"The Admiralty won’t be thrilled," Tut said, "considering the Unity has just acquired a few dozen gods, and the Technocracy gets stuck with nothing. The balance of power’s been thrown out of whack."
Festina shrugged. "Who knows what the survey teams will do, now that they’re elevated? Maybe they’ll help the Unity… but maybe they’ll decide there’s more interesting things to do than hang out with mere humans."
"Maybe," I said, "the uplifted survey teams will create their own champions in the Explorer Corps."
"It’s possible," Festina agreed. "Assuming the whole champion business isn’t bullshit. You have to realize, Youn Suu, the Balrog may have planted that notion in your mind as a joke. Or to mislead us from something else."
"You’re going to ignore the possibility?"
"No, I’ll investigate the crap out of it… but quietly. The navy treats Explorers badly enough already. The last thing I want is the High Council deciding we’re dangerous minions of alien masters, planted in the fleet to do God knows what. The corps could end up in jail… or worse. So I’d appreciate the two of you not mentioning the champion theory in your reports. Let me look into it discreetly."
"Fine with me, Auntie," Tut said. "I don’t understand it anyway." He looked at the anchored Sperm-tail. "Ready to go?"
"After you," Festina told him.
Tut grinned. "You two want to be alone?"
"Go. That’s an order."
Tut gave Festina a sloppy salute and bent over the small anchor box. A moment later, he disappeared upward: sucked into the Sperm-tail’s pocket universe and propelled all the way to the ship.
Festina turned to me. "Now… are you really coming back? Or does the Balrog have other plans?"
"The Balrog doesn’t give me orders," I said.
"Not that you’re aware of. How do you know your mind is your own?"
I just smiled. A breeze gently ruffled the nearby ferns, and waves lapped at the sand. Farther off, amphibians chirped in search of mates, insects nibbled on multicolored vegetation, and pretas — hungry ghosts — finally found the sustenance they’d been missing for six and a half thousand years.
After a while, Festina asked, "Are you coming back to the ship, Youn Suu?"
"What use does the navy have for an Explorer who can’t walk?"
"You can do research," Festina said. "I could get you assigned to my staff. Then you could help investigate somebody’s bizarre allegation that aliens are messing with the Explorer Corps."
"Would you trust me to do that? Or would you suspect every word I said, wondering if it was all disinformation planted by the Balrog for its own nefarious ends?"
She gave me a sheepish look. "I mistrust damned near everyone, Youn Suu. Even when they aren’t infested with smart-ass alien parasites."
"You’d treat me as an enemy spy. An aggravation you didn’t need." I patted her leg gently. "Don’t worry about me. And don’t feel guilty. I’ll be fine."
"What will you do?"
"The Balrog can teleport me anywhere. I’ll go someplace I’m needed."
"Where?"
"I don’t know yet. Perhaps I’ll contemplate the universe until an answer comes to me."
"Until the Balrog plants an answer in your mind."
"I choose not to see it that way." I held out my hand to her. "We’ll probably meet again. I have a sense that when everything comes to a head, we’ll all be there together."
Instead of taking my hand, she bent and kissed my cheek. The one with the mark of a champion. "Western heroes ride off into the sunset," Festina said. "Eastern heroes end up sitting alone in the dawn." She kissed me again. "I like your way better."
Then she was gone.