Nicholas watched the video of Slate’s defeat, noting how quick it was. He kept his hands on the pulse of events; his own plans depended on it.

And so do Starbright’s, he mused. When he finds out that the strongest member of his Special Forces has been trashed, only Rockmire’s “nay verily” – or his own respect for authority – will stop him from wading in for blood. It’s a good thing my own plans take the second factor into account; some of his foes don’t know when to leave well enough alone.

It was time to pay the former Professor Riverwade a visit.

*********************

The Mastermind had many labs hidden in the distant Cluster Federation and among its associate members, and he was taking a tour of his newest office when a cloud of black smoke transported Nicholas Blackthorn into sight along with another. The person with Nicholas was the same height as a young Adami of twelve or thirteen Standard Years, but Mastermind could tell by the energy flux this was no Adami but a very powerful Elemental.

“Blackthorn, I see you have found me.” Mastermind kept his back to the wall.

“Actually, when I realized that you were using Null technology, I had Babel here trace your quantum signature.” Nicholas smiled.

“So this is the infamous Babel, grandson of Blackthorn, and the Matrix of his power. Is he the one keeping up the show in your Sphere?”

“There is no show. If you understood the power of Babel, you would know that what you see is reality.”

“What is reality?” Mastermind couldn’t help but banter a bit. “Bear in mind, I’m not prey to the kind of learned stupidity that says ‘all is illusion’ in the physical world.”

“Then what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about what Starbright called ‘consensus reality’, when he visited Utopia. He had you all but figured out – lacking only how you were altering the consensus. I have to hand it to that punk kid; he’s as bright as his name suggests and nobody’s fool. So it’s a show, whether you want to call it one or not. You might as well call it one. He did.”