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"Perhaps. I have hope now. We have managed to sort of convene all of the
Higher
Races here, and that is in itself a miracle. Krisha just ignored the
blackness.
It couldn't touch her. I, of course, assisted by taking out the four Qaamil
fighters that jumped us. It was a very sinful feeling for a priest. Like I was
back at the Academy in the simulators, taking out the enemies of the Mizlaplan
although outnumbered and outgunned. I enjoyed every minute of it."
She grinned. "I think, deep down, you were born for our descent, Chin, and
perhaps for this moment. Not that we enjoyed losing our good comrades, or
seeing the terrible things the Quintara can do, but, well, you know what I
mean."
"Yes, I fear you are right. I honestly and truly wish all this had never come
about, had never been necessary. That is sincere. But, if it had to happen, I
should have felt most terrible had I been left out of it." He paused. "Um, I
assume Josef could not be kept from knowing about the child?"
"Hardly. As soon as I did, he did, more or less. He wants me to have it
removed and given to be developed in the lab so it won't be harmed."
"And what did you say?"
"It is not something I tell just any priest, but it had to be very strong.
After all, I considered just telling him to go to hell, but he's already been
there!"
Chin looked over her shoulder. "They are signaling for us to come. I do not
think now that they wish to waste any time at all on this."
Modra saw just what Chin meant about Krisha. She talked normally, and seemed
all right, but she moved her head in an odd, unbalanced manner, as if she
expected it to fall off, and the blast of pure power radiating from within her
was no
Krisha that Modra had ever known.
The ward room of a Mycohlian heavy cruiser had been transformed. All furniture
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had been unshipped and removed; the shiny polished floor had been painted with
a great tricolored design, one they now all recognized, and it was large
enough for them all to enter.
Tobrush was essentially in charge as host. "We apologize for the rush, but we
have received word of a large Qaamil rebel task force heading towards us," the
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Mycohlian told them. "Considering its origin and likely course, I needn't tell
you who, or rather what, is probably in command. Due to the distance, we are
in no immediate danger, but the closer they get to us the more we will have to
consider defenses, and the Great Gathering should have as much time as it
requires."
"How long will it require, Tobrush?" Gun Roh Chin asked.
"It is impossible to know. Perhaps hours. Perhaps nanoseconds. There is no
memory of this in any of our collective minds. Although it did happen before,
in what must have been in some ways an even greater drama, considering that
the
Mizlaplan and Guardians were asked to trust my own people when there was
little basis for that trust in past behavior, it is, for all practical
purposes, unprecedented. We do not know what will happen. We do not know what
we are all about to find out. In any event, the speed and possibly volume of
data exchange will probably be too much for your Terran minds to absorb. Our
experts believe that you will essentially black out. Do not worry. We will
tell you what you need to know when we know it. Now, each of you take one of
the five remaining points, but remain inside the circle. Yes, you too, Chin.
For some reason all three parties believe that you are an important element in
this."
They moved down and did as instructed.
"Cymol, the level of power you require to maintain full two-way contact is
being diverted from the ship's auxiliary engines to this transformer. Come
inside the circle, make your full contact with the Guardians, and then with
your two representatives. Modra, take the point to my right. Jimmy, next to
her. Then you, Captain sorry, Reverend Chin. Krisha, to my left. Josef,
between Krisha and
Chin. Everyone make physical contact with the person on either side of them.
Hold hands, tendrils, whatever, but flesh against flesh. We tried to calculate
the size of the seal so that it would be little effort for anyone. Good. Now,
as you might notice, a very tiny chip on the seal is left open behind me. I
shall now connect the last millimeter or so of the circle. From this point, do
not leave or break the circle or contact. Good. Now, cymol your power
sufficient?
Very well. Make the connection. You Terrans, just let your minds go as blank
as possible and just relax."
Telling any of them to relax was like telling somebody not to think of the
word
"Quintara," but they tried as best they could and braced themselves for the
inevitable shock and disorientation.
After a few moments, when nothing happened, many of them relaxed just a bit.
There was a sudden, violent shock so powerful it stunned them all, coming not
from any one of them but seemingly from the design itself, linking them
through its interconnections as if each were touching the other. The energy
field was so strong and so sustained that none of them could have let go if
they retained enough wits to think about doing so. A surge jumped from Jimmy
and Modra into the cymol; the transformer smoked, and the cymol. fell in the
center as if dead.
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All sense was lost. Colors were solids. Blue leaped from Modra and Jimmy and
met gold at Krisha, then collided with red at Tobrush.
Gun Roh Chin felt the shock, too, and saw the colors in a way he had never
been able to see before, although he was too stunned to even realize it.
Other Mycohl, monitoring from beyond the circle, gasped as the colors on the
seal began to glow and then flow with a pulsing life of their own, while
pulses of all three colors now ran round and round the exterior enclosing
circle as if chasing each other endlessly around the loop.
The inner colors flowed like mercury, collided, but would not mix; again and
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and failed, until, by random selection, all three converged at a single point
and flowed inward.
Flowed into Gun Roh Chin.
There was one Mind, one thought. Within the body of the Guardians, within the
Gathering of the Mycohl, within the interlinked minds of the Holy Angels,
there was One. Information was assembled, sorted, collated, interpreted at
speeds approaching the infinite, linked through dimensional passageways
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