"That is a likely theory. But how he learned this does not matter. What matters is that Zamara knows something he wishes kept hidden. And I believe that it is time she shares this with us."

Jake was barely breathing. Finally, he was going to learn what Darius and Kendra and Teresa and all his other friends had died for. What Ulrezaj was willing to kill for; what he, Jacob Jefferson Ramsey, might still die for.

Zamara was silent for a time, then began to speak, her mental voice soft but intense. "We know already that the xel'naga shaped and altered us, encouraging certain aspects of our development. And we know that the zerg were also... experiments of the xel'naga. Atleast," she amended, "those are the terms we have always used before. In all the memories I bear, I have learned the truth of the situation—a truth that has been shared with only a select handful throughout our long history."

Puzzle master that he was, few things excited Jake more than a mystery, and he knew from the tenor of Zamara's thoughts that he was on to a humdinger of one. Zeratul as well leaned forward

eagerly, giving his catlike protoss curiosity free reign now that he had broken the shackles of his self-imposed guilt.

"We thought we and the zerg were experiments—perhaps trial and error. We thought that we were flawed in some way, and that is why we were abandoned. But the truth is, the xel'naga were simply done with us. They needed a second species.. .the zerg. This was no trial-and-error experimentation. The xel'naga knew exactly what they were doing. They had done this uncountable times before, throughout millennia so numerous our minds can barely stretch to comprehend it. They were not inventing us; they were preparing us."

"Preparing us for what?"

"For themselves."

Jake frowned. "I don't get it."

"Nothing lasts forever, Jacob. Not even the xel'naga. At least— not in that incarnation."

Zeratul's eyes widened. "Hosts," he said. "They were preparing host bodies!"

"Less crude than that, my old friend. The xel'naga have a cyclical lifestyle. Their lives are almost unfathomably long as we reckon such things, but they are finite beings. When the time comes that their existence is to end, they seek out two other species. Over time, they manipulate and alter these species so that they, separately, form two halves of a whole. They seek purity—purity of form, purity of essence. This time, they chose the protoss and the zerg."

Jake ran a trembling hand through his hair. "They.. .are going to destroy you?"

"No. Not destroy. Simply place two aspects of their essences into our people and the zerg. And again, over time so vast that we can barely grasp it, we would change and evolve.. .and come together again, naturally, harmoniously, and the xel'naga would be reborn."

Gooseflesh prickled Jake's arms as he listened, despite the balminess of the day. "The chambers," he breathed. "That's where they worked on the protoss."

"They were not entirely selfless protectors, as was first thought before the Aeon of Strife, certainly," Zamara said. Beside Jake, Zeratul sat still and silent, listening, absorbing. "But neither were they monsters. They wanted us to become great and glorious. They would not suddenly descend, to possess our bodies; rather we would evolve so that we...became them."

Zamara floundered. "It is even less invasive than that. Forgive me.... The concept is difficult to explain or even for minds that are as limited as ours to grasp. And since I cannot link with either of you in the Khala, I cannot fully share my understanding of it exactly. What I can say is this; it is a cycle that is as natural to them as breathing is to you, Jacob, or as gathering nutrients is to us, Zeratul. It has existed for so long and has shaped so much of the cosmos that it is, perhaps, as natural and right a thing, universally, as life and death, the spin of planets, and the formation and cessation of stars. I do not know that I can say it is wrong."

"You are more forgiving than I," said Zeratul, shock and anger simmering beneath his calm surface. "I cannot help but wonder if I, too, have glimpsed some part of this—this directed evolution in progress. This, then, is your secret?"

"Partially. But as I say, I do not think the rebirth of the xel'naga will be harmful to us. It is not how it was intended."

"If it is so much a part of the order of the cosmos then," said Zeratul, "why should we be concerned?"

"What I have told you is the way things had always unfolded before," said Zamara. "Had it been permitted to continue uninterrupted, I am not even sure the protoss as we are now would have been harmed. But this time, something went very wrong. The xel'naga were eliminated before they had completed their preparations by their own creations—the zerg. Their careful plans— eons in the unfolding—were thrown into turmoil. Zeratul.. .you have seen what has arisen in the vacuum."

Zeratul nodded slowly. "Although I freely admit that I was bowed down with the weight of my guilt, that is not the sole reason why I have not returned to Shakuras. It is because I glimpsed something at once so perplexing and so abhorrent that my mind reeled from it. I came here to try to make sense of something utterly senseless.. .but now I believe that I can grasp some of it."

Zeratul spoke then, in his calm mental voice, of investigating protoss power signatures emanating from a dark moon. "It was shortly after Raszagal's death," he said. "We had no records of a protoss settlement in that quadrant. What we found..."

Jake wished he could simply link up with Zeratul's mind the way he could with Zamara's, but it was not possible. Zeratul was his own self, not entwined with Jake's mind as Zamara was, and he realized how cumbersome simple speaking could be. Though even if he could connect so intimately with Zeratul, Jake got the impression that the prelate would rather keep this particular story as unemotional and distant as possible.

Which, of course, was even more unsettling.

"We were surprised to discover a terran settlement, with a protoss pylon powering rather makeshift stasis cells. Our horror and revulsion increased when we realized that there were protoss held captive inside some of these cells, and zerg in yet others. All, zerg and protoss alike, were deep in cryo-hibernation. But the most shocking revelation was that someone was experimenting on our people and the zerg." He looked at Jake levelly. "They were experimenting with their DNA.. .splicing together zerg and protoss genes to create hybrids so foul and revolting that even now, I can barely speak of it calmly."

Indeed, Zeratul's body was trembling perceptibly. Not with fear —with outrage. Jake didn't blame him one damn bit. His mind went back to the images of the desiccated bodies in the chambers beneathAiur, the ones he'd seen with his own eyes, and the ones Temlaa had seen. And then he thought of the mysterious, inky-black vats and the horrible feeling he'd gotten from them—a feeling so intense Zamara had had to erect a barrier to protect him.

His stomach churned. "Those.. .whatever they were.. .that's the new xel'naga? A genetic combination of protoss and zerg?"

"No," Zamara answered swiftly, and Jake closed his eyes in relief. "No. Those—things—are truly abominations. There is nothing in them of the natural cycle of the xel'naga. I grieve for the protoss who were so violated. The xel'naga are implacable in their way, but not to that extreme. What you saw, Zeratul, and what perhaps we also beheld in the caverns is something else entirely. Something very wrong, something that should not be."

Zeratul as well seemed somewhat relieved, though still trembling slightly with outrage at what he'd witnessed. "There was a human coordinating this. Or at least something that appeared human. It claimed to have existed for millennia, and gone by many names. The only clue I have of his true identity is the name he chose to reveal to me—Samir Duran."