POSTLUDE.

As Hlutr go, I am not one of the great. I am accorded the rank of Elder, not for any wisdom or momentous deeds, but only by virtue of the number of sesons that have pa.s.sed since I broke soil. In the councils of the mighty and the critical events of Galactic history, I have played no part. I have sung the melodies of the Universal Song in concert with my siblings, but to that Song I have added no grand melodies, no stirring harmonies, no thrilling counterpoint.

In truth, I am a thoroughly undistinguished Hlut. Like the vast majority of our folk, I have stood in my place, greeted the sun each day, and tended the Little Ones whom the Universal Song has placed in my care. I have dreamed, I have sung, and in all honesty, I have never claimed nor desired more.

Now, in a borrowed animal body, I have cast my presence across the Galaxy, have trod strange soil, have breathed strange air. Now I, the most ordinary of Hlutr, stand before the Council of the Free Peoples of the Scattered Worlds; now I, who thought never to leave my familiar sunlit grove, stand to challenge the will of the Elders, the Wise, and the Eldest Herself.

Six hundred days, I am told, has this matter been unresolved. One and a half Human years has the body of Kev Mathis laid, preserved in stasis, while the Scattered Worlds debate over his last resting place.

New Sardinia claims him, to lie in state in the great gla.s.s tower of Iglesias, to join the long line of honored leaders of the a.s.sembly of Humanity, in a tradition that has lasted thrice seventy generations.

But Terra claims priority. Kev Mathis was a hero of Humanity. He led his people to a world they had lost, a home they had thought never to find again. His were the first Human feet to touch Terran soil in twice seven thousand years. His body, Terra tells us, deserves to rest in Terran earth, his molecules to become eternally part of Humanity's eternal home.

No, says his family. Kimee Mathis, speaking for Kev's beloved, wants his body to rest on Credix, among the Human artifacts that he loved so dearly, preserved in the museums where he spent so many happy hours. Here, she tells us, is where Kev Mathis would wish to rest for eons to come.

See the Humans argue over the remains of their honored great.

Yet comes the voice of the Scattered Worlds. Kev Mathis was not merely a hero of Humanity; he was also the first Human to sit on the Council of the Free Peoples in full equality. Decades he served, and was accorded by the Wise as one of their own. According to custom immemorial, let his ashes be cast upon the lake that adjoins the a.s.sembly Hall, there to merge with the dust of the Wise of ten thousand races, and to emerge as part of the golden starflowers that greet each day here in the most sacred spot on Nephestal.

And thus the struggle broadens, encompa.s.sing all of the Scattered Worlds, with no party willing to yield, each sure in its own certainty.

Then, from the hallowed isle in the Secluded Realm, comes the voice that none, Human or Nonhuman, can ignore: Kev Mathis was a hero of Humanity and a Wise One of the Free Peoples- but more, he was beloved

of the Hlutr. He shall rest with the other Honored Ones, here in the Secluded Realm.

All bow before that voice- New Sardinia, Terra, Kimee Mathis, even the Wise themselves. For who has the right to gainsay the will of the Eldest?

Who but I?

As Hlutr go, I am not one of the great. I stand in my place, and greet the sun each day, and tend the Little Ones whom the Universal Song has placed in my care.

And now I stand up to challenge the great, the Wise, the Eldest Herself.

"No."

The voice of my animal host is thin, all but lost in the vastness of the a.s.sembly Hall. But all senses turn toward me; on a million worlds, seventy times seventy billion beings attend me.

"I wish no disrespect to my Elders, nor to the honored Humans, nor to the Wise of the Council. Each of you has a claim to the body of Kev Mathis. Each of you cherished him, and all of you wish to honor him as you see best. And this is fitting. Yet none of your claims- not even that of the Eldest of us all- can compete. By right far stronger than any of yours, this Little One is mine."

Who are you, sibling, and what is this superior right you claim?

"I am an ordinary Hlut, rooted in commonplace soil and undistinguished in the annals of the Scattered Worlds. I stand on the world known as Amny, and I have known and loved Kev Mathis longer and more intensely than any in the Galaxy. The Universal Song gave me this Little One, to cherish and to care for; we have sung together since he was conscious of the Song. And none- none- can claim better right to his body."

The chamber is still, the faces sheepish, the welling of tears silent. And then, gentle as the softest zephyr, the voice once again fills the minds of the Scattered Worlds: So the most ordinary and unremarkable of us,

outranks the Eldest. You are right, sibling. This Little One is yours. Let Kev Mathis, in the custom

of his folk, be buried on Amny, amid the roots of the

one who loved him best.

So it is done, and after the mourners have withdrawn, after the gentle rains have settled the soil, I am alone in the night with that which once was my Little One.

The body, in stasis, has decayed not at all. Everything is intact, as at the moment of death. Living quickly, so that the stars slow to a crawl and this night becomes endless, I work gently...carefully. I unravel the delicate, twisting proteins of brain and memory, the frail, exquisite molecules of personality, and I incorporate them into my own substance.

As the sun's first rays touch my leaves, my Little One within sends a wave of astonished wonder out toward the stars.

"I...thought I...was dead." There is uncertainty, the beginning of fear.

Hush, Little One. Be peaceful. You are with me now.

Fear subsides, replaced by peace. Awareness comes; he knows what I have done, and he accepts this gift. "We're together now? Forever?"

Forever, Little One.

I recall the boy who first lifted his eyes to my leaves, and opened his heart to my song.

"Tell me another story...."

END.

TIMELINE.

before Intelligent life evolves in Core.

2.4 billion BCE The Seven Races. Birth of the Eldest.

c. 2.4 billion BCE Founding of the Pylistroph.

Hlutr colonize Scattered Worlds.

Seed Vessels launched.

1.2 billion BCE Pylistroph falls. Schism of the Hlutr & Flight of the Daamin. Nephestal founded.

c. 600 million BCE Empire of the Iaranor. Galactic Riders founded. Seed Vessel pa.s.ses Terra.

c. 22 million BCE War between Core & Virgo Cultures.

c. 5.2 million BCE Aveth.e.l.lan Empire.

c. 1.63 million BCE Dorascan Empire.

c. 900,000 BCE Marpethtalan Empire rises.

c. 800,000 BCE Empire of the Miethara.

c. 300,000 BCE Marpethtalan Empire falls.

2153 - 2624 CE First Terran Empire.

4020 CE The Death.

c. 4100 CE Long Winter of Humankind.

c. 7500 CE New Renaissance 10,724 -14,356 CE Second Terran Empire 13,524 CE Virgo Mariner Expedition.

c. 40,000 CE Maturity of the Human Race.