“Not show it to her, no. He says that she is already on it, is following it. He is here to facilitate. Maybe to witness.”

“Are all Sessiles like him?”

“My understanding is that only a small percentage of them are called to mysticism, and most of those become a magic user of some sort, battle mages usually, though who can afford a battle mage? He’s a prophet, and the jury is out on those. Some claim that the Sessiles have a special connection with the universe—that the gods made them to be that connection and that the prophets are the manifestation of that. Enough Sessiles believe that to keep the prophets fed and housed well on their planet and enough people elsewhere to do it wherever they go in the universe. With the usual commonsense exceptions, of course.”

“Of course,” she echoed.

He began wiping down the dishes he’d been using.

“So what happens?”

He paused. “What happens when?”

“Now we move to the next step, right? So what happens when she gets to wherever she’s going on this Spiral of Destiny? The universe changes? What does that mean?”

He shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out when we get there.”

Niko was almost all the way back to the ship when a voice spoke. “You’re a hard woman to track down, Nicolette Larsen.”

She turned. “Admiral Taklibia?” she said, incredulous.

It was indeed the diploid that hung in the air there. She could see the insignia gleaming, the purple slash over three red diamonds, all over the Holy Hive Mind’s golden wavy line.

“As we said, you’re a hard woman to track down.”

“I am not trying to be elusive,” she said. “What reason would I have for doing so? And what hope would I have of it, given the Holy Hive Mind’s reach?”

“You disappeared for weeks, so they couldn’t locate you. Then you surfaced again with an insurance claim.”

“We were busy being kidnapped by Tubal Last and then destroying the IAPH,” Niko said.

“Is that what happened to it? Rumors were flying.” The admiral hung in the air, unreadable.

“What do you want, Admiral?” Niko said.

“So quick to cut to the chase? Not worried what we might say?”

Niko squinted.

The admiral came a half meter closer. “Believe it or not, you still have friends in the fleet, and others who find your escape inspirational. It’s not a situation that pleases the Holy Hive Mind. We wanted to let you know they’re forming an Inquiry.”

Chills went down Niko’s spine. She could see now why the admiral had wanted to pass this word along in person rather than relying on a message system that could be corrupted or monitored. The admiral was risking a great deal to warn her. What did they want in return?