"But sometimes I feel like this plain, old Terran isn't really prepared to be evolution's agent."But sometimes I feel like this plain, old Terran isn't really prepared to be evolution's agent. But I volunteered for the job, and I apparently am pretty good at it." "I think so," Furry said. "I think so, too," Nickolai said, wrapping an arm around her. "Me too," Shardik said. "Some people think I'm a god. Well, if that's the case then it's worth my while to go out to Mare Silencum and look at my mistakes, and resolve to never make them again. Even if it takes me forever to realize that the flesh, and the heart, are not the same." He took a deep breath and said, "Would you like to stay and draw for a while?" "I think I will," Furry replied. "I'll stay with her," Nickolai replied. "I expected that," Shardik said. He took a few steps down the side of the hill, then turned around and said, "Look, if... if what I just showed you disturbed you at all, I'm sorry. But I felt it important to actually show it to someone, someone who could go home and tell people about it." Nickolai smiled and said, "It was a scary thing to see. But I think I understand why you showed it to us. Thank you, sir." "Thank you, Nickolai." He walked down the hill and out of sight. "Wow," Nickolai said when he felt Shardik was out of earshot. "Wow is right," Furry said, propping her book up on her knees and pulling a pencil out of her pocket. "Every day I've been here, something new has come up." "It is a little scary." "A little?" she asked, surprised. Nickolai watched with amazement as the building she was staring at took shape on the paper with an ease he found frustrating. "More than a little. I mean, all of this... It means something, Nickolai, but I don't know what. One second he's the most normal person I've ever met, the next second he's showing us his graveyard." She shuddered gently. "Somewhere in there were Markals, too, that didn't make it." She switched pencils. "The texture of this stones is heavier than it looked at first." "I bet there were a few humans in there, too. |