“A charged measure, yes. A bridge, a shortcut. You take shortcuts all the time.”

“But I . . .”

“I am the universe, Hali Ekel. Every part of Me—each part in its entirety—the universe. All Mine—including the shortcuts.”

“But my body . . . what . . .” She broke off, stopped by an intense fear for this precious flesh she wore.

“I will be with you, Hali Ekel. That matrix which is you, that also is part of the universe and Mine. You wish to know if I read your thoughts?”

She found the very idea deeply disturbing, an invasion of her privacy. “Do You?”

“Ekel . . .” Such sadness Ship put into her name. “Our powers are of the same universe. Your thought is My thought. How can I help but know what you think?”

She struggled for a deep breath. Ship’s words spoke of things just beyond her grasp, but WorShip had taught her to accept.

“Very well.”

“Now, are you ready to travel?”

She tried to swallow in a dry throat. Her mind searched for some logical objection to this thing which Ship proposed. A projection? The words represented such an insubstantial thing. Ship said she would be the projection. How threatening that sounded!

“Why . . . why must I go through . . . Time?”

“Through?” Ship’s tone conveyed an exquisite reprimand. “You persist in thinking of Time as linear and a barrier. That is not even close to the reality, but I will play that game if it reassures you.”

“What is . . . I mean, if it’s not linear . . .”

“Think of it as linear if you wish. Think of it as thousands of meters of computer tape unraveled and crammed into this little lab. You could move from one Time to another—a shortcut—just by reaching across the loops and folds.”

“But . . . I mean if you actually go across, how can you get back to . . .”

“You never let go of the now.”

In spite of that deep and grinding fear, she was interested. “Two places at one Time?”

“All Time is one place, Ekel.”

It occurred to her then that Ship had shifted from the personal and reassuring Hali to Ekel, subtly but definitely.

“Why are You calling me Ekel now?”

“Because I perceive that this is the line which you believe to be yourself. I do it to help you.”

“But if You take me somewhere else . . .”

“I have sealed this room, Ekel. You will have two bodies simultaneously, but separated by a very long Time and a very great distance.”

“Will I know both . . .”

“You will be conscious of only one flesh, but you will know both.”

“Very well. What do I do?”

“Stay there on the lab couch and accept the fact that I will make another body for you at another Time.”

“Will it . . .”