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forcefully placed into his brain. But I shouldn’t have been able to sense that. Not at the distance I was from his vessel. It was … a sense of unity. Of dissolving barriers between people.”
    “Linking minds?”
    Starke considered. “That, yes, but that was almost secondary. I can link my thoughts to yours. I can read your thoughts. Theoretically, linking to a third is not such a leap. We can’t do it, not yet, although I’ve no doubt your father and others are hard at work on that.”
    Valerian smiled dryly. “No doubt at all.”
    “This was much more than that. Sir, I fear you’ll think I’m waxing overly poetic if I say it felt less like linking minds and more like … linking
souls.”
    Starke spoke in a soft tone, his musical voice giving the words an extra resonance. The hairs rose on Valerian’s arms.
    “No, Devon. I don’t think that’s overly poetic at all. But please continue—this is fascinating.”
    Starke nodded. “I knew the thoughts and the feelings of everyone in all six of our vessels and everyonein the compound. I … It’s as if I
was
everyone. All of
    them, all at the same time.”
    “All? Including Rosemary and Jake?”
    Devon made an annoyed face. “Yes. But I fear I was unable to concentrate on Ramsey as hard as I should have. I was taken by surprise and rather overwhelmed by the entire thing. I can only imagine what it must have been like for nontelepaths to experience this. Sir, I felt their fears and their hopes, knew their worries and secrets. I almost became them.”
    Here he hesitated. Then he added, “And … they became me.”
    Valerian raised a blond eyebrow. “So. Ramsey now knows that I have a ghost on his trail.”
    “If he didn’t suspect it already, then yes, sir, I expect that he does. Our only consolation is that Ramsey isn’t as comfortable holding this information as he might be. I can’t tell you for certain what I remember, and I’ve been undergoing training for such things since childhood.”
    Valerian nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “And you think this was done as a delaying tactic? This … psi-burst?”
    Starke hesitated. “Yes. But more than that. It was … I’m sorry, sir, but it was beautiful. Profoundly moving. If we could all stay in that space, really stay in it—there’d be no need for empires.”
    Although it would be understandable and even expected for Starke to mutter against Mengsk, considering how close he had come to dying because of anorder from Valerian’s father, the ghost had never voiced such sentiments. He knew that his employer was struggling with the same issues that beset all children of great parents—how to step out of their shadow without knifing them in the back. He knew Valerian’s interests lay outside of conquest and more in cultural development. So Valerian was surprised to hear even this slight rebuke coming from Devon’s lips.
    “Nor should it be used as a tool for such,” Valerian said mildly. Color blossomed in Starke’s cheeks, but he remained silent.
    Valerian realized he’d been right not to tell his father about Jake. What Jake had accomplished had provided perhaps the most powerful mental and emotional experience humanity had ever known. And Arcturus Mengsk, so single-minded in his purpose as to be almost pure in it, would view this ability as a weapon. He would obtain peace with it, yes, but only under his terms.
    “When you have time, I want you to write down everything you remember,” Valerian told Starke. “But first—we must find Jake and Rosemary.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    ROSEMARY’S SHORT-NAILED FINGERS FLEW OVER the console, setting in the coordinates immediately after they materialized in normal space. She leaned back, stretching, and finally it seemed as if she had relented enough to tell Jake and Zamara where they were headed.
    “We need to replace the navigation system as well as some other parts that were damaged in the jump. That’s not as difficult as it might sound, because system