"I wish I didn't, but yes, you're right. It wasn't the Shadows who turned the defence grid on Proxima. It wasn't even Clark, at least not really. It was the Vorlons, a faction of them, working through Clark."
"Okay.... why?"
"Any number of reasons. A beaten, battered humanity would be less likely to ally with the Shadows again, especially if they were the ones who caused all that carnage. It would be easier to force them into the Alliance, to rule from the ashes. But mostly I think it was a punishment."
"Punishment. What for?"
"Choosing the wrong side. The Shadows."
"Then.... Oh God. Then this is all our fault. We're the ones who set the Government up with the Shadows. We...."
"No!" she snapped firmly. "A deal would have been made eventually, if not through you and Captain Sheridan, then others. Humanity couldn't stay out of this war forever. Unfortunately they were brought into it on the.... wrong side. So they had to be punished."
"But it's not as if we even knew...."
"It doesn't matter. Not to the Vorlons. To them this isn't a war of weapons, it isn't about military strength. It's about being right, about ideology. Humanity chose the wrong ideology, and that's why they must be punished."
"But the Vorlons failed."
"Thanks to you."
"And you. And Captain DeClercq. And.... others. Are they going to try again?"
"I think the punishment is going to be more subtle, more long–term. They can't really use the Shadows as scapegoats again."
"Oh God, this is crazy. I just don't believe it.... It's as if everything's just turned around and muddled up so it makes no sense whatsoever. Shadows, Vorlons, ideology.... And then there's Carolyn."
"Ah."
"Yes. I can still see her when I close my eyes. Lyta, who was she? Was she real, just an illusion, what?"
"She was real, alive. Somewhere in the heart of your Dark Star is a chamber, a sort of living instrument. She's trapped there, her mind fused with every part of the ship. Every Dark Star has one. Some of them are human, others alien."
"The Vorlons did that? That's monstrous!"
"Yes," she said. "It is. Kosh.... never liked it. It was originally used as a defence network around parts of Vorlon space. It was.... necessary. There were too many secrets the other races must not be allowed to uncover, and the network was.... one of the best ways of keeping them out. It.... didn't have to destroy people, you see. It could be used to misdirect and confuse. It was never designed for outright destruction."
"Until now."
"Yes. Until now."
"Fine. Where is this chamber exactly? There's a lot of space in the Dark Stars that we haven't been told anything about, other than not to go there. Engineering stuff. I'll find this chamber and...."
"And what? Destroy it? Break her free?"
"Yes! Of course. God, I can't leave her in there any longer, after what they're doing to her."
"You can't do that. Oh, you can free her body, yes.... but her mind is attuned to every part of the ship. Take her body away from the chamber and all you do is sever the link between body and mind. There'll be nowhere for her mind to return to if we ever could free her totally."
"Can you.... undo this link?" She shook her head. "Then how long is she going to stay there?"
"If the ship is not destroyed.... forever. There are certain.... rejuvenation effects in the technology holding her. Her body will not decay, her systems will not break down. She will live forever."
"We have to stop this!"
"Yes, we do.... but we cannot do it yet. The Vorlons have been preparing for this for millennia. They are going to destroy the Shadows once and for all, not merely defeat them but humiliate them utterly, break them apart and drive them from this galaxy."
"Then what can we do?"
"Watch, learn, wait. For now, the Vorlons want to use this to defeat the Shadows. They are our enemy too. So.... is the enemy of my enemy my friend?"
"Not when they're doing stuff like this! The Shadows weren't our friends just because we were both enemies of the Minbari, and the Vorlons certainly aren't our friends now.... not when they're doing things like this. It's.... God, I've never seen anything more wrong!"
"Nor have I, but David, listen to me. What can we do at the moment? We must try to defeat them in their own way."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Captain Sheridan is important to them. They've been trying to mould him to be their perfect general, their instrument of order. They think they need to purge him of anything else that might influence him, anything or anyone to whom he will listen other than them. You are his oldest friend, and they are trying to drive the two of you apart. Stay close to him, remain his friend, and make him find Delenn."
"Delenn? She is still alive?"
"Yes. I can.... feel her. I don't know where, but...."
"It doesn't matter. I'll find her. I knew it! I knew she was still alive!"
"Keep an eye on her. They may try to kill her.... and you."
"Don't worry. Now I know what's going on, I'm not going to let them win. Wait! What about Carolyn? Is there anything I can do for her?"
"Talk to her. Speak her name as often as you can. Remind her that she is still alive, still a person. Perhaps later we will be able to free her, and she will need still to be sane when that happens. Apart from that.... there is nothing."
He shook his head. "What about you? Won't you get in trouble for telling me all this?"
"For now they need me. Besides, I can.... obscure my involvement in this.... for a while at least. Afterwards.... I have no illusions about what they are going to do to me."
"No!" he said, his eyes flashing. "I won't let them put you in one of those ships."
"We may not have a choice. But I'm not planning on staying around. After the war is over I'm going to leave and find Sinoval. He can fight them, if anyone can. Don't worry." She reached out and gently took his hand. "I'm going to be fine."
"If you say so. Who.... who else here knows about this?"
"No one. There's no one else here I can trust. When I'm gone, it'll be up to you to tell someone you can trust. Not Captain Sheridan. They've touched him too strongly. And not Delenn. She's too connected to him. But anyone else."
She took back her hand. "You have to go now. We shouldn't be seen together. The less reason they have to be suspicious of you the better."
"I understand." He made for the door, and then turned. "Can we beat them?"
"I don't know," she said honestly. "I really don't know."
It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. He had not been sure exactly what he had been expecting it to look like, but never in his dreams had he imagined it would be like this.
It was a flower, a shimmering, starry, living jewel of silky darkness and velvet shadows. There was a bright red bulb beneath the delicate, slender petals. It was hard, and yet transparent. There was something inside it, a tiny spark of life, curled up tightly.
Lord Kiro knew what the flower was, and what it did, and how to use it. He had seen it in his dreams for the last two weeks. He had seen an ancient civilisation, proud and wise, possessed of wings that had carried them across the stars, until they finally settled on an isolated, idyllic world. He had seen the passing comet that had left behind a spoor, and the flowers that had grown from that seed. He had seen the madness spreading as the flowers bloomed, and the massacres that came when the things inside them broke free.
And then he had seen the dark ships in the sky, the Dark Masters that came to claim the last, devolved, shattered refuse of the once proud race.
The thing within the flower was not ready to live yet. It would need to be nourished, and fed. But soon, weeks, maybe months. What did it matter? It would come soon enough.