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<strong>An</strong>glana's difference of form was not as strange as the differences all five of these other Worlds<br />
displayed.<br />
So, here I was, a woman of thirty-three, whose best friend was a widely distributed<br />
Consciousness, when I happened to meet a man...<br />
He'd been an Independent and had converted to the Aklan Faith. He'd served on four Local<br />
Councils, two Regional councils, and two Territorial Councils. When they told him he'd been<br />
elected to the Worlds' Council, a revelation performed in the glare of the News Meshes, he merely<br />
said, “I've served the Worlds enough. It's time for them to serve me.”<br />
After all the commentators carefully explained that Neiiv hadn't meant anything like becoming<br />
some sort of ruler who was served by the people, that he only meant being “served” as in the<br />
service that any sane government performs for its citizens, I began to change my mind about him.<br />
My days with <strong>An</strong>glana were intense and arduous and took most of my time but I still kept up<br />
with happenings in the Worlds. <strong>An</strong>d, Neiiv was a big Happening. I was immediately attracted to<br />
him but also felt afraid of him.<br />
He was confident, capable, captivating, and cute.<br />
I was studious and strange.<br />
When news of his retirement <strong>from</strong> public service was released, <strong>An</strong>glana, without my knowledge,<br />
made arrangements for him to visit me. All she said, on the day he was due to arrive, was, “A man<br />
is coming to meet you. Be very nice to him.”<br />
I've already talked a bit about plasma communication and how it's the foundation for many of<br />
the seemingly inexplicable ways that people can communicate without words or actions. My<br />
training with <strong>An</strong>glana had involved mostly the task of receiving communications <strong>from</strong> other star<br />
systems and we were about to embark on a few experiments with me transmitting a few messages;<br />
but, along with all that, <strong>An</strong>glana had also drilled me in methods of controlling my communication<br />
abilities, essentially, turning them on and off. When she told me a man was coming to meet me, I<br />
turned my powers on and widened my reception to anyone thinking about me.<br />
Neiiv almost immediately entered my consciousness. I was at first thrilled with the mental taste<br />
of him. I then, unknowingly, sent him a thought and a feeling. Immediately, I was overcome with<br />
a withering rush of consciousness and I couldn't control it, couldn't mute it, couldn't do anything<br />
but let it wash over me. I nearly swooned under its impact and, before I could recover, he<br />
appeared at the top of a nearby hill. Seeing his form gave me a small foothold <strong>from</strong> which to begin<br />
to gain control of my mind and heart. Later, I would scold <strong>An</strong>glana harshly. Now, I was eager to<br />
meet him, get to know him, devour him...<br />
Since this book isn't a history of me but a story of my people's rise <strong>from</strong> nearly interminable war<br />
to enduring peace, I'll jump to the time after our wedding, when we began earnest discussions<br />
about the future of our people.<br />
Neiiv's estimation was that another fifty years would see the Aklan Faith's membership<br />
reaching about 70% of the population. He also predicted that the Teachings of Akla would be the<br />
accepted moral norm for at least 85% of our population. He also thought that we were reaching a<br />
point in our culture's evolution where we would transition <strong>from</strong> learning how to live to teaching<br />
other people how to live.<br />
Naturally, he was deeply involved with my experiments with plasma communication with other<br />
star systems but he had focused in on becoming the organizer of a physical voyage to one of the<br />
five systems under study.<br />
He estimated it would take us another sixty years to successfully establish comfortable enough<br />
relations with one of those peoples to permit the sending of a space vessel full of brave souls. He<br />
even predicted which of the systems would prove safest to visit.<br />
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