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We spend the night wandering the ark, sharing food and drink with some of the many creatures aboard They don&039;t knoho I am or the special task Raz has asked of me They think I&039;m just another face in the crowd

I&039;m surprised, as I talk with the sometimes multilimbed, multiheaded, multicolored aliens, by how alike we are Not in looks, clothes, or custoood and evil Faious They have dreams and hopes for the future

"Are all civilizations like this?" I ask Raz as we stroll beneath trees full of bat-like beings A few are playing a game on a chessboard

"No," Raz says "We chose fro spirit-we need warriors-but they can control their tempers This world has to last an eternity We cannot tolerate internal conflict"

"Ita couple of bats chase each other through the branches, squealing happily "People change, so I guess this group does too You can&039;t knohat they&039;ll be like in a ht splinter War could erupt"

"Perhaps" Raz sighs "We&039;ll use ic to preserve the balance as best we can Evolution will be curbed, so there&039;ll be no physical changes, but we can&039;t take all possibilities into consideration We&039;ll plan as far ahead as possible After that as you would say, it&039;s in the hands of the gods"

I still haven&039;t reached a decision I&039;ainst all that I will personally lose

They wanttunnel between universes So as the tunnel reree to this, I&039;ll live until the end of ti the ark around, protecting this small pocket of survivors while all others are tracked down by the Dehtered

It&039;s not foolproof My piece of the Kah-Gash , or Death ht find a way to trap the ark But the Old Creatures think it ork If I play along

In their position, I&039;d force the guy with the power to accept I wouldn&039;t give him any say in the matter I&039;d open a tunnel, make him part of it, and leave him with no option but to do as necessary

But the Old Creatures believe I have the right to choose It&039;s the creed they live by They&039;ll guide their foster children in the right direction, but they won&039;t force us Ever Even if the fate of the universe is at stake

It&039;s not a nice future-I don&039;t want to spend the rest of eternity as a cog in afalls to the demon hordes, there won&039;t be any kind of a future at all The Deet their hands on all three pieces of the Kah-Gash and destroy everything ih the universe, world by world, and gradually grind us into dust Either way, universal catastrophe

But if I stay, I&039;ll be surrendering all but a sliht keep the millions on this world alive, but trillions of others will perish horribly If I go back and link up with Bec and Grubbs if we reasseainst Death then the universe has a chance It ht even be possible to save Earth

Is it better to inable numbers of lives in order to keep a select handful alive? I don&039;t know! This task should have fallen to someone equipped to meet it, like Beranabus He&039;d have said yes to the Old Creatures in an instant, without batting an eyelash

"Perhaps that&039;s why he wasn&039;t chosen," Raz murmurs "We don&039;t knohy the Kah-Gash selects those it inhabits It her force Maybe the universe chose soh both sides equally, asn&039;t so certain of his path that he&039;d ignore all others"

"But what if I roan

"You can only do what you believe is right," Raz says "Consider the angles Heed your instinct Decide If you are wrong, at least you will have been true to yourself Life asks questions of us all We don&039;t always know the answers Most tiuess"

"But you think I should stay," I press, trying to force Raz to decide forin the universe&039;s best interests e encouraged evolution We are not always right"

I nod glumly We&039;ve passed froain There are several moons, seof marbles, I remember when Art was stolen by a ht to try and rescue him I didn&039;t knohat lay on the other side The safe option would have been to wait and consider my actions But then the ould have closed, Art would have been lost I&039;d have regretted my indecision for the rest ofback," he notes with surprise