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"Exactly, Feodor," a young, lanky genmanip said, lifting eir crystal of mist. Eir only adornment besides the corona encircling eir hairless head was a glowing spiral, a representation of the Galaxy, hovering above eir smooth-skinned chest. "The Galactics are here to usher us all into paradise."

"The Galactics," Koehler said with distaste, "are not gods."

The manip gave a dismissive wave of eir free hand. "They might as well be. Think of what we shall learn...and of what we shall become!"

"Dala's right!" a young woman gushed. She, too, wore the galactic spiral of the Joining, hovering between her bare breasts. "According to the Church, they will transfigure us all. Caterpillars becoming butterflies!"

"Maybe," Brandt said, [SKEPTICAL]. "Thus sayeth the Church of the Joining, but what's important is our transformation into a mature species."

"Well spoken," Lady Logan said. She joined the group with something odd and technological floating beside her.

"Ladies, gentlemen, mannies," she said, gesturing at her silently hovering companion, "this is why I invited all of you here tonight. We have a very special guest with us, a representative from the Galactics. May I present One of the Galactic Central Authority. Some of you know him, ah, know em already."

"Oh, yes," Brandt said, toasting the object with his mist crystal. "How are you, One?"

"Well, Mr. Brandt. I trust you are well also."

The voice emanating from the Galactic was smooth and articulate, natural, and with a tone somewhere between a light male and a deeper-than-average female voice—perfectly gender neutral, in other words. One's body was obviously a machine of extremely advanced design, a meter-tall mass floating just at eye level on silent gravs. It was roughly ovoid but with a gleaming silver surface constantly shifting and changing, as though it were made of liquid mercury, an alien analogue to the coronas present in the room. Morrigan suspected that it represented some type of advanced nanotechnology—trillions of cell-sized machines held together by a magnetic or gravitic magic far beyond current human technology.

The thing had eyes—she assumed they were eyes—a dozen deep red cabochons of different sizes, like rubies, floating in the silvery liquid surface. It appeared to have at least one of the crystals watching each of the humans there.

Morrigan was surprised to find that her corona couldn't identify One, that it didn't even seem to recognize that the Galactic was floating right there in front of her. Were her corona's sensors somehow being blocked? Or was One representative of a technology completely beyond the corona's grasp?

"So why are you here, One?" she asked. She'd downloaded reports on the arrival of a number of the machines—Floaters or Glitters, as the media had tagged them. She knew what the news feeds had said about them: "technological liaisons from the Galactic Core, here to guide Humankind into a new and peaceful relationship with the rest of the Galaxy." It was better, she thought, to get her information when possible straight from the source.

All twelve of the being's eyes drifted together onto one side of the hovering egg, studying her. "To spy on you, of course," One told her. "Yours is a fascinating species, and we have been interested in your development for some time now."

One's answer generated a nervous murmur of laughter through the group. "Oh, come now, One!" Lady Logan said. "You're here for other reasons than that."

"The Authority's message, One!" Brandt said, his voice just barely touched by urgency.

"What message would that be, One?" Captain Harrison asked.

"Why, our invitation, of course. An invitation to your species to join the Galactic community. Dr. Brandt is quite right. Many on your world have been yearning for contact with a Galactic civilization you felt certain must exist. For thousands of years, your religions have sought final union with an agency, with a being, far greater and more powerful than you. And now, at long last, that time has come. We are here to invite you into the Galactic community."

"The Galactic Empire, you mean," Captain Carter said. Her corona tagged her as [HOSTILE].

"Translate it as you will," One said with an indifferent air. "The Authority has no emperor as you think of the term. We represent some millions of advanced civilizations working together for the common good while seeking to help emerging cultures like your own. The closest thing we have to a ruling government is a congeries of... call them extended intellects. Fifth Singularity, highly evolved, noncorporeal. In fact, they actually have very little in common with lesser minds. They guide the rest of us but rarely issue edicts or demand obedience."

"How admirable," Carter said. She was still [HOSTILE].

"I've heard, One," Morrigan said carefully, "that acceptance of your offer comes with a rather high price."