0Samples taken and inspected.  All are aural nonsapients.0

&As always.  Any association with the sapients?&

0Yes.  The sapients control them, breed them, utilize their products, and slaughter them for food.0

&They employ aural entities - as cattle?&

0I have consulted with all my units.  There is no question.  These samples are animals, bred for docility, production, and potability of flesh.  Not for intelligence.0

&Surely this culture must be expunged from the face of the Universe!  We shall give this Cluster to the animals, letting the meek inherit.  As we have done before.&

0As we have done before.0

&Research units report in order, routine reports omitted.&

DOur assignment, Sphere Dash Andromeda, contains several operative ancient planetary sites.  One on planet £ has been penetrated, circa eleven cycles BP, but no evidence of exploitation, and site was resealed.D

&Planet £?  This has a familiar aspect.&

DIts designation is taken from its formerly dominant species, the tripeds.  Sapient but nonspacefaring, owing to their extreme bulk.D

&It was this species that penetrated the site?&

DCorrect.  Two £ entities died within it.  Presumed malfunction of admittance procedure, corrected by site computer when intruders were analyzed.D

&Orient action unit&

0Action unit 1, orient on that site.0

11Oriented.1

&Act only if site is reactivated by Cluster entities.  It is necessary to prevent ancient technology from falling into their capability, but destruction of a secure site would be wasteful, and waste is abomination.  This site has historical relevance, and its level is parallel to our present technology.&

1Clarification of assignment: should the site be reactivated by local entities1

&This would indicate a repeat activation, highly suggestive.  Destroy it, and extirpate life on that planet.&


The item on Herald's schedule said "Exorcism," followed by a Shield of Arms.  One glance at that Shield gave him the address, for it was the shape of Galaxy Milky Way, inset by the dragon of Segment Etamin, itself inset by the disk of Sphere Sador, one of the so-termed circular cultures.  The specific Achievement was that of Planet Keep, inset by the device of the Duke of Kade.  Beyond that, Herald would have to research; he was not conversant with every device of every planet in the Cluster.  There were, after all, in the neighborhood of a million sapient-populated planets, with new ones being added and old ones being closed down constantly.

Herald was eager to get the job finished, so he could go home and relax for a day in his own body.  His aura suffered only trifling depletion on his excursions, but still he liked to keep it at optimum strength, and that could only be done at home.  The interview with Smallbore of Metamorphic had shaken him, coming so soon after the suicide of Whorl of Precipice.  Had her warning of the hazard of this mission been a true manifestation of the paranormal?  Powerful but incomprehensible forces seemed to swirl about him, settling in to wreak he knew not what.  He had been a creature without evident destiny; was that now to change?

The way Smallbore had forced his rethinking about his fiancée, Flame of Furnace... would it be better to abate his foolish pride, go and mate with her and perhaps produce a child like Smallbore?  It would not matter to him if that child had no significant aura; she would still be a charming individual.  But it would be hard, very hard, to admit so dramatically that his prior stand had been wrong.  He could picture the half-veiled flicker of contempt of Flame of Furnace when he came to her.