Human ghosts dance...the room reeks with the fear of those whom Avidore has tormented. And stars help me, I must face this wickedness.

Avidore advances toward Fenelia and Robbie, reaches out with deceptively-gentle hands. "Let's play a game. You like games, don't you?"

This has gone on far enough. Now it must end.

My Elders and my brethren are with me, and I know that they support whatever action I take. Robbie's mind is close " and through his sensitivity I draw my power and the power of the Hlutr like a whirlpool around Heaven. As Avidore touches Fenelia, he stands closer to death than he will ever know.

No. For I am of the Hlutr, and I cannot destroy a thing- individual or race- until I understand it And I do not yet understand Avidore.

"Stop." Shalit's mouth parts produce Human words perfectly well, and Avidore starts, surprised. "Fenelia, stand by the door." Quickly, she obeys.

"Well, now, what are you?" Avidore bends over me, c.o.c.king his head slightly. The shadows I see in his imagination are frightening.

I raise myself to Shalit's full height. "I am an Elder of the Hlutr, Avidore. And I am your judge." My Inner Voice swells along with the chorus of Hlutr that surrounds us...and I think even Avidore hears that ethereal music, for a touch of fear appears in his mind.

"Get out of here. " He raises his eyes. "Computer, send in- "

"No, Avidore." He struggles to speak, but for the moment he is paralyzed by the swelling song of the Hlutr. "Face me." Slowly, against his will, Avidore turns his eves toward me. They are cold as the ice that orbits in distant s.p.a.ce between the stars.

I reach out: one of Shalit's hands touches Avidore, the other meets Robbie's outstretched arm. The Galaxy spins around me as seventy times seventy thousand Hlutr focus their attention on this place, this moment.

Who are you, Avidore?

"I am...."

Sing unto me.

And sing he does, reluctantly, yielding to the persuasion of the ma.s.sed Hlutr minds. He sings of Heaven, and the vile things he has done there- of the years before he came to Karphos, when he ruled an inherited mercantile empire by day and tormented helpless Little Ones in the dark of night. And G.o.ds help us, he sings pleasure in those things he has done.

Avidore sings of his early adulthood, of financial successes and conquests of quite another sort. Even then his taste was for violence, for domination; even then he tasted the pleasure of the prostrate victim, the joys of conquering the unsuspecting prey.

Why?

"I hated them...."

Who?

Seventy times seventy faces swim before us, ghosts given form by the song of the Hlutr- this man is full of hatred.

"They hurt me."

Adolescent games, the thrill of discovery, the awful feeling of satisfaction when, at last, he was first enraptured by the sight of pain and humiliation in another's eves.

When first he discovered power....

Who had been powerless so long.

"Mommy, it hurts!" The child, taken by forces he did not understand, betrayed....

"No, Daddy, not the Game. I don't want to play. Please. Please."

The secret...the filthy little secret that he must keep within, never revealing. Why?

"I loved you! Why do you do this? Mommy, Daddy, I love you...."

The Galaxy spins about us, and the circle has swung full around- the master is the victim, the vicious adult is a child once more.

"I hate you. Hate you!! Don't touch me, don't you...ever... touch me." Avidore looks up, and his face is wet with a lifetime's unshed tears. "I love you," he whispers. "I just want you to love me."

Robbie's grip is strong, his mind completely attuned to my song. He has a great future ahead of him as an operative, this one.

Now I must save another.

Sten Koleno, I need you again.

Sten answers, faithful as ever...but when Avidore lifts his face, what he sees is the ghost of his own father, that long-dead man who set his son on this course to evil.

"Daddy..."

With a single nod, Sten steps forward. He does not know all that Avidore has done- all he knows is that here is a Little One in need. And Sten has enough of the Little One within him yet, that he gives of himself without hesitation.

"Come here, my child."

"No, Daddy. Not the Game."

Sten shakes his head. "Not that. Never again." He holds out his hands. "I love you. Come to me."

The Hlutr love you too, Little One. Your nightmare is over. Awaken.

"Daddy!" Avidore twists, and his mind desperately seeks some escape- but the Song is strong about him, and he cannot close his ears to it.

Sten steps forward, and closes his arms around Avidore, then lifts his face and brushes his lips against Avidore's forehead. "Come home, son. We love you. We will always love you."

Then it is as if the Song reaches a crescendo, and something snaps within Avidore. For a moment I am afraid that we will lose him altogether- but Robbie's song and Sten's arms stay strong. The Song subsides like the pa.s.sing of a great storm, and again I am conscious of the stars wheeling peacefully beyond the window.

Avidore, sprawled on the floor, looks up at me. Whatever the thing is that happens to Human adults, that which robs them of their childhood- it is no longer mirrored in Avidore's face. His mind is like Robbie's now...but his soul has regained something priceless.

I let go of Robbie's hand and Avidore's, and turn to Fenelia. "Can you run down to Nen's ship and bring the two of them back here? We no longer need worry about escape."

Six thousand years have I stood in the good soil of Escen; thrice seventy generations have I lived with the fair Humans of my world. Yet these past few days I have learned more of them- and of myself- than in all my life.

Fenelia is asleep in her room and Shalit has gone back to her folk. Doku will soon return to her world and other cases; Nen will soon take Robbie to Nephestal so that he can be trained in his abilities. Yet this last night we are all together with Sten Koleno, while the eternal stars watch from black skies above.

"Avidore has been admitted to the Psych-care Inst.i.tute," Sten tells us. "They don't know if he'll ever progress beyond the level of a four-year-old."

"My brethren will help him as we can." The Human computer sounds flat and unemotional as it translates my words; but all can feel my gladness on the cool night breeze. "In whatever case, he is at peace now."

"I've talked to my folks," Nen says. "Elder, I can't begin to thank you for finding them. After I drop Robbie off at Nephestal I'm going to visit them."

"The Hlutr rejoice that you are reunited with them, my friend."

"I still don't understand," Sten says, "why you won't let us send a fleet to Karphos. I'm sure I can work out an interstellar agreement...."

"The children of Karphos have no place to go, friend Sten. Those who were taken against their will are being returned to their homes- but seventies upon seventies have no homes. Who will take them in? Your house is too small. Karphos is where they live now."

"Besides," Doku says, "they aren't being abandoned. People like Lusela Holic are there already - and as more kids grow up, some will care for the others."

Robbie's eyes glow. "And the El-El-Elders haven't f-forgotten us."

"The Little Ones of Karphos will be cared for, Sten." Even now, Galactic Riders are landing on that tortured globe with the greatest gift they could bring: Hlutr seeds, primed for quick growth and early maturity. In less than a decade as Humans count time, Karphos will once again be home to full-grown Hlutr.

With Robbie's help I broaden my song and my awareness, until all can see the same ghostly image, the same tender shoots and many-colored leaves reaching for the distant sun...the same hopeful song of new life emerging into the warmth.

"The Little Ones of Karphos will be cherished. So pledge the Elders of the Hlutr." The pale glow of approaching dawn touches the eastern horizon here on Escen, and the world begins to settle down for that peace that comes just before sunrise, when the night and the day dance together with all the happy ghosts.

Little Ones of Karphos, you need never cry again.

We love you, now and always.

Happy ghosts dance, and the Song goes ever on....

INTERLUDE 5.

Father Nnamdi met him at the s.p.a.ceport. "Kev, you didn't have to come home from school for this. The autodoctor will take care of everything."

Kev took the man's hand. "Thanks. But I-I have to be here. I'm glad you called."

"I understand."

Immanuel was waiting for him in his old room; when he heard Kev enter he thumped his tail once or twice and lifted his head. An autodoctor hovered over the dog, its display showing a composite of life signs.

The adults left him alone, and he was grateful to them for that. There are some things that a boy has to face on his own.

"How ya doin', boy?" Kev knelt and scritched Immanuel behind the ears. Struggling to keep his voice level through the sudden, awful pain in his throat, he said, "Don't worry, it'll all be over soon. You've been a very, very good boy."

That got another wag of the tail, and Kev had to force himself not to look away. He kept his hand steady on the dog's head.

"Sir, we've done everything we can." The autodoctor's voice was programmed to be soothing, but Kev found no comfort in it.

"I know," he answered.

"You may wish to wait outside. The process is quick and painless."

Kev shook his head. "N-no. I can't l-leave him alone. He was always there when I...when I needed him."

"Understood." The doctor started to settle, and Kev stopped it with a hand, as if postponing the act might yet allow some sort of reprieve. "Wait," he said helplessly.

"Immanuel." What to say? Thank you for all the great times? I wish I hadn't left you for these last two years? There was nothing he could say, nothing that could in any way increase or diminish the love that shone in those wide brown eyes. "I love you."

A warm, dry tongue touched his hand, and Kev could stand it no more. With hot tears rolling unregarded down his cheeks, he said convulsively, "Do it," and the doctor obeyed.

Slowly, the display changed: one by one, glowing lines started flattening out. "Body functions will continue for a while, sir. The patient is unconscious; there is no need for your presence."

"Yes there is." That strong, loyal heart was still beating... suppose Immanuel awoke, without Kev there? Kev couldn't face such a betrayal. "Can't you end it quickly?"

"As you wish, sir. You must remove your hand."

"No."

"There will be momentary discomfort."

There was pain, but Kev welcomed it. Then it pa.s.sed, and Immanuel was gone.

Kev dug the grave in the shadow of his treehouse tree. "I hope you don't mind," he said aloud. "It's the only place."

The wind and the leaves whispered to him, and he knew that the Hlut was in agreement.

It took Kev several minutes to steel himself to the next task then with one motion he lifted the burden from his flier and settled it in the trench. "Rest there, good friend," he whispered. "Remember, I love you."

As he shoveled, filling the grave, the leaves and the wind sang to him of other graves, far away and once upon a time....

PART SIX: Caretaker.

The Secluded Realm is the hidden heart of the Scattered Worlds. In this sacred refuge built with the skills of the vanished Pylistroph, the old ways still survive from the times before the Schism of the Hlutr, before the Gathered Worlds were lost to us. Here the Eldest of All abides, filling s.p.a.ce with Her song and Her wisdom. Here is a home to all who are weary of the worlds outside, or who wish to honor the memory of times gone by.

Here, I tend the honored dead.

This is an animal tradition, to bury the dead and raise monuments to them- we Hlutr stand where we have died, our substance gradually to enrich our world. But it pleases the Eldest to go along with this practice, and so I and a few of my brethren grow in this luxuriant soil to ensure that no harm comes to those who lie here. Nigh three times seventy Caretakers have proudly served before me; my own tenure began recently in the days of the Dorascan Empire, a mere million and a half years ago as Humans count time.

What do I know of Humans?

None of them rest here. Few have even visited, of the small numbers who have come to the Secluded Realm. This place is for the dead of mature races who are long past the times of Galactic domination; according to the Wise Ones of Nephestal and some Elders of the Hlutr, Humans have yet to realize their time of greatest glory.

True, some few have come, to pay their respects to the warriors and leaders of past ages. Fewer still have come to honor the others- poets, scientists, philosophers- who have enriched the life of the Scattered Worlds and the Universal Song.

And now, one stands before me, totally unsupervised.

His skin is the color of dry Hlutr leaves and his hair like webs that hang from long-untouched branches. He leans heavily on a tall looped staff of dull metal, and next to him is a s.h.a.ggy, four-footed animal creature whose small mind is filled with devotion to its master.

When I touch the Human's mind, I am surprised at the depth and the firmness of control that I find there. Others of his race sing mental discord; this man's thoughts are like the complex, precise harmonies of the Daamin, or the slow-changing songs of the long-dead Kareffi aquatics who sang of old in the Pylistroph.

He bows before me and speaks in perfectly-accented Coruman, "Good Elder, please accept my greetings fair."