stuff to her. And she liked him to do it.

“Power supply for the machine.” He adopted a kind of academic tone of voice. “When we get closer you’ll be able to see the Copernicium-Perovskite Quantum Piezoelectric Transducer arrays. They convert quantum fluctuations in space to electricity. Planet-based Telphers usually use micro fusion power plants but here in space that just isn’t practical. The power requirements are too large, to say nothing of waste heat removal issues. On the surface of a planet assembling so large an array of CnP-QPTs would require costly structures to prevent collapse. In space, with no gravity, support structures for the arrays are simple and lightweight.”

Listening to her brother, Rosy felt a growing warmth in her chest. Even though they were both grown now there was still that adoration for him she’d always had. Remembrances of all the times on their Telpher Project journeys when she was growing up. How he hauled out teaching tapes for her and patiently answered questions after she spent hours absorbing the lessons in physics, biology, and astronomy.

The siblings gazed in awe as the SuperTelpher structure loomed in the view port. Now Rosy could see the power arrays. There were millions of table-size arrays in each petal-like superstructure, just as Arun said. “What are those cylindrical tube-like things positioned at several place around the outside of the structure? They look like thrusters.”

“That’s what they are.”

“What do they do? I thought the Telpher was stationary at this point in space.”

“It’s the Lagrange Point that is fixed—a geometrical point with null gravity defined by the two-body star-planet system. It’s a theoretical point, however, since Mycenae’s moons also affect the null point. So no attempt is made to stay on it. Instead, relatively small mass objects like the SuperTelpher are put in orbit around the point at a short distance. The orbit is unstable over a period of about a month requiring occasional attitude corrections. The thrusters take care of that. Another task for the thrusters is to accommodate the micro changes in the gravitational field around the Lagrange null gravity point caused by the ship’s mass as it approaches and enters the SuperTelpher. Computers in the control center handle this, but in these first devices there is a lot of human oversight going on I bet.”

“Yeah,” said Rosy, letting admiration for her brother’s smarts override any thoughts of trying to understand what he’d just said. She settled into a silent contemplation of the changes promised by the SuperTelpher. The changes that she was to someday bring remained far from her mind.

Hyperspace Between Shasta and Haryana Systems. October 27, 2413 GES.

During the final leg of their first trading journey, the warp segment from Shasta System to Haryana, Ethan sat down with Pindra to go over their purchase plans. They had enough in the bank to make a sizable investment in Haryana fabrics, probably could fill the holds. But Ethan wanted to be sure they took on only the highest trade value items. They also needed to assess whether there would be much demand on Haryana for the small cargo they carried—Mycenean dried seafood and vegetable products. Apart from the Copernicium mines, Mycenae was still a mostly rural world. Ethan had partial ownership in the principal Copernicium mine, but on Haryana there wouldn’t be much demand for the raw ore. It would be better to trade futures in the mine stock than the mine output itself. If they could find a buyer.

Pindra had been away from Haryana for some decades though she had maintained contact with her mother and with some old friends. The latter suggested two or three mills to approach and even gave her letters of introduction to the mill managers. They would start with them. In the meantime, she was giving Ethan a rundown on what she thought the best materials would be.

They were meeting in Ethan’s quarters to avoid interruption. It was mainday and Ethan had handed off command of the Bridge to Ruby. Handing Pindra a mango juice, a new favorite for her, he sat down beside her and looked over her shoulder at the tablet they were using to document their findings. Ethan summarized what they had so far. “It looks like Haryana Acrylic Fiber is the top choice. It’s a versatile material which can mimic the properties of more traditional materials like wool and cotton. It’s hypoallergenic and washable. All that at about three-fourths the cost.”

“Yes, Ethan, but there are some downsides. Depending on quality it pills or fuzzes easily.” She moved away from him slightly. He’s sitting  too close. “And Acrylics are common throughout the galaxy.”

“I know, but others don’t have the Haryana pedigree. Or at least the name. Haryana fabrics may have the same quality as those made elsewhere but the planet’s name is iconic for the most valued textiles.”

Pindra nodded. She was proud of that fact concerning her native world. “Well, we’ll just need to stick with the most reputable manufacturers for that one. I think I know who that will be.” She hesitated.

Ethan noticed. “What?”

“It’s…the same company that my parents worked for. The one where my father was killed in a general strike. It’s under new ownership, of course, but it has the same name. Himalayan. I guess, like you said, a lot of the value is in the name. It’s just that I attach no value to that name. Only hurt and betrayal.”

Ethan put a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry, Pindra. It hadn’t occurred to me that company would still be around.” Pindra had told him and Shawna the story of her troubled youth. She had two brothers and a sister, all younger than her. Her mother and father both worked in the mills to make ends meet. The Haryana mills had not kept pace with developments in manufacturing technology. When off-world competition finally forced the mills to modernize, massive layoffs took place. Pindra’s father was one of those let go. He’d had a reasonably high paying position, but one that the machines made unnecessary. It hit her family hard. She was in secondary school and had to drop out to take a house cleaning job. Eventually, her father found another job, lower paying and they were making ends meet. Then agitators came. Some said they were from off planet. There were strikes, even forced closings of the plants. The owners brought in scabs and enforcers. The situation was tense, violence simmering under the surface. Her father lost his job and joined the strikers. One day someone fired a gun into the crowd and a melee broke out. Shots were exchanged and several people died, including her father.

Pindra was silent. She appreciated Ethan’s concern but both the conversation and being alone with him in his quarters was making her uncomfortable. She said, “Excuse me, Ethan. I think I need to take a break. Can we come back to this tomorrow?”

“Of course, Pindra. I’m sorry to have upset you.” He’d been enjoying the warmth between them and wished he hadn’t brought up an unpleasant topic. “I’ll put some numbers to what we have so far and tomorrow you can let me know if it makes sense to you.” As she left his cabin he felt empty and wondered what was happening to him. To them both.

Chapter 3 – Space Stations

Haryana Station, Indus System. November 7, 2413 GES.

It was Starchaser’s first Station dock since her father began his trading venture. They would be docked at Haryana Station for two weeks while Ethan and Pindra negotiated with textile manufacturers on the planet below. There wasn’t much to excite Rosy in that, however. What was exciting was the vibrant Station life all about her. That and the fact that Ethan let her remain on Station while he and Pindra were planet side. He’d tasked their Number Two Pilot, Francine Porquan, to watch over her. Rosy felt that she was old enough to supervise herself and was relieved when Fran told her to just check in periodically throughout the day. Like all crew, Rosy had her communicator and if she couldn’t raise fellow crew that way her implants gave her access to the Station Net and Haryana Public Safety. She didn’t mind having to bunk with Fran, either. Fran seemed to turn a blind eye the first night when Rosy hauled herself back into their Station sleepover room well past the curfew hour her dad had set for her. She’d entered a delta-vision cinema center and lost track of time as she started watching a long documentary on the history of art on old Earth. It was a subject she’d never thought much about and was fascinated at all the different forms of artistic expression and how art anticipated changes in human society. Francine, who was new to the Starchaser family, hadn’t said anything about her tardiness. So, it was okay, Rosy guessed.

Haryana Station wasn’t as large as some space stations, but it wasn’t small. Like most stations, a rotating ring provided gravity. Rotating rings were much less costly than anti-gravity systems for something as large as a space station. Haryana Station had three rings that rotated around a central core to give a gravity that was near Earth normal. Each ring had six decks. One of the end rings, artlessly named Ring One, or just One, was where starships docked. On Haryana some spacecraft took three or even four of the six decks for passenger and cargo loading and offloading. A and B Decks, the outside two decks of the ring, were standard for cargo while C Deck was for passengers and crew.

The middle ring on Haryana, designated Two, accommodated administrative and other governmental offices and private residences for Stationers, the permanent population of the Station who kept everything going the way it should.

The other end ring, Three, was given over to commerce, entertainment, hostelry, restaurants, bars, and the like. The larger hostels were owned by chains, and they used all six decks, Deck A, the ‘ground floor,’ being the most popular since the views of the starfield were best from that deck.

Rosy took the lift down from her D Deck sleepover in one of the less expensive hostels to C Deck where there was a walkway to the main Station concourse. There were department stores with exotic clothing from other parts of the galaxy, restaurants specializing in different foods,  Net Cafes for personal communications and surfing—all the establishments you’d expect in a city on the planet surface. Rosy wandered among the shoppers, tourists and occasional stationers looking into boutiques, bookstores, gift shops and the like. One section of the Ring was like an ancient open-air market on old Earth, with shoppers and sellers mingling in a cacophony of shouts from pushcarts, stalls, and music from bars and cantinas.

Rosy got a veggie wrap at a small bistro and sat watching people go by. She noticed a bookshop across the concourse and walked in after finishing her wrap. Maybe there’ll be a good book on art and culture I can put on my tablet to look at in my spare time aboard ship. Rosy found a couple, but they were expensive. She’d have to get an advance on her pay to buy one and decided to come back the next day after talking to her dad about that. Another title caught her attention that she could afford. It was about fabrics and clothing. Paging through the demo she saw why it was so inexpensive. It was mostly advertising about Haryana’s main export. But the pictures of clothing for people of all races, sizes, genders, and ages were fascinating. She loved thinking about garment design and wondered what a career in that field would be like. Or whether she could do that as well as pursue her mission. Probably not, but maybe I could find a way… She purchased the book and handed the store clerk her tablet to download it. As she left the shop she was thinking about all the possibilities in life, and whether she fit into any of them.

Rosy stopped at a small gathering of people to see what they were looking at. She was taller than most of the people here so didn’t have trouble seeing over the shoulders of those in front of her. She saw an exotically garbed man demonstrating a style of holographic painting using an array of lights directed toward the woman he was painting.

“Interesting stuff, huh?”

The voice came from near enough to indicate it was directed to her, yet soft enough to not startle. She turned, looked into the smiling face of a guy, who was probably a little older than she was, and a centimeter or two taller.   His stocky build suggested strength and self-confidence.

“Hi,” he said. “My name is Mikal. What’s yours?” He caught her eyes briefly, then looked away. He had dimples when he smiled, full lips and a boyish face that belied his age.

Though his manner and the tenor of his voice were pleasant, Rosy took a step back. Accustomed to the small spaces on her family’s starship she didn’t exactly feel hemmed in between the boy and the people behind her at the rear of the crowd. But this was a new experience, having a stranger speak to her in so public a place. She felt both a thrill of excitement at the prospect of fun activities with a new friend and the panic of being kidnapped by people who would want to use her powers for their own ends, just as had happened to her mother. Mikal didn’t in the least appear to be dangerous, so she went with the new adventure option rather than the being taken option. With a bright expression and smiling eyes, inviting without being too forward, she responded, “I’m Rosy. I’m, um, just visiting.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious.” His voice was flat, but a friendly smile remained.

“What does that mean?” She almost frowned, but pushed it away, choosing a neutral expression. He didn’t seem to be making fun of her. She tried a less direct approach, not wanting to give away an opportunity for an adventure. “I mean, is there something I’m missing?” She cocked her head and pushed back a few errant locks from her forehead.

“Just that tourists here get taken in by that faker with his lights.” He was surprised at her response but gave her a wink anyway.

“Well, I’m not taken in!” She edged away from him.

“Then why are you so interested in what he is doing?” Mikal lifted both his hands palms up. He was trying to be helpful and couldn’t understand this girl’s reluctance to accept his advice. Afterall, he was a Stationer and had grown up here. He knew all the ropes. She should be glad for his help. She was different from other girls he’d known, and he was drawn to her despite her cool reaction.

“I’m not.” Rosy felt her cheeks flushing and decided to walk away from the guy. What did I do wrong? And why do I care? There’s lots of guys out there.

Mikal followed her, drew beside her matching her steps. She was a bit unnerved but maintained her pace. It wasn’t just his rather forward interrogation. She glanced his way, noting again his blond hair that fell in soft, neatly combed waves to his shoulders. So different from her unruly locks. The initial thought of interesting escapades returned. As her mother’s warnings faded in her mind she tried to think how to handle the situation safely without losing face.

“Hey, I’m sorry! I just thought that…” Mikal tried for a reassuring tone of voice.

“Thought what?” she asked, with genuine curiosity. The tension in her chest eased.

“Well, uh, I mean I saw you standing there a really long time so, I don’t know, I thought you were maybe going to offer to be his next subject.” Mikal felt a loss for words, an infrequent experience for him.

Rosy felt the shift, giving her the edge she wanted. She casually stated, “Well, why not? I think it would be interesting to be that man’s assistant.” She thought assistant was a better word than subject, which did sound a little iffy.

Mikal drew an audible breath. “That would have been a mistake, Rosy. I just wanted to…” His words dropped to a mumble she couldn’t hear above the noise of the concourse.

Rosy stopped and turned to face him. “You wanted to what…protect me?” This guy is a puzzling combination of rude and chummy. Despite her mother’s warnings about using her powers she was tempted to dip into his mind to see how to interact with him. But she desisted.

“Protect you? Yeah, I guess so…” Mikal wouldn’t look at her. He fidgeted with a medallion on a light chain around his neck.

Rosy was liking Mikal increasingly, though still not sure why. Except that she sensed in him something new to learn about. On an impulse she said, “Hey, that’s nice of you. Want to go get a soda, or something? I bet you know a good place?”

Mikal looked up at her, surprise evident in his face. “Wow! Yeah, I would.” He flushed, then brushed a golden strand off his forehead. “C’mon. There’s a great place a hundred meters or so spinward.” He took her hand to lead her. A soft heat spread through her at his touch.

They soon came to a little cafe on a side passage off the main concourse. It was quiet enough to have a decent conversation. She ordered fruit juice, and he had a beer, offering to pay for hers as well. They spent an hour or more getting to know each other a little better. Rosy told him about her growing up on a small starship. When she told him of her interests in art history or  clothing design he was genuinely attentive, especially for a boy.

He said, “You should think about going to school for that here on Haryana, which is famous for that kind of stuff.”

Rosy said, “Well, being a trader I’d have to take correspondence courses. I’d have to think about whether I could do that.” Rosy wasn’t comfortable explaining to him about her calling. He wouldn’t understand even if he was interested. She barely understood herself now that she had begun to see the wider world all about her. She’d grown up a lot in the four years since she’d last been out travelling from one star system to another with her mother and father on the Telpher Project. She hadn’t been allowed to visit space stations much then, either.

Mikal was a Stationer, or Station brat in the less favorable language used by spacers and ground pounders. “But I don’t care what people who come from space or are planet-bound call me. I know the importance of space stations in the wider galaxy and the value that stationers have in keeping the stations operational.”

Despite his somewhat boyish looks, Mikal was twenty, three years older than Rosy. He had finished formal schooling but hadn’t found a vocation in life. Just knocked about the Station, meeting people, he said. His parents were involved in Station Administration in some way that Rosy never got clear about. Not that it mattered. What mattered more was the genuine friendship she had found, if even only for the two weeks she’d be here. His blond hair and blue eyes aroused in her feelings she’d not experienced with guys those two years she lived on Mycenae.

As they finished their drinks Mikal offered to give her a tour of the Station, maybe show her things that most people didn’t know existed. Rosy spent the afternoon with him walking around Haryana Station. Of special interest to Rosy were the Haryana native food stalls and the large emporium boasting the finest Haryana wool carpets and blankets.

“My father is going to buy Haryana textiles for trade in other star systems. I’m sure you know that Haryana fabric is famous for its high quality.” She saw that Mikal was beaming at her praise of his planet, even though he said he rarely went to the surface. “Another connection we have with Haryana, a much stronger one, is that our Chief Engineer was born and grew up on Haryana.” Mikal was impressed and thought to himself that this might often bring her back to the Station. He’d like that.

Rosy was a new experience for Mikal. At first she had seemed strange, out of touch with the kind of world he knew. The casual mop of red curls framing her round face was misleading of a deeper nature. He was increasingly enamored of her intellectual poise, the silent pensiveness of deep-set eyes that could suddenly shift to sparkling mischief accompanied by the turn of her lips and soft laughter. More than once he had noted that her loose forest green jumper and black leggings didn’t altogether hide an exciting, lissome figure. But she wasn’t in any way fragile in either body or mind.

The highlight for Rosy was the botanical gardens spanning F and G Decks of Ring Two. The gravity was less there, and she stepped lightly along the tiled pathways between specimens from many planets in the galaxy. The walkways were lined with bright flowers of every conceivable shape. She came to a group of large ferns, more than two meters in height. She read the inscription on a plaque at the base of the plant.

“These grow on the planet Verde, in the Greenwood Forest, it says. That’s the planet we’re going to next.”

“Maybe you’ll get to see the Forest,” Mikal offered. He was pleased that she was enjoying the gardens. It was his favorite place as well. None of the other spacer girls he’d met and brought here showed the least interest.

Rosy turned to face him and drew close enough to feel his breath on her cheeks. She had been warming to him all afternoon. “Thank you for bringing me here, Mikal. It’s…it’s been special.”

“Special for me too.” He waved at a display of orchid-like plants. “Like these rare flowers, your coming has brought exotic colors into my life.” He looked away, embarrassed.

Rosy felt the back of her ears warming, her stomach doing flips. With only the slightest hesitation, she lifted his face to hers and leaned into him. Their lips met, tentatively at first, then firmly. She felt his hands on her waist and moved to press herself against him more firmly. Then broke away, startled at her boldness. “I’m sorry, Mikal. I don’t know why I did that. I mean, we’ve just met, and maybe I don’t get…”

He put his fingers on her lips. “Hey, chill. That kiss was something I’ve wanted all afternoon. I’ve never kissed anyone like you.”

Rosy was warmed by his praise, but she couldn’t help a playful rejoinder. “Yeah, I bet… No other spacer girls?”

He started to object but she came back to him, put a hand on each side of his face and kissed him again. This time the kiss lasted long enough to cause a lot of other reactions in her body, feelings that she didn’t want to go away. But she heard someone clearing their voice and pulled away just as an elderly couple passed them by.

Mikal chuckled and soon they were both laughing.

“Mikal…” She pressed her lips together before continuing. “I guess I’ve not ever met someone like you. I…I’ve got to go back now but, can we see each other again?” She didn’t really need to get back, but things were going too fast for her. She needed to be sure.

“Well,” he made to look at his calendar, “I’m supposed to meet Judy…” He looked up just in time to dodge her swat.

“You don’t know any Judy, Mikal. And that’s not nice. Only my dad gets to tease me that way.” She turned away but couldn’t help a small chuckle.

Mikal lowered his head in mock shame. Both laughing, they left the colorful gardens holding hands. They didn’t notice the elderly couple nor the smiles on their faces as they passed.

After a week of exploring the Station together, enjoying drinks or light snacks at concourse-side bistros, and sharing casual touches and kisses Mikal thought it might be okay to take her to his special place. He brought her down a little-used maintenance passage on Ring Two and unlocked the small door at the end.

With growing intrigue, Rosy looked in expecting something like Station communication gear. “Hey, it looks like someone lives here.” She saw a little kitchenette and a sleeping pallet, along with shelves stocked with various foods and drinks.

“Yeah, me,” Mikal responded casually. He resisted the urge to invite her in, though wanting very much to do so. It might be too soon. You don’t treat women that way. I don’t, anyway. But her ship might be leaving soon. He chose a neutral explanation, “I, uh, stay here sometimes when I want to get away from home.” And that’s true also.

Rosy pulled out, turned around and gave him a queer look. There was something he wasn’t telling her. She decided the safest course was to accept his account. “So, home is not so nice a place I guess. Parents not supportive of what you want to do with your life, maybe?” She thought about her own parents, wondered if she felt that way about them.

“Yeah, something like that. Hey, it’s getting late. Aren’t you due back at your ship or something?” He gave her an expectant look.

Then Rosy understood. She hesitated. It was early evening and Francine wouldn’t expect her back for hours. She held a brief conversation with herself. Okay, looks like this is an opportunity for something I’ve never done before. Is this the time? Is it safe? She made a quick decision, lest thinking about it would ruin things. “No, I can stay. Let’s go in. I want to see what it’s like.” Without waiting, she angled herself through the small opening and turned around to see if he would follow. The energy between them had been building all afternoon. She decided that now was the time to do something about it. She sat on the raised pallet and watched him carefully as he entered. He sat on a chair at the small table and caught her eyes with his. She tilted her head in invitation and played with a lock of her hair, twisting a curl about her little finger. There were butterflies in her stomach that she wished would go away.

When she was fourteen Rosy had gotten her anti-fertility implant and had ‘the talk’ with her mother. Like most girls she suspected. Unlike most girls there was no opportunity to use either when you grew up on a spaceship. And were carefully guarded by parents when not. She’d not had much if any contact with boys. Rosy’s mother had counseled her that she expected Rosy would know the right time for embarking on that new stage of her life but told her she could always come to her to talk things out. Rosy hadn’t given it much thought up to this point in her life. Now, since meeting Mikal, she had been thinking about it—a lot.

Mikal sat beside her and kissed her passionately. She returned his kisses and let him pull her down on the pallet. As things became more intense Rosy was a little scared. Mikal sensed it.

“Wait,” he said. “There’s something I have that makes what we’re going to do…better. Helps us relax.” He reached to the shelf, pulled down a bottle, and poured two small glasses of an amber liquid. As he handed one glass to her he said, “It’s quite safe, don’t worry.”

But Rosy had already done her own check using her powers to read his mind. What she saw there didn’t worry her. But it did confirm that she had reached a turning point in her life. Her mother wasn’t there anymore for her to ask, but Rosy knew that now the time was right for her. Moreover, she intuitively knew from touching his mind that Mikal was not being deceitful or manipulative with her. She trusted him. There was no point in drinking Mikal’s concoction if all they were going to do was make out. So, she made the decision and drank it down. Its effect freed her from apprehensions about her performance. It was late, well past her curfew, when Rosy returned to her room. Francine ignored the flush in Rosy’s cheeks, smiling inwardly.

The path Rosy took with Mikal was by choice—her choice. No one expected this of her and as a result she could freely take a path that was hers and hers alone. The next few days she spent with Mikal had no relationship to her Calling. It was a simple journey with someone who appreciated her desire to learn more about the world than just space travel and trading, who shared some of her interests and appreciated their differences. When she left she knew she might never see Mikal again, but she treasured the discoveries about herself that he helped her make.

Rosy had embraced a duality of purpose in her life, resulting from choices which had two different provenances. The circumstances of her birth had dictated one path, yet one she had freely chosen out of a felt responsibility for human destiny. The other path she had just now embarked on had no external compulsion. Centered solely on her interests, her need to give and receive companionship and physical intimacy, her desire for self-actualization. Subliminally, she knew that in the future these two paths might cross and be at odds with each other, with one or the other coming out on top. She hoped there would come a time when the two paths in her journey through life would be aligned, complementing each other.

Verde City, Verde, Adonis System. December 13, 2413 GES.

The next stop for the traders was Verde where they would trade the Haryana textiles for sophisticated electronics, for a profit. Verde Station was much larger than Haryana and the planet was home to a burgeoning high-tech industry, as well as hosting the corporate headquarters of InterStellar and its massive ship-building yards.

Ethan registered Starchaser as active and posted their offerings on the commerce board, open for bidding. He and Pindra were pleased by the level of bids immediately coming in for their fabrics. While bidding progressed Ethan also looked for trade or purchase opportunities for exports that would fit with Starchaser’s modest hold capacity and gross mass limits. They might have space for smaller dense items such as motors and drive components but their insystem engines didn’t have adequate thrust to give them adequate delta-vee for boosting to warp. Likewise, too much delta-vee coming out of warp presented the same problem, particularly in heavily populated systems with restrictions on insystem velocities. In hyperspace, of course, mass didn’t matter. The Alcubierre Drive folded space around their Newtonian mass without regard to its magnitude. Further, their momentum was near zero relative to the local spacetime envelope. They were effectively at rest while in warp, while the fabric of space whirled around them in alternate waves of compression and expansion.

After two days of trading, Ethan needed a break. He contacted Stefan Erling, like himself an amateur astronomer. “Hey Stef. Want to down to Verde Station’s View Deck and look at the night sky?” There was no natural night and day on the Station so you always got a view of what would be known as the ‘night sky’ from a planet surface. A view without light pollution. Ethan pinged Arun to join them. The three men met half an hour later on the View Deck.

“You get a good view of the Milky Way from Verde Station, because the view is mostly of the southern sky,” Ethan commented as they settled onto couches. “The Station designers decided to put the View Deck on the southern-most ring looking south, rather than the northern-most ring, because of the richer starfield in the southern hemisphere.”

Arun interjected, “You’re using south and north as would be seen on the planet, right?”

“That’s right, Arun. The Station’s axis is aligned with the planet’s axis of rotation, having what we can think of as a north and south end. Looking through the view port here you are looking along the same direction as defined by Verde’s south pole.”

Stefan joined in, “And the view doesn’t change with season, for the same reason there is no night and day. There’s no planet to provide a horizon past which you don’t see.”

Ethan added, “Well, there is a horizon defined by the view port. We see less sky than we could see over the course of the year from the planet’s surface.”

Arun had tuned out all the academic grandstanding of his elders and was lost in the magical view in front of them. “Wow!” he exclaimed. He was always amazed by the brilliance. They were looking toward the center of the galaxy spiral, where the black hole dominated all other movements. A thought occurred to him. “Have you ever wondered what the universe looks like on the other side of the galaxy, if the galactic core wasn’t blocking our view.”

Stefan spoke up, “You mean in the Zone of Avoidance. That’s the official name for it—the part of the sky obscured by our own galaxy.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Arun mumbled. Sometimes Commander Erling can be a little pedantic. But then his dad weighed in with another ten thousand credit word. Two words.

“Yes, though we can’t see it that’s where the Great Attractor is.”

Arun sighed.

Ethan continued, turning to Stefan, “But did you see that post in the Astronomy Times bulletin board that Verde Station’s Astronomy Club supports? I mean about the Great Attractor.”

Stefan continued to gaze at the constellation known on Old Earth as the Teapot. “Nope.” His voice was non-committal.

“Well, you ought to take note of it.” Ethan gave his tone of voice a secretive note, hoping to draw him out of his shell.“They think they can see the massive galaxy cluster that makes up the Great Attractor.”

“Really? How?” Now Stefan turned to Ethan, gazing at him on the other side of Arun.

“There’s a…” Ethan started to answer but Arun cut him off.

“Wait! Wait, wait, wait. Excuse me Dad, but what is the Great Attractor? I know you and Commander Erling here are the pros at astronomy so how about helping me out?”

Ethan turned to Arun, touched his shoulder, and gentled his voice. “Sorry, Son. I thought your astronomy courses would have covered that. But let’s see… Your classes did cover the large-scale structure of the universe, right? How on cosmic scales clusters of galaxies form and in turn those clusters are interconnected with filaments of gas forming a cosmic web?”

“Yeah, I remember holographic pictures of a web-like structure with filaments and clusters of galaxies bordering vast voids in space. Like a three-dimensional and very irregular spider web. It was eerie.”

“Yes. The filaments consist of ionized gas plasma that is gravitationally bound to and interconnects galaxy clusters. Astronomers in the early 21st-century determined that clusters of galaxies merge at the intersection of the web filaments, forming larger clusters. The merging releases kinetic energy along the filaments, shock waves and turbulence in the intracluster gas, accelerating electrons to relativistic velocities. This produces radio frequency waves that can be seen by large space-based arrays of radio telescopes.

Stefan interjected at this point, “You also know that the universe itself is undergoing expansion. Right?”

“Yes, I know this, Commander Erling. But the expansion is not of individual galaxies away from each other, is it? Rather, the expansion is on a larger scale so that local clusters of galaxies essentially maintain the same separation. And the velocity of separation is increasing. Accelerating.” Arun had sat up straighter at his ability to participate in the knowledge dump.

“That’s right, bud,” Ethan said. There was warm affection in his voice. “But here’s the thing. Galaxies also have what is known as a peculiar velocity, apart from the velocity of space expansion. Locally, inside a volume with a diameter on the order of several hundred million lightyears, there is an additional, smaller movement. Large clusters of galaxies move together in the same direction. For example, by their peculiar velocity the galaxies in our neighborhood, known as the Virgo Supercluster, are all moving toward a point in space that we cannot see. It was labeled the Great Attractor centuries ago by astronomers who theorized a gravitational anomaly there that they could not see but which would account for the motion of our local cluster of galaxies. They pictured that location in space as a sort of gravitational sink, attracting all relatively nearby masses to it. Later the gravitational sink was theorized to be caused by a massive and very dense cluster of galaxies. The supercluster was named the Vela Supercluster.

“Stefan spoke up, “But, as I believe you’re aware, Ethan, within a matter of decades another even larger attractor was found. They labeled it the Shapley Attractor. It is also in the same direction from us as the Great Attractor. So the Great Attractor itself, us along with it, are moving toward that center. All the galaxies within, say, 500 million lightyears are pulling themselves together, although at different rates.” Then he added, “While also moving away from more distant galaxy clusters.”

Arun’s head was spinning but he rallied with an attempt at humor. “So, motions within motions, then? Funny how we don’t feel it.” The two older men looked at him blankly.

Ethan returned to his earlier comment, “As I was saying, Stefan, we can now see the Vela Supercluster with optical telescopes as well as radio telescopes. Through a wormhole.”

“A wormhole.” Stefan voice was neutral. “Care to explain further?”

“Well, I don’t know much but here’s what the post said. The wormhole seems to have its near opening about 5000 lightyears from us in the direction of the constellation Scorpio. From what they have observed, the far end opens into that ZOA you mentioned Stefan, giving spectacular views of Vela. Views at optical wavelengths showing individual stars and galaxies and at radio wavelengths showing radio-frequency shock waves. And…they have discovered more going on there than suspected. Previously, Vela and its cosmic neighborhood could only be studied at longer wavelengths that are not blocked by the dust and gases of the Milky Way disc, in the radio and microwave region of the EM spectrum, for example. The optical wavelengths coming through the wormhole are giving information on the number and distribution of galaxies. Portions of the cosmic web interconnecting Vela with other superclusters are also visible. Unsurprisingly, astronomers see evidence of a massive merging of galaxies in the supercluster. The galaxies’ interacting gas clouds are forced together, triggering bursts of star formation.

“Oddly, however, the magnitude of radio-wave emission from the merging is orders of magnitude greater than theoretically possible. Until the wormhole opened the anomaly wasn’t observed. Something is going on that is not understood.”

Stefan was intrigued. “Could the radio shock waves be generated by the collision of massive black holes at the centers of two interacting galaxies?”

“Yes, possibly. In any event the fact that the shock waves are only seen through the wormhole indicates that this is relatively recent, in the last million years or so.”

Stefan responded, “You mean because the wormhole is a ‘shortcut’ through spacetime, it has given observers a peephole into what is going on there that will not be otherwise known for hundreds of millions of years.

“Yes, it’s like we have been given an advance notice of things yet to happen. A prophecy of sorts.” Ethan shuddered at the thought.

“It also appears that the wormhole is not stable. It seems to have opened about twenty years ago…” He paused momentarily as a realization hit him. That was when Shawna had first met the Archoi. His heart ached to understand what that might mean. Then he continued, his anxiety increasing as his thoughts crystallized around that central pain in his life. “Then about two years ago it started to go away. Gravitational lensing of the images is increasing, suggesting that the radius of the wormhole is decreasing, its throat becoming more constricted. The diminishing throat radius means that the exotic matter threading the wormhole is dissipating. At the current rate it could close off completely within a decade or two.”

Unless something is done to slow it down. Ethan thought of Rosy, her mission. A mission that when completed might release Shawna from her prison there in that…place. He had given up hope that he would live to see this consummation, live to be rejoined with his love. Now, his ache for Shawna was mixed with a fear for Rosy, for the danger of her mission. She was still so young, so inexperienced—far from ready in his mind. Would she be up to it when the time came? Would he lose both of his women to bring forth this…second chance for humanity?

As the two amateur astronomers and their acolyte returned to their sleepover rooms on Station there was a brief increase of radiation through the wormhole they had been discussing. The astronomers studying that region of space wouldn’t have recorded it. Their instruments were not sensitive to that form of energy. If it had been recorded it might have been characterized as originating in another dimension. It might be characterized as energy or essence from a place/time known to Ethan as the Archoi Realm taking up baryonic existence in his 4D spacetime.

In the morning Ethan found Pindra at a café on Concourse C. She had wanted to get away from ship’s business for a couple of hours.

“Hi, Ethan. What’s up?” Pindra grimaced inwardly. Guess there’s no rest for the…whoever that old saying was talking about.

“I know you wanted to be alone, but I can’t shake my agitation over something that happened last night. Something I became aware of. I hoped maybe if I talked about it with someone it would help.”

“So I’m the lucky someone.” She failed to suppress an exasperated toss of her head and annoyed tone of voice.

“Well…”

“Oh, I’m sorry Ethan. It may not be what I want but there’s no excuse for being nasty.”

“And I’m sorry, too. But…”

“Let’s start over. What’s up?” This time in a bright voice. And acknowledgment to herself of the slight hammering in her heart that lately seemed to occur in his presence. Her bad mood had nothing to do with him. With them. Whatever.

Ethan told her about their trip to the Dome to look at the night sky and then about the news of the wormhole. What astronomers were learning about the large-scale structure of the universe and how the wormhole had greatly increased their understanding of cosmology. He paused when he saw that her face was going blank.

Pindra put her hand on his arm, reaching across the small table. “Okay, I get it that this is great news for cosmology, but why your agitation? As an amateur astronomer you should be sharing the excitement about what this wormhole is showing us.”

“It’s not what the wormhole is showing us. It’s the timing of its occurrence and, based on that, the real significance of its appearance.”

“Real significance, huh? Okay… I’m listening.”

“Pindra, it first appeared when Shawna first went to the Archoi, when all the accelerated evolution began with humanity killing itself off. And now the wormhole is going away. Or will go away in another decade or two.”

This was new, Pindra thought. She wondered that Ethan was thinking about Shawna, let alone talking about her or speaking her name. She decided to ignore that aspect of what he was saying.

“Coincidence, Ethan. Come on, don’t be superstitious.”

“Maybe. But what astronomers have seen going on in that distant cluster of galaxies is highly unusual. Unprecedented. Yes, when galaxies collide there are instances of two black holes merging. But rare instances. What they first saw were dozens of such occurrences. That went on for a decade or more. Then, about two years ago these collisions ceased. The same time that Shawna returned to the Archoi Realm in the attempt to arrest the rapid destruction of Homo sapiens.”

“Oh. Well I guess I didn’t see that.” She thought for a moment. “But, really, does it matter? We knew those Archoi were messing with us and maybe the wormhole was how they were doing it. Beside what Shawna has done, what else can we do?” Pindra hazarded the mention of her best friend’s name as much from her own discomfort as his.

“You’re forgetting the other part. What Rosy is supposed to do. Her mission to find and shepherd the new humans, giving them a chance to increase in numbers.”

“Okay, yeah. Rosy’s mission. But all we can do is support Rosy, right? And we are doing that, I think, so what’s your worry?”

“The worry is that the wormhole will close before Rosy completes her mission. And she’s not ready to begin. She’s still too young. I had hoped—we had hoped that she could grow up first. But it might be too late by the time she starts. And who knows when that will be?”

“So you think the wormhole is the deciding factor? I’m not sure I see that. But, as I said, what can we do? This has always been something that only Rosy can do. We just need to be there for her when she needs us. That’s it.” Pindra had talked with Rosy about her experiences with Mikal on Haryana Station and felt that maybe Rosy was growing up faster than Ethan thought. But she decided this wasn’t a good time to talk about that. And Rosy had asked her to keep it confidential. Pindra shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. It was cold.

Ethan sighed. “I guess you’re right Pindra. Just support her, that’s all.” He heaved himself up from the chair and smiled tentatively. “I…feel better now. Just getting it off my chest helped. Thanks, friend.” With that he turned and walked away. Pindra signaled the waiter for another coffee. She needed that to digest what Ethan had said. One thing she like about this place was the lack of server bots, holographic menus, and implant overlays for ordering and paying. Sometimes old fashioned was just what you needed. Even for relationships.

Chapter 4 – Golden Eyes

Benton Prefecture, Orthix Prime, Orthix System. January 2414 GES.

Jimsen tapped his foot and wiped the light sweat from his forehead. His Supervisor had informed him that a QC manager would be watching his work today and interviewing him. He hadn’t been told why. Seeing a stocky man in a crisp suit descending the stairs near his station, Jimsen knew this was it.

Jimsen Conray was a Quality Control Inspector at Offworld Fabricators. Although a fully qualified and licensed Electromechanical Engineer, QC Inspector was the only job he’d been able to land after finishing university. It was the color of his skin and his eyes, something he couldn’t do anything about. He was just grateful for employment and his skills at his job. He’d been at the company six months, and they had just promoted him to Principal.

“Hello. My name is Birk Stadtler. I’m the interim manager for your department. I believe you’ve been alerted to my visit today? The reason for it?” Birk kept his voice neutral, non-threatening. He wanted to find out whether this man’s procedure could explain the results he had discovered.

“Hello. Yes. I’m, um, Jimsen Conray. Yes, they told me you’d be coming today. Uh, except they didn’t say why.”

Birk decided not to tell him why. No sense in biasing his observations. When he’d told the Supervisor he’d be starting with Conray on Line Two, the Super had given him an odd look. Then a chuckle. “Hope you like Jimsen’s technique. It’s…different.” Birk hadn’t a clue what the Super meant by that but decided to be extra careful in his observations.

As he considered this clearly successful QC Inspector standing in front of him Birk suddenly became aware of the man’s eyes. Yellow. No, not yellow exactly. Golden eyes. Metallic. He started, looking away and fidgeted with his tablet as he murmured, “Just go about your work as usual Mr. Conray. I’d like to observe for a while. This isn’t an inquisition or anything—so don’t be nervous.”

Birk stepped back—he was nervous. There’s something about this guy. Those eyes… Not good. Surely he’s not the reason why his line gets better results. No one who’s an obvious half-breed of something could be good at QC. Or anything else.

Jimsen thought to himself as he turned back to the production line, Okay, maybe he doesn’t believe what everyone else here knows. That I can pass/fail items without the usual test equipment. So I’ll just have to show him. He swiped a spot on the conveyor line holoscreen, and it started up.

“Wait!” Birk shouted.

Jimsen turned to him in alarm. “What?”

“You haven’t turned on the tester. It’s sitting out of the way.”

“Don’t need it…” Jimsen spoke quickly, his attention on the units coming through. He’d have to be quick on the first one—it was almost past him. He picked it up, assessed it, and smiled. Defective, just slightly off the mark. Probably would work for a while but it’s going back. He tossed it in the Reject Bin and quickly grabbed the next one. They were coming fast, and he could hear Stadtler sputtering behind him.

The fact that Jimsen could ‘sense’ a shorted servimotor without connecting it to the test leads was a unique skill, which improved his speed in spotting bad devices. And management had rewarded him for that. Without understanding how he did it. What mattered was factory throughput and Jimsen’s item count per hour not his method was what counted. His production team all benefitted as well since they routinely turned out more products than other teams. This gained them the priority scheduling that gave them all more time for family and leisure activities.

Jimsen didn’t understand his ability much more than his bosses. All he knew was that by concentrating he could cause charged particles, electrons, to move inside the devices he inspected. A test current, not a full operating current. He could ‘see’ the current flowing and easily spot the wrong direction it took in a defective unit. He needed only to pick the item up, feel it with his mind, and put it back down after a few moments. All this took place as the units moved by him on the conveyor belt. Since servimotors for starship and station thrusters required one hundred percent QC, the conveyor belt normally moved slow enough to permit a quick attachment of leads, a test voltage application, and a meter read for every item. Jimsen’s conveyor moved at three times the normal rate because none of that was needed.

At first he’d been challenged on his accuracy, but every challenge had shown his inerrancy. Eventually his employers just accepted it. Who were they to look a gift horse in the mouth as someone familiar with old Earth culture once commented. Jimsen became known for having a sixth sense in being able to pick out the bad units. But Jimsen knew that sixth sense wasn’t it. He’d read somewhere that his ability was like something called telekinesis, though that was usually applied to larger objects you could see with your eyes. Jimsen could move larger objects, but it hadn’t been necessary in his job. It was also something he didn’t want to advertise. People got spooked about such things. Another ability he didn’t want known was that he could know what others were thinking. If he wanted to. Only Kalet knew that since she also was telepathic. They kept these psi abilities secret knowing the fears this would inspire in others. Would their children be telepathic or have other gifts? They often wondered.

After a couple of minutes, a dozen passes and another fail, Birk could restrain himself no longer. “Mr. Conray, please turn off the line. Now.”

Jimsen hadn’t expected that but promptly obeyed. He turned around slowly to see that Stadtler’s face was red, and he was stepping back and forth on his feet.

“Mr. Conray, I…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know where to start. Are you trying to embarrass me or mock me? How can you possibly tell which of the dozen or so units you’ve just examined are good or not without using the test equipment?”

Birk was torn between two opposing clamors inside, the desire to fire the man on the spot and the intense curiosity aroused by his test ‘method,’ knowing as he did that Conray’s line produced higher quality units than the other two lines.

Jimsen was shocked. “They… They didn’t tell you?” He stared at Stadtler, not knowing what else to say. Finally, he remembered to say what everyone said. “I…have a sixth sense. I just know which units are bad.” How can I tell him the truth? They might demote me or even fire me. Jimsen had recently heard rumors about a growing sentiment of disfavor for people with so-called genetic abnormalities. The rumors had started about the same time that Stadtler had arrived on the planet and seemed to be coming from a small organization in the city that advertised for people to join it in its quest for what it called racial purity. The General Manager of Offworld was rumored to be a member of that group. Jimsen wondered if Stadtler had attended any of its meetings.

“You have what? A sixth sense? That’s ridiculous!” Then Birk remembered what the Super had said. ‘Hope you like Jimsen’s technique.’ So, the Super knew this was how Conray worked. And approved of it, obviously. Birk moderated his approach. “Excuse me, Mr. Conray. I guess I forgot that I was…informed that you had a different technique for testing. I…wonder if you could explain it to me better.” He couldn’t bring himself to look into this creature’s eyes and he pushed down a rising gorge. Birk had been told at the RacPure Club meetings that there were strange people on the planet. He’d never anticipated that one of them would be one of his employees. A very successful employee it seemed.

Birk Stadtler hadn’t been happy about his transfer to Offworld Fabricator’s Specialty Products Division. Orthix Prime was a nowhere planet in a nowhere system, out of the stream of galactic culture and commerce. And the home of political malcontents. Radicals. They embraced all kinds of people, all races, all cultures. The big mix. And it was destroying the purity of the race, the human race, in Stadtler’s opinion. Some who called themselves human were barely so, he believed. But he had to accept the assignment if he wanted to advance in the company. Offworld’s management training philosophy included stints at all its facilities. It would only be for a Standard Year, but two cycles on this planet. Besides the people, he’d have to endure two of their miserably hot summers. He would just hunker down and get through it. Lise might visit him on her vacation. If she could stand coming here. If.

After Birk’s first week of orientation he’d set himself to his first task—overview of all the company’s production departments. Offworld Fabricators had a large portfolio of specialty products, mostly for outer space applications. A-grav sensors to alert crews of imminent problems with shipboard traction; holographic 3D scanners to assist in efficient cargo placement on freighters; AI-controlled servimotors for attitude correction thrusters and a variety of other space station and spacecraft applications; even external takeholds on starship hulls that auto-configured themselves to the grasp of the technician on EVA to prevent loss of contact.

For Birk Stadtler every product was a candidate for improvement in manufacturing. He saw this task as a purification, weeding out the failures in method or material. In a sense it was just like the need to purify humanity. But that was something to think about in his spare time.

Management had given him the choice of which department he wanted to review first before settling on an assistant manager’s position at the factory. Most new managers thought the supply side of fabrication was the most promising for advancement. Birk knew better. It was the final product and specifically the product yield. How many units were rejected as a fraction of total production—and, more importantly, why. Yield. And that meant Quality Control. It was QC that made an enterprise succeed or fail because QC inevitably identified all the other problems with the manufacture of an item, from raw materials through all the fabrication steps. QC found out where manufacturing had to be improved. So, QC was the key. If it was done right.

It took Birk Stadtler three weeks to get to the Servimotor Line. Servimotors were high profit margin machines. Low-cost materials and mostly automated steps in manufacture, except QC. The company was considering automating QC, but Birk was dead set against that. There was nothing like the human touch on an item, particularly something like a servimotor, where the slightest deviations from tolerances could tell you a lot about the earlier steps in fabrication. The servimotor could pass QC yet still fail in service if the QC inspector was not careful interpreting the readouts during test. And Offworld’s servimotors were having problems in the marketplace. Some were failing after a year or two of service. Offworld had been the major supplier in the galaxy but now competitors were circling the prey. Birk would find out why.

Before going down to the factory floor, Birk had done his homework. Offworld had three production lines for the servimotor and the serial numbers for the units from each line had simple tags to identify which line had produced them. Servimotor failure statistics obeyed a Weibull ‘bathtub-shaped’ failure distribution curve, with early failures followed by a long period of solid performance and then catastrophic failures at end of life. Early failures were inevitable but, thankfully, few in number. Nevertheless, understanding the reason for such failures was important in Birk’s view. When he looked at performance statistics gathered over the past two years Birk found an unexpected anomaly. The units from one of the three lines had statistically significant fewer early failures that those from the other two lines. That should not be. All three lines used the same machines and processes, all updated to the latest specs. To Birk’s careful eye that meant that Line Two had a statistically better QC than the other two. At least, that was his first conclusion. Armed with that information, Birk had started with Line Two.

Jimsen was proud of his achievements at Offworld Fabricators. His wife Kalet was proud of him too. They were expecting their second child and the salary boost he’d received was going to be a big help. To prepare for the baby, Kalet had taken family leave from her position as Lecturer in Medical Science at Benton University. Like Jimsen, she was overqualified for her work. She was a Board-Certified Doctor of Internal Medicine. On some planets she would have had a thriving practice.

With Jimsen’s added income they could move into a larger apartment in their complex. They could also afford a detached home but would have to move away from friends to do so. They were well liked in the housing block where they lived and didn’t want to chance finding acceptance in a new neighborhood. Maybe someday… If people ever came to realize that they were just like other humans. Yes, different eyes, a golden hue that made him stand out. And yes, different abilities. But why should that matter to people? Everyone at his company had different skills and each one was fitted to a particular task that best used their skill.

Kalet knew something terrible had happened to Jimsen that day when he returned home at the end of his shift. She took his hands, which trembled. “What happened, love? What happened?”

“I…can’t talk about it just now. After supper. I need to get something in my stomach first.”

Kalet was silent, looked into his eyes. Started to be drawn into his eyes where she knew there was a place of peace. But no! That won’t help right now. He’s got to talk about it first. She turned back into the small kitchen and continued her preparations. The baby kicked. Her hand pressed to her side. Despite her husband’s anguish, she was happy.

After dinner and with Salam put to bed, Jimsen had finally calmed himself enough to relate to Kalet what had happened to him that day. The dinner she had prepared contributed significantly to his growing peace: a baked tanfish mélange with asgareth and carrotins side dishes. Both the seafood and the vegetables were native to their home planet, Orthix Prime. They were both excellent cooks and planned to reverse roles when the baby came. He would take over cooking to give her time with their new addition. Kalet waited patiently while he composed his thoughts. The baby kicked once and was still.

“It was the new QC Manager, actually a trainee. They send their management apprentices to all the different installations. They can choose what department to specialize in and this man was primarily a QC man.” He had been about to say, ‘fancied himself,’ but desisted. It wouldn’t do to be vindictive, though the man had been unpleasant in the extreme. Jimsen hadn’t been able to fully shield himself from the man’s scathing thoughts about Jimsen’s likely genetic heritage. And that, more than his skepticism about Jimsen’s QC methods, was what troubled him most. “Stadtler…that was the manager’s name, Birk Stadtler—he’s dangerous to us, Kalet. He thinks there’s something wrong with me, that I’m not even human. He wants to report me to some organization he belongs to. He…”

“Wait!” Kalet put her hand on his arm, softly. “How do you know this? Did he say that to you or did you…?”

“Read his mind? Yes, though not intentionally. I…I couldn’t keep his angry thoughts out of my head. And that’s unusual, you know. I normally have good control and I am not nosy.” He gave her a soft look. “And neither are you. But what are we going to do?”

“About what?”

“About his plans to report us…me that is, but he’d have the same thoughts about you. If he knew, that is. And I could lose my job.” He put his head in his hands, moving it back a forth wearily.

“Jimsen, honey, relax. To them profit margin is all there is, not skin or eye color. There’s no law against what we are. We don’t even know for sure what we are, so how can anyone else?”

“It’s not what we are, Kalet. I mean specifically what we are. It’s that we’re different. Some people fear things they don’t understand. In Stadtler’s mind we’re not pure humans and he wants to purge humanity of everything that’s different.”

“Jimsen, really! That’s such an old war to wage. It’s been tried throughout human history and people, sane people, always bounce back from the pogroms that have taken place. And Orthix Prime is safe from that sort of thing anyway.”

“I…I suppose you’re right.” He started to relax but then something he’d ‘heard’ in Stadtler’s thoughts came back to him. “Kalet,” he said, his eyes going wide, “He said…I mean thought something else that is…” Good or bad? How can I know? “His thoughts turned at one point to a remembrance of having heard about others like us. I mean others with the kind of eyes we have.”

“Where?” Kalet’s breath was quick. “Did he know where they were? We could…” An old hope, almost forgotten, surged to the front of her mind. This might be proof of that…world they knew about when their eyes joined them as one. They might find the others. She’d always been so sure there were others and sometimes wept at night over the inability to find them.

Jimsen and Kalet intuitively knew that they were not human—in the usual sense. It wasn’t their golden eyes or even their psi abilities. There was more, an indefinable more, but nonetheless certain. That something had become most compelling to each of them when, as young lovers will do, they first looked deeply into each other’s eyes. Meeting and getting to know another person with the same odd-colored eyes had been mostly a fun coincidence. They’d grown up on different continents on Orthix Prime but met in university. They soon became friends, then more than friends. When their first kiss had included plumbing the depths in each other’s eyes they’d been transported to another world. Though they remained in an embrace their minds were wholly elsewhere. It was a realm of beauty, a land where others like them lived. Lived in full harmony and peace, without strife, without warfare, without poverty and prejudice. A community that, though composed of individuals with ever-so-distinct personalities and preferences, was at the same time a single being welded together into one larger person. Multidimensional. Boundless in empathy yet firm in justice. When their eyes had unlocked that first time they simply stared in wonder at each other, still holding hands. Both inquisitive types they had quickly decided to try it again, pretending that it wasn’t just the desire to kiss again. But the second kiss was soon forgotten when their eyes had taken them once again to that fantastic place.

As their courtship continued, leading finally to marriage, Jimsen and Kalet never stopped visiting that world. If visiting was the right verb. They found they couldn’t speak to others there, only look, and no one there seemed to notice them. Despite that they eventually came to believe this world inside their minds was real and existed somewhere. On another planet, perhaps. One that lay uncharted in the Galactic Federation Stellar Database. But they had no idea where nor how they might get there.

Then with marriage and children coming they settled into a conventional life, unremarkable for any of their class and position on their planet. Their friends, mostly those in their apartment block or a few of Jimsen’s company mates, often got together to talk about work, children, hopes for improving their lives. They gradually forgot that numinous world, visiting it less and less frequently. They wanted just to live a quiet life, with friends and comfort and hope for the future—whatever that future might hold. Birk Stadtler’s remembrance about others like them brought that future forcefully to the present.

Jimsen’s voice turned consoling, despite his anxiety at what he’d seen in Stadtler’s mind. “No, Kalet, there was no indication of where they might be.” His agitation returned; he couldn’t keep those thoughts at bay. “But the bad part is what he wanted to do with them, us. He seems to think that all such people should be rounded up and put in detention. Or, even shipped off to a barren planet or something.”

Kalet suppressed a smile. “That’s silly. I told you that’s been tried before and failed. And humanity has advanced beyond that type of thing.”

“I’m not so sure, love. I’m not at all so sure. The man was planning to talk to his club about it. They’re a supremacist organization of some sort.”

Birk Stadtler tried to quell his impatience at the need to finish the day’s reports. The interview with that…man Conray had unsettled the rest of his day. Interviews with the QC Inspectors of Lines One and Three had gone smoothly enough and he had gathered reconnaissance data from their testing equipment. No sense in trying that on Line Two. The man doesn’t use the testers, and I can’t hook up my monitoring equipment to his brain. Birk was still rattled at the man’s ability to predict incipient servimotor failures more accurately than the specialized electronics custom designed to do just that. His reports to management had to be fair, he knew. Conray had a good reputation, had recently been promoted. His better than average productivity went directly to the firm’s bottom line. You couldn’t argue with numbers. But you can argue with genes and there’s something decidedly fishy about that man’s genes. The company can’t keep me from pursuing that on my own time. Birk touched the icon on the desk contact plate sending the report to his boss. Then he dissolved the holoscreen reporting module with an angry flourish and got up. He decided to go directly to the club tonight. They had a light dinner service available for members who worked late.

Interlude

Archoi Realm.

The pulse of radiation through a wormhole observed by amateur astronomers in human worlds resulted from the beginning of the merger of two galaxies. It corresponded to a different kind of merger taking place in the Archoi Realm. In that Realm, mindful of their earlier transgression in not conferring with the Primary One, the Motes sent streamers of crystalline light with this message: >There has been an incursion. Please Advise.<

After a brief moment, which in the Archoi Realm might feel like millennia to humans, the Primary One responded, >We must consult with the Ordinal. The Ur-Being has emerged and started a transit, the first in eons. There will be consequences, possibly extending to the Ambassador’s world. Ensure that she remains focused on her connection with You. The outcome of these events is uncertain. The Ambassador must endure until We develop measures to safeguard the new humanity.<

Shawna Tang, the Ambassador of humanity to the Archoi, felt ripples in her peace. Unwelcome wrinkles, portents. She sensed something out of place. The ripples passed and she was minded to settle in again but couldn’t. An intuition led her to ask her Hosts.

She sent to Them, ~Why? And waited. She knew that even in this not-time/not-place realm there could be a delay. Or something like delay. A wait seemed the best way to think of it.

Semi-transparent globes appeared, signaling the Primary One’s presence. Or her awareness of them, she was never sure which. They spoke, >There has been a disturbance in the Plenum. Do not be alarmed.<

That was all. They hadn’t answered her question. Typical, she thought. Determined, trying for the hint of sarcasm that sometimes worked with Them, she shot back, ~Yes. Even a low-level, unevolved creature such as I could tell that it was a ‘disturbance.’ I still want to know: Why? What did it mean? Their dismissal had convinced her that there was more to this than just wavelets on the surface of a pond.

>It would require explanations of things beyond what We have previously revealed to you of Our existence.<

~I’m waiting. Was it a sigh she sensed before They answered?

>In your initial visit, we gave you a model of our Domain, based on your comprehension of cosmology and the large-scale structure of your universe. Your galaxy, along with approximately one hundred others, forms a distinct and identifiable grouping known as the Virgo Supercluster. This supercluster is just one among many galactic clusters forming extended strings.

~Yes, I remember. So, the Archoi are a cluster within the Domain?

>Yes. There are local clusters Local Intent/Will in the Domain. We do not use Names for the different regions. However, to you We are Archoi and the correspondence to Our Being in your realm is the Virgo Supercluster.<

 A thought occurred to Shawna. ~Have those ripples come from another part of that Domain?

There was a long pause. Shawna waited. Then They spoke again. She sensed a tension or even a sadness if there could be such in this Realm. >There is always movement with Us, a merging of one Local Intent with another. This is good. However, in some rare circumstances the merging can bring conflict, even annihilation.<

~Do you mean…? She couldn’t say the rest of it. The possibility terrified her.

>Yes. After merging a new, singular Local Intent/Will exists with an updated rationale. Usually all the components of the constituents remain, though part of a larger whole. But turbulence in the merger can destroy some of the unique contributions to the New.<

Sensing her confusion, the Primary One returned to the cosmological model. >You are familiar with the merging of galaxies. Your own galaxy will eventually combine with the Andromeda galaxy, in about 5 billion of your years. On a larger scale the entire Virgo Supercluster is moving toward another cluster of galaxies that are hidden from human observers by your own galaxy, Your astronomers have named that cluster the Great Attractor. The Virgo Supercluster may lose its distinct identity within the larger galactic collection. From this model of Our Domain, you can grasp the peril that the merger poses to Us, the Archoi.<

~Yes, I see. You might lose Your distinctiveness. She had a premonition and hurried on to ask, ~What is the distinctiveness that could be lost?

Finally, the Primary One was blunt in Their answer. >Our uniqueness is the Order we create and maintain in the Domain, which directly corresponds to the existence and continued evolution of sentient species in your galaxy. If the turbulence caused by the merger disrupts Our Order, sentient species in your realm would be at risk. Your galaxy, as part of the Virgo Supercluster, exhibits an unusually high rate of new star formation. It produces ten to twenty new stars annually, whereas nearby galaxies like Andromeda produce less than one per year, along with hundreds of other galaxies. This high birth and death rate of new stars facilitates abundant life creation and the emergence of multiple sentient species. Imagine the consequences if the dense gaseous regions responsible for star formation in your galaxy were diluted. The continuous creation and evolution of species would be disrupted, possibly even halted.

> The Archoi are charged with maintaining the Order in the Domain, so the Milky Way’s fecundity is undisturbed during the merging. This We can do. Unfortunately the turbulence of the merger has caused the re-emergence of a primitive Being. That Being is now acting to undo the Archoi Order.<

~Does this Being have a name or designation? Shawna wasn’t sure why that was important to her. Maybe just curiosity over a detail while her mind was still trying to absorb the revelation the Primary One had made about humanity’s destiny, or lack thereof. And what could be done to prevent the implied disaster.

>In your realm, the Ur-Being is referred to as Chaos, representing its primordial, unevolved nature devoid of purpose or goal. The Archoi Order, on the other hand, emerged from chaotic non-Order and is progressive and purposeful. The non-Order of the Ur-Being was transformed into Order. In your universe, the corresponding event was the inception of time, known as the Big Bang. It marked the creation of matter, energy, and the eventual emergence of sentience and societal development among sentient species.

>However, Chaos has resurfaced as an incursion into Our Realm of Order, attempting to reinstate non-Order. This is not possible. In reality, the incursion is causing Disorder, which cannot be reversed. The manifestation of Disorder in human society appears as immoral actions and a lack of purpose. In physical and biological systems that sustain life, Disorder manifests as increased entropy. Both scenarios, if allowed to reach completion, lead to dead ends where nothing further occurs or exists. That is not the Intent/Will of the Archoi.<

~Primary One, this all very philosophical. But what is the practical application to the galaxy I came from? This was one of two questions Shawna had—but one at a time. She felt she might be trying to escape the point to which the Primary One was driving. As if she could.

>If the clash between the Ur-Being and the Archoi extends into the realm of matter and energy within your galaxy, there may be an attempt to subjugate the new humans and make them servants of non-Order. We cannot allow this to happen. As We previously mentioned, We bear responsibility for humanity, which is an integral part of Our distinctiveness. If the conflict between Chaos and the Archoi confounds or eradicates this distinctiveness, humanity will be lost.<

~Wait. You said the merging You are speaking of will not occur for billions of years. How can it affect my world now?

>The incursion that you noticed marked the beginning of the merger. Remember that time functions differently in the Archoi Realm, and the sequence of events here does not directly correspond to those in your world. Some aspects of the merger, such as galactic movements, may span billions of years in your realm. However, other consequences may unfold soon, even within your lifetime.

>We must monitor events to ensure that the Ur-Being fails. We will work in Our Realm, but if the battle extends to your world We must depend on human beings to aide Us. Specifically, we are depending on your daughter Rosy, the Seed. Currently there exists only the potential for Disorder. It is vital for Rosy to remain vigilant, and we will make efforts to guide her in fulfilling Our Intent/Will.<

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