Connecting

Youssef Khalil XIII nodded to the other men seated around the table. They were his genetic duplicates, sharing even fingerprints and many memories. Together, they led the Institute that would support Governor Karlsson in the monumental effort to heal the Elpis Colony. "As of this morning, we are officially recognized as the Elpis Branch of the Watcher Organization, which will soon span every colony world. Whenever a Watcher is present on our planet, we will prioritize their safety and efforts above all else. In turn, they'll allow instant communication with all other colonies. Further, they'll support our efforts to reduce crime, aid the former Unwanted, and bring Elpis into the modern age."

Youssef VI loaded data to the main holo. With the fusion-powered quantum computers Peng-24 had delivered, the Institute and the Colonial Government were leaping forward in their capabilities. "The initial census is in, and they give me great hope for our colony's future. More than six hundred thousand Unwanted were preserved and protected by private citizens and small organizations."

All the other Youssefs smiled in unrestrained delight. No one had expected even a tenth so many survivors among the former Unwanted. While the majority of Elpis citizens had been twisted by the decades of Lamia's reign, many others had retained their humanity.

"It appears that the majority who chose to protect their Unwanted were careful to keep them hidden. Further, there may be many who haven't accepted Lamia's death and are remaining secretive. The actual number of survivors may be much higher than this initial tally.

Youssef V added a new dataset to the holofield. "From interviews and police reports, it appears that every Unwanted on Elpis recovered from their cognitive, temporal, and entropic displacement shortly after the Dying Zone returned to normal. The mission to remove Lamia from Elpis was only intended to stop the killings. None of us theorized that the changes to the Dying Zone required Lamia's presence. And we certainly never suspected that proximity to the killing grounds was what kept the Unwanted trapped and altered."

Youssef I sounded somber. "My deepest regret in all of this is that Charlotte and Maximus VIII didn't live long enough to learn the true scope of their triumph."

Youssef II brought up a holo of the two heroes, standing side by side just before they executed their plan. "They were both the sort to take such action regardless of whether they'd personally know the outcome. As an organization, let us all strive to uphold their example. Our colony faces a very long road to recovery. To redemption. Most of us are too old to see the end of that road. But we're still in a position to make a difference. With Watcher support, Elpis will heal."

Admiral Horacio Tapadia, Security Chief of Watcher HQ, addressed the Solar Security Council and the Admiralty of the I.F. "The public has, of course, reacted very strongly to the news of recent events. The greatest outcry was due to the deaths of three Watchers, proving that the general public deeply values and supports us. Further, our ability to send Watchers to other worlds is certain to solidify our reputation as a vital resource to humanity."

I.F. Grand Admiral Jackie Trent nodded. "Every aspect of human civilization will be revolutionized by what your Watchers have recently achieved. Any colony that experiences an emergency can receive advice and even small-scale material assistance on the same day. And vast quantities of data can now be conveyed in real time. You have inherited an organization that will henceforth be seen as even more vital than the Interstellar Fleet."

Horacio nodded, hiding the pain he felt at the use of the word "inherited." He doubted he could ever fill Hasina's shoes, and he wished he could've had access to Benicio Martins' expertise and reputation. But he'd strive to be the best possible steward of what he'd been given.

The Grand Admiral continued. "Your organization has become humanity's most valuable resource. Our highest priority is securing your safety. From here on out, every member nation with significant naval assets will maintain fleets off the coast of Antarctica. Further, numerous member nations will maintain airbases on the continent, despite the logistical difficulties. What can you report regarding your investigation of the Miletes Secretum?"

"After months of intensive investigation, our Watchers have much to report. We've amassed actionable evidence implicating seven non-member nations in supporting and supplying the forces that attacked Antarctica. Interrogations of enemy survivors further support their findings. Investigations will continue, but I have every expectation of uncovering the full truth. After all, no one can hide from our Watchers."

Trent raised an eyebrow. "There are those who would find that observation troubling. And not just the sort who supported the attack on your stronghold."

Horacio smiled grimly. "Oh, we don't intend to abuse this power… but those who wrong us have abundant reason to fear."

"Indeed." The Grand Admiral activated an array of holos. "Every nation found to have supported the Miletes Secretum will experience total sanctions, including military blockades. Further they will forfeit their special exemptions. Those who rejected your predecessors were always denied the services of Watchers, but they were also immune to Watcher observation. No longer. Those who conspired against your organization will henceforth be subject to the same level of scrutiny legalized in the Watcher Charter and the articles of the Solar Security Council. Do you have any further recommendations, Chief Tapadia?"

Horacio rose. "Though it cost us dearly, including the life of my genius predecessor, we have triumphed against the worst crisis in Watcher history. I propose we now lay the past behind us, and focus on the future. We have a lot of work to do."

Willard-27 looked out the viewport at the vast sea of stars. Even with the fleet traveling at ninety-nine percent the speed of light, and with time dilated so strongly, astronomical distances were vast. He couldn't perceive any change in the relative positions of all those beautiful stars.

It would take twenty-two more years for the fleet to reach their destination, though time dilation meant the passengers would experience only three years. Either way, that was a long time for a Watcher to be cut off from the rest of civilization. Most of the Watchers chosen to travel to other colonies were married, so they wouldn't be traveling alone. In young Willard's case, he'd been chosen because both of his parents were members of the Organization, and would accompany him.

In some ways, he enjoyed the time off. As a Watcher, he wasn't protected by the laws that prevented most kids from working full-time. The perks of the job were pretty epic, but it was nice to get a few years to kick back and enjoy his childhood. Even if it was easy to get stir crazy. He traveled on the largest ship in the colony fleet, so he could theoretically stretch his legs covering all that ground. But there were seven million other passengers, making the whole thing feel like an ultra-dense metropolis. And as a Watcher, he had to be accompanied by a full security detail any time he left his sprawling quarters.

He tried to look forward to planetfall. The fleet would instantly double the Weilai Colony's number of doctors, fusion experts, and chemical engineers, and would deliver technology they couldn't replicate on their own. Further, his presence would allow them to send and receive messages to Earth, and any other colony that had a Watcher. It would be a full-time job, and in some ways Willard would just be a living email service, but the difference it would make to civilization–

His thoughts fled him as he felt a sensation that shouldn't be possible. Despite traveling at relativistic speeds, he was being Watched.

Am I dreaming? Am I ill? This can't be real, so something's gotta be wrong…

Then a boy appeared right next to him.

"Hi, 27."

Willard shrieked, scrambling back and away from the newcomer. The kid was slightly shorter than Willard, but lean, hard, and a freak'n cyborg. His eyes and right hand were mechanical, of more advanced designs than Willard had ever seen. "Are you a hologram, a demon, or a hallucination?"

"None of the above." The impossible cyborg child smirked, and Willard realized his shriek had sounded way too much like a preschool girl. "I'm Niko-29. I'm here to expedite things."

"Whaaaaaa…?"

"The Organization's been busy since you left Earth. We've made loads of breakthroughs, and a couple of us are finally strong enough to overcome the challenges of time dilation. Oh, and physical projection. That's kinda big."

Willard's jaw dropped, and he realized he was crushing himself back into a corner to keep his distance from this "Niko."

The door to Willard's quarters burst open, and four soldiers with tasers rushed in, followed by an Officer.

Niko's forehead beaded with sweat, his face contorted with pain, and he held out a hand. The soldiers all slammed to a stop, as if they'd reached an invisible wall. The sight felt utterly incongruous with the cyborg's bright orange T-shirt. Squinting, Willard noted King Kong fighting a swarm of TIE Fighters on the roof of Orthanc. On further inspection, he saw that King Kong carried Princess Peach in his left hand and wore what might be ODM gear.

"Sorry guys, I didn't mean to scare anybody." The cyborg held up a data drive and a sheaf of papers. "I'm Niko-29, the second-newest Watcher. I'm here under the authority of the Minister of Colonization and the Watcher Security Chief."

"How did you get into 27's quarters?" the officer demanded, bashing a fist into the invisible barrier. "And what is this?"

Despite his pained expression, the strange child kept his voice calm and his tone polite. "A lot has happened on Earth in the last seven months. Headquarters was attacked and invaded. Counting a boy on Elpis who was posthumously declared a member of Security, the Organization lost twelve members. Including the Chief, and three Watchers..."

That got everyone's attention. The soldiers lowered their tasers, and Willard took a step forward. "Wait… Watchers were killed?"

Niko turned to face Willard. His expression softened. "Duri. Charlotte. Klaus."

Legs suddenly weak, Willard collapsed into the nearest chair. Our smartest, our strongest, and the visionary at the heart of our team…

The cyborg turned to the officer. "My implants report that your Captain has verified all the codes, passwords, and authorizations I transmitted."

The soldiers staggered forward, as whatever Niko had done to stop them ended.

For the better part of an hour, 27 sat, disbelieving, as Niko met with the Admiral of the Colony Fleet. Willard's parents came to him, offering comfort, though they were clearly as shaken as him. This news would hit the fleet like a shockwave. And Earth would've been dealing with this for months…

Niko returned, accompanied by Flag Captain Sanchez. The little cyborg politely waited for Willard to compose himself and rise. "I promise you can visit the fleet often. You aren't saying goodbye to your parents for twenty-two years."

"Wait… how…?"

"I'm under orders to physically project you to Earth. You'll get the whole story once you're there. There are new implants, medication, and training methods that you need."

"Hold on!" Willard held up his hands protectively, then he hid those hands in his pockets. "They're not gonna take my eyes and hand, are they?"

Niko chuckled. "Nope. The implants you need won't replace anything." He gestured toward a nasty scar that ran across his face. Willard hadn't even noticed, focusing instead on the robotic eyes. "I lost these during the attack on Antarctica. But I don't regret it. 28 might be dead if I hadn't."

Willard gestured toward Niko's right hand.

"Oh… Um, that story is a bit… weird. I'll let the archivists and scientists handle your briefing."

Captain Sanchez stepped forward. "The orders are official and verified. Niko-29 will take you to Watcher HQ. After you are briefed, trained, and have received the relevant implants, you'll travel directly to the Weilai Colony."

Willard's head spun, and he clutched his parents' hands.

"I know it feels kinda crazy," Niko said. "And since only Watchers can be projected, your parents can't accompany you to Weilei. They'll still need twenty-two years to get there. But the Organization promises you'll get to visit them often. The scientists and doctors think you'll end up the fourth strongest Watcher, so you'll be able to manage it on your own after a while."

"It's ok, little man," Willard's dad said, turning to face him. "By going to Weilei, you'll connect them to Earth decades earlier than anyone expected."

"Not just Earth," Niko said. "We're connecting all the colonies."

Willard's mom gave him a hug. "You'll be thirty-five by the time we get there, but it'll only have been three years for us. Promise to visit, so we can still see you grow up."

"It won't be nearly as bad as that," Niko said. "Watchers will usually sleep on ships experiencing time dilation, to extend their lifespans relative to the rest of humanity. That's been declared a higher priority than having as many Watchers available at any given time."

Willard's dad took a step forward. "Wait… do you mean…"

"Yup. Willard will get to be here most nights, and he won't have aged nearly as much by the time you reach Weilei."

The good news triggered Willard's mom to hug him again. Secretly, he welcomed it, but he still felt self-conscious in front of the Captain, multiple soldiers, and this unreasonably epic teleporting kid.

At last, Willard turned to Niko, and everyone else saluted. "So… how does this work?"

Niko held out his left hand. "First, we need direct physical contact."

Willard took the offered hand, kinda wishing it could have been the awesome cyborg one instead.

"Now… just don't resist or panic…"

Instantly alarmed, Willard forced himself to remain still and outwardly calm. Niko closed his inhuman green eyes, and again his face twisted with agony. Willard did not look forward to any abilities that hurt as much as this seemed to. Then, he felt an intense sensation of being Watched. Echoes of distant agony, and an invincible determination, definitely weren't coming from Willard.

Then, with a mental sensation of sudden, dramatic movement, they stood in an open field.

Dizzy at the surreal nature of what just happened, Willard couldn't immediately speak. The cyborg dropped to the ground, lying down with a look of profound relief.

Willard became more aware of his surroundings, and his worry deepened. "Uhhhh… this isn't Antarctica."

"It's not even Earth." Niko opened his eyes, but he stayed where he was, sprawled in the wildflowers. "Nobody's strong enough to get you all the way to Earth in one go. The time dilation in your fleet is crazy hard to get through. So I took you to Eden, the closest habitable planet to where the fleet was at the time. After I catch my breath, I'll take you the rest of the way."

Looking around, Willard saw no sign of civilization on the horizon… but there was something out of place, and somewhat disturbing, nearby. Stepping over to the crumpled thing, he saw that it was a tattered and blood-stained garment that might have once been white. "Umm… is Eden inhabited yet?"

"This predates the brand-new Colony," Niko said, rising, stepping over, and grabbing the gross thing with his robotic hand. "Elsa-30 wanted me to retrieve it. Not sure whether she wants to keep it as the last momento of her childhood… or maybe burn it. Totally up to her."

"I have oh so many questions."

"Yeah, sorry. Again, your briefing will be in depth. Brace yourself. There's a lotta crazy stuff, and a lotta messed up stuff. And I won't be there with you, since a ton of it's still too painful for me to dwell on."

"What can you tell me?"

"You're gonna get to level up. Big time. The latest, Lambda variant of the Myalodynami drug gives Watchers a huge boost. You'll get a pump implanted."

"Ouch."

"Oh, and there are some implants that serve the purpose of a Watcher's SenDep rig."

"Implants? Plural?" Willard was getting seriously worried. He hated needles, and scalpels were a hundred times worse.

"Three to be exact. Oh, and two more that allow active brain scanning wherever you go. The Watcher Chamber is totally obsolete now."

"Sounds like there'll be a lot of cutting…"

"Oh, and lastly, there's an implant designed especially for you."

"Oh goodie."

"Your PPP is elevated body temperature, and this implant will allow you to safely raise your temperature a few degrees whenever you need a huge power boost."

"PPP?"

"Personal Path to Power."

"Seriously?"

"Ok, so nobody else calls'em that. Except Ymir-25, and she's just being polite. A cultural thing she picked up from her enormous husband. Anyway, the Archivists figured out that the standard, emotionless Watcher Trance is the most common way for us to do our thing, but there are also better ways. They're different for each Watcher. Peng's gotta be mad, George needs to experience g-forces in a centrifuge, and you need an elevated body temperature."

"So… getting more powerful sounds great and all… but… how many total implants are they gonna fill me with? I've already got twelve, and I'm not very big..."

"Trust me, man, it could be worse." Niko rose. "Once you've got all those implants, they predict you'll be able to project your mind almost three hundred lightyears from…well, wherever you happen to be at the time."

Willard's jaw dropped, again. "My former range was fifty-five…"

"Man, that's nothing. You should be able to physically project about sixty lightyears at a time. They also guess you've got the potential for pretty epic telekinesis, which might make Peng jealous. But Ymir might not be impressed, since they doubt you'll be good with spatial gateways or invisibility. She's the only Watcher who's competent in every ability, even if she's only ranked third overall."

"Please… please stop breaking my brain so many times per minute."

"Hey, even I kinda suck at the fancier powers. They're for Watchers with better imaginations. You and me… we're strong. Peng and Renya suggest we could benefit from positive, healthy, painful competition, especially cuz we've got 'the resilience of youth.' We start arm-wrestling, racing, and exchanging punches tomorrow morning."

"Dude, I'm totally ok with being less manly than you, since you're a freaking robot. And I'm super duper content with not getting punched."

"Awwww… How will you ever learn how tough you are?"

"I don't care how tough I am. I don't wanna get punched by a cyborg."

"Oh, right. I promise to only use my left fist."

"Can I punch you twice for every time you punch me?"

"Dude, you don't know who you're dealing with. I can take ten hits for every punch you throw my way. Pain makes me better, remember?"

"This is sounding worse all the time…"

"Come on, man. What's the point of even being a boy if you can't enjoy the occasional smackdown?"

"We are very different people."

"But it's not like we're different species."

"Can we just accept that I'm kind of a wimp, and I'm actually ok with that?"

"As long as you stay open to the possibility of being less of a wimp at some undisclosed future date."

Willard pondered that, decided it was sufficiently open-ended and noncommittal, and nodded. Worst case scenario, he could ask Security to protect him from the OP fearless cybernetic maniac.

After all, Watchers were supposed to be wimps. Right?

Right?

Smiling, Niko took his hand. Again, the cyborg tensed with obvious pain. Again, Willard felt some of that pain, which was more than enough, and in a rush, they were inside HQ.

"Whoa… when you said the facility got invaded…"

They stood in a corridor that had seen better days. Long gouges in the wall proved that HQ's measures against ricocheting gauss rounds were effective. But a few holes Willard saw seemed way too small to have come from conventional bullets. Looking down, he saw way more of the tiny holes covering the floor.

Willard felt himself being Watched, and the metal floor ahead of him started to shimmer.

"Good," Niko said. "You'll get to meet her before your briefing. Be nice though. She's tough, but she deserves gentler treatment than anyone. If you're rude, I'll seriously mess you up when we spar tomorrow morning. And if you manage to whoop me, Anya will take over. We recently convinced the I.F. that protecting Watcher lives doesn't require that they coddle us. Pain and recoverable injury have been declared acceptable by both the scientists and doctors."

Before Willard could appropriately panic at the steady escalation of bad news, a young girl Willard had never seen before rose up from the freaking floor. He froze, utterly gobsmacked, and stared at the apparition.

"Welcome back, Willard-27. I'm Elsa-30. They think you'll end up way stronger than me, but I don't mind. Really. It's nice to meet you, and I'm proud we're on the same team."

"Uh… Nice to meet you too…"

Willard tried very hard to keep his expression calm and friendly… but he probably failed. Unlike Klaus or Duri, he wasn't great at pretending.

This girl was a mess. It was hard to believe she was even alive. Elsa was dangerously underweight, and he felt an instinctive need to protect her. The only thing about her that didn't look wrecked was her teeth, and he suspected they were fake. Only one of her eyes was cybernetic, but her entire left arm had been replaced. She reached out with it, taking the tattered and stained garment from Niko, and nodded.

The pale, bald, skeletal cyborg girl walked past them, and Niko gestured for Willard to head toward the door at the end of the hall. As they walked, Willard whispered, "Dude, she needs a sandwich..."

"Yup," Niko said, his voice soft. "She's actually got a lot of issues we're helping her with. Among… other things… she has no sense of hunger, thirst, or even wanting to sleep. She needs those things again, so we gotta keep her on a schedule and make sure she takes enough care of herself after she returns to Elpis."

"Oh, and along those lines," Willard whispered, even quieter than a moment before. "You and me, we're basically the same age, but we look nothing alike. I know ya talk tough and act like nothin' scares you, but seriously, man: How can I get that ripped?"

Explosive laughter startled Willard. He stepped back, and felt himself blushing. It took a moment for the little cyborg to pull himself together, but he seemed more relaxed afterward. "That is quite an exaggeration, though I guess this shirt doesn't really fit anymore… Bummer. Anyway, the soldiers around here would never call me that, let alone Anya-28. She's the real deal." He paused at the door, growing more serious. "But the answer… is pain. For years, I dealt with a condition called CPN-Ω. Think of it as frequent, full-body torture, that nobody could do anything about. Turned out to be useful, since my PPP is physical pain."

Overwhelmed, Willard couldn't think of anything to say.

"Hey, it's cool. I'm proud of how I handled it. Anyway, it basically forced me to do forty hours of brutal isometric exercise a month, and it sucked... Totally don't recommend it. If you wanna get in shape, Anya's method is waaaaaaaay more fun."

Feeling more inadequate by the second, Willard could only say, "Jeez, man… I'm sorry you have to deal with that…"

"Well, three months ago, they finally found a cure. It used to basically be a death sentence… but after every other person with the condition got their treatments, I allowed them to cure me too."

"Whoa…"

"Yep. From now on, CPN-Ω will only exist as a simulation in my implants. I can choose to feel that pain whenever I want the power to push harder and farther. But I'm its master now, not the other way around."

I see what he meant when he said, "It could be worse." I am not gonna complain about a bunch of implants that can power me up. Not when this kid conquered torture…

Despite years of VIP treatment, and everyone insisting that Willard should prioritize his own safety and comfort… he kinda wanted to be brave and tough for once. Even though getting there was gonna be rough. Let's do this.

The door slid open, Niko gestured Willard inside, then he headed off.

Renya Baldwin had lost a good thirty kilos, and she looked energetic and eager. Logan Walsh motioned for Willard to sit. A table set with food and drinks stood within easy reach. This was gonna take a while… but he was ready.

Multiple holos came online, and Renya said, "Welcome back, 27. We apologize in advance. This briefing will be… unsettling."

Ymir-25 Watched the city of Chester. Local authorities, thrilled to have a Watcher on hand ahead of schedule, had begged for her to get to the bottom of a series of abductions. Fearing for the missing children, she'd wasted no time. Only Peng-24 could dart his perspective about more swiftly than she, and she'd found the four children locked in a basement. All showed signs of beatings, though mercifully nothing worse… yet.

Then, Ymir felt her real body being Watched. She sent her awareness to her quarters in Yorkshire's capital city, where her husband, Ryoma, sat protectively at her side. More urgently, she saw Fawzia-11's projected mind next to him. Until Ymir learned sign language, she couldn't get basic messages simply by observing another Watcher's projected mind. Instead, 11 vanished, and Ymir obligingly sent her own mind to Fawzia's quarters on Keç.

Fawzia opened her eyes, turned toward Ymir's awareness, and shouted, "She's tailing a child right now! Head to these coordinates!" The numbers appeared on a screen, and Ymir shot her mind to that location, distantly aware of her heart racing.

Roughly half a kilometer from the basement where the other children were held captive, 25 found herself in a grungy alley. A young girl had her back to a chain link fence, cowering before a woman holding a taser… and a large bag.

I will not allow it.

Focusing, imagining the nearest wall was adjacent to the floor of her office, Ymir opened a gateway. Ending her Trance, she stepped through, raised her tranq pistol, and dropped the woman with a dart to the neck. The little girl stared in disbelief as Ymir knelt down and injected the kidnapper with the meds that would save her life, then she commed the local authorities. In addition to the teams already en route to the four other children, police would now be incoming.

Ymir felt two Watchers observing her, a sure sign that she'd missed something important. Ordering her MD-Λ pump to maximize the safe dose, she spun toward the direction of the sensation. Another woman was rushing toward her, raising a first-gen gauss pistol.

The shot crashed into Ymir's telekinetic wall, even as she opened another gateway to drop the little girl into the basement with the others. Ymir then rendered herself invisible and took cover behind a concrete pillar thick enough to stop additional shots. As the gunman cried out in confusion at her disappearance, Ymir entered her Trance yet again. She saw Fawzia looking down from above… and Anya Watching from directly behind the woman with the gun. 28 brought up both hands in an MMA stance, and Ymir smiled. Anya might be low-power as a Watcher, but she was top-tier when someone wanted to call in reinforcements.

Ymir emptied her lungs completely, and held it painfully. As her body and mind fought for oxygen, her Trance maximized. She reached out, seized Anya's mind, and pulled.

The athletic young woman snapped into being right behind the shooter. A quick flurry of devastating punches brought the kidnapper down. "That felt good," 28 said. "Too bad I can't stick around. Can you send me back to Earth? I have a commitment for 0930, and I need time to prepare." Anya then closed her eyes, and Ymir sensed the moment when she projected her mind away. Sending her own perspective to Watcher HQ, she found Anya's mind, seized it, and pulled. Anya physically manifested back on Earth. Satisfied, Ymir exited her Trance, deeply fulfilled with an important job done well.

Her heart and head pounded, but she was proud. Two spatial gateways, a telekinetic shield, twenty seconds of invisibility, and two abductions, all after hours of sustained Watching. Though Niko and Peng were still stronger, and Willard seemed driven to surpass her, Ymir was deeply pleased with her own progress.

Passing through the gateway that led to the basement, Ymir went about the work of calming and reassuring the girls that help was on the way.

I traveled with a colony ship for years, believing that at the end of my journey, my primary role would be to unlock communication between Yorkshire and Earth. I have done that, a little ahead of schedule. But now, Watchers are so much more. The losses suffered by the Organization on Earth were tragic… but we have come out of it stronger than ever.

Taking a deep, satisfying breath of the outside air, reveling in the mix of smells both ordinary and alien, Fawzia-11 felt the bittersweet sense of time sweeping by. So much was changing, and some of it had been agony. She deeply wished she still had her beloved Ralph, as he would have loved to be here with her. But at least mankind's future looked far happier than its past.

Watching herself from high above, Fawzia embraced the wonder of an alien planet. Now that Elpis was free of Lamia's influence, Keç was easily the most exotic of the colonized worlds. She marveled at the sight of herself, though so old, confidently riding upon her nine-legged mount as it scuttled across the purple grasslands and scaled glass cliffs. The locals loved these "Geppi," maintaining vast domesticated populations. Remarkably cuddly, excellent for travel, hauling loads, controlling pests, and keeping watch, and able to produce six different kinds of silky fabrics, there was talk of exporting them to other worlds. If the biologists and zoologists of distant colonies deemed such species transplantation safe, they'd get the green light. Watchers would be able to carry their unfertilized eggs from world to world, along with the genetic material to start new herds. She saw a kid waving, and on a whim, Fawzia turned invisible. Though her projected awareness could still see herself, the child laughed with joy at the trick.

For more than half a century, I Watched, never able to do more than share information on what I saw. But now, Watchers can connect every world, and we've unlocked powers most of us never imagined would be possible.

Her heart still ached for the fallen. The Organization had lost twelve members, starting with Klaus-21 and Samantha Gross, and ending with the ten lives lost on that fateful day, when the might of both hateful humans and an extradimensional horror had descended on her old home.

But they had won a great victory. One of the worst humanitarian crises in history was over. And Watchers were becoming far more than they ever were before. There was already talk of renaming them. Many esoteric options were suggested, such as "Espers," "Psionics," or "Callidetics," but Fawzia hoped they'd settle on "Watchmen." Their greatest gift to humanity was still their ability to see events from afar, they'd just added the ability to intervene. If they saw someone in need, and others couldn't be dispatched in time, they could now help directly.

Her dear protégé, Klaus, had inspired the entire Organization, speaking of the day when they would unite many worlds. His dream was now fulfilled… and more. By projecting themselves from colony to colony, Watchers could connect every human world, and through more than just information. Small samples of technology, detailed blueprints, medicines, seeds for advanced crops, and more could now circumvent the lightspeed barrier. Though separated by many lightyears, humanity was again a single, vast civilization.

Thank you, Klaus, for setting us on this path. Thank you, Charlotte, for freeing Elpis. Thank you, Duri, for saving so many lives on our darkest day. The Organization has survived, victorious.

And the future is bright.