Part 59 - The Six-Fold Star

PART THREE

Narrative concluded by Councilor Thursday...

I will begin this last section of my narrative by briefly apologizing for the fulsome length which which I dwelled upon assorted technical minutiae in the previous section. While of little interest, perhaps, to anyone other than a specialist in T-T Capsule sentience, that very same was the passion of my youth, and the events of this night were perhaps both the last hurrah of my adventures in this field, and, indeed, from a perspective of predestination, perchance the very rhyme and reason that one destined to serve as a Seer and Priestess, should find herself so entranced with this field of study in her younger years.

I thank you for your indulgence.

At the point in our narrative which I had reached, our group- yourself; Phaon, Lady Kylie; the Chancellor, Lord Morphed Carter of the Jade Dreamers, Lord Shon Tempest of House Cerulean, and Dr. Markan M.D. of the Citadel- I have looked up his name and credentials in the Matrix, since penning the earlier sections of this missive, had been brought by prophecy along with myself, to the Six-Fold Star. We stood within Nereid's air and gravitational shell, and looked once more upon the remarkable phenomenon which had haunted my dreams for so long.

Scientific study of the Star is still ongoing, naturally, along with a comprehensive analysis of the results of that initial survey, and such data would doubtless come better from the mouths of those scientists assigned to study it, however, I may attempt to summarize what I understood of the preliminary results delivered that night; in the hope that you will correct me, if I err.

The Six-Fold star was named as it was, by the Seers such as myself into whose visions it manifested, for the distinctive six-fold pattern of particular vacuoles which orbit the central blinding white core, in an apparent hexagonal formation of unnatural irregularity.

According to the scientific reports, these conspicuous phenomena are micro-sized Charged Vacuum Emboitements- clearly artificial in nature, and likely generated and stabilised by the six smaller, fast moving luminescent entities observed further in. These are too close to the central mass for accurate observation to have been achieved so far; perhaps in time more precise data may become available.

These carefully placed and stabilized C.V.E.s perform a beautifully intricate gravitational and entropic inter-reactive dance, which appears to maintain in perpetuity what would normally be an extremely ephemeral phenomenon- a central white hole of immense size and force, pluming exo-matter and energy into SL-Space, and more, a hole without an apparent singularity- a tunnel, or gateway, to another dimensional realm entirely. Where that might be, we were very soon to discover.

The sheer scale of the macro-stellar engineering here is staggering; beyond our skills even at our creative peak, a majestic feat of engineering to an awe-inspiring design; truly the handiwork of the gods; a creation of the Titans themselves.

As we watched, not far from us, the SASTAP materialised; SEN now prepared to perform his own role in this long prepared moment, and from the very eye of the Six-Fold Star, first one, then another divine presence emerged.

Swimming free and seeming-invigorated in the tumult of the Six-Fold Star's Event Horizon, buoyed up by forces which would have torn apart any creature anchored in and off space and time; even their own saddled brethren, first one, then a second Titan- wild, untamed, *infant*, burst free from their unfathomable womb dimension in the first wonder, the moment of birth. Their scarce-formed sensoria dei field of telepathic understanding swept over all of us for a moment, even as each began its natal flight, crossing the inky night of SL-Space, the dimension they should, in their time, learn to master as each T-T Capsule before them has done, into the open arms- or, at any rate, open doors, of the SASTAP.

As the Prophecy of the Lighthouse declared, written so long ago, "The Children Shall Come".

SEN departed- midwife and foster-parent, bearing away his charges to a destiny already known to us; for some few weeks ago, by our linear count of time, he would come to us in the past and bring us briefly forward to this night- you, Kylie, and I, before those very children whose minds we had touched, in order that you might give up the last of him within you, to grant them the strength to be saddled, within our Hyperloom, first of a new generation of T-T Capsules.

Now, at last, the prophecy was fulfilled, and the circle complete- and for me the beauty and wonder of the event is to glimpse, to marvel, at the web of destiny which was woven, the cradle of time of which we have all been made part, to comfort and give succour to two newborn children of so high and terrible a destiny.

You, perhaps most of all, for they were given life by you and it was by SEN's design that you were brought before them so that they would know, and accept you, first above all of us- but I think that they will have a place in all our hearts, ever more, where ever their travels take them.

I urge that the temporal beacon at the Six-Fold Star be strengthened, and efforts made by Temporal Control to chart a stable route as soon as possible. Legitimate scientific research into this phenomenon should not be hindered, so long as it does not endanger the birth of further Titans- and I have no doubt that there will be more to follow, in the fullness of time.

As for myself, I find my eighth century taking advantage of my distraction, and creeping up on me quite without permission. While the Elixir's blessing and curse makes that mean rather less than it might otherwise do, I nevertheless feel the warning hand of encroaching middle age upon my hearts.

Let that touch of sobriety guide me, thus, and I find myself reflecting that after this last, great adventure and the culmination of so much of my life's endeavour, I shall turn myself more to the occupations befitting a Priestess and High Councillor; the study of ancient lore and prophecy, to scry and seek the future in visions yet to come, to teach the old skills and histories to the new generation, to continue as our House's advocate in the High Council, and, perhaps, a little of the decadent indulgence due to the ecclesiastical and political upper echelons in middle age.

I shall See; henceforth though, I think, I shall let younger, and newer hot-heads seek to bring these prophecies to fruition. With no pun intended, I shall see how long that resolution lasts!

Yours in friendship,
Lady Thursday, Councillor.