I was speechless. Somehow, and on a wholly instinctual level, I knew that I was hearing the absolute truth, or as close to it as my mind could fathom. This creature was exactly who she claimed to be. I was meeting myself, at the very summit of the mountain that I had been unwittingly ascending. And she could not have seemed more alien and unfathomable.
In the midst of grasping this concept, the sky above me altered. The stars began to spin coming together like a great gammadion, moving faster and faster, and when they finally stopped, they had reformed to create an image of the Flammarion print. Only this time, features of the figure crawling into the unknown were my own.
“It is time for you to take another journey in the Empyrean, Penelope. Time for another transition from what you knew, to what lies ahead. You will return to your struggle,” my mirror image informed me, “and play the role that has been preordained for you. The curtain has yet to drop on the play and you have many lines to speak before you can take your final bow before the audience.”
The light around me brightened until everything was lost in its brilliance. When it dimmed again, I was in my Phaseship, with Elizabeth at my side.
“What happened?” she asked me. “I saw you walk away and then you vanished into thin air.”
“I-I am not entirely certain,” I answered, “but I met--someone.”
“Who? What did they say? Did you get your answers?”
“I did,” I replied pensively, “and it may be some while before I will be able to make any sense of it.”
In fact, I wondered if I would ever understand. “What is important is that she--they--let us go. We are free, for a while at least.”
“Whatever shall we do?”
“For one, leave this strange place,” I replied. I sent the commands and Blackbird lifted off. In seconds, we were back in the No-When and the year 3000 was receding from view.
EPILOGUE
At last, I come to the present and the conclusion of my tale, or perhaps as the Master suggested, its very beginning. Although we were allowed to depart the year 3000, Elizabeth and I found ourselves with no universe nor any century to call our own.
We intend to seek a new life for ourselves, possibly even in some green and pleasant England where the Masters do not hold sway, and the Bookmen are a complete unknown. Whether we will succeed in that endeavor, or the Master’s prediction for me will come true, is impossible to know. But I have learned that there are many potential outcomes in the multiverse, and this gives me heart.
One other thing buoys my spirit and lends me the strength to persevere. Whatever our ultimate fate, and wherever we go, we will have forever. And one another.
THE END
Blackbird: A Warrior of the No-When Page 28