has to be real. Don't try to fool me. I'll know the difference!"
Whit held out one hand, palm up. "Deal."
I smacked it lightly with a fist. "Then do it."
***
A slight shudder ran over the ship. I closed the datapak. I knew we had just exited stardrive—and I knew I had done this before, in my previous life. I thought of it that way now—my previous life. The datapak was full of details about my previous life. I glanced at the chron on the wristcom Whit had given me. It was way too early. Something was wrong. Then the door to my spotless little cube slid open soundlessly and Whit was suddenly there.
"Want to see something?" She seemed bright and cheery.
"Sure."
"Follow us."
She took me to a small room furnished with several reclinable airchairs. There was nothing else in the room.
"Take a seat." She collapsed into one of them. I chose another.
"So now what happens?" I asked.
"Illumination," she said with a faint smile. She jabbed at something on the arm of her chair, and the ceiling cracked open.
Nuclear light flooded us, dazzling me, glittering phospho-hot, burning over my flesh, cutting the room into brilliant arcs of blazing liquid metal and icy black shadows. An observation port, I thought—polarization zero. My pupils were slowly widening now after the initial shock. I sucked in my breath. Two massive stars were burning above us, a double star system—a young electric blue giant glowing like the moment of creation, spitting holy actinic rays to light up the galaxy—and a companion star, a glittering, icy emerald-white sun, a precious galactic gem from Heaven's cosmic mine, married to the blue giant by a sparkling twisted highway of phospho gas, diamond dust, God's necklace, a holy road in the vac paved with a billion stunning gems. The two great stars were illuminating the universe, swirling in a mad cosmic dance, dazzling my eyes, crawling over my skin, crackling silently. The eyes of Heaven, God's own lighthouse. A beacon, a warning on the perilous shoals of infinity as we rush blindly into the dark, mindless and lost.
I was stunned, paralyzed, frozen and helpless, flattened against the airchair like a worm wriggling before the face of God. The warm rays of those alien stars were kissing my flesh, the image burning into my retina for all time. The double star was so brilliant it blotted out everything else in the sky. There was only that incredible, massive, glittering vision—the blinding blue giant, the elektra-green white, joined by that astounding magical road of holy dust, an eerie, impossible marriage that could only have been arranged by the gods.
The floodgates of my mind burst wide open and I heard it—the music of the stars, rushing over me like an irresistible evil drug, exploding in my mind, hissing in my ears. It was the stars—I could hear them! Massive red super-giants, roaring, the breath of hell. Ancient dead black dwarfs, moaning, billions of lonely light years of regrets and longing. Shimmering, silvery nebulae, sweet far-off melodies from the edge of infinity. Insane black holes, deadly gateways to other universes, howling total destruction. Hot yellow suns, crackling and spitting, full of life. Stars, stars, galaxies of stars, whispering in my mind. My skin was ice cold. This was the terrifying music I had heard, ever so briefly, in my dirty little hole in the workers' hostel. The music of the stars!
By the time Whit finally restored the polarization, banishing the images, I was stunned and twitching.
"How's it doing, Beta Three?" It was almost a whisper. I did not answer. My eyes were full of tears.
"That was the Two Sisters," she explained. "Cinta showed it to me once—the bitch! We were in the vicinity, so we thought we'd give it a look-see. Our own idea. What does it think?"
I didn't answer. The stars—scut! They had me, now.
"Thought it might trigger something, Beta Three—that's all. It's a soldier of the Legion, after all. It belongs out here with the stars. Not
Whit held out one hand, palm up. "Deal."
I smacked it lightly with a fist. "Then do it."
***
A slight shudder ran over the ship. I closed the datapak. I knew we had just exited stardrive—and I knew I had done this before, in my previous life. I thought of it that way now—my previous life. The datapak was full of details about my previous life. I glanced at the chron on the wristcom Whit had given me. It was way too early. Something was wrong. Then the door to my spotless little cube slid open soundlessly and Whit was suddenly there.
"Want to see something?" She seemed bright and cheery.
"Sure."
"Follow us."
She took me to a small room furnished with several reclinable airchairs. There was nothing else in the room.
"Take a seat." She collapsed into one of them. I chose another.
"So now what happens?" I asked.
"Illumination," she said with a faint smile. She jabbed at something on the arm of her chair, and the ceiling cracked open.
Nuclear light flooded us, dazzling me, glittering phospho-hot, burning over my flesh, cutting the room into brilliant arcs of blazing liquid metal and icy black shadows. An observation port, I thought—polarization zero. My pupils were slowly widening now after the initial shock. I sucked in my breath. Two massive stars were burning above us, a double star system—a young electric blue giant glowing like the moment of creation, spitting holy actinic rays to light up the galaxy—and a companion star, a glittering, icy emerald-white sun, a precious galactic gem from Heaven's cosmic mine, married to the blue giant by a sparkling twisted highway of phospho gas, diamond dust, God's necklace, a holy road in the vac paved with a billion stunning gems. The two great stars were illuminating the universe, swirling in a mad cosmic dance, dazzling my eyes, crawling over my skin, crackling silently. The eyes of Heaven, God's own lighthouse. A beacon, a warning on the perilous shoals of infinity as we rush blindly into the dark, mindless and lost.
I was stunned, paralyzed, frozen and helpless, flattened against the airchair like a worm wriggling before the face of God. The warm rays of those alien stars were kissing my flesh, the image burning into my retina for all time. The double star was so brilliant it blotted out everything else in the sky. There was only that incredible, massive, glittering vision—the blinding blue giant, the elektra-green white, joined by that astounding magical road of holy dust, an eerie, impossible marriage that could only have been arranged by the gods.
The floodgates of my mind burst wide open and I heard it—the music of the stars, rushing over me like an irresistible evil drug, exploding in my mind, hissing in my ears. It was the stars—I could hear them! Massive red super-giants, roaring, the breath of hell. Ancient dead black dwarfs, moaning, billions of lonely light years of regrets and longing. Shimmering, silvery nebulae, sweet far-off melodies from the edge of infinity. Insane black holes, deadly gateways to other universes, howling total destruction. Hot yellow suns, crackling and spitting, full of life. Stars, stars, galaxies of stars, whispering in my mind. My skin was ice cold. This was the terrifying music I had heard, ever so briefly, in my dirty little hole in the workers' hostel. The music of the stars!
By the time Whit finally restored the polarization, banishing the images, I was stunned and twitching.
"How's it doing, Beta Three?" It was almost a whisper. I did not answer. My eyes were full of tears.
"That was the Two Sisters," she explained. "Cinta showed it to me once—the bitch! We were in the vicinity, so we thought we'd give it a look-see. Our own idea. What does it think?"
I didn't answer. The stars—scut! They had me, now.
"Thought it might trigger something, Beta Three—that's all. It's a soldier of the Legion, after all. It belongs out here with the stars. Not
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