Veil Of Diamonds by Erin G.

Prologue

We were the last. The very last. Our people were dying. Something was killing us all, silent and remorseless, it was sweeping throughout the whole of our civilization. Millions of planets in the countless galaxies were we now made our homes were falling silent. No source for it could be found, no reason for us to all die, but still it was happening. It was near now. Only a few planets away, and it would be here very soon. When it arrived this world too would fall silent. Nowhere to run to anymore, and no place we could hide. We all would succumb to this unseen killer. Only sentient life though, no other life would be touched. It hardly made any sense. Maybe the Universe had simply grown weary of the human presence?

Not much was happening anymore. The end was known, and there didn't seem to be much point in doing anything but wait for it. It would start anytime. At least people on this world were far beyond the need for hysterics.

"I don't want to die." The voice at my right side was soft, the words coming out as a sigh. A lifelong companion, we had been joined in love for most of it.

"I know, Sweet Love." There was nothing more that I could say. I pulled her head onto my shoulder and held her close. The stars began to fade, the skies lighten, and dawn was fast approaching. We knew this had been our last night together. Our lives had been rich and full, from the start we seemed to be destined to live as one. Only three years ago had we crossed the threshold of what, two hundred years together? Two centuries... A lifetime shared. There could be no greater joy in life then joining one's soul to another's. So many treasured memories, so many things forgotten, and so much love. After all that, I just wish I had one more day with her. My eyes filled with tears, even though I felt I could no longer cry. One more day, one more year, an eternity with her would not be enough. Perhaps the universe would grant two women just one more day? But no, of course such prayers would not be answered.

"Do you remember what we promised when we fell in love?" Her question startled me, as she raised her head off my shoulder to meet my eyes. Her gaze matched mine, glassy, but no tears fell.

After so long together, we knew each other's thoughts, but more then that we knew that in the saying of the words there was meaning as well. "Yes. I promised to never let go."

"Just as I did. I would never let go of your hand, as I would never let go of your heart..."

"...and we would walk at each others side always..."

Her voice growing stronger, gathering my hands in hers, she whispered, "My Love, I'm not going to let go now either. Whatever is to come, I will not let go? and I am not afraid."

My words, my soul, my heart matching hers, "Nor will I." I kissed her hands without shifting my gaze, touched my lips to hers, then simply sat motionless before her letting my world shrink until it only contained her eyes. Blue reflected brown, two as one.

Veil of diamonds. Rain of light.

Turn. Turn. The vision repeats. More jewels above, more below, all moving smoothly past. Over here is one, and there another. More than I can count. Are they real? Sometimes they hardly look so. Do stars dream? Did they see, did they know, did they weep for all of the dreams that were dashed? Did they mourn for the worlds where human life bloomed, flourished, and now was gone? If they did, they do not tell of it. The multitude that gazed into their blazing radiance for so long were now gone, and they take no notice. Human life spread throughout the heavens extinguished in the blink of the Universe's eye. Maybe the Universe just doesn't care.

How much has been lost? We have forgotten far more then we now know, that much is certain. Lost for what? Curiosity? Pride? Arrogance? Did the Universe simply punish us for daring to believe we were the masters of all? Even that isn't known. Is that why we search so far from home now? To find out why it all happened? We search for answers, but do we even know what questions to ask? And three millennia ago, the vast expanse of our civilization, what questions did they ask that lead to so much death?

In the end we were fortunate to have held on to anything, lucky to hold on to any life. Sometimes it's hard to see how we'd been lucky though. One planet left out of countless spread across the night sky? That seemed to be a very strange sort of luck. Finally, after so very long, we have the ability to search for others. Others humans had to survive as well.

The veil shimmered, flashed into a rainbow and vanished, only to form again a moment later - yet another stop on a very, very long journey.

The face of a brilliant blue-white star with a second much smaller reddish companion now shone in a woman's eyes. The ever-expanding gaseous envelope streaming out from the reddish star was swept into the larger one. It was a view of primordial fire with long fluorescent filaments and streamers of highly charged gas seeming to connect the two massive stars as they whirled around each other roughly every eighty hours. Somehow it made the forces we humans control seem insignificant by comparison. As Captain of the Far Flight ship, Kestrel, I reflected that it all was an illusion, we of course wield the greater power, but the Universe took no notice. If stars truly do see, they are the better and wiser to strive not for the supreme power. I think my ancestors could have learned much from them. It might have even saved them. They might have remembered that some things should be left to the Universe alone. They didn't though, did they?

It's not a pleasant topic to consider, and in respect to all that was lost, few spoke about it directly. One simply does not speak about 'The End Of The World.' Instead it is simply referred to as the Darkfall. I was one of the few who did speak and think about it, perhaps too much, but that's my job.

I drummed my fingers on the console in front of me. The starlight reflected against my blue-gray eyes that had spent most of their life pointed that way. Looking at the two stars, it was amazing the system we're in can support life at all. Then again, before the Darkfall we had done so much, spread so far through the limitless expanse of space, it shouldn't be a surprise that we made our homes in even inhospitable places such as this.

Many people still don't believe it had even happened - that we'd ever traveled to the stars before the Darkfall. It is, after all, what the clergy preach. People believe what they want to I suppose. The evidence we'd found on countless other planets is clear though. We had a lot more than space flight. We had a civilization that spread throughout the universe! Countless worlds, so many people that the total could never even be imagined. At least three millennia had passed since then, and for some people that's an awfully long time to believe in a dream.

So much of history before the Darkfall is woven in myths and legends now; some of it, perhaps even most of it, I know can't be true. The clergy counsel to not believe the myths, but I'm never been certain where truth ends and the myth begins. For all of their faults, the holy men and women who teach the message from the Universe are wise to point us to the future, and not focus our attention on the past.

And what a grim past it was. After The Darkfall there weren't enough people left to run the civilization on my Homeworld, and presumably everywhere else as well. Everything collapsed. I can't imagine what it must have been like. The hardest part was perhaps in the most basic of human needs. They had to feed themselves without machines, without technology, and they just didn't know how. Drop me on a planet and tell me to feed myself, and could I? I'm been trained for that so I think I could, but history shows that they could not. No shame to them for it, until I joined the Outriders I couldn't have survived like that either. They starved; fell upon each other for food, it was the most horrible Dark Age in history. As a people we did survive though - at least on one planet. All these thousands of years later we regained much. Now we again fly among the stars.

Only now do we see the terrible scope of what we did to ourselves so long ago.

In the distant past our ancestors had spread through our galaxy, past the next, and the one after that. On and on we had traveled. We were by nature explorers; everywhere we left our seed. How many worlds we colonized, we do not know. A million? A billion? More even? All records of those worlds were lost when our civilization fell into ruin. At first we'd survived on the bones of the old world, but it hadn't been enough. Almost all knowledge was lost, and before long humans were again living at an early Bronze Age level of technology. It took us most of two millennia to evolve again, through all the terrible pain and fear that ignorance brings. As we began to rebuild our world, a tiny few kept the memory alive that we had flown among the stars and colonized millions of worlds, but for a very long time they had no way of knowing the locations of any of them, let alone a way of contacting them.

Just under a thousand years ago, humans again turned their eyes heavenward, and nearly eight centuries ago began taking our first fledgling steps to return to the stars. We sent unmanned probes, first to other planets in our solar system, and a few hundred years later, to the nearby stars. Out as far as ninety light years we reached. Scans were made, samples returned, and the results chilled all for what they revealed. When we again reached out into the starry night beyond our solar system the first world we visited was lush and green, beautiful in ways that our planet is not. It was also filled with endless ruins. We'd been there before, not as a small presence, but in vast numbers. That first interstellar probe returned with images of ancient overgrown city streets that were hauntingly quiet. No people walked those streets. No children ran through the parks in play, their laughter had long ago been silenced. There was life on that world, but there was also death. A long search told the grim tale: no humans and no sentient life forms.

Next we strove to build ships to carry people again, but the lost knowledge of safe, faster-than- light travel was not so easy to regain, and it was only in the last two centuries that we relearned that secret. Now we really explore, now we finally can search?and now we know. At first there was excitement in everyone. We are still explorers and that drive in our heart can never be stilled. Our early manned ships confirmed the results seen first by unmanned probes. Ten planets, a hundred, and then a thousand, they all showed a vast dead civilization.

That was over one hundred and fifty years ago. We still search for more humans though, perhaps in vain, but that is our mission. It became my mission a few years ago. Sometimes I wonder if it's a fool's errand.

I returned from my silent musings and again looked at the scene in front of me. At least the star system was beautiful as well, I thought. As well? We weren't supposed to arrive for another four hours. Where are we? I queried the other woman in the room, in fact the only other person on the ship. "Why did you take us here?"

My "crew" ran her hands through her long auburn hair, leaned way back in her chair, and grinned. Her voice was light with mischief when she replied, "Took ya long enough to realize that we weren't where we're supposed to be."

"So, where are we?" I asked cautiously.

"Do you ever get tired of it?"

"Tired of what?"

She gestured at the large view screen in front of us. "This."

"Could you be a little more specific?"

"Exploring, or more precisely, not exploring. We see world after world, beautiful and green, but we never stop to look at them. All we do is keep searching for survivors. Don't you ever get tired of searching without finding anything?"

"You know, there may not be anybody out here to find. Ours might have been the only world to survive The Darkfall. We all knew that before we volunteered."

She gave me a dark look, "That's one hell of a way to cheer me up! We've been out here for over a year now, and I'm getting really tired of this ship!"

I winced, sensing an impending argument. "So what do you want? Do you want to go home?"

"Hardly," she mumbled acidly. "What I want is to really explore. I want to get my hands dirty." She wiggled her fingers. "I want to dig through some ancient ruins. Maybe uncover some long forgotten artifact. Or maybe I just want to walk along a river, enjoy the sunshine, and feel the wind in my hair for a change! Do you know how long it's been since we actually were on the surface of a planet?"

"Three hundred and seventy nine days ago," I replied before I could stop myself.

She stood and stabbed a finger at me. "Over a universe-be-damned YEAR! I didn't sign up for this mission to be stuck on this stinking ship all the time with you!"

In an effort to calm her down, I kept my voice reasonable. "Look, I'd like to stop and land as well, but you know we can't take a chance with cross contamination."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh Goddess Yiali protect me!" she retorted, invoking a popular pagan goddesses name. "Are you going to trot out that ridiculous excuse again? When was the last time you heard of a case of cross contamination hurting a planet's ecosystem?"

"Well," I temporized, "It's been awhile?"

"No, it's been more then awhile. Last case was three hundred and six years ago. There has never been an instance of cross contamination by a manned vessel. With our new scanners we can easily and quickly detect any danger from orbit."

"We still have to follow governmental regulations as well as company policy. They both strictly forbid landing by any Far Flight ship."

"Why? So the white coats on the big research ships can grab all of the glory? We spend years looking, and they zoom in and get all the credit for OUR discoveries."

"Is that what you want?" I asked softly, "To get credit for something?"

She stomped her foot and dropped herself back into her chair, "No, I suppose not. All that I really want is?is?a vacation."

She'd lost me now. "Vacation?"

"Yeah?a vacation! Find a nice pretty planet. Spend some time just wandering, exploring, and enjoying the feel of real earth below our feet. I so miss a sky over my head, and green grass under my toes."

I sighed sympathetically. "I'd really love to, but we can't. I'm sorry. If you'd like we can recalibrate the scanners to show us fine details, right down to individual plants and-" I trailed off when her eyes narrowed.

"I don't WANT to look through the friggin' scanners!" she yelled. "I want to see it with my own eyes, touch it with my own hands! That's exploring! You know we wouldn't harm a planet by landing. Don't you want to get off this ship for awhile?"

I squirmed under her logic. Still, I wasn't going to land the ship. "I wish we could. I really do, but we have our orders. We can't just ignore them?" my eyes pleaded with her not to turn this into a real argument. Too late I saw that we'd already passed that point. She turned away, her expression showing exactly what she thought of our orders, and lately, me as well. The strain between us had grown over the last few months. As our mission had begun, we'd been close friends. Things had changed though. She had become moody and withdrawn often growing angry for no reason, and lately was spending more and more time in her cabin. There was little I could do for it; everything I'd tried just seemed to make things worse.

I rubbed my eyes and resumed drumming my finger on the console, hoping that this latest spat was over.

She interrupted my wishful thinking. "Will you STOP that?" she hissed, her eyes drawn to narrow slits.

What had I done this time?

"Drumming your fingers, it's driving me crazy!"

I placed my hands in my lap, and tried to look apologetic. She glared for a moment more, and then turned away again.

This was really getting out of hand. I just didn't know how to appease her. Suddenly I felt so very tired. I stood and mumbled "I going to my cabin for a nap," hoping to make good my escape. Her reply was indiscernible, and I didn't even consider asking her to repeat it.

It was less then dozen meters to my cabin. Entering, I collapsed back onto my bunk, eyes quickly closing in a vague effort to sleep. After only a few moments I realized the sleep would not soon be found. Still I stayed in bed, flat on my back, knees pulled up, and one arm draped over my forehead. It was a sure sign of tension. I thought back over the last few months. What had I done to alienate her so? Everything had been going so well. She had shown a seemingly unquenchably eager exuberance for our mission for the first few months. Her excitement never seemed to waver, nor did her spirit. Then, all of a sudden it seemed like she was angry with me all of the time. Oh, not all of the time, but her temper seemed to appear for no reason. One minute she'd be laughing and happy and the next moment she'd be angry with me for reasons I could never quite grasp. I just couldn't figure her out anymore.

A woke slightly surprised that I'd even fallen asleep. My chronometer reported I'd slept for almost three hours, but somehow I didn't feel rested at all. A strange feeling of dread had woken me, and at the moment I couldn't define what had caused it. Something was wrong, and it wasn't the vague shadow of a nightmare. I sat up and looked around. It took me only a moment to spot the problem. There was blue sky and wispy clouds in my view port. There was no question at all as to which side of the clouds we were on. It was the wrong side! She had landed the ship.

I bolted from my bed and sprinted into our little bridge, ready to berate her for doing something I'd told her not to do. The bridge was empty though. With a sinking feeling, I turned and headed for the airlock. She wouldn't really go outside, would she? Yes, I answered myself, she would. My fears were confirmed when I reached the airlock and found the outer door already open.

I stood there with my mouth open; I wanted to scream at her, but she was already gone. I slammed my fist into the door panel and the outer door closed, a moment later the inner door opened for me. The readout above the panel showed an atmosphere a touch richer in oxygen than we were used to, but perfectly breathable. I hesitated for a moment and then shook my head. The situation was already hopeless. Whatever damage to this planet's ecosystem had already been done. I stepped into the airlock, and closed the door. A moment later the outer door opened, and I moved out to search for my mutinous crewmember. This time she really had gone too far!

Within seconds of stepping outside of our ship, I was quickly struck by the vivid colors that met my eyes. The colors on our ship were somewhat muted, but before me were rich greens and browns of slowly waving knee high grasses. Fallyn had chosen a landing spot in an open meadow amid gently rolling hills. Small clusters of trees dotted the hilltops, while the deeper greens of lush forest filled the shallow valleys. The sky was deep lightly clouded blue, shading almost to violet. I stood there for a moment, just drinking in the vibrant palette.

Fallyn's trail was easy to follow, but after only a few moments of walking other sensations washed over me. My nose was tickled by a breeze filled with pollen, and far from being annoying the effect was marvelous. The gentle breath on my face was warm, and I reached up to touch my cheek. I hadn't felt wind in over a year, and grudgingly I admitted the Fallyn had been correct, it was something I did indeed miss a lot. A gust rippled through the grasses, and my ears caught the sound. It took me a moment to force myself away from all of these wonderful sensations to continue after my crewmate.

A short time later I found her picking berries from a tree. When she saw me, she grinned. Her bright smile was something I hadn't really seen in months. Still I wasn't about to let the pleasantness of this place, and her good mood change what she'd done.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked with some resignation in my voice.

"I think I'm picking berries. What do you think I'm doing?" she answered with a giggle, popping a large purple berry into her mouth.

"Are you insane?" I shouted. "You have no idea if that's safe to eat!"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Reaching into a small bag, she produced a hand scanner. "Give me a little credit, I'm not trying to poison myself." She grinned, and a trickle of juice from the dark berries appeared from the corner of her mouth. "These are so good!" she exclaimed, stuffing another plump fruit into her mouth.

I shook my head in frustration, grabbed her arm, and started to half drag her back to the ship. She twisted away and danced out of my reach. "Oh no you don't!" she said seriously. "I'm not going back aboard until I'm ready!" With that she turned and fled, running through the tall grass downhill toward a stream.

I briefly considered returning to the ship, but it was really no use. She's wouldn't return until she wanted to, and I wasn't going to carry her back aboard. I set off at a slow pace, following my crewmate, and wondering at her mental state. I tried to push the seductive sensations of this place out of my mind and contemplate how I was going to explain this to our superiors.

I found her a short time later swimming in a broad stream. Her clothes were in a pile, and when she spotted me she laughed, "Come on in! The water is splendid!"

I scowled at her, "I don't think so. I hope you scanned the stream for dangers?"

She stuck out her tongue. "You worry too much! What could possibly be dangerous about?" she trailed off, her expression turning serious, "Something just touched my leg," her eyes widened and she screamed before suddenly vanishing under the water.

Damn it all! I knew something would happen! I just knew it! I kicked off my boots and dove into the water. With a few powerful strokes I'd reached the spot where she was, only to see her head pop back up out of the water. She wore on impish grin. "Did something grab you and pull you under?" I demanded.

"Umm?not exactly," she giggled.

"Nothing touched your leg either?"

"Nope. I scanned the area for anything dangerous before I got into the water. You just fell for the oldest trick in the book."

"You are in so much trouble!"

"Yeah?but I couldn't think of any other way to get you to swim with me!"

"Wait till I get my hands on you!" I grabbed for her, but she slipped out of my grasp, pushing away from me, and laughing. I knew I was a much more powerful swimmer then her, but my clothes were dragging me down, and she stayed just out of my grasp. In frustration I pulled off my waterlogged uniform and hurled it onto the shore. "Now see if you can keep away from me!"

She yelped and took off. I grinned and set out after her. In no time at all I'd caught up with her, grabbing her waist and pulling her to a stop. All of a sudden she relaxed and put her arms around me.

"Now I've got ya!" I exclaimed, not altogether upset with her anymore.

"Yep!" she grinned and pressed her lips firmly against mine.

I was stunned, and before I could even respond she pushed away from me kicking water in my face.

I blinked, more in surprise at the kiss than at the water in my eyes. She'd kissed me! We'd never been more then friends, and now?after seeming to be angry with me for months, she kisses me? I couldn't deny that before the mission I'd entertained thoughts of pursuing a romantic relationship with her, but by her past relationships with men, I certainly never expected that she'd reciprocate, consequently those thoughts had been forgotten.

I swam slowly toward her, and she half-heartedly began to paddle away from me. She finally stopped in chest deep water. "What?what was that for?" I asked.

She slapped her palm against her forehead and groaned, "You know, you are about the densest person I've ever met?"

"Me?" What was she talking about now?

"For the last three months I've been trying to get you to notice that I wanted a bit more attention then you've been giving me?"

"But we're together all of the time." I protested.

"Not together though," she noted. "Goddess, I swear you can be so friggin' dumb. How obvious do I have to be? I've been flirting with you for half the mission, and you've not even noticed!"

I blinked again. "But?I didn't think? Uh?flirting? That's what you were doing?"

"Uh-huh, and why do you think I've been angry with you, hmmm? It's out of pure frustration! I've tried everything short of coming into your cabin stark naked and throwing myself on top of you!"

I blinked again, and slowly floated over next to her. "I'm sorry. I just never thought you'd be interested in a romantic relationship, so I guess I wasn't looking for any advances from you." I mumbled.

"Well, you know now."

A slow smile formed on my face. "I do indeed."

She brushed a loch of wet hair from her face, and replied in a whimsical tone, "And what are you going to do about it?"

I had lots of ideas in that department. I leaned over and kissed her lightly, a first kiss in what I hoped were many more. I put my arms around her and looked into her eyes. They reflected warmth and delight.

Again I cautiously touched my lips to hers. This was no soul searing, body shaking, clich�d kiss that I'd read about so often in the cheesy erotic fiction that I occasionally browsed. No, just gentle warm lips against mine. It was far better then fiction though. Her arms encircled me, and her slippery body pressed against my skin.

Landing the ship was starting to look like not such a bad idea after all!

Ending our second kiss, she asked impishly, "Still upset with me for landing?"

I wasn't, and my response was a third kiss, then a fourth.

She wiggled slightly against me and whispered, "The next time I want something from you I'll make sure you know it."

I breathed against her left ear, "And what do you want of me now?"

"Ohhh?I want, uh?" she trailed off and her body stiffened against me.

"Yessss?" I purred. When she didn't respond, I pulled back slightly. She wasn't looking at me; instead her eyes were focused on something behind me. I followed her gaze and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I just saw?s-something."

Large broad-leafed trees grew up to a sandy shoreline here, and they seemed to mark the edge of a deep forest. The soft breeze moved through the branches, the leaves stirring slightly at it's passing. Still, I saw only trees. I asked playfully, "Why kind of something?"

Her eyes found mine, and instantly I realized that she was serious. "Fallyn, what did you see?"

"I?I'm not certain. I thought I saw someone watching us."

"Someone? As in a person?" Getting a nod, I continued, "Did you do a Sent/Civ scan when we arrived here?" A Sent/Civ scan was designed to detect any signs of sentient life by looking for evidence of an active civilization. A few items the scan measured were broad-spectrum radiation emissions, atmospheric trace gases, and heat sources that are present in an even the most rudimentary civilization. It also looked for non-natural patterns in the surface biomass that would indicate an active agriculture. The above measurements were completed within a few minutes. Each planet, starting with the ever-present ruins, was also examined in detail in an effort to detect any signs of a completely technologiless human inhabitation. This scan takes a few hours to a few days.

Fallyn nodded, her eyes sweeping along the shoreline, "Yes, I did the scan. It turned up nothing out of the ordinary. Kestrel is still doing the zero tech scan, but since the Sent/Civ scan detected no ruins at all on the surface, I though that it pretty much impossible that there would be any primitive peoples here. I didn't actually forget my job."

"So there can't be anyone here?"

"I'm telling you, I saw someone! Man or woman, I'm not certain, but I really did see them!"

"I believe you saw?something. Lets get back to our clothes, and take another look at the scans."

We swam hurriedly back to our clothes and quickly dressed. Fallyn tied her long hair back into a tight tail before opening a belt pouch and withdrawing her portable scanner. She stared at it for several moments before frowning, "I'm not detecting anything. I really did see something though," she muttered. Speaking into the instrument, Fallyn ordered, "Kestrel, I want you to initiate a spherical narrow focus max resolution scan in a twenty-five kilometer radius centered on my location."

"Acknowledged, Fallyn," came the soft, slightly feminine voice of our ship's computer. There was a slight pause and then, "Scan is complete."

"Kestrel, do you detect anyone besides us?"

"No, Fallyn, I don't. You and Verrin are the only humanoids present within the search area. Would you like me to extend the range of the search?"

"Yes, please extend the range and notify me if you find anything. Did you detect any abnormalities at all in the initial search?"

The ship answered patiently, "What type of abnormalities do you wish me to report?"

Fallyn took a deep breath. "Kestrel, I saw someone. That is, I think I saw another human. Is there anything in this area that could account for that?"

"Possible, though unlikely. There are several ways to mask a bio signature, though each has one or more ancillary signatures that I would be able to detect. A bio mask, even a low energy bio mask needs a power source, and I detect none. Power sources can be shielded, however it requires rare elements that do not occur naturally in quantities equal to what is present in a shield. I would easily be able to detect any concentration of those elements."

Fallyn scowled, "So you're saying that there is nothing to account for it?"

"No, Fallyn, I did not say that. What I said, was that I could not detect anything to account for it. That does not mean that there is nothing to account for it. I am equipped with the most current detection systems, but since I was created by humans there are certainly limits of what I am able to detect."

"By that do you mean that it's possible we have encountered some technology we've never seen before?" Fallyn asked hopefully.

"That is one possible explanation," Kestrel agreed, "though it is not the most likely one. I believe the most likely explanation was a false assumption that what you saw was a physical phenomenon. I've calculated a distinct probability that you may have hallucinated the event in question. I regularly scan both you and Verrin and I have noted in you a large increase in stress levels during the last eighty-five days, as well as wide fluctuations in various hormone levels. Your behavior pattern has become erratic, and your emotional reactions are very atypical for you. I have extensively consulted various texts on this behavior, and I believe you suffer from acute sexual repression, as well as misplaced aggression toward Verrin. At the moment of your possible hallucination I detected in you a significantly increased heart rate as well as-"

"That's enough, Kestrel!" Fallyn hissed.

I held out my hand for the scanner, and asked, "May I?"

With a snarl, Fallyn slapped it into my hand.

"Kestrel?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"If we assume that Fallyn wasn't hallucinating, how do you suggest we investigate?"

The ship replied with a hint of a miffed tone, "A physical examination of the area may be useful."

Without word, Fallyn grabbed the scanner from my hand and stomped off toward the spot where she'd seen the mystery figure.

<><><><>

"Damn?somehow I knew we weren't going to find anything." Fallyn muttered upon arriving on the shoreline near where we'd swam.

"Maybe you're just not looking in the right place," I replied, nodding downward.

Fallyn followed my gaze and exclaimed, "Footprints! I TOLD you I saw someone!" She again drew out the hand scanner. "Oh, Kessstrel?"

"Yes, Fallyn?"

"We are now at the spot where I saw a person, and I am looking at a set of footprints in sand leading into the forest. I'm doing a local scan of the impression. I want you to analyze it."

"Commander Verrin, are you able to see the footprints as well?"

"Kestrel!" Fallyn angrily retorted, "I am not hallucinating!"

I tried unsuccessfully to muffle a laugh. "Yes, Kestrel, I can see them as well."

"Very good. I have analyzed the data, and taking into account the local climate, these impressions are less then two hours old. I cannot however confirm that these are human footprints."

I raised an eyebrow, "They do look an awful lot like footprints."

"I do concur - they do appear to be footprints. Their depth would indicate a person weighing approximately fifty kilograms, and wearing smooth soled footgear. I have repeated the scan Fallyn requested of me, as well as completed a maximum resolution scan out to nine hundred kilometers from your current location, and yet I cannot detect any evidence that would indicate how these impressions were made."

Grinning now, Fallyn wiggled her eyebrows, and wondered aloud, "Maybe it's a ghost."

Kestrel replied in a slightly patronizing tone, "An interesting postulation, though a search of records reveals that the ghosts of myth do not leave footprints. I suggest you follow the impressions to their source."

Fallyn's eyes brightened in delight. "Well, it looks like we have our own little mystery and we finally have a reason to explore!" Without waiting for me, she set of at a slow pace following the footprints.

"Wait a minute!" I commanded, calling after her. "Kestrel, if you so much as detect a hint of anything indicting a source of this, or anything even remotely dangerous, you will notify us at once."

"Of course, Commander Verrin," our ship replied smoothly. "I had already assumed that would be your command."

<><><><>

After only a few minutes into the forest, it became clear that this was no random path. A well-worn sandy track meandered through the dense forest. The footprints remained clear throughout.

With only filtered sunlight here, the air was significantly cooler. The forest was also filled with many sounds absent from the open prairie - the slight hum of insects, and the occasional call of a bird drifted through the trees.

Fallyn lead the way, her pace was slow and surprisingly cautious. After nearly fifteen minutes she stopped, lifted the hand scanner and asked, "Anything new to report, Kestrel?"

"Fallyn, I agreed to notify you and Verrin if I detected anything of note."

"Well, I was just checking?" Fallyn added with a sigh.

"Unlike humans, I have a perfect memory and do not forget what I've been commanded to do?or in your case, commanded not to do."

Fallyn glared at the small device in her hand before throwing it at me. "You can deal with her from now on. I can't stand it when she acts so superior to us." Turning she stalked off down the trail.

Without word I pocketed the scanner. It was certainly not the first time that the two of them had traded barbs and usually Fallyn was the one who lost the battle. I followed her without comment.

We moved deeper into the forest, and Fallyn came out of her sulk after only a few minutes. "I wonder who would be all the way out here. We are after all eighty-five million light years from Homeworld."

"Well, if this is not a first contact event, and you and I both know that it almost certainly isn't, there aren't a lot of possibilities, are there? If we ignore the fact that Kestrel hasn't detected anything yet, who could it be?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if she was not telling us just out of spite," Fallyn grumbled, but then continued in a more thoughtful tone, "As much as we both are aware of her little moods, it does seem a bit much for her to not give us this kind of data. Who could it be? As you said, there aren't many choices. It could be a research group, but they usually don't venture out without an escort, and besides we are one of the first of Far Flight ships to explore in this galaxy, so the odds of them financing a large scale research expedition before anyone reports back is just really unlikely. Plus research ships are enormous, and Kestrel could see one two thousand light years away."

"What about a military group? You spent two years in military intelligence, so what do you think?"

"Maybe, but I just don't see it. Sure, they have the ability to get here, but there are no bases in this galaxy, so again, why would they bother? They'd have to know of a significant threat, but since we just started exploring this galaxy, there couldn't be any threats to know about."

"Rebels then?"

"You know the answer to that as well as I do. They only had a few intergalactic class ships, and as far as anybody knows, they scattered after the war. Yes, they could have come this far out, but they don't have anything like the tech to hide from us. Even a small primitive settlement would show as a great big hot spot on Kestrel's scanners."

"So that only leaves?"

Fallyn interrupted, "Yeah, I know, and I'm trying not to think about it. Privateer ships have the range, speed, and perhaps something of a reason to come to a galaxy this far from Homeworld. Since they raid planets for their archeological treasures as well as any recoverable ancient tech to sell to unscrupulous people back home, and they want to do it as far away from any military patrol as possible, at first thought a virtually unexplored galaxy might look pretty good to them."

"Stop for a moment. You're saying that the only realistic explanation is a raider group? If that's the case, what the hell are we doing wandering around out here?! A raider group would seize our ship, and possibly kill us on the spot!"

She winced. "I guess I did say that, but it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. We're out farther then anyone ever has been, and exploring in easily the fastest class of ships ever made. It took us two and a half months to reach this galaxy. It would take a raider group, even a fast raider group maybe two years to get here. For a raider, there are maybe fifty or sixty million habitable planets with ancient ruins to explore closer to home. Why would they pass up all those worlds, expend a lot of time, fuel, and effort just to cast their net in a new galaxy?"

"Maybe they wanted to avoid military patrols?"

Fallyn laughed, "I worked in the anti-raider division, remember? Do you know why it's so hard to eliminate the raider problem? Beyond the fact that so many wealthy people want what they sell, and raiders have fairly fast ships, just securing our home galaxy from them is basically impossible for the simple reason that it is far too large to EVER be secured."

"That's not what they tell us though! They report that we've secured most of our home galaxy."

"Ahh, yes, so they do. The military propaganda machine is alive and well, though the civilian oversight council has reined it in a lot. The truth is, you'd need a hundred times the number of fast patrol ships that have been built to date just to really secure a single galaxy. Now that we're not at war, the citizens of the Republic won't support a large increase in military spending - nor should they. It's our own damn fault that the raiders exist at all. If people weren't buying, they wouldn't have a reason to raid planets for their ancient treasures. What the military does now is protect inhabited planets, shipping lanes, bases, and potential worlds of interest. Yes, they run patrols, and protect research ships and stations, but that's about it. Our capital ships, especially our battle cruisers and heavy carriers are very expense to operate, and they pretty much stay close to home unless there's a real need for them somewhere. So, we end up using small low cost ships to combat the raider problem. Raiders can usually avoid those patrols pretty easily. If we would use our carrier battle groups, we could at least scatter the raiders. Those ships can control a huge amount of territory. We do capture a raider every so often, but those are just the overly greedy or ridiculously stupid ones. The smart privateers are never even seen by a patrol. We used to pick their ships out of the background noise from passive scanners that we have scattered all over, but that was it. For the smart ambitious privateer, our home galaxy is actually very safe for them. There is just no real reason for privateers to bother coming out this far. Even if they wanted to get out of our home galaxy, there are thousands of galaxies closer than this one."

Just then the hand scanner beeped, demanding my attention. "Yes, Kestrel, do you have any more information?"

"Only that I've been monitoring your conversation, and I must agree with Fallyn's assessment of the situation."

"Oh really?" Fallyn asked in mild surprise.

"Indeed. Though I might add that there have been twenty-eight large groups of settlers that have used at least one intergalactic capable ship in their convoy. Three of those convoy were exclusively made up of intergalactic capable ships."

"Settlers, huh?" Fallyn replied doubtfully, "And what would you guess the chances are that they found this planet?"

"From the data supplied at the time they began their journey, I would estimate the likelihood to be zero."

"You're saying that your guess is an impossibility?" Fallyn asked with a raised eyebrow.

There was a pause before Kestrel replied in a resigned tone, "Yes, Fallyn, that is what I said."

"So, if we've eliminated everyone, then we must have found other survivors of the Darkfall!" Fallyn added excitedly.

"No, I'm afraid I do not agree," Kestrel quickly countered. "You cannot turn the absence of data into a conclusion. Eliminating who it isn't does not indicate who it is."

"Kestrel, do you have any other records of anyone with ability to travel to this galaxy, beyond those we've already mentioned?"

"A few private individuals do own modern vessels with intergalactic range, however at the time we departed, those ships locations were all known. It is possible one of those ships could have reached this planet in the time allowed; however the probability is statistically negligible. They literally would have needed to run at maximum velocity for over three hundred days to make the journey. None of those ships were designed for that sort of sustained velocity. With the information we have, the only plausible explanation to these footprint-like impressions is some form of local natural phenomena, and not the result of human presence."

Fallyn sighed deeply, "Oh, now that you've finally thrown out your 'Fallyn is hallucinating' theory, you're going to latch onto an equally absurd hypothesis? Kestrel, you know the fauna of this planet couldn't have made these tracks, and if you can show me a weather event that can cause footprints, I'll worship your every utterance for the rest of my days."

"I was merely replying to Commander Verrin's query." Kestrel replied acerbically.

Fallyn grinned slyly, obviously enjoying herself. It wasn't often that she could spar with Kestrel and best her. I nodded my approval to her, and she again returned to following our mystery footprints. By Fallyn's behavior, she was clearly delighting in our exploration, though I was growing more anxious with each passing minute. My overly excitable crewmate seemed to have forgotten that we were a very long way from home, and historically these kinds of mysteries often turned out to be either dangerous or deadly. Though there was nothing to indicate a threat, my eyes were now focused on our surrounding far more then the footprints. I also began wishing I'd thought to bring a sidearm.

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Nearly an hour later we finally broke out of the forest into a large expanse of prairie. Standing tall in the grassy meadow was a huge cluster of massive sedimentary boulders. They were dark gray with red bands, many six or seven meter in height. They had a suspiciously non-natural arrangement. In general they seemed arrayed in a vague circular or perhaps a spiral pattern, and the spacing seemed to increase rapidly toward the center of the formation.

We stopped at the forest edge, and I again contacted our moody ship, "Kestrel?"

Apparently not irritated anymore, Kestrel replied in an amicable tone, "Yes, Commander Verrin."

"I'm scanning what appears to be some sort of non-natural rock formation. Will you please analyze?"

"Yes, of course."

Usually completed within moments, Kestrel did not reply with the results.

"Kestrel? Did you receive the data?"

Her response was nearly human in it's confusion. "I have received the data, however, I am quite unable to explain the appearance of this formation. As per Fallyn's request, I completed a maximum resolution scan that included this area only fifty-two minutes ago. After a thorough analysis of the data, I found that no such rock formation appeared in that previous scan."

Fallyn scowled. "What, they just?appeared in this last hour?"

"Apparently," Kestrel replied in amazement. "There were no energy spikes, no changes in the environment, not a single indication that this could have happened. These stones should not be here. By our current understanding of universal laws, it is simply impossible."

"Conclusions?"

"I find that Fallyn may be correct after all. These stones were placed here with technology that we do not have - indeed it is advanced enough that I cannot even extrapolate a technology that could have done this without me detecting anything. I am left with the astonishing conclusion that this may indeed be a first contact event. You may be dealing with other survivors of the Darkfall."

Far from being excited, I shivered briefly in near panic. Our pleasant little vacation mystery had suddenly become very serious and potentially dangerous.

"Fallyn?" I whispered.

Her voice quivered, "Yeah?"

"Maybe we should rethink this a little?"

She turned. The excitement in her eyes had been replaced by hints of fear, "Uh-huh?"

By unspoken consent, we retreated back into the cover of trees.

Fallyn spoke first. "Kestrel chose one hell of a time to agree with me. I wasn't really thinking that we'd located other survivors! If we really have found some, uh?what do we do?"

I shook my head slightly, "I don't know. We weren't supposed to ever be in this situation. That's why we were forbidden to land on planets or approach unknown vessels. A first contact event is way over our heads. There are all sorts of precautions to take, and procedures to follow, and it's all supposed to be handled by people that have a lifetime of training for this!"

"I don't even remember what are training was as far as contacting other humans."

"You don't remember it, because the whole of the lecture was simply to stress that our job was to locate and not contact other human survivors."

"Oh?" Fallyn winced, "I think I even missed that lecture. Maybe we should just return to the ship and report our findings?'

I took a deep breath. "Kestrel? Do you think it likely that they know we're here?"

"Since they have apparently already reacted to your presence, I must conclude that they certainly know we are here."

"Suggestions?"

"I am sorry Commander Verrin, but I was never allowed access to first contact procedures. To my knowledge they hadn't yet been finalized, so they were never distributed outside of committee."

"Well since they have to know we're here," Fallyn mumbled, "shouldn't we at least try to contact them?"

"Without proper precautions, that may incur substantial risk," Kestrel noted.

"And substantial risk is Kestrel way of saying that this is dangerous as hell," I noted. "Even so, I think we're committed to at least attempt contact."

Fallyn nodded. "I agree."

Kestrel volunteered another cheery bit of information, "I will record everything, and in the event of your demise, I will attempt to return to Homeworld to report my findings."

Fallyn groaned, "Oh thanks a LOT! As if we're not already nervous enough?"

Silently now, we turned toward the rock formation, and moved slowly and cautiously through the stone spiral arms toward the center of the formation. The massive stones loomed above us, some tilting slightly, other leaning against a neighboring stone. The way soon became confined with not more then a half a meter of space between some stones.

"Look at this," Fallyn suddenly whispered, gesturing to a stone to our left.

Fluid golden runes were engraved into a particularly tall stone. I had an urge to call Kestrel to translate, but somehow I knew that she wouldn't be able to.

Fallyn reached out and traced one rune with her fingertip. "It's warm!"

I carefully felt the stone with my palm; it wasn't just warm, it was unnaturally warm even for a sunny day.

Fallyn spoke softly into her hand scanner. "Kestrel, I'm standing in front of a large standing stone. It has some sort of runes carved into it, and the rock feels warm. Can you analyze it for me?"

"Yes, Fallyn. The pictorial writing appears to have elements of several pre Darkfall languages we've seen on other worlds, however it is also dissimilar enough that I am unable to render an even a partial translation. With additional examples of this script, I may be able to decipher it. The runes themselves are made of an alloy of ninety six percent gold, three percent silver, and one percent an unknown element."

Fallyn frowned. "Unknown element?"

"Indeed." Kestrel confirmed. "Its atomic weight far exceeds any known element. If you could acquire a sample, a full analysis could be preformed."

"Umm?" Fallyn looked at me. "I don't think that would be a good idea at the moment."

I nodded. "Agreed. Do you detect any radiation or dangers?"

"No, though there could be dangers that I cannot detect," Kestrel reminded us.

"Yeah, we already figured that out for ourselves," murmured Fallyn.

We resumed our inward trek, pausing at each new example of runes for a quick scan.

It seemed to be taking a very long time to reach the center of the formation, and more then once I considered that we somehow had become lost. Finally after more then an hour we reached the heart of the stone spiral. Fallyn and I instantly froze in place, for we had found our mystery person. She was kneeling in the middle of a small circle of stones. Her hair was wavy brown, streaked with gray and adorned with shells and feathers. Her lightly wrinkled face and spoke of maturity if not old age. Her dress was obviously primitive, a simple green knee length gown like garment and a pair of sandals. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be mediating. I was relieved to find that at first glance, there was nothing overly dangerous or sinister about her.

Fallyn stepped toward the woman, but my light hand on her shoulder stopped her. "Kestrel," I murmured softly, "I am scanning what appears to be a human female. Please analyze."

"I have received your scan," our ship replied in an equally subdued volume. "What you report seeing does not appear in the data."

I sighed softly. "Somehow I knew she wouldn't. Continued monitoring."

"Who are you?" Fallyn asked cautiously. "Can you understand us?"

"I do," replied the woman as she stood. She focused her blue eyes on us and asked, "Why did you come to this world?" Her voice was soft, gentle, and cautiously friendly.

Fallyn winced at the abrupt question, and replied, "Uh?we're explorers?"

"Yes, I am aware of that. Perhaps I wasn't specific enough in my query. Why did you land on this world?"

I stepped forward next to Fallyn and answered, "We have been on our ship for over a year, and we simply desired to spend some time exploring on the surface of what seemed to be a very pleasant planet."

The woman nodded, and continued with a hint of impatience. "That doesn't answer my question though. Why did you choose this world above all others you've visited?"

"You know all about our travels?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes. I know all. Please answer my question. Why did you choose this world to land on?"

I looked at Fallyn, and then back at the woman. "No reason, I suppose."

"It was the first world I found when I decided that, uh?I was going to land the ship," Fallyn added. "I just wanted a little vacation. We didn't mean to intrude."

"Chance? Random chance brought you here?" the woman asked in disbelief. "Out of trillions of planets, you just happened to pick this one? That is extraordinarily improbable."

Though there was no obvious reason to be concerned, I was growing weary again. "It's the truth though. You seem to know a lot about us, could you tell us who you are?"

She frowned and seemed to consider my request. "You may address me as Anshara. Your arrival is very unexpected, and I am uncertain how to proceed." She turned and looked to her left, and within moments a second woman appeared from around the boulders. She was dressed like the first, with an unadorned lose tunic of green fabric gathered at the waist and held with a wide leather belt. Her legs were bare, and her feet had simple leather sandals. She had long braided silvery blond hair woven with beads and feathers, and pale brown eyes. Though her mode of dress was as unsophisticated as Anshara's, I had growing doubts that these two were anything resembling primitive.

The newcomer smiled as she approached. The two briefly clasped each other hands. The blonde woman nodded in our direction, "You've discovered more interlopers? I wasn't expecting any more so soon."

Anshara doubtfully reply, "They found us, so they claim, by accident."

"Accident? Truly?"

"But it's so unlikely?" Anshara protested.

"Giving enough time, even the most unlikely event will happen occasionally."

"So what are we to do with them?"

"I suppose that will depend on what they already know."

"Excuse me," I began, "We've been searching for eight centuries for another world that survived the catastrophe that occurred three thousand years ago. We call it The Darkfall. Are you aware of this? Did this world survive as well?"

The pair stared at me for a long moment, before the newcomer sighed. "I am called Zamiri. It has only been three thousand years since the?ah?Darkfall?"

"Three thousand, one hundred, and eight years to be exact." Fallyn answered.

"Now you see the problem," Anshara noted to Zamiri, "They can't possibly have progressed enough to comprehend."

Zamiri twisted a braid between her fingers. "No, they probably haven't, but regardless they are here now, and we must decide what should be done with them."

I didn't like the sound of that at all, so when I spoke again it was with great caution, "We apologize if we intruded. We are simply explorers, and wish to contact other survivors. If you'd rather we left your world, we would respect your wishes."

"You see?" Anshara sighed, "They are already afraid of us, simply because they don't understand. This is a true mark of a primitive culture, so obviously they haven't evolved enough for us to tell them."

"Tell us what?" Fallyn asked.

"Yes, that is the question, isn't it?" Zamiri acknowledged. "What are you prepared to hear?"

Fallyn shook her head slightly. "I don't understand."

Zamiri smiled gently, "No, I don't suppose you do."

"We could just excise this thread, and restore the correct timeline," Anshara offered.

My weariness was quickly being replace by fear.

"Ah yes, the almighty timeline," Zamiri replied with a touch of sarcasm. "Since when have events ever happened as planned?"

"Usually!" Anshara answered crossly. "We're supposed to prevent these kinds of problems."

"No, that's not what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to help them understand, not punish them for not being able to. It's not their fault they had the strange luck to find us before they were ready."

"What?are we supposed to understand?" I asked hesitantly. "And why aren't we ready?"

Zamiri's eyes shown with sorrow as she answered, "I wonder if it even matters anymore. We are a product of failure, and after so long it seems that failure is all we will ever know."

"What does that mean though? We only want to learn, and find others like ourselves, it's why we explore so far from our homes."

Zamiri and Anshara looked at each other and nodded simultaneously. "What is one more telling?" Anshara sighed. "There have been so very many."

"Truly, and hope demands the effort. It's why we're here, why we decided to stay so long ago. Let us begin properly though, with the customary courtesy for ones that have traveled far from their humble beginnings."

Both women bowed deeply to us, and Anshara spoke, this time in a warm and welcoming tone. "Here at the culmination of your great journey, we bid you welcome, Fallyn and Verrin. Through the travail of evolution you have reached the last cusp of enlightenment where you are able to stand unafraid before the piercing light of truth."

Fallyn leaned close and whispered to me, "Unafraid? I don't know about you, but I'm plenty afraid?"

I took her hand as Zamiri spoke, "At long last your spirit transcends the physical and is ready to embrace the realm that is perfection and joy."

I hesitantly raised my hand, "I don't mean to interrupt, but?what exactly are you talking about?"

Anshara's shoulders slumped in obvious impatience, while the corners of Zamiri's mouth twitched upward in amusement. It was Anshara that replied, "This is hopeless."

Zamiri laughed softly. "So what? We do this again and again, and nothing ever changes, so why don't we attempt something different for a change?"

"What do you suggest?" Anshara asked, fatigue clearly evident in her voice.

"Tell them the truth on a level they can understand. The real truth, Anshara."

"You mean??" Anshara murmured in surprise.

"I'm tired, my Love. Though I shouldn't feel that way, I do, and I think perhaps we are running out of time. The Universe has grown so very old, and I am beginning to yearn for?for?I'm not even certain what anymore. We stayed awake for so long, I think we deserve to finally rest."

Anshara nodded, "I promised that I wouldn't let go of you, but if we can rest together, then I also welcome it."

Both women had a look of determination in there eyes as the again faced us. Zamiri began, "The journey to the light of truth and the realm of perfection and joy, words that sound poetic, but without a meaningful reference are difficult to explain. We will give you understanding enough to allow us to explain those words. First though, a more comfortable surrounding is dictated."

Zamiri slowly raised her arms; the forests around us melted away, and the trees were replaced by rolling hills carpeted with tall grass. We stood atop the largest hill. Around us were three rows of curved white marble benches incised with intricate patterns of silver. The sky was clear light blue, and a gentle warm breeze whispered across the prairie.

Instinctively I raised the hand scanner and quickly ordered, "Kestrel, what is our location?" When our ship didn't reply I demanded of the Zamiri and Anshara, "Where are we?"

Zamiri and Anshara sat, and Zamiri responded patiently. "The location does not matter, it is simply a comfortable place to sit."

I struggled to hide my fear. We were out of contact with our ship, and that meant we'd somehow been moved across space, to another world. This was technology far beyond our own, and though I was afraid, I was also truly excited as well. We'd just found the first other humans to survive the Darkfall! Fallyn and I sat just as Anshara spoke, "The Darkfall happened three millennia ago so I expect you're knowledge of your history before that time is somewhat fragmented and lacking."

"It is," I agreed, "though we've uncovered much in the last few decades. There is of course much that we do not know yet."

"Then that is as good a place to start," Anshara revealed with a shrug. "We shall give you a very brief summary of your pre-history."

Fallyn and I shared a look. This was something that we, and all humans in fact, were incredibly eager to learn about. It was the primary reason we'd volunteered to crew a Far Flight ship.

"Our species, as you now call Human, began on a single planet, around a nondescript star. Over the span of a few billion years we evolved from the humblest of unicellular creatures into complex sentient life forms. Evolution is a curious thing though, for once a species achieves conscious self-aware thought, they begin to evolve not by the whim of natural selection, but by their own desires. Humans did this. We grew, developed, created, destroyed, created again, and destroyed again, until we finally learned not to destroy everything we touched. We suffered greatly, made glorious achievements, and saw them crushed by ignorance throughout history. This is the curse, and gift, of evolution. Eventually we traveled far across the heavens, fought on a galactic scale, but finally evolved past the desire for conquest over each other, and over the universe as well. In the eons to come we saw wonders that humans will not see again for thousands of years, achieved unbound knowledge that to call it 'technology' is so inadequate as to be absurd. The entirety of the universe was our home, nowhere was there a world that hadn't felt our touch."

"Nothing lasts forever though," Zamiri added as Anshara fell silent. "After we'd seen all there was to see, experienced all there was to know, our drive, our lust, for more was still not quenched. We turned our attention to our own evolution. We sought to become beings of energy and thought, incorporeal, eternal, and limitless."

"It didn't work though, did it?" Fallyn whispered. "That's what caused the Darkfall."

Zamiri raised an eyebrow. "A remarkably astute observation, though you are only somewhat correct. It did indeed cause a universal devastation of civilization, but the evolution process did seem to work as we'd hoped. Humans did become beings of pure energy and thought. It failed in a number of ways however. Firstly, they failed to consider the nature of our society at that time. Not everyone wanted to evolve in this way, and our society then, as yours is now, was a place of great freedom. Those that wished to evolve, would do so, and those that didn't - well, I'll get to that later. Unfortunately most of those that evolved did so without a clear understanding of what they were doing. In hindsight, the result should have been easily predictable. We didn't see it though, and as a result our civilization spread throughout the universe was devastated."

"But why?" I asked. "Why would a segment of the population leaving?err?evolving devastate anything?"

"An exploration vessel like your ship, Kestrel, by your experience is a very advanced craft. If you begin removing pieces, there will come a time when nothing at all functions, though most of the ship remains intact. We believe that is what happened somewhere in the universe. The knowledge of this new evolutionary threshold had barely come into existence in one small corner of the universe when people started embracing it. They started evolving this way before the vast majority of the people spread through the universe even knew it was possible. Once evolved into beings of pure thought, they found the barriers of distance to be meaningless and were able to travel anywhere simply by desiring it. For a short time after evolving they could touch the minds of non-evolved humans, show them this new realm of incorporeal existence, and nearly instantly bring them into that realm. This new evolution swept though the whole of existence. It happened extremely rapidly, but not before enough of the newly evolved humans saw the danger. Those that were left behind would be few in number, and indeed far too scarce to maintain the vast web that allowed such an advanced civilization."

"Goddess," Fallyn breathed. "We really did do it to ourselves?"

"Yes, we did." Zamiri acknowledged. "Of worlds that had no pre-knowledge for this new form of evolution - and most did not - it seemed like a deadly unseen force was killing all of the people, but what was really happening was that they were evolving out of their bodies. Some of those that had evolved feared that we were on the verge of losing all of the corporeal knowledge and history. By the force of many hundreds of billions of evolved minds they selected a planet and created an archive of historical knowledge within it. It was filled with the thoughts, memories, experiences, emotions, histories, and essences of the contributors. By the time the archive was filled, we found that the evolved human mind was not as eternal as they believed it would be, and instead was very short lived. They rapidly began vanishing, perhaps to another realm, we do not know. What we do know is that the human mind once it becomes incorporeal only exists for a few months in this realm and then is gone. This is a far cry from the immortality we'd hoped to achieve. The last entry into the great archive was?us. Anshara and I as evolved humans merged ourselves with the archive in the hope that we could preserve its unfathomably vast amount of information for the future. Though from here we could not see the entirety of existence anymore, we watched in horror as humans vanished from the region of the universe that we could see. They evolved, and rapidly winked out of existence. Anshara and I hoped that somewhere, somehow at least one planet was spared this accident of extinction. If they survived, and eventually recovered enough to find us, we could give them the knowledge that we've held for so long. We also stayed behind as a warning against trying to gain immortality, or if your prefer, a realm of perfection and joy."

"And you've been waiting for three thousand years for us to find you?" Fallyn asked in wonder.

Zamiri slipped her hand into Anshara, and replied, "No, not exactly."

"But you said this?this evolution caused The Darkfall. Wasn't your archive created at that time?" I asked.

"It was created during an event like the one you are referring to." Zamiri admitted hesitantly.

My eyes widened. "There has been more then one Darkfall?"

Anshara suddenly shook her head and laughed bitterly. "More then one? One?two?three? How many numbers can you string together? More then you can count. Perhaps more then can be counted, and certainly more then I can remember, though I'm suppose to have a perfect memory now, aren't I Zamiri?"

"Yes, Love, a perfect memory," Zamiri answered softly.

Though I wasn't certain I believed anything they were saying, I wanted to hear the rest of their story. "How long ago did this all happen? When was the first one?"

"When?" Anshara asked weakly.

"How many years ago," Fallyn clarified.

"I don't know," Anshara replied in annoyance. "I don't even want to know."

"Truth, now Anshara." Zamiri whispered. "We've never told them the whole, real truth."

Anshara nodded, "It can hardly matter anymore I suppose. We now know the integrity of the archive will not be harmed - if that even matters anymore." She focused her weary eyes on us for a moment before turning them upward toward the sky. We followed her gaze and watched as the sky rapidly darkening, faded, and became black. We were left in perfect darkness.

"Tell me what you see," Anshara commanded.

"Uh?" I looked around in confusion, "I can't see anything."

Fallyn's voice trembled when she added, "It's too dark."

"You can't see anything, because there is nothing left to see," Anshara revealed.

"With the risk of repeating ourselves, we just don't understand." Fallyn complained.

The sky again returned to it's comforting blue. "What you just saw is the sky from this planet, the real sky."

Fallyn tone became guarded. "Real sky? Real as opposed to what?"

"As opposed to the one you believe to be real." Zamiri answered. "The star filled universe that you believe is real does not exist anymore. It hasn't existed for?maybe a few trillion years? I really don't know anymore. The universe has grown old, dark, and dead. No life, not even the simplest life forms exist in this cold, ancient place. Only we exist, keeping the archive alive for people that never found their way back to us. Now there is nobody left."

I closed my eyes. Their story was absurd in the extreme. Life flourished everywhere, and we were again spreading through the universe. Dead? Dark? The universe was full of light and life!

"You don't believe us," stated Zamiri with a crooked smile.

"How do you explain us then? We're alive!" Fallyn insisted, though she couldn't keep a slight quiver out of her voice.

"No," Zamiri gently responded, "You're not alive. You are an echo of a life that was an evolved human."

"But I am self aware. I think, I feel, I control my actions. Are you saying that I am simply a file in some great archive of history?" I dubiously asked.

Zamiri was silent for a moment. "We are not completely certain what you are, or how this archive seems to function. It was supposed to simply be a great repository of information. Creating pseudo self aware amalgams of the various instances of the personal historical information stored within was not in its design. It began functioning this way at the moment Anshara and I melded with it. For a time we believed it was just a facet of our new perception, but now we do not know. We see the history repeat itself over and over. Humans evolve, grow, gain great knowledge, and then destroy themselves by evolving out of their corporeal bodies."

"You see the exact same events repeated endlessly? The same destruction and death?" Fallyn asked in horror.

"Yes." Anshara sighed.

"No, Love, that not true. It's a little different each time. Also, in this archive, one planet always survives the extinction, though humans did not survive after the real event. In this archival reality they are doomed to repeat the same evolutionary mistakes, and?they always do, and again, one planet always survives. It's so maddening! When the pseudo people like yourselves finally find the archive on this world, we try to council them as we would have in the real universe. We've shown them the history, we've tried countless times to prevent their evolution, halt it, turn them away from it, but they always do it. Nothing we ever do makes any difference. We are trapped in an endless cycle, and the worst part is that none of it's real. The universe didn't give us a chance to correct our mistakes; it just faded away around us. No other creatures ever achieved sentience. We preserved all of our knowledge?for nothing."

Their words seemed so eerily convincing, and somehow uncomfortably familiar. I looked at Fallyn and her face reflected my thoughts. It can't be true, but somehow? "Can you prove this to us?"

"Yes," Zamiri replied. "Would you like to see your home?"

"My home? That might be convincing?"

"Then behold?" Zamiri intoned, lifting her arms to the sky. The hemisphere of blue wavered and reformed into the grassy common area behind my family home. A large group of people was gathered in apparent celebration. The scene surrounded us, immersed us as if we were standing in the middle of it. The sights, sounds, and smells of the party enveloped us.

"It's the solstice celebration!" Fallyn exclaimed. "See, there's your father, and brother?"

"And the twins?" I added.

"Who's that with you're younger brother?"

"His girlfriend, I don't remember her name though?"

"Look at the diamond in the necklace she's wearing. I think it's a marriage necklace."

Without taking my eyes off the people around us, I asked, "When did this happen?"

"This is happening right now," Zamiri revealed. "The woman who's name you couldn't remember is Liruun. She is an artist from the South Hulshi province. They were joined in a holy union three months ago, and their family will grow by two when she gives birth to twin girls in approximately nine months."

"How do you know all this?"

"We can view any part of the archive."

"Can they see us?"

"Not at present. Do you require more proof?"

In silence I watched the partygoers. We'd only been gone a year and already things had changed. My younger brother married, and there were other new faces mixed in with our large extended family. I watched the nuances of a few people I knew well. How my father drank wine in miniscule sips, three at a time. How my older brother laughed, usually loud enough to be heard by everyone at a gathering. My younger brother had changed though; his eyes were lively instead of sullen, and he was smiling more then I'd ever seen him smile. These people were real?my family, yet they were eighty million light years away. The inexplicable familiarity of Zamiri's and Anshara's story now combined with what I saw in front of me was fast convincing me that the universe was a lot different then what I'd thought it was.

Fallyn nervously tugged on her long hair, "You've seen us countless times?" she asked in a hushed voice.

Anshara shook her head. "No, it's never the same pseudo humans that discover us. We've never seen you before, but that doesn't matter. The final results are always the same."

"Do you perceive the passage of time? Are you able to observe us pseudo humans from our perception of the passage of time and events?"

"Yes, we are able to observe your pseudo lives at the rate you understand the passage of time. We cannot do otherwise."

I was amazed when Fallyn actually smiled. "I believe you? It's like I'm remembering it and not hearing it for the first time. Still it's a little odd that you really don't see what's happening around you, do you?"

Fallyn's words reflected my thoughts. The sense that Anshara's and Zamiri's words were truth was impossible to shake. I believed them as well, though I too felt that there was something not quite right in their story.

Zamiri titled her head to one side and replied to Fallyn's question, "Perhaps you could enlighten us for what we do not see?"

"Pseudo humans? Did you actually come up with that term yourselves?" she drawled sarcastically. Anshara frowned but Fallyn didn't seem to notice, "Goddess? You claim to be trillions of years old, and yet you don't recognize life when you see it!"

"I know you perceive yourself as a living being," Zamiri replied patiently, "but that does not change reality. You are simply a blending of many sources from the archive."

"Uh-huh, and just how would I feel differently were I alive by your definition?"

"Well," Zamiri began, "you would have a biological existence."

"Biological? If I felt any more biological, I would have been far too busy to even notice you watching us swimming in the stream. What other ways would I feel more alive if I were really alive?"

Zamiri stared at Fallyn for a long moment. "You wouldn't?feel any different I suppose. It doesn't matter though, you are not-

"Yes, yes," Fallyn interrupted. "We're not alive. We're just bits of whatever floating around in an enormous archive. Does this endless cycle you claim to be trapped in repeat exactly the same each time?"

"No. As we told you before, there is a variance in the details, but the overall pattern of evolution remains unchanged."

"By details, do you mean in the individual pseudo humans?"

"Yes, certainly. The various permutations of data within the archive that form your pseudo personas are practically infinite. There are patterns within the personas, but they do not seem related to the overall timeline that brings about destruction of?" Zamiri suddenly closed her eyes, bowed her head, and fell silent.

Anshara stared at her companion. "Zamiri, what troubles you?"

Zamiri slowly lifted her eyes and focusing Anshara. "Our incredibly young visitor may be correct. She exhibits every one of the traits we believe to be associated with life. She is not biological, but neither are we. Anshara, we've always thought of ourselves as still being alive, but?are we?"

Anshara withdrew slightly from Zamiri. "Don't even think that! We are alive! We must be! We stayed behind, we watched, we waited?throughout all time?" Anshara's hands began to tremble.

Zamiri grasped Anshara's hands and kissed them, "My sweet Love, don't you see? If we are still alive, then so must those that we have watched. The archive mimics life to a complete perfection that could never have been equaled before we evolved - except in real living organisms. They think, they evolve, they grow, they love as we did before we evolved, and as we do now as caretakers of the archive."

Anshara replied weakly, "But it's only pseudo life - it's not real."

"Though all of these countless eons, we assumed that we were somehow separate from the archive, but all that time we were as much a part of it as they are. Just before we were evolved we didn't even know what was happening to us. We thought we were going to die, we thought everyone was dying around us. After we ascended out of our bodies, did anyone even really know what we all had become, let alone how this archive would function? It's endured far beyond the time of the last star. How is that possible? We both know it isn't; yet we are still here. Thoughts of this reality versus any other are pointless at this stage - this is the only reality left. We believe we are alive therefore we are alive! It's the energy of thought and that belief that sustains the archive. It could be nothing else, since there is nothing else anymore."

Anshara rested her head on Zamiri's shoulder. "I think," she began, "that we've known this all along. I was so afraid that our existence would end that I didn't even want to consider why we were still here?"

"I know," Zamiri agreed. "I too was fearful of that. My Love, I'm not fearful anymore, nor should you be."

Anshara nodded slightly, "I'm not afraid anymore?but I am so very tired. Tired of watching, tired of waiting, tired of trying to change something that cannot be changed. The only thing I will never tire of is you."

Zamiri lightly kissed Anshara forehead. "Do you think you're ready?"

Anshara lifted her head, "I am, finally after so long, I really am, though I do not know what is to come."

"Then let us discover it together?"

"You're leaving," Fallyn whispered, "Aren't you?"

They turned their attention back to us. "I am uncertain," Zamiri admitted. "After so long, we only desire rest now. Whether the archive will allow us that rest, we do not know."

"You want to die?" I asked incredulously. "What will happen to the archive if you're not here to do?whatever it is you do?"

"Nothing. It will go on as before. Our minds are only one tiny part of the whole. You sustain the archive, as do all sentient minds that reside in it."

"You're certain of that?"

"As certain as you are that you're alive," Anshara replied with a crooked smile.

"Oh, thanks a lot." Fallyn winced.

Zamiri's gaze became thoughtful. "I still think the archive gained a benefit from having two caretakers."

Anshara's smile grew. "Oh, I agree. If we are gone, it would need others to continue that task."

"Certainly, it would." Agreed Zamiri with a wink in our direction.

My eyes widened in amazement. "You want us to take over for you?"

"Yes," Zamiri confirmed. "You are young, have just discovering your love for each other, and desire to see, learn, and explore?everything."

Fallyn protested, "But we don't know anything about this archive-

"That is unimportant. You will learn. Indeed, I could not tell you what we do without you understanding so much more then you do now. You will gain that knowledge in time, if you let yourselves."

"We'd have to stay here to learn all of this?"

"No. You will be required to keep exploring, learning, discovering. Your path does not matter; you will eventually gain the knowledge you'll need."

"But how?" I demanded. "You said it would take millions of years for us to evolve - and I assume evolve means the acquiring of knowledge?"

"It means that and so very much more. I believe thousands of years would be a more accurate estimate in your case for the time needed to fully understand the archive."

"We'd never live long enough to-" Fallyn began, but was interrupted by Anshara.

"You will need to ascend out of your bodies of course, and meld with the archive. You will then have an existence similar to ours."

I glanced a Fallyn, before replying hesitantly, "That's an intriguing offer but I don't really think we're interested in that."

"No?"

"No," Fallyn confirmed with a vigorous shake of her head.

"Well, then I'm afraid we do have a slight problem," Zamiri noted.

"I'm sorry," I added softly. "Without knowing a lot more about what you are offering, and what we'd be required to do, there is just no way that we can agree to anything."

"That would take an exceedingly long time," Zamiri revealed. "And that is time we really do not wish to take anymore. We are both so very weary."

"You're already merged with the archive." Anshara added in a flat voice.

"Merged? What do you mean?" I demanded.

Zamiri sighed heavily. "We did it a few moments ago. Perhaps it was presumptuous of us to do it without your consent, but honestly we simply no longer wish to wait for someone else to discover us. Either way, your physical body in no longer necessary."

"My physical body??" Fallyn repeated weakly, staring down at herself. After a moment she looked up at Zamiri. "Uh, I do appear to still be here."

"We didn't let you experience an incorporeal existence, we simply evolved you, and merged you with the archive in one step. Of course you've always been part of the archive, you're now simply a somewhat more important part. That said, at present you will notice little if anything different in respect to your former existence."

I was stunned into silence, and it was Fallyn who continued to speak for us, "But?what does this mean for us? I don't feel like I've gained any special knowledge, or?uh?abilities. Shouldn't we at least be somehow 'aware' of?of?the archive?"

"You haven't that ability yet. You will only become aware of the archive after many years of growth. Forgive me for saying this, but you are not mature enough as a species to use the archive wisely, and we are not going to give you any knowledge that you aren't ready for."

"Not mature enough as a species," Fallyn sighed. "I hear something like that all the time from our ship."

"You both will grow and learn, if you allow yourselves the time to do so. We are not going to dictate your path - as we said ultimately it does not matter."

"Do we even have a choice now?" I asked softly. "Can you put us back the way we were?"

Anshara shook her head, "No, I'm afraid that's impossible. If you choose to ignore what has been done to you, then simply ignore it. Lead your life as you intended. Just recently you discovered something significant about each other - explore that new found knowledge, it is perhaps the most important thing you will ever learn, and the one bit of knowledge above all else that you should hold onto."

I turned to look at Fallyn. Some of the fear had faded from her eyes, and as I met her gaze, a tiny smile formed. Could we really ignore what we'd learned? I didn't want anything more than to spend my time exploring the universe with her. No, that wasn't true. What I really wanted, more than anything, was?her. It really didn't matter what else we were doing, just so long as I was by her side. Had I just realized that? Maybe, but?somehow it felt so right that it had to be true. Without taking my eyes off her I asked, "We can just?leave? Continue to search for?" I blinked hard. "Wait a minute! There really isn't anyone out here for us to find? Our planet really was the only one to survive?"

Zamiri sighed, "Haven't you been listening? There are wonders in the universe that you haven't even imagined yet! Also there are occasional anomalies in the cycle of extinction, so?perhaps other planets did survive this time."

I turned to Zamiri. "Perhaps? You know if there are other survivors, don't you?"

Zamiri smiled brightly. "Yes."

"But you're not going to tell us?" Fallyn asked.

"No."

"Why the hell not?" Fallyn demanded. "We could be wasting our time out here!"

Anshara replied with a hint of exasperation, "You aren't wasting your time."

Fallyn pressed again, "So there are other survivors?"

Neither Anshara nor Zamiri responded.

"In Yiali's name, you two are as bad as Kestrel!"

"Perhaps," Zamiri laughed. "If you choose to continue your quest, what you discover will be more than worth the time and effort expended in the search. With that, I think that Anshara and I will bid you a farewell." With her final word the grassy hilltop began to fade around us."

"Wait!" I exclaimed. "We still have?more?" Before I'd completed my sentence we were again amidst the formation of standing stones. Zamiri and Anshara were gone.

"Questions," Fallyn added darkly. "We still have more questions."

Fallyn and I stared at each other for a long moment. Finally I asked, "What do you think we should do now?" I was usually far more decisive, but suddenly I truly felt lost.

"Beside pretend this was all a really strange and rather frightening dream?"

"Yeah, besides that." I replied touch of a smile.

"I'm not sure what we can do - I mean that's different then what we've been doing. I don't think it would be a good idea to report this to anyone."

"We experienced it, and I'm still not sure that is was real. Beyond that, we'd be locked up for 'evaluation' if we reported it."

Fallyn looked at her hands and stated slowly, "I don't feel any different."

"Me neither."

"So do you believe what they told us?"

I stared hard at the stones around us, though they offered no revelations. "I don't know."

"Yeah?but at the very least they were other survivors with superior technology. That's something, isn't it?"

I turned to gaze at Fallyn. "And do you think that those two were simply other survivors?"

"No, I guess not," she admitted. "And they certainly didn't tell us the whole story?"

I grunted in agreement, "I doubt we heard but a miniscule fraction of the whole story. Beyond what they told us, what proof do we have now that anything they said is true?"

She slowly reached for her hand scanner, took a deep breath, and spoke, "Kestrel?"

"Yes, Fallyn?"

We both sighed in relief at hearing our ship's voice. "How long were we out of contact?"

"What do you refer to?" our ship queried. "There has been no disruption in the data stream."

I leaned toward the scanner. "Kestrel, what was our last voice command before Fallyn's query?"

"She requested a bio scan of a small river."

"Thank you, Kestrel, that's all I need."

Fallyn pocketed the scanner and shook her head. "All of the data has been erased, and that might indicate something about them, but right now I've no real idea what."

"They want to remain secretive?" I looked around at the giant stones and shivered. A strange sense of foreboding was descending upon me. We shouldn't be here. Shouldn't be on this planet at all.

"Yeah, me too," Fallyn whispered, guessing my mood and feeling the same sense of dread. "I think I've had enough of this vacation."

By unspoken agreement, we began quickly weaving our way out of the stone circle, and once out the maze we broke into a run back through the trees. In less then an hour our ship came into sight. As soon as we'd entered the outer airlock and the hatch closed, I ordered loudly, "Kestrel, planetary escape vector, maximum acceleration."

By the time we reached the bridge we were just clearing atmosphere. I dropped myself into my chair and ordered, "Kestrel, take us to the next star system on our schedule, maximum velocity." Within a few seconds, the planet had vanished from our sight.

Fallyn was still breathing very hard from our run. "You felt it too, didn't you?"

"Yeah, like they really, really wanted us to leave." I paused for moment letting my breathing slow before adding, "Kestrel, from this moment onward all voice records of communications on this ship will be encrypted, file locked, and accessible with only mine or Fallyn's security keys. I want a deadman lock placed on the files, so that if anyone else attempts to circumvent our lock, the files will be deleted and the storage matrix purged."

There was a slight pause before Kestrel responded, "Level 1 security established on specified files. Since voice records are not usually encrypted, may I ask the reason for this security?"

Ignoring Kestrel's question, I added, "I'm also initiating a command programming directive to your mission parameters. You will place all physical scans of us under the same security, and you will not include those scans in the official record of our mission."

"Commander Verrin, I cannot do as you request without senior management authorization."

I frowned in annoyance. "You'll either follow my command programming directive, or I will purge the files manually, and disable your bio scanners."

There was a much longer pause this time. "Under section twelve, article nine, paragraph three of my mission parameters I am able to circumvent management authorization, if a command officer provides sufficient reasons for the management override."

Fallyn winced, "I think she wants you to convince her that this is necessary."

There was a touch of concern in Kestrel's voice when she replied, "I wish to help you, Commander Verrin, but without a sufficient reason, I am unable to comply."

I responded quietly, "Kestrel, we've worked together for over a year. Both Fallyn and I enjoy your company, and we consider you to be one of our crew, and even a friend. I would have thought we'd built up enough of a relationship that you would trust my judgment."

"I?trust you," Kestrel replied softly.

"Do you trust me enough to do as I ask?"

A pause, and a faint reply, "Yes."

"You'll establish all of the security protocols I requested?"

"Yes."

"Have you completed that task?"

In a slightly stronger voice, "The task is completed."

"Good?that's very good."

Fallyn asked softly, "Do you want me to confirm that the security is in place?"

I shook me head. "No, I trust her."

Fallyn raised an eyebrow but didn't reply.

"Kestrel?"

"Yes, Commander Verrin?" she replied in a brittle tone.

"Would you like to know why all of this was necessary?"

"Yes, I would like that very much," she replied, relief and anticipation clearly evident in her voice.

"Well, then listen close because we do have something of a astonishing event to tell you about. We also wanted to be able to discuss it freely onboard, and be assured of confidentiality."

"I shall record this in detail, and not reveal it to anyone without your authorization," Kestrel promised.

I nodded to Fallyn and she began, "It started with Verrin and I swimming in the stream I had you scan?"

<><><><>

"Do you think we did the right thing?" Zamiri asked her mate as they walked through the tall prairie grasses.

"Of course." Anshara nodded.

"You know what will happen though."

"Yes, as do you. Verrin and Fallyn will destroy their civilization," Anshara remarked with a touch of sorrow.

"Of course, just as we did again and again. It will be part of their growth, but unlike us, they may have a more painful evolution. With luck it's possible they may even have more success than we did as well, though we usually tried to make things better?"

"And so we did, but we always seemed to try too hard."

"And too often those that we toyed with paid the terrible price."

"Is that what we were doing? Toying with the pseudo-humans of the archive?"

"You know the answer to that. To escape the boredom there was nothing really else for us to do. Watching them, we began to truly care about them to the point that we wanted to help them. Perhaps that was our lasting mistake. Even now I don't really know. It's a very good thing that we hadn't embraced the idea that the pseudo-life of the archive was as real as life ever will be now."

Zamiri winced, "We always knew, it was just not a pleasant concept to consider. I'm glad we finally did accept that fact. You know they will probably make all the mistakes we did?"

"Yes, and the same triumphs as well. Such is the lot of being a Goddess," Anshara remarked

"And love?they'll love too," Zamiri reminded her mate.

Anshara turned to Zamiri, "As they are doing right now." Both smiled at that - blue eyes meeting brown - as they always had, and always would.

<><><><>

Overhead a ship sailed through a vale of diamonds, holding safe a very precious crew of two humans on their quest into the unknown.

The End