The project was set up deep inside a globular Cluster orbiting the center of Pinwheel. This glob was 250 light-years in diameter, and contained about 100,000 bright red Population II stars. There was very little obscuring dust within it, few planets—and no black hole, to Herald's relief. It was an entirely ordinary Cluster, and it had been uninhabited until the special project was organized.
Herald tilted his ring, looking around. He was in a Wheel host whose spherical body rolled freely in any direction and whose magnetically fixed disk possessed the assorted sensory equipment of the species. Beside him was Hweeh of Weew, mattermitted once more in his own body at great expense (and protest by the Cluster Council functionary in charge).
A Pin moved forward: an angular four-legged creature whose sensory organs were on projecting spines.
^Welcome, visitors of the Two Galaxies,^ it clacked.
^I am Prick of Pin, co-supe of this station and your guide for the duration. I hope you are feeling sharp.^ He extended one rod.
Hweeh quickly formed eye-stalk, horn, and sticklike appendage and used the last to touch Prick's proffered stick. @Gratitude, graciousness,@ he said formally in his own language, letting the translation units each entity carried take care of it.
^You have impressive aura!^
@Wait till you touch my
[email protected] Prick extended a stick toward Herald. Herald angled his disk to contact it momentarily. Now he felt the Pin's own aura: a strong one of one hundred. But of course this project would attract strong auras! θPleasure,θ he said, using the mode of his host, making the sounds by vibrating his disk. Pleasure, he thought. Cupid and Psyche had a child named Pleasure....
^Phenomenal! Perhaps your aura is a reversion to that of the Ancients!^
Herald dismissed that promptly. θThere is no evidence that any modern species relate directly to the Ancients.θ
Yet what of Psyche!
^Perhaps we shall now procure that evidence.^
And that summed it up; for this was the super-secret Modern of Ancients program, the Cluster's major hope to comprehend the nature and purposes of the species that had conquered the Cluster three million years ago.
θPerhaps,θ Herald agreed politely. θShall we proceed?θ We shall proceed—the phrasing of Sixteen's acquiescence to an affair that had demanded herself and him. Had he been willfully blind in the same way the Cluster Council was blind to the threat of the Amoeba despite the evidence? At what price could he justify his quest?
Prick showed the way through the station to the enclave. All of it was under cover, for this was an airless planet. Occasional skylights showed the globular day-night: a thousand bright stars illuminating the surface constantly, preventing full night from ever descending. The average separation of stars in this region was a quarter of a lightyear, and they were large stars. The planet seemed to be encased in a glowing shell.
That was the reason the project was here. No outside species could expect to locate the precise planet of the particular globular Cluster of the particular galaxy that supported it. Only the privileged few even knew of its existence. Who would poke about a globular Cluster for anything? Such Clusters were among the oldest unified structures in the universe; there was nothing new in them. Or so it was generally supposed....
The hall opened out suddenly on a vast domed landscape of such architectural splendor that both Herald and Hweeh paused, awed. It was an Ancient site as it must have been in its heyday. Rounded buildings rose many floors high, with spiral ramps servicing them; other ramps spiraled down to lakelike reservoirs. There were no straight lines, no angles; everything curved in pleasing ratios. There was foliage everywhere, unfamiliar to Herald's prior experience, though not to his host-mind: Pinwheel trees shading the contours of the parks from the glare of the myriad stars above, pastel-hued lawns, and fruit-bearing gardens.
@I would like to reside here myself,@ Hweeh murmured.
θSo would I,θ Herald agreed.
^So would we all,^ Prick said. ^And so you shall—for a day. We believe we have successfully recreated Ancient architecture, physique, and culture, and we hope this will enable you to feel and think like Ancients and thereby comprehend their secrets.^
θAn ambitious notion,θ Herald said.
^The Ancients residing in the enclave are androids,^ Prick explained; ^laboratory-manufactured pseudo-life, directed by operatives. Most are remote-controlled, but some are actually occupied.^
θWe shall need to occupy them,θ Herald said, rotating his disk firmly. θWe are not here merely to observe, but to experience.θ
^The Weew could do it; he is small and malleable. But your own Wheel host is far too massive.^
θThen I must Transfer to a smaller host. What is available?θ
^There are service entities of Sculp who occupy the androids for testing and repairs.^
θAh, yes, the Sculps. I am familiar with the species. I will accept such a host.θ
^As you wish,^ Prick said dubiously.
The Transfer was instituted, and soon Herald was in a Sculp host. This was a boneless, multispiked sapient whose body had evolved within the convoluted stalks of giant tubetrees.
§Very good,§ Herald said, speaking by rasping several spikes together. §Now let's see the androids.§
The physical nature of the Ancients was unknown, but study of the many ramps on their sites had suggested they were wheeled but also could traverse irregular terrain. Therefore, as Prick explained, the androids possessed both wheels and legs. Three legs, to maintain balance at all times, each with rollers at the base. They also had three upper appendages, with sucker-disks along the inner sides and six tentacle-fingers at the end. Three of the fingers were pointed, with hard claws: pincers for grasping hard objects. The softer, more dexterous alternate fingers made this form extremely facile with tools. A solid head at the top was ringed with optics, auditories, and radiation emitters and receptors. It was, overall, a most ingenious body.
Too bad it had been worked out before Herald's discovery about the distinction between Ancients and pre-Ancients. For it was a composite of a tremendous wealth of misinformation. Once the resurvey of sites was completed, the physical form of the Ancients would be narrowed considerably. Meanwhile, he was willing to find out whether occupation of such an android host provided any real feel-of-Ancient, and whether that would lead to any further key insights, in himself or in Hweeh. It seemed to him that on Mars they had come very close to a basic comprehension of the Ancients, and perhaps one little additional shove would break it all open. Then, perhaps, would follow the last-second miracle that would save the Cluster—just as had happened when Flint of Outworld and Melody of Mintaka saved the Milky Way Galaxy. Ancient technology had been the key in both prior cases; if it could only be invoked again....
Hweeh seemed to have adapted readily to his own android. §Are you ready?§ Herald inquired.
@Yes,@ Hweeh replied.
"Then let's unify our linguistic modes," Herald said in Quotes. "We both retain facility with the expression of Segment Etamin, which is probably not comprehensible here. It will serve as a convenient but private code."
"Agreed," Hweeh said immediately.
^My translator did not catch that,^ Prick said. ^What is the language?^
§It is the mode of Cloud Nine,§ Herald said. §The so-called Large Magellanic, orbiting the Milky Way Galaxy. Their symbol is high finance, $. A very happy if irregular scheme.§
^Strange. My translator is conversant with $. I should have—^
§Perhaps it was Cloud Six, the Small Magellanic, the ¢ symbol. I get confused at times. Each host I occupy contributes its language and much of its culture to my mind for a time. Once I depart the host, these gradually fade. Shall we now enter the enclave?§
^Yes, of course. But I must warn you that the— We try very hard to render this enclave as realistic as possible. The program has been modified extensively with experience, until now—^
§Until now it seems to possess purpose of
its own? This is an indication of success. Do not apologize.§
^The computer integrates the changes, and it does have positive feedback. Changes are still occurring, so that even I do not necessarily know what prevails unless I constantly recheck. We seem to have here an accelerated social evolution, which is encouraged. However, it means that I will be unable to maintain contact with you after you enter. We have a strict noninterference policy. It is essential that we allow the thrust of the Ancients to manifest in whatever manner develops. Only that way can we—^
§I understand,§ Herald said, cutting off the developing lecture. §This is an excellent program. We shall not interfere, but shall seek to merge with its flow.§ And he rolled toward the enclave aperture.
In a moment he and Hweeh were through. They coasted down the ramp toward the first park. Herald's Sculp host was well suited to this confinement and conversant with the controls of the android. Herald quickly acclimatized, so it was as though he occupied the Ancient mockup directly. Hweeh had more trouble, but his tripod kept him stable.
They encountered a Modern going the other way, skating blithely along with enviable proficiency.
+Aura,+ the stranger said in greeting. He spoke in Clustric, with the Plus inflection, fittingly enough. He had an aura of 120 himself, but it was the unflexing field of machine generation, such as was used to imbue energy being Transferred galactic distances.
Of course! The salient characteristic of the Ancients was their aura, estimated to have a norm of one hundred and extremes of thirty-three to three hundred. One-third of norm to triple norm, though some experts felt this was too conservative. Modern sapients varied much more widely than this, as shown by Sixteen of Jets aura and Herald's own aura. But the Ancients were by the signs far more uniform than the contemporaries. Perhaps that was part of the secret of their strength. Also, no one knew precisely how intense a living aura could get, but three hundred seemed to be the practical limit.
+Aura,+ Hweeh returned, covering Herald's silence.
+Aura,+ Herald agreed quickly. Too bad this artificial aura could not be used to heal and to Transfer; then the android operatives could really have conveyed the atmosphere of the Ancients!
+You are strangers? I introduce myself: I am Hitherto.+
Herald had not anticipated having to name himself. He really should have taken more time to prepare for this experience! Though this was only a mockup, he was trying to achieve the full spirit of it, and to draw Hweeh into it too. For the sake of anonymity he preferred not to give his real name. It was evident that the operators of these androids were also using alternates.
Again, Hweeh rescued him. +I am Clustergaze,+ he said.
Translation: Astronomer. Herald could use a similar identification. +I am Quester,+ he said.
+Will you require lodging during your stay at our site?+ Hitherto inquired.
Lodging? They were going all out for realism! As though this were one of a million sites of the functioning Ancient community, with travelers passing from one to the other across the Cluster.
+We may not be staying long,+ Herald said. +But it would be nice to relax before we move on.+
+Then allow me to recommend the Kirlian Inn. The sustenance is excellent, and the maid— They do not call her Hellflower for nothing!+
So there were two sexes in this enclave, though the true Ancients might have had a hundred. Well, two was convenient. And food. And sex appeal. Only what did androids eat, and how did an android female stimulate an android male? Realism could go only so far!
+We shall certainly consider the Kirlian Inn,+ Herald said.
+Aura,+ Hitherto said, rolling back slightly.
+Aura,+ Herald answered. This was evidently a term for parting as well as greeting. How nice of Hitherto to "happen" by to provide this convenient briefing in manner!
They skated on. The little wheels of the feet were not powered; the motions of the legs provided the impetus. Generally, two feet pushed while the third secured the equilibrium of the tripod, but it was possible for all three to act together for extra power. Since it was feasible to rest while coasting at speed, this was an efficient mode of transport. The wheels could be braked and stalled for sudden stops, or for bracing when climbing. He wondered whether it was coincidence that the android form resembled a compromise between the two major sapients of Galaxy Pinwheel: sticklike legs, as in the Pins, and wheels as in the Wheels. Creation was always a self-image!
"I am feeling very much the Ancient, already," Hweeh remarked.
"They have done a good job of emulation," Herald agreed. Whatever it was they thought they were emulating! "Shall we proceed to the Kirlian Inn?"
"And observe the charms of Hellflower?" Hweeh made a male chuckle, moderately surprising Herald. "I do grow curious."
As they came into the city proper they passed other Moderns going about their business, whatever that might be. With each they exchanged +Aura's+ and obtained further guidance. In one sense it was wasted effort, for they really could find their own way, but it was a pleasant interaction, making them feel closer to this pseudo-culture. Androids these might be, but each seemed to care about his neighbor.
The Kirlian Inn was impressive. Its residential chambers were underground, while its main hall was a planetarium-ceilinged dome. Herald recognized the inspiration for this design: Flint of Outworld had encountered such a dome in the Hyades site. Unfortunately that had been destroyed, so that it had not been possible to analyze the stellar projection for an insight into the probable location of the Ancient's planet of origin—one of the tragedies of history. The information might have been obtained from Flint himself, for he had been an experienced stellar observer, but he had already faded into his Mintakan host and knew nothing. This present projection was of Galaxy Pinwheel, and small though it was compared to the giants of Milky Way and Andromeda, it was a full galaxy, truly impressive from this vantage.
The floor was smooth, polished, reflective, and gently waved, as though a glassy ocean with fixed waves. Couples were dancing, gliding over the mounds and through the troughs, their forward progress shaping into a kind of syncopation. Herald was intrigued, but also disturbed. By what right did they assume that the efficient Ancients ever consumed time in such pursuits as dancing? In fact, this whole setting was rather medieval in quality. Still, who was to say the Ancients had not danced? They must have had some form of entertainment. Possibly they had communicated by dancing.
The female Moderns were distinguished from the males by their surface texture, color, and delicacy of torso and limb. They wore sections of material over the upper sections of their legs, concealing the junctions of limbs with torso, making a mystery of what really had no mystery. In one sense ludicrous; in another, intriguing. As far as he knew, the androids had no copulatory organs, but it became easy to imagine that if they had, they would be lurking within the flexing shadows of that cloth.
There was, indeed, a certain attractive grace to the females. Herald felt the impact despite his occupancy of a Sculp host within an android body. The skating-feet made the dancing very smooth, and the round cross section of the torso made rotation easy. The dancing figures wove in and out and spun in place like gyroscopes, forming intriguing larger patterns across the floor. The lighting changed color, dimming slowly, so that the night of the sky seemed to extend downward, until only little globes of glow followed the dancers. Oh, yes, very pretty!
At the height of the dance and depth of darkness, the stars of the dome began to move. It was subtle at first, so that it was hard to be certain that any positions had shifted at all; then it accelerated. The stars spread out, traveling down the base-walls and inward across the floor, which now seemed transparent. The room seemed to be within the Galaxy of Pinwheel, traveling through it, the individual stars progressing to the rear in three-dimensional panoply.
Herald had never traveled in space. He had always reached his assignments via Transfer, stepping from planet to planet without traversing the space be
tween. He had never even mattermitted, though that resembled Transfer far more closely than it did space travel. Thus this was a very special experience for him: to see a galaxy as the pilot of a ship might see it. Not that ships really had pilots; even at half-light speed, it took many years to travel even a tiny fraction of a galaxy. But if multiple-light-speed spaceship travel existed, so that pilots would have to steer around stars, this was the way it might be. Ah, rapture!
Hweeh nudged him with a pincer, and Herald reluctantly diverted his attention from the view of space—so like his vision of the Tarot Temple, when he explored the Ghost card to spy the Amoeba—to follow the glance of his companion's forward eye. A brightly colored figure was coasting toward them, her torso swaying as she emerged from the shadow, her skirt shifting suggestively. Hellflower!
Android or not, there was something about her. She exuded sex appeal. Herald tried to analyze its components, but they eluded him. She was simply a wildly desirable female Modern Ancient.
She drew up close, her skirt settling about her. +Aura,+ she murmured, and there was a special thrill in her voice.
+Aura,+ both patrons responded. Hweeh was evidently as entranced as Herald. What was it that could turn on males of totally different species even when they knew it was merely a mockup of a conjectural species?
+What is your pleasure?+ Hellflower inquired, performing a small additional twirl.
Through no fault of her own, she had used the wrong word. Pleasure—the child Psyche had intended to bear by him. What was he doing here, reacting to the lure of an imitation female? Even had she been real, she would have had no shadow of the human appeal of Psyche! This was all a play, an imitation of a society that never existed, and the gut-reality of Hellflower's sex appeal was a chassis of metal and pseudo-flesh.
The illusion shattered, as Herald suddenly placed the mechanism: sound. Fringe-auditory sonics accompanied the maid, tuned to the deepest levels of sapient desire. Certain things seemed to be common to most species, regardless of world of origin, as though all life had diffused billions of years ago from a common source. That was another long-standing mystery: whether life had a common root, and somehow spread across the cluster long before any sapience had developed, or whether some species had evolved three billion years ago and spread life to all habitable planets. Those would be the true Ancients, making the three-million-year Ancients seem like no more than a contemporary ripple of established life. Meanwhile, the fact was that there were certain broad bases of species affinity, so that many species could mix physically without poisoning each other by the products of their metabolisms, and one of these affinities was sonic. Hellflower had aphrodisiac sound!