| The Doctor doesn't disappoint. "Hello," he says, stepping forward
and addressing the helmet. "Xoanon, I presume?"
We all hold our breath and wait for the response.
Gilmuriel
The one known as Xoanon seems to be taken aback for a second
or three, then speaks!
"At last! At last!" the machine says, appearing to have forgotten the
others present here for the moment, "Us! Now we shall be free.....of us!"
"Meaning, exactly?" the Doctor probed, already knowing but just wishing
to confirm for the records, "How exactly will you be free....of us?
Who exactly makes up....us?"
"Don't I know?" Xoanon asks, almost coyly. The false diety's voice then
shifts, becoming pluristic....a blending of several voices (male and female).
"We must be free of us.......we shall make two one! Now we must destroy
us.....to make two.....one."
I and E'eysha look at each other.
"I am not liking the sound of the way this conversation is going,"
my love says quietly to me, rolling her eyes.
"That makes two of us," I whisper back, quietly agreeing.
Meanwhile, while this is going on, I notice several things going on.
One is that Leela and the other natives who'd all gone to their knees
at the beginning when that odd helmet started to speaking, now at least
some faces have shifted from "expectant" to "confused" (well, all are now
confused looking....but that Andor fellow looks even more confused now....and
now seems to be growing angry...and is looking over at Neeva's back).
I'm not liking that look.
Ragan, meanwhile, is quietly going over to Leela's side.....
Ragan
Frankly, I'd have thought anyone who'd tell me I'd be repeating lines
to a character from one of my favorite TV show in earnest or at least the
contents of those lines, rather than......
Oh, never mind! This whole business sometimes makes my head spin if
I consider it too much! Besides, I hate seeing Leela on her knees like
that!
"Hey," I say, bending down and touching Leela's shoulder, "Don't be
afraid. It's just a Transceiver.....a machine for sending voices over long
distances. Gods don't use transceivers."
"You sure?" Leela asks me, beginning to get of the ground.
"Aren't you?" I joke, mentally kicking myself for not being able to
resist.
"Of course!" she returns, a bit of spirit going into that.
What happens next is totally unexpected for both me and the others.
Oh, I'd known that Neeva had been on something like thin ice before all
this with Andor, but.....it is within Andor's character.....I guess.
-
 "Neeva,"
Andor begins slowly, fire in his eyes, "Is hat..... thing..... Zoanon?"
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