Off-Worlders Read online

  *****

  The Sprite who had given the yoda to Blue8 came to in his chains and cursed. He could sense the movement and intent of the Elemental.

  The fool, the Sprite thought to himself with genuine affection. He liked Blue8. The Blue did not know his true power, his true value. None of the Blues did. The Federation harnessed them carefully like that. He hoped this Blue would know it and know it soon. He deserved as much. The Sprite sighed. He had done his best and told him to move the yoda to the “sputnik.”

  The pattern the Pann Lords had seen and shown to the Sprite ran deep. The Siren would need the Cirillean sputnik, and the Pirates. The Pann Lords knew this, as did the Sprites. And it seemed, so did this Elemental.

  And this Elemental was an Elemental of the Old Ones and must be stopped.

  If they had left the yoda on the sputnik, the Elemental would not have been able to follow it off-world with the Pirates, and perhaps, would have left them alone.

  But no mind. The Fifth Siren of the Veil was soon to rise, and he had done his bit. After all these years, the Cirillean transitioner and the Pirates were launched into play.

  The fool, the Sprite thought to himself again, as the Old Ones' Echelon guard approached, and he mercifully lost consciousness again. He must have taken it inside, was the last thought he remembered thinking.