Dark rumblings inside told him he was in a tremendous amount of trouble. He didn't know how it was going to manifest or when but it was coming, sure as Zeta would break the horizon before everyone else arose from their sleepzone. If they hauled him away, then what?

I do, 'Merama,' Deven piped up. 'I know exactly what she means. We need to send them love and see them coming home in our mind. If we wish and believe we can be together again.''Yas!' said Zahra strongly. 'Young one has knowing. You must that do!

Somehow the thought she might be next wasn't nearly as terrifying as the realization he was gone.

In one timeless instant a complex impression, not of knowledge but of feeling, penetrated her awareness like an indelible dream. An imprint of evil and a preponderance of good, both crying that somehow it was meant to be. Then nothing, only the cold apathy of deepest space.

Matter and energy are equivalent, according to the equation E=mc2, where E stand for energy, m for mass and c for the speed of light,' 'Merapa explained. 'Matter can't be transported at the speed of light but energy can. Therefore, during a time shift transformation, matter is converted to energy then condenses back. In other words all the molecules in your body have been changed from matter to energy then back again.''Wow. It's a wonder it's not fatal,' Dirck said.'Sometimes it is. If any transcription errors occur between the DNA and RNA in your vital organs you're all but dead.

Red, orange and green geometric designs painted its body as well as the flimsy collar around its neck. The creature flicked its tail and blinked its deep-set eyes, apparently oblivious to their presence."That's a yraglian lizards," Deven whispered. "We need to stay back. They smell really bad if you upset them. I mean, really, really bad."Dirck nodded, unsurprised that the first native creature he encountered on Cyraria represented it so well.

Red, orange and green geometric designs painted its body as well as the flimsy collar around its neck. The creature flicked its tail and blinked its deep-set eyes, apparently oblivious to their presence."That's a yraglian lizard," Deven whispered. "We need to stay back. They smell really bad if you upset them. I mean, really, really bad."Dirck nodded, unsurprised that the first native creature he encountered on Cyraria represented it so well.

Flames of outrage and reprisal had likewise made a comeback, his nearly forgotten, silent heritage no longer hidden by thirty years of compliance. Instead the fire grew, unmitigated by training, logic or reason.

Jen's emotions, strong but invisible within an infallible Miran facade, raged with contempt. He'd met the man responsible for such despicable exploitation of his brother's life onboard the Aquarius. He didn't like him then.He hated him now.

Past memories strobed before him, flashes of joy blackened by the present. Reality teased, then beckoned, home likewise. Confusion dimmed, the answer clear. This could end. Would end. In one of two ways. Still he refused, not ready for either.

The acrid odor of overloaded circuitry permeated the air, the horrid smell witness that at least one of his senses was working as sights and sounds became one with the unknown. Eventually he collapsed to the floor, wondering if he'd wake up in mortality. Then the muddled spectra went black, the silence that followed only possible in the deepest sectors of space. Or death.

All that shameless groveling. no wonder 'merapa wanted him to go. This was his punishment, a conclusion clearer than anything he'd witnessed since leaving Mira III. Would his father do that? of course he would. That's what parents were for.

Loneliness struck again, its force doubled by how much she wished it was her family there instead. Then oddly enough, she met the boy's stare and that feeling came again, that this was her family.

He could have a break at last, albeit a short one, one he sorely needed. And with that appealing thought he further squelched the subconscious screams, true message lost in the deceptive world of emotion and will.

Dirck's thoughts wandered to Creena. It was a good thing she wasn't there or she'd die, too. He shuddered to think of how she'd feel when she got back and everyone was dead. He'd never see her again and there was so much he wanted to tell her. Now he'd never have a chance.