20. A Single Step

The Hynerians had found true, loving and compassionate friends in the Metalunans. These beings had somehow made peace between the material and spiritual in ways that blurred the lines between the two, which in part explained why they had no ethical dilemmas melding their technology into living flesh. Metalunans simply refused to separate things into this and that but instead saw an oneness, a web of interconnectedness, “Love” for lack of a better term, that held the universe together.

Each technological breakthrough was seen as another facet of Love manifesting itself in the material world, of Love using Metalunan hands to bring form to formlessness. One could not have the form without the formlessness and likewise formlessness sought form as expression. No separation, no this and that. Just Love.

Much like vacation, the Hynerians knew the time was near to depart in search of their own place to call home. The Metalunans had mapped the uncharted territories into quadrants that looked much like a turtle’s shell. Each dark blue plate was marked with a single dot indicating unknown and, more than likely, unfriendly civilizations. The blue and white spiral and its accompanying offshoots represented the explored universe, what to the Hynerians was uncharted. Right place, right time was all anyone could mutter.

Where to go, the Metalunans could not say, and even if they knew, would not share. This was a journey the Hynerians would have to take on their own. The map would point them in the right direction, but the choices would have to be their own. Every journey starts with a single step. Time to lock and load; the path was calling for a step.