The division is too deep to endure. Contention roars and awakens great evil from beyond the thoughts of sentient beings. Stars tremble while minds implode.

We are humans from Earth, of the League of Sentient Races. We come in peace. How may we classify you, fellow sentient?

Uh, hi. Nice to meet you, too.

Can you run that by me again?

Hi, Exquivan. Are you going to make more sense this time?

You said that before, but I'm still not getting it. What division? What contention? Whose minds?

The path of power cannot save the powerful. You have put your faith in useless utensils and contrivances. In the end, they will not save you.

Sounds like a threat! We'll crush you!

Save us? From what?

From that which you shall surely disturb should you continue to excavate planets in the Kessarri Quadrant. You must leave.

We need to find the truth.

Some truths are better left unlearned.

What do you think we will disturb?

What a bunch of malarkey!

Sounds like YOU'RE a bit disturbed.

Should you continue to excavate, you will find relics. The relics will implant into your mind secrets that you cannot ever remove. Secrets that sentient beings must never learn.

Do you know these secrets?

No. I am beyond knowing such things, much like the Precursors.

Cool. Tell us all about the Precursors.

What a bad idea.

Your mind is too cluttered with rational thought to understand.

What secrets?

Sorry, pal, but we're on a mission to save the universe.

We need to excavate those relics.

The Precursors abandoned their secrets and their mad quest for secrets when they disappeared. We follow their example. You must do so as well.

You must give up your quest for power and Precursor relics. Only in nothingness of mind shall you find safety and salvation.

Nothingness of mind?

Yeah, too bad a few rational thoughts haven't been able to clutter YOUR mind.

I attain emptiness, and hold to stillness. The myriad creatures do not hold to stillness. That is the root of their suffering and the beginning of the end of all life.

Just because the Precursors couldn't handle their own secrets doesn't mean we can't.

The vainglorious sentient is hobbled not only by his sentience, but also by his vanity. He needs to be humbled by the relentless hand of the Exquivan!

I don't want to have to roast you.

You and what army?

We want to understand you! Please explain yourself to us!

Whoa, now. Don't attack us, OK?

Let's not fight. We still offer you membership in the League of Sentient races.

You continue to seek Precursor relics. We continue to oppose all who seek them.

But why?

The heaping up of cravings after goods produces the heaping up of suffering. Hence always rid yourself of desires.

Oh, thanks. Looking out for my spiritual well-being?

The Exquivan look after the spiritual well-being of the cosmos.

Well, thanks, but I can take care of my own soul.

You cannot. You would bring the stars themselves crashing down in your mad lust for Empires in the stars.

Cut us some slack. We know what we're doing.

You only think you know what you are doing. You would bring the stars themselves crashing down in your mad lust for Empires in the stars.

Do you know something we don't?

What can we trade you for the secrets you know?

No, why are you keeping us from Precursor relics? What do you know about the beginning of the end?

We know nothing, and seek to know less.

That makes no sense!

Answer the question. Quit trying to confuse me!

The Exquivan, in his attempt to distract the mind, seeks urgently to muddle it.

Well, I'm pretty damn muddled now. Thanks a lot.

I still want those relics.

Look, we're all in this galaxy together. Can't we find some way to pool our resources for a common goal?

If you oppose us, we'll have to obliterate you!

And just how do you attain this emptiness?

Stupidity is bliss, huh?

Tell me more about the beginning of the end of all life.

Tell us about the Precursors anyway. I'll let you know if we understand or not.

You are aware that that makes NO sense, right?

Your concerns no longer matter. Your excavations no longer matter. Only the Exquivan testing matters now. Perhaps one day you will understand. Or perhaps your ego will cease to exist.

Or perhaps both. The relics must abide in stillness eternally. Now the Exquivan testing begins. The Enigma will hold you at bay.

Oh, no, not again!

You want nothingness of mind? You got it! I'll wipe your minds from the cosmos!

Can we just leave instead?

Testing? What testing?

The testing of the outer metal of ships' hulls and inner mettle of ship's captain.

Wait! We offer you membership in the League of Sentient Races.

We'll be glad to test our missiles on your carcasses!

You want to mix it up, Grasshopper? Come on, then!

Now is the time of the testing. Heaven and earth are ruthless. Therefore the Exquivan are ruthless.

The world of Exquivo is only for those sentient beings seeking nothingness of mind. Have you come seeking nothingness of mind?

Ah, sure. Yeah, nothingness of mind is exactly what I seek. Yeah, that's the ticket.

The Sage has said, "Those who would become bald-faced liars in order to build empires in the stars must be rendered unto oily smears of plasma." Do you not agree?

You bet! Wipe 'em out! Wipe out those lying empire-builders!

There are times when the Builder of Empires and the Sage are in complete accord.

Speak for your own mind there, fuzz-face.

No. But we do seek peace with you.

Seek nothingness of mind, and find peace. Pursue your whirling thoughts, and find ruin. Knowing this, what else do you wish to know?

Hell, no! I'm proud of my sentience!

OK, OK, I'm not really seeking nothingness of mind.

We reservedly welcome you to Exquivo. We will provide you with all due hospitality until such time as we must test you and scatter your particles across the boundless void of space.

Thanks. I think.

Sounds like you are unclear on the concept of hospitality.

We've been tested, thanks. We passed, so we don't need to take any more tests.

The outer metal of your ship has been tested, and found strong. The inner mettle of your captain has not yet been tested. But it shall be.

Is that a threat? We'll destroy you!

I will pass whatever test you can throw at me. But, I want some answers.

I could wish to know why your Enigma ships attacked us. What did we ever do to you?

We attacked to test you.

Why?

Yeah? You tested us, but we kicked your butts!

The outer metal of your ship has been tested, and found strong. But remember, the inner mettle of your captain has not yet been tested. That test may not be as easy.

We are humans from Earth, of the League of Sentient Races. We come in peace. How may we classify you, fellow sentient?

We are the Exquivan. Warriors of the Path of the Rainbow Worlds. I am the Sage of Exquivo.

Warriors? You guys don't look too tough.

Those that most excel as warriors do not appear formidable, and triumph through non-contention.

You guys sure are contentious for a bunch of non-contenders.

He who overcomes others has only force. He who overcomes himself has strength.

Am I supposed to know what that means?

The Sage, in his attempt to distract the mind of the Empire, seeks urgently to muddle it.

That's it. I'm outta here. Goodbye.

If we all had that attitude, the whole time-space continuum would go to hell in a bucket! Fortunately, I know better.

One who knows does not speak. One who speaks does not know.

Hey, what chance does that give me?

None of us have a chance when all thought is extinguished in the galaxy.

What kind of galactic apocalypse are you enigmatically referring to?

When will that be?

Such is not for the minds of those that would build empires in the stars. Not yet. That is why we keep both League and Crux Empires away from the sites of the Precursors.

You can't lump the League and the Crux together like that! The Crux will definitely do great harm with Precursor artifacts. But the League is different!

OK. Maybe. But THIS empire is trying to keep the Crux from doing great harm with Precursor artifacts!

The sandals of the kind-hearted tread upon as many insects as do the sandals of the wicked. Crux and League both do not understand.

Crux and League both will wreak havoc with Precursor artifacts. More damage than they know. Damage to the cosmos and damage to all of sentient life. But you cannot understand such things.

We're doing this to PREVENT damage to the cosmos. It's the only way.

The only way is found in nothingness of mind. I attain emptiness, and hold to stillness. The myriad creatures do not hold to stillness, and in that is the root of their suffering.

What a bunch of crap!

The mind of the Empire cannot comprehend the way of the Sage.

If you keep trying to stop our excavations, we'll have to attack your homeworld to make you stop!

Thus do all empires show their similarities.

You protect the universe your way, and I'll protect it my way!

I respect your way, but you have to respect mine. Stop attacking us.

It shall be so. You may search on all uninhabited planets for Precursor relics. The Warriors of the Path of the Rainbow Worlds shall not continue to test the metal of your ships.

Why the change of heart?

We test your mettle even now. And you have not failed yet. But the tests shall now become more difficult.

So, what test did I just pass? The Listening-To-A-Ton-Of-Mind-Bending-Weirdness Without-Once-Nuking-Exquivo-From-Orbit test?

So begins the getting of wisdom. Is there anything else?

Great! It's a deal!

You'll no longer attack us when we excavate Precursor sites? What's the catch?

It is a curse. But you shall learn that in due time. We shall continue to observe you to see if you truly deserve our wisdom.

Though we shall no longer test the metal of your ship, we shall now test the mettle of the human.

I am confident I shall pass any test.

I'm gratified about whatever it was I did to pass the test.

Is there anything else?

That's it for now. Goodbye.

I have another question.

Rainbow Worlds? What do you know about the Rainbow Worlds?

They guide the way to wisdom and the thousand myriad virtues.

Thanks for making that crystal clear. I have a question on another subject.

No kidding. What's their purpose?

They are the key to the salvation of the galaxy

How are they going to save the galaxy?

We know not. That knowledge is now part of the nothingness of mind that we seek.

Nothingness of mind? I think you've already found it.

We must seek further.

Uh, OK. I have a question on a different subject.

I don't get it. Are you saying you knew and you just forgot?

OK. Be that way.

If you say so. I have a question on another subject.

Uh, yeah. OK, I have a question on another subject.

Do you know anything about the Clairconctlar shame?

We know the root of the Clairconctlar shame, the stem of the Clairconctlar shame, and even its final flowering.

Great! What is it?

To be wise, the Sage must know when not to say what he knows. We will not tell you, until we have fully tested your mettle.

OK, bring on this mettle test.

You will know it when it comes.

Great. Just great.

Well, I better get out of here, and get on with getting my mettle tested. Bye.

What do you know about the Eternal Ones?

The Eternal Ones seeded the galaxy with the potential for life with a genetic matrix that they preferred, causing all species, including yours, to develop in a specific manner.

The Sage seeks to unlearn this information.

Good luck. I have a question on a different topic.

You mean humans look and think the way we do because of these Eternal Ones?

Thus, Something and Nothing produce each other. Why else would so many races from so many parts of the galaxy be so often bipedal and humanoid?

Coincidence?

Tendency for amino acid chains to evolve into creatures with bilateral symmetry?

Luck?

Where there is folly, there is confusion. It is said that in some parts of the universe there are hundreds of races of bipedal humanoids whose only distinguishing features are a bewildering array of forehead appliques.

Hey, I'm not sure I like the idea that I exist just because some alien race seeded my planet with the potential for intelligence.

The wise apple curses not the tree. Would you rather not exist at all?

Well, no.

It is said, Life tends to be its own reward.

Yes.

There's something obscene and perverse and unnatural about this.

The being with closed eyes cannot see the pitfall in the road. You appear to be simply undergoing a phenomenon common to most starfaring races.

First your species won your planet's bloody evolutionary warfare to become top dog in the species chain. Then, your particular faction of your species won the bloody internecine warfare to become top group in your species' faction chain.

And then, you as an individual won the bloody or perhaps bloodless competition to become top sentient being among the top faction of your planet's top species.

You are not familiar with acknowledging superior forces. So, when you collide with a force so great that it virtually created you, you become petulant and angry.

Every race reacts the same way. They all say the same thing.

Yeah, well, I'll show those Eternal Ones!

The difference is that we will beat them!

Yes, that's exactly what they all say.

I offer you a chance to join with us in the League of Sentient Races.

The path is broad, reaching both to the right and to the left; both up and down. The Warriors of Exquivo are in the centermost still point.

Maybe I am still afflicted with somethingness of mind, but I don't follow you.

Is that your little way of saying you are not the joining type?

Is that a no?

The Sage, in his attempt to distract the mind of the Empire, seeks urgently to muddle it. What is the purpose of your League?

Sure. Whatever.

We seek to resist the incursions of the Crux!

We seek to stabilize the fabric of space.

Stabilize the fabric of space and resist the incursions of the Crux!

The Crux, too, seek to stabilize the fabric of space. After damaging the fabric of space with excessive HyperSpace travel, both the League empire and the Crux empire now seek to repair it.

But you and they only care to repair it because both empires would crumble without it. They do not seek to repair it for the sake of the repairs themselves.

So how different is the League empire from the Crux empire?

Not true. We want to stabilize the fabric of space because it is the right thing to do.

The difference is that I admit that the League contributed to the damage. I bet they don't.

The League and the Crux are very different. We respect the rights of sentients. The Crux enslave and exterminate.

We have to stop the Crux and their march of evil!

Between good and evil, how much distance is there?

A whole bloody lot of distance, thank you very much.

We'll see if you figure out the answer to that question by the time we save your hides from the K'tang Cripplers.

The whole galaxy recognizes the good as the good; and yet who can find the bad?

I can find plenty of bad! I see it every time I survey Crux space!

Look, if the League doesn't run things the Crux will!

Governing a large galactic empire is like boiling a small fish.

What?

Governing a large galactic empire is like boiling a small fish.

That's it. I'm not taking any more abuse. Goodbye!

Goodbye, Captain.

Look, we've got a galaxy to protect!

Oh. That's what I thought you said. So can you help us or not?

A frenzy of action produces nothing. Do that which consists of taking no action. Pursue that which is not meddlesome, and you shall produce that which is most important.

Just what do you have against empires? Our League is an effective way for sentient beings to work together!

OK. So, we want to repair space and oppose the Crux to keep our member races alive. What's wrong with that?

He who tiptoes cannot stand. He whose tail is not flexible cannot balance. And he who seeks empires in the stars builds useless excrescences.

Useless? I don't call saving races from the Crux and repairing the fabric of space useless!

He who overcomes others has nothing but force. He who overcomes himself has strength. Why would you contend against the Hegemonic Crux?

Look, we follow enlightened League rules for colonizing. The Crux commit genocide as a matter of routine policy!

So tell us HOW to understand.

Uh, yeah. OK. We have strayed pretty far from the original point. So anyway, you'll love being in the League. We can help you colonize lots of worlds.

The heaping up of cravings after goods produces the heaping up of suffering. Hence always rid yourself of desires.

All right. Forget the fringe benefits, then. Join us to protect the galaxy.

That's it. When you get impossibly cryptic, it's time to change the subject.

Why are you wasting my time with this? I've got a galaxy to protect!

Uh, yeah. I have a question on a different subject.

I can no longer tell if this conversation still makes any sense. Time for a new subject.

So, speaking of a completely different subject, I'll change the subject now.

I think it's time to change the subject.

Forget it. I'll ask a question on a different topic.

Speaking of changing the subject in mid-conversation, I have a different question.

Exquivan Sage! We have an urgent message about the Pkunk!

Yes?

Stop broadcasting dangerous mind-controlling waves!

We seek to attain total nothingness of mind. So you see, we emit FEWER mental emanations than ANYONE else.

We'd like a favor.

What favor do you seek?

We wonder if you would be so kind as to stop doing whatever you are doing to the Pkunk.

We want you to stop doing whatever you are doing to the Pkunk.

We know you guys are doing it. Please stop it.

I attain emptiness, and hold to stillness. The myriad creatures do not hold to stillness, and in that is the root of their suffering.

You're the root of the suffering, Grasshopper, and you guys better knock it off.

We produce no suffering. Only nothingness of mind.

So you've said. But can you just check and see what you might be doing to hurt the Pkunk.

We know you're the root of the suffering. The Syreen said so!

We know you are! The Syreen said so!

We know you are producing suffering! The Syreen said so!

Well, stop whatever you are doing! It's hurting the Pkunk.

Can you check and see what your are doing? It's hurting the Pkunk.

The Exquivan do not seek to hurt the myriad creatures that are still imprisoned by their own rational minds.

We believe that you are not SEEKING to hurt anyone! But can you prove you are not hurting the Pkunk ACCIDENTALLY!

Prove you are not hurting the Pkunk.

Oh, yeah? Prove it.

The Sage has nothing to prove to the Empire.

We'll stop you even if it means blasting every one of your ships into nothingness!

Such threats are the inevitable path of all who seek to build empires in the stars.

I'll show you an inevitable path to Hades! Eat hot blaster fire!

Look, we don't want to push you around. But I will if I have to!

The Exquivan cannot be coerced.

I'll show you coercion! Eat hot blaster fire!

Afraid you can't prove it, huh? Afraid it's true?

I bet you are secretly afraid that it's true, and that you don't know how to stop it!

Those who attain nothingness of mind fear nothing, as they are delivered from the final destruction of all sentient life.

I'll give you something to fear! Eat hot blaster fire!

OK. The Syreen must be wrong, then. Sorry to bother you. Goodbye.

You haven't heard the last of this. I'll be back when I know how to stop you!

Exquivan Sage, I have found out what is hurting the Pkunk! A crashed Precursor vessel!

The Exquivan seek not to hurt the myriad creatures that are still imprisoned by their own rational minds.

Imprisoned by RATIONAL minds? The PKUNK? Have you met them?

We have sensed their presence across the expanse of space. They are close to the way of the Exquivan, but their path has not yet brought them to nothingness of mind.

We believe you now.

The Sage is gratified when the Empire can see clearly. We may now cleave to the path of non-contention with you.

I'll bet you're grateful! We would have kicked your butts all over this mudball!

We need access to your homeworld to investigate the Precursor ship crash site.

The Sage knows himself but does not display himself. Such things are not to be.

We NEED to get down there.

The Pkunk are suffering! Have you no compassion?

What are you afraid of?

Only those who have attained nothingness of mind may pass our barrier of Enigmas and set foot on Exquivo.

No! I've come to far to be stopped now! Die!

You mean my tech team members need to get lobotomies just to get visitor permits?

In pursuit of learning, one knows more every day. In pursuit of Exquivo, one knows less every day.

How do I learn less?

If I revealed that wisdom to you, you would know more, not less, and be further from your goal of nothingness of mind.

You leave me no choice but to vaporize all your Enigmas and put a tech team on Exquivo by force.

OK. I'll go unravel your damn riddle. But I'll be back! AGAIN!

Seek it? We've got it! Now, please allow us visit that Precursor vessel!

To rule an empire by cleverness will be to the detriment of the empire. You appear encumbered by excessive thought.

Yes, but my tech team is as thoughtless as a bunch of slime mold.

You speak the truth.

Then, I'll just send them down to the Precursor wreck on Exquivo. OK?

Wisdom can be used not only to enlighten, but to deceive.

It is clear that the sentient beings in your technical team are indeed in a state of nothingness of mind. They may pass the barrier of Enigmas and visit the surface.

Great!

Excellent! Now we don't have to kill you.

How fare the Pkunk?

We don't know. We haven't been back to see the Pkunk yet.

Please find out and tell us.

Yes! The Pkunk are fine. Thank you for your help.

The Sage is pleased that the Pkunk are well. Although, like all sentient creatures, they are fated to be rendered unto nothingness.

What a bunch of doom and gloom fatalistic nonsense.

Why are all sentient creatures fated to be rendered into nothingness?

All those races in a state of somethingness of mind are doomed to become extinct. Only those who reach nothingness of mind will survive the coming Eternal twilight. You must give up all that you are to survive.

What Eternal twilight?

That's an explanation?

One who knows does not speak. One who speaks does not know.

Oh, come on! You speak all the damn time. Answer the question!

So, what was that thing we pulled out of the Precursor site?

OK, OK. I get the point. So, what was that thing we pulled out of the Precursor site?

It is a fragment of the Eternal twilight. Within your own League of Sentient Races are those who seek the Eternal twilight. Fear them. Find them. Or they will rain down Eternal twilight upon us.

How do I find these League traitors and stop them?

One who knows does not speak. One who speaks does not know.

Come on! If they destroy the universe, you'll go, too! Or don't you care?

We seek nothingness of mind.

OK. I get the point. Do you have any other cryptic weirdness for me?

We want you to know that your mettle has been tested, and found strong.

Really? Great. That means that you'll tell us about the Clairconctlar shame, right?

Many years ago, the Clairconctlar did destroy a Ploxis station called Ploozer Palavar.

That's it?

Somehow I had expected something a bit worse.

The Ploxis say that doing so eradicated most of the Ploxis race.

Oh. That would be bad. Why don't the Clairconctlar know about it?

Yeah, yeah. Well, now that we passed your test, will you join the League of Sentient Races?

We do not build empires in the stars.

It's not really building empires in the stars. It's more like a club.

We retreat and find the still central point.

I hope the universe doesn't fall apart while you retreat.

What does that mean?

But we worked so well together on the Pkunk case.

One who excels in traveling leaves no vapor trail. Therefore the Sage excels in saving people, and so abandons no one.

You're abandoning the whole quadrant!

The Crux are evil! We want to protect the quadrant!

Huh?

He who considers himself right is not illustrious.

Isn't there anything we can do to get you to join up?

Is that an insult?

OK, that's enough of that. I'm outta here.

All right, but when the Crux attack, don't come crying to me.

OK. Fine. Don't join. See if we care. Goodbye!

Now that you have been to the heart of the Precursor crash site, beware. The more rational thought you possess, the greater your peril. Seek nothingness of mind, or be rendered unto nothingness!

I don't understand. Can you explain?

Sure, sure. Anything you say.

Hey! Is that a threat?

Later!

You have passed the test of mettle. You are welcome here.

Great. Just visiting.

That's all the enlightenment I can take for now. Goodbye.

We have spoken to a Precursor, and guess what? Your form of nothingness of mind will not save you!

We can see that you tell the truth.

Then, join us!

We shall join you. We shall now donate Enigmas to your defense of the integrity of the galaxy.

Thanks! We'll put them to good use.

We pray it is so. Farewell.

Thanks! Bye!

Exquivan Sage! We require a portion of your sentience to stave off the Eternal Ones! This won't cause nothingness of mind, though. You won't actually lose anything.

We can see that you tell the truth. We will gladly donate to the cause.