“Perhaps not, small female. My Machine tells that I am the last of my race. This fact is not entirely unexpected, yet it is heavy on me.”

“Characteristic number one,” Porsupah whispered to Kitten. “Facility for understatement.”

“You might say that, and there’s no point in you whispering, Pors.”

The Tolian did a blush-equivalent.

“I am here now because the Machine felt it needful for the continuance of my work.”

“Your work. What is your work?” Kingsley asked.

“I am a Guardian . . . the Guardian.”

“And what must you still guard . . . after half a million years?” The small attempt at levity fell flat. The alien’s visage did not encourage humor.

“The Vom.”

“I see. The Vom. Pray tell, what is the Vom? Or Voms, as the case may be.”

“Long ago, my race encountered a being . . . if ‘being’ is indeed the proper term . . . so alien that we suspected it must have traveled here from another galaxy. Although the concept of crossing the intergalactic abyss was one before which even our finest minds shrank it always seemed the only rational explanation of the creature’s origins. It was discovered that the creature was powerful beyond imagining, sometimes in ways difficult to understand. Also, it did not invite close study . . .

“Attempts at contact proved fruitless. The thing destroyed whatever life it encountered. It began with the higher forms on a planet and moved to the lower, until it had eliminated even the miscroscopic existences. A planet stripped by the Vom was as thoroughly sterilized as if it had passed through a sun. Conventional weaponry proved useless against it. New machines were tried and offered some hope, but the thing was too clever to be trapped. Several times we appeared to have destroyed it. Always it escaped by avoiding rather than inviting a fight until it had discovered a method of combating each new development we threw at it. Its caution convinced us of its mortality, so we at least knew it could be destroyed . . .

“Always it grew stronger. At the cost of a great many planes-of-existence, time, and effort, a way was found to contain it on a single planet. The life on that planet was forfeited so that we might protect ourselves.”

Peot did not comment on the thoughts that passed through the chamber following that remark.

“This new device prevented it from leaving the planet by its familiar method. We believe it could at one time travel through space on its own, but had clearly forgotten or lost this ability eons ago. After consuming all life on the planet, it shrank rapidly in size and power.”

Kitten discovered that her palms were damp. She glanced over at Mal and was mildly surprised to see the freighter-captain rubbing his own against the legs of his coveralls.

“I don’t think I like the way your thoughts are leading,” said Kingsley.