You and James need to
take care of some details, so we'll leave in a couple of minutes. I
gave you everything a Ranger needs, in some cases more, and took care
of a couple of your problems--such as removing your allergy to teaching
tapes; you'll be able to use them now, and you'll need them. Your
intelligence has doubled; you have and know how to use a powerful
Talent that includes telepathy, mind-shield, teleportation, and
materialization; and you have the other abilities and attitudes proper
for a Ranger. I also removed the satyr virus from your body, so you're
no longer contagious, a service I will perform for anyone else who
leaves the Systems. I made only one overt physical change, since
you've chosen the Traditional Church, which means you can't be my
priest or devotee any longer. I've reset your biological clock to
where it would be if you'd been selected in the usual manner, but to
maintain it there, you'll have to go on anti-agathics; my powers, as
James told you, don't extend beyond the Systems. Otherwise you look
and feel exactly the same--but if you should need them, I've given you
a complex of hidden changes, all of which will activate if any one of
them is required. Again, with improvements." He smiled again.
"You'll do well, Michael, both as Christ's priest and as a Ranger.
Joan, you reached a decision yourself while I was working; you ought to
tell them what it is."

Cortin looked from Medart to Odeon, then back. "If Mike thinks
anything about the Empire is important enough that he'll give up Family
Cortin for it, I'll trust his judgement; as sole negotiator for the
Kingdom Systems, I am empowered to say the Systems will join the
Empire. I ask that you give us all the help possible to reach the
level of the rest of the Empire, and show us how to take our proper
place in it."

"Gladly, Excellency, and welcome. We'll be happy to help our newest
citizens. Do you need military support as well?"

"Familiarization and upgrading only," Keith said. "They have the basic
tech level, with minor exceptions. Medical training and learning about
the Empire are their primary needs, though other things will be needed
as they gain the population base to support them."

"Right. Admin Service teachers and a couple of heavy destroyers ought
to take care of those; anything else you'd recommend?"

"Not at this time, Ranger, though it might help if you could leave a
detachment from the Lindner. I'm sure C