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You speak of gods Very well Avata speaks that language now Avata says consciousness is the Species-God’s gift to the individual Conscience is the Individual-God’s gift to the species In conscience you find the structure, the form of consciousness, the beauty

- Kerro Panille, Translations froe of ti in her consciousness, she found she was facing herself She still sensed the tiny reaching lab which Ship had revealed behind the terminal in Records And there was her own flesh in that lab Her body lay stretched out on the yellow couch, and she stared down at it without knowing how she did this Light filled the lab, splashed from every surface It startled her how different she appeared froe she had known all of her life The slick yellow ht the brilliance of the light should be dazzling, but could feel no discomfort Where her short black hair stopped below her left ear there was a dark ainst her skin An odd aura surrounded her body

She wanted to speak and for a panic-seized instant wondered how she could do this It was as though she struggled to get back into her body Sudden calm washed her and she heard Ship’s voice

"I am here, Ekel"

"Is that like hybernation?" She had no sensation of speaking, but heard her own voice

"Far more difficult, Ekel I show you this because you must remember it"

"I’ll re slowly in darkness And at the front of her awareness was Ship’s proive her another body for this experience An old woman’s body Hoill that feel?

There was no answer except the tunnel It was a long, war was that it contained no heartbeat, no pulse at all But there was a gliliht Raised shipside, she understood corridors without thinking about theh the oval whiteness it was a shock to find herself in an unconfined area

Now, there was a pulse beat, though It was in her breast She put a hand there, felt rough fabric and looked down The hand was dark, old and wrinkled That’s not my hand!

She looked around It was a hillside She felt the deep vulnerability of her presence here There was sunlight, a golden glohich felt good to this body She looked at her feet, her arms: an old body And there were other people at a distance

Ship spoke in her mind: "It will take a moment for you to become acquainted with this body Do not try to rush it"

Yes - she could feel her awareness creeping outward through halting linkages Sandals covered her feet; she felt the straps Rough ground underfoot when she tried two shuffling steps Fabric swished against her anklecoarsely woven sack of a garment She felt how it abraded her shoulders when sheher bod no There was a piece of cloth wound around her hair She reached up and touched it, turning as she did this to face downhill

A crowd of several hundred people could be seen down there - perhaps as many as three hundred She was not sure

She felt that this bodybefore she assu was difficult A stink of old perspiration assaulted her nostrils

She could hear the cro: aslowly uphill toward her The people in it surrounded a ed what appeared to be part of a tree over his shoulder As he drew nearer, she saw blood on his face, an odd circlet at his bro it looked like a spiney sweat band The man appeared to have been beaten; bruises and cuts could be discerned through his shredded gray robe

While the man still was at some distance from her, she saw him stumble and fall on his face in the dirt A woman in a faded blue robe hurried to help hi littered There wereand prodding the fallento force hi her history holos They’re wearing arreat time which stretched between this moment and her shipside life threatened to overwhelm her Ship?

Be calm, Ekel Be calm

She forced several deep, painful breaths into the old lungs The armored men, she saore dark skirts which covered thereaves over their shins Each had a short sword sheathed at the shoulder with the handle sticking up beside his head They used long staves to control the crow No, she corrected herself They were using spears, clubbing the crowd back with the butt ends

The croas ure fro from theconflict which she did not understand

Some called out: "Let him up! Please let him up!"

Others shouted: "Beat the bastard! Beat him!"

And there was one shrill voice heard above all the others: "Stone him here! He won’t make it to the top"

A line of the ar a tall dark lanced all around, his fear obvious He jerked to one side, trying to flee, but two of the ar the butts of their spears at hied back to the side of the fallen man

One of the soldiers shook the pointed tip of his spear at the dark one, shouted so which Hali could not make out But the dark one stooped and picked up the tree, lifting it off the fallen one

What is happening here?

Observe and do not interfere

A cluster of wo nearby As the fallen man clied the tree, all moved up the hill toward Hali She watched the Obviously, it was so painful Was it momentous? Why had Ship insisted she witness this scene?

They drew nearer The beatenwomen Hali saw that he was barely able to stand One of the wo of soldiers and ray cloth He coughed in long, hard spash