Narchi expected death when he cut the main trunk line on the explosives.Neblae's power was flowing into him when the explosion vaporized him. He had felt a number of questions, instead of a choir of winged angels singing him on to paradise. He caught some mention about something called 'Four Brothers'. Since his wife, Neblae was one of the 'Four Sisters', he was curious. He was snatched away and appeared in a council of ghosts, somewhere. He could hear, and the language was understandable. He wondered where his legs had gone and what was up with his smoking left arm. The huge, hulking silver and death-pale man lead a blind man, who should be dead from his skeletal frame. A man in red armor lounged bored behind them, while a boy suffering from the Blight, stood in impatient rage to one side. A woman, cold and inhumanly beautiful, said to the tall man,"We don't need your help in eliminating human-kind. You offer of alliance to you and your Scourge allies is appreciated, but your allies bother us. Historically...they have never drawn the line between humans and we,of the Erhlu line. The forerunners lifted US up FIRST, before the Scourge! WE fought against the Ancient Enemy--the Darkness! The Scourge owe US their OBEDIENCE, not ALLIANCE!" Lord Death said, "Ishtar Prome'O--the Scourge will not be patient forever. They fear a change in the fates will favor our enemies." Narchi said, "Hey! Anybody hear me?" No one seemed to notice him. Famine looked around blindly. Suddenly Martya, the Sister of Air was advent next to him. He would have jumped if able. Martya smiled at him, "THANK GOD! I came ASAP. I heard Neblae scream for you! Hey, holy crap..Narchi, what are you doing projecting your spirit to the MILKY WAY?!" He waved his one intact hand at the men. "The Four Brothers! I'm NOT dead? Well, hooray for me!" Martya said, "I need to get you back,ASAP to Space-Battleship one!" Famine shouted, "One of the FOUR SISTERS IS HERE, I smell her!" The boy, Lord Plague, growled, "I feel the power of AIR! Right there, among the council of Erhlution ghosts! There!" There was a visceral stir among the ghosts. Death intoned, "Let the veil drop and let the unseen be SEEN!" He lifted a hand and suddenly Martya and Narchi were visibly see-though. Martya and Narchi felt a cold hand of dread in them as Martya exclaimed, "Oh, HI! Just passing though! Narchi! Time to fly!" Plague shouted, "She teleported though the Star-way! I'll chase them down! Pursue in the ship!" Martya grabbed Narchi and translated to Hyperspace. She accelerated to maximum and fell back toward the Balaam star-system. Narchi and Martya felt a pulse behind them. Martya looked back and said, "The little brat is CHASING US! Oh my GOD! I didn't know anybody or ANYTHING could do that!" Narchi asked, "Would dropping your...BAGGAGE let you go faster?" Martya licked her dry lips and sighed, "That's sweet, mister baggage, but no. I'm WAY more afraid of a pissed off Neblae than I am of this guy! DO NOT USE any of her powers, by the way. That's ALL keeping you alive! At least we're pulling ahead. Hang on, I'll try to lose him." For the first time, since he had ever flown with Martya, he felt the pull of gravity. She had made moves that must have been into the millions of gees and he never felt anything. The higher levels of Hyperspace flashed around them. She was the only sentient in universe he had ever heard of to fly in hyperspace like a dolphin the ocean. He had researched that with humanity's allies. Creatures that could transit hyperspace without a ship were universally feared as god-like. Martya sighed, "I gotta go! I need to get you back to the ship! I need to PEE!" Narchi chuckled. Martya frowned at him. "It's NOT funny!" " 'God-like', heh!" "Martya looked grave as she said, "You'll go into shock and it'll hurt. Here we go," and they were suddenly back in the Med-bay. --TO BE CONTINUED!--