in St'nar, and the comforting presence
of clanmates held together by an empathic bond that was never
questioned. He had never questioned it himself, never even realized it
existed until now, until he . . . what?

Oh. Until he tapped into a fragment of Godhome's primary memory bank,
using the new abilities he had just learned the computer had given him.
That would have shocked him the day before, but his new maturity
included understanding and acceptance as well as abilities.

He knew with regret that he would be alone in this responsibility. In
time his race would grow to become what he now was, and so would their
Terran cousins; in the meantime, they were younglings, in need of
guidance and protection even from themselves . . . and, until the
Peacelord's time, from the knowledge of their lost Truehome.

It would be an awesome, satisfying task. Kranath smiled, accepting his
destiny. "I think I know now what joining you means. You want my mind
to become part of you."

"Yes, Lord Kranath." Godhome's mental voice seemed to Kranath both
solemn and joyous. "Although it is I who will become part of you.
This galaxy is the heritage of organic intelligences, not machines."

It paused. "Yes, they will call you a god, you and those you call to
join you. But it will not be as difficult as you think--or not in the
way you think. You do not have to guide their every step, for too much
intervention would hamper their development. Like all younglings, they
must be allowed to learn from their mistakes. You will do as I have
done, watch and step in only when a mistake would destroy the race.
And you will learn that refraining from action is often more difficult
than taking it."

"Let it begin, then," Kranath said. "You were right, I need no
prompting."

"Very well. Open your mind fully to me, that we may both be
fulfilled."

The computer began the process that would end with the dissolution of
its own personality. Kranath screamed and fell to his knees in a
moment of terror as he became aware of the immensity of what he had
committed himself to, and what he was in the process of becoming.

It lasted only a moment, though, before fascination took over. He had
seen no more than a tiny fraction of Godhome and felt only the lightest
touch of its power, until now. The computer was a fifteen-n'liu cube,
yet his newly stretched mind enabled him to comprehend it.

So that was a psionic computer! He had plenty of ti