Vikram’sskin tingled. She said descendants. Did that mean Humans camefrom these people as well? He opened his mouth.
“Didyou say descendants?” Gabriella asked, coming to stand by Vikram.“Are you saying we’re related somehow?”
“Wewere finished. We should have seen that we were designing our own endbut it was too late for us.” She turned from the display to look atthem.
“Wecreated the most diverse group of bodies possible, given the genes incirculation. We cloned the group for use on hundreds of worlds, eachbody inhabited by a volunteer.
“Thechances of any one group becoming genetically viable over time wasminimal but by seeding multiple worlds…” She glanced over hershoulder at the display.
“Somehave thrived. You are one of the few successes. Most of those who liein fold-sleep, waitingfor our descendants, willnever be wakened.
Theholo behind her became a grassy plain, zooming in on a group ofpeople. They were dressed in modern-lookingclothing and stood among a cluster of small storage containers.
“Yourancestors apparently thrived,” Kusha said. “As their supplieswaned and their equipment broke down, they had to learn to survive.Their descendants would have heard the stories of the god-like powersof those who came before.”
TheTitans?Vikram wondered, looking up at the ancient woman. Werethey remembered as the Titans?
“Yousurvived and you came here to builda new home ona new world.”Kusha said. “You have passed the test by becoming a viable,multiplanetspecies.”
Vikramfrowned. Ifwe had no colony…
“We’vegot Billions of people on Earth,” Gabriella said. “Are you sayingyou’d have ignored all that diversity if we hadn’t come here tosettle on Ragnarok?”
“Yes,”Kusha answered, sounding surprised this wasn’t already understood.“I said ‘viable’ species.”
Gabriellashared a look with Vikram, shrugging in resignation. “OK, where dowe go from here? What was the plan for after we’d come to you?”
“Youseem very casual about this!” Kushasounded a little put out.
“Imean no offense, Kusha, but I’d be lying if I said this is thestrangest thing to happen to me this month.” Gabriella spread herhands. “I’m just a little wrung out, that’s all, butthis is right up there – top three, at least.”
Kushastared down at her for an uncomfortably long time. Hershoulders twitched upward a little, then did it again. Suddenly shebrokeout laughing,holding a hand to her belly.
“Oh,ancestors,” she wheezed. “I haven’t had a good laugh in a verylong time. Sheswept a hand in front of her and the room was gone.
Vikrammight have jumped in alarm but there was nothing beneath his feet.Theywere floating in a large room, raw currents of energy flowingin a complex network along distant walls.
Sheraised a hand and pulled a tendril of glowing blue from the emptyspace around her and sent threads toward the two Humans. Vikramcringed as the linereached his forehead but there was no noticeable sensation.
Untilthere was…
Ina blinding flash, he was gone. There was no Vikram, only an awarenessthat vaguely remembered the name.
Kusha…Gabriella...otherconcentrations of identity that rang familiar. They orbited a densecloud of awareness,deep, complex and ever-changing.
Theydipped into it like a ship skipping in and out of a planetary gravitywell.
Conceptsand ideas flowed, unfettered and unrecorded by theblunt tool oflanguage. The simplicity of knowledge was a thing of ephemeralbeauty.
Itwashed through them and then they were back in the room with thelarge naked alien. Vikram didn’t even notice her state of undressanymore.
Hefelt the tracks on his cheeks. He looked at Gabriella and saw her owntears.
“It’sfading,” she whispered. “Oh God,there’s so much we don’t know!”
“Thatis the first step,” Kusha said gently. “You need time to fullyabsorb what you’ve witnessed.I’ll be here when you’re ready to carry on.”
“Butwhat…” Vikram stopped mid-sentence. They were back on themetallic surface, surrounded by the jungle.
“Didall of that just happen in our heads while we were standing up here?”Gabriella asked him.
Helooked at her, seeing her now as someone he’d shared a profoundlyconfusing experience with. “I honestly don’t know.”
Ad Meliora
You’re Saved!
The Tulwar, Ragnarok
“Restoringnormal geometry,” the helmsman announced. “We’re well withinthe arrival envelope,” he added with a hint of pride.
“Verygood,” Captain Max, ‘HotBox’ Johnson acknowledged. “Ops,where’s that freighter?”
“Theycame out just where they’re supposed to, Captain. They’re closingin now, confirming their status on tight-beam.”
“Keep’em close. I want that ship playing suppository till we know what’sgoing on down-well.”
“Cooling,Captain?” the engineering officer suggested.
“Securethe path drive and engage the cryo-exchange.” Max had spent severaldays thinking about this as they raced to Ragnarok.
Theodds of them arriving just in the nick of time to turn a battle wereinfinitesimal. Better chance of finding a congressman with aheart.
Thechances of finding enemies still in orbit or conducting operations onthe ground were much higher. That meant stealth would be a morevaluable asset than speed.
They’darrived in the outer edge of a gas giant and there was a lot of coldto be harvested. Fully charged cryo-banks would let them get close toRagnarok without being spotted.
Thecarbon nanotubules on the hull let light bounce down between themwhere they were harvested for data. The hull was, effectively, agiant telescope lens.
Butall that energy had to end up somewhere. Corvettes on stealth modebuilt up heat quickly. If standing in the Sahara was hot, standing inspace with no attenuating atmosphere and a completely light-absorbingcoating was mind-numbingly hot.
“Fullcharge on the cryo,” Engineeringannounced.
“Disengagethe cryo-exchange,” Max ordered. “Helm. Lift us out. Let’s geta look.”
TheTulwar eased her way out of the clouds, hull side on to theplanet to maximize the data she could collect.
Maxleaned forward in his chair. The planet in his holo began changingfrom a wireframe model to a colored representation as the incominglight was processed.
“There’sbeen a fight, alright,” the ops officer said. “The space overUnity is littered with wreckage.”
“Theground around it as well,” Max replied. “Looks like several shipswent down and not under control either.” He enlarged the planet andstabbed a finger. “That’s got to be a cruiser. Toobig to be the Kuphar.”
Hesat back. “Anything in the rest of the system?”
“Somewreckage out here.” Ops lit up a debris-field further out. “Lookslike it was mostly civilian freighters, though.”
Maxhad entertained the idea of dropping in toward Ragnarok with thefreighter hiding behind their hull. Seeing evidence of a fight alonga lateral axis to his planned approach
