Servants collected them early the next morning and brought them to a wing of the residence they hadn't yet been able to enter: the hangar.

The hangar wasn't massive, but it was sizable and had several distinct vehicles within it. There were four or five pod-shaped aircraft--the kind commonly used to commute on the mountain--and other miscellaneous vehicles, such as what appeared to be a sailboat and a four-propeller helicopter.

In the back of the hangar, elevated on a platform as though on a pedestal, sat the voyager. Bath, Lisa, and Lepochim all discerned this at first glance due to Juserin's reclining on its polished, onyx hull.

"Hello, fellow Travelers," he greeted warmly. "Accompany me inside." He placed a hand on the door and it slid smoothly upward into the craft. He walked into the opening and soon the others followed him inside.

The voyager was a fairly large craft, about the size of a school bus squished to be slightly shorter and wider. There were already two servants on board primed to assist the party of four throughout the duration of their trip.

The craft was mostly taken up by empty space, which seemed to imply its intended purpose was transporting cargo between worlds separated by dangerous gates. In a rather opaque attempt to fill the empty space, Juserin had his servants set up a food bar and entertainment area with a circle of large, plush cushions.

"This is a beautiful craft," Bath stated diplomatically as he took a seat in one of the swiveling chairs near the front of the cabin. "How do you operate it?"

"Oh, I don't," Juserin's eyes crinkled, the verdora equivalent of a smile. "The ship has an automatic navigation system. Of course, I can take manual control if I wish, but if we're on such a tight schedule it's best to just let the navigation system go the most efficient route."

Bath nodded in understanding. "Lisa, come here," Bath said with a motion of his hand. "Juserin," he began, looking pointedly at the man, "This is my partner, Lisa. She's a powerful kursi doing research on the ways kursi from other worlds utilize their abilities."

He grinned coldly. "She'd like to ask you some questions."

"Oh? An intellectual," Juserin mused. "What kinds of questions?"

Lisa gave Bath a murderous glare out of the corner of her eyes before addressing Juserin.

"How do you visualize the shells around individuals that fall within your range of influence?" Lisa asked tentatively, placing her hand on her chin in what she hoped was a scholarly air. Then again, how was she supposed to know what behavior a verdora would interpret as scholarly?

"Big bubbles. Is that different from other species?"

Lisa nodded sagely. "Species tend to view shells in different ways. For instance, I view shells as glowing auroras floating around people."

"Fascinating. What got you interested in this kind of research?"

Bath decided to butt in: "She's hoping to make advancements towards accelerating the speed at which kursi gain power."

Juserin gave Bath, then Lisa, incredulous stares. "Accelerate the speed...well, marvelous if you can pull it off," he chuckled. "Don't you think someone would have figured that out by now if it were possible?"

Bath's eyes glittered. "Who's to say nobody has figured it out and just kept the knowledge to themselves? The universe is a vast place, after all; imagine the power someone would have if they can accumulate a hoard of powerful kursi."

Juserin's face grew thoughtful, or at least Lisa and Bath assumed it looked thoughtful. The lower half of his face was still covered in cloth. "That doesn't sound impossible," he admitted. "Have you made any progress?"

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Bath shook his head, then looked expectantly at Lisa, whose eyes widened before her lips tightened into an angry line.

She turned to Juserin in smiled sweetly. "We've spent most of our time so far investigating kursi on Earth, which is only one planet of many with one sapient species. We've learned a lot from human sapients, and believe that by combining this knowledge with a study of other sapients on different worlds, we can better understand, um, what the kursi symbiote is and how it affects the mind."

"Interesting. So, is it correct to assume that you have all decided to leave Earth in the name of this knowledge-gathering exercise?"

"No, we've come for other things as well," Bath said cheerfully. "Like you said, this research seems feasible, but there's a large chance nothing will come of it. We have our own motivations for traveling."

"Do you have any more questions for me?" Juserin asked.

Lisa twitched. "Of course! For the next one, how do you visualize what happens when you alter another individual's shell?"

"Oh, hmm. Their shell changes color, and little disturbances, like swirls of water, stream over their shell. These quickly settle."

"This is fairly common," Lisa explained with a nod of her head. "Every kursi I've questioned sees shells in colors that correspond to emotional state. When the person's emotional state is altered, their shell accordingly changes color."

Lisa didn't even try to address the disturbance part. She sometimes saw people's shells grow brighter or dimmer after she manipulated their minds; she just assumed it was a visual effect generated by her brain to make what she was seeing coincide with her own expectations of what should happen.

"How do the shells of entities change when there are many entities in one location?" Lisa inquired next, now becoming genuinely curious in the differences between her own abilities and this alien kursi's.

"Should they change?" Juserin appeared perplexed. "No matter the volume, shells appear as bubbles."

"Do they ever interact with each other? If there are two people close together, specifically if there are bonds of love or family between them, will their bubbles change?" Lisa was incredibly surprised by Juserin's previous response. People's shells were constantly affecting each other, most noticeably when in huge groups and they combined into a giant group-think shell.

Juserin's stare grew serious. "What are you talking about? Are there other species of kursi who see what you describe?"

Lisa decided to antagonize the Waymaster, just a bit, for blowing her off the day before and addressing Bath when she spoke and asked questions. Lisa knew she wasn't Bath's equal, at least in terms of raw power, but felt like Juserin had an obligation to treat her respectfully.

"Seeing these things is the norm for Earth kursi and other kursi I've so far encountered," Lisa said sadly. She had no idea if that was true. "How are you able to influence the shells of entire crowds, then, as you currently visualize the world?"

As Lisa was speaking, Lepochim, who had previously been fiddling with the equivalent of an Earth television set, looked over and gave Lisa a fairly perplexed and sharp expression.

Juserin was starting to look a little distressed and chuckled nervously. "I simply touch all of their shells at once. Not like it's difficult after hundreds of years building up my ability," he replied defensively. "What's the point of all these questions, anyway?"

Lisa's eyes suddenly narrowed as she thought of a plan. Definitely not one as hair-brained as a Bath plan; rather, one that actually might probe the secrets of what Bath claimed she was trying to research.

"Juserin, I want you to try a visualization technique," Lisa said slowly, calculating the Waymaster's reaction.

"What do you mean by that?"

Lisa looked over to the two servants. "Can you call them over?" Lisa asked expectantly.

"Of course. Aorun, Pilfam, come here," he said without a moment's hesitation.

A complicated expression then came over Bath's face. He was rather impressed that this Waymaster knew the names of his servants. Considering Juserin's hospitality and overall friendliness so far, Bath was starting to feel a bit...bad regarding what he had planned.

"Okay. So when I look at these two, and they are standing far apart like they are now--" the two servants were three feet away from one another-- "I see both of their shells as completely separate. If I want to touch their shells, I have to touch both of them at the same time."

Juserin nodded. "The same for myself."

Lisa nodded back. "The key difference is what happens when they come closer together. Servants, please go close together until you are only a foot apart." They looked at Juserin, who nodded, and then they quickly obeyed the instruction.

"When I see them now, their shells are currently overlapping. As they overlap, little bits of shell from one are slowly flowing into the other, and vice versa."

Juserin's eyes grew dark. "I don't see that kind of interaction at all."

Lisa smiled. "I think that's because of your visualization of their shells," Lisa explained. "When I see shells, since they're effectively auroras of light, they naturally overlap and mix. With yours, since they're bubbles, they can't mix or else they'll pop. That's the expectation placed by your mind on their shells."

"I believe that it's restricting you."