No, I am not a Soul Hunter, although I do know of their breed. I see that Cathedral has returned to the doings of the younger races, and that the Well of Souls has spoken to mortal beings again.
Are the Soul Hunters themselves not mortal?
After a fashion.
Wait.... are you saying that the Soul Hunters were not meant to be a part of this? This was not their destiny?
What is destiny? You accept the concept as if the future were written out as plain as day, words on a page, engravings on a stone slab. I can see some of the things laid out before me, but not all. No, Delenn of Mir, I was not expecting the Soul Hunters to return to the doings of the younger races for another thousand years at least, but it seems I was wrong. I have heard the Well of Souls speak to young Primarch Sinoval. I have heard my children within the Well.... they are a part of me even now, you know. Primarch Sinoval.... he denies destiny, and he spurns his doom. He makes his own way. I cannot tell if he is walking a hero's path, or a fool's.
Your children...? You are a First One?
To an extent. I am the First One. The first living being spun out of the fabric of the universe, all those years ago. Time seems to have sped up recently. It moved so slowly back then.
You are immortal?
I am. We are all immortal, in our own ways.
What do you mean? Am I.... dead?
No. Your wounds would not have been fatal in any event. At least, not to you. I did what I could to repair them, little mother. A simple matter of the manipulation of energies.
Then what is to happen to me?
That.... is for you to decide. You were warned that you would have to make a choice, were you not?
Yes.... Yes.... the technomages.... they told me....
This is where you must choose.
Choose between what? I don't understand!
Not yet. You must see things first. You must revisit the past, and maybe even a glimpse of the future you think is written in stone.
Stones can be shattered.
Exactly. Come now.... look.... and learn....
He was not stopped at customs. In fact no one seemed to notice him as he breezed past the usual array of tourists, businessmen, soldiers, refugees and journalists. Why would anyone notice him, after all? He had not been particularly famous or renowned when he was alive. Oh, some small recognition in his chosen field, but it was a small and closed field at best.
And now, after his 'death', people had a tendency not to notice him. That had got him out of a fair number of predicaments, and even a cell or two.
Fortunately for Mr. Morden, people could see him sufficiently well for him to stop a taxi. He smiled at the driver and got inside. He had been away for quite a while, but some things never changed.
"Where to, sir?" asked the driver.
Sir? Morden was impressed, and made a mental note to give a bigger than usual tip. His associates could afford it, and respect like that deserved to be rewarded. "Sector One-one-one, the Edgars Building."
"Right you are, sir. Had you figured for a business type the instant I saw you, so I did. Just come in from offworld, huh? Been doing some business at Beta Durani, or out in the Vega system, perhaps?"
"A bit further than that, actually."
"Ah, with the aliens, eh? That musta been exciting. We get a few aliens through here. Narns, mostly, although not as many as we used to. Which is all for the good if you ask me. I mean, yeah, we've had some help from aliens in the past, but we shouldn't have to go grovelling to other races for a bit of help now, should we?"
"I guess not," he replied, faintly amused.
"Now that's what I like about these allies of ours. We don't have to grovel. They want to help us, and don't ask a single damned thing in return. They just want to help, they say. Hey, you been offworld a while. You won't have seen their flyby at New Year, will you?"
"No, I'm afraid I didn't."
"Hot damn, you really missed something, sir. That was impressive, seeing all those ships pass by overhead.... it sure was something. My Rosa.... that's the missus, twenty years the ball and chain, eh? Well, my Rosa said they creeped her out, and I sorta get what she meant, but they were still impressive. We've got nothing to fear from them anyway. They're our allies, right?"
"Looks can be deceiving."
"That's right, that's what I was telling her. Yeah, they do look a bit scary I guess, but they're just different from us. Just 'cause they look weird, that don't mean they ain't our friends."
"Exactly."
"So, you gonna be on Proxima long?"
"I'm not really sure. I've got some business to deal with, and then I might be heading out."
"Ah well, while you're here, if you get time you wanna go down to the cinema screens. They got a damned good one at Meadowhall Dome. Yeah, I know, you can get all the films at home with that virtual reality, surround sound rubbish, but you can't beat a good night out at the cinema, popcorn an' all. Anyway, last week, me and Rosa, we went down to see that new film Wandering Star. Damned good, it was. Starred that Barringer fellow. It'd get an Oscar or two, I reckon.... or at least it would, if they were still doing Oscars. A crying shame, that was. I mean, we need some field of achievement, don't we? No matter what you do, you need something to aim for, you need someone to reach out and grab the medal, the statue.... whatever."
"The field of human achievement," Morden said. "A never-ending struggle for self-improvement."
"That's it in a nutshell, sir. We need something to aim for. Reckon the Minbari took that from us, but we're getting it back. They started up the baseball again. You a baseball fan, sir?"
"I used to be. I haven't really had time to keep up with things recently."
"Ah. Well, if you're a betting man, I've put a couple of creds on the Swashbucklers. Proxima team. My cousin's in the team, you know. Well, third cousin a couple of times removed or something, but hey, family's family, right? People don't believe me when I tell them that, but it's true."
"I believe you."
"Well, thanks, sir. It's always nice to get a real gentleman in the cab. I mean, I had to change routes because all I ever got were the students at the Medical and Law Colleges down in Sector Two-four-five. Awful they were. Singing and capering around, and throwing up all the time. Well, I needed the money, mind, but I much prefer this route. It's nice to have someone to talk to who can say something serious. I mean, the kids o' today, they don't know what it was like all those years during the war. Here we are, just got things back on track after all that time of hard work, all that loss, and those kids act like they don't have to work for nothing any more. A lot of them don't know what it's like to go through all that, or if they did, they've forgotten. I mean, me and Rosa, our kids might be at university now.... if they were still alive, you know. The eldest one died at Orion, and our little girl.... well, she starved to death the following winter. Parents aren't meant to outlive their children, you know. There's something just.... wrong about it all. You got any children, sir?"
"No.... I.... I guess I just never met anyone I loved enough to have children with."
"Ah, you'll find someone, sir. I'm sure of it. One of them classy businesswomen types, I'm sure. Had one of them in the back of my cab.... Heh heh, just kidding. Little cabbie's humour. Well, you've got to laugh at some things, don't you? If you don't laugh, you cry, ain't that the truth?"