"Really? What do the non-natives say? Great world of peace and benevolence? Never a cloud in the universe-loving sky?" He shook his head. "It's rubbish. Peaceful to the point of indolent, or they liked to appear. Most of the time they were forcing non-natives, or me, to rewrite huge chunks of history to fuel what they believed the universe should be like."

He led the way up another cliff face. He could see the entrance to the top of the Tower. That was how they'd enter. If he remembered correctly, it was a lot safer than the other passages. Getting there was the hard part.

"If we don't," he said. "We'll ride the rift again. Something I'd rather not do, but if we must..."