"And. . .” Patrikia lifted the object with handles from the case. "This instrument tells me when others are trying to open passages to our world, this Gaia. It senses their workings, and it tells me."

"Does it have any other purpose?" Kleopatra asked, aware she was already out of her depth.

"No. Not now, not here."

To her astonishment, the queen realized that the old priestess had tears in her eyes. "I have never given up my dream," Patrikia said. "And I have never given up my hope. But I am growing old, my Imperial Hypsēlotēs, and my senses are not so keen. . . .” She lifted herself up in her seat and resettled, with a deep sigh. "Still, I am certain now. I have been given the proper signs by this device."

"Signs of what?"

"I do not know why, or where, my queen, but a passageway has been opened on our world. This device in its presence, and so do I. Somewhere on Gaia, my queen. Before I die, wish to find this passage, and see if perhaps there is some slight chance I might fulfill my dream. . . .”

"A passage? What do you mean?"

"A gate to the place from which I came. They have reopened my gate, perhaps. Or—someone has created an entirely new road to the stars."

Kleopatra was suddenly troubled. The instincts of a hundred and twenty generations of the Makedonian Dynastic Succession were not idle in her blood. "Are those in your world people of peace and goodwill?" she asked.

The priestess's eyes became momentarily distant and cloudy. "I do not know. Probably they are. But I ask the queen to locate this passage, this gate, with all the means at her disposal. . .”

Kleopatra frowned and bent forward to see the priestess's face from a better perspective. Then she took one of the sophē's withered hands in hers.

"Would our lands benefit from this passage, this gate?"

"Almost certainly," Patrikia said. "I am a very minor example of the wonders that could lie beyond such an opening."

Kleopatra frowned and pondered this for a moment. The Oikoumenē was beset with many problems, some of them, her counselors assured her, insurmountable, the problems of an elderly civilization on the wane. She did not believe this—not entirely—but the thought frightened her. Even in an age of airplanes and radio, there had to be other things, other marvels, which would rescue them from their plight.

"This is a shortcut to distant territories, places where we might extend our trade, and learn new things?"

Patrikia smiled. "Your understanding is quick, my queen."

"Then we will search. I will decree that all our allied states and empires will search as well."

"It may be hidden, very small," the priestess warned. "Perhaps only a test gate, as wide across as a man's arm is long."

"Our searchers will be thorough," Kleopatra said. "With your guidance, they will find this gate."