"Yes, with the existing data that can be inferred with a high probability."

A new murmuring swept the audience.

"Let me guess: one of the remaining creature-ships, one of the Great Horned ships, gave birth and then had its newborn escorted back to begin the process of rebuilding the Third," Jysar added.

"That would seem logical," Mother agreed. "But to finish my current line of reasoning, T'kaan warships not in close proximity to the Great Horned ship when it died did not self-destruct." Mother allowed her words to sink in. "From my knowledge of the T'kaan-from my battles with them-it can now be deduced that they did not fight at one hundred percent capacity. I had a.s.sumed that my skills were simply superior, but after the new Great Horned ship arrived, the T'kaan's strategy and their effectiveness increased substantially, though I, too, increased my capabilities as I grew as a life form." Mother again paused for the benefit of the slower minds listening to her.

"Some individual ships did survive of the Third, but they were still affected and not fully functional. And so," Mother began.

"What does this mean?" Chira asked quickly, interrupting Mother. "Are there T'kaan ships left? And what about this symbiotic relationship, when that was broken because of the creature-ship's death-self-destruction was almost immediate."

The murmurs increased as emotions grew higher for all present.

Mother waited until Chira called for order and silence returned to the hall.

"First, we cannot be certain any survived, because we are still not in possession of all the facts. Some of our conclusions will still be conjecture, and some will merely have a high probability of being correct."

Mother waited.

"Please proceed," Chira directed.

"There were normal communications between the T'kaan ships and their commanders. The humans had also detected the so-called background noise that accompanied these normal communication signals during the original a.s.saults. But it did not seem to contain real data, so it was dismissed as meaningless as the tide of war turned against them."

"However, the only time the Great Horned ship had accompanied the other warships into battle against humanity was at the final a.s.sault against Earth. We must a.s.sume the Great Horned ships only take part in what they perceive are decisive battles." "So this more intense, all-enveloping symbiotic signal, or noise, was picked up for the first time by our sensors at the recent battle."

"It was of a greater magnitude in signal strength?" Jysar asked.

"Yes, and there were several other differences, including certain bands of frequency generating at a significantly higher rate. Still, we have deciphered no formal data streams embedded inside them. We can only infer what function this signal stream, this background signal, from the creature-ships to the T'kaan warships and their crews had in this triple symbiotic relationship."

"Triple?!" Jaric half-shouted.

"Before I begin that aspect of the discussion, let me finish the first train of thought by stating that it seems, and I repeatseems , that T'kaan warships farther removed from the creature-ship's deathwere affected by that rare and catastrophic event, but not as intensely. Hence, they did not immediately self-destruct with empathy as did the warships located nearby; though again, they were affected in a negative way.

There may be isolated T'kaan warships still remaining, but with no creature-ship to lead them now, they probably do not present a threat. More importantly, with no creature-ship left, it would seem no more can be created-or born. That is the best I can surmise at this time."

"It is a reasonable conclusion," Jaric commented as he nodded to both Rok and Kyle.

"I agree," Jysar added. "And I would think when you present what you have learned, or inferred, about this triple symbiotic relationship, that it will confirm this first conclusion." Jysar looked around at the other leaders, a knowing smile on his face.

"I bet he's had this same discussion with Mother already," Kyle whispered to Jaric.

"No doubt," Jaric agreed.

"He's such a geek," Kyle added.

The two chuckled until Mother's voice returned.

"This is interesting, though." Jaric nodded with a rapt look.

"The background signal, or noise, was one of the links in this complex relationship. Because we still cannot find any detectable data streams, and it is likely there are none to find at this point, we find ourselves faced with supposing its true function. I have, in previous discussions with other scientists on this subject, looked at its possible function at several levels. One inference is that it was some kind of subconscious connectivity, albeit crucial, between the creature-ship and the T'kaan. Or an emotional connectivity..."

"Like love?" Chira suddenly asked. "Like the bond of each family member?"

"Perhaps it was that simple, if love is indeed a simple emotion. But I would not cla.s.sify it love," Mother added. "We have also looked at it as a type ofshared instinct , such as is found hard-wired into the brains of animals. A strong instinct which drives their innate desire to survive, perhaps like that which drives the pack to fight together as one."

"Or a combination of the above," Jysar added, his smile now larger. "Agreed," Mother said. "What's more, maybe it is not just a link between the creature-ship and the T'kaan, but perhaps between certain cla.s.ses of T'kaan warships as well."

"She lost me there," Kyle whispered.

Jaricshhh'ed harshly.

"To begin with, I would cla.s.sify this symbiotic relationship as Commensalism, meaning both species obviously benefited from it." Jysar crossed his arms, a pleased-with-himself look on his face.

"But not completely," Mother interjected. "I suggest it might be partly Helotism as well, the creature-ship seemed to have a Master/Slave relationship with the T'kaan." Mother paused. "Are there any other ideas?"

"I'd say the creature-ship was at the top of the food chain, too," Rok ventured.

A ripple of laughter raced among the crowd.

"You laugh, but there is truth in his statement. Individual T'kaan were consumed by the creature-ships.

That is a definite fact." Mother paused for effect. "But each species benefited."

"The creature-ship was a home for the T'kaan. I discovered that a large section of their population actually lived inside of them. That is where their factories and cities existed. That is where the maggot young were sent after they entered their second stage of life, and it would seem from the great numbers I recorded on the desolated human worlds, that most of them never made it to their second stage."

"The maggots ate each other as well!" Rok shouted.

"Right again," Mother said. "I would venture an a.s.sumption that the fiercest maggot young were identified for the warrior cla.s.s and were nurtured through the third stage."

Murmurs again swept the room.

"The Great Horned ships, the creature-ships, were first and foremost biological ent.i.ties, though their outer sh.e.l.l, or skin, was equal to the strongest steel used in starship construction. It was the T'kaan species that added the hyperdrive engines and enabled the creature-ships the ability to travel faster than light. They were mainly biological, and then only partially technological, through these separate enhancements. Of course, we will never know completely."

"And the T'kaan warships?" Kyle asked, his interest piqued. "From a distance they seemed to be constructed like the creature-ships."

"The warships were first ships. Kyle is indeed correct, their outer hulls were constructed of the same material. But from our scans of their destroyed fleet, we have determined that their hulls were manufactured." Mother paused. "So, the warships were first technological, and only then partially biological. That is the best I can do with the limited facts available to me."

"What part was biological?" Jaric asked.

"Certain interior sections of capital warships. Inside, the T'kaan warships were vast mazes of labyrinthrooms, similar to the creature-ship's natural ones, but these were manufactured, as was the entire ship, except for sections of specific labyrinth rooms. I would suggest these biological structures integrated both some of the warship's systems with the creature-ship, and performed some type of integration or communication between the individual T'kaan and the creature-ship."

Jysar felt his excitement growing. "I can understand the warship integration; after all, your main long-term memories are constructed out of Human DNA, albeit artificially produced and of a single type for its superior durability and reliability." Jaric looked at Kyle while Jysar paused to catch his breath. "Actually that single aspect of Mother might be considered biological, integrated with her technological systems."

"But the T'kaan warship's integration seems to have been more sophisticated, though we cannot ascertain that with precision now," Jysar added.

"So, let me see if I understand this correctly," Chira said. "The Great Horned ships were living beings.

Sometime in the past, the T'kaan began a symbiotic relationship with them and began to live inside the huge creature-ships, transferring their cities and changing their previous way of life." She paused. "At this point they constructed warships whose outer hull was made of the same material as that of the creature-ship, but these were in fact warships, not alive?" Chira waited for confirmation.

"Correct so far," Mother said.

"And then living, biological sections were added to these T'kaan warships. Now we have a symbiotic relation between creature-ship and T'kaan, and now also between creature-ship and warship and T'kaan. And perhaps these warships enhanced the original symbiosis; and then perhaps created new aspects for it, making it stronger? The creature-ships and T'kaan made the warships pseudo-alive and therefore more dangerous than simply aship? "

"That is a reasonable conjecture," Mother replied.

A hush filled the room.

"Perhaps I might use the comparison of myself and my sister ship?" Mother asked.

"Please," Jaric said as he leaned forward with interest.

"The A ship was constructed for the very reason that I was, though it was the prototype. To better explain, the A ship's memories and programming were solely battle algorithms and coding. Afterward it was given Artificial Intelligence programming so it might adapt and learn, so as to become invincible in battle. That would be similar to the T'kaan ships, except they were also in a symbiotic relationship that increased their battle effectiveness. But the T'kaan warship's sole purpose was war, as was my sister ship." Mother paused.

"In contrast, I was given much more long-term memories than my sister ship, so as to be able to store the entire collected knowledge of humankind. But most importantly, Ron and Rita allowed my AI systems to access this data in addition to my battle algorithms and memories. My AI programming was also more extensive- I could learn from anything, from any source. Thus I became something more than my original programming, something unexpected even to my creators."

"That is what enabled you to become alive," Kyle said, his eyes wide.

Across the top of the wide ceiling, Minstrel's glowing plasma body shimmered with excitement at thisrevelation.

"So what was the use of this biological structure in the warships with the T'kaan themselves?" Chira asked.

"For their pleasure!" Jysar's grin widened. "Perhaps pleasure second only to mating. Or better. As a means of control. As a means of reward. Perhaps even, depending on the intensity of pleasure that it brought, as a means of bonding between the two species, the creature-ship with the individual T'kaan-in this instance via the T'kaan warships." Jysar took a deep breath.

"Say what?" Kyle whispered to Jaric.

Jaric shook his head with puzzlement.

"Why do you make this a.s.sumption?" Jasus asked, looking first at Jysar and then upwards to Mother.

"There werereferences ," Jysar said. "In their... doc.u.mentation. What little we have recovered. Very pa.s.sionate references, in fact."

Jasus snorted his disbelief. "Except for being a starship-building race, the T'kaan were more like animals than a sentient race. Eat or be eaten, fighting wars solely to destroy, devour and procreate!" Jasus exclaimed with disdain.

"Not very good reasons to wage war," Tarlog commented. "Not good reasons at all. Not for adecent war, anyway."

"I would suggest that valid reasons for waging war are much fewer than people might think," Mother said matter-of-fact.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd once again; hundreds of whispered conversations that reflected awe and respect for Mother's simple but thought-provoking words. Her wisdom was repeated over and over.

"Perhaps there is no decent war," Tarlog mused. "I agree, Mother. And that's saying something, coming from an old war-horse like myself."

"I was created to destroy," Mother said. "I wish to grow beyond that programming, to become something more, something greater. A being that creates instead of destroys." Mother paused.

"Are the T'kaan destroyed completely?" Chira asked with finality in her voice. "The ships that were not part of the battle, will they attack us?"

"It is doubtful," Mother said. "There is no Great Horned ship to lead them, and I make that conjecture based on many pieces of evidence. The creature-ship was aGreat One ,according to the few doc.u.ments we have remaining from them." Mother paused. "In fact, I would strongly a.s.sume that any ships left will either be destroyed in battle with other races or self-destruct because they no longer have the leadership aspect of the their symbiotic relationship. They have no direction."

"But we can't say that for certain," Jysar added.

"True. There is a small possibility they can survive; after all, we are not in possession of all the facts. But.i.t is a very small possibility." Mother waited for them to take in the import of her words.

"What we can say with certainty is that never before since their bizarre existence came into being have the T'kaan been defeated, nor have all three of the Great Horned ships been destroyed at once. It is almost impossible, actually, that so few T'kaan ships could ever recover from the totality of this catastrophe. What I can say with certainty is that no creature-ship can be created or born from the remnants of any remaining warships. I quote, 'Only a creature-ship can begat a creature-ship,' a saying from their own doc.u.mentation, the little that we could salvage."

"But where did they come from? I'd be more concerned about that?" Jaric whispered to Kyle.

Kyle shrugged. "We don't know where they originated."

"Then it would be safe to say that the T'kaan threat has indeed been destroyed," Chira said with confidence to all.

"I agree," Mother concurred. "The T'kaan threat is no more."

Cheers and shouts rose from the crowds.

"Then let us begin with the necessary business of peace, at long last." Chira paused. "Our first order of business will be a time-table for refitting all Mewiis and Hrono ships with the Kraaqi anti-gravity repulsors." Chira smiled. "So that all races will respect the environment."

Applause erupted from all the attendees.

Jasus rose. "May I add that we, the Hrono, have recognized the error of our ways, with wisdom gained from our newfound friendship," he looked at the High Chieftains of the Kraaqi and nodded. "We will never again use our technology to totally conquer a world. In fact, we will seek to undo the damage we have done. And what is more, we will seek always to develop our technology in order to be compatible with our natural worlds."

Amid the enthusiastic applause, the Kraaqi contingent rose and saluted the Hrono leader as one.

Chapter Fifty.

Five months hadelapsed since the fateful battle, and still Kyle and Jaric could not shake their intense sadness. But now, at last, they had formulated some future plans.

The Three Kingdoms were still basking in the glow of an historic event: the first section of the all-enveloping steel and concrete city-planet had been removed on Hronosium. For the first time inmillennia, the natural, uninhibited light from its suns shone down on its bare soil. It was the first of many such planned actions to bring the natural environment back, at least partially.

Jasus himself had planted the first tree.

Kyle, Jaric and Mother, her repairs now complete, had witnessed this fantastic event in person. Across every planet of the Three Kingdoms, the historic moment had also been transmitted via their main communication links so everyone could share the wondrous event.

A new age had dawned for the Three Kingdoms.

And the time had finally come to say good-bye.

Crowds gathered around the parked figure of Mother to see them off. As Kyle, Jaric and Rok stood before the a.s.sembled leaders of the Three Kingdoms, they noticed a disturbance amidst the throngs.

Slowly, a small group pushed their way up to the golden podium. As they grew closer, Kyle and Jaric felt their hearts begin to beat faster. Now the group of seven began ascending the stage, but Kyle and Jaric focused on one person who was covered simply with a plain white sheet around her body and a wrap around her face so that only her eyes were visible- someone that seemed vaguely familiar to them.

Kyle felt the lump grow in his throat, and hot tears form in his eyes. As he turned, the tears were already streaming down Jaric's ebony cheeks.

"It can't be," Kyle whispered.