—summon council governing sphere representatives linked thought transfer immediate—

COUNCIL INITIATED PARTICIPATING * — / :: ^o_o

—welcome ast, slash, quadpoint, duocirc—

:: shall we dispense with the superfluities? we have a galaxy to conquer ::

—you certainly bore into the subject, quadpoint—

:: your humor is flighty, as befits avian nature what is the state of reduction? ::

—infiltration of all ten major segments of galaxy milky way has been accomplished in each case concentration has been on war fleets and capital planets—

^o_o ratios? ^o_o

—400 agents per segment fleet, 100 agents per capital planet total 5000 transfer agents in galaxy all we can manage on present energy budget—

/also present limitation on kirlian resources/

—true effort should suffice, as subject galaxy remains unaware of infiltration no apparent reason to alter schedule of overt action—

*seek concurrence for unrevised schedule*

— / :: ^o_o CONCURRENCE ^o_o :: / —

:: no other business? ::

—none at present—

*POWER*

— / :: ^o_o CIVILIZATION ^o_o :: / —

Melody shuffled the deck by emitting dissonance at the mechanism. This could not be entirely random, but of course that was the point. While she controlled the arrangement of the cards, she was not supposed to be consciously aware of the details.

She touched the finished deck with the tip of one whip, activating it. Its music sprang up, setting her instruments to playing sympathetically.

It was the Queen of Energy that manifested—in an unfamiliar aspect. The Queen carried the familiar Wand, rendered as a scepter for this royal impersonation, that denoted her suit; the established symbols of the Tarot deck were older than the organized concept that was the deck. The Queen was naked, standing on a waveswept ledge, her appendages manacled to a huge stone. And she was Solarian—or more bluntly, human.