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The War Begins -- Chapter
17
1. Kor had won the hearts of Theotian Outlanders like a
long awaited savior. He had hoped that his
effort in the Badlands would outshine any negative publicity that he
received from the Theotian homeworld. Kor and Theos proper had a
mutual misunderstanding. His ramblings in
the Outlands was presented in the most obscure, least important
way. He was referred to as a "rebel rouser," although a few young
debutantes felt differently.
2. Kor took it personally when Theos released an
official statement that it would not recognize the revolutionary
government 'on' Vejhon. Whether to say "of" or "on" had been
debated all day. The legitimate government was at large, so Kor's
regime was "on" Vejhon. A brigand was sent to Vejhon with a holo
showing the
Theotian Senate laughing Kor to scorn. "Declare war with what?"
the Senators
laughed. "You're a vegetarian!" On Theos, that was the
lowest possible insult. Vegetarians were not allowed to
serve in the military and could not be trusted near a produce
stand.
3.
The Vejhonian etymology of "vegitarian" was "stupid," so it was a
unilateral insult. "What Kor
pulled off on Vejhon could never happen
here," the Senate chimed unanimously. "Psionics is an absolute
nuisance,"
others said, "See what it does for law and order? The law
abiding citizens had to flee from their own
world!"
The insulting sequence played on endless loop.
"I suggest you take sanctuary in the commerce quarter," Kor
admonished the messenger. "They're not courageous enough to
appear
in person," he said to Dal El.
4. Throughout his training with Mantra, money had
never been an issue
because everything Kor needed was
in the rainforest; he barely wore clothes and required no
maintenance. Contrary to Theos'
insult; Kor was without question the greatest
hunter across seven systems hands down. He had no equal, so the
insult was ludicrous and unsportsmanlike. Nevertheless, he
understood the mean-spirited intention.
5. An
entirely new economic reality unfolded when it came
to
interstellar commerce: Vejhon had nothing to trade and ordinary
shellans did not like to work for free.
6. In the months that
followed, Kor discovered why the Psionic Guard had banned Blue Funnel
from operating outside the quarter. Their goal, like any
financial parasite, is to control whole systems through perpetual
debt. Their bureaucracy is a menagerie of unaccountability by
design. Originally chartered on Theos, Blue Funnel grew into an
autonomous political corporation with vast holdings much larger than
Theos.
7. They were an independent financial State, impossible to
disincorporate.
8. Kor had a 'kill switch' option: "I'll let them
invest Trillions," he said to Dal, "and as soon as they forget their
place -- I'll kick them off the shell and keep their investment."
It sounded devious. "It's all fiction anyway," Dal mumbled.
Kor smirked.
9. "Invent a way to covertly manage them," Kor ordered, "We're psionic
-- they're not." "True," Dal agreed,
"considering what they are: Financial alchemists." "Their
symbol?" Kor pointed at the upside down whirlwind. "Oh," Dal
signed with a silly huff, "it's an inverted tornado -- wealth being
created from nothing." Kor laughed out loud, "and lavished upon
everyone, I suppose?" Dal nodded. "Blue Funnel?" Kor
asked. "They registered that trade name centuries ago because
everyone sees them as a money drain." Kor's face reflected
inquisitive acquiescence, "No objections?" "Apparently, they
don't care what they're called, as long as they get every goddamn thing
you own."
10. Kor shook his head, not in disbelief, but because of
how shamelessly transparent their MO truly was.
11. Kor
summoned his Minister of Enlightenment for a private
audience.
The minister reported, "Everyone with a
reality-based mind evacuated, my Lord. The 'so-called'
Intelligencia; academia,
engineers, scientists, doctors, specialists and experts... went to
wherever they went."
He finished with, "We are a shell full of dreamers, artists
and two-Billion unmotivated workers." He was pushing his
luck just a little, but Kor overlooked that.
12 "I
don't think 'all' of them evacuated,"
Kor tonelessly reproved, "They're here -- we just need to find
them. I want you to locate where they are and bring me a detailed
report. Every skilled shellan can train a thousand more.
I'll bestow upon them privilege and prestige. They'll come --
I know what they want." Thus spake Kor, so his minister set out
to comply.
13. Kor had the report delivered to Dal who
immediately organized a
talent drive. Those 'diamonds in the rough' who gambled that
Kor would pay any price to rebuild his new
kingdom, were right. The least desirable social dredges
were hypothecated to pay the most preferable talent with premium
estates and prestige, as promised. Millionaires who were not in
step with Elite ideology were defrocked and sold into slavery or turned
into factory workers. Those who
couldn't endure the humiliation were destroyed or in a best case
scenario,
outcast.
14. Kor gave his 'citizens of higher mind' unlimited support and
political Carte Blanche, elevating them to the highest social circles
within their respective fiefdoms. One
in a thousand medics stayed behind: Fewer engineers and fewer
physicists. There were specialties
with no remaining practitioner at all, so closely-related specialists
located training materials and trained new specialists.
There were books and records that described how to do everything in
detail, and a shellan would appear who was able to
assist.
15.
Dal used Vejhon's industrial resurgence to boost morale while the media
covered this period as Vejhon's 'reconstruction era' which lasted about
two
years.
16. Vejhon's defense materiels had not been sabotaged
and were in serviceable condition. Certain critical equipment
had been minimally disabled to facilitate the evacuation.
17. Since Dal El had a firm grip on internal
affairs, Kor decided to re-inaugurate interstellar diplomacy.
There were systems that had promised to support Kor during his
campaign, and then distanced
themselves to maintain the interstellar status quo. Those systems
wanted economic ties
now. Kor wanted revenge against
those who had abandoned him, especially after promising their
support. There were systems that banked on Kor's rise to power
that would be handsomely rewarded for their loyalty, especially those
who lent assistance based solely on their word as their
bond.
18. It was sheer dumb luck that a talent scout
discovered
nine astronautical engineers who missed the
evacuation. They had
thrown a retirement bash for a colleague in an unserviceable orbiting
hanger and were too inebriated to realize that an evacuation was
in-progress. The
legal limit for on-duty spacers is
zero.
19.
That did not stop a functioning BAC sensor from revoking their
duty status under Reprimand 7. The spacers were remanded to the
surface pending review. The party was far from over, so they took
a taxi to a rainforest waterfall where
they 'slept it off.' When they woke up, the celebre' who had
fallen asleep on his mock throne outside the cave was gone, but his
friends who had fallen asleep inside the cave's entrance were left
behind.
The unpardonable act of entering a cave in a
spacer uniform bordered sacrilege.
20. Dal offered the nine astro-physicists a blank check
to
get the shell's orbiting transit apparatus back in operation.
21. And thus the legendary 'Sky Spirits' were
born. Kor appointed all of them to be his
personal
in-flight
attache's and gave them stewardship over everything that was not tied
down.
22.
With shellans-of-mind working fastidiously in synch with
Dal El, it took five months to roll the first Elite
destroyer
off the orbiting assembly line.
23. Biocyberneticists reactivated dormant robotic helpers for the
task.
24. Vejhon resumed its role as an industrialized
shell.
25. Existentially and metaphysically -- the shell entered an
alternate reality and time.
26. Within two years time, Dal El's armada began to look
formidable. As machines continued to build better machines,
the ship-building process began to exceed Vejhon's capacity to provide
raw materials. The nearest source of minerals was the
Theotian
Outlands and Vejhon had nothing to
trade. Kick backs from the commerce quarter could not compare to
the exorbitant tariffs imposed off shell.
27. "Made on Vejhon" was a virtually nonexistent and very rare
collectable now.
28. Dal El knew Outland mining operations like the back of his
hand. He also knew where the administrative cracks and loopholes
were. He created The Department of Deception to mine
Outland resources disguised as a legitimate mining operation. He
used to issue the permits himself, and knew that the
Outland frontier was largely unguarded. Many of Kor's
campaign sympathizers were only too happy to forward saucer patrol
schedules and report deviations per se, since Theos didn't care
about the Badlands anyway.
29. "Free... is very cost effective," Dal quipped in his
report.
UNFINISHED
BUSINESS
30. During Kor's Badlands
campaign, Queen Estuses asked her favorite SJ to "Go spy on that
terribly handsome rebel rouser..." The SJ dispatched
immediately. Kor's retinue was unable to take evasive action
before several B'lines set down outside the rally stadium. To oblige his
adoring fans, Kor chose to
proceed, "I accept all walks," he said, "as long as they accept
me." After all, he had two SGK's in his fold and a retired
Psionic Guard. "SJ's are welcome too!"
31. It is the SJ's ability to respond at faster-than-light speeds that
enables minimal,
seemingly non-existent supervision of the Outlands. They are
as venerated on Theos as the Psionic Guard is on Vejhon, only SJ's are
alot cockier. Every kid wants to be a Saucer Jock. Kor
thought he might convert one.
32.
Before the affair went south, the squadron commander, as a vested
federal agent, fired the curator for misconstruing the right to
assemble as the right to conduct insurrection. The curator could
be reinstated by providing proof that his activities did not violate
the State's interests.
33.
The junior officers approached Kor's
podium and heckled his rhetoric, "Is that
the shit you're spreading
all
around?" they mocked. SJ's were never known to get personally
involved during peaceful
assemblies so their conduct made the crowd paranoid. The
pilots scolded the crowd, "You're trading in your government for
this?" That comment made the crowd angry, so they started
rebuking the pilots becauser the State never concerned itself with
outland affairs, "Since when do you care?" one shouted, and the
murmuring escalated into a full blown riot.
34. Kor's advisors recommended that he vacate, so he
faded from
view and evacuated before he could be implicated for inciting a
rebellion. Some of his Guards stayed behind to cover his tracks
and delete evidence that he had visited.
35.
Once the psionic shield was fully lifted, testosterone
took over and medics were needed. One spectator commented, "This
whole fiasco could have been avoided if
Kor had shown up." Another added, "but he never did." "I'm
really disappointed," said a third, "I really wanted to see him."
Kor grinned when he saw the clip, "Good work!" he complimented his
Elite team.
ABOARD
THE ELITE'S SECOND DESTROYER
36.
Dal asked the Sky Spirits to revive the
traditional salute when a
Head-of-State embarked or returned to port. For this particular
mission, Dal El ordered the media,
"Don't report anything accurate: Make something up."
A Universal oxymoron. He knew he could count on them.
37. Two
invisible saucers were at a dead standstill observing the departure,
"Isn't that their old salute?" the weapons officer asked, "Like the
Aqu'Sha days?" "It looks like it," navigation answered.
"That's the whole fanfare," the pilot observed, "are you seeing this?"
he asked their sister saucer. "Yep, we see it," the pilot
answered. "That's one and two leaving," his navigator said.
"A brand new battle wagon," the WO admired as
the new destroyer glided by in all of its sheik splendor and
glory. "Theos should have stopped this," the first pilot
commented. "Yeah, well, we're not the politicians," the other
pilot said.
38. "Look at
this," Dal handed Kor a magazine devoted to Kor-worship, "...I know we didn't make
this. This is real. This is how they feel now."
Kor's iconoclast image had become the spiritual symbol of Vejhon.
"You've
got
to be kidding me?" he said with mixed emotions. He took the
magazine
and gave the cover a mean stare before handing it back with a nearly
blank
expression.
39. To temper his warmongering stance against Theos, Kor promised that
he would never attack Theos proper if Theos relinquished all claims to
debris that drifted into Vejhonian
space. The Senate maintained it's official sanction against Kor,
but
secretly authorized Blue Funnel to facilitate the
accidental drifting of unwanted liabilities into Vejhonian space for
salvage. One back-room deal did
the trick.
40. If Kor attacked
Theos, Dal El would be a traitor, more criminal than
Kor. Theos regarded Dal El's rank within the Elite
to be an interstellar marriage, like when royalty
marries royalty to create a geopolitical alliance. The prevailing
sentiment was, "Kor would never
attack Theotia with a Theotian princess at his side." Out of
respect for Queen Estuses, they avoided refering to him as Kor's
Queen. Dal was still dimly within Theotian grace; if only for
today.
41. As the destroyer approached the Jolvian prison outpost, Kor
wanted to absorb as much of the death experience as possible, to design
a ritualistic protocol for such occasions. This was not the same
as the gridboards -- this was reaching into
the deeper Universe to perpetrate an irreversible travesty. This
was
infringing upon a larger domain where someone should not dare to
tread. "It was Theotian when we were here last," Dal El
explained, "Now the Jolvians are using it."
42. The Jolvians maintained
prison
outposts
on their border with Theos to make the border less attractive. In
the event of a jailbreak -- they could escape to Theos. Since
Jolvian prisoners do not have rights, Jolvians guards would
sometimes eat them. To tenderize prisoners, Jol discouraged
physical conditioning and kept the gravity in inmate areas at a
minimum. In the event of a riot, prisoners can be incapacitated
by
normalizing the gravity. The guard areas are unaffected.
43. "We're approaching the target now, Sir," a yeoman said to Dal El,
handing him a tablet for his review. That would become a catch
phrase for the next 70 years, and this was the moment when the phrase
began. Kor
wanted to be there in person, when the destroyer made its
first test firing on the outpost where the Saucer Jocks
had intervened. It was a moon-sized meteor, perfect
for optimizing the destroyer's main weapon. The colony had
drifted into Theotian space and Theos pushed it back. The colony
had drifted into Theotian space again along the border. It was
possible that the Jolvians
would get blamed for what Kor and Dal El were about to
do.
44.
Dal adjusted the
tevatron beam to an intensity of 4.024 x 1032cm-2s-1 and
inserted encapsulated antimatter pellets in vacuum pockets within the
beam. A smaller yard test had annihilated an asteroid and left no
evidence -- the perfect crime, "Imagine what we can to to
an alien threat now?" Dal
commented. "I think we're done with conventional playing around,"
Kor agreed. Anti-matter
pellets had been used for clearing heavily trafficked
matter-dense trade routes for years. "There's always a use for
peaceful technology," Kor said at an Elite gala once
45. As the targeting computers
scanned
and
located the asteroid's weakest point, an electrically-charged,
dark-matter calm quieted
the crew. Dark Matter is the consciousness of tetragammaton
directly observing 'Life through Light and Death; Beauty and
Savagery.' That unity-of-purpose would define the next 70 years
of conflict. The experience was addictive like an adrenaline rush.
46. A weapons officer offered a remote fire switch to
Dal El, who returned the honor to the weapons officer. Dal El
nodded and the officer pressed the switch. A single beam of
concentrated energy sped toward the asteroid while everyone
watched. There was a delay while the anti-matter pellets
bore down to their prescribed release depth. The explosion
cascaded inward and the cavitation wave canceled just as
configured. In a momentary flash, the episode ended as if
watching a holo.
47. The asteroid fissured into a billion
brilliant fragments and dissolved into nothing. The observers
were astonished. "We just 'spoke' that asteroid out of
existence," Dal El whispered. The perfect crime: Nothing
happened. "Is
there some quantum variable that we simply can't see?" one crew member
asked.
Kor replied to all concerned, "Don't let the 'unquantifiable' mar your
achievement. We made history today!"
48. Dal El turned to the
weapon's officer, "My compliments for calibrating a perfect
strike." The weapons officer smirked at Dal El's altruism because
everybody knew that Dal El had programmed the
targeting computers himself. "Thank-you, Sir," the officer
acquiesced, "We are of one mind," he reasoned.
49. One of the observing saucers began to transmit a
video feed to SpaceCom.
50.
"Guards! We got a B'line on our ass!"
communications shouted to the captain. "Shoot it!" the captain
replied. Weapons targeted the signal source and obliterated what
became an obvious saucer silhouette before it disintegrated into
nothing.
"Are there more?" the captain demanded. "Searching, Sir,"
Tactical replied. "I think we've got our war now," Dal
articulated carefully to Kor. "Will SpaceCom get that signal?"
Kor asked. Dal was the resident expert, "The data
packets won't make sense unless the translation buffers are received
intact," Dal El answered succinctly, "They'll probably get some of it,
but definitely not
all of
it."
51.
SpaceCom did not know what to make of the garbled
mess that came through, so the closest available B'lines were scrambled
to
the Jolvian border. The Jolvian High Command was notified of a
possible
breech. Jol and Theos had reciprocating agreements to
protect each others border communities.
52.
"Evasive Plan B, full speed," Dal El instructed the
helm. He had been a saucer jock in his younger years and knew
precisely how to stay off their grid. "Call for
reinforcements, just in case," Kor suggested. "Aye, Sir,"
Communications replied. Outland clutter was famous for losing
transmissions, so it was possible that there would be no record of
anything, which was not the case: SpaceCom pieced
together a general idea of where the transmission originated.
They would have caught them red-handed if Dal didn't have an intimate
knowledge of Theite response procotols. "They followed us from
port," Dal explained, "B'lines are invisible."
53.
When the saucers arrived, there was no forensic evidence to
study. Although saucers can fly faster than time, Dal had
already
crossed back into Vejhonian space through an uncharted wormhole.
54. SpaceCom Commander Usalah did
not like unsolved
mysteries, and this particular mystery was one he was determined to
solve. His analysis postulated that an
annihilation weapon destroyed the
outpost. Theite saucers are powered by an annihilation reactor,
but a quantum residue remains when matter dissolves into an
anti-matter vacuum. The space surrounding the cancelled area is
not flawlessly undisturbed. Usalah had been experimenting with
annihilation detection for years, but could never convince SpaceCom to
support his 'half-baked' ideas. "You're the finest commander in
SpaceCom," fleet headquarters assured him, "but leave the science to
the scientists. Thank-you!"
55.
Usalah lined his PDA into the B'line's computer, "Boys -- let me have
control for a moment." "We're
hands off," they replied. Usalah positioned 10 saucers into an
iris
and calibrated their collective sensor array to create a reverse wave
in the center. He attentuated the diameter and massaged the
dimensions until at last he said, "I have it." He could now prove
that a Jolvian outpost was
attacked, but it was impossible to transport the antimatter pocked in
the center.
"Record, film and sample," he ordered, "we can't take it with us, but
the results will be hard to argue."
56. "You made that look easy," a 1st Lieutenant
commented, "How come SpaceCom isn't doing it more often?" "How
the hell did you do that?" another interrupted. "Because they
think I'm crazy," Uslalah answered the first, "and they rejected my
treatise on the subject, for lack of evidence," he answered the
second. "Well, Duhhhhh!" a female pilot chimed in.
"Exactly," Usalah said.
57. "That was Thandal's disk!" the saucer pilot at
the Vejhonian port exclaimed when he received the scrambled feed of a
Vejhonian destroyer annihilating a Jolvian outpost. The feed was
from Thandal's saucer before it went blank. "That was... Thandal,
Gingah and Ember," he whispered in grief, "They just left." His
two copilots clearly understood the danger and sympathized.
"It's what we signed up for," one of them thought privately.
58. "Send the feed of Kor's departure," the
captain ordered.
"Captain," his tactical officer said, "Do you think Thandal's
transmission was intercepted..." "they saw it and shot 'em!" the
navigator interrupted. "They would have been close enough for
detection," the captain replied, "He parked right on their ass."
"Like we were when they embarked?" navigation cautioned. "There's
nobody
here right now -- send it!" A newly added precaution.
59. "Oh... A'zoth!" the WO alerted the others,
"Look!" Kor's destroyer was inbound on the monitor, still a ways
out. As the port prepared for Kor's arrival, the navigator zoomed
in on a traditional victory emblem illuminated on the destroyer's
hull. "Send BOTH feeds," the captain ordered angrily, "if the
frackin' vegetable wants a war -- he's got his goddamn war now!"
"Dal El's
aboard" the captain added, "Technically, we can fire on them right now!" The port was
preparing to give Kor's destroyer a hero's welcome home. "I just
sent both feeds," tactical confirmed. "I don't think we need to
stay for this," the captain revised, "SpaceCom has the story -- the
Senate has to declare war. Let's just go!"
60. A Theotian envoy made a formal inquiry regarding the
whereabouts of Outpost 491. "I will certainly look into the
matter," Kor's foreign minister replied, who knew nothing of the test
firing, "In the meantime, what can I do to help?" he
offered. Theotian tracking systems were based on Dal El's
formulas;
he knew that they could not prove what happened to
the outpost. The envoy returned home empty handed. "As long
as we continue to deny
it -- they'll never attack us," Dal
El shrugged, "That's just how they are.... and I...
well," he sighed, "used to be
one." "No need to be ashamed of your heritage," Kor
consoled him, "You're with me now."
61.
SpaceCom was furious; both feeds left nothing to doubt. "We'll
show that vegetable what a serious mistake he made," the watch officer
said to his Jolvian counterpart in a holoconference. "A victory
emblem!" the Jolvian officer sneered, "We'll have his fracking heart
for
lunch!" The Jolvian wasn't kidding. "The Senate is real
sticky on these matters," the watch officer replied, "Blue Funnel
thrives on war and, well... some of our Senators have been bought and
paid
for." "I understand," the Jolvian sympathized, "They own
some of ours too."
62. The
Jolvian general replayed the victory emblem scene just to aggravate the
injury,
"That toothless vegetable
declared war on you long ago!" he emphasized, "if this doesn't make
your Senate respond -- I know our High Council will!" Jolvian
property was attacked in Theotian space. The semantics were
irrelevant.
63. The Senate was enraged at Kor's arrogance to
display a 'victory' badge for attacking a prison outpost.
"The Psionic Guard should have kicked his ass when they had the
chance," one Senator snapped. It did not take long to produce an
official response: "The Theotian Senate continues to censor the
rogue
government of occupied Vejhon,' and orders all Theotian citizens to
evacuate the Vejhonian system. Theos is not at
war against the legitimate government of Vejhon; we do however, support
Jol II's effort to apprehend the
terrorists who attacked their prison outpost; who we believe may also
be
responsible for the disappearance of Outpost 491."
64. "Additionally, outland expatriate, Dal
El' A'concioux, serving as Kor's Vice Elite, is
wanted for questioning for his involvement in the aforementioned
terrorist acts. First-class citizenship and a palatial retirement
will be bestowed upon
whoever brings him
in." The palatial retirement aspect was unprecedented: They
were offering a small kingdom in exchange for one person.
65. Kor and Dal El listened to the broadcast on Vejhon.
"Too bad my ex wasn't on that outpost," Dal quipped.
"That doesn't stop us from finding her and killing her," Kor suggested. Dal
grinned. "Palatial retirement," Kor joked, "You realize I could
trade you in for a
whole fleet of destroyers?" Dal appreciated the irony, "I
wonder what they would give me for you?" he parried. That thought
made Kor laugh out loud, "At least there is one place in this Universe,
where you have even less grace than I do."
66.
Theos had no intention of waging a real war against Kor. Instead,
they authorized SpaceCom to taunt Kor's assets in any fashion
they pleased. "Keep the reporting to a minimum," SpaceCom
requested, or in other
words, "we don't want to hear about it." A battle beneath the
watershell was considered
logistically
unwinnable. The real purpose for censoring Kor was to keep
his military occupied while the Cardships were in flight. It
was pure posturing, like political theatre everywhere.
67. The shadow government on Theos advised key Senators to,
"Let the kids play while the folks are away: Don't launch a
full-scale war against a tribe of spiritualists
over
one outpost." The likelihood of
another '491' was next to none. Vejhonian headlines read,
"WAR!" ...but Theos did not counterattack, another testament to Kor's
military genius: "He ran our enemies off-shell, and now the
Universe bows down before him." "Is there anything Our Father
can't do?" Public confidence was high and the fervor
unstoppable.
68. The exciting war-time premises compelled Dal El to
militarize the youth; accelerate production of war materiels and
open hundreds of new
military venues. A whole new generation was born with fierce
loyalty to Kor, so Dal directed a new social focus on
tight, public order. School curriculums were streamlined to
pipeline students of Secret Society wizardry into even darker arts, and
ultimately into State service. Anyone who cited Kor as their
avatar was a qualified
for admission.
69.
This new generation of shellans would become the future leaders of
Vejhon and inheritors of Kor's kingdom. Seizing the opportunity
to get it right, Kor appointed Mantra to engineer Dal El's architecture
into reality. And thus, the perfect Elite shellan
was created. "Imagine what several
thousand Kors could do?" Dal asked persuasively. Kor imprinted on
the youth and he was drawn to them: They fed on his legacy and he
fed on their affection like a
symbiotic social organism. These new youth created a fraternity
even more exclusive than their Elite predecessors: They were as
beautiful
as they were deadly, in a dimension occupied only by them.
70.
The gridboards gave way to friendlier, more enlightened policies.
The disenfranchised could be coaxed back into
the fold without the constant fear of death. Some returned
because of the new civility, while others were inspired by their
over-zealous
Kor prodigies who wanted their parents and guardians to be at peace
with the
shell. It was the kids who ultimately prevailed in bringing
shell-wide order, as it had been in the old days, and that reality
truly impressed Kor.
71.
"Giving shellans ownership of their inner-Kor," as one motivational
speaker put it, "helps them to attain the peace and unity that the
Elite enjoy."
The more peace there was, the less stress everyone had
to deal with collectively. By no means did Vejhon's
problems simply vanish: It simply meant that they found a way to
make the best with what they had. "Who better to teach them," Dal
said to Mantra, "than The Master himself?" Mantra wholeheartedly
agreed.
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