"Forever, perhaps," O'Brien said quietly. "I think Deirdre's immortal.
At least she is a goddess. Do you remember the crystal I found in that
meteorite?"
"Yeah. I remember."
"It came from here. It was one of Deirdre's servants. Somehow it was
lost--wandered away. Cosmic dust collected on it as it moved in an
orbit around the sun--for thousands of years, perhaps. Iron atoms. At
last it was a meteorite, with the crystal at its heart. So it fell on
Earth, and I found it, and it wanted to go home, back to Deirdre. It
told me that. I felt its thoughts. It drew me here, Steve--"