“Um, please stop doing that. I’ve had some… bad experiences… with telepaths, you see. They don’t have many scruples… at least not Centauri ones. I’m not saying you don’t have any scruples or anything, but well…” Lyta withdrew. “Thank you. Now…

“There are, well… beings in the universe billions of years older than… ooh, anything. Well not anything, but… they’re pretty old. Very old. Now the oldest of these are called the Shadows…

“And well, basically, they aren’t very nice…”

Subsequent events on Proxima 3 that day are very much open to interpretation. Some things are known. It is known that Anna Sheridan – concerned about the whereabouts of her husband – sought out her friend, Susan Ivanova, to discover if there was any truth in what she’d heard of recent events. Susan Ivanova, however, was nowhere in sight, and Anna went so far as to visit the Babylon to try and find her or John.

Lyta Alexander, licensed telepath, meanwhile spent the afternoon listening to millions of years of history conveyed slowly, haltingly and repetitively by Vir Cotto, diplomatic attaché.

Captain Sheridan, Commander Corwin, Marcus Cole and Satai Delenn all remained in prison. Mr. Welles was reporting to the Resistance Government the details he had found concerning the two murders aboard the Babylon. He kept his suspicions to himself, as well as how near he had come to murdering Satai Delenn.

The Babylon was nearly deserted now. Mr. Welles had pulled his Security officers away, having discovered everything he felt he could, and feeling the need to interrogate most of its senior staff. If anyone recognised the lunacy of rendering Proxima 3’s flagship – and only surviving capital ship – leaderless, no one said so.

Ambassador Refa spent the day making transmissions to Centauri Prime, various Centauri colonies and Minbar. When he heard one particularly pleasing piece of information from Gorash 7, he broke out into laughter.

Susan Ivanova’s whereabouts were unknown.

By mid afternoon, everything came to a head. It began, as so many things did, with Satai Delenn.

Dealing with the security guards was simple this time. Lyta simply changed their minds. Literally. She no longer felt guilty about doing so, especially in this case. She had no evidence that Marcus was involved in this, and she was not sure that she believed any of Vir’s story, but she did know that Delenn was involved. Drawn by her strange link to Satai Delenn, she felt she had to help, especially when so much that was mystery had been cleared up – albeit very long-windedly – by Vir.

Vir was not with her. He was taking care of other situations, but although she doubted he would have been that much of an asset, it still grated that she was doing this alone. She trusted Vir – but only because her frequent scans had proved that he was telling the truth about the Shadows and about a Circle of Light being formed against them.

There were no guards outside Satai Delenn’s cell, and no guards inside it either. Fortunately Lyta had obtained the security code by mind-scanning Welles earlier – just in case, and very gingerly. His was the sort of mind she did not want to stay in one minute longer than necessary. She had not, however, been in Welles’ presence since she scanned Delenn this morning, or she might have seen a side to him that she didn’t know existed.

She opened the door to the cell, stepped inside and came to a halt. Feelings… of death, of lust, of pain hit her, all the force and strength of a brick wall. She recoiled and stumbled back against the wall. She rubbed at her eyes and blotted out tears, and then she saw Delenn’s face looking at her.

“What happened?” she whispered. She could still see the blood on the floor. “What…?”

“He tried to hurt me,” Delenn said softly. “He… Who am I?”

Lyta started. “You are… you are my friend. You are Delenn.”

“Delenn?” She said the name slowly and hesitantly, as if she had never heard it before. “I… don’t…”

Welcome to the world, Satai Delenn. Out of the Darkness and into the Light.

Lyta stumbled again, and nearly fell. Those words… it was as if they had been shouted into her ear. She looked at Delenn, and saw that she was in pain too. She knelt down beside Delenn’s chair and took her hand. She knew that they didn’t have long, but she had to do this.

“I’m going to help,” she whispered.

Lyta didn’t know exactly what she was doing. All she knew was that Kosh was giving her instructions. Unfortunately, Vorlon instructions were not exactly comprehensible. She had never tried this before, but somehow, something had passed between them when she had first scanned Delenn, so why couldn’t something pass the other way?

“I hope this works,” she said to herself. She closed her eyes and reached out into Delenn’s mind. If they were caught doing this… but no, she could probably justify it. They hadn’t done anything irreversible yet.

And then, she was willingly… lost.

I will not allow harm to come to my little ones, not here in my great house.

More valuable to me.

The third principle of sentient life… the ability to sacrifice everything you are and everything you have for another, an ideal, a dream, a loved one…

I must follow the calling of my heart, Delenn. Forgive me.

Isil’zha veni. In Valen’s name.

Thoughts, feelings, memories, voices, names, places, friends, loves lost, loves found, dreams forged, dreams broken, screams, cries, laughter, love, hatred, fear, life, death, destruction, chaos, order, good, evil, shadows… always shadows…

Lyta could not scream. She could barely breathe as she and Delenn became connected on a level that she would never have thought possible. They were privy to each other’s thoughts and feelings, they could put names to people only seen in the other’s memories.

It was the most beautiful experience she had ever had.

She started, and her hand slipped from Delenn’s. She fell backwards and collapsed on the floor, too exhausted even to breathe.

“How?” she asked the voice in her mind. “How did you know this would happen? Why did you do it?”

Connection, it said in reply. Together. Purpose. You will discover. When the time is right.

Lyta slowly scrambled to her feet and, leaning on the table, she looked at Delenn. “Are… you…?”

“I think so,” Delenn whispered. Her eyes were no longer those of a child, but she was… unsettled. Lyta could read it in her. “I feel… strange.”

“I’m not surprised,” Lyta replied. “If what I picked up from that… connection… was any guide, then you’ve just gone through several years of puberty in a few days. I’d feel strange, too. Are you… you?”

“And who am I to make me me? I… have my memories, and my… thoughts are my own, but apart from that… I do not know. This was early. Far too early. I should not even be alive.”

“Yeah well, if word of this gets out none of us will be. You’ll need to get off Proxima, and fast.”

“Captain Sheridan!” Delenn started, as though she had only just remembered. “We must help him… and Commander Corwin. We will need them.”

“Are you crazy? The instant we leave this cell we’re all on borrowed time. Getting you out is going to be hard enough, never mind…”

“Never mind what, exactly?” Lyta spun around, a cold terror gripping her heart. She hoped that she was wrong. She prayed that she was wrong, but she knew she wasn’t.

Standing there in the doorway was Mr. Welles.

“I suppose you can explain why you are here?” he said calmly. “And how you got here?”

Lyta paused as she tried to evaluate an answer. There was something… different about Welles. His icy demeanour was gone, and his stare… he was renowned for having the most focussed, uncomfortable stare that anyone could wish to look at. But it was not focussed on her. He was staring at Delenn. And his gaze was one of fury.