Rosemary remembered that someone had said something about erecting a psionic shield over the temple. It would buy them some time, but Selendis was right to save that defense, and even the knowledge that the protoss had such a defense, as the ace in the hole. Again, she approved of how Selendis's mind worked.

"But once we have begun to walk that path, we will protect the Alys'aril until our defenses are breached, and then, we will do our

best to provide sufficient distraction so that the single vessel can escape to safety."

More thoughts, input from the scholars, comments from Ataldis, things that Rosemary didn't understand and wouldn't, even if she lived among them for the rest of her life. How they would defend this place, make their last stand, wasn't her concern. Getting out of it with her hide, Jake's, and whatever information they could was.

She tried to hurry through the last few checks of the vessel, wishing she could skip them entirely, too professional a mechanic to do so. When a group of several very earnest-feeling alysaar approached carrying boxes of glittering, gleaming crystals, Rosemary, glittering and gleaming herself from the crystal dust on her leather outfit, rose and examined the cargo.

"This it?" She was surprised that they had selected the most important memory crystals already.

"Oh no," one of them replied. "This is just the first sorting. There will be many more."

Her blue eyes widened slightly as she asked, "Just how many?"

"A few dozen more at least. The vessel is large enough, is it not?"

"They're all in individual boxes," she said, frowning.

"Of course," one of them said, his confusion clear. "We analyze and label every single memory crystal. How else can we catalogue the data?"

"Great for librarians, not so great for smugglers," Rosemary said. "You'll be able to take more crystals if you just pile them in. Put them in every damned nook and cranny that isn't being taken up with a living, breathing—" She paused, realizing that the protoss didn't technically breathe and amended, ".. .uh.. .existing protoss. That's how you're going to get the largest number of crystals into the smallest amount of space."

The alysaar looked as though she'd suggested cutting protoss themselves into bits in order to make them fit. "But.. .centuries of sorting, of organization—you wish to discard that labor?"

"You want to take as many crystals as possible or not?"

The protoss still looked dazed. "I—"

"Look," Rosemary said, taking pity on him, "leave them here for now, we're still running some last-minute checks. Talk to one of your superiors and tell him what I said. These are your crystals— your people's history, not mine. I don't give a damn if we take three, three thousand, or three million." Just as long as Jake and I get out of here safely. "I'll take them in boxes if that's what you guys really want. But I'd think that you'd want to save as many as possible, and sort them out later on some peaceful, out-of-the-way place once we're all off this moon and we don't have zerg and a dark archon demigod on our asses."

The alysaar exchanged glances; probably they were communicating among themselves. Then they nodded, put down the boxes, and hastened off.

"How are our friends the zerg doing on the front?" she asked Vartanil wryly, scooting back underneath the vessel.

"Not well," Vartanil admitted. "He moves through them as inexorably as shadow moves at twilight, slowly, steadily, and unable to be held at bay. He has paused, for the moment, but I do not think he will be thwarted for much longer. Ethan has sent several dozen zerglings away from the attack; they sit at the base of the stairs, silent and still."

"Damn it. He's going to storm the temple and get Jake!"

"But he knows that the ritual is still going on," Vartanil replied, puzzled.

"Yeah, but he knows as well as we do that if Ulrezaj gets here first, it won't matter if the ritual's done or not. I know how he thinks."

Rosemary felt a tremor beneath her body. More powdery crystal residue drifted, soft as snowfall, on her face. She didn't need to ask what had caused it.

Ulrezaj was approaching on the Alys'aril.

Just a little time. Time to finish this and get out of here with Jake. Jake, you had damn well better make it. That's all I've got to say.

The earth rumbled again, more strongly. This time Rosemary heard something in the ancient vessel rattle. Sweat dotted her forehead, turning the crystal powder into a paste. She couldn't take it any longer. Growling, she scooted out from under the vessel and leaped to her feet, absently dusting off the glowing crystal residue as she seized her rifle from where it was propped up against the wall and raced toward the door of this makeshift hangar.

"Rosemary!" Vartanil's mental voice rang in her mind. "Where are you going?"

"There's a hydralisk watching Jake right now that might decide to abduct him at any minute. I don't care what you all are planning, I'm going to get it before it gets him," she shot back over her shoulder.

"But—what about the ship?"

"It's spaceworthy now. You can run the final tests and put crystals into corners as easily as I can. And I can't even pilot the thing, I'm not a protoss."

"Oh.. .you are correct. I.. .had forgotten."

Even as she ran up the wide, dimly lit corridor that led toward the surface, toward the fighting, Rosemary grinned at that. She raced down the halls, her booted feet ringing as she ran. Even now, even with an attack from a creature that shook the very foundation of this building and the sounds of battle at its doorstep, it seemed wrong to be moving loudly down these ancient halls.

She rounded a corner and kept going. She only hoped she wouldn't be too late.

Jake stared sickly at Zamara, his hands clutching hers as if he could physically keep her here, keep her from dissolving into nothingness, even though he knew that the entire encounter was taking place solely in his mind.

"Is there no other way? Couldn't—I don't know—couldn't I be put in some kind of stasis until we find another preserver?"

"Even if we did attempt such a thing, I do not know if it would make a difference. The memories are held in a human brain now, not a protoss brain. Perhaps I was fated to this the moment I bonded with you."

She reached out a long-fingered hand to touch his cheek. "And if that is so," she continued, "then it is so. Without you, I never would have had the chance to reveal my knowledge. I only hope that you survive, Jacob. You have astonished me at every turn with your ability to adapt, recover, and persevere. If your species produces individuals like you.. .then the protoss have much to learn from such an upstart race."

She was attempting to interject levity, but Jake shook his head. He couldn't believe this. Zamara had done so much. She couldn't just...be wiped out like this....

"Zamara!" he cried brokenly. Impulsively, he reached out to hold her, to keep her here, just for a little while longer. He realized, odd as it seemed, he'd grown to love this protoss. She'd hijacked his body, brought about the death of his friends, and her presence inside him might indeed mean his own death. But he'd never before seen such integrity. She had become part of him. And now she was about to disappear. About to become lost forever.

"No," he vowed. "You won't be lost, Zamara. I'll remember you...the way humans do. I'll make sure that everyone knows about you—what you did for your people. How brave you were. How much you loved them. I know it's not the same thing, hell, it's not the same thing at all, but you'll still be more than just dry words locked in a crystal somewhere. I'll tell them, I swear. If you learned something about us, then I swear to you, we'll learn something about the protoss. I just wish—"