Triplet (50 page)

The outer bowed and left, and she turned back to Ravagin to see him cock an eyebrow at her. “Another council of war?” he asked.

“Is the war over?” she countered. “Really, I mean?”

He sighed. “I suppose not,” he admitted. “We've won a battle, but the war still goes on. Whether we can do anything about
that
is open to question.”

“We have no choice,” she said. “That's why humanity was put here on Triplet—to control the spirits.”

Ravagin frowned. “What do you mean?”

She nodded in the direction of the Tunnel. “I've been doing a lot of thinking, Ravagin. The Hidden Worlds aren't an experiment; they were a defense.”

She hesitated, wondering if this was going to sound stupid. But Ravagin's eyes held no sign of ridicule. “A defense against the fourth world?” he asked quietly.

She licked her lips. Yes. Karyx may even have been the original planet here, with some sort of weak spot between it and the spirits' dimension, before the builders created Shamsheer and Threshold to push it further back. The extra dimensions—and the way the Tunnels and telefolds were set up—put there as a barrier to keep them from flooding through to the universe as a whole.”

Ravagin was staring out into space. “The sixes of Shamsheer,” he said at last. “All those hexagons—the Builders weren't so much interested in six-sided figures as they were in a lack of
five
-sided figures.”

Danae hadn't gotten around to the hexagons in her own speculations. But now that she thought about it … “You mean five-sided figures as in pentagrams?”

“Think about it for a moment. Pentagrams are part of the focusing process for a lot of the spells on Karyx. Giving the people of Shamsheer a mindset oriented to sixes would tend to keep them from placing any significance in fives—which would automatically limit the possibilities for spirithandling.”

“Which means … the Builders knew that spirits could get through the telefolds.” She shivered. “And they went ahead and put people there anyway.”

“To control the spirits that got through, maybe.” Ravagin shook his head slowly. “But why us?”

“I don't know,” Danae said. “Maybe it's some innate ability to control spirits; maybe some defensive mechanism in the human psyche that lets us interact with them with a minimum of damage.”

“Or maybe it's because we're fighters,” Ravagin said slowly. “And they knew we wouldn't just accept spirit domination without a hell of a struggle.”

She looked at him. “Then you're not giving up.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Who ever said I was? Just because I'm not a Courier any more doesn't mean we can't fight the fourth world from out here. We can push for changes in the way personnel are assigned, the way Couriers and way house people are to operate on Karyx—all sorts of things.” He eyed her soberly. “That is, we can if you're willing to work with me. And to accept the burdens you've worked so hard these past few years to get away from.”

She smiled wanly. The burdens. The money, the family name, the influence—all the things she'd hated for not having earned them. But perhaps she could see them now in a new light. “They're not burdens,” she said quietly. “They're tools. Tools there to be used.”

Letting go of her hand, Ravagin picked up his wine glass. “Welcome to maturity,” he said, raising it up.

“I'm an adult,” she said, lifting her own glass and tapping his. “Maturity is just part of that job.”

They drank.

Timothy Zahn is a
New York Times
bestselling and award-winning science-fiction author of more than forty novels, as well as dozens of novellas and short stories. He is best known for his Star Wars novels, which have been widely credited with rejuvenating the Star Wars book franchise. Zahn is known for his engaging writing style, pithy dialogue, compelling plot lines, intricately detailed alien cultures, inventive alien technology, and the complex morality of his characters.

Born in 1951, in Chicago, Illinois, Zahn holds a bachelor's degree in physics from Michigan State University and a master's degree in physics from the University of Illinois. It was while working toward his PhD in the late 1970s that Zahn began focusing on writing science fiction. He sold his first story in 1978 and, two years later, began to write fulltime.

In 1984, Zahn won a Hugo Award for his short story “Cascade Point.”. That same year he also published
Blackcollar
, the first installment of his Blackcollar series. He launched the Cobra series two years later with
Cobra
(1985), and published the celebrated Thrawn trilogy, which gave the Star Wars narrative new life, throughout the 1990s. His YA Dragonback series, of which
Dragon and Thief
(2003) was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, includes six books published between 2003 and 2008.

Zahn is especially beloved among the Star Wars fan community for his contributions to the Star Wars books. His best-known Star Wars titles, the Thrawn trilogy
,
were voted onto NPR's list of the top 100 science-fiction and fantasy books of all time.

Zahn lives in Oregon with his family.

Zahn's school portrait from 1957, when he was six years old.

A yearbook photo of Zahn playing the cello in his high school orchestra in 1969.

Zahn's high school senior class picture from 1969.

Zahn and his wife, Anna, on their wedding day in August 1979.

Zahn poses with his wife, Anna, and their son Corwin,1983.

Zahn takes the podium at the Hugo Award ceremonies, September 1984.

Zahn with his agent Russell Galen, September 1984.

Zahn with fellow authors David B. Coe and Jim Frenkel, March 2002.