Unfortunately, you came here on a barren lump of rock.”
“You speak of change,” Sinon said. “And you know of souls. Is your kind of existence the answer to our problem? Should our race learn how to transform itself into an entity like you?”
“It is an answer, certainly. Whether you would be ready to sacrifice what you have to achieve our actuality, I would doubt. You are a young species, with a great deal of potential ahead of you. We were not. We were old and stagnant; we still are. The universe of our birth holds no mysteries to us. We know its origin and its destination. That is why we came here. This realm is harmonious to us; it has our tempo. We will wait out our existence here, observing what comes our way. That is our nature. Other races and cultures would take the path to decadence or transcendence. I wonder which you will select when it is your time?”
“I like to think transcendence,” Sinon said. “But as you say, we are a younger, less mature race than you. Dreaming of such a destiny is inevitable for us, I suggest.”
“I concede the point.”
“Can you tell us of a valid answer to the problem of possession we currently face, how we can send our souls safely through the beyond?”
“Unfortunately, the Kiint were correct to tell you such a resolution must come from within.”
“Do all races who have resolved the question of souls apply this kind of moral superiority in their dealings with inferior species?”
“You are not inferior, merely different.”
“Then what are our options?” Stephanie asked.
“You can die,” Tinkerbell said. “I know you have all expressed a wish for that. I can make it happen. I can remove your soul from the body it possesses, which will allow this realm’s nature to take its course. Your host will be restored, and can return to Mortonridge.”
“Not too appealing,” she said shakily. “Anything else?”
“Your soul would be welcome to join me in this vessel. You would become part of my multiplicity.”
“If you can do that, then just give each of us our own vessel.”
“While we are effectively omnipotent within this realm, that ability is beyond us. The instrument which brought us here, and assembled our current vessels, was left behind in your universe long ago. We had no further use for it, so we thought.”
“Can’t you go back?”
“Theoretically, yes. But intent is another thing. And we don’t know if the instrument still exists. Moreover, you would probably be unable to adapt to such a vessel by yourself; our psychology is different.”
“None of those are very attractive,” she said.
“To you,” Choma interjected quickly. “To most of the serjeants, transferring ourselves into a new style of multiplicity is very attractive.”
“Which opens up a further option,” Tinkerbell said. “I can also transfer your souls into the empty serjeant bodies.”
“That’s better,” Stephanie said. “But if we go back, even in serjeant bodies, we’ll still wind up in the beyond at some later time.”
“That depends. Your race may decide how to deal with souls that become trapped in the beyond before that happens.”
“You’re giving us a lot of credit. Judging by our current record, I’m not sure we deserve it. If you can’t shoot it, people aren’t interested.”
“You are being unfair,” Sinon said.
“But honest. The military mind has infiltrated government for centuries until they became one,” Rana said.
“Don’t start,” Cochrane grunted. “This is like important, you dig?”
“I don’t pretend to predict what will come,” Tinkerbell said. “We abandoned that arrogance when we came here. You seem to be determined. That usually suffices.”
“Did you come here purely to circumvent the beyond?” Sinon asked. “Was this your racial solution?”
“Not at all. As I said, we are an old species. While we were still in our biological form we evolved into a collective of collectives. We gathered knowledge for millennia, explored galaxies, examined different dimensional realms coexisting with our own universe—everything a new race does as fresh insights and understanding open up. Eventually there was nothing original for us, only variations on a theme that had been played a million times before. Our technology was perfect, our intellects complete. We stopped reproducing, for there was no longer any reason to introduce new minds to the universe; they could only ever have heritage, never discovery. At such a point some races die out contentedly, releasing their souls to the beyond. We chose this transference, the final accomplishment for our technological mastery. An instrument capable of moving the consciousness from a biological seat to this state was a challenge even for us. You can only sense the physical aspects of this vessel, and even those can be at variance with what you understand. As I think you realize.”
“Why bother with an instrument? We came here by willpower alone.”
“The energistic power you have is extremely crude. Our vessels cannot even exist fully in the universe, the energy patterns they support have no analogue there. Their construction requires a great deal of finesse.”
“What about others? Have you discovered any life forms here?”
“Many. Some like us, who have abandoned the universe. Some like you, thrown here by chance and accident. Others which are different again. There are visitors, too, entities more accomplished than we, who are charting many realms.”
“I think I would like to see them,” Choma said. “To know what you do. I will join you if I may.”
“You will be welcome,” Tinkerbell said. “What of the rest?”
Stephanie glanced round her friends, trying to gauge their reaction to the offers Tinkerbell had made. Apprehension persisted in all of them, they were waiting for her lead. Again.
“Are there any other humans here?” she asked. “Any planets?”
“It is possible,” Tinkerbell said. “Though I have not encountered any yet. This realm is one of many which has the parameters you desired.”
“So we can’t seek refuge anywhere else?”
“No.”
Stephanie took Moyo’s hand in hers and pulled him close. “Very well, time to face the music, I suppose.”
“I love you,” he said. “I just want to be with you. That’s my paradise.”
“I won’t choose for you,” she told the others. “You must do that for yourselves. For myself, if a serjeant body is available I will take it and return to Mortonridge. If not, then I’ll accept death here in this realm. My host can have her body and freedom back.”
Chapter 10
To a civilization innocent of regularised interstellar travel, the arrival of a single starship could never be viewed as a threat in itself. What it represents, the potential behind it, however, is another matter. A paranoid species could react very badly indeed to such an event.
It was a factor Joshua kept firmly in mind when
“That original radar pulse is all I’m picking up,” Beaulieu reported. “They haven’t seen us.”
“We’re in clear,” Joshua told Syrinx. All communication between the two starships was now conducted via affinity, the bitek processor array installed in
