8. "We have to send Onimex," Daniel said. "Almost no one knows about Onimex except us and Ireana, and Onimex can do the job."  To anyone unfamiliar with the saga in progress, such a line would seem out of place, but again, 'time' for some cultures is only a point of view.

9. B'jhon drew his bottom lip and chin into his trademark contemplative pose.  Familiarity is such a comforting thought.  He nodding his head to acknowledge Daniel.  In fact, any movement at all was merely a reflex.  Daniel knew that B'jhon understood him.

10. "The order is given then?" asked B'jhon, waiting for a gestural authorization.  In all the known Universe, nobody was more authoritive than Daniel, yet nobody in the Universe knew who he was unless they were Corlos operatives. 

11. Daniel looked into B'jhons perceptive and gracefully ageing face and nodded.  Then he returned his gaze back to the window.  Rarely did anything ever get this out of control, but a paradox was in-progress -- several timelines were about to converge at one point in space.

12. There was only one higher than Daniel and it was rumored that Daniel knew The One personally.  There existed no more or less evidence to support the fact for anyone else, except that Daniel was held acountable for knowing God.  Indeed, what Daniel knew was humbling.

13. Sunova had drifted into a stellar cloud, attracting crystals that shattered like glitter on impact.  The impacts were as harmless as rain, but slightly more musical as gentle waves of crystals increased and decreased then disappeared.  Once again the softly shifting swirls of color reappeared.  

14. To see this every day would make everywhere else seem monotonous.  Somewhere 'out there' the Mind of God was at work.

15. Without further delay, B'jhon left Daniel's presence to carry out his orders.

IN COUNSEL

16. In a counsel chamber, appointed throughout with with unintrusive gadgetry, B'jhon convened a meeting of the highest level.

17. Those in attendance would comprise the core of Corlos Intelligence.

18. "Danial has ordered the reactivation of Onimex to investigate Kor's background for his trial," B'jhon said.

19. These were not uncommon meetings, so those in attendance did not jump up, cheer and applaud.

20. "Where is he?" Lt. Camden asked from the opposite end of the underlit table.

21. "Earth," the conference chairperson answered, "Somewhere in 1999, their time," she added.

22. Prolonged pauses inbetween lines was not uncommon either.

23. "Earth?" Shamael repeated with unseemly detatchment.  

24. Nobody looked at Shamael.

25. These conferees might have sipped some coffee to help dilute the 'waking dream' effect that Corlos had on long term residents, but stimulants were not a custom here.  

26. To further expose the waking dream effect, Wexli recapped the limited dialogue thus far and the Chair simply nodded.  

27. Wexli was only confirming what he had heard.  His mind might have wandered in the interim.

28. "Does anyone have any objection or see any reason why we should not proceed with the investigation as ordered by B'jhon?" the Chair asked.

29. There were neither yeahs nor neys, which was not improper.  Those with something to say would speak up.

30. A visual sweep of the room confirmed their concensus.  It was done.    

31. "Then Onimex is hereby reactivated to investigate the background of Kor for his trial -- Aadis, please see to it.  Meeting adjourned."  

ON EARTH

32. Ireana thought that she was in her own 'waking dream' when Onimex relayed new orders from Corlos.

33. She didn't register what Onimex said at first because 'Corlos-speak' had been abandoned years ago to encourage the idea of blending in locally.  

34. The first few repeated lines had no more relevance than the jibberish coos of a contented infant.

35. But like the coos, the jibberish had a comforting familiarity; like an exhumed ambition.  

36. Ireana had spent the last 36 years working for Dow chemical at their Hawaiian experimental laboratory.

37. She hired on as a bio-molecular engineer and inventor without portfolio.  She talked the talk, so they gave her a chance to demonstrate.

38. The demonstration left her evaluators speechless.

39. The personnel director was ordered to let Ireana name her own salary in her contract.  

40. This was her first contact with Corlos since her banishment in 1963.  

41. Her alternative then was to terminate Dayton, or join him as an exile... the 'rogue' Dayton Agent.

42. Onimex repeated his message again since she programmed him to have unlimited patience with her.

43. She had given him a Psionic implant so that their discussions could occur nonverbally.  

44. "They're contacting me now?" she reiterated.

45. 36 years is a long time.  "Yes, Corlos is attempting to contact you.  In fact, they have already," Onimex confirmed.

46. Attentuated Exosynapse was the key mechanism that made Psionics work.

47. Every decision-capable, electrically-driven brain has the potential to attentuate its own synapse, and virtually all Vejhonians are natural psionists.

48. Humans have psionic potential, but virtually none of them know how to tap that potential.  

66. "I'll complete the mission, make my report and come back before I left," Onimex reassured her.

67. Ireana had programmed Onimex with the latest theoretical knowledge on time travel.  The rest he could learn on his own.

68. "Only a house droid would have talent like mine and never use it," he justified upon discovery of his time traveling ability.

69. For having a state of the art intelligence, Onimex could still be very child like at times.

70. Which could explain why he was Kiles' best friend up until the day Kiles left Earth for Vejhon.

71. "Traditionally, Corlos has never taken 'No' for an answer," Onimex said. 

72. Ireana drew a blank for a long, lazy moment.

73. 'I programmed him to read my mind,' she said to herself, which Onimex could hear perfectly.

74. Eternity passed...

IREANA AWAKES

75. Ireana came to.  She had fallen asleep.  It was only a dream. 

76. She studied the ceiling vent and contemplated thermal convection by Human standards.  'A 17,000 strand difference,' she reminded herself, between Vejhonian and Human DNA.

77. She forced herself to rise.  The labratory was still there.  'I want a drink,' she thought to herself.

78. 'Why do I want a drink?' she asked herself.  'Always over analyzing,' Onimex said, in stereo with her own conscious.

79. She approached her cryo island and opened an inconspicuous bottom drawer.  The pull knob had been removed to discourage the unininiated.  The bottom edge worked fine.  

80. It contained an assortment of liquors and preferred imbibements.  

81. The dream was so vivid and realistic that it haunted her.  She was suffering a fusion of apprehension and elation in equal portions.   

82. There was no need to ask Onimex if he knew what she had dreamt.  He knew.

83. He knew a little more than that.

84. "Ireana can now hear our conversation," Onimex said, "Please restate the essentials for her benefit and I will dispatch immediately."

85. Being the excellant actress that she was, she could not conceal her sudden consternation.  

86. Instead of leasiurely mixing her favorite concoction, she took a swig straight off the bottle in her hand.

87. "Excuse me," Onimex repeated, knowing full well that his feigned impatience was purely for Corlos' benefit, "Ireana can now hear our conversation.  Please restate the essentials for her benefit and I will dispatch immediately."

88. "Ireana?" a soft, Heavenly voice querried.

89. "Override the Psi relay hold on my thoughts," she instructed Onimex. 

90. "Done," Onimex confirmed. 

91. It had been 36 years since she had given Onimex that instruction, so it didn't roll smoothly off of her tongue.

92. "Ireana," she answered intently, staring through the walls as though she could see movement outside.

93. "The war is over," the god-like voice continued. "The entire Elite is in custody except for one 'secret sorceress' who remains nameless."

94. "Whereabouts unknown," Onimex privately injected.

95. 'Secret sorceress' was so ackwardly ironic; and only Onimex was privy to her sub-thoughts on the matter.

96. The voice continued, "We need Onimex to conduct an investigation of Kor's childhood on Vejhon for evidence at his trial." 

97. "Understood," she said.   There was no need to elaborate -- she had survived unspoken volumes with this voice.

98. "You're friend will return once his assignment is completed," the voice reassured her.

99. It was also understood why Corlos could not send a field operative. 

100. "You're released for this assignment," she instructed Onimex.  Her intonation rusty but firm.

101. 'Did I really say that?' she questioned herself silently.

102. "I'm afraid you did," Onimex sympathized.  "I'll be back before you wake up."

103. That could have been taken for sarcasm, except that time had forged that particular pathology long ago.

104. Ireana had a trademark smirk that only a select few knew was her emotional defense mechanism.

105. She had lost Kiles and now feared the worst for Onimex.  Warranted or not -- she was concerned.

106. Her life was proof that perfect plans are unyielding to change.  

107. She tossed her pity into a flame of denial and privately watched it burn.

108. Onimex used the moment to escape.

109. "Onimex?" she mumbled weakly.

110. She knew he was already past Alpha Centuri and somewhere well beyond.

111. Just like a dream.

112. There was no response.

113. Now there was a quiet that she had not felt since before creating Onimex.  

114. The periodic querry did not require a nanowatt or a nanosecond to complete, but it wasn't there.

115. Onimex was gone.

116. 'The ferns look so lovely,' she admitted, granting herself a moment of aesthetic enjoyment.  

117. She took another swig off of her bottle.

118. 'I'm not trying to escape,' she corrected herself, 'I did that 36 years ago.'

119. In the solitude of her lab, she poured herself a real drink and allowed herself to feel whatever she felt like feeling.

120. With an all-knowing smile on her face, she let a lonely tear fall into her crystal tumbler.  

121. The true breadth of what really happened in this Universe made her feel alive all over again.  

122. It was a happy tear, really.

123. She felt a romantic shroud of nostalgia invigorate her body like a cozy mink shawl on New Year's Eve.

124. And in her eyes was a true sense of happiness.

125. "Have a safe flight," she mumbled out loud.

126. The ferns were dancing to the rhythym of a gentle breeze outside the window ledge, which made Ireana contemplate the Universal interdependence of all things quid pro quo.    

ONIMEX ENROUTE

127. Onimex was the most low maintenance droid ever assembled.  

128. He expended negligable resources to maintain total inflight integrity.  

129. His calculations of pre-time velocities and trajectories to emerge at a specific moment in time and space did require a careful re-check.  

130. He added a chaos variable to prevent any radical miscalculation.

131. He was transdimensionally racing to Vejhon, index 19,363 dans around Kolob.

132. Time could be defeated by velocity, but dimensional current surfing was much faster and a lot less complicated.

133. A competent dimensional navigator could manipulate timespace by shifting dimensions just like a seafaring navigator could ride the ocean's convective currents to get his ship from one port to another.

134. To the inept, the high seas are nothing more than a mass of water.

134. Dimensional navigation had the additional dynamic of time allocation.  Time itself, has a wavelength, like any other cosmic ingredient.

135. That wavelength is not the same at every point in time, nor consistant from one dimension to the next.  

136. Forward and Reverse is relative to the beholder's native dimension.  Time surfing can not be accomplished without an exhaustive comprehension of dimensional navigation first.

137. That truth makes dimensional surfing extremely hazardous to the inept.

138. The key to mobility is Knowledge: Once you possess the knowledge, the ride is free.

ABOVE VEJHON

139. Onimex paused in Vejhon's upper orbit to conduct his validation protocols.

140. Such engagements did require a current license issued by valid authority.  

141. In real time, the tribunal would represent the highest tangible authority, therefore, Onimex was authorized to proceed.

142. Next was his time index authentication procedure.    

143. Planets are easily distinguisable from one another, and easier to date.  

144. There are well over 1,000 hard criterion upon which any novice archivist can accurately date a planet to within one rotation.  

145. Onimex had indeed arrived at the exact day in question.

146. Arrival protocol #3 included a generic analysis.  Whether needed or not, it was required reading.

147. This is Vejhon, index 19,363 dans around Kolob where 1 Vejhonian Dan equals 200 cycles around Kolob.

148. Moderate population. Lower mid-orbital region contains a water layer.

149. Various refractory illusions corrected for atmospheric distortion.  

150. Watershell distributes heat evenly from three neighboring suns.

151. Predominant tropical climate covering most of the landmass below, even at the poles.

152. Oceans, seas, great lakes and watersheds compose one fourth of Vejhon's surface area.  

153. An additional ocean's worth of moisture saturates the air.  

154. An additional ocean's worth of water is contained in the watershell.  

155. Water balance: Sustainable.  

156. There was another signature unique to Vejhon at any point in time:

157. The unstable modulating light caused Vejhon to disappear when viewed from a distance beyond high orbit.

THE SURFACE

158. Onimex slipped beneath the watershell to behold a stunning panorama of emerald forrests.  

159. The sparkling shades of green were accented by crystal streams and well dispersed population centers.

160. There was one well lit metropolis that served as the center of commerce and seat of Government.

161. A large portion of the population chose to reside away from most major population centers.

162. Protocol #4 engaged a surface destination.  Onimex would land at that location and observe.

163. Onimex was able to evade local detection by slipping slightly out of synch with Vejhon's native time signature.

164. That meant that he was virtually there, but not literally in every sense. 

165. After a standard approach, Onimex slowed to descend beneath the highest tree tops.

166. As the trees began to shade him from direct sunlight, a surreal ambience of hazy green light unfolded.

167. As he approached the ground, a cool gentle mist seemed to arise from beneath the fauna.

168. Audio recorded insects and randomly sampled tree dwelling species.

169. Protocol #5 maintained stellar pressurization to ensure that no moisture messed around with his innards.  Ireana  made Onimex waterproof.  Dayton was fond of saying, "You can never be too careful."

170. Protocol #5 was designed for emergency evacuation, recall/abort recon and/or conditions causing panic, confusion or  an attempt to alter core programming.  Onimex had long since given himself permission to ignore #5 if he wished.

171. His event notification beeped internally.

172. He was hovering quietly and inconspicuously above a small stream and nudged himself slightly into the tall blades of grass, careful not to draw attention.  So far, successfully.

173. The rainforrest was wedged inbetween two mammouth mountains unlike anything native on Earth.  Their summits seemed to reach low orbit, well beyond typical perception.

174. In light of the recorded history surrounding Bri and Kor, the mammouth mountains seemed to pronounce their destinies  well in advance.  

175. Could anyone have known without prefect 20/20 hindsight?

176. El Sha, perhaps?

THE BOYS

177. The moment had come.

178. Across the stream, not far away, two 15-year-old boys emerged from the underbrush in virtual stealth.

179. Even for Onimex, the moment had profound significance.

180. Onimex fine tuned his dimensional shift to be certain that he was invisible to them.

181. Kor suddenly froze and stuck out his arm to halt Bri.  

182. Bri was accustomed to Kor's predator instinct and halted.

183. "What?" Bri whispered to Kor.

184. Kor studied the space in which Onimex hovered.  Seeing through Onimex and making Onimex wonder if he hadn't miscalibrated his shift.  

185. It was obvious that Kor sensed 'something else' there.  Bri only sensed what Kor was sensing and made no attempt to sense anything other than Kor.

186. The sensation was acwkward to Kor and Bri sensed the ackwardness that Kor felt.  Bri was not trying to work alongside Kor -- he was trying to unravel the mechanics of Kor.

187. Using the future as a guide, Onimex began to unravel part of the sibling rivalry right away.  

188. This was precisely what the tribunal had sent Onimex to confirm.

189. There was something else though, which may have been the dark spark that started the war.

190."There is something there Bri," Kor whispered, "It doesn't belong here."

191. Bri didn't doubt it, and playfully interpreted Kor's line to be self descriptive.

192. Bri's private reinterpretations were also part of the problem because Kor read every one of them loud and clear.

193. Mantra had been training Kor in personal guardianship, and the current circumstance was begging to be tried.

194. Kor crept forward with the stealth of a panther; his eyes steadfast and deadly.  

195. Bri's own countenance reflected his concern of immenient change -- and the impending cause.

196. Onimex was typically not comotose on safty issues, but he didn't see what hit him.

197. In one swift blur of motion, Kor had already struck the anomoly before Bri could contemplate a reaction.

198. Being outmaneuvered so effortlessly changed Bri's state of mind on-the-fly.

 199. "If it thought it was camouflaged -- it can't be very smart," Bri thought.

200. There was a cylindrical indentation in the water in the shape of Onimex's hull but there was no object to be seen.

201. Bri felt sad, embarassed, angry, curious and defensive all at once.

202. Kor finally felt a little relief, and that antagonized Bri even more.  Kor knew it.  

203. In fact, without a script, Kor knew that a fight was coming on.

204. "It shouldn't be here, " Kor reiterated, "I don't think it's dead."

205. "Do you think it was really threatening us?" Bri asked, very much on edge.

206. "Ah shit!" Kor rebuked him, "Why didn't you just stay home with Ma and clean house."

207. Bri was sick of Kor's constant emasculating remarks anytime he viewed things differently.

208. They had been through this so damn many times that regurtating the same lines was getting beyond redundant.

209. "I can and will have an opinion, Kor." Bri said; he came close to shoving Kor's shoulder back to get his attention.

210. "You're pissed off because I'm faster than you are." Kor defended himself.

211. Maybe it was true, but the problem was deeper than that.

212. Bri wasn't afraid of Kor and that was the one quality that Kor admired in Bri.  

213. While they faced off, Onimex regained his levitation and decided to omit that embarassing moment in his report.

214. There was a slight problem though -- Kor was reacting to his perception of Onimex's presence.

215. "Do I go up, regroup and do this again, perhapse a little more out of phase?"

216. "No, you can't just keep going back and back, thinking that you're going to fix it," Ireana told him once.

217. Reexperiencing a past conversation was an advantage to being a driod.

218. The boys were quite involved with each other now -- maybe it would be a good time to exit.  "Did I get what I needed for Corlos?"

219. Not hardly.  So far, nothing more than boys being boys.  What's the crime in that?

220. Two Vejhonian male youths fighting was a specatular sight.  With clothes off -- the rule was, 'nothing deadly.'

221. Clothes off meant that you were sparring, not fighting to the death.

222. Once Bri was in fight mode, he could be quite formidable and Kor was not ignorant of that proven fact.

223. Sometimes this was the only way to vent mutual frustration.  Neither was seeing the other in the way that the other wanted to be seen, so fighting was normal among kids and young men in particular.

PSIONIC STANDARDS

224. On Vejhon: Psionics is synonymous with Language.

225. Psionics comprises symbolic synapse that can be imparted to a strata with other synapse.  All synapse in that strata can be read by all who possess psionic ability.

226. The strata is used when a target is not directly nearby.

226. Some worlds build an electronic media that interconnects the population.

227. On Vejhon, Psionics is a naturally embedded component of Vejhonian culture.  If you are Vejhonian -- you are a psionist.  Exceptions include resident aliens, rogues, no-recs and off-shellers.  

228. 'Shell' is slang for 'world,' because of the watershell.

229. Most indentured servants are recruited from the non-psionist classes.  Indenturing a non psionist caught without credentials, portfolio or sufficient funds is perfectly legal.  Every citizen is a de facto Immigration Agent.

WHAT OF ONIMEX?

230. That heavy arrow that Kor hit Onimex with was not normal.

231. By the time the fight was over, Onimex had long since disappeared -- as though he had never been there at all...if he could just get the sanitized version to stick.