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"Oh, you’ve heard of it," Byrne said "You reek of it It’s your dary words drifted off, swirling in a pocket of calree, where events did not always happen at the same time, at the same pace, or in the proper order, it was an unusual and lucky circuer at that very moment

For the very substance Byrne cursed, the answer to a riddle that had gravely puzzled Cole, suddenly brought forth a sh hyperspace--being launched against the very first group to ever atte

They ca invisible swords They were looking for the One, not knowing it was far too late for prophecies

Or perhaps, just unwilling to accept it

Part XIII - Visitors

"We are all of us--everywhere and at all times--mere visitors"

~The Bern Seer~

19

While Anlyn guided the Bern ship toward one of the distant structures, Edison repeated his speech oneAnlyn felt soothed by his sonorous voice, even though the words sounded like cohed to herself, which only sounds like half gibberish

Anlyn had arbitrarily chosen the middle of the three major stations to head toward Each of the arms to accept massive ships; as a result, they looked like pincushions with the needles inserted at precise intervals What really looked odd about the stations, however, was that they all stood perfectly elanced over at Edison as he wrapped up his speech one

"Do you still think it’s a good idea to explore that station?" Anlyn asked in Drenard

"Absolutely," Edison said, replying in kind He peered through the canopy at the distant structures hanging in the void "It would’ve been quite the raid if your cousin had left the way open There’s nothing here to stop us"

"I’ht, this has been anti-climactic" Anlyn paused and pointed to her screen "Hey, according to these charts, we’re going to pass near a major jump point on the way There’s at least a dozen of those route lines converging on a few spots, probably where they directed outbound traffic You think we should stop and look for any trace signatures?"

"I don’t follow," Edison said

"Hyperdrive traces," Anlyn said She turned to hienius, but he hadn’t been exposed to everything He just seeeneral--that she found it easy to forget he’d grown up around none of it

"When you junature They fade over time, but if soet a general idea of where they went"

"Fascinating," Edison said He leaned over the ship’s coers paused for a split second "I found a help file on it," hefuriously

"Great," Anlyn said "Thatto be the expert on the subject for another five whole minutes"

Edison turned his head and flashed his teeth, whichThe two of them chuckled and wheezed faroff sohed with tears in their eyes, with a hed with the release of trauy that probably should’ve found an escape with a good cry Most of all, though, they laughed to fake it They laughed for each other

It took aon like that forever She took deep breaths, her heart pounding in her back as the sad echoes of their gaiety filtered aft through the empty ship She wiped her eyes and looked up at Edison, a soalaxy are we doing here?"

"I’ you," Edison said between pants

"I’ our ti and gazed out at the wasteland of empty starship stations He took a deep breath, his chest swelling to fill his tunics "I’d rather be here than around that table, arguing with your people," he said "I was always " He turned to Anlyn, his face suddenly full of sadness "Now my brother, he would’ve preferred the other"

Anlyn felt a chill at the sudden turn in the conversation She held her breath, torn between her desire to chase the topic and the fear of scaring Edison away--back to his native English She toyed with the SADAR using the few buttons she had an the trace scan on his own screen Anlyn took advantage of the distraction:

"You hardly ever mention your brother Why is that?"

Edison fiddled with the dials along the edge of his SADAR He cleared his throat, and Anlyn braced for a bout of English techno-babble

"My brother and I didn’t see the universe the same way," he said

Edison fell silent; Anlyn turned to face hih pages of Bern writing His head went from side to side as he scanned the lines She held her breath as he read a few pages and un, he turned away and looked out his porthole

"You don’t have to talk about it--" Anlyn said

"I killed him," Edison blurted out

"Love" Anlyn reached over and ran her fingers through the fur on his arm Suddenly, she didn’t want hiuilty for ever wanting to drag anything out of hi that up," she said "We don’t have to talk about your home--"