40. A time to heal and grow

While the companions disappeared for days into the Spire and its mysteries, the community of Tiltspire kept moving and growing. The farm, or Taven’s Farmstead as it was now known, was a lush cultivated tract of land down from the Spire, closer to the lake and regular water. From Tiltspire, it was a forever-waving sea of green that rustled with its own sonorous voice in the breeze. Amongst the crops, a domesticated herd of fluffy boquo fossicked for grubs, pests and weeds to eat. Their eggs and occasional meat were already making their way into the foodstuffs now available to the inhabitants of Tiltspire. Along with fast-growing greens from the cabbage family and the curious fungus of the deep craven shared, the bulk of the communities food needs were being met by hunting in the nearby forest and fishing in the lake. Wilara now boasted that she would harvest her first grain crop within the close of the season, and there better be a mill waiting when it was.
 
The community, now free of the thoughts of day-to-day survival, turned their hands to creating more long-term projects. The Driftmen had spent some time digging a well to supply the community with a more reliable supply than the Ghan’s daily trip to the lake. Unfortunately, they failed to find the water table and had to give up on the project. More successful was building the wood mill to turn trees into lumber for permanent structures. There were a few improvements the foresters wanted Jaden to look over when she could be found, but on the whole, wooden buildings were starting to outnumber shanty cabins in Tiltspire. Near Temila’s hut, a small hospital of two beds and the community’s meagre bandage supplies were kept. Most of the community was unsure of Temila’s insistence that this small building be a priority until the big Lattimor, Fureva-Yung, returned from adventuring and was struck ill for several months. Then the wiser community members praised Temila for her forethought and doggedness to see the project through.
 
Still, other projects lagged. Even with the return of Jaden, the perpetual water supply she had been promising was yet to appear. A kiln and smoker were in the works, and even the still was a job only when the Dritmen, particularly Yitti, had free time. Otherwise, things were good. Though town defences were built from the newly milled wood, the community was blessedly free of attacks. With the destruction of the magr village several months ago, the community lived without fear of violence and kidnapping. People were now free to pursue more gentle pastimes. Orv spent much of his free time down at the farm with Wilara, to the surprise and suspicion of Marius when he returned. Orv, one of Marius’ oldest friends and someone who could plough him into the ground if roused to it was far too close to Temila for the explorers liking. That Orv was sweet on Wilara did not occur to Marius.
 
Marius’ solution to this challenging social situation was to leave the community and map the larger area around Tiltspire. He visited the Deep cravens both under the Spire and out at the Eastern dig site and brought the two tiny communities back together again. He travelled the shores of the Lake to the South and foothills of the great mountains North East.
 
It was coming back from the hills he saw a caravan of people travelling east-west across the landscape. Initially, he thought of going up to the caravan and introducing himself, but his danger sense had him hide and watch. There was something about how the individuals on foot moved that was not…human…or at least not humanoid as he had come to know it. Their beasts of burden were teal-skinned reptiles, which had been a regular sight in Cerelon. These reptiles walked with six legs underneath their bodies and moved more like oxen or horses than lizards. As he watched, he realised the twelve humanoids of the caravan were also reptilian, the sunlight shining off scaly skin, and they seemed to speak to their beasts as if sharing a common language. One, sitting on top of the lead caravan, looked very old, their scales sagging into creases and folds like wrinkles. Though individuals carried weapons, their postures and pacing suggested people that did not expect harm but were ready if harm came their way. He even saw one in the back of a wagon tinkering with a piece of Numenera, suggesting they were of more than magr intelligence.
 
After he’d nearly watched the group disappear to the west, did he move. Running ahead of them, he turned into their path and waited. It wasn’t long before the leaders spotted the lone man on their path and stopped the caravan. Marius put up his hands in what he hoped was a universal sign of peace and waited for one riding bareback to break from the caravan and come towards him.
 
“Greetings, “Said the being in understandable if oddly accented common speech.
“Yes, Greetings and hale, friend,” Marius said in his most welcoming voice, “Who are you, and what brings you out this way?”
“I am Iksoul of the Thalun-Ik. We search for the river to water and feed our Ikthalaj,” Iksoul replied, patting the thick neck of his mount, “You are a long way from your people’s settlements.” He said the last as a statement, but his language was subtle enough for Marius to discern the question within it.
“I am from a small community that has made their home at the big Spire to the South, “He pointed, the Spire’s top just visible over the rolling hills and trees.
“Ah, so the Spire is no longer empty, and you and not far from your home,” Iksoul understood.
“There you will find there is water and friendship to be had,” Marius suggested, “Maybe a little trade?”
At this the expressionless reptilian feature of Iksoul seemed to brighten.
“This is good news!”
“Good news for all.”
“Please, let me introduce you to the tribe.”
 
Iksoul waved up the caravan. The ancient-looking individual was introduced as Elder Cheknu, the leader of this tribe, and the one with the Numenera was Vekku, the tribes Wright. The Thalun-Ik travelled a trade route between several humanoid cities: Niquantin, Kerevin’s Drop and Wormriver Bend all further to the east. They made a living trading between the towns and providing free news of the local area. As they walked south to Tiltspire Iksoul informed Marius of a few interesting locations that brave souls could gain iotum, possibly for trade?
 
“It is a small, at least what can be seen above the surface is small, but our Wright thinks that mighty power stirs inside.” Iksouls shared, giving Marius a general impression of its location to the Spire and other landmarks.
“That sounds like just the sort of thing that my friends and I would like to visit.”
 
Since returning from the clearing the datasphere of the malignant shard, Jaden had been busy. In the community, her skills for engineering, invention and turning scrap into practical were in constant demand. Between trying to sort through her io for materials to make her perpetual water device run and endless questions about one project or another, Jaden had a few side projects bubbling over. Demands on her time were so great she had gone to her once long-time sparring partner and antagonist Ivasha Ferrul, Nox’s Aunt and once priestess of the Devotees. Ivasha was one of the few people who could read and understand the several plans seeds Jaden had collected. She was also without a purpose now that the Devotees were no more. Between them, Jaden could now put those plan seeds into actual working practice. Even when adventure called her away. The most frustrating of her projects was the Everlasting water supply. So vital to the community, requiring components she just didn’t have and didn’t look like acquiring anytime soon.
 
This day, a rumble of voices drew Jaden from her workshop. Striding over the hills towards Tiltspire was Marius leading a caravan of a dozen individuals and many odd-looking creatures. As Marius spotted Jaden, he looked back at the caravan and gestured for them to go around to the lake.
 
“Hey Marius, making friends?” Jaden called him over.
“They’re travellers, roaming traders like your folk,” He said, making it very clear they were intelligent and friendly, just like the trading people she once came from.
Yeah, then I got settled and angry, She thought to herself, not for the first time.
 
Marius introduced Jaden to Iksoul and went looking for his mother.
“Travel far?” She asked Iksoul by way of conversation.
“Yes, but we had not thought to come so far south before meeting, Marius,” Said the reptile-skinned man standing beside his odd blue-green beast.
“I wonder if you’ve seen any buildings like the Spire in your travels further north? Or possibly shaped like this?” She dug her toe into the soft dry earth and made a hexagonal shape like the old Devotees of Erinai temple.
Iksoul shook his head, the light gleaming off his smooth scales.
“I have not. The tower stands alone and is one of our landmarks. It is good to know it is now inhabited.”
 
Marius returned with Risina and the Onslo family, travelling traders, before the attack. As they talked, the caravan set up at the lake, watering and feeding their animals and erecting shelters for the night. At sometime, a feast was announced, and everyone in the Tiltspire scrambled to show their hospitality to their first-ever visitors. Dark Craven were invited to join in the festivities, and a few brave souls did attend. Veku the Wright talked shop with Jaden resulting in trades for cyphers and iotum. It got her closer to the perpetual water device, but the essential crystalline amber was still missing. Some of the community traded food or tools for a canvas made of insect parts. Durable and hardy yet light enough to wear, the fabric meant new clothes for those who had not had a decent change of clothes for months.
 
Nox was oblivious to much of what was going on. Though Temila was officially in charge of Fureva-Yung’s treatment, Nox had made Fureva-Yung’s day-to-day care her responsibility. Her thoughts were always on her companion’s welfare. So much so on a day she was assigned to the farm, after a moment’s daydreaming in the autumn sunshine, Nox found herself by Fureva-Yung’s bedside. The blinking travel she had become accustomed to in the Datasphere was a reality, though a taxing one. That first trip from the farm left her head spinning, and she spent the rest of the day in the second bed under Temila’s care. Now she did little but tend to Fureva-Yung and listen to her dreams. The eavesdropping did more than just inform Nox about Fureva-Yung’s life. She could also warn others if Fureva-Yung’s dreams became violent.
 
At those times, Fureva-Yung would thrash against the straps holding her to the bed, the tendons in her neck, arms and legs straining until she was pale and exhausted. During one fit, before the heavy-duty bed frame started groaning, Nox put a hand on Fureva-Yung's cheek.
Quiet. Sleep now, She said and thought through their telepathic connection. A calm came over Fureva-Yung, and she slept peacefully for the rest of the day, unaffected by dreams.
 
Nox didn’t just tend to Fureva-Yung and watch her dreams. With her mother, Ariaxa, a regular feature in town, Nox spent every moment she could learning the Ferrian language and script. Their daily lessons were more than just gaining a useful skill for the adventurer. It was important mother and daughter time that neither was willing to postpone without a good reason. She was reading through the notes from her last lesson, Fureva-Yung’s thoughts quiet for the moment when something nudged her nearly from her seat. Pulling herself out of her self-induced meditations, she automatically made a telepathic link assuming the intruder was Marius or Jaden asking after their companion’s welfare.
What? Who? Do what? What? It thought as Nox heard a long tongue lick the air experimentally.
Nox slowly turned to the end of a long lizard-like head. Leaning back over Fureva-Yung, she could see the head connected to a two-metre tall, six-legged creature with blue-green scaly skin. It reminded her of the mothekko six-legged beasts of burden. Scaly and docile, they differed from the mothekko as their legs were upright under their bodies, not splayed like other reptiles.
 
Nox transmitted joy and happiness through the connection and a good dose of calm. She reached out a hand for the ever-searching tongue to investigate. She may have succeeded in befriending the young Ikthalaj, too if Fuerva-Yung hadn’t bellowed a battle cry at the same moment. The creature, tens times heavier and twelve times bigger than Nox started, realised it was no longer among its family and freaked out. As quick as Nox could blink, the two-metre tall lizard was a two-metre tall baby human, sitting on its rump, sticky hands flat on the ground before its chubby feet. Lashes as big as the Nox’s hands swept down over eyes about to spill over with tears.
“Oh! Wha?” Nox said out loud before she saw the giant baby was about to cry, “On no, please don’t cry little…ur…one…I won’t harm you.” She reached her hand and touched the infant on the cheek. Either the baby did not understand the soothing thought she had become accustomed to using on Fureva-Yung, or the touch was the last straw. Tears splashing like rain around Nox, the giant baby jumped to its hands and feet and galloped out of the hospital.
 
“Baby, come back!” Marius cheered as the frightened baby ran out of the hospital and into Tiltspire proper, where the celebrations were in full swing. Through the party, the baby ran where the music, singing, and light from the campfires startled it into a terrified panic. Iksoul eventually caught up with the baby and calmed it down with a few soothing-sounding words in his own language. The baby disappeared in a blink, and the young Ikthalaj reappeared, huffing and shaking its head.
 
“This Ikthalaj had been startled by something. What did this?” Iksoul looked to Marius, who looked back at the hospital where Nox was sheepishly stepping out.
“I’m sorry. You’re…creature was so quiet I hadn’t noticed it was there. Fureva-Yung startled it in her delirium, and it…turned into…a baby,” Nox stuttered. She still disliked talking to new people and hated being the centre of attention. Now she was both, and she almost teleported away until Iksoul explained.
“It was an image of a being that needed your comfort and protection,” He said, soothing the beast, “In that way, its predator has to pause in its attack, giving the Ikthalaj time to flee.”
“It makes you see what you think of as a baby as a survival mechanism?” Marius asked, “That’s unique.”
“Indeed, they are very sensitive creatures,” Iksoul replied, leading the Ikthalaj away to the corral where the others waited. Feeling admonished for scaring the monster, Nox returned to Fureva-Yung’s side, convinced there was nothing for her at the party.
 
The next day, dragging Yitti away from the building projects and stealing the hovercar, Marius set off to find the ruins described by Iksoul. Marius finally had his chance for a good long chat with Yitti. He wanted to clear the air on a few things.
“So how come you felt you could just ... use me, like that, for so long and never tell me?” He asked, glancing out the window at the oncoming tree trunks. “You never once let on that you knew who I was.”
“Aren’t you being a little dramatic? No one betrayed you. We supported you, and gave you a space to find yourself. Sure, at first it was a bit of a scheme, and it did us good too. But you were a great negotiator. And you became a genuine friend,” Yitti replied.
“Were a great negotiator? So, you think now that everyone knows I’m Risina’s boy that I have no voice? I'm on the wrong side now?”
Marius' face tightened as he found the accelerator, matching the speed to his internal frustration. Yitti watched the trees whip by his side of the hovercar with more and more trepidation. Though he knew Marius was a good pilot, he still stiffened in his seat as bark flew at their passing. Branches whipped him in the face, and he ducked low below the dashboard for protection.
“ Not at all, not at all!” He replied, real fear bubbling up through his words, “But you’re not around the place now, are you? Things are getting done, and our leader isn’t there. Though, I guess…” Yitti let the thought die, it was not the time or place.
“Though, you guess what, Yitti?” Marius seemed to find even more speed. Yitti, used to the speed of his own two legs, gripped his seat for dear life.
“There’s so few of us at Tiltspire. Everyone who has anything worth saying is heard. I guess we don’t need that sort of leader anymore. AHHHH!”
 
Marius slammed on the hovercar’s brake. Without traction, the rear spun forward, seemingly out of control. Yitti, in terror for his life, screamed until the craft lurched to rest not metres from a stone ruin.
“And what type of leader is that, Yitti?” Marius said, out of breath, the stunt had taken the breath from him as well.
“It’s….its not ….us and them…. it's just…us,” Yitti gulped and took the silence of the engine as a sign his life was spared. He scrambled from the hovercar and looked back at Marius.
 
Marius sat in the pilot's seat. A familiar cheeky grin crept onto his face as he slowly nodded and pulled himself up, standing in the car, his hand resting on the engine's cowling.
“Good,” he said, leaping down from the car. Yitti stepped back, startled, his fists automatically readied for a fight. Marius just walked by toward the ruins.
“Come on, let's go exploring like old times.”
 
The low ruins were only the entrance to a spiral staircase that led to a larger and better-preserved space. A large funnel stood in a hole in the ground.
A sort of shoot for raw materials? Marius wondered before being drawn to a stone-engraved pillar. He studied the engravings a moment, made no sense of them, and then touched the surface with his armoured hand. Like a display, the engravings in the stone shifted and changed as he brushed his hand against its ancient surface.
“Hey! Watch it!” Yitti called in time for Marius to see the spiral staircase recede into the floor, leaving nothing to show it had existed.
Right.
“What now?” Yitti, whose day had already been more than exciting, looked ready to give up.
“Let’s see what there is to see, shall we.” Marius gestures to a passage just beyond the pillar.
 
The short passage ended at a T-intersection. To the left, an eerie purple light filled the whole length of the corridor. To the right, the sound of machinery hummed. Heading left, the duo squinted through a purple light field to an amorphous mass of floating green made black by the field. The mass turned in the air at their approach, and long tentacles lashed out, hitting the field.
 
“Not that way,” Yitti confirmed as Marius stepped back and headed down the right path. Here two hexagonal pillars made what looked like a ladder with horizontal amber crystals. The humming was louder here. This structure seemed to be the power source for the whole complex, including the field.
“If we break this up, will it let that blob out?” Yitti asked.
“I’d bet on it,” Replied Marius heading back to the pillar that seemed a control the whole facility. He fiddled with the controls again, making a pile of rock fall from above into the funnel and continue on to some unknown place.
“So, that’s what it's for.”
“Stop playing around with that thing,” Yitti complained. If this was what exploring with Marius was like, he was glad he usually took Fureva-Yung and the two crazy women.
“I’m trying to get the stair back, “Marius said as a grinding noise from the corner informed him he had succeeded. He looked to Yitti as if hurt by the lack of trust the other man had given.
“Yeah, alright,” Yitti acknowledged Marius’s victory before mumbling something less audible.
“Lucky bastard.”
 
Their exit secure, they looked around a few a little more minutes. The blobby green thing threw itself at the field whenever they came into view. Though large, Marius figured the creature would be able to squeeze itself out a small gap if it wanted. Whatever solution they came up with, it had to be blob-tight.
“Why are you staring at that thing? There’s nothing for us. Let's get out of here.” Yitti gestured towards the stairs and the exit.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Marius replied, following Yitti back to the car.
 
That evening they shared their discovery with the community. Jaden was sure the amber crystals were just what she needed for the perpetual water supply and suggested another expedition with more members to deal with the creature.
“No need, it will take just two of us,” Marius replied enigmatically and headed for the hospital.
 
It had been a good day with Fureva-Yung. She was on a cycle of treatments that had her delirious for days before settling down into periods of sleep and occasional lucidity. Now at the end of a cycle, Nox felt comfortable leaving for short periods to collect food, and water or just to walk in the sunshine. With Fureva-Yung’s dreams slowly bubbling away in the back of her mind, Nox was practising her Ferrian when Marius walked in.
“Nox! How would you like to take a little trip with me tomorrow?” He said, brimming over with excitement that did not fit the quiet healing space of the hospital.
Nox scowled and connected him to her telepathic network, Do you always have to be so loud?
Sorry, He looked to Fureva-Yung. So still and silent, the warrior woman looked smaller than he was used to seeing. It made him nervous, Is she…?
Nox glanced down at her patient and smiled, She’s doing great. Temila thinks we’re nearly finished with the treatments. The rest is up to Fureva-Yung. Reflecting on Marius’ outburst, Nox glanced up at him.
What trip?
 
Marius explained what he and Yitti had found that day and what he proposed to do.
And what if that thing gets out?
That’s why it has to be you. You can do that teleport thing and get us out of there before the blob escapes! Simple!
But…Fueva-Yung, Nox had been at Fureva-Yung’s bedside for more than six weeks. It had become an major part of her life. It wasn’t just that at this time, her friend needed her. Nox was discovering that she liked being needed in this way. She’d even surprised herself to find she was good at it.
Marius looked down at Fureva-Yung sleeping, She looks fine at the moment. Are you sure that Temila or someone else can’t sit and watch her?
Nox rolled her eyes. As if all she did was sit and watch. Still, she had to admit that Fureva-Yung was quiet now, and Temila could take over for a day.
Temila is busy too, you know, She said to remind Marius that Temila was now an important member of the Tiltspire community. But, if you can get her to agree, of course, I will come with you.
“Great!” Marius said out loud, only to be once again silently hushed by annoyed Nox.
 
The next morning, Marius had arranged it all. Temila was to watch the patient for the day, relieving Nox to go with Marius to the ruins. He’d even, somehow, strapped a large sheet of metal and a pane of diamond glass to the hover car, ready for the trip over. Nox still felt guilty over leaving Fureva-Yung behind. Still, after six weeks of doing nothing more exciting than listening for another fit, Nox was ready to stretch her exploring legs.
 
Now that he knew where the ruins were, the trip across took only an hour instead of half a day of the previous outing. Marius manipulated the sheet of metal down into the facility as Nox came up the rear with the pane of glass. In the light of the purple field, Marius lay out the metal and glass and explained his plan.
 
“First, I want the metal sheet across in front of the force field, making sure you leave no gaps for that thing to squeeze through.”
Nox nodded wide-eyed, comprehending the scope of the work in front of her.
“Then put this in the wall at your eye height so you can watch that thing while I collect the amber crystals.”
“So I watch it through the window, here?” She pointed to the space in front of the field and the creature.
“No, you’ll be up with me in the other room. As soon as you see any sign of that thing breaking out, you grab me and teleport out, right?”
“I’ve never teleported someone else,” Nox confessed, still staring through the force field at the floating blob. She was a little daunted by all the work required of her.
Marius pulled her around and bent down so they were eye to eye.
“I know I’m asking a lot, but you can do it. I have faith in you,” He said simply, and she smiled and nodded her head in agreement.
 
So, together they put up the metal wall, Nox carefully pinching together the seams to allow no gaps. Marius held up the glass at an appropriate height for Nox to look through as she fused it with the wall making an airtight window.
“Now, it's my turn,” Marius said, pulling out his few salvaging tools, “ Just stand and watch that thing. If it makes any move beyond that wall, blink us back to the car, right?”
“Right,” Nox agreed and took up her position.
 
Behind her, Marius climbed the ladder-like construction and started retrieving the first amber crystal. As expected, the power in the facility went down. The purple glow through the small window disappeared, and a baleful eye stared back at Nox across the intervening space.
The wall held.
The green blob started pounding on the metal wall, making it ring and sending dust motes falling.
Still, the wall held.
Marius grabbed another crystal as the pounding against the wall stopped.
“Everything okay there?” He asked, looking over his shoulder to Nox, still standing guard.
“It's up to something. You may want to be quick.” Nox replied, not taking her eyes off the makeshift wall. Was it her eyes or was the far corner growing darker?
Curious, she sent a hedge magic ball of light floating down the hallway towards the corner. Though its meagre light only lit a sphere a few metres across, when it reached the corner, it found tiny tendrils writhing and a mass collecting in the shadows.
“Ah, Marius, it found a crack,” She called as Marius placed a crystal in his bag. Without any more discussion, she ran across the intervening space, grabbed hold of Marius around the legs and teleported away.
 
They collapsed into a messy pile beside the hover car, Nox's head reeling from the effort.
“Well done! You drive, and I’ll see what we’ve got,” Marius picked up Nox and swung her into the driver’s seat before leaping into the passenger’s beside her.
“Drive?” She said, shaking her senses free of the fatigue before turning on the hover car and steering it for home.
 
Marius counted the crystals. They had enough for Jaden’s water invention.
 
When they returned to Tiltspire, Nox was pleased to see Fureva-Yung in one of her lucid periods. She told Fureva-Yung all about the trip, her new ability to teleport to places she’d seen and take friends with her, and she told her that soon the community would have fresh water on tap day or night.
“I wish I could have gone with you,” Fuerva-Yung said in frustrated regret, “I would have squooshed it!”
“It was not nice, “ Nox agreed, “You should probably go back and squoosh it very soon.”
 
Marius entered carrying a small device.
“I found this while salvaging today, “He said, handing it to her, “I don’t think I want what this thing can do,”
It was a very powerful cypher that encouraged mutations in the user. Nox realised that whatever random mutation it made would be permanent. She gauged the risk and placed it against her skin, turning it on.
“I didn’t expect you to use it!” Marius exclaimed, almost lurching forward to reclaim the device, “I thought Jaden could use it for parts.”
“There’s not much of a risk, “ Nox explained as the cypher started reshaping her dna, “There is a small chance of something bad, but mostly the cypher will just give me something odd or ugly. What does it matter if it does, who is to care? There is a chance that it will give me something very, very good. I worked out the risk and am taking the chance.”
 
The result was almost instant. Nox started blending into her surroundings, her skin taking on the colour of the walls and floor around her. When she realised what was happening, she concentrated on the effect and made tiger stripes run along her arms and face before flickering back to her own pale skin tone.
“Chameleon skin?” Marius asked, bemused and shook his head.
 
Jaden came in some time later when Fureva-Yung had drifted back to sleep again. She was carrying a bundle of boxes, rubber and leather harness with a look of pride and reverence. She lay it out on the empty bed beside Fureva-Yung so it would be easily seen next time she awoke.
“Didn’t take me nearly as long without her pestering me,” She said with a smile that belied her words. She looked at the sleeping Fureva-Yung, “How is she doing?”
“Great, she’s nearly finished the treatment and has a little recovery to do,” Nox replied as the dreams once more scrolled through Fureva-Yung’s mind, “She’s going to love that new armour.”
“So she should,” Jaden barked in her usual gruff tone before softening, “She deserves it.”
 
A long way from the three friends speaking over her body, Fureva-Yung sat in a chair, soaking up the last rays of a beautiful day. Before her, the land, one of many she had fought long years to keep safe, grew fat and rich. The now grey Lattimor looked back over a life of war and struggle, especially against the malignant entity trapped in the Gate Star. She had spent a lifetime chasing the last dregs of that wretched being, and now, well, now most people felt they’d got the last of it. Its influence hadn’t been felt in decades. Rogue A.I.s that appeared were their own entities and not a shard of the malignancy. The galaxy was at peace, at least as peaceful as people could make it.
 
She’d had a full life. It was time for her to join the chorus. There was no point hanging around until old age or sickness made her invalid or, worse, forget herself. She had earned her place being uploaded into the datasphere, and now she was looking forward to the next step. What adventurers could she get into in a universe of information? Still, a few more minutes watching the sunset wouldn’t kill anyone, was it?
 
**************
 
She felt herself dragged away from the multitude. There she belonged and was loved and had peace in the warm embrace of the chorus. The cries from the other minds matched her own, but she knew that she still had a duty to attend. She and two other motes of life withdrew from the datasphere and back to…what? Their duty. Regardless of the feeling of loss, regardless of what she was being retrieved to do, her duty was all that mattered.
 
So, let's do it.