The Great Mending was complete. The final, beautiful stitch of golden-green light wove itself into place, and the ugly crack on the Silent King's prison was gone.
A triumphant cheer went up from the bridge of the "Odyssey." They had done it. They had fixed the unfixable. It was time for a celebratory cup of coffee and maybe a nap for the next three to five years.
But at the god Core, there was no celebration.
The tiny, sharp splinter of information, the final, spiteful "gift" from the Silent King, shot out of the energy channel and slammed directly into the mind of Regent Vorlag.
Vorlag, being a giant, super-intelligent, crystalline entity, did not scream or fall over. But if it had a face, it would have gone very, very pale. Its immense, crystal form, which usually glowed with a calm, steady light, flickered violently.
