The next morning Milo awoke to find Kayla working on her tablet computer at the bar in the room. Milo got up to go to the bathroom. Kayla did not even seem notice that he had gotten up. He didn't know if he needed to say anything to make her feel less awkward about what had happened the previous night. When Milo got out of the bathroom he went to get his tablet to check The Daily Comet. There was not anything of interest in it, nor were there any kind of messages on his phone. Milo took out his tablet and opened his copy of Frik Heridik's Biography.

For a long time, it was always taken for granted that all electrons are essentially identical. In other words, no experiment or measurement can be done to distinguish one electron from another. This turns out not to be true, and the revelation led to the creation of technologies that were near the end of the terrestrial age thought to be impossible or very unlikely.

The long-hidden property of electrons is oscillation. All electrons have an oscillation to them that have very tiny effects on the surrounding space time. These oscillations all have the same frequency, but they are not on the same phase (in other words, they are not synchronized). The oscillation phases of each electron appear to be random. In a single atom with just a few electrons, there can be some of level of synchronization by chance, but even those create space-time effects too small to be measured. On the other hand, even objects you can hold in the palm of your hand have millions of billions of billions of electrons, so the chance of a net oscillation that can be noticed is so small that that even in the vast universe with an inconceivably large amount of stars, there essentially is surely nowhere in the universe there is enough synchronization where space-time effects are noticeable.

Imagine a bunch of mice running back and forth on a teeter totter. When you have fewer mice, you might have them on one side of the teeter totter at a given time, but their weight is too small to tilt the teeter totter noticeably. On the other hand if you increase the number of mice running around on it, you have more weight, but the chances they'll have enough weight on one side at a time to tip the teeter totter becomes small.

At some time, the grays discovered how to synchronize the oscillation phases of some electrons in a crystalline ceramic material known as gravitium. Gravitium crystals have one particular set of electrons in a superposition between an unbounded state (e.g. they can carry electricity) and a bounded one in a unique quantum-mechanical environment. When this material is bathed for about one Earth year in neutrinos in space (and kept safe from ionizing radiation), these electrons synchronize. Applying an oscillating electric current to gravitium is what makes trips of trillions of miles across stars in a matter of hours possible, as well as gravity well generators on spacecraft and the technology behind the floating palace of Quildalar.

Naturally, when this revelation was made to the elves by the grays, it led to something of a scientific renaissance. Many were trying to understand the phenomena and to understand the various scientific and technological implications. But one elf mathematician by the name of Frik Heridik seemed to have taken an interest in the epistemology behind the discovery. How exactly did the grays even come to discover the characteristic oscillation of electrons? The chance that a discovery of gravitium discovery could be made seems very small. One could posit it was a stroke of luck that allowed it to happen, but that technology is not the only one which this question exists. Other examples are of entanglement manipulation, which makes communication instantaneous outside of the time required to convert quantum mechanical information to digital information, muon stabilization and excitation, and polyphoton synthesis. Heridik formulated what's known was the Heridik principle, which says that certain properties of matter, energy, and space can't be understood if they are not known.

This principle, along with Heridik's mathematical proof that creating strong artificial intelligence would require infinite software, got him accused of promoting mysticism of the grays and the religious teachings of the church of Saint Vernon – charges which he would have to push back against his entire life in spite of his ideas never being debunked or properly addressed.

Milo was just about the point where he had to break the silence no matter what when he was interrupted.

"Milo, come here and look at this" she said. Milo walked over to the table where Kayla was sitting and looked at the screen.

NAME: Cabral, Melinda

Hominid Type: Human Female (100%, 0 elven-specific haplotypes detected)

Age Estimate: 17.3 Quildalar years

Radiation Sickness Vulnerability Score: 4/10 (low)

GENOPSYCHOMETRIC PROFILE:

Estimated Impulsivity Score: 63/100

Estimated Creativity Score: 32/100

Estimated Religiosity Tendency: 28/100

Estimated Charisma Score: 48/100

Estimated Intellect Score: 84/100

Estimated Shrewdness Score: 95/100

OTHER NOTES: NONE

"What is that?" Milo asked not liking what he was seeing on the screen.

"I've hacked into the resort management's computers and I found this file. Their security is surprisingly pretty lax."

"They genotyped us" Milo said feeling a sinking feeling in his chest. "When they took our blood they used it to get our DNA. But why would they do that?"

"I don't know, I figured you might have more of an idea than me. They've also got a file on you." Kayla removed her profile from the screen and opened up a file called Cabral_00085861.prof. The profile looked very similar to Kayla's.

NAME: Cabral, Chris

Hominid Type: Human Male (100%, 0 elven haplotypes detected)

Age Estimate: 16.8 Quildalar years

Radiation Sickness Vulnerability Score: 6/10 (moderate)

GENOPSYCHOMETRIC PROFILE:

Estimated Impulsivity Score: 14/100

Estimated Creativity Score: 93/100

Estimated Religiosity Tendency: 60/100

Estimated Charisma Score: 21/100

Estimated Intellect Score: 90/100

Estimated Shrewdness Score: 59/100

OTHER NOTES: ***CARVER NEUROTYPE A POSITIVE***

"What is the Carver neurotype?" Milo asked looking at the red font that read "CARVER NEUROTYPE A POSITIVE".

"I don't know, Milo. I figured you might. "

"What else have you found on the computer?" Milo asked.

"I've found many different profiles on here. They weren't just targeting us for a genetic test at least."

"I have never heard of a Carver Neurotype" Milo said. "A lot of elven research on humanology – especially the genetics and neurological research – is classified." Milo noticed Kayla rolling her eyes slightly at the use of the h- word.

After they both got dressed, they headed down to where the train was to stop to go to the pavilion. Kayla did not mention the night before even once and seemed to act as if it didn't happen at all, which was fine with Milo.

They boarded the train, which headed to the side of the Relanda and across the bay on a beautiful bridge over the lagoon. The vegetation resembled those of tropical shorelines of Earth and gave the location a nice feel. Not long after they reached the other side of the bay, they could see the pavilion. It was a large building with a rough, beige exterior. It didn't look particularly attractive. There was already a large crowd of people in the surrounding agora with many different kiosks. Milo and Kayla exited the train and weaved through the large crowd up to the pavilion. It was a much nicer building on the inside. They made their way into the main ballroom with a sign that read "Hominids for Sustainable Growth", and found their name tags "Chris" and "Melinda".

Milo absolutely hated the next half hour or so, introducing himself to people around and pretending to care about the conference and playing the part of a farmer. Even though he didn't make any headway, Milo was relieved when everyone was called to the auditorium for the introductory address. He paid little or no attention to it, thinking instead back to the previous night. What had come over Kayla? Did elven management put some kind of aerosolized aphrodisiac into the vents? After the speech was over and capped off with loud cheers, Milo exited the room to find Kayla.

"Any luck?" Milo asked.

"Not anything" Kayla said. "I don't think there's really going to be anything worthwhile here, but at least we're at a nice place."

That's when Milo spotted him. It was a young man in his late twenties with curly brown hair and a full beard, long, black pants, and a dark green tuxedo vest. At first Milo hesitated wondering whether or not he should really follow the path that was apparently laid out for him, but after a moment his curiosity got the best of him.

"Kayla" he said tugging on the top of Kayla's dress. "Kayla follow me, I think I might have a lead for us, I will explain it to you later." Milo said. As Milo approached the man Kayla followed, seeming puzzled but following none the less.

Milo approached the man and looked to both sides to make sure no one was around to listen. "Excuse me, sir." Milo said. "I need to know where the dove's night flight ends?" At that moment both Kayla and the stranger both gave him strange looks.

"Come with me" the man said. Milo and Kayla followed the man into the elevator. The man put a keycard into a slit on the control panel and hit the button marked "roof". They exited and sure enough they were on the roof of the pavilion. He led them to a wide-open area on the roof where you could plainly see no one was around to overhear. The man took out his phone and hit a few buttons. Milo could tell that he was talking on an entangled line. After a few of the rings Milo could hear a voice coming through the phone, but not enough to make out it was saying.

"Hey Dover, we've got an apparent messenger over at the Pavilion."

…

"I don't know, just a couple here at the sustainability convention."

…

"Yes."

…

"Oh yes, don't worry, I will make sure. Okay, I'll contact you in an hour or two." The man hung up the phone.

"I'm Brian Everett" the man said shaking his hands and then shaking Kayla's.

"Chris Cabral" Milo said "and this is my wife Melinda".

"So what message have the two of you got for me?" the man asked. Kayla looked at Milo, still completely befuddled at everything that had happened over the last minute.

"I don't have any message for you" Milo said, "I was told that you have some information about the surviving crew member of the Morian, Matt Snedecor." Brian's eyes widened a little bit.

"You two aren't here for the convention, are you?" the man said.

"Let's just say we're looking for him on behalf of a friend of mine who used to know him" Milo replied. "What can you tell us about him?" Brian looked in every direction to make sure that no one was within earshot.

"He has joined the Cult of the Goddess . We are almost sure of that."

"The cult of the goddess" Kayla piped in quickly overcoming her bewilderment enough to focus on the conversation. "You mean that death cult the royal family has always believed to be involved in but no one has ever managed to prove it?" Kayla asked.

Brian turned his head to really look at Kayla for the first time. "I don't think the royal family is involved in any way, but I can assure you that they are real and are becoming a danger to you and me and many billions of people."

"So your church isn't preparing for an apocalyptic holy war against the kingdom with all those weapons that were just seized, just against some shadowy cult that has eluded the royal intelligence."

"My church?" Brian asked seeming surprised. "No, I am not affiliated with St. Vernon. Some of their parishes are an arm of our organization, though."

"What organization?" Milo asked. Brian paused for a moment, seemingly to try and think of the best way to answer.

"We are neither a church nor a rebel group, just a humanist group resisting the forces working against outworld and humanity. We call ourselves the Network."

"So do you have any information about Snedecor?" Milo asked politely as he could starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

"We are pretty sure he has acquired a very powerful weapon called the Oxidation Super Catalyzer. Or more specifically, the Morian mining guild did. The OSD pretty much can lower the flash point for most any material in its field and cause it to burn like kindling. We think Snedecor took the OSD and fled the ship and presumably all the ore in the ship burned while he fled. They could've sold that thing and the whole guild had made enough money for a year's worth of mining."

"So he gave up a chance to share in a fortune of the guild to be the most wanted human in the galaxy?" Kayla said.

"The Cult of the Goddess is a bunch of fanatics. I wouldn't put it past them to achieve their own aims at any costs, including deaths. They are servants of a pretty malevolent…entity"

"You mean a supposed Goddess?" Kayla said scornfully.

"Use whatever word you want, but it is an undoubtedly a real entity. No one really knows for sure what it is, but it has a very insidious agenda and is quite powerful."

"By the way" Brian asked, "how did you even manage to get that code phrase that you used?" Milo hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath before speaking.

"I had a dream – well it was sort of like a dream but it didn't seem at all like an altered state of consciousness – anyways, I was on this barren landscape and there was a tree in the middle of nowhere where I met this guy. He told me I could meet a guy in a dark green tuxedo vest here and that you'd have information about Snedecor." At this comment Kayla seemed to have a hard time holding up the weight of her jaw. Brian looked at him with an astonished face.

"Wow" Brian said with an astonished look on his face. "Now that is very interesting." Kayla at this point seemed to be at a loss for words.

"What else do you know about Snedecor?" Milo asked again now starting to feel kind of awkward.

"We're not sure that they have any particular use for the OSC." Brian said. "We think they want to trade it to a gray for something else."

"What?" asked Milo.

"We have no idea. It's got to be something really important for them to trade away the OSC, though."

"A gray" Kayla echoed. "What is this gray's name?"

"He's called Cubork" Brian said. Milo and Kayla both looked at each other.

"You know him?" Brian asked noticing the reaction from the name being mentioned.

"We know a guy who has met him." Kayla said. "What do you know about Cubork?" Kayla said.

"Not a whole lot. All those grays are pretty strange. We think he might also work with the Cult of the Goddess. He is supposedly well known as a gray that will trade artifacts. He may know more about gray artifacts and devices than anyone. He's not easy to find, though." Milo could tell that Kayla really was putting up a big effort to keep her mouth shut.

"Anything else?" Brian asked.

"I think that's all unless you know anything about Snedecor" Milo said.

"Then I guess we'll part ways for now" Brian said.

"Likewise, and best wishes" Milo said. Brian smiled a genuinely happy-looking smile to him.

"I have a strong feeling we will meet again. If there's any way I can be of service, I'm here" Brian said with an excited-looking smile. Milo and Kayla walked with Brian back into the elevator and went back to the ground floor. The wait for the train wasn't long. Kayla was silent, not surprisingly. Milo could tell she was taking a lot in and did not care for talking. When they got back to their room at the resort neither said a word. As Milo turned the door knob and opened the door, Kayla shot directly into her room, digging through her bag looking for something. She took out a magnifying glass-like object and attached her phone to it and began furiously pushing buttons.

"Sit down on the bed, Milo" she said as she seemed to have whatever configuration with the device that she needed.

"I think I've got a bit of a headache now" Milo said trying to interject with some humor into what seemed to be a good deal of worry.

"No!" she barked back at him. "I need to scan your brain and see if some kind of implant has been put in it. I don't think it could have gotten implanted in you without you knowing it but there's only one way to be sure. Kayla waved the glass part of the device all over Milo's head. The device beeped periodically a few times.

"All clear" she said. She again waved the device over her own head a few times.

"Nothing" she said. "Well, that's not necessarily a good thing. Do you know what this probably means, Milo?"

"No idea" Milo said. "You got me."

"How isn't it obvious?" she said. "That device Clyde has must be manipulating our minds somehow. You're having these weird dreams and the two of us got a little…over-excited when we first got here."

"You think Clyde is messing with us?"

"No" Kayla said. "I still trust him. I don't think he has any idea what that thing does. If that Brian guy is right then Clyde's just going to use that thing to barter with Cubork to get something. If we see him again any time soon he has some serious explaining to do." Kayla disconnected her phone from the multi-purpose scanner, placed it back in its protective case, and put it back in her bag.

"Do you believe everything that Brian was saying?" Milo asked.

"We have no way to verify anything that he said. We have no idea if he is who he says he is. " There was a brief silence.

"So what do we do, Kayla? Do we need to notify Bohr that our ability to perform the mission has been compromised?" Kayla sat for a moment in deep thought.

"No" she said. "That's going to be an absolute last resort. It's not like we can really explain it all to him without going over the multiple rules of the agency we've already broken on this trip. We just need to be mindful of our thoughts and keep an eye out for any unusual behavior between the two of us. Both of us need to get some sleep and hopefully clear out our brains." The rest of the evening passed uneventfully and Kayla seemed to have calmed down. After about ten more minutes, they turned the lights out and went to sleep.

Not long after Milo began to fall asleep, he awoke, but was not in his bed. He was once again in the familiar-looking overcast barren landscape with a pillar of light over a large tree. As with before, he could see a man standing by the tree. Milo tried to wake up. It was no use. He began once again walking towards the tree to again see the bald human male figure.

"You're Dark Gaia, aren't you?" Milo said.

"That's what people who do not like me call me" the hooded figure said. "I go by the name Nadarska."

"Are you an intellichine created by the grays?" Milo asked.

"No, I am not. But I do not expect you to believe me, nor should you."

"What are you then?" Milo asked.

"Neither an intellichine nor a living organism, I am a metaphysical being."

"You mean you're a god?" Milo asked.

"That's probably not a good way to think of me, given how humans tend to conceptualize gods. I am neither infallible or omnipotent or omniscient. I am merely a being not constrained by the normal rules governing the physical universe."

"Can you see all that I see and know all I think and hear all that I hear?"

"No" Nadarska said with no sign of any equivocation. "As I said I am not unlimited in pretty much any fashion, though I am quite powerful. I and my counterpart, Gaia, created and shaped the history of life in ways too small to measure in moments or even years, but over eons our influence is large beyond measure. I can't smite you very easily or easily bring you instant good or bad fortune. I do not move mountains or part oceans, however, though I think that should be obvious."

"But you can obviously keep up with where I'm going and what I'm doing, aren't you?" Milo asked.

"Well, yes. I can read your emotions and sense your thoughts in a limited way in the physical domain. I can also exercise some level of control over lower brain function…things like sexual attraction. You saw that effect that I had on your partner, earlier…"

"Sorry if you were caught off guard or frightened, I just needed to demonstrate my abilities to you and that was the easiest way. Don't be ashamed." he said in a reassuring voice. "In fact, you should be proud. You truly are an exceptional person more than you can realize, but I cannot maintain this connection to your mind for long so I won't get too much into who I am." Milo nodded. His mind felt like a chaotic press conference with dozens of reporters all trying to ask questions at one time.

"Well, you can consider me impressed" Milo told him. "You may want to hold off some on manipulating Kayla's sexual attraction. She's going to think there's some sort of mind control device working on us."

"I won't do that anymore, unless, of course, you want me to. You and she are very genuinely a great pair of humans. You are a means to increase my sensory perception on the physical universe. When you touch people, I can sense more acutely individuals on a physically and mentally – more so than Gaia even. She appears to care about you and respect you, she just doesn't reciprocate your apparent attraction. It's a shame that humans must have the approval of their primitive minds to select their life partners."

"Can you make people fall in love with people or create a lasting sexual attraction?" Not sure that of all the questions he could've asked he asked about that.

"I'm afraid not. I could make her ferociously amorous to you daily, but that wouldn't be substitute for any real bond and if I did that for an extended periods of time it will take a psychological toll I'm not willing to put on anyone" Nadarska explained.

"I need to sever our connection for now. I know that as inquisitive as you are you probably have many questions, but I it's not good for you for me to keep this connection for too long. I will be speaking with you in your sleep again before long" he said before Milo could get another question in. In an instant he blacked out back into his sleep.