“And yet the dolphins vouched for you.”
“The dolphins?” I blurted. “Are they here?”
“Not in this era,” the voice answered.
I realized that these Old Ones could travel through time the way the Creators could. The way I had myself.
“When we first made contact with you, Orion,” the voice continued, “we sensed nothing but a warrior intent on slaying his enemies. But the dolphins told us you were a good friend to them, so we probed deeper.”
It was the Old Ones whom I had sensed earlier, then. Yet I had no memory of how I got to be a good friend to the dolphins. Was I sent on a mission into the ocean, in another era?
“We find that although your basic instincts are those of a warrior, there are other desires struggling within you.”
“I have a will of my own,” I told them, “even though my Creator looks upon me as nothing more than a tool for his use.”
“That is a part of the problem you present to us.” The voice sounded slightly perturbed despite its silky smoothness. “We have been observing your kind since you first arrived. You humans are bloodthirsty as well as xenophobic.”
“We were made that way,” I admitted. “Although some of us have tried to rise above it.”
“Have you?”
“Some of us have. There are humans at the Skorpis base who are scientists. They are not warriors, not killers.”
“Why do you not regard the Skorpis as humans?” Although I heard only one voice, I got the impression that more than one of these sea creatures was speaking to me, or perhaps they were all speaking, and what I heard was a blend of their individual thoughts and questions.
“The Skorpis come from another world,” I answered. “They are descended from felines.”
“While your kind are patterned after primate apes.”
“That’s right,” I said.
“What makes you think that the Skorpis come from a different origin than your own?”
“They couldn’t…” I hesitated. “Do you mean that they were also—”
“Produced by your Creators? Why do you find that difficult to believe?”
“Not difficult. Just—a new idea. I hadn’t considered it before.”
“The universe is old, Orion. And your Creators have been very busy.”
“But if the Skorpis were also made by the Creators, why are they fighting against us?” I asked.
“Whatever your Creators touch degenerates into violence,” the Old Ones said. “They are a plague among the stars.”
“But you,” I asked again. “Who are you? What have you to do with the Creators?”
“We are a very old race, Orion. Older than your Creators by tens of millions of years. We have no desire to be dragged into the slaughters that your kind are perpetrating.”
“Why should you be?”
“Because your fellow humans have discovered us. They have tried to make contact with us. They want us to ally ourselves with them against their enemies.”
“I don’t even know who our enemies are,” I said.
“Other humans, of course. And species of similar levels of development, such as the Skorpis and the Tsihn.”
I felt confused, stunned almost, at all this new information they were throwing at me. They sensed my mental turmoil.
“Do not feel anxious, Orion. We will explain everything to you so that you can understand it fully.”
Why? I wondered. What do they want?
As if in answer, the silky voice told me, “You are going to be our ambassador, Orion. You will give our message to your Creators.”
CHAPTER 12
The city of the Old Ones, down at the abyssal depths of the ocean, was a vast wonderland of delights. Actually, the term city is a misnomer, for the Old Ones had no need for buildings or structures. Yet they clustered together in this sea-bottom aggregation of lights and patterns, exchanging thoughts like very old and very wise philosophers. Aristotle would have been happy here; Plato would have found his republic of intellect.
For countless days I wandered through the city, buoyed in an invisible sphere that somehow always was filled with fresh air. I neither ate nor drank, yet I was nourished and refreshed. My wounds healed completely as I learned of the Old Ones, their origins and history, their place in the continuum, their relationship to the Creators and the war that was spanning this region of the galaxy.