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Between was a dark dimension through which dragons, watch-whers and fire-lizards had the ability to travel - to teleport from one location to the other. This process was referred to as going between.

Description of Between[]

Between was universally described as a place of nothingness. Between was characterized by extreme cold - far below zero, and possibly colder than outer space - and near-total sensory deprivation for humans who travelled through it on dragonback. Since there appeared to be no breathable air between, riders who made exceptionally long journeys - usually the result of traveling between Times - suffered the effects of oxygen deprivation. Because of the extreme cold of between, dragons and fire-lizards deliberately travelled between and back when they came into contact with threadfall, freezing and destroying the organism almost instantly.

The cold of between could also cause health problems, such as kidney chills, for dragonriders; riding gear was designed to keep the wearer warm. Female riders risked developing cystitis from frequent journeys between. The low temperature could also abort and prevent pregnancies. The exact length of time a rider needed to be between for these things to happen was debatable. During the Third Pass, estimates as to the exact length varied from "five coughs" to "seven coughs" to "eleven coughs". During the Ninth Pass, Mirrim miscarried twice after repeatedly travelling between (a duration generally described as lasting "as long as it takes to cough three times") before realizing it was unsafe to do so.

Going Between Places[]

The length of time it took for a dragon to travel from one location to another via between was generally eight to ten seconds - or, as various dragonriders described it, "between lasts only as long as it takes to cough three Times" - but this could vary, depending upon how far away the destination was and whether or not it involved going between times as well.

Failing to envision a destination properly could result in a dragon and rider failing to emerge from between and perishing as a result - as happened to Marco Galliani and Duluth during the First Pass. It can also lead to a dragon and rider emerging from between, but arriving in the same place as an existing object instead of near it - as happened to D'lin and Aseth during the Third Pass, when they became entombed in the rock of Benden Weyr, killing them both instantly. Conversely, envisioning a destination too well - with details that correspond to a location at a specific point in Time - can result in a dragon and rider travelling "between times". If a dragon sustained fatal injuries or believed that its rider was deceased, the dragon would go between forever by not envisioning a destination.

Hearing Between[]

Dragons - and some riders - may have had the ability to converse with other dragons while they were between, without going between themselves.

During the Third Pass, Lorana was able to reach out to dragons with her mind as they went between and was occasionally able to bring them back from between. While Lorana was attempting to bring D'gan and his dragons back from between after they accidentally got stuck in a 'time knot', she followed a between 'echo' which allowed her to make contact with Wind Blossom early in the First Interval and provide the clue from "Wind Blossom's Song" that opened the door to the OldTimers rooms at Benden Weyr. At a later point in time, Lorana and the current Weyrwoman of Telgar Weyr Fiona were able to talk with Xhinna when she briefly became trapped between.

By the Third Interval, the current Weyrwoman of Telgar Weyr Tullea had been taught how to "stretch" her mind into between, and after tricking Lorana into thinking Benden Weyr was empty, used this ability to call the dragons of Benden Weyr back from their hiding place.

During the Ninth Pass, while searching for the missing Lessa and Ramoth, F'lar mentioned that Mnementh was able to get an 'echo' from Canth, ten Turns back on the Southern Continent.

Going Between Times[]

Dragonriders were able to teleport their dragons through time by envisioning a destination so vividly that they would arrive at the exact point in time the location looked that way. This was often done by using the positions of stars in the night sky or the location of the Red Star, but it was also done by using a memory of a place to create an image. For instance, while Lessa was learning how to go between on Ramoth, she attempted to travel to Ruatha Hold, only to mistakenly end up at Ruatha Hold on the day it was invaded by Lord Fax of High Reaches Hold, as the result of envisioning the Hold as she remembered it immediately prior to the invasion. This ability was often referred to as going between times or timing it.

Time travel between operated under the stable time loop principle, where a person could not change the course of history when travelling backward or forward in time, but their actions might create a chain of events that caused the reason for them travelling through time in the first place. For instance, Benden Weyrwoman Lessa travelled back in time to the beginning of the Eighth Interval then brought the inhabitants of five Weyrs back to the Ninth Pass. In doing so, Lessa caused Benden Weyr to become the only inhabited Weyr on Pern during the Eighth Interval/Second Long Interval, thus leading to their steady decline and necessitating "Lessa's Ride" in the first place. In the Second Interval, blue rider J'trel of Ista Weyr tried to go back in time to show his mother that he had become a dragonrider but found himself unable to do form an image. "It cannot be done," Talith said. "A dragon cannot go to a place that is not. It is like trying to fly through rock."

Attempts to go between times to try to alter a historical event were known to be futile. Dragonriders would explain to those who attempted it that, even though they couldn't "break time", it was possible to "cheat" it. For instance, during the Third Pass, Telgar Weyrleader T'mar was saved during threadfall by a dragonrider who, due to the jacket he was wearing, was identified as Benden Weyrleader B'nik. Even though the dragonrider was seen to go between forever, B'nik was found to be alive and well, leading everyone to conclude that he would eventually time it back to aid T'mar then die. They soon discovered that it wasn't B'nik who had died. Instead, K'tan had disguised himself as B'nik and gone in his place. Another example of cheating time, also from the Third Pass, involved the bronze rider F'jian, who, after dying while flying thread, was witnessed making several visits to his weyrmate Terin after the time of his death. This was eventually revealed to have been the work of Lorana, who, after learning of F'jian's eventual death, travelled back in time to before his death then brought him forward in time, so that he would be with Terin when she needed him most in her future.

Due to the obvious dangers of travelling through time - and the inherent risk that the rider might not envision a detail of their destination properly, thus inadvertently sending them between forever - the ability was generally kept a secret amongst the queen and bronze riders of the Weyr. Despite this, riders had been known to accidentally discover the ability for themselves - which can be assumed to be how the ability was discovered in the first place. During the Sixth Pass, many riders were recruited to use the between times ability to help spread a vaccine for the feline caused flu plague across Pern in a single day. Travelling between times was fairly exhausting to both rider and dragon, both often requiring rest - and food, in the dragon's case - after returning to their own time.

Since travelling between times often took far longer than a normal trip between, riders would suffer from oxygen deprivation when the trip was an especially long one - as happened to Lorana in the Third Pass, and Lessa in the Ninth Pass. Since dragons were able to hold their breaths for far longer, they were not affected by this. A solution to this problem was found by AIVAS, who provided spacesuits for the riders who travelled to the Red Star.

History[]

The ability to travel between times was discovered at some point during the First Pass - as Benden Weyrleader M'hall used it after he transported Wind Blossom to Sorka's home shortly before Sorka's death. When he transported Wind Blossom and Sorka's body back to the College, M'hall inadvertently transported back to the same time when he had picked Wind Blossom up, meeting himself and causing both M'halls to worry about the danger of creating a time paradox.

Two Records existed at the Harper Hall at various points in time providing information about the between times ability:

  • A song penned by Master Harper Zist late in the Second Interval entitled "When I Met Myself Healing", detailed how a young Zist had once encountered his elder self during a Hatching at Benden Weyr, and witnessed him tending the injured - and newly Impressed - dragon Gaminth, whose rider M'tal was a friend of his, and would soon become Benden Weyrleader. When M'tal learned of the existence of the song, he requested that Zist "quietly retire" it.
  • A record in the Healer Hall existed as late as the Sixth Pass, which Journeywoman Desdra discovered and used to formulate her plan to spread a vaccine for the feline-caused flu plague across Pern in a single day. After several requests, Masterhealer Capiam agreed to "lose" the Records.

Late in the Second Interval, Lorana's two ill fire-lizards gold Garth and brown Grenn, and her dead queen dragon Arith, travelled between times to the College late in the First Pass, alerting Wind Blossom to the future existence of a Dragon Plague. After studying the dead fire-lizard and dragon, Wind Blossom decided that it was necessary to leave materials in rooms at Benden Weyr that their descendants could one day use to create a cure. It was not known how the two fire-lizards and the queen dragon managed to travel between times. Although their trip might have been an accident, it seemed more likely that it was the result of them managing to somehow forge a link with relatives of the woman they were Impressed to - Lorana of Benden Weyr - who lived during the Second Interval.

Late in the Second Interval, dragonriders used the between times ability to help Holds recover from the flu pandemic, by retrieving fresh fruit from the Southern Continent in their past then deliver it to the stricken holds in the future.

Early in the Third Pass, an incredible amount of traveling between times took place, as the Weyrs were forced to use the ability to compensate for their lack of dragons able to fight Thread. They did this by allowing future versions of wings to help fight threadfall alongside their past selves and by sending weyrlings and injured dragons back to uninhabited areas during the Second Interval - such as the empty Igen Weyr or the Eastern Weyr - until they were able to mature and heal. In addition, a mysterious phenomenon known as a 'time knot' was accidentally created which affected travel forward in time from the Far Western Continent for several turns.

By the late Eighth Interval, the between times ability had been forgotten. It is not clear whether the Oldtimers of the Eighth Pass knew of it, or whether it was lost some time after the Sixth Pass - the loss perhaps being linked to measures that were taken after Moreta's death, to prevent a repeat of the accident. It was rediscovered by Benden Weyrwoman Lessa when, as mentioned above, she inadvertently traveled back in time to Ruatha Hold. The ability was used to send a group of weyrlings back in time to a newly established Southern Weyr, where they could mature, and later by Lessa, in a feat known as Lessa's Ride, to travel back in time to early in the Eighth Interval - to bring the dragonriders of the other five Weyrs forward in time to aid Benden Weyr in the Ninth Pass.

Later on in the Ninth Pass, several journeys between times were made possible with the aid of Jaxom's white dragon Ruth, who had an uncanny ability to always know 'where' and 'when' he was in time, occasionally being aided by fire-lizards who would come to him and give him detailed images of notable events they remembered. Jaxom and Ruth used this ability to retrieve a stolen queen egg which had been taken between times by OldTimers at Southern Weyr, and also to find missing former Ista Weyrleader D'ram after his disappearance following the death of his weyrmate Fanna.

Several turns later, the supercomputer AIVAS requested Jaxom and Ruth's assistance in completing the final part of his mission to destroy Thread once and for all - by moving the three engines of the colony ships orbiting Pern to the surface of the Red Star, then exploding the engines, which would change the orbit of the Red Star. After examining various Records and the orbit of the Red Star, AIVAS concluded that both Long Intervals had been caused by dragons going back in time and detonating the engines then. He recruited Ruth and Jaxom to guide the various teams of dragonriders back to those points in time in secret. This was done by insisting that the teams only receive their coordinates from Jaxom, who memorized the details necessary to make each time jump. Since it was generally assumed that Jaxom left the job of envisioning their destination entirely to his dragon, Jaxom's role was not discovered. The only known problem caused by this secrecy was when bronze rider M'rand attempted to return home to High Reaches Weyr and mistakenly ended up at a past version of it due to being unaware they had travelled through time. However, he quickly guessed what had happened and was able to return to the Ninth Pass shortly afterwards.

The Time Knot[]

Early in the Third Pass, Telgar Weyrleader D'gan attempted to fight Thread over Crom with the entire dragon population of Telgar Weyr - except for his son D'lin and his dragon Aseth. Since D'gan's dragon Kaloth was ill with the Dragon Plague, he was not able to properly envision the destination, causing all dragonriders to be lost in between.

Unknown to the other Weyrs, the Telgar dragonriders had not gone between forever. Instead they had become trapped in a 'time knot', a loop in time somehow created by the fear of the dragons and their riders, which trapped them in an endless cycle of nothingness. This 'time knot' was discovered six months later, when the new Telgar Weyrwoman Fiona became trapped near them while travelling from Eastern Weyr on the Far Western Continent. Fiona chose to remain in the 'time knot', sending her dragon Talenth to seek help from Lorana, who alerted all the other Weyrs and called for all dragons and riders in the five Weyrs to assist. Lorana guided them all between, where they were able to calm the fears of the trapped riders in the 'time knot', guiding the lost dragons and their riders home.

Despite the freeing of the Telgar Weyr dragonriders, the 'time knot' danger remained. Anytime a group of dragonriders attempted to time it forward from the Second Interval on the Far Western Continent, they encountered the 'time knot'. K'dan finally concluded that the 'time knot' caused between to be shaped in such a way as to cause problems when attempting to travel forward through a time that crossed paths with D'gan's dragonriders prior to their rescue. To avoid this, those on the Far Western Continent were forced to remain in place until they passed the point in Time when the dragonriders were rescued from the 'time knot'.

Side-Effects of Time Travel[]

Dragonriders who remained for any length of time in the same period of time with another version of themselves were known to experience incredible exhaustion, or "muzzy-headedness". Some became irritable and cross. This was thought to be caused by the telepathic link between a rider and their dragon inadvertently becoming duplicated and overwhelming the minds of both incarnations of rider and dragon.

A scenario where a rider or dragon traveled to a different time without their partner produced different effects for both. As seen with Tullea in the Third Pass and Moreta in the Sixth Pass, riders were able to be separated from their dragons in this way without suffering the grief of the dragonless. For instance, although Moreta became subconsciously aware of her dragon's absence, she noted "a curious sense of disorientation within her — a sensation of weightlessness and a growing euphoria, neither of which she had ever experienced before", prior to realizing that her separation from Orlith, who, unknown to her, was dead at this point in time, was the cause of this.

A dragon, on the other hand, if not in constant contact with their rider, would panic. But this didn't always happen — like the queen Minith, whose general calmness throughout her various trips between was thought to have been the result of Tullea still being alive at the various points in time they visited. On the other hand, after Moreta secretly traveled forward in time to Ista Island, leaving Orlith behind with her clutch, Orlith became distressed after realizing that she could not sense Moreta at Ista Island at the present point in Time. Orlith would have gone after Moreta — or at least attempted to find her at Ista Island — if not for the actions of Leri and Holth, who managed to keep her at Fort Weyr until Moreta returned.

It should be thus assumed — for a rider — that the difference between a temporary separation and a more permanent separation was that, in the former case, the rider knew that their separation was only a temporary thing and, as such, did not fall into despair. On the other hand, the permanently separated rider did not have this comfort and was instead left with the constant reminder of their loss.

Going Between Forever[]

Going between forever or forever between was something that could happen by accident or intentionally, in both cases resulting in the death of the dragon.

  • A dragon and their rider might end up going between forever by accident if they failed to envision their destination properly. Before dragons learned how to go between consciously, Marco Galliani and Duluth became the first dragon/rider pair to make this mistake, when Duluth instinctively leapt between when a sled threatened to hit them. Marco had been leaning against Duluth at the time. This, however, was only the end of their mortal existence.
  • A dragon would go between forever by choice if they either sustained injuries from which they could not recover - such as from a fatal Threadscoring or, as occurred in the Third Pass, severe infection with the Dragon Plague - or if their rider perished or was believed dead by the dragon. The latter of these scenarios could prove dangerous. If a rider sustained an injury that rendered them unconscious to the point where the dragon could not feel their presence - as happened with T'mar and Zirenth in the Third Pass, and Giron and his dragon in the Ninth Pass - their dragon might believe them dead and go between forever, leaving the rider broken upon recovery.

In addition to this, dragonets that failed to Impress on the Hatching Grounds would go between forever - an incredibly rare occurrence that was thought to have only happened in the First Pass or First Interval, and which was mitigated by having a large number of candidates present at each Hatching.

Several things were known to have prevented a dragon from going between forever after the death of their rider. During the Third Pass, the combined willpower of other riders and their dragons could prove strong enough to halt a dragon from suiciding. Queen dragons, despite their despair, had been noted to hold enough maternal loyalty to see their hatchlings hatched and Impressed before following their riders unto death in the cold between forever.

  • Morath - Fort Weyr queen in the Seventh Pass, became bound to her eggs after her rider Nalaya died of what appeared to be a sudden illness, but which was later revealed to have been poisoning. Morath remained on the Hatching Grounds as the queen egg hatched, but it is not known for certain whether she stayed to witness the rest of her clutch hatch or whether she went between forever afterwards.
  • Nemorth - Benden Weyr queen in the Eighth Interval, became bound to her eggs after her rider Jora died from overeating. Nemorth remained on the Hatching Grounds for the duration of the hatching, but this may have been unintentional as Nemorth was thought to have possibly been dead or dying by this point in time.
  • Orlith - Fort Weyr queen during the Sixth Pass, became bound to her eggs after her rider Moreta mistakenly went between forever on Leri's queen Holth. On the day Orlith decided her eggs would hatch, she left her clutch and travelled with Leri to the place Moreta and Holth had died, where they reunited with their spirits and went between forever with them.

A similar situation happened towards the end of the Second Interval at High Reaches Weyr, when the aging Weyrwoman Jessala willed herself to stay alive long enough for the eggs of her queen Garirth to hatch, before perishing at the conclusion and sending Garirth between forever.

Beyond Between[]

After going between forever, a dragon - and their rider, if they accompanied them - would perish and encounter "a greyness...blending with the black of between". From this point, a dragon was able to go beyond between, on to what was, presumably, some form of afterlife. Since not all dragons went between forever with their riders, but were prevented - by choice - from traveling Beyond without them, it could be assumed that the spirit of a deceased rider would travel beyond from wherever it was located and reunited with its dragon once beyond.

If a dragon - and occasionally their rider - did not travel beyond for some reason, either by choice or due to confusion, it would be guided out of between to Paradise River by the spirits of Marco Galliani and Duluth, the first rider and dragon to go between, who had not been able to go beyond themselves for some unknown reason. Marco had come to the conclusion that this was linked to the possibility that, if not bound to a rider, a dragon would be immortal, possibly suggesting that he hadn't fully accepted his own death.

After perishing, a dragon would partially retain the ability to go between, becoming able to travel between only to the location from where they originally went between forever and back. Since Marco Galliani and Duluth went between forever from Paradise River Stake, they were only able to guide other dragons back to Paradise River Stake - although they were able to reach other locations if a dragon who went between forever from that location could guide them there.

If they choose to return - as Moreta urged Holth to do - they would end up as little more than a ghost. The exact limitations of this form were not fully known. When Moreta and Holth returned as ghosts to Waterhole Hold, a runnerbeast was continuously aware of their presence, but the holder Thaniel was unable to see them until Leri and Orlith arrived at Waterhole Hold to join them. Prior to this, Thaniel was only aware of a chill when Moreta's ghost touched him, and he saw her and Holth's forms only briefly when they were illuminated by the light of a full moon - either Timor or Belior, the two moons of Pern.

Although it is not clear exactly how, these ghosts were believed to be able to interact with the living to some degree. Not only was it implied that deceased dragons at Paradise River occasionally hunted - an instinctive reaction, as they didn't eat the dead herdbeast afterwards - but Marco Galliani and Moreta were seen to be able to tend a fire and even scratch a message in the dirt at Waterhole Hold, so that Thaniel would be able to alert Fort Weyr. In addition to this, Leri somehow managed to ride the deceased Holth between forever after reuniting with her.

Duration of Journeys Between[]

As mentioned above, the length of time it took for a dragon to travel from one location to another via between was generally eight to ten seconds - or, as various dragonriders described it, "Between lasts only as long as it takes to cough three times".

In All the Weyrs of Pern, AIVAS concluded that five or so of these seconds were used by the dragons to assimilate their co-ordinates; the remainder was used for the transfer itself, and thus calculated the following:

  • Travelling up to 1,600 kilometres takes 1 second of travel.
  • Travelling up to 10,000 kilometres takes 2 seconds of travel.
  • Travelling up to 100,000 kilometres takes 3.6 seconds of travel.
  • Travelling up to 1,000,000 kilometres takes 4.8 seconds of travel.
  • Travelling up to 10,000,000 kilometres takes 7-10 seconds of travel.

Notes[]

In the books, the word is always italicized.

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