That, and the constant awareness of one’s own transgressions. Nevertheless, to be a Juridical gives one the unique opportunity to measure past errors against many far greater.

“You know that the Master Builder has been located,” she says. “May I speak of him?”

“You may.”

“Ah, that means Juridicals have dismissed all proceedings against him!”

“Indeed, they have, Lifeshaper … upon instructions from the New Council.”

“Astonishing. When you were receiving my deposition, I had a peculiar feeling that you knew something of importance. Something you could not tell me.”

“Indeed.”

“The release of the Master Builder seems to have been predicated upon his delivery of a very important individual to the Capital system.”

“Indeed.”

“That can only mean my husband has been returned to us, Catalog. And that means he will replace the IsoDidact, as you call him.”

“Perhaps, Lifeshaper.”

Her expression is rich and complex. She intuits that the situation may be more complicated than that.

“Let’s speak of folly,” she says. “Our own folly—the Didact’s and mine. Let’s speak of how two very different individuals of very different rates—one devoted to defense and destruction, the other to life and preservation—came together. How we fell in love.”

She tells me of their courtship and the long process of working through rate and family objections, and of the early years of their marriage. I am embarrassed by her descriptions of interludes of physical passion during the creation of their children, which were highly desired and beloved. The Lifeshaper feels no such embarrassment. Life, after all, is the product of an almost infinite number of such encounters.

In turn, I spin out the more amusing legal tales of forced partnerships and illegal appropriation of genetic components, with subsequent claims of inheritance … usually but not always denied. Power, for Builders in particular, has much to do with lineage, whether or not legitimately acquired.

The Lifeshaper listens closely. She then speaks of the many difficulties she and her husband faced long before the Ur-Didact was forced into exile. “He may have understood the finest details of a grand strategy, but his view of Council politics … remarkably direct. I admired that, but had I behaved strictly according to his views…” She pauses. “I wonder what he’ll think when he sees what we’ve accomplished.”

“He will see that the Flood has made huge incursions, and that our situation is dire.” I immediately regret my words. But she is not offended.

“Very likely,” she says. “He has given his own deposition?”

“He has, Lifeshaper. No doubt he will soon tell you what he told the Juridicals. I cannot.”

The commandant finishes preparations to enter slipspace. The external views condense and collapse. A none too subtle misalignment with present reality leaves the air around us vibrating.

“I’ll have two husbands, Catalog,” the Lifeshaper concludes. “Not in itself a problem. But both will be the Didact.”

String 23

STRING 23

ISODIDACT