“We do not punish. We learned it was wrong to banish Rentappenen when he came to steal from us. When one does wrong things here, we assign a tutor to teach one better, but Rentappenen lied to us. He said he learned, and was lonely for his home, so we sent him.

  “Many told us of his acts, and we are all shocked! Now you come to us and we know he is dead, and most of his work is repaired. Our scholars studied what happened, through the eyes of everyone who fought him.” A breeze made her white hair float at the sides of her face. Her eyes glowed blue.

  Andy ran up and bowed, then so did Dromie, and all their people bowed in layers around us.

  “All of you showed skill in using the Green Lens, as Kerponie had with the Rainbow Lens. Rentappenen tried to use it and injured himself. You took it and asked it how to use it. Because you asked, the Lens protected you and allowed you to save your world. But your people wanted weapons, and power. So you sent your research, and the Lens, to Kawspas, knowing Rentappenen would kill you. He created the Cube Of Many Colors when he forced you to work for him, but you knew what evil he would unleash with the power of your Lens!” She wept. “Because you sent it to your brother, he used it to fight Rentappenen.”

  She looked at Andy. “Kawspas did not know the Lens would create living weapons. So you gained sentience. As new beings, you were easy to mislead. But you hid the Lens. Why?”

  Andy looked at Dromie. Who looked down. “I was angry. I killed my father, then I shoved the Lens in the waste rock pile he threw me on. No matter how much rock went in it, I could find it. Rentappenen didn’t know I could fight him. To him, I was just another slave. He gave me to his brother. I worked for him, but I didn’t like him. He hurt me. But he went to Earth.

  “People had families. I wanted to live with a family, so I ran away. Disguised myself as a toy and hid in a store. Luna’s father thought I looked pretty scary, and he wrapped me up to give to her. But she wasn’t scared. I bit her mother because I was hungry and she tried to take a cracker out of my mouth. She didn’t hit me because Luna begged her not to do that.

  “Nobody ever liked me, except that lady that fed me in the mine. She wanted me to work for her so she wouldn’t get beaten.

  “Luna fed me and hugged me and talked to me. I learned. Then Granny taught me because Granny was going away, and Luna wanted me to go with her. But I helped her go to a free clinic, and it was run by diplomats. Granny taught me that some things are worth dying for, so when we went to Alb, I told them I would fight. But Wslarc was scared of me. He exiled us to Eda. To fight Rentappenen, I needed people to help, so I brought our people back. I miss Granny! But, Kawspas’ people will help her, won’t they?”

  The lady smiled. “They did. Now Eda is like this world. We can practice here. You are all here, not to be punished, but to learn. Then you may go home.”

  And, I saw it.

  “In some future time, there may be a need for you to change timelines, if problems appear. I hope there will not, and you must learn to control your Gift. We destroyed your Cube, for it is against all we know to have such an ability, to change the past. But, your Gift did not leave you.

  “You also have the ability, as Pinda does, to revive those long dead. There will be much temptation to do this. However, Zheien and other species on your level use stasis to preserve the dead for a future time. Our Council thinks you will not affect time, to bring back people, but you will take from your future time to do so.

  “Pinda can do this without harming his futureselves. For every life you bring back, you sacrifice one. Your health will suffer. But your life is yours, and you may decide to use it in this way. I ask that you only bring back Earthans, not other species. We do not want to risk a person returning with a Gift to destroy civilizations!”

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  I nodded. Remembered how weak I felt with each new timeline we went in, Pier and I.

  I saw Pier and one of my selves. They went to a world that existed where Earth is now, that perished in a war. But, they moved all the weapons to where our sun formed. A supernova still destroyed those people, but now the weapons didn’t go to Rentappenen.

  They’re living in my house in Atlanta, but I’m--she’s dying. Healers can’t help her. They’re porting to Minaria.

  My clone Wally made of me is there with Roosevelt, male clone of Sophie, who never served in DS to get an aandat with Rainbow Tessite in it. But, Roosevelt has her Gift anyway, and so does she! Why isn’t she here, and him?

  “Without Rainbow Tessite, her Gift, and his, are not dangerous for your Level. They will do many good things with it.” Hionie smiled. “I disagree that the 5th considered your friends a danger, and frightened them so! But, they have greater healing now. See them.”

  They appeared in Ry’nao’s bedroom. Molly startled. Her pastself was sitting on his bed. Frowned. “What’s going on?”

  Molly’s Nowself grabbed her hand and they went together! She startled and looked at her hands. “Wow!”

  Ry’nao did the same and he sat up in the bed. “We had Judgment of the 5th?!”

  Ilios hugged him. “Oh, Faha! Do you feel well?”

  He laughed. “I feel as I did after my last recloning! Want to ride a ferrisna?”

  Molly grabbed his arm! “Are you sure? Oh!” She giggled.

  Ket, his healer, insisted on seeing him first. Then, with a wave, they all wore white outfits with ties that had sparkly beads. “Can I come?”

  “You’ll need more padding than that!” Ry’nao waved and his pants were thicker.

  Ket frowned. “If I need that, you do, too!”

  “No, but Ilios will. He is mixed.” A wave, and Ilios’ pants got thicker.

  He laughed. “Let’s go!”

  They ran out, then ported to a corral on MarKu. Soon they rode fast on a dirt road with farms on each side, for miles!

  Bponas laughed! “That looks like fun!”

  But, I watched Roosevelt and tears dripped down my face. He looks so sad! And she’s thinner than I was. A lot thinner. She’s dying, too?

  “You can’t help them. When you go back, you can merge with your pastself. Your clone cannot live. Neither can Pier, because you pulled him from his timeline.”

  I watched them. But, if I merge with Pier’s me, we’ll die. In that timeline, I still died and all of Rainbow and Pirad couldn’t help me then, either.

  “Can they come here?”

  She frowned. “Do you really want that? I cannot help you, any of you.”

  Then I saw what she meant. I could bring them back, only to die again. For them, my Gift can’t work. Our timelines are already written. It’s not fair!

  But for me, I didn’t see an end to my timeline. I’m timelocked. As long as I don’t merge with my Pastself. I can ask Pirad to make another clone of Roosevelt and give him the same memories. I have them all. And, Pier’s. I love both of them. What a mess! How would a clone of Sophie know about me, so that Roosevelt would fall in love with me?

  Because we met while I was trying to hide in other timelines, when Rentappenen was after me. I felt unfaithful to Pier, because I met Roosevelt, but we were both adults. Pier had died. We both did. Timelines are a messy business! I have them all in my head! We died in several timelines, then got jerked back into another one because my Collective did that. They can’t function without a Host. Rentappenen knew how to make a Cube without a Councillor, that composite being that is the go-between between Cube and Host. Ray’s directly connected, too, but now she has a Councillor. I’ll never have one because they destroyed my Cube, and released all my Collective.

  This life is it! Once I die, there will be no clones, no bringing me out of stasis. When I died in Rainbow, in my other future, they put me in stasis. Pirad was going to try again. When he went to my stasis box, there wasn’t anything there. I didn’t exist in any timeline. That’s why the clone Wally made had a date of death that day. When I go back, I’ll have a death date. There’s a steep price to time travel.

  Here, I’m timelocked. I go back, I won’t live long, even if I don’t bring anyone back.

  Hionie hugged me. “I am very sorry!”

  “Is this my punishment, then?”

  “No. This is why time travel is forbidden. It is fatal.” She looked very sad.

  “So Rentappenen would’ve died anyway?”

  “No. He was timelocked in your spacetime. Earth had so many timelines in convergence, he thought he found the answer to that problem. If you had not defeated him, he and you would still be, and would not die, as long as you stayed in that galaxy you call the First. If he had not used his Cube so much.

  “When his brother created a clone of his Cube, he thought he would also be timelocked, and designed it so you would die. Because you drained both Cubes, you created the possibility of defeating him. They merged. But, we destroyed your Cube. Now, you cannot exist as timelocked for very long. We do not know how long you will live here, on this world. Like your Earth, many timelines converge here. This is keeping you from dying.”

  She sighed and it was like bells on the wind. “You may choose to stay here, or we can send you back to your pastself. When you knew you must die, you were happy among your friends and with your husband.”

  I thought about that.

  But I looked at all the sad faces around me. Bponas wept and had black eyes. Her fur turned black, too! Kerponie and Kawspas looked sad, too.

  Kia, Irdaktin and his father weren’t there. They sent them back to Biehshah Ye~, too.

  Dromie’s people went back to Eda, and the Alb Council had a visit from Wslarc, who said there was no need to keep them in exile. They moved Eda into the Alb System. Now they’ll be sentries in case upper levels try something again. All of them will live for eons.

  I hugged Bponas.