'There is a day worse than death-the day that your dreams die.'

Jaric groaned deep inside. Hesitantly, he looked up at the myriad of stars in the darkening sky. Strange, unfamiliar stars. Stars he did not know.

Their faint light reflected off of his ebony face as he walked along under the sky of this new world. He realized once again how alone he really was.

Such a huge universe, so beautiful. So unimaginably vast...

And in all of this vast universe, loneliness is my closest friend.Jaric smiled sadly through his pain. His eyes suddenly grew hard. But it steels me and makes me strong. To face my enemies, untold billions that they are. Jaric held that thought a moment more, caressed it with his mind as his anger blossomed until the final, undeniable fact that made them his enemy exploded inside his head once again. The hated T'kaan had destroyed the human race.

Except for three of us.Jaric sighed inside his soul. But he immediately corrected his last thought.

Make that four.

Mother had brought them far these many months. Many, many light-years from their home. There was no morehome, only the scarred, dead worlds of humanity now occupied by the contemptible T'kaan.

They had left them far behind now, traveling under unknown stars to unknown places. To an unknown destination.

But at times it wasn't bad.

Jaric looked around at the soft evening light as it turned the sky a softer shade of violet. Suddenly the unique beauty of this sky and its setting star struck him, and he paused to enjoy this brief moment before darkness fell. Slowly, unbidden, a smile grew.

"Jaric. Where are you? Quick, come see this," Becky's voice shouted through the comm link on his belt.

Her familiar voice sent a shiver of emotion through his body. He closed his eyes and her beautiful face was there, smiling at him. She was laughing at his witty remarks as he entertained her. Oh yes, there was nothing in the universe as beautiful as Becky. Not even this wonderful alien sunset.

But there was something else at least as exciting, for the last three humans had finally made contact with a benevolent alien race. Well, with at least one of their kind.

"I'm on my way, Becky," Jaric said into his comm unit.

As Jaric ran over the sand of this lonely, uninhabited planet, his brown eyes avoided a particular section of sky, a section that held the tiny disc which was the one other planet in this system of two. But that other world was inhabited.

For now.

But there was nothing anyone could do for those poor creatures now.

They had journeyed over a year to escape the dreaded T'kaan, and yet they had somehow accidentally ran into a powerful T'kaan squadron as they prepared to annihilate another species. Mother soon discovered that this was a T'kaan patrol sent out to look for another race in their never-ending war and it was purely coincidence that they had crossed paths.

The children had begged Mother to keep going. But Minstrel had wanted to stay and observe the terrible tragedy as it unfolded. Minstrel had explained that its reason was because nowhere in all the travels of its species had there been any direct observations of the T'kaan and their atrocities.

And Minstrel needed to know.

The somber weight lifted from Jaric as Minstrel's ship came into view as he reached the crest of the hill.

It was a spherical ship-coiling structures, tube-like extensions, and huge pipes snaked and interleaved through each other across its dusky surface like some bizarre hairdo. The crazy external plumbing almostseemed to have a purpose when viewed from afar.

It did.

The ship also seemed to blend mysteriously with its surroundings, like a shadow within a shadow.

He heard the music faintly calling him-softly, beckoning him inside.

Once again the same thought echoed in his mind-Minstrel is music. And music is Minstrel. He stared in awe at the circle ship of music.

Jaric waited as the round hatch opened. He stepped lightly through it. If the outside of Minstrel's ship seemed to be of darkness, the interior was full of light and color.

Infinite hues of color spread across the huge round room, the main room of the ship, which actually made it harder for him to discern exactly where inside the ship he actually was. It seemed odd that with so much light he could still get lost so easily inside its winding corridors. It was immensely beautiful, but the moving colors confused and tricked his eyes with their kaleidoscope effect.

But to Minstrel, it was paradise.

Above the soft music, Jaric heard the movement of the huge creature. Really, none of the humans had seen Minstrel in its entirety at one time. Its huge plasma form seemed to hover in front of the lights as it wrapped itself along the walls and ceiling.

Minstrel was a unique being.

Jaric's eyes took in the twinkling Minstrel as its salient body seemed to float below the edge of the ceiling. At least Minstrel's body was conspicuous when Jaric's eyes looked directly at its twinkling form, but when he turned his eyes to focus on something else in the room, Minstrel's plasma body seemed to disappear mysteriously.

Jaric smiled as he remembered the first time he had touched Minstrel.

It had only been a few days after they had landed on this very planet. Jaric had come over to listen to Minstrel's music and walked quickly into the main room and ran right into the alien.

Actually, he had walked right through Minstrel.

The sensation against his skin had been remarkable-it had been so soft, so imperceptible, like a gentle breeze caressing his face and arms. Jaric also remembered a slight electric feeling as he slid through the alien. For a brief moment, he had actually been inside the millions of twinkling lights that made up the immense, flowing form of Minstrel. Before Jaric could turn around Minstrel's body had flowed together again, and then the twinkling cloud had coalesced into an unbroken, shimmering whirlpool of color right before his eyes.

"Welcome, Jaric, last of the humans," Minstrel's soft voice hummed, breaking Jaric's reverie.

Jaric's thoughts returned to the present, and his melancholy brushed over him as he thought once again of that terrible truth. "Let us talk of pleasant things tonight." Mother's voice emanated invisibly somewhere from above.

"I am sorry, I did not intend pain with my greeting," Minstrel said.

They were all inside the main room of Minstrel's ship, a great circle room carved out of its center.

Guardian stood rigidly beside the slouching form of Kyle who lounged on a couch near the center of the circle room. Kyle rolled his eyes as he ran his right hand through his sandy blonde hair. Becky watched from her chair with keen interest as the undulating plasma form moved from wall to ceiling and back again. Jaric took his place in a chair between Becky and Kyle.

"Tell us more of your travels. The beautiful things you have seen." Mother prompted.

"And more of your songs," Jaric added. "I want to lose myself in them again."

"How can we enjoy music when an entire world-an entire species-is about to be extinguished right in front of our faces?" Kyle rose angrily.

"C'mon, Big K," Jaric said with disappointment.

"There's nothing we can do to prevent it," Mother answered calmly.

A foreboding filled the room, ominous and alive.

"There are a dozen cruisers and five frigates, Kyle." Becky brushed her blonde hair back with a quick, impatient motion. "And well over a hundred fighters." She glared at him for ruining the start of their evening. "Besides, Mother's sub-light engines are still damaged from your last escapade."

"Say no more." Mother's voice was hard, commanding. With the next words her voice returned to its normal tone. "This line of conversation is not productive."

"The Gruto are partly to blame for their destiny," Minstrel chimed. "They possess the technical apt.i.tude to travel to the stars, but they have wasted it. When the T'kaan attack and destroy this single world, the Gruto as a race will die. So sad."

Jaric remained silent, for everyone in the ship knew how close the human race was to that very same fate.

"Why did they choose not to venture to the stars?" Becky asked incredulously.

"Not enough profit." Minstrel paused a long time. "They are guided almost solely by commercial gain.

So, they turned their technology inward where they could make the most money in the shortest amount of time."

"Then they'll die with their money." Jaric spoke his angry thought out loud.

Kyle sat down again, his anger only slightly abated. He looked at the flowing form of the alien against the light and colors of the ship's interior, trying to focus on a single part of the huge alien.

"How do you know so much about this pitiable people, Minstrel? How is it you have all the answers?"

Kyle challenged. "My people are travelers. Solitary, we travel the vast distances of this galaxy to find different races, to see their creativity, the pinnacle of their great achievements and what can be learned from them. Or how we can simply enjoy it. Their art and poetry, their music, how they have taken the raw beauty of their planet and turned it into a more orderly place, like an exquisite garden. If they are worthy, we may even introduce ourselves and then let them know about the rest of the known galaxy." Minstrel mused in silence a moment. "In my life, I have known many, many things."

"How do you perform this observing? Without it being known?" Mother asked.

"I take part of myself and...change it." Minstrel began.

"You morph yourself," Jaric said.

"Yes. Then I send myself, that small part, to mingle un.o.btrusively with the race. My kind are very good at this. In fact..." A playful tone had come into Minstrel's voice. "... another of my people even studied humanity once, back when you, too, were located on a single, precarious planet."

Becky's eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell us before? Did you make contact?" Becky asked excitedly.

Jaric's eyes narrowed as Kyle turned his face away angrily.

"Were they not worthy?" Mother asked simply.

"No." Minstrel answered. "Not at that time in their history."

"You could have prevented..." Kyle began angrily.

"History cannot be changed," Mother interrupted firmly. "What is done, is done."

The fluid, plasma form of Minstrel seemed to thicken and slow. The colors and lights darkened with its mood as the plasma body reached out in various directions along the walls.

The three humans looked on with wonder mixed with a touch of fear.

"I have hurt you. I am sorry. I will make amends, allowing you an experience that few sentient species have ever enjoyed." Minstrel's voice became charged. "I have studied part of the vast knowledgebase that Mother has in her long-term memories-the history of the human race and all of its art and knowledge." Minstrel paused. "I like what I have learned very much. In fact, I have begun a song, a symphony actually, heralding the beauty of the humans. A song about your achievements. I will play what I have written now, with you inside my ship." Minstrel's voice sang its words as much as it spoke them.

This would be the greatest, and rarest of pleasures.Jaric smiled, remembering Minstrel's own words.For the ships of the Minstrels were more than ships, they were musical instruments. When Minstrels gave concerts, the beings ma.s.sed outside were treated to an aural ecstasy unparalleled in power and beauty. Something more than notes and words and harmonies and rhythms.

But they would now experience more.Jaric mused.They would be inside this most perfect of all musical instruments. An integral part of the music, closer even than a musician playing his own beloved instrument.

The Minstrel'sSong for Humanity began with soothing gentleness. Jaric felt the music as much as he heard it.

The soaring melodies rose quickly to a crescendo filled with strings, flutes and choral voices. The music was haunting and beautiful with a subtle pathos .

And more.

The throbbing sound of ten thousand drums signaled a new pa.s.sage, pa.s.sionate and alive with an urgent intensity. Next horns and dueling guitars added their raunchy voices, onward and upward, faster and faster, until the music circled about to its original theme and the rhythms pounded the listener's souls again.

It was different this time, but the same-like the rhythms of life.

These themes and sub-themes represented the pa.s.sions and the loves and even the obsessions of man and woman and all they begot from them.

The music was alive, a reflection of the human race in all its triumphs and failures. The music echoed its history, its loves and strengths, as well as its weaknesses. There was a moving tinge of sadness, too-dark colors of intense yearning and that same subtle melancholy intertwined within many of the melodies.

Jaric suddenly realized what this sadness in the music was saying-it was forwhat might have been .

The music filled all their senses and pulsed through their being.

Minstrel, a ent.i.ty of light, cued a light show to complement this sonic splendor.

Jaric stared at the spinning, twisting lights as they changed color with the rhythms, and then they changed again as the lights danced anew. New and different melodies revealed more, they revealed beauty so intense that tears streamed down his ebony cheeks.

Becky was herself mesmerized. Moments later, she, too, was crying at the emotions that filled her from the music that seemed so alive.

Kyle alone listened dispa.s.sionately, trying to fight its power. But deep inside, he, too, felt it. His clenched fists moved ever so subtly with the music that described his species.

Mother's sensors took in this powerful music though she was parked next to Minstrel's Circle Ship.

Mother, too, seemed to be affected as the music caused her short-term memory to recall different pictures and sections of history from the knowledgebase as the music ebbed and flowed. She wondered how the music could act upon her own memories in this subtle, magical fashion.

All too soon it was over.

Only partly completed, the music had lasted well over three hours.

"It is quite beautiful. I think it portrays the human race well," Mother said matter-of-fact.

The three humans remained silent, still living the music in their minds. Hours, maybe days, would pa.s.s and parts of that music would still echo inside each listener. Only with the pa.s.sage of time would themagical effects be gradually washed away. Even then, the memory would always be there. Forever.

"That was fantastic," Becky said breathlessly.

"It is my gift to you three, as well as my chronicle of a n.o.ble race. A race too soon effaced from the universe," Minstrel said.

"Is there more? Jaric asked hopefully.

"There will be, and you three will each have a melody in its final movement. Which brings me to why I have asked you all here tonight." Minstrel paused. "You are searching for other survivors, and I have contacted other Minstrels to aid you in this. We travel far...but you must not focus solely on this one purpose. There are other things to make your lives worthwhile."

Silence answered.

"We must search, Minstrel," Kyle said evenly. "Till the end of our lives. We have to."

"I feel," Jaric began, "I feel like a lost child sometimes, unable to find my way. And afraid I never will."