Sitting in her cell in Nova Columbus, Eidolon frowned as the computer she was writing on fizzed out yet again. Somehow the Imperial Knights that were holding her (on charge of treason, no less) had cut power to the terminal despite the fact that she was powering it. She scanned the area and determined the source: a low-level, pulsing electrical field that was shorting out the fragile device. With a scowl, she threw the device across the room, bashing it to pieces against the wall, and generated a pen and paper from midair. Let them short this out, she thought angrily, and continued to write, at a speed that would have shocked her cell monitors had their electromagnetic tinkering not also fried the security cameras.

She told a tale of Venus, and her meeting with the powerful stranger; and she told the tale of her time on the asteroids and the colony worlds the Lice enslaved. She told of Triton and the bubble of space-time distortion she felt compelled to leave there, a bubble that would someday allow the entire planet to be moved much as Mercury was. She told a tale of Mercury residents with strange powers, who stole the planet out from under Petresun's nose and now ruled that world six thousand light-years away. She told of a portal between the worlds that she had passed through, but that no one else would ever be able, especially not the corrupt, dirty Empire.

She told a tale of Petresun at last dying in some five months, as two terrible explosions ripped through the Earth, explosions that if they were only five percent more powerful, would destroy all human life on the planet.

This last tale was the one that earned her time in the dungeons, and on the torture racks that for all their sophistication were no cleaner or more moral than Iron Maidens or teams of horses.

She told tales of these as well, and stakes that she had been burned on as a witch in times even more ignorant than this one, times long forgotten by the entire human race. In another year or so, one mind would touch the past, learn of the beautiful culture that had existed on Earth before the Devastation. Her pen moved harshly, angrily over the paper. That history would never be seen by the residents of Earth. They did not deserve it. And by the time those of Earth reached the stars and the fading radio wave front exploding out into the stars, it would be too badly distorted by the interstellar medium ever to be read.

Eidolon got a certain vicious satisfaction out of this. Soon, she would take the last remaining records of pre-Devastation times left on Earth, and flee with them to the stars. The Shadow Dragons and the Stormkeepers each had a cache of archives, the Shadow Dragons in the ancient city of Monaco and the Stormkeepers in several fragments in the Americas, and Eidolon knew precisely where they were. Soon she would escape this place, and Earth itself. And she intended to take the history with her, for what purpose she was not yet certain.

Perhaps Maria would know what to do with it. Or Steel, the Ghost who did not know it yet, who had told her of the Shadow Dragons' records. Or perhaps no one would know, and all Eidolon had to do was get it away from Earth before it was discovered and the knowledge contained there destroyed the human race.

It would set the Ghosts free of their last remaining chains, but the people of Earth were too easily led by madness, as Petresun's reign demonstrated. Ancient madness would be ten times worse.

And Eidolon knew that no human on Earth would be able to extract the sanity from the madness that had died with the Devastation. Eidolon looked into a potential future where Earth discovered its past and tried to reconcile its present with the ancient days, and the blackness in that future terrified her.

When she returned to her writing, her hands were trembling.

Eidolon tapped her fingers on the table, then when that did not suitably annoy the man sitting opposite her, began tapping her pen on the table.

This worked: the man glared at her, glared at the pen, and glared back at her. She pretended not to notice.

"Have you reconsidered our offer?" the man snapped, reaching out to grab the pen. He reached it; unfortunately his fingers went right through it. He blinked, and his scowl deepened, but he tried not to let his confusion and anger show.

"Yes I have," Eidolon said, and resumed tapping the pen.

"You have?" the man said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. He sat up and straightened the sash on his police uniform, gazing at the woman with a perplexed expression.

"Yes, I have reconsidered it most carefully. And again I must refuse, because I am not going to share anything I possess with such deceitful and immoral people as the representatives of the Emperor, who is yet more deceitful and immoral."

"You realize, young lady--" Eidolon snickered-- "that such remarks constitute treason and I could have you executed for it?"

Trying to keep a straight face, Eidolon muttered sotto voce, "You tried that, remember?"

The policeman was on the verge of apoplexy and he reached out and grabbed at the pen again. Again he failed and this time his hands banged into the table. He winced, drew them back, and shot to his feet, knocking the chair over. "This is no laughing matter!" he snapped. "I am sure that if you continue refusing to cooperate we will find some way to execute you with finality!"

"Probably," Eidolon said with a shrug, and flicked the pen at the man, just to see his face. The expression was worth it; he stared wide-eyed at his chest as a hole appeared in it, the pen shot through, and the hole neatly closed up again.

The officer left, slamming the sliding door as hard as he could, which was not very hard because of the inertial damping on its runners. As soon as the door closed, Eidolon turned away, went over to the narrow bunk, and sat down.

She closed her eyes, and allowed her memory to drift back into the past, to the day this entire mess began...

10 January 2801

"Eidolon," the voice called, and she quickened her step, nearly running down the street through the pouring rain. The weather in southern California was most hideous this time of year; while not really cold, it was always pouring rain and today it was quite windy as well. Droplets of water slashed Eidolon's face like blades, and she wished for an umbrella or, better yet, to be indoors. No such luck now, unfortunately, and when she tried to wish an umbrella into existence, nothing appeared in her hand.

"Eidolon, if I must chase you into the Pacific do not imagine I will not do so!" the voice snapped like a whip. Eidolon picked up her pace, wishing she was wearing something black instead of powder-blue, so she could blend into the night and have at least some chance of escaping.

Unfortunately, she would not be escaping this pursuit anytime soon, camouflage or no. Nothing would shake her pursuer, because she used senses more than human.

Knowing it was futile but determined to at least try, she began to run, her feet kicking up splashes of water as she stepped in the puddles. The wind blew the spray back into her face, drenching her hair. At least her clothing was waterproof; she would not have enjoyed having to run in soggy clothes. The metaplas coverall was dry on the inside, but the wet, squeaking noises it made were annoying. Again, she wished for an umbrella or something, and her powers failed her.

She ducked into a doorway around a corner, intending to run to the other side of the block and zigzag back around out of sight of her pursuer. She ran across the street, dodging a solitary utility truck speeding though the gray sheets of rain, and turned again at the next corner. She ran half a block down that street, and stopped dead when she bumped into someone.

Maria stood there, her arms folded over her chest, her eyes narrowed and as cold as the rain. Eidolon's eyes widened; it was not physically possible for Maria to be occupying that space; no one could have run that fast.

Eidolon sighed deeply, and shook water off her face. Maria extended a hand and gestured to the building across the street, a small cafe, almost empty. Eidolon nodded slowly, and they crossed the street in silence.

When the had entered and ordered (Eidolon taking coffee and Maria taking cinnamon tea) Maria sat down and motioned for Eidolon to do the same. She sat there for a long moment, then spoke quietly. "I sensed your presence on Triton. At least, your trace. How is this possible?"

Eidolon decided not to ask how Maria could have possibly sensed her presence, on Triton or anywhere else. "I visited Triton about ten years ago."

"With the Cybrids filling Neptune's orbit," Maria said, tilting her head to one side and narrowing her eyes. "I find that interesting."

"Well..."

"Looking at you and feeling your presence now," Maria said slowly, closing her eyes, "I see that you are the same Eidolon as I met on Venus many years ago. Too many, in fact. You do not have an organomech brain--"

"How do you know that?"

Maria lifted a small scanner that she held in her palm, and Eidolon rolled her eyes. "So, it is very odd that you are alive now, over a hundred years later, and still appear youthful. Explain."

"I need explain nothing--"

"You do when I die and I feel your presence when it happens!" Maria snapped, her voice angry but quiet. "I want answers and you have them. You will provide them now."

Eidolon leaned back in her chair and leveled a scowl at the other woman. "Be careful how you speak to me," she said softly. And then she blinked. Where had the automatic angry response come from? She never held her power over anyone else, and certainly did not possess a trace of the arrogance that would have been necessary to make such a comment.

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