Edwin sat in the captain’s quarters by a chess board fully decked with chess pieces. Edwin was sitting so he could play black; he was playing against the onboard computer. Samuel entered the room without permission and Edwin did not seem to notice.

“What’s our next move?” Samuel asked, meaning no pun.

Edwin held up his left palm asking for silence. Samuel felt silly just standing there for minutes while Edwin pondered the game. Finally, he moved one of his bishops.

“You know of this game?” Edwin avoided the question.

“It came over from the First Realm, correct?”

“Indeed it did. It is an interesting game; one must strategically outsmart one’s opponent.”

Aggie entered the room and studied the two, Edwin sitting and Samuel standing; the scene was a bit ironic. Ever since his apostasy, Samuel had worked constantly to avoid serving the Adamim; now he was standing there like a lap dog awaiting the orders of one (wraith though the Adami was). She looked at the board and her intelligent mind quickly grasped what Edwin was doing.

“If you’re black, why then have you placed us in an inferior position? We have the upper hand.”

“You think so?” Edwin grinned at his own genius. “The game has changed. The Undying Singer has landed on the surface of the planet.”

“Wait a minute! Why doesn’t he just come and get us right here and now?” Samuel scratched his head, for if he were in Chris Alan’s place that is what exactly he would have done.

“You’d truly suck at this game, my Elemental friend.” As self-willed as Edwin had become, it was a wonder that he didn’t use more vulgarities than he did in his common speech. “Starbright will get a lay of the land first, so to speak. Then he’ll probably comfort and reassure his friends that all will be O.K. – offering them hope and all that rubbish. With him present, we’re on the back foot. I like to keep things in their true perspective.”

“You believe we’ll lose?” Aggie fumed. “Then the hope that this Starbright would give his friends wouldn’t be rubbish at all – for *them!*”