“You are a sneaky droid! Show me what you’re talking about.”Cuenyne glided over to the preceding pillar and pressed down on one ofthe glyphs. Another large and glowing hologrammatic representationspread out from it. It depicted the four eggs, only here much larger and in succession,each one showing its contents. They were arranged with one on top and threeunderneath. The first in the bottom layer was flora, represented by a variety of foodbearing vegetation and fungi. The second was fauna, and that featured a host offamiliar and unfamiliar creatures of the air, land, and sea. The third was sapient life,represented by another admixture of races shown in succession.

“So the four Cosmic Eggs are indicative of the four base elements of creation,” Iventured. “I suspect the Ssi-Ruu, Sith, and others repurposed it to bolster their castesystems—benign submission to the Force corrupted into dependence on the elite.”

“Notice who’s missing from that group?” challenged Cuenyne.

(相关资料图)

“Plenty!”

“These are the Elder Races,” he hinted. “The complete group is also represented inthe statues along the wall. There’s one familiar race missing.”

I looked again at the marble martinets whose shadows bathed the hall. Firstborn ornot, I couldn’t fathom any reason why anyone would want these things staring downat them for an eternity. Taking a deep breath, I looked with the eyes of a scientist.There were the Gree, Kwa, Sharu, Aing-Tii, the crystal spiders that we called theLucent, the Mu-ab, and several of the usual suspects along with many more I didn’tknow, suspect, or had ever seen before. But whether multi-limbed, winged,amorphous, insectile, or ichthyoid, each seemed proud, exotic, graceful, and colorful;even the recognizable races bore a mien of terrifying beauty and power…

“There’s no representation of Human Beings! There are quite a few humanoidraces. The Sephi come the closest to us, but they’re undeniably different… So wearen’t the masters of the universe after all.”

“Surely, you’re not that surprised,” the droid said. “But there may be anothermeaning.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Touch it,” Cuenyne instructed, pointing to the fourth egg.

Back to the pillar, I looked with curiosity at the egg that hovered above the otherthree. It was too small to see inside, but there appeared to be no flora, fauna, orsapient beings. I touched the symbol. Again, a hologrammatic image opened beforeus, this time of four unknown glyphs inside a triangle made up of four triangles. Theletters were a mystery and in a script I’d only once before seen—on Darth Vader’s chest panel. The symbol they sat inside, however, was well known: “The Sern PrimeEquilateral again. So, not coincidental design. Ok, what’s on the third pillar?”

Cuenyne drifted over to it. “I have a feeling you’ll like this one even better!”

A circle took up the main part of the image. Touching it brought forth the largerholographic details. Outside of what looked like a fishbowl were other concentriccircles emanating from it. Around all of it was a kind of stylized and angryDuinuogwuin swallowing its own tail. Above the dragon and amidst therepresentation of the cosmos appeared a third Sern Prime Equilateral with the samemysterious four glyphs inside. Within the inmost circle were the contents of theearlier three: Cosmic Eggs, flora, and fauna, but the sapients were…

“Humans,” I stated. “Well then, this can’t be the second pillar.”

“It is,” Cuenyne asserted.

“So, this is an earlier world,” I surmised.

“An earlier universe, to be more precise.”

“A parallel dimension? Like Otherspace?”

“No,” Cuenyne corrected. “Otherspace is large enough to be considered a galaxybut is a pocket dimension within our galaxy, and there are potentially more; but thisisn’t just a pocket dimension. It’s the primary one from which all the rest extend.Look. All of these represent universes, and all of them emanate from a single source.”

“The fishbowl?” I asked.

“I suppose that is what it looks like; but yes, that would be the Primary World.Ours appears to be here, just one of many spheres, all enclosed systems.”

“But we’re the Primary Universe…”

“Another theory proved wrong,” the droid quipped. “All of the later action takesplace within our spherical dimension or universe. Nothing further is shown of thePrime Dimension in any of the other pillars, suggesting—”

“—that the Osserians figured out where Humans came from but were mainlyconcerned with life in our universe. So the dragon here is the cycle of life and death…suffering and destruction? Above it is again the symbol of the Force. And these figureshere, to the right of the world… they’re the same as the deities we saw shaping life onthe fourth pillar, the Celestials presumably. Only, there’s three more, a separategroup… of what?”

“Sub-creators? Co-creators, perhaps?” With his grasper arm, Cuenyne pointed tothem. “See how the positioning of all seven appears to be in submission to the symbolwith the glyph and how they’re moving away from the Primary Universe in thedirection of the third and fourth pillars?”

“How can you be sure that means our universe?”

Pressing a digit brought the details into view: a closeup of the seven above ourdimension materialized.

“It’s incredible,” I exclaimed. “There’s a tremendous amount of symbolism here.The Council is going to have a field day with this.”

The droid made an unpleasant sound. “The Council is going to choke. Most will tryto debunk it or spin some long-winded fabrication to make it fit their bantha dung.”

“Debate is necessary… healthy, even.” At the moment, I didn’t care about any ofthat; all I could do was soak in all that was around me.

“When it’s between beings of honesty, integrity, and with an openness to learn…”Cuenyne turning his photoreceptor on me. “Hex, have you ever wondered why, out ofeveryone, I chose you to assist?”

“I always assumed it was my charm and good looks.”

“And what droid can fail to be seduced by those?” he retorted. If he could haverolled his radar eye, he would have. “In certain respects, you’re akin to the publicperception of the scientist. You form a hypothesis, find evidence to make a workabletheory, and pursue it obsessively until you’re convinced it’s true or false.”

“I sense a but coming…” I was still absorbed in everything around me, but he’dpiqued my curiosity.

“However, you’re not as unduly blinded by the prevailing worldview. Save foryour moral code, you have no agenda but to pursue the truth no matter where itleads. That is what allows you to be a true scientist,” the droid concluded. “It’s alsowhat puts you on the edge of the establishment, but you can’t have everything.”

“I’ve worked with them longer than you have. They’re generally honest.”

“You only think so because you’re inherently honest, but many of your colleagueshave not been that for a long time.”

“You have some esoteric program that can ferret out frauds? I could use that!”

“No need. I study sapient behavior. Many feel lost or vulnerable in the galaxy.Couple that with a desperate need to be connected to a group, something larger thanthemselves that gives them meaning or purpose, be it social, political, religious, oracademic, and that becomes part of their identity. Even droids are not immune tothis. And yet the most ardent amongst them often betray the very ideals of thatgroup, often because they seek prominence and prestige within it. In your field, thismanifests as those who ignore, misconstrue, or distort the evidence to bolster theirown views; their less-ambitious sycophants are either just as duplicitous or don’tbother to question them. If one publishes a theory, no matter how untrue orunverifiable, they will promulgate and defend them as the truth. The loudest or mostprominent voices will be accepted as fact by ninety percent of those who read it or aretaught it. Do you know the percentage of unverifiable theories published as facts?”

“I don’t know, twenty percent?” I guessed.

“Albert once calculated it to seventy-two point sixty-five percent,” said Cuenyne.

“No! That many?” I said, astonished.

“And even if disproven years later, only those who keep up with that specific fieldwill hear about it, including professors who may or may not update their lesson plans.Why might that be? Could it be that academia, which should be committed to thetruth, is plagued by gatekeepers and institutional bias? Or that the holopress servesonly the special interests of whomever’s in power? Or will you finally admit thepublic is a mass of blind, unthinking trogliths?”

“That’s… unfair,” I argued, irritated that he’d cornered me and that I secretlyfeared that some or all of it might be true. “You known there are still plenty of hardworking individuals in every field who care about the facts. And even if you’re right,we can’t blame those who are struggling to get their basic needs met and have somesmall enjoyment in life. If they’re not thinking clearly, it’s because they’re captive toconcepts and corrupt systems designed to keep the wealthy powerful in place.”

“That’s either naïve or charitable. In my experience, the masses don’t want tolearn anything that isn’t directly related to the attainment of pleasure and escapefrom responsibility. How did the Empire get away with their many crimes for so long?Why weren’t all the worlds in rebellion and not just the relatively few that joined theAlliance?”

“That there were as many as there were belies your argument. And the Rebels werepainted as terrorists. Most didn’t know what was really going on until the end.”

“Because those dedicated to telling the truth weren’t doing their job? Or becausethe public didn’t want to know what was going on? Most sapient species will gladlydefer to an authority figure, no matter how vile, if he offers them easy solutions. Theyview your field in the same light, assuming you have all the answers because youhave titles and accolades. You know that dœsn’t equate to infallibility or evenintellectual honesty, but they don’t care. They like their fables because it savesthemselves the trouble of having to think.”

The droid had poor timing. “I won’t deny there’s some truth to what you’re saying,Cuenyne, but don’t underestimate the power of propaganda. Those who control thenarrative control the galaxy. You can easily fact-check. The rest of us have to doresearch to sift through fabrications and half-truths. That’s no easy task for a scholar,let alone the layperson who dœsn’t have several hours to spend each day on that.”

“Did datapads and droids become cost-prohibitive? Sorry, Hex, but it speaks to alazy culture and a morally lax one at that. The sins of the Empire were obvious, evenwith the propaganda machine working overtime. How will the public fare when theevils are less overt or perpetrated by our side? The galaxy’s been spoiled by its recentChiefs of State. The millennia prior rarely saw the integrity of leaders like MonMothma or Leia Organa Solo. They are very much the exceptions to the rule.”

“You’re right about that, depressing as it may be, but that’s why we need ourtruthtellers, artists, storytellers, musicians…”

“And historians,” Cuenyne added.

I sighed. “We know very little in the large scheme of things.”

“We know more now.”

“Do we? We have high-tech religious art describing the creation of the galaxy—orgalaxies, more correctly—by the Will of the Force, which only makes the Osserianssound like the Jacipri or Solomonites with their ‘Lord of the Force’ doctrine. Have youlooked at the final pillar?”

The droid floated over to the last one in chronological order. “It shows our galaxy,the corruption of the Elder Races, and then the “devastating and ceaseless CosmicWars,” he added, quoting Manaxa.

“I knew it wasn’t a myth.”

“It appears to comprise three wars. In between the second and third, there emergetwo motifs. In the first, a star heads to the center of the ruined galaxy to become…”

“A guardian?” I hazarded. “Priest?”

“Anyone’s guess.” Cuenyne pointed, “From the one, five manifest.”

“Offspring? Or a symbol of five qualities… I wonder if the cult of Five was named inmockery of them.”

“Impossible to tell,” Cuenyne offered. “These cults are obsessed with these kinds ofcabalistic formulæ and hidden meanings.”

“Apparently, so are we.”

“Except that we’re looking to reveal truth; they’re trying to conceal it.”

“Point take. You said there were two concluding motifs. What’s the second?”

“This one,” Cuenyne instructed, “appears to be the incarnation of the threeadditional Celestials depicted earlier.”

“Later joined by a fourth,” I added, pointing further down to the floating image.“But the fourth dœsn’t come from the same origin point as the others. In fact, itsorigin is not indicated at all. So… not a Celestial. It’s drawn differently—grotesquely,even. Something about the eyes and smile.” I was starting to feel a sense of disquiet.All this talk of gods and distant universes while surrounded in a vast, shadowy hall ofsneering statues was beginning to get to me.

“A trickster god,” Cuenyne concluded, “or a corrupting influence.”

“I hope there’s a record room with concrete data and not just… pictographssubject to interpretation.” I gazed around at all the passageways that branched offfrom this central hub, wondering how far along each went and how many othercaverns and halls they ultimately reached. The Osserians could’ve tunneled halfwaythrough the planet in all the time they’d lived here. If even a quarter of the landmasswas riddled with subterranean passages, we’d never find the great library I’d imaginedthey had.

“I’m getting another signal,” said Cuenyne, his sensor wand still out from earlier,as he glided confidentaly down a long, tall corridor.

“What kind of signal?” I started to follow him but suddenly stopped dead in mytracks. Had one of the statues just moved?

No. I was overwrought and overtired. I proceeded down the corridor. “Where arewe going?”

“Just keep up,” he finally replied after a minute, “and don’t look back.”

“What do you mean, Don’t look back? Why not?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” he said—but too late, I was already glancingbehind me.

All of the ancient stone sentries, under whose grim shadows we’d just passed, werenow transfixed upon me—their heads all turned in my direction!