CLARION 213

standard years. That was Elli's legacy—lasting peace for the first time in humankind's history. Danita sighed a young girl's long, deep sigh. "I wish I could have known them like you did.

Dorland Avery, Paul Jurick, Jacque Hakim, Karyn DiMemmo. They were special people."

"Yes," he said. "They were." He and Paul Jurick had become the best of friends during their long careers at the university. *

"What happened to the Elli disk and the chauka?"

"They were turned over to UNSA archaeologists," the old man answered. "We learned more from the Tal Tahir than how to live in peace. As far as I know, the chauka is still working, although I haven't heard anything of it in years." He paused, thinking. "We didn't need it here. As Elli had said, it was time for a new order on the planet, and Dorland was able to find it in his own way."

"With Elli's help," Danita pointed out.

"Yes," he admitted with a smile. "But in the end, the human kra'ith worked out the Treaty of Clarion. Humans have to solve human problems. Gods can't do that for us. Elli was smart enough to know that was the way it would have to be."