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This the true hus of all the ways

reat purpose

- Kerro Panille, The Collected Poe time Panille sat in the shadows of the seaside cliff while he felt the approaching presence froed path, the cliffs soared high behind Avata had been the first to tell him about this problem and, for a few blinks, he had fallen back into Tho

The Redoubt will know about this freighter, will send its weapons against it

But Avata soothed hies to the Redoubt’s systee Avata would continue to mask the nest’s location with siainst Panille’s back From time to time, he opened and closed his eyes When his eyes were open he was vaguely aware of the aing just below Pandora’s horizon

Ship would knoas here and what he was doing Nothing escaped Ship Did that oh phenomena similar to those of Avata? Was it awareness of even the es in electrical iy which Ship and Avataclose closer He felt it, then he saw it

The freighter skipped up the horizon, a great stone crossing the surface of a glassy sea The fall into athter had entered Pandora’s pull at the lowest point on the horizon It streaked a long upward arc as Panille felt it fill his awareness It grew larger with its approach around the planet’s curvature, and he saw it now falling white-hot toward hiravel told hile purpose now The approaching freighter was hiht with amber

"Can you do it?" Tho it," Panille whispered He begrudged the distraction of answering

Until he had seen the pinpoint of that first glow against the Pandoran dusk, Panille had not been sure he couldthem in," he whispered There e and wonder in his voice

"Who is co?" Thomas asked

"Avata did not say"

Thoe from Ship Maybe more recruits for me"

Hethe narrow path, his figure ato the shore where the surf crashes The surf willperilous

As the last sound of Thomas faded from Panille’s awareness, darkness fell - the Double Dark in which Pandora’s greatest ht of hinal transhter and its unknown passengers depended on his constancy Avata wanted this freighter to land here He trusted Avata

Coht The se the se

Hylighters began whistling along a rock ledge ahead of hiot up stiffly It had been a long wait on the observation ledge Knowing this, he had scavenged a singlesuit of white shipcloth which Avata had stored in the nest

A hylighter positioned itself above and behind hian the slow cli near, ready to grasp hiht

It fluted a brief reply

The sharp rocks and the difficulty of the dark cliff path were second nature to Panille’s body He did not have to think about the climb And he found that he could hts wandered His ation

Thomas de he heard

He believes Avata projects strange ies into his mind He believes I have learned from Avata, that I am a master of hallucination He believes only what he can touch, and then he doubts that

Panille recalled his oords: "Avata is not hallucinogenic They are not even they That’s why I use the terhter Avata"

"I know that word!" Thomas was accusatory

"The Oneness which is present in the es of my mother’s people"

"Your mother?" Thomas was astounded

"Didn’t Ship tell you? I oht you said Ship told you everything"

Thomas flashed hi at sensitive areas But nothing had stopped Thos about Avata’s nature, no jibes at Thomas’ limited information Half of the army waited above them no that the freighter fro weapons and other support So the rocks at the base of the cliff

Above Panille in the darkness, his Avatan guardian shared ahts

Can that army save you? Panille asked

Avata will die in only a few diurns Then it may be that a rebirth can occur

Oakes hasn’t beaten you yet, Panille said Leith his poisons and his virus, none of thes rippled fro doubts Panille wondered then: Was this futility aroused by Thomas’ efforts, or by the ihters, no ular unity?

This thought disturbed hirily as he worked his way down the steep trail to the shore: If you think you’re done, then you are finished!

He eh rocks onto a wide, rock-mounded sandy beach Thomas stood far down the sand near the surf - one dark shadow a onto the shingle The air was damp with salt spray Panille felt the surf’s heavy rhythh skin and feet siateway rocks through which he had entered this sea realm The rock was cold and wet, and it also vibrated to the surf

Without the kelp to subdue the sea, the waves had becoh tide, throwing giant rocks in their surgings Soon, very soon, all that Avata had built here would co down into the wilderness of the sea

The Avatan guardian hovered near his shoulder One tendril touched his cheek, trans remembered emotions

Yes, this is the place

It was here, Panille recalled, that he had learned to appreciate all the centuries of poetry celebrating rock and sand and sea, and the peculiar Avata life-of-Self illue of ainst shore had been broken by the healthy slap of a nightborn hylighter breaking free of itsuh all Avata was one creature, Panille had felt his own private kinship with the nightborn hylighter-Avatan Here, he had listened for the A far-off slap would catch his attention and fill hiently rolling sea, the tiny creature would rise into darkness