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leaned forward to place one naked finger upon the very top of the limpid green
sphere. The sphere glowed red, and Jylyd took his finger away. "This was once
part of the Wassly Crown. It was brought to us by Tschfa'amin in one of his
previous visits, and it has been used for generations to
focus the aklal on matters that concern us all."
Zref had always thought his mastery of colloquial kren languages adequate, but
he had to glance aside and open quickly to consult a dictionary for the term,
aklal. He found it designated a group-mind or spirit, the collective mentality
that any group has in common. This meant little to him until Jylyd touched the
top of the sphere once more, flooding the room with orange light.
"Tschfa'amin, if you refuse to permit it, we cannot do this for Arshel."
He knew to answer, "I won't open again until it's finished."
"Khelin?" invited Jylyd, tapping the sphere twice more to produce flares of
yellow and bright emerald.
Khelin touched the sphere starring the interior with a blue light. Jylyd
touched it once more, and the room dimmed to dark violet shadows.
"Tschfa'amin bring in the white priests for us. Please."
As he automatically reached forward to touch the sphere, Zref noted that Jylyd
didn't ask, which would have compelled the Interface to respond. His fingers
touched the sphere and the room exploded with brilliant white light. It
thrilled through every nerve and brought tears of joy to Zref's eyes as if
he'd never been an Interface.
Zref flew along stretched rainbows, whirling through time and space. Below
him, mists cleared and he saw a city no! The City. Clear blue sky, bright
yellow sun, balmy sea breezes. And the City. Like a flat, spoked wheel the
City's streets led him to the central hub.
And there, beside the sparkling rainbow encrusted Emperor's office building,
lay the Emperor's Crown, a violet so bright it seemed like dark shadows.
The Crown, as all the Crowns located on the Habitation planets of the galaxy,
appeared to be a stone circle, formed of four concentric circles of monoliths,
some of which were joined by lintels. Within the circles, offset to one focus
of an ellipse, stood a platform flanked by uprights and lintels. Leading into
the Crown from the Emperor's Road, a long avenue bordered by monoliths ended
in a slanted stone placed outside the circle and sighted on the line with the
central platform.
Each pellucid stone seemed to be that same shade of violet
just beyond the reach of the human eye. And Zref knew they were synthetics
designed by Philosophical Engineers to have specific psychic properties. When
a qualified Crown Operator entered a Crown, at the calculated time, he could
send and receive messages to another attuned Crown across the galaxy. This
Crown, the Emperor's Crown, was the one which had access to all the others.
From here, a galaxy was ruled.
The City not yet the source of a million legends teemed with a dazzling
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mixture of species, though one form of erect biped predominated. Covered with
bright feathers, crested but wingless, draped in feathered cloaks to match
their plumage, these people filled the streets and offices.
Within the Emperor's office building, Zref joined a formal meeting of many
species. He was feathered, robed in feathers only slightly less splendid than
the Emperor's own, and he was perched on a writing bench before the Emperor as
were a number of other dignitaries. He was there as the Empire's Philosophical
Engineer, appointed for building the Crystal Crown to house Cheeal's Golden
Sphere. Now he defended his latest scheme. "My students and I can forge the
Selector to reject anyone who will misuse the power of Persuasion."
Cheeal rose from her perch, her feathers new and perfectly groomed. "Anyone
involved in governing will misuse the power of Persuasion, though I wouldn't
expect a Philosophical Engineer to understand that!" Behind her scorn, Zref
sensed real fear. And he shared it.
But his then-self also rose. "The principles of the Universe with which we've
engineered this Habitation of the galaxy do indeed show us the dangers of
Persuasion. But only Persuaders can save our civilization from extinction.
We're far too large, too diverse and too querulous to survive without the
Persuaders to be the messengers of the Crown Emperor, bringing the legendary
peace and prosperity of the City to every planet. It takes a Philosophical
Engineer to understand the necessity, the danger and the precautions which
make the Persuader Corps our salvation."
"But only the Material Artist," argued Cheeal, and now Zref recognized her as
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