He drifted into a torpor, saw the pulsing white ball which heralded life, and saw nothing there. The moment was relived. The memory had been there.
Then, all that was gone. Against his will, he had been moved to the first band in true space.
His thoughts did not function. He hung in a box of emptiness between two stars, unable to plumb the depths of that staggering event.
Solar Cloud was dead, or dying.
As he, Devil Star, was destined to die.
Now the thoughts did start. An incredible thing had happened. Where had it begun? Ten thousand billion years ago? Or—a mere fragment of time away to that moment when Devil Star was born?
His thoughts took their upward surge. As full awareness came back, he felt a shock of knowledge.
He was being watched, and it was the green light, she who had conceived a life and heartlessly destroyed one, who was watching. A sudden cunning hate took hold of him. He held her stare, flung it back arrogantly. And she watched him with coldness from the eminence of her greater size.
She said chillingly, "I saw you there. And it was not meant to be. Will you forget?"
"Forget?" The cry was shocked from him. "You are begging me to forget, Comet Glow?"