Eye of the Comet Read Free

decades of life. Most are much older.”
    “I chose him,” she answered, wondering if she had. Homesmind had given her several choices, but it now seemed that It had made Reiho seem the most appealing. Perhaps It had thought she would be happier with another who was unusual. “Anyway, he was the first of us to visit Earth since the Flight. That must have counted for something. And you know perfectly well how few choose to be mentors.”
    Pilo frowned. “That’s true. Home has been in balance for a long time. In a way, it doesn’t really need us.” That unhappy thought was so unlike the boy that she drew back, startled.
    “Nara asked what I wanted to do,” she said quickly, wanting to change the subject. “But I really don’t know.” She rested her head against his shoulder. “Maybe I’m supposed to be undecided. Sometimes I wonder if Homesmind wants to send me back to wherever I came from.”
    “Why would It do that?”
    “Think about it, Pilo. How often have we been able to communicate with other worlds?”
    “Old ones have done so, and even some younger ones have, not long ago.”
    “They have contacted some of those who live on other comets and have spoken to them occasionally while viewing images of their worlds. But there’s been no physical contact for centuries, even when the comets drew close and visitors could reach another comet easily. We are all human, yet many of those people are as strange as aliens would be.”
    “You might have been sent here aboard a small vessel. Or the atoms of your body might have been transformed into tachyons and beamed to us while you were still a baby. Homesmind and Its counterparts elsewhere would be capable of that.” Lydee nodded; she had considered those possibilities many times. Her link remained silent. Homesmind had long been aware of her speculations, yet It had never confirmed or denied them. “But why would It do such a thing?”
    “Because then we could truly communicate with another world and have it understand our ways. I would be able to explain Home to them. Perhaps another world has raised a child from here who will do the same.”
    “It’s possible,” Pilo said. “But Homesmind has Its own way of speaking to other worlds, and I wonder —” He bit his lip. “I hope you don’t mind speaking of this matter to me.”
    “If I had, I wouldn’t have mentioned it at all.” Pilo knew her as well as anyone, yet he was still cautious. Custom dictated distance; too much intimacy was frowned upon, considered trespassing in another’s mind. Through their links, it was possible to encompass someone’s mind, but such an act was reserved for those who had grown especially close to one another. Lydee, considering all this, could understand why Homesmind might have sought a different way to communicate with another world.
    “Reiho knows where I’m from,” she went on. “A few others do — his old mentor does. Maybe they don’t know enough about that world to tell me much. I must seem impatient to them — most of them have lived for so long. Perhaps people speak freely on that other world, and share their thoughts easily, and don’t conceal themselves from one another.” She should not have said that; Pilo might be offended.
    “Well, Homesmind won’t send you anywhere if you don’t want to go.” The boy reached toward a small pouch at his belt, untied it, and handed it to her. “It’s my gift,” he said, “to celebrate your link. I want you to have it before the others arrive.”
    She opened the pouch and took out a small, transparent orb. It twinkled; inside the orb, tiny comet specks circled a sparkling sun. As she held it, her mind seemed to drift after the comets, following them on their journey, another traveler in their company. She put the present back into its pouch, breaking the spell. “It’s lovely.”
    “When you hold it for a long time, you’ll feel as though you’ve become a comet. You’ll feel the way Homesmind must