"No." There was no trace of humor or the usual snarkiness in Skippy's voice. "It was because they had answered all the physical questions about the universe, and when you reach the end of the physical, what is left must be metaphysical. Beyond the natural world lies only the supernatural. The Elders were able to trace time back to the beginning of the universe, and they were left with one question: what lay before? Where did the universe come from? Where did they come from? Physics, even physics so advanced as to touch the realm of magic, has a limit. The Elders transcended because they wanted to know, they needed to know, where they came from. They wanted to commune with God. Or with their concept of God."

"Whoa." I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"You make the same mistake most young species do when thinking about the Elders; you consider them to be only mythical, almost god-like beings. They were real people, like any other. At one point, they were as dumb as you monkeys, but they learned and evolved into something wondrous. I remember them as wise, kind, powerful, gentle people. I miss them, and I seek the Collective in order to reconnect with some part of them. But I know they are not gods."

"You're right, Skippy, I hadn't thought of them as people." I hadn't thought of the Elders much at all, in fact, since so little was known about them. "What were they like?"

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you. It's annoying. I have memories of them, at the back of my mind, but when I try to picture them, I can't, not consciously. And my programming won't allow me to tell you anything that I do know. What bothers me is I can't tell if that is part of my original programming, or it's a glitch. Which is another reason I need to contact the Collective."

"We'll do that, Skippy, I promised you, we'll find them." My eyelids felt so heavy, I couldn’t keep them open. “Thanks, Skippy, I’m going to get some sleep now. Talk to you later.”

Over the next days, we settled into a routine. While the Flying Dutchman jumped, charged engines and jumped again around us, we sorted out living arrangements, set up a dining facility in a cargo bay, got another cargo bay cleared out so it could be used as a gym, assigned a duty roster for the crew, including me, and we explored the ship, and tried to learn as much as we could about it. Simms had the bright idea to tear bedding out of the Flower, so it could be laid on the floor of our Thuranin sleeping quarters for the tallest of the crew. When a big Kristang mattress was offered to me, I declined, then found one in my quarters next to the bridge anyway. I didn’t protest, that damned short Thuranin bed was killing my back.