Page 27 of Advance and Retreat

Except for the Other.Why have you allowed it to continue existing?

Seething anger erupted.The Other is a coward.

Why do you say that?

It keeps itself unseeable.When it does show up, it doesn’t use its own face.It makes a mockery of the All!

Cassidy winced at the vicious rage pouring in her skull.It isn’t a lower lifeform than the All then, is it?If you can’t harm it?

It is an abomination!It is not the All!It should die!The Dark Egilka worked on at his station joined in the furious denouncements.Since it was pinned motionless by its shrunken containment, the emperor, rapt in concentration as he worked on it, failed to note its agitation.

“Like children, aren’t they?”a low, feminine voice asked Cassidy.“Nasty attitudes, but does one erase their children when they misbehave?”

Cassidy jerked her attention to the figure who’d appeared beside her.She gaped to see herself standing there, looking at her in detached interest.

Chapter Seven

The entity wearingCassidy’s image wasn’t quite identical to her.The second Cassidy wasn’t pregnant.Instead, she cradled a tiny baby in her arms.

“I have a question for you, Dr.Hamilton.”The tone continued to be quiet, confidential.

“Yes?”Cassidy whispered, as if from the depths of a dream.

“Should you discover the child you carry might become as vicious as those you call Darks, would you kill it too?”

Cassidy slowly stood, her gaze centered on the naked infant.It was a girl, her head topped by a shock of jet-black hair.Her Kalquorian purple eyes watched her with the same clinical consideration as her other self.From a great distance, she heard herself croak, “My emperor?”

“Yes, Doctor?”Egilka’s polite but distant tone indicated he was coming out of his own fog, probably because he was deep in concentration.It was followed by a surprised shout.A crash informed Cassidy his stool had tipped and fallen to the floor.

She recovered from her own shock enough to interrogate her doppelganger.“The All.Is it your child...or a creature of your making?Is that what you’re telling me by your question?Is that why you haven’t destroyed it?”

The second Cassidy, no doubt a representative of the Other, ignored her inquiry.Instead, she said, “You won’t defeat it.Many more advanced than the species of this dimension have tried.”

“Haveyou?”Cassidy challenged.Motion at the corner of her vision told her Egilka was hurrying around their shared worktable, trying to reach her in the probable effort to keep her safe.

“We’ve had no need to oppose the All.It can’t touch us.”