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others are open and fixed on
me.
    They’ve gathered around in “the
reaching field,” a place dedicated to the dispatch and return of
their journeying time-vessels.
    Mine is the only departure they
have allowed, or will allow, for a while.
    They remain bothered that K’lion
may be “stuck” somewhere in one of their histories, undoing or
redoing events, which is always to be avoided. Except for the
various “sorties” in Cacklaw, as they call each round, or contest,
the Saurians like to avoid surprises. K’lion’s disappearance has
proven too unpredictable for them. They are still trying to
understand what went wrong with such a routine class
assignment.
    In response, they set about
changing the essential design of their time-ships, using
plasmechanics. Plasmechanics form the basis of lingo-spot
technology, which so effectively translates languages between
members of different — I was about to say cultures , but
perhaps species is more accurate. Or even planet-dwellers .
    From what I can gather,
plasmechanical devices are machines constructed on the level of the
tiniest particles imaginable: living tissue made to “build” more of
itself as it adapts to each new wearer, each new language, or in
the case of ships, each new situation. Apparently, the Saurians
have imbued plasmechanical material with an even greater
intelligence than before.
    Which raises the question of
whether such devices can still properly be considered “machines” at
all.
    The Saurians seem to be undertaking
a great experiment with self-perpetuating technology. I can only
imagine that Mother would be fascinated — and concerned. “The soul
of things,” she once told me, “is hard to quantify.”
    The Saurians had observed that left
on its own, a plasmechanical device, such as a lingo- spot, would
grow and change slightly, like a cell, before eventually becoming
less effective. It would burn out and need to be
replaced.
    Until I arrived.
    According to Gennt, a senior
minister of engineering, one of the scrolls saved from the library,
having to do with mummification, has been of great use.
    “ Odd things you mammals do with
flesh. But useful,” he told me. The Saurians were especially
fascinated by the use of oils and spices in conserving mummy skin.
They found their own planetary equivalents of both myrrh and
cinnamon, which were key ingredients in the mixture applied to the
bodies. This simple, ancient formula has allowed the Saurians to
preserve sheets of plasmechanical material. Thus they discovered
that the nervelike connections that run through the devices could
actually continue to grow, and the larger a sheet, or piece, of
plasmechanical material, the more easily the machine — if it is
still a machine — can begin repairing itself.
    Not only repairing itself, but
learning, too. Subtly adapting for whatever task is at
hand.
    So they set about designing a
time-vessel to include large plasmechanical components. I’m to use
the prototype in the search for K’lion.
    The initial plan is to allow the
ship to serve as a kind of tracking device. They’ve given it a
“scent,” as it were — a bit of K’lion’s DNA — which should allow
the craft to hone in on him like a hunting dog, if the ship gets
anywhere within range.
    Of course, no one has actually
tested the ship yet. Since K’lion has yet to return, the Saurians
worry that the Fifth Dimension has grown unsafe for
travelers.
    But were there ever guarantees for
any journey through time?
    “ I’d t-ka! take it into the
field myself,” Gennt told me, “but if mammals evolve so p-p-kh fast, and Saurians have vanished, maybe the field
isn’t what it used to be.”
    By “field,” he meant the Fifth
Dimension, which allows a voyager basically an infinite number of
choices of where — or when — to go. Or sometimes, who to be. The
Fifth Dimension can’t change, but the travelers that go through it
— and the destinations it leads to — always do.
    Of course, most