01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
"That doesn't seem to be the opinion of your friend, the All Wise!"
Danyk closed his eyes.
"Perhaps, your earlier journeys haven't yet happened!"
"Oh! Man! Make sense! Even a witless moron like me finds it hard to accept that he's
going to make future visits to your wonderful world which have already happened!"
Danyk opened his eyes and smiled.
"It would explain one of our ancient legends which tells of a time when Taxila will come to
the Men of Lynxe and will know nothing of his previous contact. It could be that you are now
fulfilling the prophecy of the Awakening!"
"I am suitably touched and excited - but it's a load of bullshit!"
"That expression doesn't come across in thought translation."
"To put it delicately, think of the useful material which issues from the rear end of a Vix!"
"Ah!"
Steve marched to the window and looked out into the fading light.
"Jabez raved something about how honoured he was to lead me to the Awakening."
"I presume, that was before his changed his mind and decided to cut off your balls!"
Steve nodded curtly, it wasn't an episode he cared to remember. Danyk continued:
"Tell me, Steve Holt. You say that you were born on a world called Mars which circles a
sun called Sol. You say that this event took place twenty-six of your years ago."
"Yes - well!"
"How long did your journey take?"
"I don't know - a few minutes perhaps."
"Or a few hours - or a few years - or a few centuries - thousands of years - maybe millions
of years?"
Steve glared at him.
"It was a short time!"
"In relation to what? Did you have anything to measure the time of your journey against?"
Steve turned back to the window.
"No!"
"Or the direction it took?"
"What are you getting at?"
"A journey through the medium of the Psi is not governed by physical time or distance -
remember our dream where we travelled through fields of stars? Is such a journey possible
physically? Could we calculate the time it took or the speed? Could we tell if we travelled
forward - or whether it was a journey which travelled back in time? Ask yourself this
question. When the journey is resumed, will it be forward in time or back into the history of
the Men of Lynxe? Perhaps it will even be to a time when Taxila joined himself to the first
mothers of our race!"
Steve shook his head.
"You're talking impossibilities. If Taxila hasn't yet - joined - with the first mothers of your
race, you wouldn't exist and we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Danyk shook his head violently.
"You don't understand! We're not talking about chronological events when we talk about a
journey through the Psi. We're talking about the ability to override chronology - time and
distance are non-existent in the Psi. It IS possible for you to journey back, as it were, out of
chronological order, to fulfil the purposes of the Race Masters!"
Steve returned to the trestle and sat on the edge.
"It's not the first time I've heard them mentioned."
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