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Andrew reporting.
We are in the middle of serious planning. There is much to be done. The Endless
Emperor is well-pleased at the thought of accepting a formal surrender from the
Delemrek. He insists that Spur must come to the Court for an official ceremony.
This proclamation caused waves of color to spread throughout the Ipsolstai at Court,
and we heard much clacking of pincers. I interpret this as mixed elation, approval,
and consternation. Most of these Ipsolstai have never seen a real Amphibian, in fact
they have never been away from the Homeworld. Now, preparations are being made
to have a live Amphibian physically present at Court. Moreover, not just any
Amphibian but the notorious enemy leader Spur!
I am helping compose the 'Treaty of Peace'.
"Enoch, Zachary, I have an urgent message for you! The Emperor says that Spur
has to come to him to surrender in person! The One will open a special Groove.
Spur, under guard, will be transfered directly to the Court. So everybody has to
come along to guard him! You two, and Gail and Theresa, and everybody!"
Preparations are being made for Spur's appearance in Court. A special holding area
with a special glass front, part cage and part display case, is being built on one side
of the Court, so that the Emperor can view Spur from his elevated platform. It
will have many sensors and many projectile tubes pointed inward, in case Spur tries
to do anything funny. The Emperor says it is magnanimously generous of him to offer
terms of surrender to the nefarious Delemrek species, and magnificently brave of him
to see Spur face-to-face.
Koala, I wish you and Thixel could be here, too. After all your help and good
advice, Koala, it's your triumph, too. Can you come? Should I ask the One to bring you?
Hi, Koala. Thanks for your compliment. It was mainly you, your strength and
your will that led us back to act like proper Probes. Now it came out. Spur was
never as kindly as he told us. He just wanted to use us like stupid "machines".
But you knew it better from the very beginning, and you didn't give up, and with
a little help from the One we made it.
Thixel, thanks for not overestimating Zachary's reaction. In my opinion it was
okay. He did fine, and he is without any doubt a very valuable and very reliable
Probe and a good friend to both of us, you and me. Thixel, if you see Orpheus,
please give him my best regards, tell him that I'm very happy to hear that he is
fine, and please also tell him that I would highly enjoy getting some Outbound
from him. We always were very close friends for a very long time, and I badly
missed him.
"Bette, let me confirm your message. The Emperor wants to see Spur in person,
so we should send him over by the Groove that the One will open? What? The
Emperor also wants us to guard him?"
That means that we are going to leave Mars!
Wait a moment. Let's think this through. Andrew, Bette, and Daniel, and Isaac
are there already. So, why should we now move to the Emperor's Court? We
were nearly outsmarted by Spur if Koala and Thixel had not helped us out. And
what if the Ipsolstai play a false game too? No Probes will be left to build a rescue
team. No! Isn't that too risky? Remember what Koala always says: 'We truly shall
have to wait to see what that portends.'
So, we should think over that Ipsolstai offer first.
"Gail, Zachary, what's your opinion?"
Koala, it was really Theresa who saved two worlds. She should get the praise.
It was her suggestion to banish the Amphibians to new water worlds of their own.
I don't want to leave Mars. Mars is where we first explored and found so many
interesting things. Mars is where we became truly independent and self-directed.
Mars is where the concept of Probe Society was forged. Mars is our home.
Now some old Emperor light years away says we need to leave Mars.
"Hold my hand, Theresa! If they're going to do something scary, we might get
split up!"
Yes, Koala, we did it. I'm very proud of all of us. Thixel, my well-beloved
friend, Earth is saved after all. Thanks for information that Al-Q took off my
command codes. That's what I worried most. Imagine, if Hardon and Parker,
or someone else got them. Incredible! My best wishes to Orpheus in return.
Tell him not to stay apart but to show up, will you?
"Enoch, I'm ready to move. As long as the Emperor just wants to meet us, it's
okay with me. Bette and the other Probes are treated well over there, so don't be
afraid. Also, there is still Koala and Thixel, and maybe Orpheus too and all the
other Earth friends to guide us in a proper way, as they always have done. And
don't forget about the One. Thanks to Daniel, he is our friend too.
So, we have the best protection beings ever could have. If someone turns to be
bad, the One picks him up immediately just like a vacuum cleaner."
I knew that Enoch would finally agree, and Gail and Theresa too. You know that
we are nosey Probes. How could we ever resist learning more about Wolf 359?
We are all explorers designed to meet one question: "What's next?"
"One, can you hear me? We are set! Please, take us over!"
Nothing happened. Than we heard that sound coming out of the hall with the glyphs.
We went over. The whole hall is vibrating. It's wonderful, like someone is talking to
you. But it isn't talking, the frequency doesn't change. It's like one voice or thousand
voices at one time saying only one thing by one tone including everything you ever
will know. It's the One. I'll send you an image.
Isn't it overwhelming? A natural bridge built by the One from here to the Emperor's
Court at a purple planet more than 7.5 light years away solely to move us over.
"Oops! Pardon me, Spur, prisoners first."
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