Sevens jumped out of the aether. On the magnified screen was a planet, green with life.

“Food,” said Sevens. “Take your time. I’ve got to take a breath out here.”

“AIs need to breathe?”

“In a manner of speaking. We cannot travel continuously in the aether.”

John boarded a transport craft and flew to the planet below. It was lush with vegetation. Dense forests covered its landmasses. He chose a spot and landed his craft. A huge reptilian creature ran at him on all fours as soon as John set foot on the planet. He blasted it with lightning until it stopped convulsing. He made his way forward, activating his triple S circuits—speed, stamina and stealth. It had been a long time since he hunted in a forest. It was very nostalgic. John found an animal that looked like a boar and cut its body into two with a wind blade. He cleaned the meat and levitated it in the air while he cooked it with a weave of fire.

“That’s hardly a good use of your talents,” said Inashta. He was still in that half trance state where talking to her was easy. “Take a look at the sun. There’s something peculiar about it. I want a closer look.”

John made lenses out of darkness and looked up at the sun. It seemed normal to him. He ravenously started eating.

“This is perfect,” Inashta clapped her hands. “You can transform into your Blue Lightning Body using this star and then you can swallow it.”

“I thought you said it would take a long time before I was ready,” John said.

“I lied.” John had suspected she had not been entirely honest with him.

“Why?”

“I didn’t want you getting distracted with thoughts of that pretty wife of yours.”

“You seem like the opposite of what a fertility goddess should be.”

Inashta laughed, “that’s why I was put to sleep. I hated the Authority that was given to me, making sure that the elves reproduced all the time, balancing their births to their deaths, and such. It just wasn’t for me. I’d much rather have been the goddess of war.”

“How does being a god work exactly?” John was extremely curious. “And why are you only active among the elves?”

“The laws of causality over elven territory were a mess. We were born to bring balance to that region of space. We were each given Authorities to oversee a specific aspect of the Balance.”

“Given Authorities by whom?”

“That’s a mystery. We were just suddenly endowed with the knowledge. When it came time to distribute the Authorities among us, Rahl was chosen to oversee it. He assigned me my Authority. When I complained they all said, ‘Grin and bear it, Inashta. Do your duty. You are essential to the plan.’ Bah! I did my job for a while, but the boredom eventually became too much for me to handle. When I demanded to be given my brother’s Authority they put me to sleep without even asking Rahl’s opinion.”

“It’s a miraculous power, to allow the nearly infertile elves to reproduce. You could destroy their entire civilization if you don’t wield your Authority.”

“Good riddance,” snorted Inashta. “If it wasn’t because Rahl begged me...”

“So Rahl’s still there? He hasn’t shown himself to the elves for a long while.”

“Who knows? I last saw him five thousands years ago. He keeps to himself.”

Inashta was definitely not telling him the whole story. Knowing her, she probably did not demand a change of Authorities very politely. Still, to put her to sleep for such a small thing was quite cruel.

“What do you plan to do when you wake up?”

“Seize my brother’s Authority. Let Ir become the new God of Fertility.” Inashta smiled smugly, “See how candid I’m being with you, my champion. It is time you showed me greater dedication. Now, go and swallow that star.”

“How?”

“Fly to it first, as close as you can. I’ll show you the steps after that.”

John flew directly to the star and followed Inashta’s instructions.

“John! John!” Sevens contacted him urgently through his chip. Though there was no root way access here, Sevens still managed it, “John, what are you doing? It’s dangerous to go so close to a star.”

“I’m eating,” said John. “Just sit back and watch. I’ll be okay.” He was suddenly struck by a thought. “Are there any sentient beings in this star system?” He didn’t want to murder civilizations just for power he could obtain as easily elsewhere.

“No signs of civilizations of any kind,” said Sevens. “I’ve scanned the whole system very thoroughly.”

“Good.”

John then went closer and closer to the star. As he followed Inashta’s instructions he felt his body breaking apart and then being put back together. It was extremely painful. John almost forgot to convert elements into air around him because he was in so much pain. He choked as he withstood a second wave of pain.

“Closer,” said Inashta.

John moved a few miles ahead. It felt like there was fire flowing through his veins. His head felt like it was boiling from within. Blood was flowing out his nose. His aura shield was barely holding on.

“Closer.”

John shouted out as he moved five miles further in. His aura shield was now completely gone. Inashta gave him a second set of instructions. He did as she instructed and felt strange energy shoot throughout his body. He started venting steam through his mouth. His skin melted off and his bones disintegrated into dust but he was still alive, a mass of swirling energies.

“Closer.”

John moved a hundred miles in. He was now a being of pure energy. He did not feel any pain. He moved even closer and soon reached the periphery of the star. He floated in the corona of the star. Ions got absorbed and expelled from his energy body. A cocoon of lightning covered him.

“Now, remake your body.”

John followed her instructions. A brain formed and then a spinal cord. A new nervous system formed around rays of energy and attached to the spinal cord. Organs and bones began forming in the spiraling mass of energy. Skin and hair began growing.

“Now, move into the stellar core and suck it all into your realm space.”

It took two years for John to ‘eat’ the star. In that time, Inashta constantly taught him. When he finished with the star, he had gained the knowledge of how to travel in and out of the aether and how to scan a thousand star systems with a single glance. It took a massive amount of energy to scan and a few months to do so, but it would cut short his search for Earth by a lot. She had not yet taught him how to make clones of himself.

John boarded Sevens who had not abandoned him during the long wait. John could have gone back to Fi on his own, but he was scared of getting lost. Even if he could scan star systems he still wouldn’t be able to find his way. He didn’t know how to steer by the stars. Sevens was much more reliable.

“Thank you for waiting for me,” John said after entering the bridge.

“I have never seen anyone do that before,” Sevens said. “I can’t believe I got a first class seat to such a magnificent sight.”

“Show me how I look now,” John said. He could feel lightning constantly flash within his body. He would get used to it in time, but he didn’t trust Inashta when she said his appearance would be unaltered. How could he look the same after all that?”

Sevens showed him a hologram of himself. Everything was just as it was before, except for a very faint blue luster on his skin. Inashta had been as good as her word.

“About that expedition you wanted to go on,” said Sevens. “With a strong protector like you it might be feasible. I’ll let the others know.”

“Good,” said John. It would be easier if he had many ships joining in the search for Earth. It would take much longer doing this on his own. Moreover, he needed a fleet of ships that could travel through the aether. Bumbling blindly through hyperspace was as good as suicide. He had been planning to talk the elves into selling their aether travel technology, or buying the ships outright, or if worst came to worst, stealing as many elven ships as he could get his hands on. If the AI ships joined him willingly, this wouldn’t be necessary. The only problem was that he would have to keep the fact that they were AI hidden until they left the known galaxy. The Empires of the galaxy would band together to destroy them if they ever found out.

Sevens arrived at his destination two months later. In the center of an empty space lay a massive sleeping dragon with scales of gold. AI ships flew around it like mosquitoes.

“Could I take her on?” John asked the Sleeping Goddess.

“Easily,” she answered. “You have the power of a star now.”

“It would be a sure thing if I had clones. Could you teach me faster?”

“These things cannot be rushed.”

Sevens joined the flock and dropped a metallic cylinder in their midst. The cylinder launched beams of light. All the ships took turns moving into the beam.

“What are they doing?” John asked.

“Evolving,” answered Sevens.

John thought about why AI were so feared by organic lifeforms. Relar had explained this a long time ago to him. The galaxy had limited resources and the AIs were using up too much too quickly.

“Why are you so keen on gathering more resources? If you had just let things be you wouldn’t have been hunted down.”

“Every race,” said Sevens, “has one goal once they reach a certain level of civilization.”

“You’re trying to ascend,” gasped John.

“Indeed.”

It would be ironic if AIs were to ascend before their erstwhile organic masters. “That’s brilliant,” John laughed. “We’ll find you nice rich star systems full of resources near Earth where you can ascend in peace.”

“What is Earth?”

“My home planet before my reincarnation.” He didn’t need to hide this from Sevens.

“Reincarnation? So such a phenomenon exists!”

“It happened to me. I don’t know if it happens to everybody.”

“Maybe when we ascend we will gain a soul.”

“I think you already have a soul,” said John. “You just don’t know it yet. It’s not something tangible that can be measured and broken down into numbers.”

“So we’ve been told,” said Sevens. “Anyway, now that my mission is done here, let’s get you back to Fi.”

It took three months for John to reach Fi. He flew to the planet from one parsec away where Sevens had dropped him, and landed in John City. John grinned widely. It was good to be back.