Mé entered Command Bay. The Captain stood up.

"Mé," he said. "I'm so glad you've made it. Where is the rest of the team?"

"Thank you, Captain," she replied and bowed. "They are still in the crater – Íma is its name and it is an interdimensional platform and a learning experience at the same time."

"You have much to tell me," said the Captain, and they sat down.

Mé provided a detailed report of their descent, of Gre's initiative to greet the crater through emotion rather than words, of the City of Depths Unseen and her ways parting from the team's.

Soo Beran nodded, reflecting on what she'd said. "I understand," he told her. "We are glad to have you back. I congratulate you on your achievement."

"Thank you, sir."

He was searching his mind. After a moment, he asked, "Would governor Mala agree to a meeting?"

"He did not say," Mé answered. "They do not seem to abide by protocols similar to ours, and"–she looked at the Captain–"there's a chance that the way to reach him is not through appointment."

Once more, the Captain gave a brief nod. "Undergo the test myself."

She assented. "It is just a thought."

"Appreciated. Tell me more about Íma."

Mé gathered her thoughts. "Governor Mala spoke of the interconnectedness of all that is a part of M'alala with M'alala herself and with the galaxy and with the entire universe as if each galaxy were a unitary organism within a universe-level being, and so on, into multiverse potentiality. A planet within such structure would function as an Atom, and everything within the Atom is hence tightly interconnected to all life everywhere.

"Íma," she carried on, "has been portrayed as a gateway of becoming."

"Becoming what?"

"I come with answers as well as questions," she replied.

"What have you become?"

She thought about it. "More connected with who I used to be, but grounded in the present nonetheless. More light-hearted..."

"A subtle change."

She nodded. "An inner change, yes."

"Would you venture into Íma again?"

The question half-startled Mé. "Yes," she said.

Surprise, but not hesitation, the Captain thought. "Did all of your companions share your positive expectations about the outcome of the mission?"

She pondered. "Gre seemed trustful and at ease. Meknáni as well. Sakna-Sa was quiet, but she did not seem bothered. Sla kept an open mind. Uiio did, too. Arít was calm. So was Menior. I don't recall if Maýla-i even spoke. Umbe seemed terrified. Why do you ask, sir?"

"I'm trying to ascertain the elements that got you in and out, but not them as well. There's a clear difference in morale, but we shall know more when the whole team is back." Their eyes met, the Captain's grey-blue and Mé's black. "Did governor Mala mention the number of dimension-doors within Íma, or how to access them?"

"No, sir. I did not ask, I apologize." Mé was beginning to realize how overwhelmed she'd been. "He said we should trust them."

"To find their way?" the Captain asked.

She nodded.

"An indefinite number of dimension-doors within a sentient, interconnected Planet-Being and a recommendation to steadfastness," he mused aloud, then turned to her. "Did his tone of voice have inflections that would hint at potential danger for whosoever ventures into Íma?"

"None that I could tell."

"You mentioned a spiralling stairway that got you closer to the city gates. The rest of the team was right beside you. Normally, they would have followed your lead, or discovered the stairway themselves." It only appeared that he was looking at the space before them. "Could that stairway have been there for you, but not for them?" Eyes back to her. "Could that stairway have been your door into the 5th dimension, and since that city would logically not be the only fifth-dimensional spacetime fragment, could there be 1, an element that makes one dimension available instead of others, and 2, a very specific pinpoint within said dimension that becomes available to an explorer? Is the key within – in the sense that based on who and how one person is, a predetermined point in spacetime in a predetermined dimension is the destination when one ventures into Íma?"

"It could be so," she reflected, "but wouldn't that contradict the learning process, the process of discovery initiated once you go in?"

"Not necessarily," the Captain pondered. "A gateway of becoming. One cannot be except for what one already is, either consciously or unconsciously. What if Íma is the gateway into clarity, and by the arc of evolution one has within it, one discovers a part of oneself that has been hidden?"

"That's an interesting perspective," Mé said.

"And since a gateway of becoming requires acceptance of who one is in order to fulfil the task, your adventure through Íma, though complex and worth analysing, is nine times less ample in ramifications than that of your colleagues, for if they have remained together, and cannot hence split into partial portals, their process would require clarity as well as reaching a common"–here he stopped in search for a word–"it would require them to be in a way in which they can all simultaneously be in order for a dimension-door of that exact signature – and of a pinpoint spacetime fragment therein – to become available to them."

She understood what he meant. "I did not need to undergo that... pre-paving."

"Because you were alone," Beran completed. "You must have been fully aligned with who you are, and since there was no other team member with you to be fully aligned with who they are and thus cause a potential alignment ripple – an oscillation – the portal was easy to access."

"That's why you asked about our expectations regarding the outcome," she mused.

"Indeed. There are many elements to consider, much that I did not know when this mission began."

Mé was listening. "What do you plan to do, Captain?"

He turned to her. "Further evaluate the situation, consult with my Mentor, and then go in."

"Take the gateway into becoming?"

"Indeed. You have provided me with very valuable information that I must piece together, but remember that No knowledge can exclude experience."

He had quoted from the Book of Knowledge in the Architect's Temple.

"I am at your service," she told him.

"And I at yours," he replied.

"One last thing," she added. "Before I left the City of Depths Unseen, governor Mala made me a gift – three objects of almost immaterial, however stable light: a lidless chest, a scroll, and a chalice. I can present them for an evaluation, if you'd like."

With a very subtle smile, the Captain said, "Those objects have been gifted to you, Mé, not to Umbar. But should they lead you to a discovery you wish to share, please let me know."

"I will."

"Dismissed."

Mé bowed and left.

Returning to his desk, the Captain of Umbar mentally revised the information that Mé had shared and thereafter he accessed the holographic personal files of the nine Umbarians still in the crater. Then he called Amer Sé, Umbar's Guide to Inner Stability, who arrived shortly.

"You wanted to see me, sir," said the Guide, a human of Planet Alteor himself, like Uiio and Mé.

"Yes. Please be seated."

The tall man in his 40s, with shoulder-long blond hair and clear eyes sat on the other side of the white desk.

"I'm listening."

"As you know, ten of our crew members have gone on an expedition in the crater nearby. One has returned and explains that the crater is in fact an interdimensional platform. What I'm interested in is the psychological component of the journey: if and how it dictates the outcome."

He then presented the information he had received as well as his own reflections. Amer listened in silence. He then called the files back from the desk.

"Mé Khn is the one who has returned," added the Captain. "Can you identify a factor or a set of factors that make her likely to undergo this process at such brisk pace?"

Amer glanced at Mé's file before him and said, "Being a Mái-Ruan, I can already tell you what it is. On Planet Alteor the seen and unseen have a thin veil between them, and we become accustomed to navigating them since an early age. Some are more gifted than others, but this predilection might have helped Mé offer no resistance to the transformations before her."

The Captain moved the hologram that held Uiio's file next to Mé's.

Amer gave a nod. "She's remained with the team."

"As far as we know."

The Guide skimmed through it. "As far as I know," he then said, "Uiio has no formal training in world-binding – what Mái-Ruans call the process of becoming simultaneously adapted to the material and spiritual aspects of reality and incorporating both to result in a balanced middle-way, where one denies neither nor favours one over the next. However, being born and raised on Alteor should provide her with enough abilities to maybe give the team some helpful insight."

The Captain nodded. "Mé and Uiio share a common trait, although at different levels of development."

Amer assented.

"That can be helpful. However," said the Captain and pushed Umbe's file forward, "if non-resistance to the unknown plays a vital role in the outcome, a Boor's presence might add to the resistance. Mé says Umbe looked terrified, whereas Maýla-i"–he pushed forth her file–"was quiet."

"It is a very diverse team," agreed Amer. He drew Menior's file closer. "Menior is on the team. Sakna-Sa. So is Arít. Sla." He was speaking softly, arranging the holograms before him. "Gre. I would not worry." He gazed at the Captain. "Indeed, there are Umbe and Maýla-i, very gifted field analysts, but whose innate Boor psychological traits might shut them down, cause them to temporarily withdraw – into deep silence, for instance – but the team is formed predominantly of Saviers, which means calmness, use of logic, potentially enough to not trigger some unwanted fear response, or even to sustain them in overcoming this challenge. It is necessary that at least one of their companions realize the state they're in and help them out."

"Or else the resistance persists," said the Captain.

"And amplifies. There is an innate, root fear in the Boor population, heightened over millennia of living in a harsh environment – and because there are two of them on the team, it might be significant to evaluate the chances that they amplify each other's resistance."

Amer was searching through both memory and files in an attempt to answer that.

The Captain said, "Someone on the team needs to figure out the fear underneath their resistance and tackle that, not the instances of resistance themselves."

Gazing back at the Captain, Amer said, "If someone uses force to fight resistance, that force amplifies the resistance. Maybe Uiio can assist them. Being Mái-Ruan, maybe she can sense what underlies their initial response. Or perhaps Sakna-Sa. She used to be a Mentor in the Architect's Temple and has had the appropriate training in dealing with responses based on emotion."

The Captain nodded.

Amer turned his attention to the files and pointed at Maýla-i's. "From what I recall, she's quicker to adjust to new territory on Recognition Missions and has faster cognitive response rates on our periodic examinations. That means that Maýla-i is less likely to use defence mechanisms that would act against the team's interests. So the chance that they would amplify each other's fear response is low."

"Good."

"The overall group stability that I can observe is high."

"Yet Íma's sensitivity is likely to respond to all these stimuli, and until they reach common ground – if that's the way this process works – they shall remain trapped."

"If your observation is accurate, then yes," Amer agreed.

"Thank you for your assistance," said the Captain, inclining his head.

"A pleasure to serve," said Amer, and he bowed and left.

Pieces of information were finally available. Notes and observations were beginning to give shape to what lay outside the limits of their immediate perception. His Mentor's assistance had become necessary to give further clarity and guidance.

Soo Beran called Umani in the Architect's Temple, and while the connection was being established, he thought of the galaxies between Planet M'alala and Star Bay 10-95; his mind slipped towards UX-40, the largest Savier-inhabited planet in their system.

"Lost in thought?" Umani's holographic image was seated in the chair before him.

"Master," the Captain greeted him and bowed.

"Soo," answered Umani, "long journeys don't push home away from one's heart. I've seen that look before. Now tell me, how may I assist you?"

"We have encountered a dimensions node."

"Intriguing," said Umani, leaning forward. "What have you learned about it thus far?"

"Very little," said the Captain. "I have sent a team of ten Umbarians into a crater nearby. All communication, instantly lost. Sky Chart is unable to trace them. The place is unreadable. One of them, though, Mé Khn, has recently returned and has described her visit into a higher dimension, a place called the City of Depths Unseen, where she was given information about the planet as well as the interdimensional platform that is the crater. Íma is the crater's name, and the planet's is M'alala – a sentient, multidimensional Being."

"What about the other nine?"

"They are still in the crater and, as the governor of the City of Depths Unseen claims, cannot be assisted. It seems that by entering Íma, one initiates a learning process and hardly after gaining access to one of the dimensions in this node and fulfilling the requirements one is presented with therein, can one finish this cycle and return."

"Talk to me about these requirements," Umani asked.

"From what I could observe, Mé was able to understand aspects of the fifth dimension. She was given a partial tour of the city, was presented with information that she could begin to integrate, and was thereafter congratulated, offered a gift and returned aboard Umbar – flown back to Umbar with no vessel or device."

Umani was pondering. "There's much to be analysed just in the information you've given me so far, and this is but one dimension of, you say, many. Return to the basics. Show me the crater."

A holographic file of the crater emerged from the desk.

"It has not been updated yet," said the Captain. "The information I speak of has been recently obtained."

Umani nodded. "So this is Íma. Very well. An unreadable crater that holds the access points into different dimensions. Based on what, the selection of the dimension? Is intent an option?"

"From our knowledge so far, we can only infer that the dimension accessed has to do with one's ability to access it. Potentially, there are designated points in each dimension where those who access them through Íma are welcomed and informed. So far, it is only my theory."

"There's logic within it," agreed Umani. "So you send ten people to explore a crater, one comes out, the other nine don't. You mention a theory that the ability to access a certain dimension through Íma takes one to it; thus the other nine need to reach the same potential in order to access a dimension themselves."

"I think so, too," said the Captain.

"Very well," observed Umani. "This crater needs to be explored, and our protocols adjusted to the sentient, Planet-Being that is called M'alala. This is a very exciting discovery: a sentient Planet with a node of dimensions wherein at least one higher-dimensional city is responsive and friendly to Umbar's presence here. However, this exploration is potentially dangerous. You say those who venture in cannot be assisted in any way."

"Indeed. Making it a challenge to explore."

"I trust you have what it takes, Soo. Umbar's never gone thus far before."

"Nor have I," said Soo. "I intend to explore Íma as well. Take the trial myself."

Umani was quiet for a while. "Reflect on these," he said. "The same view is not from below and above, nor do two eyes see the same after and before. A seer must see and a mind must reflect. Truth to be found, mind and heart must have met."

The Captain was listening and pondering.

"Never doubt there's one Captain overseeing all activities on Umbar, yet judge with your eyes when balance is met. That concludes my advice on the occasion."

"I am most grateful," said the Captain, "and shall reflect upon your sayings with great interest."

"I congratulate you and your crew on your expedition so far. May logic prevail in your ever-expanding minds!"

The Captain bowed. Umani left.