<strong>An</strong>glana's difference of form was not as strange as the differences all five of these other Worlds displayed. So, here I was, a woman of thirty-three, whose best friend was a widely distributed Consciousness, when I happened to meet a man... He'd been an Independent and had converted to the Aklan Faith. He'd served on four Local Councils, two Regional councils, and two Territorial Councils. When they told him he'd been elected to the Worlds' Council, a revelation performed in the glare of the News Meshes, he merely said, “I've served the Worlds enough. It's time for them to serve me.” After all the commentators carefully explained that Neiiv hadn't meant anything like becoming some sort of ruler who was served by the people, that he only meant being “served” as in the service that any sane government performs for its citizens, I began to change my mind about him. My days with <strong>An</strong>glana were intense and arduous and took most of my time but I still kept up with happenings in the Worlds. <strong>An</strong>d, Neiiv was a big Happening. I was immediately attracted to him but also felt afraid of him. He was confident, capable, captivating, and cute. I was studious and strange. When news of his retirement <strong>from</strong> public service was released, <strong>An</strong>glana, without my knowledge, made arrangements for him to visit me. All she said, on the day he was due to arrive, was, “A man is coming to meet you. Be very nice to him.” I've already talked a bit about plasma communication and how it's the foundation for many of the seemingly inexplicable ways that people can communicate without words or actions. My training with <strong>An</strong>glana had involved mostly the task of receiving communications <strong>from</strong> other star systems and we were about to embark on a few experiments with me transmitting a few messages; but, along with all that, <strong>An</strong>glana had also drilled me in methods of controlling my communication abilities, essentially, turning them on and off. When she told me a man was coming to meet me, I turned my powers on and widened my reception to anyone thinking about me. Neiiv almost immediately entered my consciousness. I was at first thrilled with the mental taste of him. I then, unknowingly, sent him a thought and a feeling. Immediately, I was overcome with a withering rush of consciousness and I couldn't control it, couldn't mute it, couldn't do anything but let it wash over me. I nearly swooned under its impact and, before I could recover, he appeared at the top of a nearby hill. Seeing his form gave me a small foothold <strong>from</strong> which to begin to gain control of my mind and heart. Later, I would scold <strong>An</strong>glana harshly. Now, I was eager to meet him, get to know him, devour him... Since this book isn't a history of me but a story of my people's rise <strong>from</strong> nearly interminable war to enduring peace, I'll jump to the time after our wedding, when we began earnest discussions about the future of our people. Neiiv's estimation was that another fifty years would see the Aklan Faith's membership reaching about 70% of the population. He also predicted that the Teachings of Akla would be the accepted moral norm for at least 85% of our population. He also thought that we were reaching a point in our culture's evolution where we would transition <strong>from</strong> learning how to live to teaching other people how to live. Naturally, he was deeply involved with my experiments with plasma communication with other star systems but he had focused in on becoming the organizer of a physical voyage to one of the five systems under study. He estimated it would take us another sixty years to successfully establish comfortable enough relations with one of those peoples to permit the sending of a space vessel full of brave souls. He even predicted which of the systems would prove safest to visit. 88
While Neiiv set about his spacey task, I continued to reach out to other star systems. The very next one I made contact with was yours... 89
Change language