Stream returned after about a quarter-hour, holding a handful of golden‑, blue- and violet-edged memory crystals. Much to Chime’s surprise, four more students were standing in the doorway behind her, and they flooded into the room to greet Chime and insistently query her about her disappearance. Stream had told them that Chime needed their help for a project she was developing, leaving the entire situation deliberately vague.
The first three were Ellori, the same as Chime and Stream. Weight of large stone against the earth, bird’s song across an open meadow, and rainbow arch across a clear sky were all advanced students, one or two years ahead of Chime at the University. Boulder was in the advanced military training program, honing his telepathy and precognition skills as a battlefield communication and tactical specialist, while Birdsong and Rainbow were just beginning their advanced training in mind healing and physical healing, respectively.
The fourth, however, was an unusual sight: floating through the doorway was a Crystallon, a race of psychic AIs. Created just under a century ago, and acknowledged as a member race of the Commonwealth many years later, they were still an unusual sight. This Crystallon introduced itself as KXV-3871, specifying both its contributing programming lines and its serial number, but asked to be called “Carillon,” referring to an ancient joke involving the creation of the Crystallons that most other races could not appreciate. Combining advanced artificial intelligence constructs with psychic crystal technology and nano-computer engineering, Crystallons specialized in telekinetics.
All four were at least a year older than Chime and knew her only through word of her disappearance, so they were insistently curious about her. Once the door was closed and Stream’s privacy screen reactivated, Chime repeated her description of her adventures with Nigel and the other Taken. After Chime explained what she had done and what psychic abilities she had developed, all four agreed with Stream’s comment that she was even more advanced than they.
As Chime repeated her story for the new visitors, Stream rummaged through a closet and produced a large pocketed satchel and placed the memory crystals into one of its many pockets. She also folded Chime’s exploration clothes into a small bundle and slipped them into the bottom of the satchel, adding another set of robes on top.
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