And as for yourself, you believe the Wanderer can help you destroy the Maker Swarm that is currently bound for this part of the galaxy. Why do you think that?

Because it managed to destroy a Maker Swarm at least once before.

And it told you this?

The first time I encountered it, yes.

And you kept this information to yourself? asked the Librarian.

She felt her skin colour. Who was I supposed to tell? Nobody knew who I really was . . . I mean, who I had been, she corrected herself.

And it hasnt succeeded in destroying another Swarm since?

How could it, without a superluminal drive? It got lucky one time when a Swarm came to investigate it, and the Wanderer managed to destroy it before it could jump out of range again. But a strategy like that is unlikely to work more than once, and the dying Swarm would almost certainly have broadcast a warning to others of its kind.

Which does explain why the Wanderer is so very desperate to acquire its own nova drive. And yet you yourself clearly think it would be a bad idea if it did. Why?

She gathered her thoughts before replying. Look, theres always been something inimical about the Wanderer during all of our communications something cold. You and all the Magi ships share the same goal with it, to destroy the Makers but your underlying programming also demands that you preserve intelligent life throughout the universe. The Wanderer doesnt care about life anywhere else, since all it wants is revenge, regardless of the consequences.

It occurred to her then that Tarrant and Sifra were not so very different from the Wanderer in that respect.

In short, the Librarian concluded, you mistrust the Wanderers motives. Its past aggression suggests it could prove harmful to your own civilization, were it to come into possession of a nova drive. You should know, then, that we agree with your assessment. Which begs a further question what could we possibly hope to gain by taking you to it?

All youve ever really done is engage in skirmishes with the Swarms, without ever once striking at the Makers themselves . . . and yet, finding some way to destroy the Makers is central to your purpose. The Wanderer thinks you already have the key to fulfilling that purpose buried so deep in your memory banks that you dont even know its there.

How could the Wanderer possibly know if that was the case?

I re-established contact with it some weeks back. It had taken her the whole of that long night, locked in Bashs quarters back at the research outpost, to establish an effective bridge to the Wanderer. It turns out that the Core Transcendence once had contact with the Magi, a very long time ago.

We have no record of this, said the Librarian.