“Can that be?” wonders Christian.
Through the void of death, they perceive one speaking: “Gaia, if you will give Laurinda over to me, I will take her home with Christian—home into Alpha.”
And another asks: “Child, do you desire this? You can be of Earth and of the new humanity.”
She will share in those worlds, inner and outer, only as a memory borne by the great being to whom she will have returned; but if she departs, she will not have them at all.
“Once I chose you, Mother,” Laurinda answers.
Christian senses the struggle she is waging with herself and tells her, “Do whatever you most wish, my dearest.”
She turns back to him. “I will be with you. Forever with you.”
And that too will be only as a memory, like him; but what they were will be together, as one, and will live on, unforgotten.
“Farewell, child,” says Gaia.
“Welcome,” says Wayfarer.
The darkness collapses. The ghosts dissolve into him. He stands on the mountaintop ready to bear them away, a part of everything he has gained for those whose avatar he is.
“When will you go?” Gaia asks him.
“Soon,” he tells her: soon, home to his own oneness.
And she will abide, waiting for the judgment from the stars.
Dedication
To Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin, Killer Bees and cosmic craftsmen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Poul Anderson (1926–2001) grew up bilingual in a Danish American family. After discovering science fiction fandom and earning a physics degree at the University of Minnesota, he found writing science fiction more satisfactory. Admired for his “hard” science fiction, mysteries, historical novels, and “fantasy with rivets,” he also excelled in humor. He was the guest of honor at the 1959 World Science Fiction Convention and at many similar events, including the 1998 Contact Japan 3 and the 1999 Strannik Conference in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In addition to the Hugo and Nebula Awards, he has received the Gandalf, Seiun, and Strannik, or “Wanderer,” Awards. A founder of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, he became a Grand Master, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
In 1952 he met Karen Kruse; they married in Berkeley, California, where their daughter, Astrid, was born, and they later lived in Orinda, California. Astrid and her husband, science fiction author Greg Bear, now live with their family outside Seattle.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2000 by the Trigonier Trust
Cover design by Ian Koviak
ISBN: 978-1-5040-6398-2
This edition published in 2020 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
180 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038
www.openroadmedia.com
POUL ANDERSON
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
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