She nodded, steeling herself before turning. _Even with the pain of birth_, she thought. This was the moment that would precipitate the avalanche of change. Without knowing precisely how she would set off this chain reaction, she had no doubt that she would do it. Slowly, she turned, saw the movie cameras, the television lenses, the cone microphones all directed at her. People were pressed up against an invisible wall that drew an arc around the ship's entrance and this charmed circle where she stood. _Part of the ship's defenses_, she thought. _A force field to stop intruders._ A muted murmuring came from the wall of people. Francine stepped toward them, saw the lenses and microphones adjust. She focused on angry faces beyond the force field--and faces with fear--and faces with nothing but a terrible awe. In the foreground, well within the field, lay Zakheim's body, one hand outstretched and almost pointing at her. Silently, she dedicated this moment to him. * * * * * "Listen to me very carefully," she said. "But more important, see beyond my words to the place where words cannot penetrate." She felt her body begin to tingle with a sudden release of energy. Briefly, she raised herself onto her toes. "If you see the truth of my message, if you see through to this place that I show you, then you will enter a higher order of existence: happier, sadder. Everything will take on more depth. You will feel more of all the things there are in this universe for us to feel." Her new-found knowledge was like a shoring up within, a bottomless well of strength. "All the window widows of all the lonely homes of Earth am I," she said. And she bent forward. It was suddenly not Dr. Francine Millar, psychologist, there on the sand. By the power of mimesis, she projected the figure of a woman in a housedress leaning on a windowsill, staring hopelessly into an empty future. "And all the happy innocence seeking pain." Again, she moved: the years peeled away from her. And now, she picked up a subtle rhythm of words and movements that made experienced actors cry with envy when they saw the films. "Nature building Nature's thunder am I," she chanted, her body swaying. "Red roses budding "And the trout thudding water "And the moon pounding out stars "On an ocean wake-- "All these am I! "A fast hurling motion am I! "What you think I am--that I am not! "Dreams tell your senses all my names: "Not harshly loud or suddenly neglectful, sarcastic, preoccupied or rebukeful-- "But murmuring. "You abandoned a twelve-hour day for a twelve-hour night "To meddle carefully with eternity! "Then you realize the cutting hesitancy "That prepares a star for wishing.... "When you see my proper image-- "A candle flickering am I. "Then you will feel the lonely intercourse of the stars. "Remember! Remember! Remember!" THE END