posted 03-19-99 11:00 PM ET     

Kvai stood at the edge of Mun-Tvna, The Ring. It was beautiful. Eight immense stones, rising majestically from the blood-red soil. At the top of each danced a psionic spark that dazzled the senses. Here was the gift.
The base of Yromac was in the center, he knew. Where the Or*I had first landed upon the world. How long had it been? Ten years that they had been on the planet. And they might have died, if it were not for the help of the being they called Lihit-For.
When their ship had crashed, on the way between the two worlds of Dien and For*vok, they had thought it was the end of them. No food, and no minerals with which the ship could be repared. They had simply made a half-hearted attempted to build Yromac, a zone in which conditions were optimal for Or*I habitation. They hadn't found enough minerals on this tiny world. They were doomed.
Then, strange animals began to wander in. All were extremely docile, and could be used for food. Some contained new substances with much needed minerals. It was almost as if someone was tending them, as if a God watched above to ensure their safety. Then, the members of the tiny colony began getting the dreams.
Lihit-For, they called it. The Godplant. It was the thing that grew all around, the ever-present bloom. It was alive,and it was sentinent. More than sentinent. It was what the Or*I called a F*suma, a One Who Had Surpassed Himself. At last, with the help of this being, they had managed to gather enough to repair their ship. That was five revolutions ago. But they had stayed.
Lihit-For had saved all of their lives. Now, they owed it something. For it was slowly but surely moving down the path to its own doom. The plant growth was exponential. When it reached a certain point, it would become unstoppable, strip the world of its life, and destroy itself. They could not make the Godplant understand this. They had to act.
The stones were the result of this effort. The flower-being had cooperated easily enough, and with the Or*I supervision, had managed to erect similar structures all over the world. Tvnal, they were called. Beautiful in their simplicity.But each contained the spark of life that drove the flower-being onward. If it died, the towering Tvnal would resurrect it. If someone fought it, the Tvnal would give it strength. And if someone aided it, the Tvnal would give them powers beyond their wildest dreams.
Kvai stepped back into the ship. It was almost done, now. Soon, they would call in scientists from all around the Or*I empire. They would make a more permanent solution, getting the flower-being to choose life, and perhaps beginning to fathom its mysteries.

(But what happened?) I asked Voice
(the ship exploded in midair. Strong it was not. they did not make it back. long have i stayed here, waiting the or*i return.)
(But who are the Or*I? What are the Tvnal?) I asked.
(monoliths you call them. long we despair, earthaveer. but now you come, and we have chance to ascend once again. for this we thank you, earthaveer.)
But my mind was somewhere else. The alien artifacts! The monoliths! Already he identified Yromac with what he knew as the ruins. The past! Planet knew the past!
"Thank you for your gift to us, Or*I, he whispered"