will die, all children will die. Someday stars will wind down or blow up. Someday death will cover us all like the water of a lake and perhaps nothing will ever come to the surface to show that we were ever there. But we were there, and during the time we lived, we were alive. That's the truth -- what is, what was, what will be -- not what could be, what should have been, what never can be. If we die, then our death has meaning to the rest of the universe. Even if our lives are unknown, the fact that someone lived here, and died, that will have repercussions, that will shape the universe."
"So that's meaning enough for you?" said Grego. "To die as an object lesson? To die so that people can feel awful about having killed you?"
"There are worse meanings for a life to have."
Waterjumper interrupted them. "The last of the ansibles we expected is online. We have them all connected now."
They stopped talking. It was time for Jane to find her way back into herself, if she could.
They waited.
Through one of her workers, the Hive Queen saw and heard the news of the restoration of the ansible links. "It's time," she told the fathertrees.
"Can she do it? Can you lead her?"
"I can't lead her to a place where I can't go myself," said the Hive Queen. "She has to find her own way. All I can do right now is tell her that it's time."
"So we can only watch?"
"I can only watch," said the Hive Queen. "You are part of her, or she of you. Her aiua is tied now to your web through the mothertrees. Be ready."
"For what?"
"For Jane's need."
"What will she need? When will she need it?"
"I have no idea."
At his terminal on the stranded starship, the Hive Queen's worker suddenly looked up, then arose from her seat and walked to Jane.
Jane looked up from her work. "What is it?" she asked distractedly. And then, remembering the signal she was waiting for, she looked over at Miro, who had turned to see what was happening. "I've got to go now," she said.
Then she flopped back in her seat as if she had fainted.
At once Miro was out of his chair; Ela wasn't far behind. The worker had already unfastened Jane from the chair and was lifting her off. Miro helped her draw Jane's body through the corridors of weightless space to the beds in the back of the ship. There they laid her down and secured her to a bed. Ela checked her vital signs.
"She's sleeping deeply," said Ela. "Breathing very slowly."
"A coma?" asked Miro.
"She's doing the minimum to stay alive," said Ela. "Other than that, there's nothing."
"Come on," said Quara from the door. "Let's get back to work."
Miro rounded on her, furious -- but Ela restrained him. "You can stay and watch over her if you want," she said, "but Quara's right. We have work to do. She's doing hers."
Miro turned back to Jane and touched her hand, took it, held it. The others left the sleeping quarters. You can't hear me, you can't feel me, you can't see me, Miro said silently. So I guess I'm not here for you. Yet I can't leave you. What am I afraid of? We're all dead if you don't succeed at what you're doing now. So it isn't your death I fear.
It's your old self. Your old existence among the computers and the ansibles. You've had your fling in a human body, but when your old powers are restored, your human life will be just a small part of you again. Just one sensory input device among millions. One small set of memories lost in an overwhelming sea of memory. You'll be able to devote one tiny part of your attention to me, and I'll never know that I am perpetually an afterthought in your life.
That's just one of the drawbacks when you love somebody so much greater than yourself, Miro told himself. I'll never know the difference. She'll come back and I'll be happy with all the time we have together and I'll never know how little time and effort she actually devotes to being with me. A diversion, that's what I am.
Then he shook his head, let go of her hand, and left the room. I will not listen to the voice of despair, he told himself. Would I tame this great being and make her so much my slave that every