"Its beautiful isn't it? He was smiling, and looked down on the city but a few feet from where Belden was standing. "Sorry if I surprised you." He said. "But I've been wanting to meet you for some time. You see, you and I have something in common."

The man motioned Belden away. "No, no. No need to approach. I like shadows, it’s the mystery you know. I like new things too, just like you do. But it's just, just…. Well, this is all a bit too familiar if you know what I mean. Sort of like your own work, in your own world. It gets to you, doesn't it? It’s the sameness, the predictability. It wears you down until you are numb, but I see you've found an escape from it all by being here. Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury. I just want things to be different, to be alive with new perceptions. Is that too much to ask? It's certainly the genetic destiny of any living thing, to know new things. Its understandable if you see it that way, and I only wish you to understand."

The man pointed to the sky. "You see those shooting stars. Well, they're not you know. They've come for Transor. I thought you'd like to know that. It’s a certainty, fixed in the immobile fabric of time. There is nothing you can do but appreciate the novelty of it. I know I do, I after all live for such things, as you do."

Sparks seemed to emanate from the small darting lights. Then they grew. The sound grew to a roar, and then an explosion, then many. Red lights grew and spread, like dying embers in fire. Smoke billowed, and merged with the night sky. The planet was beginning to die.

The man looked on dispassionately. "You see. They are all burning now, men, women, and children. It's really quite interesting. I can see them, reflect their agonies in my mind. I see you are repulsed, horrified. There is no need for that, it's just a pattern of atoms down below, just a new picture in a kaleidoscope whose dial I have turned. It's just a reality that I have never visited, and I must see all realities. Is that not a modest and reasonable request?"

Belden tried to speak, but he could not hear his voice. He tried to avert his eyes, but could not. He tried to move his feet, but he could not.

The man's tone lightened. "I still haven't figured you out. I like that. But I also know that you don't like me. Its unfortunate really, we have so much in common. But we will meet again, that is certain. And you know something? You and I will be the last one's. Just you and I. And after that, I don't know. I look forward to the answer to that mystery."

The man turned to him, and all Belden could see were his eyes. They were lit up with the reflections of the burning world. But he sensed more, that they were a mirror, a prism into something darker, of primeval evil, yet horrifically born of an inevitable and inescapable logic. They seemed to grow larger, drawing him in until on every side was a cold flame.

__________________________

Belden woke up, shivering. But he was not on Earth. He was on the Nole, heading 'home' to Transor. The journey was over. His vision was not a dream; his cabin was not a dream. Somehow his experience became more than a space operatic fantasy. He had to do something, but what could he think of to counter the inevitable?

He turned on his cabinet view port, and there was the emerald green planet of Transor. It was safe for now, but for how long, and any move he made was fated to the same destiny. Or was it?

I am the computer, the supreme computer, he thought. I've got to know the answer, at least unconsciously. Nothing can be withheld from me, it's in the nature of my being. Yes, that's it! All except for the fact that I am human, and have human values. It’s the shade that averts my eyes from the sun. But I'm still being drawn into it, and feel I must be consumed by it in spite of anything I may do, think, or say. He thought of the man with his eyes of coal and fire. Then, he had a flash of recognition. I know him! It's what Ariel warned me of, omniscience and death. So it's a match of extremes: the twin bane's of complete knowledge and its opposing oblivion. Thus I have a choice between the agony of boredom and the release of death, yet what if my meantime is eternity? And what if I was that man? The possibility sent a shudder through his being. The question was not that he could trust others, but whether he could ultimately trust himself.

__________________________

The docking at spaceport Talhas was uneventful. The crew was alive with anticipation of a well-deserved furlough home. But Weller's mind was elsewhere. Ever aware of the details of command, he knew there was something amiss. From his command chair, he turned to his first officer. "Jacov. We've been en route and within communications range for the last five days, and we've heard nothing. Do you think they're arranging a surprise reception for us?"

Jacov looked at him with a resigned air. "More likely the expedition to Federated space has returned, and we're mere footnotes to the return of the Federation to the orbit of Transorian culture. We are merely the second expedition to make the transit of the Galaxy. And do you recall the second man who ever made the same discovery, created the same invention, did the same great thing? Let's face it, if they're back, we just a footnote now. And I am sure that they have better tales to tell than we."

__________________________

The crew debarked uneventfully. There was no welcoming party, no band, no cheers and speeches. Weller and the command crew was the last to leave, and as they entered the docking bay, a courier approached them. He handed him a message slate. Weller affixed his thumb to the screen, and a single sentence glowed on the dull gray screen. Fletcher turned to Jacov. "We have to go: you and I alone."

As they departed, a familiar figure approached them. It was Peev Spurling of the starship Gader and his first officer. "I beat you here by three days," he said sarcastically. "And what do I get? A waiting room and elevator music! They've held me in suspense until you came in. But I must say that I am relieved you're here. Do you have any idea?"

"No." said Weller. "There's something wrong. I hope its not something we did. After all, we did stir the pot a bit with those worlds we visited."

Spurling shook his head. " I can't see that. Transor is ignorant of what we've done, and I'm sure our initial dispatches were harmless. No. There's something else, and I think we're meant to confront it, not explain it."

The trip did not take long. It was with one person in a small and local place. In the ready room was Admiral Fletcher. He seemed uncharacteristically nervous and disturbed, and he looked at the pair with a blank stare. Weller deduced immediately that this was no debriefing session, and certainly not a welcoming party. Fletcher motioned the two to sit. "You have returned, intact and no doubt with tales to tell. Gentlemen, it doesn't matter. I will come to the point. Our expedition to the Federated worlds is gone. They have not returned."

Weller was taken aback. "What?"

"We have heard from none of them. We sent twenty-three ships, and none have returned. They had their orders. No matter how beautiful or horrific, whatever they found could not stop them from their return. It was in the AI that accompanied them, it was in the personality of the crew that we bore and bred on this world. Each of those links, intellectual and emotional for both man and machine would have brought them home to us. It's as if something compelled them, no, impelled them to stay. There's a reason for this, and you two are going to find it."

Spurling arched his eyebrow, and skeptically looked at Fletcher. "Impelled. Possibly, but I can't see it. The federated colonists were an independent lot, and believed in freedom, non-interference, and human rights. Not quite the stuff to persuade our captains to tarry about. You can't presume…"

"I presume nothing." Fletcher said slowly. "The Federation left because they could not brook our truth, our fashions, and our morals. It was a clash of beliefs that made us part. I would not think they would look upon us kindly if we returned, and certainly not if we attempted to impose upon them our own codes."

Spurling was unconvinced. "But that's just the question. These people, none of them, would embrace a credo that would make them monsters."

"And yet the only thing that would stop our expedition returning would be monsters." Said Fletcher.

"I don't believe it either." Interjected Weller. "Even in the odd worlds we visited, among all the meanness and stupidity, none we saw were remotely capable of true horror. I personally don't think it's in our natures. There must be another reason, probably mundane. After all, we ourselves were detained for reasons more foolish than fearful."

"Perhaps." Said Fletcher. "But we cannot take chances. Both of your ships will be provisioned with fresh crews, but I need experience in command. Your top officers will stay with you on your visit to the Federated worlds. Find out what happened to our ships, but don't take chances. Return to Transor immediately upon the first sign of trouble."

"And the computer, will Belden accompany us?"

"Above all the computer. He's the key to this somehow. You noted it yourself. His behavior has been odd, unpredictable. He is not like our standard AI. Above all he knows something, senses something. He will lead you to your answer by his instincts if not his intellect. It's a matter of faith, but not of confidence. I have no idea what the future holds. For once it frightens me."

"And when do we leave?"

"As soon as we provision your ship, and you'll get for once a heavy cruiser's armament. You will also take an expanded contingent of Marines, as well as two gunships to replace two or your three standard shuttles."

The admiral paused and looked solemnly at the two captains.

"This will not be a voyage of discovery. We are confronting a dark mystery. I have no doubt that the answer will be disquieting to say the least. I do not know if you will return from this mission. But you must go, you must find out what happened to our expedition and immediately report to Transor."

__________________________

Belden sat quietly in his stateroom. He didn't know the purpose of the meeting on Transor, and cared not to know. The voyages had been a mere preliminary. The real trial, the ultimate odyssey was to come. He sat, and stared, and longed for sleep.