Shivering with cold and fear, Nology pressed her face into Auric’s side, her arms wrapped around his waist. “I don’t want to,” she whispered.

He forced himself to kneel in her embrace, so he could look into her wide sapphire eyes. “Beloved, you alone of us possess the great gift of Manifestation.” He held her hands and turned them palm up. “Within these fragile fingers is the power to bring the magic of science to the primitive.”

He felt his Gift wrap around the girl, calming her trembling. He was the embodiment of the heights of man, the greatness of achievement. He drew unwilling the very best from others, and what he was about to do made him sick to his stomach.

“Not in cities or monuments gilt,
But in the beating hearts of Man,
The Great Work is built,” he intoned.

Nology’s eyes glazed and he could see shadows of technological wonders waiting to Manifest. She left him in the cockpit and went up to the deck to face what was coming.

Auric looked at his sibs, his guilt fueled by their understanding.