Their voices came from the aft deck:
“Quaggima it calls:
Out of starfield coming, fire womb seeking
Fire it finds, rock wallowing, fume reeking
Oh, Corojumi, opener of space
Bofusdiaga, burrower of walls
It has need of birthing place
Wheeoo, it falls.”
The Corojum nodded. “Quaggima did not really call us by our names. Kaorugi heard Quaggima calling: ‘Oh, opener of space. Oh, burrower of walls.’ In our language, openers of space are Corojumi—for this is a dancing matter—and burrower of walls is Bofusdiaga, so we used those names in our song. It was Kaorugi who heard the calling, and Kaorugi said to us, you Corojumi, you are openers of space. And you, great Bofusdiaga, you are a burrower of walls, so you will be openers and burrowers for Quaggima as well. So, we opened space, and Quaggima fell.”
“Here?” asked Questioner, wanting to be quite sure. “To this planet?”
“Here. Inward, toward sun, intercepting us.”
“How did Kaorugi know what Quaggima said?”
“Kaorugi perceives meaning, over much, long time. Yes. Timmys, sing next verse!”
“Quaggima it cries:
I plant one living egg where womb fires are.
See how starflesh suffers! see wings char!
Bofusdiaga, singer of the sun,
Oh, Corojumi, dancers of bright skies
It has done and I have done
I cannot rise.”
Corojum nodded. “We did not know how big was Quaggima. We made too small a place. When Quaggima fell, it made far deeper chasm. All Quaggima’s wings were torn and burned. Egg was laid there, beneath Quaggima’s body, where stone is hot and steams rise, and egg sank down, into stone. What Quaggima said was true, it could not rise. It did not have wings to fly, like a bird-thing, only wings to soar, like a kite. And Kaorugi perceived it and felt pity and great interest and told us to care for Quaggima. Timmys, next to last verse!”
“Quaggima despairs
Driven against desire to fall and spawn
Now loving death and longing to be gone
Oh, Bofusdiaga, death defying!
Oh, blessed Corojumi, who repair!
The Quaggima is dying,
Take it in care.”
“Kaorugi said, ‘We do not know who Quaggima means when it sings about mender and death defier, we do not know where such creatures are or if they are listening, but we are here and we are listening, so we will become mender and death defier! We will stop pain, we will repair, and my creatures shall be death defier and caretaker to Quaggima.’ And it has been so, for Kaorugi said it. Kaorugi said, ‘You, my offshoot, Bofusdiaga, you be breaker of shackles and limitations. You be singer of sun, maker of mirrors, who will not allow stone walls to keep out the light. And you, you Corojumi, you create the dance, you repair the broken, you focus bright skies upon Quaggima.’ “
“Very commendable behavior,” commented the Questioner. “Does Kaorugi always say ‘we’?”
“When Kaorugi means self and parts of self. We are all parts of Kaorugi and do Kaorugi’s will. When Kaorugi says we, Kaorugi means all.”
“I understand. And what happened then?”
The Corojum whispered, “So we made Quaggima sleep to forget pain, and we mended its wings. But we were like Quaggima, z’na t’tapor, as you say ‘unaware,’ for egg of Quaggi grew with each wax of each moon. It sucked in substance of our world, and its shell got bigger and bigger. And then, as moons came all in a line, pulling, and egg rocked inside world, from inside egg we heard creature calling, ‘Quaggima, Quaggima, crack egg and let me out!’ And Quaggima began to hearken!
“But Kaorugi was there, everywhere, listening, and he cried, ‘A great miscalculation! When creature breaks the egg, it breaks world, and all here nearabout, all our life and being that is Dosha will die along with Quaggima!’
“Timmys! Final verse, the one we sing at the chasm!”
“Quaggida destroys
its life and ours. It lies beside the nest
where its child and our doom are coalesced.
Oh, Corojumi, bring deliverance,
Oh, great Bojusdiaga, who alloys
all life, grant it within this dance … “
“Yes, yes,” said the Corojum. “Do you see? Her child is our doom, for when Niasa breaks egg, Niasa breaks world. Everything shatters. All Dosha dies.”