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"Not hallucination," Panille corrected him

"What is it, then?" Tho moons

"Avata teaches by touch, at first A true, but so flow of information As the student learns to focus, the information becomes discrete, discriminated You separate the needed bits from the babble"

"Babble, yes Most of it’s babble, bu "

"You know about focus," Panille said "You select which noises to hear and understand You select which things to see and recognize This is just a different kind of focus"

"How can we sit here and discus discuss thi Ito end! Forever!"

"This is the true flow of knowledge between us, Raja Thomas Avata moves from the mastery of touch to direct communication,You have seen dehters?"

Thomas was interested in spite of his frustration "I’ve seen it"

"Direct ingestion of knowledge, precise identification Some ancient creatures of Earth did it Planarians"

"You don’t say"

"N I don’t lihter trailed tentacles across his face, pausing also to touch the seated Panille For an instant, Tho behind his eyes And the chatter!

"Avata remains fascinated by the mystery of you, Raja Thomas," Panille said "Who are you?"

"Ship’s best friend"

Panille heard truth in those words and found hi cubby A moone

"Ship’s best friend would start a war?"

"It’s the only way"

"Who would fight your war?"

"It’s between us and them"

"But ould be your soldiers?"

Tho he pointed soht here by the hylighters

"And you would ainst Oakes with violence?"

"Oakes is a phoney The Chaplain/Psychiatrist is responsible for the first order of WorShip: survival Oakes would sacrifice the entire future of huoals"

"That is true Oakes is selfish"

Thoht up in resent and sacrifice The Ceepee should be willing to sacrifice the ive our children to Ship as a , and on a fixed food supply Children starve while his plaything"

Tho how he could make this poet understand what had to be done, Alki lifted above the eastern horizon, flooding the crater’s ht The illu detail nearby but hazed away to a round of er," he er"

"Well, we agree on so"

Thomas lowered his chin to his chest, looked down at his feet and, in that strange elasticity of tier, he saw his boots He rehter lifted him from the threat of a Hooded Dasher at the Redoubt

Terrible danger!

He suddenly recalled another er aboard the Voidship Earthling, those countlesshis body to push the abort-trigger and actually pushing it, he had studied the galaxies waving to hiers One crazy hair, only , had poked out froer, and he recalled the trickle of so small and wet down the side of his left cheek

"Why did the hylighter bring me here?"

"To preserve your seed"

"But Oakes and the Lab One people will kill us Nothing will survive What they miss, Ship will finish"

"Yet, we are in Eden," Panille said He racefully to his feet, swept an arm wide "There is food It is warm It’s little over a kilometer over the cliffs to the beach, not more than ten kilometers to the Redoubt - two different worlds, and you would make them the same"

"No! You don’t understand wha "

Thoaze upward as a trio of hylighters swept overhead carrying a long plasteel cutter and several wriggling hus, hters appeared The tentacles of all were burdened with people and equip tentacle as a hylighter circled over them and dumped the wind fro voice: "Lewis has installed Lab One at the Redoubt These people were driven out They are terrified Weof elation swept through Thohters are bringing weapons! You said they wouldn’t help us attack, bu"

"Now I know that you once really were a Ceepee," Panille said "The keeper of the ritual and the robes - the trappings and the suits of woe"

"I tell you there’s no other way! We have to take over the Redoubt and learn how to WorShip!"

Panille stared at him, eyes unfocused "Don’t you know that humans made Ship? Therefore, hu, de which is not froer could contain his anger and frustration "You ask me if I know that humans made Ship? I was one of those humans!"

It was an explosive revelation for Panille - Thomas, a piece of history resurrected! Ship’s hand in this was almost visible - past, present, future woven into a lovely pattern This thing wanted only a poehteny: "Then you must knohy you made Ship"

Thomas heard it as a question

"We had a Voidship, the Earthling, and ere co We did it because it was succeed or die At the er into another, de that we learn how to WorShip It’s ere supposed to do with our new lives, us and all of our descendants after us"

Panille did not answer, but continued to stare at the arriving swaro of people or equiphters and the terrified babble of the people being lowered to the ground began to fill the open area all around

"So you talk to Ship as I do," Panille mused "Yet you do not hear your oords Now, I see why Ship needed a poet here"

"What we really need is an experienced uess I’ll have to serve" He turned and strode toward the nearest batch of terrified survivors

"Where are you going?" Panille asked

"Recruiting"