"There were only four last year!" "Fifty years ago," Vega corrected me again."There were only four last year!" "Fifty years ago," Vega corrected me again. I felt like I was getting a headache. Travelling forward in time fifty years had completely disoriented me. And there were people on Pendor who did this all the time! Vega continued, "They returned to normal levels after three years, but intelligence was constantly aware of their immense interest and intensive resource effort in finding you. Occasionally they would claim to have captured or killed you, but we never gave up hope and the details they gave were never very accurate." "Surprise that. A species almost to stupid to be spaceworthy." "Actually, they're very intelligent. When it comes to relegative processes, the Sinox are actually superior to all the Pendorian Races." "With one exception," Dali, the ship's AI, interrupted. "Well, yes, with one exception. Anyway, the Sinox don't suffer intuitively because of it, either. They're a very straightforward and functional race. They're just so completely homocentric that external competition is anathema to them. Internal competition, they believe, just makes them stronger." "Kinda makes sense why they think I'm their Great Evil incarnate, then," I mused quietly. "Not only do I represent competition, but I created varieties of competition that are actually superior to myself." "I am not superior to you, am I?" Thera asked, looking confused. "Actually, you were," I said casually. "You're a lot more survival-worthy than your base Terran Human. I was one once, remember?" She nodded. |